Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 252 Shang Pharmacy

"The maid was found in a well." Li Xueyan grimaced in fear. "I heard that she was unrecognizable when she was fished out. When Mei Niang found out, she was terrified and fell ill."

"I see. Could it be that he accidentally fell into the well and drowned?"

Jiang Shangxian was curious. Palace servants could be moved out if they were dying, but what about concubines? Could they be moved out as well? He was afraid they'd have to find someone to perform a ritual. This kind of inhumane thing must be divided by class. "I heard that people who drown in water swell up like steamed buns."

"Then I don't know. Who can know the secrets of the palace?" Li Xueyan had never seen many dead people, especially those who died suddenly like this.

It was someone close to her who had such an incident. I was afraid His Majesty would have some thoughts about Wu Meiniang. Li Xueyan spread her hands and said indifferently, "There's no need for the Dali Temple to investigate a case with a dead person in the palace. It just caused Meiniang to be frightened and sick. When I talked to her, she was listless and didn't like to talk much. But she loved the pickled apricots in the snacks you sent back this time. She ate several in a row before stopping."

"Hey...."

Jiang Shangxian couldn't help but sigh. If she could have gone into the palace with him, she could have comforted Emperor Wu and taken the opportunity to make her presence felt. What a pity.

"It seems that this palace is indeed not very safe..."

It is really sad that a healthy and young person fell into a well and drowned.

Seeing her sigh, Li Xueyan quickly changed the subject: "Mei Niang asked me to tell you, thank you for the prescription. When she feels better, I will ask the doctor to see her. She also said that when the date of your marriage with Cui Yin is set, I should go to the palace to tell her."

She blinked and expressed her guess: "They probably wanted to give you the reward before you paid your tribute, so that the occasion would be more formal and lively."

It doesn’t matter what the imperial gift is, what’s important is the dignity, right?

In the palace, Wu Meiniang, who had announced that she had fallen ill due to shock, was leaning softly on the couch with snacks that Li Xueyan had brought her in the morning. She was the only one in the room.

She was indeed sick. Her usually rosy and lively face and even her lips were bloodless. Just over a year after entering the palace, the only person around her whom she could completely trust died.

How could she not be frightened?

There are too few people available, and now there are none left. With her eyebrows furrowed, she looks a bit like the sick Xi Shi.

She reached out and picked up a piece of dried meat and ground it slowly. There was a little bit of chili and pepper in the dried meat, and it tasted spicy and numbing, making people unable to stop eating. She really liked to eat something when she was thinking about something.

When your cheeks are puffy, your brain can work faster.

She originally thought that she had earned the qualification to coordinate the banquet, and with her skills, she would be able to do the job beautifully no matter what. Who knew that His Majesty would let her do such a thing.

This is not a good thing. If people knew it was her...

But she couldn't refuse, and she couldn't refuse.

She originally thought that if she could get this done, His Majesty would look upon her with a higher regard, but who knew something like this would happen? She was afraid of what His Majesty would think...

Besides His Majesty, there is also the Ninth Prince... His Majesty is nearly forty years old, and she hasn't been pregnant this year. If she can't have her own children, she will have no one to rely on for the rest of her life. All her struggles in this palace are in vain.

It had been a long time since Wu Meiniang had felt so difficult and powerless. From the moment she sat in the sedan chair, she was ready to say goodbye to her original life and create a new world.

She entered the palace with great ambition, and never got discouraged even when she found out that her personality and figure were not to His Majesty's liking. She believed that using her beauty to please men was not a long-term solution, and she believed that her abilities were enough to make His Majesty see her good qualities.

This is just like what Jiang Shangxian thought. Even if you can't climb up the ladder with beauty, you can still climb up with your business ability.

At this time, her goal was not as grand as to become the emperor. What she needed now was to secure her position in the palace. If she could not give birth to children, she might have to find another way out.

Her eyes fell on the recipes, and she stuffed the remaining dried meat in her hand into her mouth and chewed it hard. The dried meat was made very hard on purpose. According to her usual habit of grinding it bit by bit and biting off the meat strips one by one, it was just right to eat. However, it was a bit too hard to swallow it directly in one gulp.

But she did not spit it out. Instead, she sat up straight, holding the recipes in both hands and looking at them carefully. She chewed the dried meat evenly and forcefully until it became broken into pieces and then swallowed it all into her stomach.

Jiang Shangxian's attitude towards her was a little strange. She could sense a hint of closeness and flattery in his respect, and even some admiration?

She couldn't be certain, but she was certain of one thing: Jiang Shangxian had good intentions for her. Which of these aristocratic families didn't have connections in the palace? If she could establish a relationship with Cui Yi through this person, she would have a truly useful helper in the harem.

Now that she has entered the palace and taken this path, she wants both beauty and ability! If she wants to do something, she must be the best and the most outstanding!

"Come here! Go to the Shang Pharmacy and invite Doctor Hu! Secretly send one copy of these to the Ninth Prince, and another copy to His Majesty."

Cui Mansion in Yanshoufang

Zhao Yue and Cui Shuhua were checking the betrothal gift list for the last time. There were three copies of this thing, one for the Cui family, one for the Jiang family, and one for the government to file. Once everything was checked correctly, they could ask someone to pick a date to go to the Cui family to pay the betrothal gift.

If it were an ordinary family, just preparing a betrothal gift, how could it take so long?

It’s just that Cui Shuhua is careful in her work and likes to be different in the details.

It is easy to get various materials such as woven silk, Ruijin, robe brocade, quilt brocade, half-sleeve brocade, fine satin, Rui silk, two-nest silk, single-nest silk, two-package silk, cooked-line silk, and palace silk. Most of them are ready-made at home. If there are some that are slightly damaged in color, they can be bought outside. However, jewelry and headwear must be made according to the style. The old styles are no longer popular and it would be embarrassing for the Cui family to show them out.

Even the gold and silver used for fun were specially made into gold and silver molds, which were rat, sheep, and dog, corresponding to the zodiac signs of the year Cui Bianxu and Jiang Shangxian were born, and this year is the Year of the Sheep in the twelfth year of Zhenguan.

(The twelve zodiac animals, combined with the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches, form a unique Chinese calendar system. The earliest documented appearance is in the Book of Songs, the world's first collection of poetry. It was widely used by the people to record the year of birth starting during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.)

These gold and silver zodiac signs are to commemorate the year in which the couple got engaged. When the year of their official marriage comes, they will need to add another gold and silver zodiac sign belonging to that year's zodiac sign.