Chapter 155 She loved Pei Siyan terribly
Dusk fell, and the snow fell silently.
The lamplight flickered inside the bedroom, and the charcoal fire in the stove burned brightly, sizzling loudly.
Pei Siyan was exhausted. As he stepped into the hall, he saw Dou Wenyi still bent over her desk, engrossed in reading books.
He was slightly surprised, and naturally leaned down to envelop her. "It's almost midnight, why aren't you in bed yet?"
Dou Wenyi suddenly looked up. "I have a treatment plan for Jingyu's condition, but he needs to recuperate for a while longer before I can administer acupuncture to remove the blood clots in his brain."
Pei Siyan nodded, "It would be best to use the name of the divine doctor. The divine doctor Ge's whereabouts are unpredictable. If we say that he cured him, I'm afraid it will have too much of an impact. Everyone will be watching, which is not good."
"Master... Doctor Ge also has disciples. Let's say he's his last disciple, okay?" Dou Wenyi almost let it slip and hurriedly corrected herself.
In her previous life, she was known as the 'Little Fairy Doctor', but even Xie Guidu didn't know this secret.
"Okay, let's spread the word about this first."
Pei Siyan smiled, "Yi'er, you are truly my lucky star!"
Dou Wenyi turned to look at the vast expanse of snow outside the window and murmured, "If this snow continues like this, I wonder how many more people will die. Is the rice trade already in chaos?"
Pei Siyan forcefully closed her book, held her hand, and said with some emotion, "Your hands are almost frozen, why don't you go to bed and warm them up?"
"The imperial court is ready to open the granaries and release grain. The large amount of embezzled money seized from the Tan family after the last granary incident has been deposited into the national treasury and funds have already been allocated to buy grain. The soaring price of rice should be brought under control soon. Yi'er, thanks to your reminder, this advance planning should be much better."
Just then, Eunuch Anxi hurriedly knocked on the door, "Your Highness—"
Pei Siyan's expression darkened with displeasure. "What is it?"
"Lord Yin has arrived, saying he has important matters to discuss."
——
Pei Siyan got up and went to the study.
Yin Congjian frowned deeply and handed over a rubbing of a memorial. "Your Highness, this is an urgent report from Gu Zixiao, the Jianghuai Transport Commissioner, tonight. The gist of it is that the ships that were originally scheduled to reach Tianning City in three days encountered a storm, and tens of thousands of shi of grain sank into the sea."
"In addition, the quality of the grain transported to Tianning City in the previous shipments was extremely poor, with a mold rate as high as 30%, which is ten times the standard. Now that there has been a shipwreck, I'm afraid the price of grain in Tianning City will skyrocket."
Pei Siyan took the memorial and quickly glanced at it. "What about the other rice and grain that were transferred from Jiangnan?"
"Your Highness, the weather is extremely cold, the canal is frozen, and we can't get the goods in."
"I've checked the Ministry of Revenue's records. In the past year alone, there have been more than twenty shipwrecks reported to the Ministry of Revenue for various reasons related to the transport of rice and official salt. This time, the shipment was transported by sea, and it still encountered a storm. It's too much of a coincidence. There's probably something fishy going on here!"
Pei Siyan fell silent.
Yin Congjian grew increasingly alarmed as he thought about it. "Should we continue the investigation?"
Gu Zixiao is the younger brother of Gu Yufeng, the commander of the Imperial Guards. The Gu family has maintained a long-standing relationship with the royal family, and Emperor Muzong has always trusted them. Gu Yufeng is a man of the Crown Prince, and it was only after the trouble at the detached palace that he seized the opportunity to be promoted from deputy to head.
If Gu Zixiao really has a problem, Gu Yufeng's position as commander of the Imperial Guards will probably be in jeopardy as well.
"check!"
Yin Congjian picked up the folded document and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something. "By the way, could that rumor be true?"
Pei Siyan frowned. "What rumors?"
"You say the Crown Princess is deeply in love with you, but you've gone through all this trouble just to try and marry her?" Yin Congjian's gossip-loving spirit burned brightly as he tentatively asked.
Pei Siyan smiled and said, "Yes, she loves me very much."
Yin Congjian was slightly taken aback, then became completely agitated. "You... Pei Siyan, what can I say to you? Really, aren't you afraid that people will say you are heartless and ungrateful? Dou Mingyan is your savior."
Pei Siyan's handsome face suddenly turned cold. "She courted death by climbing into the emperor's bed, how can she blame me?"
"What?" Yin Congjian was unaware of the inside story and was shocked, finding it unbelievable.
No wonder...
The Emperor's purpose in ordering him to marry both a principal wife and a concubine at the same time is quite intriguing. Having both a principal wife and a concubine enter the household simultaneously is practically a slap in the face to the Crown Princess.
Having managed to extract a few truthful words from Pei Siyan, Yin Congjian seized the opportunity to ask a few more questions, "What about Sheng Xiyue?"
Pei Siyan felt annoyed just thinking about it, and said firmly, "She won't marry into the family. The Eastern Palace has enough Crown Princess!"
Dou Wenyi is petty and has a bad temper. He can barely handle her, so how could he have time to look at other women?
Yin Congjian twitched his lips and glared at him.
No wonder the Imperial Astronomical Bureau officials spent so much time choosing auspicious times, all saying there were no lucky days this year, and insisted on postponing the wedding until after spring. Even after Emperor Muzong was furious, they wouldn't change their minds; it turned out the Crown Prince was behind it all.
Now, facing an unprecedented winter and a great calamity, the Emperor has abandoned the idea of having him marry immediately.
Several more days of heavy snow fell in Tianning City. Even with rice and grain prices skyrocketing, unscrupulous merchants hoarded grain and refused to sell, plunging the people into panic over food shortages. Adding to the turmoil, a large influx of refugees poured into Tianning City, and soon, the area outside the city was littered with frozen corpses—a truly horrifying sight.
The powerful families set up soup kitchens outside the city and began to provide relief to the disaster victims.
Pei Siyan also ordered people to set up porridge stalls. Because of the continuous heavy snow, many shops on the street were closed, but the grain shops were bustling with activity.
The biting wind howled like a knife. When they reached the outskirts of the city, Dou Wenyi looked around and saw a vast expanse of refugees everywhere.
A long queue had already formed outside the prince's porridge stall.
Curses, complaints, and cries filled her ears. Seeing the full spectrum of human emotions once again, Dou Wenyi's heart clenched instantly.
"Your Highness...we have already prepared the medicinal soup according to your prescription. The disaster victims, hearing that it was for disease prevention, have all come to drink it. Word has spread, and too many people have come to us. The rice and grain we prepared will not last more than a few days," the Chief Secretary of the Eastern Palace respectfully reported.
Dou Wenyi frowned deeply. "These medicinal herbs are to be distributed at two specific times each day?"
The chief secretary glanced worriedly at the disaster victims and sighed, "Your Highness, you may not know this, but the rice we use is better than theirs. Those aristocratic families must have gotten it from somewhere; nine times out of ten it's moldy and spoiled rice, mixed with sand and stones. The porridge they make smells musty..."
Dou Wenyi understood; it was because they were too unconventional.
Many powerful families set up soup kitchens merely to gain a reputation for benevolence. Calculating the time, Zheng Zhilong's ship would be back soon, but even so, it would be a drop in the ocean. To effectively provide disaster relief, other methods needed to be considered.
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