Chapter 158

Feng Liwu frowned as he listened.

He felt that if there weren’t someone deliberately stirring things up, such well-structured rumors wouldn’t have spread so easily among the people.

The most urgent task now was to stabilize public sentiment.

After discussing with Ji Binglin, he allocated funds from the national treasury to purchase medicinal herbs and distribute free medicinal decoctions to the poor in and around the capital.

By the time Feng Liwu finished handling government affairs and returned to the palace, he discovered that Jiang Xiurun was no longer there.

Jiang Xiurun had woken up early in the morning, freshened up briefly, and left the palace.

However, instead of returning to her own residence, she ordered some garlic pear paste from her estate to be brought out.

Since some of her former classmates had also fallen ill, she hurriedly delivered the garlic pears to them, instructing their families to have the patients dip steamed buns into the paste and eat as much as possible.

The garlic pears were pungent, and those unaccustomed to the taste found them hard to swallow.

However, since their old friend had personally delivered the remedy despite the risk of infection, even those who disliked the taste forced themselves to take big bites.

After making her rounds and distributing nearly all the garlic pear paste, Jiang Xiurun finally felt relieved.

However, she decided not to return home just yet.

Since she was uncertain whether the garlic pears could truly cure the illness, she feared bringing sickness back to her son.

Instead, she rented an inn for the night.

With businesses in the capital nearly deserted due to the epidemic, it was easy to find an empty inn.

She chose a quiet place to stay.

After a long day, her mind was still restless.

Days ago, she had heard that a plum tree at the Yang residence had withered and died from disease, and the Yang family had uprooted and discarded it.

But that didn’t matter—she still had a cutting from that very tree.

A few days ago, she had ordered several healthy mice to be placed in a confined space with the plum branch to observe their reactions.

With these two approaches working simultaneously, she was determined to find answers quickly and minimize the harm caused by the epidemic in the capital.

That night, separated from her son, Jiang Xiurun tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

She wasn’t the only one suffering from sleeplessness.

Yang Ruxu, too, was restless.

Not only could she not sleep, but under the cover of night, she secretly left her home and rode a carriage to a secluded estate in the outskirts.

As soon as she stepped out of the carriage, she furiously stormed toward the figure standing in the shadows and snapped, “That ‘Bielou Guochun’ you gave me—what on earth is that cursed thing? The servants tending to it fell ill early on. If I hadn’t ordered my father to send them away in time, wouldn’t it have been obvious to everyone that those who inhaled the scent of this flower would get sick?”

The man slightly turned to her and bowed, saying, “Blessings and misfortunes come hand in hand. Such a beautiful flower is, naturally, a gift to help you ascend to the empress’s throne.”

Yang Ruxu felt she had been used.

She gritted her teeth in frustration and barked, “I see now—you wanted to bring disaster upon the capital! Guards, seize him and deliver him to the authorities for punishment!”

But the man remained unfazed, chuckling.

“Prince Pingchuan sends his regards. Do you wish to announce your past dealings with him to the world?”

The so-called Prince Pingchuan was none other than the Second Prince, Feng Wu, who had been exiled to the Three Counties.

At the mention of his name, Yang Ruxu regretted her past choices deeply.

Back when Feng Wu was still in the capital, she had often encountered him at banquets.

At the time, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince were fiercely competing for power.

Yang Ruxu harbored some ambitions of her own and did not reject Feng Wu’s advances.

But Feng Wu was a cunning manipulator.

In the end, he set a trap for her.

During a secret outing, he took advantage of her, leaving her defenseless against his strength.

That period left Yang Ruxu in constant fear, but Feng Wu reassured her, promising that once he ascended the throne, he would make her his empress.

However, in the end, Feng Wu was banished to the frontier, and Feng Liwu took the throne.

Yang Ruxu decided to conceal her past with Feng Wu and proceeded with the original plan to marry into the imperial family.

But Feng Wu blackmailed her, claiming to have kept an intimate token of hers as proof of their affair.

He demanded her cooperation in the capital, threatening that if she refused, he would reveal her loss of purity.

Feng Liwu had been looking for an excuse to annul their engagement.

If someone presented evidence, he would surely verify it, and the truth would be exposed instantly.

Just like that, Yang Ruxu found herself at Feng Wu’s mercy.

She was filled with rage and regret, but she had no way out.

Fortunately, Feng Wu’s demands were not excessive—he merely asked her to send occasional letters and continue his game of courtship.

But this time, he had sent her a plum tree and asked her to host a grand banquet to showcase its blossoms.

Yang Ruxu couldn’t grasp his intentions, but since a simple flower-viewing party was harmless, she complied.

She never imagined it would lead to such devastation in the capital.

Only now did she fully realize the sinister plot behind Feng Wu’s actions.

But by the time she understood, it was too late.

Now, she was seething with anger and wanted to capture the man before her, but his threats left her trembling.

Her cheeks flushed with fury as she clenched her fists tightly.

At that moment, the man slowly pulled down the hood that had concealed his face, revealing a visage scarred with deep knife wounds.

He looked at Yang Ruxu and said, “Miss Yang, as I said before—blessings and misfortunes come together. Prince Pingchuan’s goal is to remove obstacles to his ascension, but your desire is to become the empress as soon as possible, isn’t it? If that remains your wish, I have a plan that will help you quickly win the emperor’s favor and enter the palace as his empress…”

The man was none other than Qin Zhao.

He had survived a near-death ordeal.

The experience had unlocked many memories from his past life.

Moreover, as someone deeply involved in court affairs, he knew far more about the political landscape than Jiang Xiurun did.

But even in his past life, he never could have imagined that this epidemic had been orchestrated by Feng Wu.

In the previous life, Feng Wu had not been a significant threat.

He had likely remained hidden in the martial world, wandering aimlessly.

But how could a prince resign himself to a life of exile?

Somehow, in the past, he must have found a way to infiltrate the palace and seduce Yang Ruxu, triggering another plague.

The difference this time was that Feng Wu had meticulously set the stage, but he had not disclosed the cure to Yang Ruxu.

Feng Wu only instructed his apothecary to prepare a few doses of medicine—besides providing them to Yang Ruxu and her mother, he also set aside some for Jiang Xiurun.

He gave clear orders: if the fair Jiang Xiurun fell ill, they were to find a doctor to send her medicine.

But if anyone else fell ill, even her own child, they were not to provide any at all!

In Qin Zhao’s dreams, which he had experienced over time, he vaguely remembered that in the past life, Jiang Zhi had asked Ji Wujiang, a fellow villager, to transport a large batch of garlic pears.

Many of these were given to Yang Ruxu, which ultimately led to the discovery of the cure.

In this life, as he drank the medicine again, he carefully tasted it and indeed detected the flavor of garlic pear.

Furthermore, he had previously hinted for Yang Ruxu to cut a branch from the flowering tree and give it to Dou Siwu, intending to spread the plague to Feng Liwu.

However, based on intelligence gathered from Feng Wu’s spies within the court, both Dou Siwu and Feng Liwu remained completely unharmed.

They had both traveled to the Bo state in this life, where they happened to eat the local specialty, garlic pears.

It was a fortunate accident that they unknowingly immunized themselves against the epidemic.

At this point, Feng Wu’s scheme had already succeeded in making Feng Liwu lose the people’s trust.

But the epidemic would eventually fade, so why not use the opportunity to let Yang Ruxu, as in the past life, earn the reputation of a savior?

She could use this moment to force Feng Liwu’s hand and secure a place in the Eastern Palace sooner.

Now, Qin Zhao believed he understood Jiang Xiurun’s heart.

In her past life, she had been raised outside the residence as a mistress, suffering countless grievances.

Now that she had reclaimed her position as empress, how could she possibly allow Feng Liwu to take another woman as his empress?

As long as Feng Liwu, pressured by the epidemic and the plight of the people, was forced to marry Yang Ruxu, Qin Zhao was certain that Jiang Xiurun would sever ties with Feng Liwu for good.

With this thought, Qin Zhao made up his mind—he would give the recipe for the cure to Yang Ruxu, allowing the “savior consort” to reappear in Luo’an City!

That very night, Yang Ruxu left with excitement written all over her face.

She hurried home and carefully tested the garlic pears.

If Qin Zhao had not lied, then her opportunity had arrived!

She was determined to seize it.

During this epidemic, many forces were stirring in the shadows.

But Jiang Xiurun had already found the answer in advance.

When she had distributed the garlic pear paste, she had instructed the servants caring for her old classmates to report any good news immediately.

The following day, the servants of several classmates rushed to the inn where Jiang Xiurun was staying, their faces beaming with joy as they informed her that the rashes of their masters had subsided, their fevers had broken, and their energy had returned.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiurun confirmed that her hypothesis was correct—the garlic pear was indeed the cure.

Now that the remedy had been found, the most urgent matter was to quickly brew garlic pear soup and distribute it to the sick citizens of Luo’an City.

However, the supply of garlic pear paste in her residence was limited, and even the stock in the palace was not much.

If they were to transport it from the Bo, it would take ten days to half a month—by then, even knowing the cure would be of no use if the people could not be saved in time.

She recalled that in the past life, her older brother had prepared garlic pears for Yang Ruxu ahead of time.

But now, her brother was not in Luo’an, having already married and started a family.

It was impossible for him to have any connection with Yang Ruxu now, let alone have garlic pears ready.

However, Jiang Xiurun remembered something else—her sister-in-law, Wenniang, would never miss out on a business opportunity like importing a specialty product from the Bo.

Back then, Wenniang had noticed how much Feng Liwu and the military officers loved eating garlic pears, and her eyes had lit up.

Her fingers had moved as if calculating on an abacus, undoubtedly thinking about the profit she could make by bringing garlic pears to the Great Qi and raising the price.

Holding onto a sliver of hope, Jiang Xiurun went to her sister-in-law Wenniang’s newly established shop in the capital.

She instructed the shopkeeper to check their trade records across the Great Qi and its neighboring states.

To her delight, they found that a shipment of garlic pears was already on its way to Great Qi and would arrive in Luo’an City within days.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Xiurun, who had not had a good night’s sleep for days, finally let out a long sigh of relief.

With her heart at ease, she began contemplating something else—”Noble Consort’s Decoction” sounded far too common.

In this life, what elegant name should she give to this life-saving remedy?

Meanwhile, Yang Ruxu had gone to great lengths to purchase a whole basket of garlic pears from an out-of-town shop.

She then tested it on severely ill patients, and upon seeing the remarkable effect, she was overjoyed.

She immediately reported the matter to her father, asking him to submit the medicine to the court.

At the same time, she personally carried a pot of freshly brewed medicinal soup and, following Qin Zhao’s plan, set out to personally distribute the cure in the outskirts of the city.

However, after a long journey, when she arrived at the outskirts, the servants who had gone ahead to find a suitable location to set up the medicine station and cooking pots rushed back in a panic.

“Miss, all the best spots at the road junction have already been taken. Someone set up a medicine station early this morning and is already distributing the cure!”

Yang Ruxu sneered inwardly.

She assumed that some charlatan was trying to gain fame by handing out fake medicine.

She dismissed the matter and asked, “Who is distributing the medicine?”

The servant replied, “We haven’t found out yet, but the name of the soup is quite mysterious… it’s called ‘Saintess Decoction’!”