Chapter 220 Ask them to take good care of them.
Ye Wanning looked at the food box and felt a warmth in her heart. It turned out he still cared about her; the grudge from their previous argument had faded somewhat.
She took the food box and said softly, "Thank you, Lord Pei."
Back at the Heritage Hall, Ye Wanning opened the food box, which contained warm calming tea with a faint fragrance.
She took a sip, and the warmth spread throughout her body from her throat, easing some of the pent-up emotions in her heart.
She asked Chun Tao to pass on a message to Pei Zhi: "Thank you for the calming tea, Lord Pei. I will definitely repay you when I have the opportunity."
When Chuntao returned, she said that Pei Zhi just smiled and didn't say anything.
Ye Wanning knew that the entanglement between her and Pei Zhi was not over yet, but this cup of calming tea was like building a small bridge, and the relationship between the two finally eased slightly.
But she didn't expect the Wei family's retaliation to come so quickly! This time, they want to cut off the Heritage Hall's escape route—monopolize medicinal materials.
Ye Wanning was instructing her apprentices on how to prepare medicine at the heritage center when Chen Sheng rushed in, shouting, "Madam Ye, something terrible has happened!"
"Suddenly, all the medicine merchants in the capital and surrounding areas have stopped selling their herbs to us. They say that Prime Minister Wei has ordered that anyone who tries to sell to us will have their pharmacy smashed!"
"What?" Ye Wanning's heart sank.
The heritage center and its branches in various locations consume large quantities of commonly used medicinal herbs such as licorice and angelica every day. If they run out of stock, the free clinics cannot continue, and the apprenticeship guidance will also be affected.
"That's not all!" Chen Sheng added, "The pharmaceutical companies under the Wei family have also monopolized the supply. You simply can't buy them on the market now, and even if you could, the price has increased more than tenfold!"
"The Wei family is trying to force us to our deaths!" Chun Tao stomped her feet in anger. "They can't fight us openly, so they resort to these underhanded tactics!"
Ye Wanning calmed down and realized that Prime Minister Wei was avenging his previous defeat and trying to force her to back down by cutting off supplies.
Sure enough, a short while later, Consort Xian sent someone to deliver a message, her tone particularly arrogant: "Madam Ye, my master said..."
"As long as you bow down to the Wei family, admit to the fabricated charge of 'tampering with medical texts,' and give 30% of the inheritance hall's profits to the Wei family, we won't make things difficult for you."
"The supply of medicinal herbs will be restored soon, and Prime Minister Wei will also put in a good word for you in court."
"Me, bow down to the Wei family? Dream on!" Ye Wanning sneered, then had the palace servant reply, "Go back and tell them that you can only make me bow down if the sun rises in the west!"
After the palace servants left, Chen Sheng became anxious: "Madam Ye, what do we do now?"
"Without medicinal herbs, the free clinics and teaching will have to be suspended, and the branch hospitals in various places will also be greatly affected!"
"Don't rush." Ye Wanning pondered for a while, recalling what the Western Regions medical monk had said: "The Western Regions medical monk mentioned that the southwest is rich in licorice and angelica, and the quality is good, but the transportation is inconvenient, so they are rarely transported to the capital."
“Let’s contact pharmaceutical merchants in Jiangnan and open up a transportation line from the southwest to Jiangnan and then to the capital.”
"Medicine merchants from Jiangnan?" Chen Sheng asked doubtfully. "Would they help us?"
"Yes, I will." Ye Wanning nodded. "The Zhang medicine merchant from Jiangnan, whose mother's chronic illness I cured, has always wanted to repay me."
“There are several other medicine merchants who have also benefited from the Heritage Hall, and they should be willing to help.”
So she immediately sent someone to write a letter and had it delivered to Jiangnan by fast horse.
At the same time, they sent people to the southwest to contact medicinal herb farmers, promising to teach them "improved planting methods" for free to help them increase the yield and quality of medicinal herbs.
The farmers were instructed to sell their medicinal herbs directly to merchants in Jiangnan, who would then transport them to the capital.
Ye Wanning felt that these measures were not enough to alleviate the people's anxiety, so she issued an order to "exchange medicine for medicine" and posted notices:
"People across the country who grow herbs at home can bring their own herbs to the Heritage Center to exchange for the medicinal materials they need or a free medical consultation slot. We treat everyone fairly, young and old!"
When the people heard that their family's herbs would finally be useful, and that they could exchange them for medicine or free medical consultations, they were all very happy.
The problem of the shortage of medicinal materials at the Heritage Center has finally been solved!
But the Wei family refused to give up and sent men to block the road, preventing the medicine carts from entering the capital.
Ye Wanning had made preparations in advance, and had the Jiangnan medicine merchants hire a security escort agency to transport the medicinal materials.
At the same time, she vaguely felt that the transport team was able to reach the capital safely because someone was helping them in secret, but the other party was very cautious and could not find any trace.
Until one day, when she went outside the city to pick up the transport team, she noticed that there were several guards with the Pei family's emblem engraved on their tokens. A thought struck her: he was helping her.
It turned out that after Pei Zhi learned that the Wei family had a monopoly on medicinal herbs, he was worried that Ye Wanning would be in danger and that the transport team would be intercepted, so he secretly sent people to follow the transport team and protect them.
They also contacted the local government offices along the route the transport team would pass through in advance, asking them to give them extra consideration.
Ye Wanning felt quite conflicted: He was still the same as always, doing things quietly and never making a fuss.
Before long, medicinal herbs from the southwest were transported to the capital by merchants from the Jiangnan region.
These medicinal herbs are of good quality and are even cheaper than before, completely solving the problem of medicinal herbs for the heritage center.
With the help of the planting areas in the southwest, Ye Wanning's "improved planting method" made the medicinal herb farmers in the southwest rich, and the transportation lines were no longer blocked.
The "medicine-for-medicine" approach has also proven effective, not only alleviating the medicinal herb crisis but also bringing the heritage center closer to the public, with more and more people siding with the heritage center.
The Wei family's plan has completely failed.
Consort Xian was so angry that she trembled all over, but she was completely helpless.
Prime Minister Wei had not expected that Ye Wanning could come up with a new way to resolve the crisis, and could only watch helplessly as the Heritage Hall became more and more prosperous.
The Heritage Center has resumed its normal free clinics and teaching, and good news has also come from its branches in various places—with new transportation lines, the supply of medicinal materials is more abundant.
Ye Wanning leaned against the courtyard of the heritage hall, watching the apprentices and people coming and going, and breathed a sigh of relief.
She knew the Wei family's retaliation had only just begun, but she was no longer afraid.
She has no regrets. With her medical skills, wisdom, and the help of those who have helped her, she has nothing to fear.
And the rift between her and Pei Zhi seemed to have thinned a bit because of his secret help this time.
She didn't know how long this respite would last, but she felt a strange sense of anticipation.
Soon, the emperor issued an edict to hold an autumn hunting banquet, which all officials and their families were required to attend, including Ye Wanning.
She hadn't expected that this palace banquet would help her and Pei Zhi clear up a misunderstanding.
The autumn hunting banquet was held in a temporary palace on the outskirts of the capital, where the mountains were covered in red leaves, making for a particularly beautiful scene.
Ye Wanning, dressed in a light blue dress, sat next to the Empress Dowager and occasionally exchanged a few words with her.
But her gaze kept drifting towards Pei Zhi, who was not far away.
Pei Zhi, dressed in a black, close-fitting outfit, stood tall and straight, talking to several officials. His profile was sharp and his expression was deep.
Ye Wanning glanced at it, then quickly looked away, feeling a little guilty.
After the supply of medicinal herbs was cut off, she knew that Pei Zhi was secretly helping her, but the two had never spoken properly and always treated each other with polite formalities when they met.
"Wanning, what are you thinking about?" the Empress Dowager asked with a smile. "Do you think the autumn scenery is beautiful?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Ye Wanning came back to her senses and smiled. "The scenery is indeed beautiful."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com