It all started with Anping's determination to study medicine.
Wan Xueying originally planned to pick a doctor from the Shen family to be Anping's teacher, but Shen Yu found a former imperial physician from the Imperial Hospital among the exiles, who was also Lu Xiuhui's father.
Since Doctor Lu was able to become the imperial physician, his medical skills were naturally excellent, but the bad thing was that he was too upright and offended the Crown Prince Ning Tai. In the end, Ning Tai found a fault with him and exiled his family to the northern border, which helped Anping.
Anping not only successfully became Lu's apprentice, but also married his daughter.
The awkwardness lies in the fact that Imperial Physician Lu is still a criminal, and so is Lu Xiuhui. Any child Lu Xiuhui gives birth to will also be a criminal, unless there is a general amnesty.
But despite this, Anping still insisted on marrying Lu Xiuhui, and Lu Xiuhui became pregnant less than half a year after the marriage.
At this moment, Lu Xiuhui heard Wan Xueying's concern for her health. She touched her slightly pregnant belly and said with a smile, "I'm not pregnant yet, so I thought I could help my senior brother with something."
Speaking of which, Anping is very talented in studying medicine. Since Wan Xueying is busy with the affairs of the Northern Frontier Academy, she wants to let him be responsible for making the medicine.
Unexpectedly, he picked up the technique so quickly that after just a few sessions with her, he was able to independently prepare the new medicine. Wan Xueying then taught him more methods for making medicines, and he quickly mastered them all.
When he was almost done with teaching, Wan Xueying handed the management of the medicine shop over to him. Fearing that he would be too burdened alone, Lv Xiuhui, who had studied medicine with her father since childhood, also took up the responsibility of running the medicine shop.
Even Doctor Lu, out of curiosity about the finished medicine, followed the process of making it and was able to draw inferences from his experience and offer suggestions for improvement.
With the addition of Doctor Lu, Wan Xueying felt more at ease and became a hands-off manager.
"It's because the month is still young that you should be more careful." Not to mention now, even in Wan Xueying's previous life, people would only be willing to have an abortion when the month is still young.
Lu Xiuhui smiled again, "Senior Brother said the same thing, but I just can't sit still."
"Let's go inside and talk more."
To help manage the pharmacy, Anping and Lü Xiuhui lived mostly in the backyard. Wan Xueying, taking advantage of the low prices, bought the two houses in the back to use as a workshop, where Imperial Physician Lü led his staff in making medicine.
Because he was an exiled prisoner, Imperial Physician Lu was unable to see patients in his clinic, and his identity was kept secret to protect Lü Xiuhui. However, whenever he had time, he would teach Anping his medical skills and occasionally provide free consultations to the poor. This earned Wanfengcheng Pharmacy a good reputation.
After Wan Xueying and Lv Xiuhui sat down, they chatted about family matters. However, from time to time, Lv Xiuhui would mention her concerns about the child's identity.
Wan Xueying understood what she meant and offered comfort, "Just give birth to the child with peace of mind. We'll figure out how to handle the aftermath." She added, "We'll also find a way to clear not only the child, but also you and Uncle Lu."
"It would be great if that were the case." Lu Xiuhui was inexplicably happy.
"Okay, sister-in-law, let's stop here for today. If you're tired, rest here for a while. I'll go see if Master Cui has left." Ever since An Ping married Lv Xiuhui, Wan Xueying knew they couldn't avoid this matter. However, their proactive help was one thing, but using the child as an excuse was another.
Wan Xueying had discussed with Shen Yu earlier about clearing the charges against the Lu family father and daughter.
One is to wait until the war breaks out so that Doctor Lu can help treat the wounded in the rear and make meritorious contributions; the other is to wait for the new emperor to ascend the throne and grant amnesty to the country.
The border had been peaceful for the past two years; even the troublemakers from the Northern Hu hadn't invaded. However, Pei Xuanqing had reported that Lian Zong seemed to be experiencing some health issues, and Ning Tai had been making small moves recently.
There was also a piece of important news that Wan Xueying and the others had never thought of, that Wan Qingling was actually Princess Shuhua's biological daughter.
Although Princess Shuhua and Lianzong were not from the same mother, they had a very good relationship. The man Princess Shuhua married was one of Lianzong's study companions.
Unfortunately, more than ten years ago, Princess Shuhua's husband and eldest son had an accident while out for a trip, and both father and son fell off a cliff.
Despite being nine months pregnant and on the verge of giving birth at any moment, Princess Shuhua took people with her to search for them. However, they failed to find the father and son, and she suddenly went into labor halfway through the journey, eventually giving birth to a daughter in the wilderness.
Then she encountered thieves again, and her newborn daughter was abducted by them and has been missing since then.
After suffering so many heavy blows at once, Princess Shuhua developed some mental problems and finally had to leave the capital and recuperate in a villa.
I heard that last year, the Anlin Guards caught a group of thieves, and following the clues, they found out that they were related to the kidnapping of Princess Shuhua's daughter. Finally, they found out that Wan Qingling was Princess Shuhua's daughter.
It seemed that Wan Qingling had a birthmark on her body, and she inherited the good looks of Princess Shuhua and her husband, so the recognition process went very smoothly.
In this way, she became Ning Tai's cousin, and her status was even nobler than when she was the legitimate daughter of the Earl's Mansion.
Although she was promoted to Liangyuan after giving birth to Ning Tai's eldest son, it was very inconsistent with her new identity.
Princess Shuhua did not want her own daughter to suffer any injustice, so she went to Lian Zong to make trouble many times, insisting that the current Crown Princess give up her position and let Wan Qingling become the Crown Princess.
Lian Zong had no choice but to confer the title of Princess Jiayang on Wan Qingling, and later promoted her to the prince's concubine.
Ning Tai privately promised that once he took the position, he would make Wan Qingling the queen, and only then did Princess Shuhua give up.
However, Wan Qingling still had a conscience and had not forgotten the Wan family's kindness. She asked Princess Shuhua to intercede on behalf of the Wan family and restore their titles.
Lian Zong felt guilty for not being able to make Wan Qingling the Crown Princess, but restoring the Wan family's title was impossible. In the end, he decided to compromise and remove the charges against the Wan family and restore them to commoner status.
It’s a pity that Wan Chengji didn’t make it to this day, as he had died of illness long before.
Wan Huqing also failed to maintain his previously invincible physique. Shortly after Pei Xuanqing had his testimony, which he had coerced and bribed Ning Tai into confessing to being the steward of the Third Prince's residence, Wan Huqing died in a mine. He died like a stray dog, abandoned in the wilderness, his body ultimately vanishing.
Therefore, in the end, only Wan Jiangyuan and Xu survived until the day of pardon. However, these two had long been tortured beyond recognition and were merely enduring the day.
Wan Xueying felt very calm after hearing this. Some people and some things are unlikely to have any impact on you when you stop caring about them.
Wan Hesu was different. Although he appeared calm after hearing about Wan Chengji's death and said that he was no longer a member of the Wan family and even his son with Lin Yingnan had the surname Cong, he cried several times in private and burned paper for Wan Chengji several times.
At this time, Wan Xueying didn't want to continue chatting with Lu Xiuhui, so she went back to the front.
Cui Jinhuan had not left yet and asked about the uses of the medicine one by one.
"This is Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills, used to treat acclimatization and heatstroke, and can also treat colds." Cui Jin asked the same question, and Anping gave the same answer.
"This is Bazhen Yimu Pills, used by women to nourish their qi and blood."
"This is Hawthorn Pill, used to eliminate stagnation."
"This is a beauty pill that can delay aging and make the skin more radiant."
"This is……"
These unheard-of pills once again opened Cui Jinhuan's eyes. Seeing Wan Xueying return, he couldn't help but praise her, "If you have another decade or two, maybe you'll be richer than our Cui family." By then, they could easily build a new city on their own. Then what would the Cui family have to do with it?
Thinking of this, Cui Jinhuan was more inclined to let Shen Yu be the city lord, as long as their Cui family could get a share of the pie.
Wan Xueying had no idea that this alone would make Cui Jinhuan back down from the battle for the city lord position. She smiled at his praise and said, "Master Cui, you're joking. I can't earn half the money your Cui family makes in ten or twenty years, not even fifty or a hundred. Even the Northern Frontier Academy relies on your family's sponsorship."
"I'm not joking." Cui Jinhuan was quite serious.
"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. You didn't take a fancy to something and wanted to take some back with you, did you?" Wan Xueying changed the subject.
"To be honest, I want to take some of everything back."
"I'm not treating you, you can buy as much as you want with your own money."
In the end, Cui Jinhuan really spent a lot of money and brought back a lot of finished medicines.
When Cui Jin was transferred back to Xijiang, he asked Wan Xueying for a plan for the new city, saying that he had to let his father see it before he could convince his father.
Wan Xueying did not give him the original drawing, but made a temporary copy.
However, the drawing was not too detailed, but rather like a painting, making the new city more imposing and exciting. But if you build it according to this, it will not work at all. This is exactly the effect Wan Xueying wants.
Although Cui Jinhuan finally persuaded Cui Hao, Cui Hao's idea was to build it first and then talk about it. It was hard to say who would become the real owner of the new city afterwards.
Shen Yu and Wan Xueying had not intended to gain the upper hand just by relying on these, but with this good start, things would only go more smoothly in the future.
So, on a suitable day, the first group of Cui family farmers went to the wasteland. The two families did not plan to start large-scale construction right away, but instead built simple houses first and then reclaimed the wasteland.
Unlike the prisoners exiled to the wasteland, the two families prepared a large number of cattle, horses, and tools, which made the reclamation of the wasteland much easier. They also prepared a large amount of supplies, so that the pioneers would not have to worry about having nowhere to sleep or going hungry, so that they would have no worries.
Until the end of the year, Shen Rong still didn't know that the Cui family had cooperated with Shen Yu to build a new city.
Shen Yu and Wan Xueying acted as if nothing had happened and were busy with their wedding.
Because Wan Xueying's main focus was on the Northern Frontier Academy, and Shen Yu's camp was close to the Ningjiang County government office, some businesses had gradually opened branches there. The two of them had purchased a large five-story house in the Ningjiang County government office, and had been having it renovated for the past two years, so it was ready for occupancy soon.
It will serve as their new home and where they will live together for a long time to come.
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