Chapter 17: Aspirin Lite
Chapter 17: Aspirin Lite
"Oh, my dearest darling!" After Joseph bowed, Queen Mary embraced him tightly. "I've been thinking of you day and night.
"Are you hurt?
"Look how thin you've gotten!
"From now on, you must always bring a chef when you travel..."
Louis XVI also came closer, but seeing the throngs of people around, he couldn't utter a single word, only offering his son an encouraging glance.
"Come inside, it's cold out." The Queen pulled Joseph into Versailles Palace, glancing back at the colorful array of young women behind them. She turned and whispered in her son's ear, "Joseph, you're also of age for engagement. Which country's princess do you fancy? A Spanish princess? Or perhaps Savoy..."
Joseph felt torn between laughter and tears. 'Engagement? What engagement? I'm barely into puberty, don't bother me with that.'
He quickly turned to Louis XVI, changing the subject: "Father, your 'Salamander Fountain'..."
Queen Mary cast him an exasperated glance and, linking arms with her son, said, "My dear, I've also prepared a grand ball for you..."
She suddenly paused. "Why are your hands so hot?" She then felt his forehead. "Good heavens, you have a fever!"
She turned to her maid, Debornenac, and called out, "Quick, fetch Dr. Lamarck!"
"Your Majesty, Dr. Lamarck went to Paris this morning."
"Then Dr. Lasseni, quickly!" Queen Mary kissed her son's burning forehead, her eyes welling up with tears in her distress. "From now on, you must always bring a doctor when you travel."
Joseph felt a surge of warmth and quickly reassured her, "It's just a slight fever, I'm fine..." But as he spoke, he broke into a fit of coughing.
"Still saying you're fine? You're quite ill! Go rest immediately and let the doctor examine you thoroughly."
The surrounding girls, hearing that the Crown Prince was ill, immediately flocked over, anxious, almost carrying him to his bedchamber alongside the Queen.
After Joseph lay down on the velvet-draped bed, the Queen gave Louis XVI a reproachful look. Her gaze seemed to say, 'Look at you. If you had even half the Sun King's capabilities, our son wouldn't be working himself to the bone for the country like this.'
Before long, a short, middle-aged doctor entered the room, panting. At the Queen's urging, he took Joseph's temperature, then conducted an examination, after which he bowed to Louis XVI and the Queen, saying, "Your Majesties, the Crown Prince's pneumonia has worsened, and he has a fever, 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit. I believe immediate bloodletting is necessary."
"Very well, please proceed quickly."
Joseph's face darkened at the mention of it. 'Bloodletting? What bloodletting? With my frail body, are they trying to send me to my grave even faster?'
Of course, he didn't blame the doctor; after all, medicine in this era was practically barbers playing at alchemy, and bloodletting was a common treatment. After all, a few years later, the American President Washington would be bled to death.
He immediately feigned discomfort, wishing for quiet, and had the visiting nobles, along with the King and Queen, ushered out.
Once the bedchamber door closed, he immediately sprang out of bed and told Dr. Lasseni, "No bloodletting! No matter how ill I am in the future, absolutely no bloodletting."
"Your Highness, that won't do!"
Joseph tried to persuade him repeatedly, but seeing the doctor remained unyielding, he reluctantly drew the Persian scimitar Monnot had given him from the table and said in a low voice, "I won't repeat myself. No bloodletting, understand?"
The blade glinted coldly. Lasseni's pupils constricted, and he immediately recalled the Crown Prince's fearsome reputation—'chasing half across Paris to personally apprehend the Commissioner of Police. Leading ninety guards and hundreds of gang members in battle, annihilating all the criminals!'
'Yes, the news, after being retold countless times, had morphed into this.'
Lasseni swallowed hard and nodded profusely, "As Your Highness commands."
He then cautiously added, "But, Your Highness, you still have a fever..."
Joseph felt a wave of dizziness and fatigue at this. 'If only I had Penicillin, it would be a powerful weapon against pneumonia. But that's not something easily produced.'
'What kind of fever reducer could be made quickly?'
He suddenly recalled a documentary he'd once seen about Aspirin, which described the extraction method for Salicin—a substance akin to an 'Aspirin Lite'.
Fortunately, his memory was good, and he still remembered the main process. While Salicin had only minor anti-inflammatory properties, its fever-reducing effect was excellent. Most importantly, it was simple to make and could be produced in half a day.
He immediately looked at Lasseni and asked, "Excuse me, are you familiar with drug extraction?"
The latter immediately displayed a confident expression: "Yes, Your Highness, I even taught it at the university."
"Excellent." Joseph immediately took out paper and a pen, writing down the Salicin preparation process, then explained it to him in detail: "Crush and dry willow bark, add a small amount of quicklime, then steep it in alcohol in an alkaline environment for an hour and a half. Boil, filter, evaporate and concentrate... Adjust the extract to be alkaline, steep again, repeat... until crystals precipitate out.
"That's roughly it. How long do you think it will take to produce?"
Lasseni's eyes widened dramatically. 'The level of professionalism displayed in the Crown Prince's words is certainly no less than my own! The Son of Divine Favor truly lives up to his title!'
He then discussed the preparation process in detail with Joseph, ensuring nothing was overlooked, and then mused, "All the necessary materials are available in the Royal Alchemy Laboratory. If all goes smoothly, it should be finished before four in the afternoon.
"Your Highness, forgive my presumption, but I've never heard of this medicine. Are you certain it's safe...?"
"Certain!" Joseph nodded. "Just go ahead and make it. And by the way, don't tell my parents I didn't undergo bloodletting."
"Understood... Very well, Your Highness."
After all this activity, coupled with his fever, Joseph soon fell into a deep sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but dimly, he felt a smooth hand touch his forehead. He struggled to open his eyes and saw clear, pale green eyes like lake water, and an elegantly curved nose.
Joseph shifted backward slightly, only then clearly seeing a girl of seventeen or eighteen. She had dyed her lips with something brownish-yellow, wore a heavy white wig, and was dressed in a dark green men's hunting suit with black breeches, looking like a mischievous young girl who had secretly donned her father's clothes.
"Your Highness, I apologize for waking you." The girl bowed, then turned and said, "Dr. Lamarck, His Highness has a very high fever."
A middle-aged man with tousled hair, dressed in a simple light gray long coat, with a gaunt face, a prominent nose, and pale green eyes, walked over and gestured, "Perna, please take His Highness's temperature."
"Yes, Doctor."
Dr. Lamarck bowed to Joseph, then successively rolled up both of Joseph's sleeves to inspect his arms, and frowned, saying, "Your Highness, Lasseni told me he had already bled you, but it's clear he wasn't truthful."
Joseph sat up, feeling intensely dizzy. Perna steadied him with one hand and softly instructed, "Your Highness, please open your mouth, and whatever you do, don't bite down."
Joseph groggily opened his mouth, and a large glass thermometer was inserted.
Over ten minutes later, Perna removed the thermometer and looked at Lamarck with some concern: "Doctor, 104.6 degrees Fahrenheit."
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