The Northern Qi Imperial Palace.
Gu Jiangli arrived outside the main hall before the morning court session to await the summons.
At this time, there are many people in the hall, and more eyes will witness the event.
The emperor sat high on the throne.
Hearing what her father-in-law said, she looked somewhat puzzled.
What is she doing here?
The "she" the emperor was referring to was Gu Jiangli.
The eunuch replied earnestly, "The general's wife also brought Doctor Liu with her, followed by several other people, including two lying on stretchers. Perhaps... they were there to explain the situation of the plague treatment to His Majesty."
The emperor took a deep breath. The ministers' curious gazes were undisguised, and he couldn't refuse Gu Jiangli's request in front of them. He could only instruct his eunuch:
"Let her in."
"yes."
When Gu Jiangli entered the palace, he only brought Liu Kang with him.
"Your Majesty, may Your Majesty enjoy boundless blessings."
The emperor waved his hand, waving her hand to excuse her from the grand ceremony.
"I know you came to the palace on your own initiative because you have something to discuss, so just say it."
Gu Jiangli didn't beat around the bush, "Your Majesty, three years ago, I promised you and Doctor Liu that within five years, I would definitely restore a peaceful and healthy Northern Qi, free from plagues and disasters."
"Three years have passed, and I have fulfilled my promise."
Gu Jiangli deliberately avoided mentioning the word "gambling game," but even a fool could understand the meaning behind her words.
To the great surprise of the ministers, Gu Jiangli, a woman, actually made a promise to cure the plague within five years, which was truly unbelievable.
Everyone looked at Gu Jiangli with a mixture of surprise and admiration.
The emperor was taken aback and said, "I know that back then you not only made a promise to me, but also made a bet with the imperial physicians of the Imperial Hospital."
"As a witness to the bet, I have absolutely no intention of going back on my word."
"Regarding this matter, quite a bit of news has reached my ears. Doctor Liu Kang and the Imperial Medical Academy have almost simultaneously developed a prescription to cure the plague. It should be difficult to determine the winner in this gamble."
Gu Jiangli smiled faintly and answered with complete confidence, "Not so."
She took a half step back, stood next to Dr. Liu Kang, and continued:
"I heard a few days ago that the imperial physicians of the Imperial Hospital had already found a cure, but they had not announced it until Doctor Liu announced it before posting it outside the palace gates."
"The imperial physicians could have won, but they were so understanding and righteous, clearly not wanting Doctor Liu to lose too badly. I was truly grateful, so I thought I must make this bet fairer and not disappoint the imperial physicians' good intentions."
"So, a new method was found to determine who the winner is."
The emperor's lips twitched slightly.
He already knew what was happening outside the palace gates.
He had already heard about the new method for determining wins and losses.
She hadn't spoken up yet because she hoped Gu Jiangli wouldn't hold on so tightly and would let the matter drop.
But Gu Jiangli not only didn't do that, she made the bet even more rigorous.
She spoke eloquently in the main hall, explaining in detail how she negotiated and communicated with various pharmacies, how she made agreements with the people, and how she determined the winner of the bet.
Everyone in the hall listened intently.
No one interrupted Gu Jiangli.
Among them were people who had contracted the plague and were buying medicine with prescriptions, and they had also heard about the betting game from other people.
But today, it's the parties involved speaking for themselves, which is much more interesting than the rumors circulating in the public.
Gu Jiangli finished speaking slowly, word by word, and the emperor's face had become extremely stiff.
She smiled gently and concluded:
"Your Majesty, after the market closed last night, all the pharmacies kept the prescriptions for the medicinal herbs purchased that day."
"After taking inventory, each pharmacy reached a final conclusion."
"Your Majesty, the pharmacy managers are all outside the palace now. Would you like to listen in?"
Her calm and confident demeanor naturally attracted everyone's attention.
The information in her words was both exciting and intriguing.
Many ministers were themselves users of the drug, and even more were bettors, so naturally they wanted to know whether their bet would be successful.
Pairs of expectant eyes secretly turned to the emperor.
Everyone hoped he would issue an imperial decree soon, ordering those pharmacy managers to come in.
How could the emperor not know what these ministers were thinking? He could only helplessly say:
"Since Madam Xie is already prepared, let them in."
He gave his father-in-law a look, and the father-in-law immediately understood.
"Summon all pharmacy managers to the hall—"
The group entered the hall in an orderly and efficient manner.
Each person was holding a stack of papers of varying thickness.
Those were the prescriptions they collected from the people who came to buy medicine.
With a wave of his hand, the emperor instructed the eunuchs to report the information about the prescription one by one.
"Yong'an Pharmacy in the south of the city, 371 prescriptions from Doctor Liu Kang, and one prescription from the Imperial Medical Academy."
"Tongxintang in the south of the city has 625 prescriptions from Doctor Liu Kang and one prescription from the Imperial Medical Academy."
"The West City Jishi Hall has 150 prescriptions from Doctor Liu Kang, but none from the Imperial Medical Academy."
"The Wu Family Medical Clinic in the east of the city has 401 prescriptions from Doctor Liu Kang and 2 prescriptions from the Imperial Medical Academy."
...
After each prescription was given, the shopkeeper would hand over a thick stack of prescription slips to the father-in-law.
One eunuch couldn't handle it all, so several eunuchs came to collect the prescriptions from these shopkeepers.
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