Shuse Jinjia

Granny Wang coughed, and the conversation inside abruptly stopped.

Xie Zhaotang glanced at Granny Wang out of the corner of his eye and smiled faintly.

Xie Zhaotang didn't need to elaborate on Xie Linzhu's wickedness; he could guess it was nothing more than causing the son born to his concubine to die young.

Xie Linzhu dared to use bees to sting the original body to death, so she wouldn't feel guilty using the same method on a child.

Xie Zhaotang had no intention of eliminating evil and upholding justice. Everyone should settle their own grievances. If Xu Muyuan was blind to marry her, then let him worry about it!

She went inside.

When Madam Xie saw her, she looked just as good as Xie Jianghuai. She gave her the same few words of advice, and then told Xie Zhaotang to go and rest.

When Xie Zhaotang returned to the bamboo courtyard, Aunt Xia had already prepared hot water for her to wash up.

Xie Zhaotang took a long, hot shower and felt most of his fatigue disappear.

She was drying her wet hair in the courtyard when Granny Wang brought her several medical books.

Xie Zhaotang casually flipped through the pages and found a very old book with a ruined cover and some of the writing smudged.

Granny Wang explained, "This was specially purchased by the master from the antique market. It's said to be a unique copy, and it cost fifty taels of silver. The master said that this kind of medical book is more applicable, and he wants you to study it carefully so that you can find some prescriptions that are different from those of the Imperial Hospital and make a name for yourself."

"This new one was bought from a bookstore. They say it's a convenient medical book published by the Imperial Medical Academy. This old servant isn't sure, so Fourth Miss can compare it herself when she has time!"

Xie Zhaotang understood Xie Jianghuai's intention: to allow her to continue to gain favor with Dean Luo.

Xie Zhaotang was delighted; Xie Jianghuai's move was a clever way to help!

If she were to come up with another good prescription in the future, she could simply say that she found it in this rare book.

"Granny Wang, Father is so good to me, I will definitely take good care of him."

Now, Granny Wang finds Xie Zhaotang very pleasing to the eye and only hopes that Aunt Xia will get better and better with Xie Zhaotang, so that her own children and grandchildren can also benefit from it in the future.

"Fourth Miss, study hard, because if your nanny gets sick in the future, she'll have to trouble you."

Granny Wang tried to get close to him.

Xie Zhaotang said kindly, "Granny Wang thinks highly of me. Come find me anytime after you've finished your studies!"

Granny Wang was a capable nanny by Madam Xie's side. As long as she could say a few good words for her and Aunt Shen at crucial moments, it would be twice as effective with half the effort. Xie Zhaotang was also willing to befriend her.

……

In the following days, Xie Zhaotang went with Li Qin and the others to take care of the injured.

Xie Linzhu also went, but most of the time she stayed close to Xu Muyuan and the others.

No one knows how Madam Xie instructed Xie Linzhu, but Xie Linzhu's performance improved more and more, and Xu Muyuan and several other officials had a good impression of her.

Sun Yin may have gotten wind of the situation, so she brought her maid to help, and she and Xie Linzhu engaged in open and covert struggles, causing their superficial friendship to vanish in the midst of their conflict.

Xie Linzhu didn't argue with her, and "magnanimously" didn't hold it against her. When others asked her about her grievances, she would smile and defend Sun Yin.

Xie Zhaotang was amazed when he saw it. She was so good at pretending. She was truly a good daughter raised by Madam Xie!

Just after lunch, Zhu Feng came over and whispered, "Fourth Miss, you don't need to help out at noon. Find an excuse to go to Yiweixuan, the teahouse where we met you last time... The young marquis wants to talk to you about your medicine."

Two days ago, Xie Zhaotang entrusted Zhu Feng to deliver the hemostatic and antidiarrheal medicine to Huo Beiyu.

Hearing this, you can tell that Huo Beiyu tried it and it worked.

She nodded, then made an excuse that she had started her period and needed to go home to clean up. Li Qin told her to go home first.

Xie Linzhu only wanted to spend more time with Xu Muyuan and didn't want to go back early, so Xie Zhaotang took Aunt Xia back with him.

Upon arriving at Yiweixuan, the waiter, perhaps having been instructed by Huo Beiyu, led Xie Zhaotang directly to the second floor without asking any further questions.

Xie Zhaotang hadn't paid close attention to it last time he came, but today, as he went up with the waiter, he saw that each tea room had a different style of decoration.

When the waiter led us to Huo Beiyu's tea room, we found that the space was even larger, and the tea table inside was carved from a large piece of wood.

There's also a balcony outside, with green vines climbing all over the railing.

On the balcony, Huo Beiyu and Duan Chengyu were playing chess. When they saw her come in, Huo Beiyu got up and walked over, sitting down opposite Xie Zhaotang directly.

"Fourth Miss, I've tried the medicine you gave me, and it's indeed more effective than Chunmantang's. How much silver do you want to sell your prescription for?"

Xie Zhaotang looked at Huo Beiyu. Today he was wearing a slightly worn dark blue robe with the cuffs gathered and a dark leather belt tied around his waist. The dark blue color made his angular face look even more resolute.

Xie Zhaotang had already thought about how to sell these two medicines, and upon hearing this, he was not intimidated and looked directly at Huo Beiyu before speaking.

"Young Marquis, is this prescription for the imperial court, or is it for personal purchase? Both have different prices, so please tell me first so I can set a price."

Huo Beiyu asked, "What price should we pay the imperial court?"

Xie Zhaotang said calmly, "One thousand taels of silver, two prescriptions, and an imperial edict... I beg Your Majesty to grant me freedom of marriage, and for my aunt, my younger brother and sister to leave the Xie family and establish their own households."

Huo Beiyu and Duan Chengyu were immediately stunned.

This marriage proposal is so free that it can be arranged, and it even helps her and her companions escape from the Xie family. This... The current emperor is very filial, and he will definitely find it absurd and reject it!

"Young Master, actually I'd rather sell these two formulas to individuals..."

Xie Zhaotang's gaze swept across Huo Beiyu and Duan Chengyu's faces.

"The Emperor received the prescription, but he also had to find someone to make the medicine. What should have been a few dozen coins to make ended up costing hundreds of coins in the hands of unscrupulous merchants... I don't know how much of your military budget is spent on medicine, but I do know that the more expensive the medicine, the more people die!"

"These two medicines of mine are not only suitable for the military, but also for civilians. I hope my medicines can help more people..."

Xie Zhaotang, worried that his words of concern for the country and its people might seem insincere to the two men, added another sentence.

"These past few days, while helping the wounded at the temporary relief station, I realized that ordinary people, like us concubine's daughters, all have their own suffering. Without the government's assistance, many wounded people would have died because they couldn't afford treatment for their festering wounds."

"I want to make money, but I also want to help them within my means."

Xie Zhaotang admired the Huo family's help to the wounded soldiers in Baohua Village, and she knew that saying this would definitely touch Huo Beiyu.

"Young Marquis, please forgive me. I inquired about your affairs without your permission... I know that many wounded soldiers in Baohua Village were rescued by the Marquis of Zhenyuan's mansion, but you can only help them for a while, not forever..."

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime... I think we should work together to build a pharmaceutical factory. I'll provide the formula, I'll take 10% of the profits, and you can distribute the rest... Once the factory is built, we can hire these wounded soldiers to work, so they'll have a long-term source of income..."

Xie Zhaotang stopped, giving Huo Beiyu some time to think.

Huo Beiyu is very clever; she has nowhere to hide in front of him, so why bother beating around the bush!

Huo Beiyu and Duan Chengyu both remained silent.

Huo Beiyu had long suspected that this little girl was cunning, but he never expected her to be this cunning.

She wanted to do more than just make money by partnering with them to run a pharmaceutical factory; she also wanted to keep them on her side for the long term.

If they become partners, how could he possibly stand idly by if she's in trouble?