Chapter 373: Chapter 210: A Tire Can Be Mended, but Who Can Bring a Person Back from the Dead?

Inside the Yan Mansion, Gu Gaoxu laughed a few times to break the brief, awkward silence. "Brother Lu," he said, "I was just kidding. Let’s get back to business."

Gu Gaoxu picked up a thick ledger from a table and placed it on the one in front of Lu Yuan. "Brother Lu, this is the business report for the Yandu factories over the last six months. Take a look."

Lu Yuan took the ledger and casually flipped through a few pages. The handwriting was neat, with no signs of alteration. All income and expenses, large and small, were recorded with perfect clarity.

’Whoever did these books must have been an accountant in a past life.’

After scanning it for about ten seconds, Lu Yuan closed the ledger and said, "Of course I trust you, brother. This ledger is incredibly detailed. Who was in charge of keeping it? This person is worth promoting."

Gu Gaoxu thought for a moment and said, "He’s a new Scholar who passed the exam this year. My old man took a liking to him and recruited him, and now I’ve borrowed him."

Gu Gaoxu thought some more, then continued, "His original name was something like Li Xiaosan’Er. My old man thought it sounded awful, so he gave him the name Li Chun. Oh, right, he should be from your Taiping City."

Lu Yuan remembered. Wasn’t that the land the Martial Hall in Taiping City was renting? They were renting it from Li Xiaosan’Er’s family.

Back when Li Xiaosan’Er was destitute, Lu Yuan had rented his land for twenty taels of silver a year.

’The kid’s got ambition. He scraped together enough money for the journey, passed the exam to become a Scholar this year, and didn’t let my efforts go to waste.’

Seeing Lu Yuan lost in thought, Gu Gaoxu asked, "Brother Lu, don’t tell me you know him?"

Lu Yuan replied, "I don’t. Taiping City is a big place; I can’t possibly know everyone."

’Li Chun has his own path to walk. How he fares from now on is up to his own fortune. I’ve already done all I can to help.’

Lu Yuan patted the ledger and said, "The numbers in here look right, but what’s this one expense for tens of thousands of silver taels?"

Gu Gaoxu chuckled sheepishly. "Brother Lu, you know what it is. It’s for that handful of golden beans from yesterday. Just deduct it from my share."

Gu Gaoxu made a gesture with his hands.

"Alright, it doesn’t matter." Lu Yuan wasn’t going to quibble over such details with Gu Gaoxu.

In the end, Lu Yuan took a little under two hundred thousand taels of silver, which was his rightful share.

Over the next few days, Lu Yuan arranged for his trusted subordinates to load the silver taels onto carts to be taken back to Taiping City.

Of course, seven or eight carts wouldn’t be nearly enough to transport all that silver.

So, Lu Yuan also exchanged some of it for several stacks of high-denomination silver notes, as well as gold.

Lu Yuan found a Goldsmith and had him melt down the golden beans that Gu Gaoxu had specially made.

Gu Gaoxu had even asked, "Brother Lu, why in the world are you melting down the golden beans? They were perfectly fine."

Lu Yuan’s reply was, "Golden beans are easy to lose on a long journey. It’s better to melt them into one large piece."

"That makes sense."

Besides being busy with the factory’s profit-sharing, Lu Yuan spent his time in his villa studying Alchemy.

In the study, Lu Yuan flipped through the "Secret Manual of Alchemy," feeling that the things recorded inside were simply outrageous.

There were many medicinal ingredients for refining Elixirs that Lu Yuan had never even heard of.

Just looking at the secret manual’s table of contents, he saw that Elixirs were divided into Human Level, Earth Level, and Celestial Level.

Lu Yuan hadn’t even refined a Lower Grade Human Level Elixir yet.

Pills like the Five Sons Inheriting Pill, the Whole Deer Pill, and the Six-Flavor Rehmannia Pill were considered the lowest of the low among Human Level Elixirs.

To achieve the effects of a Human Level Inferior Elixir, you could just mix some traditional medicinal ingredients, put them in a small pot, and simmer them for a while. The resulting medicinal soup would have the same effect.

However, many Human Level Inferior Elixirs lacked lasting effects. For example, the Six-Flavor Rehmannia Pill could regulate the body but couldn’t provide a permanent cure. You’d feel stronger as soon as you took it, but you’d feel weak as soon as you stopped.

Human Level Middle Grade Elixirs could relax the muscles and improve circulation, lower high blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. For these kinds of illnesses, one could say the cure was instantaneous.

In modern times, people with "diseases of affluence" take blood pressure medication or inject insulin, but these only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

But with these Human Level Middle Grade Elixirs, taking just two or three would be a complete cure.

If these existed in the modern world, where three Human Level Middle Grade Elixirs could cure high blood sugar, and one cost a hundred thousand, would you buy it or not?

The effects of a Human Level Superior Elixir were even better. If you carved a piece of flesh from your thigh and took the pill, you could watch the missing flesh grow back with your own eyes. It was that miraculous.

Lu Yuan read the "Secret Manual of Alchemy" with great interest, occasionally licking his finger to turn the pages—a habit he’d learned from his grandmother.

Lu Yuan flipped to the last page, turned the book over and back a few times, and checked again and again in disbelief.

"That’s it? It just stops after the Human Level Superior Elixirs? Why is this secret manual only half-finished?"

Looking at the end of the secret manual, it didn’t seem like any pages had been torn out, but he still felt it wasn’t complete.

’Could it be that my daughter’s system rewards are different from others’?’

Lu Yuan was baffled but had no one to complain to.

Compared to other secret manuals, Lu Yuan was quite fond of this "Secret Manual of Alchemy."

Not only did it explain how to perform Alchemy, but it also provided the formulas for Human Level Elixirs.

Lu Yuan had already checked Gu Gaochi’s pulse yesterday to assess his physical condition.

Using the four diagnostic methods of traditional medicine, Lu Yuan had a general idea of his ailments.

Gu Gaochi wasn’t just simply obese; his obesity had led to other health problems.

Gu Gaochi walked with a slight limp, giving him an uneven appearance, much like someone with uneven shoulders.

Gu Gaochi’s immense weight, combined with poor posture, put more pressure on one leg, causing the limp.

This symptom was hardly noticeable compared to Gu Gaochi’s bloated figure.

People might say Gu Gaochi was fat, but no one would comment that he had a slight limp.

By taking his pulse, Lu Yuan also diagnosed Gu Gaochi with high blood pressure. If it wasn’t managed and controlled, it could lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in a few years.