The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 94: Pill Family
Royal Palace
Jia Rong had entered the palace more than once.

Harem
Jia Rong also often came to the harem.

I came during the day and at night.

However, Jia Rong was not interested in the emperor's harem. The girls here were all royal women, and they only looked at their bloodline, not their looks. There were very few beautiful ones.

No matter how beautiful a woman is, she will age prematurely if she is kept in a palace.

Jia Rong quickly went to the queen's room.

The queen sat behind a screen. Although they had met several times, they sometimes still talked through the screen.

This is better, so I don’t have to look at that old face.

"Your humble servant pays his respects to Her Majesty the Queen!" Jia Rong bowed. He didn't care about these etiquettes, and others didn't intend to humiliate him.

The Queen quickly said, "Master Jia, please stand up and take a seat."

"Thank you, Madam." Jia Rong sat down quickly and said, "I wonder what the Madam wants to talk to me about? Are you feeling unwell?"

The Queen said, "I've had a terrible headache since this morning. I just sent someone to ask Lord Jia for medicine, but Lord Jia said there's none left."

Jia Rong said, "The painkillers are indeed out of stock. They were several years old. A lot of them were used to treat the emperor. Later, the emperor asked for some for backup. The empress, the old concubine, the people in the palace, and several princes also asked for a few pills. Now there are indeed not many pills left."

The Queen was also aware of this matter, so she sent someone to invite Jia Rong.

The queen, who was in her thirties and had served as queen for more than ten years, still had some power inside and outside the palace. It was reasonable for her to invite a senior official from the Imperial Medical Bureau.

"I know Lord Jia's difficulties. After giving birth to the prince, he always has severe headaches for a few days every year. Last time he had a headache at night, he took one pill and fell asleep soon. Later, when the prince said he had a headache again, I gave it to him. Today, he endured it for a whole morning and it is finally over. But I still want a few more pills to keep as a backup."

Jia Rong said quickly, "I was busy with the Ministry of War this morning. Now I have several duties and sometimes I have to practice medicine at home. I have delayed the Empress's work. I deserve death."

The Queen knew very well that Jia Rong had been lying at home in the morning. Seeing him talking nonsense, she felt a little relieved, thinking that the news that there was no medicine was also false.

"Lord Jia is very busy with official duties, and I don't want to send people to disturb him all the time. Why don't you give me a few more pills? I won't get in the way of Lord Jia's business."

Jia Rong didn't want to give it to her, not because he was afraid that she would eat herself to death. Anyway, the emperor and the empress had a bad relationship. The death of the empress would be a good thing for the emperor, and he would not blame him.

The main reason is that there are indeed few medicines.

"Your Majesty, this medicine is mainly used to treat pleasure pain, so it needs to be made slowly, and it uses precious medicinal materials. It is not precious to the royal family, and is only worth a few meals. However, the preparation is complicated, and only ninety-nine pills can be produced in a year."

"This medicine cannot be stored for a long time. It is only effective in the first two years after it is made. After a long time, the effect will not be good. It is also easy to cause problems due to mold and moisture. Therefore, there is not much stock available and I dare not give it out casually."

"No one in my humble household, adults or children, is given food. It is definitely enough for the emperor and the queen, but if we add the princes and grandchildren, as well as the gifts given by the emperor to others, it will not be enough."

"Especially because the medicine is miraculous and can relieve pain in a short time. If enough medicine is given, the pain will be relieved in a moment, so they are even more unthrifty when using it. Now there are indeed only six pills left for emergency treatment. Normally, I would advise them to endure it if they can."

The queen nodded. Although she was of noble birth, she was not an unkind person. She knew that there were some people who had to be won over, otherwise they would die in obscurity.

"Well, why not make more?"

Jia Rong said: "The emperor has asked me to work on this matter. Next year there will be more, about 400."

"In that case, I will not embarrass Lord Jia." The Queen sighed and said, "The palace is still in mourning, and there are not so many rules outside. I heard that Lord Jia's family lives a hard life, eats ordinary food, and has only three maids around him. I will reward you with two palace maids."

Jia Rong didn't want to have two more ancestors around him, so he quickly said, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. However, I already have more than ten wives and concubines in my family, and I have to be busy with medicine and official duties recently. In addition, filial piety to the country and family is my duty. Please take back your order, Your Majesty. I am very grateful!"

When the Queen heard Jia Rong say this, she nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll give you something else."

The queen quickly rewarded her with gold, silver, jewelry, and various tributes that only the royal family could use. Jia Rong also reciprocated, saying seriously, "Your Majesty, I think it's not just a headache. I'll go back and prepare some decoctions for you. Apply them to your stomach and back after warming them up to effectively relieve the pain."

The Queen did have a stomachache, and it was the pain in her uterus, but she couldn't tell exactly where the problem was.

Hearing this, Jia Rong knew what the problem was without him having to say anything, and quickly said happily, "Don't bother Lord Jia to send it. I'll have someone follow Lord Jia and bring it back directly after it's ready."

It is not surprising that the Empress pays great attention to security work, as the Emperor also does a good job in security work.

But sometimes it cannot be stopped, just like the queen could not stop Gong Han, the masked assassin simply knocked over a group of people and broke in, and the emperor was still helpless.

Jia Rong went back to the imperial pharmacy and made a pot of useless willow bark mixed with various precious herbs for the queen, which the eunuchs and palace maids took back.

When I was planning to leave work early and just as I walked to the door to go out, the emperor called me over again.

When they arrived at the imperial study, Jia Rong said politely, "Your Highness!"

Jia Rong bowed his head and saluted. This was not a court session, so there was no need to kneel down unless necessary.

The emperor sat at his desk and looked at Jia Rong. He said calmly, "Lord Jia, do you admit your guilt?"

Jia Rong has done a lot of immoral things and has a very strong psychological quality.

Most people, who have done so many immoral things that have brought death to their entire family, would probably be so scared that their legs would go weak at this moment.

Jia Rong was not like that. He quickly said, "I know my crime. Today, the Queen was feeling unwell and asked me for medicine. I added a painkiller when I boiled the medicine. Now there are only five pills left."

The emperor said, "It's not about that. Someone complained that you were not doing your job properly. You didn't go to the military camp to train soldiers. You always came to the Imperial Hospital and the Imperial Pharmacy when the sun was up and left before the sun went down."

This is true. Jia Rong said, "I know I am guilty! But I tend to get upset when the weather is hot. I am usually in the palace treating patients. It is hard for me to calm down after sweating when I am hot. I am afraid that this would be disgraceful."

The emperor knew that he was lazy, but this reason was not wrong. It was indeed very hot recently.

"The one who reported you was the Prince of Dongping, who had a good relationship with your family."

Jia Rong said quickly, "It should be because I haven't had any relationship with them for more than ten years. I refused their requests for help or medicine. Now that our relationship has become distant, they are finding fault with me."

"It's my fault. I didn't want to use any of my own medicine. I gave the medicine to the royal family. But there are so many princes. One pill for each is fine. If you count my wives, concubines, children, grandchildren, students and former officials, there really isn't that much left."

The emperor said: "I know the difficulty here. Please bring the last five pills to me. If you can make a new medicine next year, please send it to me in time."

"I obey your order." Jia Rong agreed, since he would keep a lot anyway.

This kind of thing is an unspoken rule in the industry, and the royal family is aware of it. There is no need to specially leave a few for Jia Rong. He has a quick mind and will know what to do.

Jia Rong let the emperor, princes and their children try the medicine for two or three months. After finding that no one died from the medicine, he felt at ease and kept a lot of it for his own use.

Soon, Jia Rong took a three-month paid vacation to escape the summer heat, on the pretext of concentrating on refining medicine, and brought in all kinds of precious medicinal materials for free.

No matter how much he had embezzled, as long as he could produce what he wanted on time, it would be fine.

Although Jia Rong's grandfather Jia Jing committed suicide by taking heavy metals, Jia Rong told the public that he passed away after taking an elixir.

We can’t let the old man ruin the reputation of the Ning Mansion’s alchemy family before he dies!
The Ning Mansion's military achievements are not gone, and the literary achievements have also been abandoned. Now he has followed the wild path of a family of alchemy.

No matter how many emperors are replaced, it will not affect Jia Rong.

(End of this chapter)