Everyone witnessed Princess Xie's outburst, while Prince Yue appeared cowardly and completely believed the rumors circulating outside.
Hidden in the crowd, Eunuch Feng witnessed this entire scene.
Upon returning to the capital, he was determined to give a proper report to the Emperor and the princes.
The oxcart left the Cui family's alley and arrived at the temporary royal residence.
"Your Majesty. Are you really going to move all this wine to your courtyard?"
Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Duoshou whispered a reminder.
It's just acting, don't take it seriously.
Now that it's back at the Prince's residence, the Princess Consort should return it to its rightful owner.
Xie Yuan glanced at Zhao Jinxiu following behind and said coldly, "Of course it's true! This princess keeps her word!"
Duo Shou was very clever. When she heard Xie Yuan refer to himself as "this princess," she knew that the play was not over yet.
He quickly feigned a look of fear, "Yes! I obey!"
In front of Zhao Jinxiu, Duoshouren moved all twenty jars of wine to the courtyard where Xie Yuan lived.
When Helian Jue's oxcart returned, Xie Yuan and the others had long since disappeared.
Duofu supported the staggering Helian Jue, but none of the servants in the palace came out to greet him.
Outside the grand gate of the mansion, there were only Helian Jue and his servant Duofu.
The two were emotionally and physically unstable, and looked exceptionally lonely and pitiful.
When Cui Boyong's messenger arrived with the wine, he couldn't help but sneer at Helian Jue's pitiful state.
He deliberately feigned respect and instructed people to move the wine jars one by one to Helian Jue's courtyard.
After dismissing the man, Helian Jue, who had been lying on the low couch, sat up again.
When he raised his head again, his eyes were clear and his expression was indifferent; there was no trace of drunkenness left.
"Where is the princess?"
"Your Highness, the Princess Consort has returned to the side courtyard."
Seeing that his master had returned to normal, Duofu stopped pretending and quickly bowed to report.
"What about the wine?"
"It was also taken away by Her Majesty!"
When Duofu answered, he couldn't help but stutter a little.
The prince himself was not an alcoholic, but for the sake of acting, he still placed a lot of empty wine jars in the courtyard.
In the past, the Princess Consort had never interfered or forcibly taken the wine away.
But what exactly is this couple planning this time?
"Alright! I understand!"
Duofu didn't understand Xie Yuan's intentions, and neither did Helian Jue.
But he could guess that his queen would not speak without reason.
This wine might have other wonderful uses.
"Your Highness is indeed exceptionally intelligent!"
That evening, Xie Yuan quietly went to Helian Jue's study.
Without lighting candles, the two discussed matters in hushed tones in the pitch-black room.
Hearing Helian Jue's question, Xie Yuan smiled and said, "I do have another purpose for these wines!"
"Your Highness, you may not know this, but this wine is a fine product!"
One of the essential skills for time travel: alcohol extraction!
In ancient times, when there were no anti-inflammatory drugs or antibiotics, alcohol was the best medicine for reducing inflammation and fever.
Xie Yuan explained the uses of alcohol in detail, "However, the process of purifying alcohol is quite complicated. I only know the process, and I can't guarantee whether I can actually make it."
These days, alcohol is made from grain and is a luxury enjoyed by the powerful and wealthy.
To prevent powerful officials from wasting food on drinking, the imperial court issued a ban on alcohol.
Of course, such a ban cannot stop the truly powerful and wealthy.
For example, Cui Boyong came from a prominent family and served as the governor of a remote prefecture like Yuezhou.
Within the territory of Yuezhou, he was the local tyrant.
He admired the eccentric and unconventional scholars of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and thus also took a liking to taking Wushi San (a traditional Chinese medicine).
The poison, Five-Stone Powder, requires warm wine to dissipate after ingestion.
Therefore, Cui Boyong's family had a large collection of wines, including yellow wine and fermented glutinous rice.
As for Helian Jue, although he was a prince, his every move was being monitored.
Even if someone is addicted to drinking, the amount of alcohol purchased by the Prince's Palace cannot be too much.
Cui Boyong was eyeing Helian Jue's weakness with cunning.
Helian Jue was very sensible. He controlled the amount of alcohol purchased by the Prince's Palace to a level that would prove his drinking problem without leading to impeachment or punishment.
Xie Yuan wants to extract alcohol from baijiu, which requires a large quantity of liquor.
The fact that the Prince of Yue's Mansion purchased so many items at once is bound to attract attention.
It would be better to do it like today, which not only confirms Helian Jue's reputation for being decadent and henpecked in front of everyone, but also allows the Prince of Yue's mansion to obtain a large quantity of wine.
The best part is, these drinks are free!
"Alcohol? It can disinfect? Does this 'poison' refer to miasma?"
What makes Lingnan so fearsome is its miasma.
Helian Jue's ongoing plan was thwarted by the miasma.
"This disinfection refers to those invisible bacteria. For example, if you have a bleeding injury and don't disinfect the wound promptly, it can become infected, fester, and subsequently cause a high fever—"
Xie Yuan tried his best to explain using language that the ancients could understand.
Helian Jue had been the crown prince, had been to the military camp, and had even accompanied the emperor on a hunting trip.
Therefore, he has seen many people bleeding and injured.
Some people die because their wounds become infected and ulcerated, leading to high fever and ultimately death!
Helian Jue remembered that "someone" had told him that in the military camp, if a wounded soldier developed a fever, there was only one outcome—death.
"And the miasma in Lingnan should also be considered a type of bacteria."
While Helian Jue was pondering to herself, Xie Yuan was still saying, "I haven't personally tested it, so I'm not sure if alcohol is effective against miasma."
Helian Jue's eyes flickered, and an idea began to form in his mind.
However, he did not reveal it, nor did he tell Xie Yuan.
He only asked the questions that concerned him, "Is alcohol easy to refine? How much alcohol can be refined from the forty jars of wine that Cui Boyong sent?"
If alcohol is really as effective as Xie claims, then the more the better.
"It's hard to say! We might not even be able to extract enough for one bottle!"
Xie Yuan, however, was not too optimistic.
The process of purifying alcohol is not complicated, but the tools required are troublesome.
The light in Helian Jue's eyes dimmed instantly.
Seeing this, Xie Yuan quickly said, "Actually, you don't necessarily need wine to get alcohol. You can also use sugar!"
Helian Jue's eyes widened: "White sugar?"
He had seen white sugar before and had eaten various delicacies made with it.
But sugar and alcohol are completely different things.
Alcohol, as the name suggests, is the "essence of wine," and it has absolutely nothing to do with white sugar.
Xie Yuan laughed. As a blogger who was well-versed in all sorts of obscure facts, she naturally knew how to make alcohol from white sugar.
"Yes! It's white sugar!"
Xie Yuan never intended to use liquor to purify alcohol, at least not now.
But she deliberately prepared so much alcohol, hoping to create a diversion—
Even Helian Jue couldn't have imagined that white sugar could be used to extract alcohol, let alone people outside.
Once alcohol is invented, even if spies discover its existence, they won't be able to concoct it!
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