I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 176 Ghost Doctor
Tang Zhao ignored the old man and slapped Gu Ci hard. "Well water doesn't interfere with river water? You, a fish that slipped through the net of nine years of compulsory education, don't you know that well water and river water have a mutually nourishing relationship?"

Gu Ci was stunned by Tang Zhao's furious slap.

"And you! You're so old and still so immature!" Tang Zhao pointed at the old man and cursed angrily, "What kind of robbery tricks are you playing in the middle of the night? Is it fun? Is it exciting? Do you even know how to spell the word 'law'?!"

The old man shrank back in fear of Tang Zhao's imposing manner, stammering for a long time before daring to explain, "I, I just wanted to give you a surprise."

"Surprised? I can tell. What about joy?" Tang Zhao was even angrier. "If you don't give me some good news today, I'll shave all your hair off!"

Gu Ci was in so much pain that she couldn't hear clearly, but she realized that the old man in front of her knew Tang Zhao and didn't seem like someone who could harm her. She relaxed and fainted.

Tang Zhao felt a weight in his arms, stopped outputting his energy, and looked down to check Gu Ci's breath. "Is he dead?"

"No, the Thousand Machine Induction only causes pain. As long as the person affected by the Thousand Machine Induction does not commit suicide due to the pain, they will never die."

"how do you know?"

The old man proudly puffed out his chest, "Because this Thousand-Mechanism Pull was invented by me."

Tang Zhao slowly raised his head and stared at the old man: "Listen to what you're saying, is it even human language?"
The old man was also aggrieved. When he sold Qianji Yin to the Turkic prince, he didn't know that the person he was trying to harm was Gu Ci!
Even if he knew, what business is it of a medicine seller?

Who could have predicted that Emperor Kangzhi, that old geezer, would bestow Tang Zhao upon Gu Ci in marriage to bring him good fortune!

Tang Zhao pointed angrily at the old man.

The old man smiled ingratiatingly, stepped forward, and quickly sealed several major acupoints on Gu Ci's body before using acupuncture to suppress the poison from Qianji.

Seeing that the cold sweat on Gu Ci's forehead had lessened, Tang Zhao's heart eased slightly. "Can it be cured?"

"He said he was heartless towards you, yet you still wanted to cure him of his poison," the old man said, withdrawing his silver needles with suspicion and seriousness. "You haven't fallen into the trap of a man's love like your mother, have you?"

Tang Zhao chuckled. She hadn't fallen into a love trap; she was clearly tempted by the longevity offered by the system.

"It's none of your business," Tang Zhao waved his hand dismissively. "Just listen to me, you won't go wrong!"

The old man was unconvinced, but then he thought about it again. He and Renxintang had been investigating for more than ten years but had failed to find the mastermind behind it all, and this little girl had uncovered it in just one month. It was clear that the younger generation was indeed stronger than the older generation.

"It's still early before dawn, and it's too cold in the woods. Let's find somewhere to hide," Tang Zhao said, picking up Gu Ci. "Where do you live?"

The old man resigned himself to leading the way.

The two walked deeper into the forest. Tang Zhao followed the old man, making many turns for half an hour, when suddenly they smelled sulfur.

"There are hot springs?"

"Oh, little girl, you know quite a lot," the old man said, pulling out a bamboo flute from his waist. "Stay close to me, or you might lose your life if you get bitten."

Tang Zhao looked at the filth on the old man's body and stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.

You little brat, you'll see how tough she is in no time!
The old man played his bamboo flute, and after a moment, a rustling sound came from all directions. Tang Zhao looked into the distance by the moonlight and saw that the ground was covered with a dense mass of centipedes, spiders, scorpions, poisonous snakes, and many other strange animals that he had never seen before, all crawling towards him.

Ahhhhhh! Tang Zhao instantly darted behind the old man, held his breath, and closed his eyes, remaining silent no matter how the old man provoked him.

After admiring Tang Zhao's tense and frightened expression for a while, the old man finally took pity on him and said, "They've all gone far away, let's go."

Tang Zhao cautiously opened his left eye and looked around. Seeing that there were no disgusting things like scorpions or centipedes on the ground, he breathed a sigh of relief. Following behind the old man, he went around a large hot spring and a small courtyard with two courtyards came into view.

The old man pricked his fingertip, and blood dripped into the lock. Moments later, the bluestone door swung open with a loud crash.

A scene straight out of a TV drama suddenly appeared before Tang Zhao's eyes, and Tang Zhao's mouth formed an "O" shape as he felt that this world was too unscientific.

“You stay in the south room, and this kid goes to the north room,” the old man reminded him. “The east room is my pharmacy and residence. Everything in there is poisonous, so don’t go there lightly.” As he spoke, he handed Tang Zhao a box of pills. “These are for detoxification. If you feel unwell, take one.”

"Where's the poison?" Tang Zhao reached out and pinched the medicine box between two fingers.

The old man seemed to know what Tang Zhao was thinking and replied, "The air in this forest mist is mixed with the smell of poisonous plants. If you smell it for too long, you will feel dizzy and nauseous."

"What about Gu Ci?"

“He’s been poisoned by the Thousand-Mechanism Induced Poison; there’s nothing more poisonous in the forest than him,” the old man waved his hand and turned around. “I’m going to take a bath. You can go and rest after you’ve settled that brat.”

After settling Gu Ci in, Tang Zhao thought it over and over and still felt that the old man was not trustworthy, so she simply carried him back to the south room so that she could keep an eye on him at all times.

After taking a bath, the old man saw that it was still early and planned to go to the north room to take Gu Ci's pulse, but he found no one there. So he angrily went to the opposite side, saw the girl's tired sleeping face through the window, and forcibly suppressed his anger.

Girls look outwards!

Filled with deep dissatisfaction and resentment, the old man rushed into the east room to continue refining the antidote.

The next day at noon, Tang Zhao, half asleep, raised her hand to look beside her, only to find no one there. Startled, she instantly snapped awake and rushed out of the room.

Standing in the courtyard, Gu Ci heard the voice, turned around, and reminded, "Be careful."

Tang Zhao suddenly stopped and stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "Gu Ci? You're awake?"

"It's me," Gu Ci said with a smile and opened his arms.

Tang Zhao jumped down the wooden ladder and asked curiously, "What are you doing?"

Gu Ci silently withdrew his hand. "It's nothing."

"Oh," Tang Zhao circled the man twice, "Although this old man's character isn't great, his medical skills are quite good!"

"Pah!" The old man spat out a chicken bone.

"Don't talk nonsense," Gu Ci said in a low voice, "This is Senior Ghost Doctor."

Tang Zhao curled his lip, "Everyone else is a divine doctor, but he's a ghost doctor. He doesn't sound like someone from the mortal world."

Hey! You brat!
"The Ghost Doctor is a highly skilled physician, and he is best known for using poison to fight poison," Gu Ci explained, then whispered, "He not only loves to dig up graves and find fresh corpses to dissect, but he also always tries to dissect living people, which is why he is known as the Ghost Doctor."

A pioneer in surgery! Tang Zhao looked at the old man with new respect.

Tang Zhao bypassed Gu Ci and walked towards the old man squatting to the side, gnawing on roast chicken. He squatted down and asked, "Old man, have any of your patients who have been disemboweled survived?"

The old man retorted angrily, "So what if we don't have one? Who says a doctor can always cure a patient?"
Do you know why?

"He died from a persistent high fever."

Do you know why I have a high fever?

The old man scratched his chin with his oily hands. He had thought of many possibilities and ruled them out one by one.

“It’s bacteria,” Tang Zhao told him. “The world we live in contains countless bacteria.”

"Bacteria?" the old man asked, puzzled.

“Yes, although we can’t see or touch them, bacteria are everywhere,” Tang Zhao explained. “Once a person’s wound is infected by bacteria, it will become inflamed, and the body’s self-rescue system will start to work. High fever is the way to kill bacteria.”

(End of this chapter)