Chapter 139 Financial Difficulties
"I'm fine, don't worry. How is the coroner? Is everything alright?"
Xiao Yuxuan asked as she walked toward the thatched hut.
"It went smoothly, but the coroner said... well, I can't really explain it. You'll know when you get there."
Pei Xing'er also walked very fast, but when asked how it could be, she hesitated and scratched her head.
She hadn't studied that kind of thing, and she was afraid that a poor explanation might cause the girl to misunderstand. She'd better wait for the coroner to explain it to her personally.
Xiao Yuxuan's heart sank.
Xing'er had been learning medicine from Doctor Pei since she was a child. If it was any kind of difficult or complicated illness, she could have just said it directly, but she couldn't explain it clearly.
Is this epidemic, or is it not a disease?
After leading Physician Wei into the courtyard, Physician Zhang and Doctor Pei each held their own opinions, and it seemed that neither could convince the other.
The coroner simply stood aside, deep in thought.
"You know nothing! Since it's not an illness, this prescription shouldn't be used. The most urgent thing is to find a solution!"
"What solution can you possibly find? Didn't you see how many patients have already gathered at the thatched hut outside? There's no time for you to search slowly."
"But we can't just rush into anything! Every medicine has its side effects. Can you guarantee they won't have any problems after taking the medicine?"
Pei Xing'er sighed and tried to pull Doctor Pei away, but the two old men were arguing, and Pei Xing'er alone couldn't stop them.
The three of them chatted back and forth, with Pei Xing'er adding her own comment to smooth things over, making it quite lively.
Xiao Yuxuan walked up to the coroner and gave a slight curtsy:
"Coroner, thank you for your hard work. I wonder what the results of this examination were?"
The coroner sighed softly. He took out a small cloth bag from his sleeve, took out a cloth from it, and slowly unfolded it in front of Xiao Yuxuan, saying:
“Young lady, please take half a step back, lest I frighten you.”
Xiao Yuxuan guessed that it was something from the corpse. Her feet hadn't moved. She wasn't even afraid of death, and she had seen corpses more than once or twice, so why would she be afraid of these things?
Once the cloth was fully unfolded in the coroner's hands, a piece of rotting flesh appeared before Xiao Yuxuan's eyes.
The rotting flesh, skin and all, was bluish-white and covered with dense, honeycomb-like holes. Many of these holes still contained remnants of pinkish threads, with a few still tangled and intertwined. It was hard to imagine how winding and twisting these things must have been inside the body.
"This is..." she asked, suppressing the discomfort churning in her chest.
"The so-called epidemic is caused by these pink worms."
Seeing that she had seen clearly, the coroner quickly flipped his other hand over and covered her with the cloth again. He put his things away and sighed softly once more.
“Young lady, I have been a coroner for over twenty years and have dissected at least eight hundred or a thousand corpses, but I have never seen, or even heard of, such a thing in the territory of Qi.”
Xiao Yuxuan understood the implied meaning and quickly pressed for an answer:
"Within the territory of Qi? You know what this is and where it came from, don't you?"
The coroner glanced at the little girl, who was not even as old as his daughter, and was surprised. She was indeed a bold and clever child, and he couldn't help but be more patient.
"That's right. This is a poisonous insect that appeared in Nanyue a hundred years ago, called the Red Beauty Gu. If a person accidentally eats it, he will experience a series of uncomfortable symptoms and it is contagious. The symptoms are almost identical to those of the epidemic that has appeared in the capital recently. However, the last time it appeared was a hundred years ago. Logically speaking, this thing should have been extinct long ago."
"Red Beauty Gu, that's a strange name. Is there a way to break this Gu?"
The coroner shook his head.
"This Gu does indeed have other uses, but the book I was reading at the time was only an incomplete one, so that's all I know."
Hearing the coroner say this, Xiao Yuxuan suddenly understood. They really were the despicable Jiaozhi people!
The well water likely contained the larvae of the so-called "Beauty Gu," which spread uncontrollably after being ingested by people.
The fact that the prince felt unwell after smelling the well water must be due to the "other effects" mentioned by the coroner, but it is still unknown what exactly they are.
She needed to tell the Crown Prince about this as soon as possible.
Furthermore, the people in the city are no longer allowed to drink untreated water.
It's unclear what role Tianji Tower plays in all of this.
She had entrusted Tianji Tower with some tasks a few days ago, but unexpectedly, just a few days later, they might be facing each other with swords drawn.
Physician Zhang and Doctor Pei were still arguing fiercely about the prescription.
One person said that since it was confirmed to be a Gu poison, medicine would be useless, while another said that there was no time to find other methods, so they could only try medicine as a last resort.
In the end, it was Xiao Yuxuan who stepped in to smooth things over and persuaded them to divide the work among themselves, which finally calmed things down.
Immediately afterwards, Xiao Yuxuan sent a message to the Crown Prince and also sent someone to the Princess's residence to explain that the Gu worms were in the water and needed to be boiled in water for consumption.
"Supplying firewood to so many households in the capital is no small amount. Should we submit a memorial to His Majesty requesting the opening of the national treasury?"
The eldest princess rubbed her temples, feeling a bit of a headache.
She had a good relationship with the emperor and his sister, and naturally knew that the Qi Kingdom's treasury had always been insufficient. The emperor probably wouldn't accept this suggestion.
We still need to think of other solutions.
Aunt Meng knew this was a difficult matter, and after thinking for a while, she hesitated and said:
"Why not approach those high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants in the capital? In the past, when there were national disasters or natural calamities, we often borrowed from them."
Calling it a "borrowing" is just a nice way of putting it; when royalty borrowed money, it was never repaid.
If the immediate crisis is resolved, the emperor will be in a good mood and might bestow a plaque or reduce some taxes. He would be more likely to actually return the money.
“That’s not right. At the end of last year, in order to raise funds for the military in the southwest, we already made those wealthy merchants pay a year’s worth of taxes in advance. It’s only been half a year, how could they possibly agree to that?”
The princess was troubled by her own thoughts, and because she was still ill and had little energy, she had a headache after thinking about it for a while, so she went back to sleep.
Aunt Meng felt sorry for the eldest princess, so she told Xiao Yuxuan about it when she returned.
"Thank you for reminding me, Aunt Meng. It was my oversight. I was only thinking about needing money and didn't consider where the money would come from..."
In fact, she only just learned that the Qi Kingdom's treasury was so depleted that it was even difficult to open the treasury to buy firewood for the people in the capital.
No wonder that after Qi Jun died and the emperor passed away, Qi Huan disregarded the ministers' objections and increased taxes, causing the people to suffer. It turns out that what he had in his hands was just an empty shell.
"Aunt Meng, give me some time, I'll think of a way."
As she said this, she was calculating how much silver she still had.
Adding a stroke to the left or a stroke to the right, even if one sells all one's valuable jewelry and clothes, it would still be a drop in the ocean to support so many people by simply providing them with hot water.
What other options are there?
Where else could we borrow such a large sum of money?
She hadn't expected Bi Sui to suddenly say:
"Young lady, don't you have a classmate named Miss Zhao, whose family used to be imperial merchants? Why don't you ask her for help?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com