Two days of covert investigation and secret interrogation yielded no results for Chang Ning and his team.
Qingyan noticed that Fei Yanggu and Yin were so anxious that blisters were forming on their lips, and she felt secretly anxious herself.
As time went on, their available food supplies dwindled, and if the disaster relief supplies didn't arrive, they would have to resort to using the food reserves at the Yuelai Inn.
"Fourth Brother, we're running low on fine grains. What should we do?" Yin looked at Qingyan's worried eyes and felt uneasy. Xiao Guai hadn't come out with them, so they would probably be at a loss.
Qingyan has been changing the colors of the dishes for the past few days, and has even bought a lot of potatoes from the surrounding villages, making potatoes and sweet potatoes the staple food.
Fortunately, while we had been eating white rice and white flour for the past few days, the aunties who helped in the kitchen suggested that Qingyan prepare more potatoes and sweet potatoes, as these were their staple foods.
In the disaster relief shelter, they can often use wheat flour. Next spring, when they plan to return to the village, they will continue to rely on sweet potatoes and potatoes as their staple food. It's alright for the adults, but the children have been spoiled by Qingyan, so things will be more difficult.
With just a few words, Qingyan felt half the weight lifted from her heart. She was the manager hidden behind Yin, responsible for the food supply for tens of thousands of people.
"Little Darling, some should arrive in the next couple of days!" After the disaster relief grain, except for the one with the flaws, was handed over by Li Dequan's apprentice and then escorted away, Chang Ning breathed a sigh of relief.
"How is Sixth Uncle?" Chang Ning had been working non-stop for several days to get those rice husks, and with the added stress and overwork, he finally relaxed completely after the grain supplies were secretly transported away.
These past two days, Qingyan has been bedridden, and she has specially prepared meals with refined grains for the elderly and sick. The rest of the meals were prepared with sweet potatoes and potatoes, as suggested by Aunt Jiji.
She specially made sweet potato pancakes and potato pancakes, which the children found especially delicious.
The disapproving looks from the other women made her secretly complain.
Every time she used too much oil, her aunts would secretly say that she didn't know how to manage a household.
"Fortunately, he should recover in the next couple of days. Little darling, let's go visit the neighboring county. The relief medicine will arrive in a couple of days!" Yin's mood worsened. These provisions and medicines were essentially life-saving. Two days ago, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict allowing the princes to spend the New Year away from home and return to the capital in the spring.
Qingyan stared blankly at Yin, his hesitant expression stirring up her gossipy nature.
After lunch, Yin and Qingyan, along with several guards, boarded a carriage and slowly left the camp. Inside the carriage, Yin closed his eyes to rest, while Qingyan sat beside him, absentmindedly fanning himself with a handkerchief.
"Little Darling, we're going to spend the Spring Festival here!" Yin was very annoyed. There was a problem with the food supplies, and the medicinal herbs that were sent along with them had not yet been put into storage. It would probably take a lot of time just to have a few imperial physicians conduct a detailed examination.
ah?!
Qingyan was stunned. Didn't they think they could leave once the food and medicine were prepared?
"The things in the princes' places have all been replaced. The herbs will be sent over in a few days. The imperial physicians will definitely be too busy!" Yin muttered to himself.
Pfft!
Qingyan laughed. Why was it so awkward for Yin to ask her to step forward and help?
Ha ha!
Si Si is so arrogant!
Suddenly, a comic book drawn by a certain master artist for Si Si popped into her mind; it depicted a proud and arrogant emperor.
"Shut up," Yin said, annoyed and embarrassed. Seeing the teasing look in her eyes, he felt a surge of desire. "If you lend a hand, things might go faster."
"Fourth Brother, let me help you?" Qingyan couldn't distinguish medicinal herbs, so she needed the power of the space to do so.
Yin nodded. He didn't want her involved unless absolutely necessary.
"Little darling, you don't need to worry about it. When you go to check the medicinal herbs, just pretend you don't know anything. If you find any problems, just tell me directly. You don't need to show your face." The imperial physicians that Yin brought are the perfect targets.
Seeing Yin's confident demeanor, Qingyan could only nod in agreement.
After he finished speaking, Yin closed his eyes again.
***********************
A few days later, cartloads of medicinal herbs arrived at the disaster relief camp. The five imperial physicians, having learned from the experience with the disaster relief grain, opened and inspected each sack. Even the accompanying apprentices were busy.
In fact, Qingyan learned that some of the common people knew medicine. For the sake of the court's reputation, Yin had to abandon his plan to have them help as well.
Qingyan followed Yin to the carriages where the medicines were stored. She inspected each carriage one by one, and the little bit of excuse she had been looking for for the Ministry of Revenue was completely gone.
The grain supplies contained a lot of old medicinal herbs, herbs that were generally not accepted by pharmacies in the capital or other pharmacies. According to the rules of pharmacies, these herbs should basically be disposed of.
"Sisi, I want to eat candied hawthorn!" Qingyan walked from one end to the other, giving a cursory glance, while the system check in the space repeatedly triggered alarms.
Her big eyes darted around twice, taking a look at a little child. After the adults received their wages, they specially went to the county town to buy him a string of candied hawthorns before he went to work.
Yin looked at her in surprise, then at the little boy showing off his candied hawthorns, and reluctantly agreed.
“We can go by carriage and be back in half an hour!” Yin didn’t think much of it, assuming that Qingyan was also envious.
Over the past few days, Qingyan's snack rings have all been discontinued. Yin saw this and felt a pang of sadness in his heart.
After getting into the carriage, Qingyan's face immediately fell.
"Fourth, the Imperial Medical Academy also needs to be reorganized!" Qingyan looked down on those people even more. Clearing out these medicinal herbs would reduce the Imperial Medical Academy's losses, but it was a matter of medical ethics.
Yin's face darkened; he had forgotten to ask Qingyan to observe the medicinal herbs.
These past few days, she has been staying by his side, and has put her previous request out of her mind.
"Little darling, are you telling the truth?" Yin understood the implied meaning in this sentence.
"Yes, especially the last few carriages, those medicinal herbs are basically ineffective. We can't let these things end up in the mouths of the disaster victims." Qingyan always said that doing business requires a conscience and you absolutely cannot be heartless.
He put his arm around Qingyan's small waist, allowing her to comfortably lean against him. The repeated traps he had set for her had left Yin feeling exhausted.
If they are not careful, they will fall into such a trap.
Fei Yanggu was a military general, and E Shuo and Sai Tuo were not experienced in escorting provisions and medicines; if the imperial physicians he brought were ineffective...
The trap was quite successful.
"Fourth, has the Ministry of Revenue caught the person behind this?" Qingyan was still worried about this matter. It was no small amount; over a million taels of silver had just vanished like that.
Yin kissed a stray hair from her forehead, not wanting to discuss the Ministry of Revenue's affairs, as both the bondservant officials of the Imperial Household Department and the servants of the Ministry of Revenue were involved. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)
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