Chapter 157: The Vicious Eldest Daughter (22)

The woman left with her child. Wen Wan looked at the soldiers and said, "You must be careful in the future. Don't mistakenly take away those who are not infected with the plague. In the future, you must bring a doctor with you when you go out."

"It is the Princess, but there are too many people and not enough doctors. We can only take away everyone who might get the disease to prevent any possibility of infection," the soldier said.

"Didn't they send a lot of doctors over from above?"

"Most of the doctors are working with Miss Chu to research medicines to treat the epidemic; not many are able to stay and help."

Wen Yan: "???"

Why stay and help Chu Sisi? Doesn't she have a spiritual spring space? Then why does she need a doctor?

"Alright, you can go back to work."

After the soldiers left, Wen Wan looked at the doctor who had been brought over and asked, "Why didn't you go and discuss medicine to treat the plague with Chu Sisi?"

The doctor bowed and said, "I am just a village doctor from the mountains and I am not qualified."

Village doctors in the mountains and fields are sometimes categorized together with those who sweep the scripture pavilion at Shaolin Temple; they are both "sweeping monks."

"What methods does the doctor have to treat this epidemic?"

The doctor shook his head. "For now, I can only find ways to alleviate some of the patient's pain. As for a complete cure, I haven't figured out a way yet."

"Is there anything else the doctor wants to say to me?" Wen Wan had already noticed that the doctor seemed hesitant to speak, as if his face clearly said: I have something to say.

The doctor immediately knelt on the ground. "Your Highness, I have something to say."

"Speak, you don't need to kneel before me."

Wen Wan asked Wang Yaozu to help the person up. She was utterly helpless. People in this world just couldn't change their habit of kneeling. If kneeling shortened one's lifespan, no amount of lifespan would be enough for her.

“Your Highness, it’s not that there are no doctors. The county magistrate had originally found more than a dozen doctors, but they were all taken away by wealthy families. Some were also called to research medicines to treat the plague. But strangely, those doctors had no idea what Miss Chu was researching. They could only do some work such as drying and grinding herbs, which ordinary people could do. Isn’t this a waste of doctors?”

Wen Yan: "..."

Wen Wan knew what Chu Sisi meant; it was just to hide the fact that she possessed a spiritual spring space.

She couldn't immediately produce a large quantity of medicine, nor could she allow anyone to discover her secret. Therefore, she could only wait until there was enough time to perfectly explain everything before taking out the medicine to save the country from this plague.

From the female lead's perspective, this was for her safety, so Wen Wan couldn't say anything. However, the plague was killing dozens of people every day, and the delay was costing lives, so Wen Wan didn't agree with it.

"Does Your Highness know?"

"No one dares to say it, not even the doctors. Miss Chu is a divine physician sent by the Emperor, and she is also Your Highness's sister. She even saved the Prince. No one dares to say it."

Wen Yan: "..."

"Take me to see it."

Wen Wan followed the doctor to a mansion, which, according to the doctor, belonged to a wealthy family in the county.

No one dared to stop her.

Wen Wan entered the inner courtyard without any trouble and saw more than a dozen doctors in the yard. Just as the doctors had said, some were drying herbs, some were grinding herbs, and some were cutting herbs, but none of them were doing anything that required any skill.

Moreover, judging from their clothes, several of them are imperial physicians.

"The Emperor sent you here just for this?" Wen Wan said angrily. The imperial physicians quickly stood up, and Xiao Taozi immediately introduced her as the Princess Consort, which made them dare not act rashly.

"Greetings, Your Highness," the imperial physicians called out.

The commotion naturally startled Chu Sisi inside the house. Chu Sisi opened the door and came out, and was somewhat surprised to see her.

"Why is my sister here?"

Wen Wan didn't want to say anything else. "There's a shortage of doctors outside right now. I think these doctors are so idle that they have nothing to do. It would be perfect to send them out."

Chu Sisi: "Sister, you've misunderstood. They're helping me prepare medicinal herbs."

"It's just cutting and grinding herbs? Let them teach the soldiers that. What can't they do? Do they really need to do it themselves?"

"Sister doesn't know, this medicine requires very careful handling. If someone who hasn't been trained makes a mistake, it could cause serious problems."

Wen Yan: "..."

Damn, the female lead's words really annoyed her.

Wen Wan looked at the imperial physicians and said, "When you were in the Imperial Hospital, did you personally grind, cut, or dry the medicine? You'd better tell the truth, otherwise when we get back I'll have the Emperor send someone to check and investigate whether you really did all that yourself?"

The imperial physicians: "..."

These are all done by apprentices, eunuchs, and palace maids; they wouldn't know how to do such trivial things.

“Even if you do everything yourself every day, what time is it now? Even if there are one or two mistakes, how many people could be poisoned? How many people could be saved by the time you’ve wasted? And after all this time, have you figured out anything? It seems I need to let the Prince come and see what’s going on.”

As he was about to leave, several imperial physicians immediately knelt down, as did others.

"Your Highness, spare us! Your Highness, spare us! We were wrong!"

"Since you know you're wrong, then correct it. Go help the soldiers screen sick civilians, or go check on those who are sick. You're sitting here, not even seeing the faces of the patients. What kind of nonsense can you possibly come up with?"

"Yes, Your Highness, we'll go right away."

Before the imperial physicians had even left, Chu Sisi spoke up, "If you leave, there will be no one to prepare the medicinal herbs for me, which will delay the research on medicine to treat the plague. How will you explain yourselves then?"

The imperial physicians looked at Chu Sisi, then at her.

Wen Wan looked at the imperial physicians and asked, "Who among you has the best medical skills?"

Everyone looked at an old man with a white beard. Wen Wan asked him to stay, "What's your name?"

"Your humble servant, Director Zhang."

"Doctor Zhang, do you think I can do this work of cutting and grinding medicine?"

Physician Zhang was terrified. "How could a princess of such noble birth do such a thing?"

"Just tell me, can you teach me?"

Physician Zhang: "Yes, Your Majesty, I will do my utmost."

"That's fine, little sister. I'll cut and grind the herbs for you myself. I'll give you as much as you need. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility. Do you have any other objections?"

Chu Sisi: "..."

"Then thank you, sister." Chu Sisi entered the house. She didn't believe that Chu Huang, who never lifted a finger, could really do those things.

Wen Wan dismissed the other imperial physicians and doctors, and had someone bring the doctor who had spoken to her earlier to see the prince, informing him about the wealthy people hoarding medical resources and asking him to handle the matter.

She sat down and began to learn from Physician Zhang.

Little Peach: "Your Highness, how can you do such rough work? Let me do it."

“You should learn too, and so should Yaozu, Little Lucky Star.” Even the guards following behind him, “all of you should follow Doctor Zhang. Whoever learns the best will be rewarded with five taels of silver.”

Then he called to a guard, "Go find some healthy people who are not infected with the plague and are meticulous. I will reward them if they do a good job."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Physician Zhang began to teach, and Wen Wan learned very diligently. Everyone else, whether for the sake of the people or for her reward money, also started to learn and quickly got the hang of it.

The chopped and ground herbs were carefully inspected by Physician Zhang, and once no mistakes or omissions were found, they were set aside for later use.

Wen Wan rolled up her sleeves and finished processing all the medicinal herbs in just one afternoon. She kept her promise and gave five taels of silver to the guard who did the best job, and one tael of silver to each of the other workers.

Chu Sisi came out to get the medicinal herbs, her face looking very sour.

They didn't even call out to her anymore, nor did they give her a kind look.

Wen Wan stretched and asked Physician Zhang, "Are there enough medicinal herbs? I don't think Physician Chu needs this many herbs. It won't do to leave them here. Send someone to take them away to treat the epidemic."

"Yes, Your Highness." Physician Zhang left behind enough of everything, and then took the rest with him.

"If we need to grind medicine again in the future, we should find these people who are good at it. Those who perform well will be rewarded by this princess."

"Thank you, Your Highness." The hastily summoned guards and most of the people of Qihe Town shouted.

Wen Wan continued, "If you really don't have the talent to do this kind of delicate work, then go to the county town to help out. If you do a good job, I'll reward you."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

...

What Wen Wan was doing here was simultaneously relayed to Gu Xi's ears.

Gu Xi sent people to confiscate all the doctors left behind by the wealthy households to treat the common people, and also fined these people a large sum of money to reward his princess.

He also sent people to monitor Chu Sisi at all times and discovered many strange things. For example, after she had studied the medicine for so long, he sent people to find the dregs to check, only to find that they were all messed up, as if she didn't understand pharmacology at all. He originally thought of finding a way to force Chu Sisi to behave and hand over the solution, but he didn't expect that his princess would make such a mess and actually help him. Chu Sisi, you'd better hurry up and pickpocket her.

Sure enough, the next day, Gu Xi received news that Chu Sisi had developed a medicine that could cure the plague.

Gu Xi quickly sent people to try it, and sure enough, the symptoms of the sick people were relieved after taking the medicine. Gu Xi sent people to ask for the prescription, but as expected, they couldn't get it. Chu Sisi's explanation was that this was a medicine that only she could prepare.

Gu Xi immediately thought this was utter nonsense.

However, it's not appropriate to push Chu Sisi too hard right now.

Wen Wan naturally learned of this news as well, and she was quite happy. Little Peach said, "Then Chu Sisi will have a lot of face this time, and her tail will be soaring to the sky."

"Don't talk nonsense. This can save lives, isn't that a good thing?"

Little Peach: "Yes, Your Highness."

Wen Wan now helps Chu Sisi grind medicine every day, and although Xiao Taozi has some resentment, she still works diligently and doesn't slack off.

Wen Wan felt that the epidemic in this place would be resolved soon, and she could go back and think about how to hide a sum of money for settling down after her death. She still hadn't given up on this idea, but this time she would definitely not hide it on that mountain. Anyway, there was more than one mountain in Mingzhou.