The imperial envoy sent by the court brought a secret memorial with him. The envoy was the Minister of Justice, his surname was Ye and his given name was Jing. The Ministry of Justice was in charge of judicial affairs and was more ruthless than other officials in handling such matters. The new emperor then appointed the Minister of Justice as the imperial envoy to go to Raozhou.

Seeing that it was the Minister of Justice who came, Governor Zhu couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Zhu Taishou saluted.

Minister Ye waved his hand, "Grandmaster, you should first take a look at the secret memorial the Emperor gave you."

The two entered the study. Minister Ye was serious and was invited by Governor Zhu to sit at the first seat. His subordinates held the secret memorial in their arms and handed it to Governor Zhu. Governor Zhu opened the memorial and saw the contents. His face became paler and paler. After reading it, he said to the Minister of Justice, "Sir, I actually wrote another memorial yesterday and asked someone to send it to the capital as soon as possible. Your Excellency doesn't know that the diarrhea in Yuanbao Town has been controlled and the diarrhea patients have recovered. So diarrhea is not uncontrollable and incurable. The county magistrate of Yuanbao Town has come up with some methods to prevent the spread of diarrhea, and the effect is very good. The patients in Yuanbao Town did not spread the disease with this method, and the patients have been cured."

The content of the secret letter was just as he had imagined. The new emperor ordered him to massacre all the disaster victims outside Yuanbao Town and burn them on the spot.

Moreover, whenever disaster victims appeared in the southwest, they were killed on the spot to prevent the diarrhea from spreading. If the disaster victims had already entered a town or village, the town or village would be sealed off and the entire town or village would be burned down. There was no need to wait for the entire village or town to be infected, and even those who were not infected would be killed.

How could Governor Zhu have the heart to do such a thing? Especially since he now knew that diarrhea could be controlled, it was even more impossible for him to massacre the people and the victims of the disaster as stated in the secret letter.

Governor Zhu even felt a sense of grief for the loss of a rabbit.

Since ancient times, even if a plague occurred, the emperor would send people to seal off villages and towns, but he would also send imperial doctors to treat the disease. If it was truly impossible to cure and control the disease, he would completely confine the people, but he would not immediately massacre the confined people, but would just wait for them to fend for themselves.

Governor Zhu did not know how the disaster victims discovered diarrhea after going to the capital, nor how the new emperor made the decision, but he guessed that it was similar to the current situation. The new emperor and the empress dowager did not even think about treating these disaster victims and patients, and chose to simply massacre them all.

He was afraid that even if he sent the second memorial to the capital, the new emperor and the empress dowager would not believe that diarrhea could be controlled and cured, and would still let him kill everyone.

After hearing this, Minister Ye had a blank expression on his face. “The new emperor sent me here only to supervise the governor.”

Zhu Taishou trembled and said, "Sir, those people have been cured. They are living people. Even though there are still three villages affected by the disaster, they are all getting better now. Good news should be reported soon. Please think twice. Can't you wait a few more days? If you wait a few more days, my memorial should have been sent to the capital. The emperor may change his decision after reading the memorial. Can you please wait a few more days?"

Minister Ye still had that expressionless look on his face, but what he said was, "I am getting old, and the journey was very tiring. After arriving in Raozhou, I felt unwell and suddenly fell ill. I would like to ask Governor Zhu to find a place to stay and a doctor to come over and see me."

Governor Zhu was stunned for a moment, then he choked up and said, "Thank you, sir."

Since Minister Ye was an imperial envoy, he naturally would not believe the governor's word alone, so before "recuperating", he made a special trip to Yuanbao Town. He saw the disaster victims living in oilcloth tents by the woods in Yuanbao Town, and they were living quite well inside, with food and drink, and their complexions were much better than those of the disaster victims he had seen outside the capital two months ago. However, some of the disaster victims were still too thin, with sunken cheeks, but they looked energetic, with red spots on their faces. Those people should be the patients who had contracted diarrhea before and have recovered.

Minister Ye was not wearing his official uniform, so he went over to ask.

The victims told him that the county magistrate of Yuanbao Town was a very good man. He had thought of ways to protect them and had doctors come to treat them, so they were lucky to have met such a good county magistrate. They also said that Miss Xu from Yuanbao Town was also a good person.

In fact, these disaster victims had no intention of going to the capital at first. They were all from the same village, but they went in the wrong direction and fled all the way to the southwest. They did not know that the disaster victims who had gone to the capital were found to have diarrhea and were directly ordered to be massacred. Many disaster victims were frightened and fled and wandered to other places, and were hunted down by the new emperor and the empress dowager. In short, there was no peace in the capital.

Minister Ye knew that it was the magistrate of Yuanbao Town who had made great contributions, but who was the young lady Xu that the victims were talking about?

Minister Ye naturally asked about it, and the victims said, "Ms. Xu is the owner of Xu's Restaurant. When we were sick, it was Miss Xu who prepared food for us. The food Miss Xu made was like what the gods eat. We have never eaten anything so delicious. My wife wanted to continue living because she ate the food Miss Xu made. She didn't want to die here."

They had been eating Miss Xu's food for half a month and had already heard about this Miss Xu from the yamen runners and doctors.

Even they, after tasting such delicious food, have the desire to continue living, thinking that even though life is difficult now, it will definitely get better in the future.

In short, it was the food prepared by Miss Xu that gave them hope.

Minister Ye had never thought that the young lady Xu mentioned by the disaster victims was actually a cook. He did not think much of it. It should be that the young cook was kind-hearted and was in charge of their meals these days. He thought that no matter how good a young lady from the countryside was at cooking, could she compare with the chefs in the palace? It was simply that these disaster victims had never eaten good food, and they had fled all the way to this place without enough food, so naturally they thought everything was delicious.

Minister Ye did not enter Yuanbao Town. After seeing the situation of the disaster victims, he returned to Raozhou City.

After returning to Raozhou City, Minister Ye also wrote a memorial and asked someone to send it back to the capital.

The memorial described the conditions of the disaster victims and patients with diarrhea. They had indeed recovered and the diarrhea was under control and was no longer spreading. The emperor was hoped to reconsider his decision.

A few days later, Minister Ye stayed temporarily in the prefectural government's residence.

Prefect Zhu also breathed a sigh of relief. When he returned to the rear quarters, Old Lady Zhu came over trembling slightly and called out the prefect's name twice.

Old Madam Zhu is already in her early seventies, which is considered old, but her health has been declining in recent years. In the past two years, her eyesight has become blurred and she needs the support of a maid whenever she goes out.

The old lady was also very worried about the conditions of the disaster victims and patients. Now the entire Raozhou City almost knew that there were disaster victims in the southwest, and some of them had diarrhea. Even if there were no diarrhea cases in Raozhou City, they were still using the method given by Yang County Order to protect themselves.

The people of Raozhou City have already known that the diarrhea patient in Yuanbao Town has been cured. It was Prefect Zhu who posted a notice to inform the people in the city and to reassure them.

Therefore, Old Lady Zhu was also very worried that the imperial edict sent from the capital would not care about the lives of the common people and the victims of the disaster.

At this moment, she heard her son's footsteps outside, and immediately asked the maid to help her out of the room.

Zhu Taishou hurried forward to support his old mother, and said gently, "Mother, why did you come out? You should rest well in the house."

Madam Zhu asked worriedly, "Wenyi, the imperial envoy is here. How does the emperor plan to accommodate these disaster victims and patients with diarrhea?"

Zhu Taishou did not hide the truth from his mother and told her the whole story. Old Lady Zhu could not help but stamp her cane. She wanted to scold the new emperor for being incompetent, but she was afraid of bringing trouble to her son, so she could only sigh and say, "Wen Yi, you must not do such a foolish thing. The patients have been cured, and the diarrhea has not spread any further. You certainly cannot listen to the emperor and massacre the people. This will bring punishment from God."

"Don't worry, mother." Governor Zhu helped my mother into the house. "Don't worry, my son. The imperial envoy is a good man. He didn't force me to massacre the victims or seal off the villages and towns. He also wrote a memorial to the capital. There should be room for things to turn around. So don't worry, mother. Just take good care of yourself. You may be able to find your sister in the future. Mother and sister will have a chance to meet again."

Old Lady Zhu gave birth to two children in her life, a son and a daughter.

The son is naturally the prefect Zhu. The prefect Zhu has an older sister who is three years older than him. She was kidnapped by a kidnapper when she was young, probably when the prefect Zhu was just over one year old.

The Zhu family was just an ordinary family in the market. Old Lady Zhu had to take care of the little ones at that time, and the family could not afford maids and servants. Governor Zhu's father was working outside to make money. Governor Zhu's sister was only four or five years old at that time, and she would occasionally play in front of her house. As a result, she was taken away by a kidnapper that day. This was also the biggest regret of Old Lady Zhu's life. Ever since her daughter was taken away by the kidnapper, Old Lady Zhu cried day and night. Now when she thinks about it, she still can't help crying, and her eyes have been blinded by crying.

Since he was young, Governor Zhu was told by Old Lady Zhu that he hoped he could find the eldest sister of the Zhu family in the future.

Lord Zhu kept this matter in mind, and thought about how difficult it would be for an ordinary family like the Zhu family to find someone, so he studied hard. After passing the imperial examination, he was demoted to a county magistrate and was gradually promoted to a prefect. Over the years, he has been inquiring about the whereabouts of his eldest sister, but there was no news at all.

When Mrs. Zhu heard her son's words, she smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to wait until that day."

She was well aware of her own physical condition, which had reached the point where her energy was running out and she would only have half a year to live.

In fact, Governor Zhu knew it very well in his heart and felt uncomfortable.

Three days later, the letter from Governor Zhu was sent to the capital and entered the palace. It was still the morning court at that time, and the court officials in the court were worried about the disaster victims and the plague. Some court officials wrote to the emperor, saying that he should not have sent people to slaughter the disaster victims directly, but should have confined them first and found a doctor to treat the diarrhea patients. If the situation could not be controlled, it would not be too late to make other plans. Why did he slaughter the disaster victims directly? Otherwise, the disaster victims would not have been afraid and fled everywhere. Diarrhea also occurred in other places.

Now they heard that some disaster victims had already reached the southwest, and the court officials became even more panicked. The southwest is a border area, heavily guarded, and they were afraid that diarrhea would spread to the military camp, and then the entire camp would collapse.

In the past few years, the eldest prince led his troops to defeat the Bi Kingdom in the southwest, which had severely damaged its vitality. If the southwestern military camp really collapses due to diarrhea, the southwest will also become a possession of the Bi Kingdom. Without the border, the Bi Kingdom's damaged vitality will also recover. I am afraid that it will continue to attack the Great Sheng Dynasty, which will bring chaos and disorder to the world again.

The court officials said they had no blame on the new emperor, but that was a lie; they all thought the new emperor was too cruel and ruthless.

Even those courtiers who had already submitted to the new emperor hoped to follow a wise ruler. When the previous emperor died in a strange way and the eldest prince was beheaded, they were not given the opportunity to investigate. When the new emperor ascended the throne, he killed several of the most troublesome ministers. Only then did they dare not say anything. However, even though the new emperor ascended the throne smoothly later, the censors kept blaming the new emperor for exiling the royal princes, princesses and queen, and scolded him very harshly. In short, that period was a chaotic time.

If diarrhea had not occurred among the disaster victims, the censors would have continued to scold. When they first scolded, the court officials could feel the new emperor's anxiety and were really afraid that the censors would be beheaded again.

Now that diarrhea has occurred, seeing how the new emperor handled the situation, the court officials also felt that the new emperor was incompetent. If it had been the previous emperor or the eldest prince, they would certainly not have handled the situation in such a mess.

At this moment, a letter from Raozhou City was delivered to the palace at full speed.

The new emperor immediately said, "Hurry up and show it to me."

The eunuch hurriedly took the secret letter from the sweaty officers and soldiers. It was written by the governor of Raozhou City. After reading it, the new emperor was a little bit unconvinced. Diarrhea can be cured? Could it be that the governor of Raozhou City deceived him for the sake of credit?

The court officials below were a little anxious, "Your Majesty, this is a secret letter sent by the governor of Raozhou City. Has the diarrhea spread to the military camp?"

The new emperor waved his hand and asked the eunuch to read the letter to the court officials.

After listening to the eunuch's reading, the new emperor couldn't help but say, "Isn't this Governor Zhu trying to fool me? Since ancient times, diarrhea has always been treated by directly blocking the source, so how can it be cured?"

The court officials looked at each other in bewilderment. Someone could not help but say, "Your Majesty, maybe the diarrhea patients in Yuanbao Town have really recovered. Didn't the first secret letter sent by Governor Zhu mention the prevention method of diarrhea? I think we can give it a try. If it really works, it will be a great merit. We can send people to post notices in the places where the disaster victims appear and send imperial doctors to treat them. I don't think Governor Zhu dares to lie about this."

The officials in the court had heard something about the character of Governor Zhu.

The new emperor was silent. If he had really cured the diarrhea by following the methods that Governor Zhu had suggested, wouldn't that mean he was a truly incompetent ruler who had no other options but simply massacred the victims?

Seeing that the new emperor didn't say anything, the court officials knelt down despite their persuasion.

Some of these court officials are from the eldest prince's lineage, some are from the new emperor and Empress Dowager Fu's lineage, there are some who truly love the people, and naturally there are also some who are more selfish.

They all knew very well that if the new emperor really killed the disaster victims and the people affected by the disaster without regard for anything else, his reputation would be completely ruined.

Besides, without the people, what would they, the officials, mean?

The people are like water. Water can carry a boat but can also capsize it.

Finally, the new emperor became annoyed and said he was waiting for a secret letter from Lord Qincha.

Three days later, the secret letter from the imperial envoy was delivered to the capital.

The inspector also said that all the patients in Yuanbao Town have recovered, with only one patient dying from the serious illness. Although there were disaster victims and patients in the other three villages, they were all under control and the patients were gradually recovering. He also said that the protective measures adopted by Yuanbao Town did play an important role.

The new emperor had no choice but to send officials to kill the recovered victims. He could only send people to the places where the victims were to provide disaster relief, announce protective measures, and treat the patients.

The court was in an uproar, and every household in the capital was in danger.

Xu Qinyu's mother, Xue, was especially worried when she learned that there were also disaster victims in Xiaoyuanbao Town. Even her brother Xue Liang came to find her, saying that he wanted to send a letter and some money to her niece, as he was worried that her niece would be affected by the disaster victims in the border town.

With the recipe Xu Qinyu gave to Xue Liang before, even if his small tea stall did not expand, he could still make a net profit of about sixty to seventy taels every month.

The grilled meat skewers and milk tea he made were quite famous in Beijing, and there was no shortage of people eating them. Many people would rather wait in line to buy a few skewers. This month, summer had arrived and the weather was getting hotter, so he grilled some more vegetarian dishes and added some sour plum drinks, which also sold very well, and his business was even more booming than before.

He had earned a lot in the past few months and wanted to send some more money to his niece, but he couldn't ask anyone to make the trip in a short time. There were no prisoners or criminals being exiled in the capital recently, so Ma Liu had no chance to go to the border town.

Speaking of Ma Liu, he got the recipe of Xu Qinyu's wooden barrel fermented bean curd, and asked his wife and mother to make a lot of it. When he had time, he would let his father or himself carry the wooden barrel and sell it on the streets. In the beginning, he could earn an extra two or three taels of silver every month. Later, his family's wooden barrel fermented bean curd became famous, and more neighbors came to eat it, and he could earn five or six taels of silver every month.

Later, a restaurant used his wooden barrel fermented bean curd as a seasoning for cooking, and the taste was excellent, so it placed an order for wooden barrel fermented bean curd from him every month.

So now his family can easily earn more than ten taels of silver every month thanks to this wooden barrel of fermented bean curd.

Ma Liu was extremely grateful to Xu Qinyu.

But he hadn't been to the southwest during this period, so he had no way to thank Miss Xu in person.

Xue Liang still prepared two hundred taels of silver and a letter and gave them to Xue, asking her to give them to Ma Liu later, and then give them to his niece when Ma Liu traveled to the southwest.

Mrs. Xue was worried about her daughter, so she added all the red envelopes her brother had given her in the past few months and prepared to send them all to her daughter. She listened to her daughter and brother and stopped doing embroidery.

However, the disaster victims who have flocked to the border town have made her uneasy recently. In the past two months, the disaster victims in the capital who had diarrhea were killed by the order of the new emperor. Now there are cases in the border town again. She must be worried that Yu Niang will be implicated. If the new emperor orders the killing of all the disaster victims who have flocked to the border town and the people affected, what will Yu Niang do?

Xue had been unable to sleep these days, but fortunately, a notice was suddenly posted one day saying that the diarrhea disease in Yuanbao Town had been cured, and people would now be sent to other places to provide disaster relief and rescue patients.

Xue was now relieved and planned to go burn incense and pray in a few days to thank the Bodhisattva for blessing her daughter Yu Niang.

…

Xu Qinhui from the third house knew the fate of these disaster victims when she heard the maid talk about them a few months ago. They were found to have diarrhea before they even entered the city, and were eventually ordered to be killed by the new emperor. However, many of them escaped, and then the court officials made a fuss. There were several more disaster victims in the border town, and the new emperor continued to order the massacre. The court officials continued to make a fuss, thinking that killing everyone was too cruel. The new emperor was confused and didn't know what to do.

The new emperor hesitated, but the crazy Empress Dowager Fu did not hesitate. She sent people directly to the place where the disaster victims fled and killed all the disaster victims and the affected villages and towns.

Even the three villages near the border town and Yuanbao Town were completely slaughtered in one night, leaving no one alive.

Xu Qinhui really didn't care much about this matter, because these disaster victims had not affected her in her previous life, and the trouble only lasted until about this time and was resolved.

However, in the past month, she was still very hesitant because she only found out a month ago that her second sister and King Shu's family lived in Yuanbao Town.

In the previous life, only King Shu and the Wen family were left in King Shu's lineage. It was probably because King Shu and the Wen family never settled in Yuanbao Town and escaped the disaster in their previous life.

But in this life, the Shu Wang lineage lived well, so their fate changed and they chose to settle in Yuanbao Town.

It was just over a month ago that she learned from her second aunt that her second sister and the Shu Wang lineage had settled in Yuanbao Town. After learning this, she hesitated whether to send a message to her second sister, but she didn't know what reason to find. She couldn't just tell her second sister and the Shu Wang lineage that Yuanbao Town would be massacred because of the disaster victims and diarrhea.

Besides, she was a little selfish. She didn't know whether Prince Shu had left home at this time. She hoped that Prince Shu could survive. After all, there was no hope for him to enter the palace. A few months ago, she broke her leg and disfigured herself in order to avoid entering the palace for the selection. There was no way she could enter the palace.

She felt that Prince Shu would be the emperor who would inherit the throne in the future. He would not die from diarrhea this time. It was likely that his fate would be the same as in his previous life. The only bloodline left by his second sister, the sixth princess, the seventh prince and the eldest prince would all continue the fate of the previous life. In the previous life, her second sister died of illness on the road, and the others died in a mudslide. She didn't know why they avoided this fate at the beginning of this life. But she was afraid that their fate would not change, but the way they died would be different. They would die in this plague.

In this case, only Prince Shu and Wen will survive in this life.

If so, does she still have a chance to marry King Shu and eventually become the queen?

After hesitating for a month, the matter was almost settled and she had no choice but to accept it.

Just before dinner, the maid Ping'er suddenly came in and told her happily, "Miss, Miss, this is great. A notice was posted outside just now saying that all the diarrhea patients in the border town of Yuanbao have been cured, and a way to prevent the diarrhea from spreading has been found. Now the court has sent people to various places to provide disaster relief and rescue people."

Xu Qinhui was stunned.

How could this be?

In the previous life, the people of Wonbo Town were massacred, and there was no way to prevent the spread of diarrhea. Why is it different this time? They have avoided death again.

Xu Qinhui was so shocked by this that she fell ill again.

…

Putting aside the various thoughts of everyone in the capital, Yuanbao Town has resumed its normal life in the past few days. Small vendors have already set up stalls and all shops have opened for business.

Xu's Restaurant was naturally open as well. Uncle He's place was relatively far away from the other three villages affected by the disaster, so it was not greatly affected. As usual, he started delivering seafood and milk to Xu Qinyu.

Xu Qinyu knew that she was able to successfully cure diarrhea this time because although diarrhea was a plague, it was somewhat different from the real cholera. It was actually milder than the various plagues in the world she lived in. This was mainly because the victims did not understand that diseases enter the body through the mouth and did not like to keep clean, which led to the serious spread of diarrhea. As long as good protection is taken to prevent the disease from spreading, it is easier to treat than cholera and other plagues.

As soon as Xu Ji Restaurant opened, there were many more customers coming to eat breakfast and dinner. All of them came after hearing about her good deeds. It can be said that Xu Ji has become famous in the entire Yuanbao Town.

Speaking of this, Xu Qinyu was indeed afraid of wasting food at first. Later, the people of Yuanbao Town began to send her food and firewood, so she didn't suffer much loss. In addition, she knew that her good deeds could also bring a good reputation to Xu's family.

So, she does have some selfish motives.

She is just an ordinary person with good cooking skills. Ordinary people are all a little selfish, and no one is an exception.

She doesn't think it's a big deal to be a little selfish. She doesn't do anything bad and can do good things within her ability. Isn't that the case with most people?

In addition, Xu Qinyu could also guess some of the new emperor's actions. The new emperor and the empress dowager were capable of poisoning their own father and husband. They were vicious. Diarrhea was a very scary and easily contagious plague here. In this era, the way to deal with the plague was to block it off and let people destroy themselves.

The disaster victims have spread to Yuanbao Town. The new emperor will think that since the disaster victims have come to the town entrance, they must have come into contact with the people inside the town. So he will directly confine Yuanbao Town and let them destroy themselves. What if he is even more ruthless and directly massacres all the people in the town?

So in a sense, she was saving herself.