From what Gu Qi Sha knew of Han Yunxi’s skills, she’d recognize that it was more than just antidote to Broomcorn Millet Poison with a glance. She wouldn’t have to resort to reagents just to know. Still, he silently admired her skills to divide the antidote from the fake powders with such skill. Even he himself couldn’t compare.
He took the bottle of antidote and weighed it in his hand. According to his calculations, Long Feiye had already used up two parts of it.
“Han Yunxi, simply filling up the bottle with stray powders of your own to trick others doesn’t seem like Qin w.a.n.gfei’s style,” Gu Qi Sha smiled disdainfully. His words were clearly insinuating that Han Yunxi was making up the claims herself.
She had long expected this, so she’d made her own preparations. Slowly settling into her seat, she said, “Gu Qi Sha, the Serpent Fruit that His Highness gave you must have weighed around three liang and two qian (~160g), right?”1
“So what if it did?” Gu Qi Sha couldn’t make things up about that bit of info.
“You’re certain?” Han Yunxi wanted a definite answer.
“Yes!” Gu Qi Sha admitted openly.
“Very good. Then according to the directions for Broomcorn Millet Poison antidote, a three liang and two qian Serpent Fruit, if used up completely, is enough to fill one and a half bottle’s worth of antidote. May I ask if you used all of the Serpent Fruit?” Han Yunxi grew serious.
Gu Qi Sha’s eyes flickered with admiration, never expecting Han Yunxi to calculate quant.i.ties this way. Of course, it didn’t scare him. The one he was trapping was Long Feiye, so he’d gone to no ends of trouble to tighten the noose. He glanced at Long Feiye and saw the man still leisurely drinking his tea as if he was watching a play.
You can relax all you wait. See if you can still keep your cool later!
“I didn’t use it all!” Gu Qi Sha replied.
Han Yunxi nodded. “Then how much did you use?”
Gu Qi Shao’s eyes flickered shrewdly before he replied, “One liang and seven qian (~85g).”
Han Yunxi grew puzzled. “You’re certain?”
Why did Gu Qi Sha say a number like that? If he only used two liang and seven qian’s worth of Serpent Fruit, then he should have made enough antidote to fill the entire bottle.
But he’d only given Long Feiye a bottle that was eight parts full. Isn’t doing that just making it obvious that he cheated Long Feiye?
“Absolutely certain!” Gu Qi Sha said coldly.
“One liang and seven qian’s worth of Serpent Fruit is enough to make a full bottle of antidote, yet you only gave us one that was eight parts full. What do you mean by that?” Han Yunxi pressed.
Instantly, Gu Qi Sha struck the table and stood up in anger. “Han Yunxi, if you two want to cheat this old fellow, then you shouldn’t treat me as an idiot! I clearly gave away a full bottle of antidote!” His eyes flashed to Long Feiye as he exclaimed, “Duke of Qin, you speak!”
Long Feiye glanced back and objected, “It was only eight parts full.”
“Long Feiye, you!” Gu Qi Sha grew furious.
Long Feiye ignored him. It was impossible to prove anything without the evidence. Under those circ.u.mstances, ‘trust’ became more important. Naturally, Han Yunxi would only trust Long Feiye. Her main point of contention wasn’t even whether the bottle had been originally eight parts or completely full, because she could calculate that perfectly based on the remaining quant.i.ty of Serpent Fruit.
“It’s useless to argue over details. If you said it was completely full, then it was completely full,” Han Yunxi said generously.
Gu Qi Sha had long foreseen that Han Yunxi would only trust Long Feiye when the circ.u.mstances were unclear, so he simply waited for her to continue her a.n.a.lysis.
“Gu Qi Sha, so you used two liang and seven qian of Serpent Fruit to create a full bottle of antidote, am I right?” Han Yunxi reiterated the facts.
“Yes!” Gu Qi Sha answered loudly.
“Then where are the remaining five qian of Serpent Fruit powder?” Han Yunxi asked.
The handling of Serpent Fruit had very specific directions. One had to first split it in half and pound each half into powder before mixing them together to create something with medicinal properties. For example, Gu Qi Sha once had his own Serpent Fruit, but after Long Feiye ruined most of it, it was now unusable. Whether or not he still had Serpent Fruit powder from the one he used for the antidote was still a question up in the air. He looked at Han Yunxi and didn’t reply.
“Where is it?” Han Yunxi asked again.
“Qin w.a.n.gfei, although you’re not part of the medical community, you should know our customs, correct?” Gu Qi Sha finally asked. What he meant was that when a person didn’t need the leftover ingredients from making medicine, the remnants could be rightfully claimed by the prescription maker instead.
Naturally, Han Yunxi knew all this already, but she replied, “You should know that this w.a.n.gfei’s an outsider to the community. Of course I don’t understand!”
“Then I’ll tell you. This old fellow made the antidote, so the leftovers belong to me. n.o.body’s taking them away from me!” Gu Qi Sha said in an arrogant tone.
“And this w.a.n.gfei’s already said that I don’t understand such customs. Are you handing over the powder or not?” Han Yunxi’s words took on the hint of a threat while Long Feiye rose to his feet. For all appearances, he looked like an a.s.sa.s.sin that Han Yunxi had brought along who would kill with her command. Resenting the sight, Gu Qi Sha refused to budge.
Still, when Long Feiye went for his sword, he quickly spoke up, “Forget it, forget it! This old man used up all the Serpent Fruit, all right?!”
“All of it? That’s enough for a bottle and a half of antidote. a.s.suming you made a full bottle of antidote, there’d still be enough to fill half of another one. So where’s that half-full bottle?” Han Yunxi asked.
Gu Qi Sha fell silent again.
“Where is it?” Han Yunxi pressed. “What, does His Highness Duke of Qin have to step out if this w.a.n.gfei’s words won’t move you?” This wasn’t stepping out, but simply going to get rid of the offender!
A reluctant Gu Qi Sha finally threw a packet of snake powder over. “This is all that’s left!”
Han Yunxi knew this fellow hadn’t been spewing a shred of truth just then. Fortunately, her detox system was capable of doing very fine measurements, or else she’d be swindled thoroughly by him. She took the Serpent Powder and lightly weighed it in her hand before determining that it was about 1.5 liang (~75g). Gu Qi Sha said he only used one liang and seven qian (~85g)of the original Serpent Fruit, so the sizes of the Panoptic Red Lotus and Bear chuan couldn’t be much bigger. Otherwise, there would be less Serpent Fruit left. In other words, Gu Qi Sha couldn’t have made much antidote from the ingredients.
The original three liang two qian (~160g) Serpent Fruit, when used fully, could make one and a half bottle’s worth of antidote. Judging from that ratio, Han Yunxi could find out how much one liang and seven qian would yield her. But ratios like this weren’t deadset, as a completed prescription would cause the ingredients to react and change quant.i.ties. The actual calculations for such things was a complicated and difficult process.
But thanks to the detox system, Han Yunxi didn’t even have to wrack her brains for the answer. She simply said, “Gu Qi Sha, you used one liang and seven qian of Serpent Fruit, which is only enough to filled the bottle six-parts full with antidote!”
Six parts, or 60%!
But if Gu Qi Sha said he’d given Long Feiye a full bottle, then the remaining four parts were nothing but junk! Gu Qi Sha had done nothing but slap his own face today!
At this, Long Feiye’s lips drew up into a smile. Gu Qi Sha had been lying from the start, but this woman could break through his fabrications easily. After listening through the entire exchange, he had to admire her logic and calculation skills.
Naturally, so did Gu Qi Sha!
He figured that Han Yunxi would be able to tell the fake bits mixed into the actual antidote, but never thought she’d come up with such a precise ratio as well. He was planning to lure her into doing the actual calculations right here, but Han Yunxi had already gotten her numbers. The results only looked like a slap to his face, but that was precisely what he wanted. He was beyond thrilled by the state of things, but had to feign shame and anger.
“Han Yunxi, that’s enough! Isn’t it just a bit of antidote that I stole? I’ll just return it to you!” So speaking, he dug out a bottle from his robes and tossed it to Han Yunxi, who immediately weighed it in her hand. The bottle was only one part full!
Just then, she’d determined that Long Feiye’s eight parts full bottle only contained four parts of true antidote. Adding that to Gu Qi Sha’s portion only gave her a bottle five parts full, which meant one part was still missing! She slammed the bottle on the table and cried, “Gu Qi Sha, it’s already come to this, but you still want to hide some for yourself? There’s still one portion missing, now hand it over!”
Gu Qi Sha lost his temper too. “This old fellow gave you guys a full bottle of antidote that was filled halfway with the real thing!”
“You’ve been lying from the start, so do you think I’ll trust your words now? You obviously gave Long Feiye a bottle that was only eight parts full! And yet you still insist otherwise!” Han Yunxi retorted.
Gu Qi Sha suddenly sprang to his feet. “Han Yunxi, this old fellow might be full of nothing but lies, but I’m saying the truth now. You can go ask Long Feiye yourself whether or not I gave him a full bottle!”
Han Yunxi would never do that because she found it unnecessary. Coldly, she asked, “Why should this w.a.n.gfei believe you?”
Actually, Gu Qi Sha had prepared everything ahead of time, but now he kept quiet on purpose and refused to speak. A mocking smile rose to Han Yunxi’s smile before she confidently sat down to wait! Long Feiye was waiting as well. The actual quant.i.ties had all been brought to light, but even math wouldn’t be able to prove who got how many parts between him and Gu Qi Sha. The lack of evidence meant that it was hard for either side to prove their point.
Besides, what kind of evidence could they have? No one else had seen the bottle of antidote when he took it away, nor was it accurately measured to determine its contents. Now was a contest to see who could earn Han Yunxi’s faith more. Long Feiye continued to expressionlessly drink his tea while Han Yunxi had already started settling accounts in her head.
Suddenly, Gu Qi Sha looked up and said, “Qin w.a.n.gfei, I do have proof!”
Immediately, Long Feiye glanced over. Han Yunxi, on the other hand, couldn’t fathom where Gu Qi Sha could get evidence for such a situation. Gu Qi Sha picked up the bottle that held the antidote and took a light sniff before pouring out all its contents.
Han Yunxi shot him a doubtful look. “What are you doing?”
Gu Qi Sha didn’t speak, but smashed the bottle on the ground until it shattered into pieces. Both Long Feiye and Han Yunxi were puzzled by the sight. Just what is he doing?
Gu Qi Sha took care to pick up all the shards and and piled them on the table.
“Gu Qi Sha, what kind of proof is this?” Han Yunxi couldn’t help asking.
Gu Qi Sha’s features toyed with a smile before turning all the pieces around so that the insides were facing the sky. At this, both Long Feiye and Han Yunxi noticed an unusual detail about these fragments…