Chapter 157: Miracle Medicine

These were seven or eight maids dressed in maid uniforms, their clothes clean and tidy as they chatted and laughed while walking out of the market.

The maid uniform was effectively the “professional attire” of domestic servants.

Shen Bao had once lavishly praised maid uniforms as a symbol of the awakening consciousness of domestic servants, saying that they had begun to understand how to package themselves in order to obtain more employment opportunities.

At this time, the best way for rural women to seek work outside their hometowns was not to enter factories, but to become maids.

First, maids ate well and received food and lodging.

Second, maids had free time and did not have to work as exhaustingly as factory laborers.

Third, maids had extra income.

Particularly for maids with sweet tongues and nimble fingers, substantial side earnings could be made.

A capable maid who worked efficiently and earned her employer’s favor could actually make forty to fifty yuan in legal tender per month, or even more, whereas female workers in textile factories earned only fifteen yuan a month, sometimes less.

In fact, these maids were the customers most welcomed by the market vendors.

What maids valued was freshness and nutrition.

Price was often not their primary concern.

Cheng Qianfan spotted Aunt Shao.

Among this group of middle-aged maids, she was obviously quite popular.

She chatted as she walked with the others.

Whatever the topic was, it repeatedly triggered bursts of laughter among the women.

Cheng Qianfan rather admired this.

Following his professional instincts, he assessed that Aunt Shao’s integration into the community of maids was itself a source of intelligence.

Most of these maids worked for celebrities, politicians, and wealthy people living on Avenue Massenet.

Their casual conversations often revealed useful information.

What he needed to do now was pass the intelligence without anyone noticing.

His gaze settled on a little boy accompanying an elderly man shopping for groceries.

The little boy was very mischievous.

He kept trying to secretly “steal” fish from his grandfather’s basket to play with.

Just as the boy reached out again to tug on a fish’s tail, Cheng Qianfan casually nudged the basket.

The basket tilted.

The live fish whose tail the boy was pulling seized the opportunity and jumped out.

The little boy froze in confusion.

Cheng Qianfan stepped forward and casually gave it a kick.

The fish landed right beside the group of middle-aged maids.

The old man immediately flicked his grandson on the forehead.

The boy burst into tears and hurried after the fish.

A small commotion broke out.

Some of the maids helped catch the fish.

Others laughed heartily.

This was a fish Cheng Qianfan admired.

To avoid ending up in a cooking pot, it flopped desperately across the dirt ground, making itself surprisingly difficult to catch.

And at that very moment, Cheng Qianfan left carrying the wooden bucket.

As he passed beside Aunt Shao, the matchbox in his hand slipped unnoticed into the bottom of her vegetable basket, and he gently pulled a salted fish over it to conceal it.

One minute later, the escaped fish was captured.

By then, Cheng Qianfan had already quietly departed with the bucket.

“Let’s go.”

Cheng Qianfan found the waiting rickshaw puller and climbed aboard.

Zhao Wenhua appeared to be in his fifties.

He wore gold-rimmed glasses and a white medical coat.

When Cheng Qianfan entered carrying the wooden bucket, the renowned Shanghai physician was bent over his desk writing.

“Old Sir Zhao.”

“And you are?”

Zhao Wenhua looked up and adjusted his glasses, examining the handsome young man carrying a wooden bucket.

“I have arrived late and hope Old Sir will forgive me.”

Cheng Qianfan set down the bucket and apologized respectfully.

He was about seven or eight minutes late.

“You’re that colleague of He Guan’s.”

Recognition dawned on Zhao Wenhua’s face, and he actually rose excitedly to greet him.

Cheng Qianfan was rather surprised.

He had heard of this man before.

He was known for his foul temper and unsmiling demeanor.

His attitude toward police officers had never been particularly friendly.

Previously, a constable from Mylan Police Station had been injured.

Because the wound was in a particularly sensitive location and required exceptional surgical skill, the station had sent their colleague to Guangci Hospital and requested Zhao Wenhua personally perform the operation.

Zhao Wenhua had not refused and had successfully completed the surgery.

However, throughout the entire process he had worn a dark expression and spoken extremely unpleasant words.

The general meaning was that he was saving the man because it was a doctor’s duty, though unfortunately the person being saved was a beast who had fired bullets at his own countrymen.

Previously, there had been a workers’ strike in the Mylan district.

The police station had been dispatched to suppress it.

This particular constable had shot and killed a female worker.

“Inspector Cheng, did you bring the medicine?” Zhao Wenhua asked urgently.

Only then did Cheng Qianfan understand.

This Doctor Zhao was still the same foul-tempered old man.

Zhao Wenhua’s enthusiasm was not directed toward him.

It was directed toward the medicine.

“No.”

Cheng Qianfan shook his head.

“No?”

Zhao Wenhua’s expression immediately changed.

With a cold snort, he said, “Surely Inspector Cheng did not come here merely to amuse himself at this old man’s expense?”

“Please don’t be anxious, Old Sir Zhao.”

Cheng Qianfan smiled.

“I came directly from the police station. Surely I could not be carrying medicine around with me.”

Zhao Wenhua’s expression softened somewhat.

“Then what is the purpose of your visit today, Inspector Cheng?”

“To tell the truth, I know very little about this new medicine, sulfanilamide. I came specifically to seek your guidance.”

“What, now even police officers need to understand medicine?”

Zhao Wenhua sneered.

“Police officers do not need to understand medicine, but businessmen ought to understand the goods in their possession.”

Cheng Qianfan smiled.

“I hope Doctor Zhao will be willing to enlighten me.”

“To Inspector Cheng, a medicine that saves lives is merely merchandise reeking of copper coins.”

Zhao Wenhua spoke sarcastically.

Cheng Qianfan felt a headache coming on.

This old man truly had a terrible impression of policemen.

His foul temper was indeed well deserved of its reputation.

He decided to change tactics.

Since polite conversation would not work, he would have to be more forceful.

“I can provide Doctor Zhao with one box of sulfanilamide free of charge.”

Cheng Qianfan said.

“On the condition that Doctor Zhao answers my questions.”

“And if this old man refuses?”

“Then I’m afraid Doctor Zhao will be disappointed.”

After hearing this, Zhao Wenhua snorted.

Strangely, he stopped speaking with open hostility.

“What do you want to know?”

“I once read one of Doctor Zhao’s articles in Liangyi.”

Cheng Qianfan said.

“But the article was filled with terms such as amino-sulfonyl groups. Regrettably, my education is lacking, and I found it extremely obscure and difficult to understand.”

“I hope Doctor Zhao can tell me plainly, what exactly is sulfanilamide used for?”

That was correct.

When Cheng Qianfan had first heard the name “sulfanilamide” from Pete, it had sounded somewhat familiar.

This morning, after hearing He Guan mention Zhao Wenhua’s interest in the drug, he finally remembered.

He had once read an article in the journal Liangyi that repeatedly mentioned the chemical term “amino-sulfonyl group.”

The author of that article was Zhao Wenhua.

It had been an extremely technical article.

Cheng Qianfan had not really understood it.

The one thing he remembered was Zhao Wenhua’s assertion that if this Western discovery proved effective, it would save countless wounded and sick patients.

That was why the otherwise obscure article had remained in his memory.

“You’ve read my article?”

Zhao Wenhua was greatly surprised.

“I have indeed read Doctor Zhao’s work. Unfortunately, my level of education is insufficient and I could not understand much of it. I am deeply ashamed.”

Hearing that Cheng Qianfan had read the article, Zhao Wenhua’s opinion of him improved somewhat.

As for Cheng Qianfan admitting he could not understand it, Zhao Wenhua considered that perfectly normal.

Liangyi was a small publication established by several highly accomplished surgeons and science professors in Shanghai.

Its primary purpose was internal research exchange and communication among leading professionals.

“How did you come into possession of a copy of Liangyi?” Zhao Wenhua asked in puzzlement.

Cheng Qianfan felt that the old man’s habit of probing every matter to the bottom was extremely annoying.

Why ask so many questions?

Fortunately, he had a legitimate answer.

“A friend of mine studies medicine at National Fudan University. I happened to see it through him.”

Zhao Wenhua nodded.

He was not deliberately trying to pry into everything.

It was simply his nature.

He asked questions instinctively.

Despite Zhao Wenhua’s earlier hostility and obvious dislike of Cheng Qianfan as a policeman.

Despite his intense distaste for Cheng Qianfan’s threat to withhold the medicine unless he explained things.

Once the discussion turned to professional matters, and especially to sulfanilamide, the old man immediately became animated and eloquent.

Many of the technical terms still made little sense to Cheng Qianfan.

However, he grasped the most important information.

This was a new medicine being studied by numerous European scientists, one that had already caused a sensation within medical circles.

The drug possessed exceptional antibacterial properties and was a blessing for wounded patients.

Zhao Wenhua never specifically mentioned gunshot wounds.

But Cheng Qianfan immediately thought of gunshot treatment.

If sulfanilamide truly possessed the miraculous effects Zhao Wenhua so enthusiastically described, then it was unquestionably a miracle medicine.