Miss Truth
Chapter 95 - 59 Penicillin_2

Chapter 95: Chapter 59 Penicillin_2

After finally finishing her bath, Ran Yan immediately went back to her room to grind ink and sketched down the shape of the bath tub and the appearance of the high stool. She then wrote a letter, gave it to Team Leader Yang Yong, who was guarding the manor, and asked him to send someone to deliver it to Inspector Liu immediately.

Having done all this, Ran Yan finally relaxed. After having dinner, she spent some time with Wan Lu, then went back to her bedroom to rest.

Perhaps due to exhaustion, although her sleep was filled with fragmented scenes, they never formed a coherent dream. It turned out to be the best sleep she had had in six or seven years.

In the following days, continuous rain made it inconvenient to travel. As a result, those seeking medical treatment from Ran Yan sent letters saying they didn’t dare to trouble her with a house visit and would bring the patients on the appointed date instead.

So these days, Ran Yan found herself with more free time. After seeing the patients each day, she went to see Wu Xiuhe to listen to his lectures on medicine. Ever since Ran Yan cooked that meal for him, Wu Xiuhe had clearly been even more attentive and hardworking, frequently hinting, both overtly and covertly, that she should cook a meal to reward his hard work.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and the penicillium in the culture solution was about ready for the extraction of penicillin.

Ran Yan poured the liquid from thirty petri dishes into a specially prepared barrel and then added vegetable oil to the barrel and mixed well.

The penicillium water contained fat-soluble substances, and oil could dissolve and separate these fat-soluble substances. After stirring evenly, she left it to settle.

Eventually, the substances in the barrel would separate into three layers. The top layer was fat-soluble substances dissolved by the oil, the middle layer contained insoluble substances that did not dissolve in water or oil, and since penicillin is water-soluble, the bottom layer of water contained penicillin.

The specially made barrel had a spigot at the bottom, similar to a wine barrel. When she unplugged it, the water at the very bottom slowly flowed out, and Ran Yan collected it in a porcelain bowl that had been disinfected with alcohol and distilled water.

After filtering out some of the larger impurities, she poured it into a jar, containing crushed charcoal that had been boiled for disinfection. After stirring, the charcoal absorbed the penicillin.

Xingniang, who was helping on the side, looked on with a bewildered face as Ran Yan juggled a host of bottles and jars. She couldn’t understand how a bucket of water that had mold added and then was left aside for seven days could be any different after being run through oil and charcoal.

In fact, the operations performed today were not difficult at all. The challenging part was preparing the materials. Just the alcohol and distilled water used for disinfection kept Ran Yan busily exhausted every day, especially collecting distilled water. Although it wasn’t difficult, the small quantities meant collecting a single bottle took a lot of time, and when it came time to disinfect, most of the bottle was used at once, which felt like pouring away Ran Yan’s sweat and toil!

Then there was the sodium carbonate needed for filtration, commonly known as soda ash or baking soda, which had to be made from salt, sulfuric acid, coal, and limestone. It was fortunate that Ran Yan had spent a few years under the tutelage of her chemist father, otherwise, knowing only how to extract penicillin would have been of no use at all.

After Ran Yan mixed the charcoal and aqueous substances evenly, she performed three refinements. She added: distilled water, a baking soda solution, and Weak Acid Water (vinegar + water).

The first time, she added distilled water for filtration. The water that was poured out wasn’t penicillin water solution and could be discarded.

The second time, she added Weak Acid Water, and the water filtered out was still to be thrown away.

The third step, after adding a baking soda solution, revealed the filtrated solution to be the true penicillin water solution.

Ran Yan looked at the four bottles containing the hard-won penicillin water solution, and even her typically composed demeanor slightly wavered as her eyes reddened— it had been too difficult! These past days, just working on the distilled water alone had left her back aching and sore.

Initially, when she saw the syphilis on Zi Xu’s body, Ran Yan didn’t think too much about it, because as a modern person psychologically, a modern medical researcher, she subconsciously felt that the penicillin extraction process was relatively simple. But it was only after she actually did it that she realized how without baking soda or distilled water in the Tang Dynasty, and having to grind charcoal and cook the culture solution with taro and rice...

How could such a difficult disease appear in the Great Tang! Ran Yan sighed to herself. If possible, she would rather dissect two bodies every day than manufacture penicillin!

"Wife, is this the Immortal Water?" Xingniang asked softly.

Ran Yan paused for a moment, remembering that she had initially claimed that someone had guided her in a dream, so she could only nod her head.

Ran Yan dropped two drops into another petri dish, which was harboring the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. This strain was relatively easy to acquire, so when Ran Yan spotted a bit a few days ago, she cultivated it in the culture solution to promote its growth, ending up with a full dish of bacteria today. As the penicillin water solution was dripped into the dish, the Staphylococcus aureus began to die off, quickly vacating the area where the solution had been dropped.

The effectiveness was verified, and Ran Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Had all her efforts ended in futility in this final step, she would have cried. Thankfully, the heavens had not been too harsh on her.

Ran Yan carefully stored away the few bottles of penicillin, and the heavy stone that had weighed on her heart finally lifted, leaving her feeling much lighter. She then decided to cook a meal for her amiable mentor.

Wu Xiuhe waited eagerly with his neck stretched out for quite a while. Just as Ran Yan finished the first dish, Ran Yunsheng arrived, causing the old man to blow his beard and stare with anger. The lofty image of an immortal he had painstakingly maintained collapsed in an instant. He threw tantrums and resorted to all sorts of antics.

Having no other choice, Ran Yan made his favorite dish, Braised Pork Belly, one meat dish and one vegetarian dish to comfort his somewhat shattered soul.

Ran Yunsheng laughed brightly, "Ah Yan, your mentor is really quite interesting."

Ran Yan smiled subtly, not continuing the topic, and instead asked, "Have you finished your work?"

"Did you forget?" Ran Yunsheng stopped in his tracks, reproachfully asking, "Today is the Qixi Festival! How can you, a maiden, completely forget about it?"

"Oh." Ran Yan remembered Xingniang had been bustling about since early morning.

"Hurry, go freshen up. We’ll go to the Pingjiang River tonight, Uncle also told me to take you there!" Ran Yunsheng urged urgently.

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)