Chapter 61: Give an Explanation

(Still hoping to reach 100 followers)

"What kind of medicine did you give him? Was it poison?" Xu Lifang couldn't help but shout.

"You... you poisoned Huang Mao to death?"

"You murderous scholar, are you trying to wipe us all out?"

"Damn it, might as well just—forget it!"

With a "clang," Wa Qingyun drew his weapon, kicked over a stool, and roared, "Damn it, who dares to touch the Master? Come and try!!!"

"If you want to touch the Master, kill me first!"

"That's right, if you want to touch the Master, kill me first!"

Qi Jingkun, Xiang Ying, and the others, whose injuries had largely healed, also stood up one after another.

Xu Lifang and the others regained their senses and stopped shouting, though they still glared at Li You.

Li You had no heart to pay attention to Xu Lifang's group; at this moment, he knew Huang Mao was likely in shock, not yet dead.

But the problem was, he didn't know the correct first aid for shock.

"Should I try chest compressions for resuscitation?"

Li You muttered to himself, then knelt on the bed and began compressions on the skinny monkey.

But... this... was he desecrating a corpse?

This action provoked Cui Shan, Sun Jian, Xu Lifang, and the others once more; he had killed a man, and now he was desecrating the corpse?

Wa Qingyun hurriedly signaled Xiang Ying, who understood and slipped away in a flash.

After a long bout of substandard chest compressions, until Huang Mao had completely gone cold, Li You stood up in disappointment, clapped his hands, and shook his head, saying, "Dead. Truly a hopeless case, didn't give me a chance at all... Sigh, the skin test, I really have to hand it to myself..."

The side chamber was already packed with a crowd; Xiang Ying had long since called over Wu Dading, Li Qinxiang, Guan Hongxin, and others, and Peng Yun and the other North Village archers who had been sunning themselves outside also swarmed in.

The small side chamber was instantly jammed tight.

"He's cold, bury him!"

Li You felt too guilty to speak; regardless of whether Huang Mao deserved to die, he shouldn't have died in such a way!

Peng Yun roared, "What kind of bullshit medical skill is this? A living person, just like that, you treated him to death, and now you're just going to bury him?"

"That's right, he just died like that!"

"You must give us an explanation!"

Sun Jian, Xu Lifang, Lian Yu, Shi Youchun, and others, emboldened by Peng Yun, also began to clamor.

"He was already in a coma from a high fever; it was a case of treating a dead horse as if it were alive. Now that he's dead, he's dead. What do you want?"

Wa Qingyun was determined to follow Li You and, with his sharp edge exposed, retorted directly.

Beside him, Li Qinxiang, Zhou Yin, and Guan Hongxin also looked stern, holding clubs in their hands, looking as if they were ready to fight at any moment.

"Hahaha... ha, is this a rebellion? You treated a man to death, and we can't even ask for an explanation?"

Cui Sanzao, an archer with Peng Yun, laughed incessantly upon seeing this scene.

"Clang."

Li You drew his Miao saber, his killing intent overflowing as he said, "An explanation? What kind of explanation? My blade has the explanation. Who wants it? Come!"

The side chamber fell silent instantly. Peng Yun narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering what to do for a moment, before finally saying, "If it weren't for the fact that the Great Chief values you, I would have roasted your heart and liver to eat long ago!"

Having said that, he left with his archers.

Li You didn't even look at Sun Jian, Xu Sanshui, and the others in the room, telling Wa Qingyun and Gao Conghu to carry Huang Mao out and bury him.

As he walked out, he noticed Qi Jingkun, and his brow furrowed even tighter.

In truth, this wasn't his first time using the medicine. Two days ago, when Qi Jingkun had a high fever, Li You had given him a semi-finished penicillin tablet. He hadn't thought to perform a skin test on Qi Jingkun then either, but Qi Jingkun's fever had broken quickly.

Moreover, the main reason Qi Jingkun survived wasn't divine protection, but rather the crude, homemade penicillin he had fed him, which must have played a role.

Because of the large wound on Qi Jingkun's abdomen, he had rarely suffered from fever or inflammation since taking the medicine, and with the supplement of wolf meat, he was now almost fully recovered, not only able to walk but even able to play with a blade.

"I remember, when I was a child, the first time I got penicillin, I didn't need a skin test, right?"

Li You muttered, "Looks like I need to make some needles, take some culture fluid, and inject a little to perform skin tests first. Otherwise, if I run into someone with high sensitivity, it'll be a disaster!"

Li You's thoughts immediately turned to how to make a syringe.

And how much to inject each time? How to control the dosage?

How much is one milliliter, exactly?

There was no complete reference system now; was he supposed to use the Prime Meridian to determine a centimeter?

Li You shook his head repeatedly; if he had that kind of ability, he wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state in his past life!

But these things could be solved through constant trial and error and summarizing experience.

The biggest headache was the needle—a hollow needle at that. How was he supposed to make one?

One thing after another, piling up, left Li You feeling quite agitated.

The only good news was that since it could kill a person, the penicillin Li You had produced was quite successful; the purity certainly wasn't low.

Li You calmed himself down alone outside for a while before heading to the mine.

He had originally wanted to have a heart-to-heart with these miners and salt slaves, but he no longer had the mood.

The remaining fifty-some miners were a mixed bag; there were honest, simple-minded good citizens, but also oddballs like Song Jinyin. If he said certain things and they got out, it wouldn't be to his advantage. He simply said, "Today and tomorrow, everyone stop your work and come together to build a place to live...

Liu Erniu, Wang Dashun, and the others don't need to go; you continue firing bowls to thoroughly solve the problem of us having no bowls to eat with!"

Li You's words naturally won the approval of many miners; it concerned their own interests, and many were even very grateful in their hearts.

As for the remaining mountain bandits, they naturally had nothing to say. Wu Zhuge had let them bring pots and pans, but it was impossible to bring houses, and even if they lived in the Cao Er courtyard, it wouldn't fit them all.

Since they had no objections, everything was easy to handle.

There were many forests on the north side of Nanshan and west of the West Pit, so it was convenient to gather timber. Li You quickly arranged for Peng Yun to split half the archers to go chop wood.

But Peng Yun said lazily, "Master Li, Chief Wu sent us here to practice archery, not to do this kind of menial labor! Besides, we don't know how to build houses; we only know how to live in them!"

"Hahaha... that's right! We only know how to live in them!"

The group of mountain bandits also laughed and echoed him. They were accustomed to idleness under Zhang Cang; asking them to labor was practically asking for their lives.

Because in their minds, they felt labor had high and low status; doing such rough work was a supreme humiliation to their status as mountain bandits.

Beside them, Wu Dading and Gao Conglong had long since furrowed their brows, but since Li You didn't speak, they endured it for now.

Li You, however, was not angry and smiled, "Then give us some blades and axes. Are we supposed to go up the mountain and break the wood with our hands?"

"That won't do! These tools are our lifeblood. Besides, with so many people going up the mountain, what if someone runs away?"

Peng Yun gripped the blade at his waist, lifted his chin, and said to Li You.

"Fine! Then I'll have the blacksmiths forge a few axes now. But it won't be possible to build the houses in a day or two; I'm afraid you brothers will have to suffer and live in the stone pits for now!"

Li You said expressionlessly, then turned and left.

The miners and salt slaves who had been prepared to build the houses had bitter expressions, looking at Peng Yun and the group of mountain bandits—some lying down, some sitting—with a hint of hatred!

"What are you looking at? Looking to die? That's right, get back to mining!"

Peng Yun drew his blade and roared at the miners!

Cui Shan and the others also walked up with smiles, holding whips.

Wa Qingyun was instantly furious and was about to turn around and curse back...

"Shut up. Those who bark and clamor are just dogs; slaughter them and it'll be quiet."