Chapter 315 Experiment
“Then, grandfather, may I go to Ninghai?”
The woman’s purpose in coming here today was to have the old man give her permission to leave Yan Jing and go to Ninghai. Even if she couldn’t meet her son, seeing him from a distance would lessen her yearning.
“It’s been over twenty years, do they still watch you like a criminal?”
The old man’s expression grew serious. The dignity of one who has long resided in a superior position seemed to freeze the air. “Humph, I haven’t died yet. They don’t make the decisions in this household yet.”
“Nothing like that, I’m just giving you notice ahead of time, in case people say I am going against my promise.”
The woman’s mood improved greatly and she smiled brightly.
“Go. If anyone dares to say anything about this, tell them I gave you the task of preparing a birthday gift for Mr. Bai. If they don’t believe you, they can come ask me.”
The old man drew back his dignity and huffed coldly. “Let’s see if my words still carry weight in this household.”
“Thank you, grandfather. I will do this well so that Mr. Bai has nothing to say about it.”
“Go, if you manage to have the Master of the Divine Burin make something, bring it back for me to see first.”
In his early years, his favorite hobby was drinking. As he grew older, he quit drinking under the doctor’s advice. Now, jade sculptures, root sculptures, Peking Opera, calligraphy, bonsai plants, and tea were his greatest joys. Earlier, he had heard stories of the Master of the Divine Burin and had been disdainful, thinking they were all exaggerations.
But after seeing the moonlight lion, he was completely conquered by the Master of the Divine Burin’s skill. Now he could not wait to see his new work.
“Rest a.s.sured, I’ll bring back for you to see first. I’m leaving now!”
The woman’s heart had long flown like a bird to Ning Hai. She did not waste a single moment in bidding the old man farewell. She had to quickly make arrangements for matters at hand and immediately go to Ning Hai to see the child she thought about day and night.
“Go, be careful on the way!”
The old man watched as the woman left joyfully. A trace of regret flashed through his eyes and he mumbled to himself. “Girl, go, that child is in Ninghai, right? It’s been more than twenty years, and it’s time you saw him. Back then, it was my mistake. One false-step and I destroyed almost your entire life. Before I go, my biggest wish is to make up some of what I owe you.”
Twenty years ago, an arrogant, iron-blooded, and heartless him had retreated from the front lines because of illness. It was also at a time when he could not make ends meet. It was because of this that he had greedily accepted his family’s marriage plan. He wanted to use the marriage to help the later generations of his family move forward. Unexpectedly, in the end, he had caused his favorite great-granddaughter a lifetime of misfortune.
Over these years, he had grown older and come to accept many things. He also felt more regard for family and thus his att.i.tude had relaxed.
The woman had no idea that her seemingly flawless plan to use this opportunity did not fool this wise and intelligent old man at all. He allowed her to go to Ninghai out of his guilty conscience and a desire to fulfill her wish.
For five days, Ding Ning did not leave the laboratory. He did not change, did not sleep, and did not eat as he investigated. A tiny piece of ganoderma lucidum contained millions upon millions of micro-organisms. He had to eliminate them one by one to find the ones responsible for cloning and activating.
It was a ma.s.sive undertaking to find two micro-organisms among millions. Ding Ning even contacted Princ.i.p.al Lu and asked for an electron microscope, worth a million, to successfully filter out what was needed.
Of course, it would be better to use Absolute Touch than an electron microscope but he could not sustain such output. This was not a matter of finding something with a clue. He needed to examine each micro-organism and eliminate them one by one. He had to constantly monitor its life pattern and discover its specialty through a.n.a.lysis.
When he came across a suspicious micro-organism, Ding Ning had to move it into a sterile environment to raise. He had to observe it constantly and gather data and only in the end, could he determine whether it was a micro-organism he needed.
Ding Luoxue was very well-behaved. She didn’t make any noise and did not disturb Ding Ning. Every day, she sat with her jaw on her hands and watched him work with interest.
When it was time to eat, she would cook for him. When he didn’t have time to eat, she would patiently heat and re-heat the food again and again for him.
It was fortunate that Ding Ning’s spiritual strength was so strong to be able to do such high-intensity work for five days consecutively without resting.
Finally, after all the micro-organisms had been filtered, Ding Ning eliminated most of the micro-organisms. Only a thousand or so were left and they were rotationally raised in sterile environments for further a.n.a.lysis and observation.
After the National Day holiday, the students returned once more to school. Ding Ning stretched and apologetically accepted the food Luoxue handed him and shoveled it into his mouth. “Luoxue, you don’t have to stay here with me every day. Go out and play.”
“Brother, I like keeping you company!”
Luoxue’s eyes were filled with immovable softness. Pouting, she said, tenderly, “Although you are very handsome when you’re focused on work, you haven’t slept in five days!”
Ding Ning scratched his head and touched his bird-nest like hair. Shock appeared in his bloodshot eyes. “So fast? It’s been five days already? I thought it’s only been two days.”
“It’s already been five days, if you don’t rest, your body won’t keep up.”
Luoxue gave out commands like a housekeeper. “Eat then go to bed.”
“I can’t. Time is tight and the work is important. I need to constantly observe these micro-organisms and bacteria to see if they change and record down the data. Otherwise, who knows when I’ll find the micro-organism I need?”
Ding Ning had burned a lot of energy to rescue Xiao Nuo and had not completely recovered. These few days, he had not felt anything through his concentrated focus but now that he had stopped, a powerful wave of tiredness made him yawn uncontrollably.
“I don’t care. If you don’t rest, I won’t allow you to continue the experiment. These two days won’t matter.”
It was the first time Ding Luoxue had been so stubborn and firm. Ding Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Alright, alright, alright, my little wife. I’ll eat then sleep, alright?”
“Alright, you said it. Don’t you dare go back on your words!”
A happy smile appeared on Ding Luoxue’s stern face.
“You are like a housekeeper!”
Ding Ning rubbed Luoxue’s head affectionately and finished his food in a few big bites. He stood and headed to his room. “I’m going to sleep, happy?”
“Yes, go sleep, I’ll go do the dishes. Oh, right, shower first then sleep. You’ll be more comfortable…”
Ding Luoxue had not finished speaking when Ding Ning’s snore came from the bed.
After she quietly cleaned up the dishes, Luoxue sat on the side of the bed and looked tenderly at the stubble on Ding Ning’s chin. His entire person had gotten skinnier.
After some thought, Luoxue locked the door. She took off Ding Ning’s clothes and carried him into the bathroom. She helped him shave then slowly washed his body.
After the shower, she dried him off and carried him back to the bed. Only then did she curl up in his arms with a smile and fell into a heavy sleep with him.
Ding Ning slept for a day and a night. This was the first time he had slept for so long after swallowing the Dragon Pill. Usually, two hours of deep sleep was enough for him. It was clear just how tired he was this time.
Of course, most importantly, he had over-exerted himself in healing Xiao Nuo and had damaged his essence. Even the double-sided Buddha would become dispirited.
So even though it was a day and night of deep sleep, Ding Ning still felt sore all over when he woke up. It was as if he had been brutally beaten up.
Luoxue had woken up long ago but had not wanted to give up his embrace. She stared at him with her big eyes.
“What are you looking at?”
Ding Ning asked affectionately. He saw that she was looking at him the moment he opened his eyes.
“Not looking at anything!”
Luoxue blushed and stuck out her tongue.
“Ah, you dare to take advantage of me while I’m sleeping?”
It was only now that Ding Ning noticed that they were both naked and there was the scent of body wash on him. He pinched her perky little nose.
“Brother, you’re hungry, right? I’ll go make food!”
Luoxue agilely got up to cook for him but was pressed beneath Ding Ning’s body. “I want to eat you.”
…
After rolling around with Luoxue, Ding Ning shockingly discovered that romping around with her was better for recovery than deep sleep. His entire person felt energized and even the double-sided Buddha was no longer so dispirited.
This was a good way of recovering. Ding Ning stroked his chin and looked at the embarra.s.sed Luoxue with evil intent.
His expression scared Luoxue. She thought he wanted to continue. Although her body far exceeded that of normal people after being modified, it still could not withstand his endless a.s.sault.
Fortunately, Ding Ning’s mind was on the experiment. After taking advantage of Luoxue, he once again threw himself into observing the experiment. Luoxue let out a long breath.
In the following days, Ding Ning’s experiment became noticeably easier. After all, he only had to record down the data for the micro-organisms every few hours and switch out a new batch every twenty-four hours.
In his spare time, he chatted with Luoxue, cooked with her, and cleaned with her, living a sweet and loving domestic life. This made Luoxue smile with blissful happiness.
In the blink of an eye, another seven days went by. On this day, Ding Ning finally found the two micro-organisms he needed, cloning and activation. He confirmed that these were species not yet discovered in science. Or in other words, perhaps they had been seen before, but no one had understood their properties.
Because these two micro-organisms were very special. They were like a pair of twins. Only when they were together could they trigger their cloning and activation effects.
Ding Ning had only discovered this after thousands of micro-organisms had failed and he had mixed them together in anger to observe. Only then did he make the discovery, making him sigh in relief.
The cloning micro-organism resembled a grain of rice and the activation micro-organism resembled a bean sprout, thus, so Ding Ning named them rice and bean sprout.
At this moment, he had no idea what kind of waves, these micro-organisms he had so casually named, would cause in the scientific world.
With the first stage of the task complete, Ding Ning quickly entered the second phase of experimentation which was to find a plant or animal that could take the place of ganoderma lucidum and have suitable conditions for rice and bean sprout.
After all, to create a new antibiotic, large amounts of rice and bean sprout would be needed. The amount that could be raised in a laboratory was far from enough.
Pigs, cows, sheep, horses, dogs, donkeys, swans, and other such animals were endlessly sent into the laboratory. Experimentation proved that these animals had rice and bean sprouts within them but only in small amounts.
This made Ding Ning develop a daring hypothesis. He hypothesized that human and animals’ self-healing ability came from these two micro-organisms.
This hypothesis was proven when Ding Ning gritted his teeth and sliced off a piece of flesh from his arm. By examining the two most lively micro-organisms during the recovery period, he discovered they were indeed rice and bean sprout.
This greatly roused Ding Ning’s spirits and he focused his attention on fire-bellied salamanders, earthworms, sea cuc.u.mbers, and starfish.
After obtaining these four creatures and dissecting them and after much comparison, Ding Ning finally chose starfish to carry out the extraction.