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A patient ingested quicksilver (mercury) and fell into a state of apparent death. There was only faint respiration, and the limbs were as cold as ice. Hearing that Ge Kejiu could treat unusual diseases, they sought his help. Ge examined the patient and said, "You need two hundred taels of white gold (silver) to cure this." The family thanked him but pleaded poverty, unable to offer heavy compensation. Ge smiled and said, "I intend to use the silver to boil water for a hot bath for the body." He then borrowed the silver from wealthy families and instructed them: "If the hands and feet move during the bath, come and tell me immediately." After a while, the hands and feet began to twitch and pull. The family went to inform him. Ge added, "When the eyes move and the patient can sit up, report it to me at once." Everything proceeded exactly as he instructed. He then took two jin of Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum bungeanum), placed it in a urinal tub, and had the patient sit on top of the pepper. After a long time, the disease departed, and the quicksilver had entered the pepper. This is because the silver-infused water can mobilize quicksilver without letting it stagnate, and Sichuan pepper can attract and gather quicksilver. *Youyang Zazu* states that pepper can attract quicksilver. Master Ge's learning was indeed profound.

[Appendix] *Jia Zhi* records: During the Shaoxing era, Monk Xici of Yingzhou saw a passenger ship arriving from Panyu. On board was a scholar with a servant whose legs were weak and unable to walk. The boatman pitied them and said, "I have a medicine that cures this condition miraculously." Countless people recovered after taking it. He then went into the mountains to find herbs. It was already late evening, and he was slightly drunk. Upon finding the herb, he immediately soaked it in wine and gave it to the patient, instructing them to take it before dawn. As instructed, upon entering the mouth, the patient groaned, saying, "My intestines and stomach feel like they are being cut by knives." By early morning, the patient died. The scholar blamed the boatman, who angrily retorted, "How could this happen?" He then took the remaining medicine from the previous night, soaked it in wine, and drank it himself. Within an hour, he also died. It appears this mountain abounds with *Douchangcao* (Intestine-Cutting Herb); humans die if they mistakenly ingest it. The herb the boatman collected was entangled with roots and vines; due to drunkenness, he failed to select carefully and threw it directly into the wine, causing disaster. Thus, one knows that herbal medicines should not be used recklessly.

Another merchant from She passed through Qianshan and saw a snake with severe abdominal swelling. The snake bit a certain herb and rubbed its abdomen against it. Soon, the swelling subsided, and the snake left. The merchant thought this herb must eliminate abdominal swelling and toxicity, so he picked it and put it in a basket. That night, staying at an inn, a passing guest in the neighboring room suffered from severe abdominal swelling. The merchant took the herb, boiled a cup of decoction in a pot, and gave it to the guest to drink. In a moment, the person's flesh and blood turned into water, leaving only bones behind. The merchant hastily packed and fled. At dawn, the owner did not know what had happened. When cleaning the pot to cook rice later, they found the entire pot had turned to gold. They secretly buried the remains. Long afterward, the merchant returned and recounted the story.

Yu Zhen notes: Volumes 24 and 25 of *Jin Gui Yao Lue* (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet) detail various poisoning cases and treatments very thoroughly. For instance, if quicksilver enters the ear or affects livestock, it causes death; placing gold or silver near the ear causes the quicksilver to be expelled. Master Ge's method originally had a basis, and he further expanded it by consulting other texts, making it unsurpassable. *Jin Gui* also states: Boiling shepherd's purse (*Shepherdia canadensis*) and licorice root (*Glycyrrhiza uralensis*) juice and drinking it can detoxify various poisons. However, the medicines used by the boatman and the She merchant were too rapidly toxic; even sages could not have prevented such outcomes.