Chapter 2419 — Easily Solved
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
After studying it a while, cold sweat broke out on Kang Jinglong's forehead! But Kang Jinglong was a PhD after all. Though he could not make sense of what the prescription was for, he did know what scorched betel nut was, so he said outright, "This scorched betel nut is one of the Four Scorched Immortals — namely scorched hawthorn, scorched malt, scorched medicated leaven, and scorched betel nut. The medicinal effects of these four are much the same: all are fine remedies for undigested food accumulation, poor appetite, and weak digestion! So this scorched betel nut could be replaced by any one of the other three among the Four Scorched Immortals — and as for the effect, it should be about the same!"
"Is that so?" Wang Xinyan nodded thoughtfully. "But what exactly is this prescription for? Why can't I make sense of it?"
"This prescription is basically for undigested food accumulation and poor appetite; it probably also soothes the liver and harmonizes the stomach," Kang Jinglong said offhandedly.
"Once you make that substitution, the prescription's effect is greatly diminished! Undigested food accumulation and poor appetite — this is nothing of the sort. This is plainly a formula for stopping diarrhea and curing dysentery. Scorched betel nut has the property of stopping diarrhea and curing dysentery — where among the other drugs you named is there any such thing?" Wei Zhao shot Kang Jinglong a glance and said coolly.
"You... then you tell me, what is this prescription for?" Kang Jinglong's face soured at once at being talked down by Wei Zhao. Though Wei Zhao had a point — scorched betel nut did indeed possess that additional property — he felt Wei Zhao was quibbling. How could this prescription be called a formula for stopping diarrhea and curing dysentery?
"You can't make sense of this prescription? I'd have thought this was precisely what your Kang family does best." Wei Zhao glanced at Kang Jinglong and explained, "Look at this prescription as two prescriptions split apart: one for stopping diarrhea and curing dysentery, and one for nursing and replenishing the body after the diarrhea and dysentery are stopped."
"Ah?" Kang Jinglong was stunned. He looked closely — and was that not exactly the case? He had been bound by the habit of thinking one prescription, one effect, and had never once considered that these were two unrelated formulas kneaded into one. No wonder he could not make sense of it.
Only, Wei Zhao's remark that this was what the Kang family did best left Kang Jinglong's face smarting. The Kang family's earlier weight-loss medicine had played exactly this sort of trick, and when Dr. Guan's Pharmaceutical later exposed it, it had become a tremendous disgrace for the Kang Divine Physician Pharmaceutical Company.
"Oh? So it was that simple..." Wang Xinyan said, suddenly enlightened. She had been mulling this problem over for several days; it was one of the thinking questions Chief Bai had assigned, though no standard answer had been provided.
It was said that among the bonus questions on the final exam, two would be picked at random from the bonus questions Chief Bai assigned during ordinary lessons and used as part of the exam. But these questions were all bizarre, and Chief Bai never supplied the answers — one had to wait until after the exam for the explanation — so the classmates could only puzzle them out on their own.
Wang Xinyan had originally meant to ask Wei Zhao, but then it occurred to her that he had not attended class for a long while and ought first to hurry and catch up on the lessons, so she had not asked. As it happened, Kang Jinglong walked right into the line of fire.
Wang Xinyan's "so simple" was spoken from the heart. But when it fell on Kang Jinglong's ears, it sounded thoroughly mocking — after all, Kang Jinglong was a doctoral student, and the gulf between his learning and that of these ordinary undergraduates fresh into their first year was like heaven and earth!