Arriving at the medical center, Zhu Su immediately put out his medical books. He had brought most of his collection from his palace library to be placed here, especially medical books, therefore he did not need to go frequently to his palace just to search data. Most of his books were worn, their color faded to brownish yellow, and some parts were even illegible because the prints wore off. Yet even though these books were shabby and uncomfortable to read, they were valuable treasures - a collection of books were so precious they became a luxury that only the imperial family could enjoy. Reading high-quality books was only the privilege of high-class aristocrats. And about ordinary people, don't ever think to read books. Moreover the poor. They were wavering in literacy blindness. In the early era of the Ming Dynasty, illiteracy was a common issue. If someone could read, then they were surely not an ordinary person. Books were difficult to get. Especially old books. For example, the shabby and yellowish-brown book Zhu Su was reading, was one of the very few ancient books that had not been ruined in chaos and war. This book, which aged tens or maybe hundreds of years, was certainly a valuable treasure that might not be owned by just anyone.
That was why in the past, the publication of Xiu Zhen Fang and Pu Ji Fang for the people was truly a great contribution to Ming society. All Fan Wangs had their own special stamps as well as book printings. Most of them distributed the published books for their own circles, or among the intellectuals and government officials. Zhu Su was arguably a pioneer in opening literacy horizons for all levels of society.
And now, he would do it once again.
This time his target was even almost unreachable - the illiterate and uneducated people of the lowest and poorest class of Ming. Because they were the most susceptible group to food poisoning or severe disease.
"We are making a breakthrough that has never been done in the previous era, and more, our target is the illiterate and uneducated people. Who won't give up so easily?" Zhu Su muttered as he kept flipping through the shabby book about herbal glossary, looking for information about persimmons. He soon got what he was looking for. But...
"No explanation about it!" Zhu Su sighed. The book only recorded that persimmon has the efficacy of "Lowering the Rebellious Qi of Stomach * which causes hiccups". The book even mentioned that persimmon was good for the stomach, because Excessive Qi Stomach which damages the body can be disposed by being "lowered back into the stomach from which it originates".
Zhu Su reached for another book. It led him to the same result as before. He was not satisfied, he kept looking to the others. It was still the same. In fact, the more he read, the greater the feeling he got that persimmon was really good for health and had no harmful effect in the slightest.
"But Xing has already become the victim. I never think that he can be wrong. There must be some kinds of problem. It's just..." He glanced reluctantly at the pile of books he had just read. "Or maybe these books recorded the wrong information? Hmm, I would be rude to the authors of these books if I think so..."
"What's this?"
The question asked in such a loud voice immediately caught the attention of the entire room, including Zhu Su. They were all staring at Xue Mei. She was looking in amazement at a leaf held by a very chubby-faced young woman.
"I ate these leaves, then my face becomes like this," the woman said. She looked in much trouble as she spoke.
Zhu Su sprang out of his seat and approached the woman. "What's going on with you?"
As Zhu Su approached her, the young woman got up in hurry to pay her respects. "Greetings to Your Highness!" Xue Mei did the same.
"What's wrong with your face?" Zhu Su asked. He observed the woman's face thoroughly.
"Um... a few days ago when looking for the plants to eat, my father found this plant. I was so woeful because of hunger and had constantly complained of hunger, so my desperate father gave me lots of these plants even though he had no idea about them. And my face becomes like this."
Observing more carefully, the woman did not have a chubby face. She was thin, to possess a chubby face must be strange to her. It turned out that her face was swollen. And the swelling was large and irritating enough that it troubled her in opening her mouth.
"I've never seen such kind of leaf before," Xue Mei added. "Can it be a poisonous plant?"
Zhu Su observed much closer to the plant. This leaf was a bit like chard... but there was something different. The tips of it were sharp and the edges were wavy.
"Well, let's find out the information about this leaf." Zhu Su took his books, started flipping the pages one by one. Xue Mei also gave him help.
"I find it! Your Highness, take a look at this!" Xue Mei pointed at a yellowish, indistict-printed page. It was the image of a leaf quite similar to the one they were examining.
Zhu Su observed it. They were identical at first glance. But when he took a closer look, there were several differences between the leaf and the image.
"No… this leaf has fewer sharp edges than this image… and it is shorter and smaller…" Zhu Su concluded.
"Huh? Even though it looks similar, but evidently it's different!..." Xue Mei also looked carefully at the leaf, because she still felt that the image was exactly the same as their leaf.
"That's the difficulty of differentiating the plants. They are often very identical to one another. We are just discussing leaf and not yet observing the roots and the stems. In materia medica, It is quite difficult to distinguish the roots and the stems, we need to focus so much to be able to distinguish them. And this is what makes the people eat the wrong plants and as a result, various kinds of diseases appear."
"Besides, the images in this book are blurry, a little inaccurate and you can get the wrong view," Xue Mei added.
They also explored the other books, but still could not find the data they were looking for.
...
* All of the human organs have a normal direction of Qi flow. Rebellious Qi is when the flow of Qi is moving in a direction other than the intended direction. For example, Qi of Stomach must go downward. But in this case, it is instead upwards. It can cause several symptomps such as vomiting, nausea, hiccup and belching.