zChapter 930 - This Bit of Silver Is Far Off!

“Ninth brother is indeed someone extremely lacking in a bright future. This prince has also believed this for a long time.” A voice suddenly came from behind Xuan Tian Mo. The voice was soft and pristine like jade, the tone was even, and it was as though it was speaking about something very normal. But this sort of voice was too familiar to Xuan Tian Mo. When he heard it, it was like a needle.

He turned around and looked. Sure enough, he found the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua, wearing white clothes and stomping over. He held a folding fan in his hand but did not open it. The heat of the beginning of Autumn did not have any effect on this person. He still looked just as casual with that divine aura surrounding him.

“So it was seventh brother.” He called out but felt a little guilty. It was clear that he had heard those things that he had just said about Xuan Tian Ming. It had to be said that he did not take Feng Yu Heng seriously, but adding in the seventh prince would make things a bit troublesome.

Who in the court did not know about His Highness the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua. He might look carefree and leisurely like a deity, and he was always polite while never having the haughtiness of a prince. Most of the time, he would handle matters in a calm manner, and he would not deliberately make things look bad for anyone. But this person had one trait that was especially frustrating, and that was his protectiveness, and this was specifically related to Xuan Tian Ming. The two had been raised by Imperial Concubine Yun. It was natural that they would be much closer than other brothers. The seventh prince protected the ninth prince. There truly was not much different from how the Emperor protected Xuan Tian Ming. As long as there was something related to the ninth prince, even this person that was like a deity would not have any principles. He would tell lies without any change in expression. This was an ability that both of Imperial Concubine Yun’s sons were proficient in.

“This prince came into the palace to check up on imperial concubine mother; however, who knew that I would run into eighth brother and hear eighth brother’s appraisal. I truly feel saddened for ninth brother and ninth sister.” Xuan Tian Hua spoke while shaking his head. Slowly walking over, he stopped when he drew closer and continued: “Killing the enemy for the country and having a distinguished career, why is it that eighth brother forcefully insists on distinguishing between men and women, even going so far as to begin mocking. This prince really does not understand it; moreover, ninth brother took Sha Ping City, which had not been taken after many years, on the first night that he was there. This is a reality that cannot be questioned. Why is it that this attack was not brought up by eighth brother?”

“Seventh brother misunderstood.” It had to be said that aside from Xuan Tian Ming, the one person among all of the other princes that Xuan Tian Mo wanted to avoid contact with the most was this seventh brother. This person had too many advantages. Regardless of which aspect was considered, if conflict broke out between him and Xuan Tian Hua, more people would stand on the seventh prince’s side. This even included the people of his own faction, as they might change their minds in the face of Xuan Tian Hua. Xuan Tian Mo wiped away some sweat from his brow and continued: “This prince was just joking around with younger sister. Seventh brother really has misunderstood.”

“Oh? Misunderstood?” Xuan Tian Hua looked at Feng Yu Heng then said: “Both were females, but the one that eighth brother chose is more than just a bit lacking compared to ninth sister! It must be said that being denounced for a girl, this prince heard that eighth brother’s concubine chose to follow Gu Shu’s General Bi Xiu. On the day that she fell from the city’s walls, tens of thousands of people saw that scene! If eighth brother has time to mouth off to ninth sister, it would be better to spend that time thinking about how to regain your own reputation.”

His words were not polite in the slightest, angering Xuan Tian Mo into flicking his sleeve and leaving! If he could not offend him, could he not avoid him either? He really needed to do his best to ensure that word of that matter did not spread. In short, it was something easy to spread but utterly disgraceful.

However, it was at this time that he heard Feng Yu Heng’s voice speak up once more, crisply saying: “Eighth brother! I heard that those people that did not want me to be allowed into the palace have recently been removed from their positions for being lacking in their knowledge? While eighth brother is tidying up your reputation, you also need to remember to make sure you have a stable foundation. That will ensure that the building you’ve built up won’t collapse!”

When she had finished speaking, Xuan Tian Mo had already gone further away. Feng Yu Heng covered her mouth and smiled; however, the smile made Xuan Tian Hua feel very helpless. This girl, hah, how many times had he told himself not to concern himself with this girl’s matters. But since he ran into it, he could not stop himself from wanting to speak up for her. In truth, he knew that even if he did not speak up for her, Feng Yu Heng definitely would not fall to a disadvantageous position, but there was a case of what if. What if she did lose, and he had not done anything. He might end up regretting it for the rest of his life.

The next day, Feng Yu Heng had already begun work on reopening Hundred Herb Hall. Xuan Tian Ming had returned from the military camp on the night of that same day, saying that there was some matter in court that he could not neglect. But as Feng Yu Heng saw it, he was just doing it to take advantage of her! What business in court, if there was something in court for him to attend to, why did he not appear particularly busy? He was also quite vigorous when eating meat at night. It really was quite worthy of disdain.

With the three cousins from the Yao family participating, Hundred Herb Hall’s reopening was very successful. Although the doctors that had originally been in the capital were brought to Ji An Prefecture, Yao Xian still had other people that he had been training. They had been trained in the event that they might be needed. At this time, they were all brought over, and Feng Yu Heng gave them a quick refresher course on common medical knowledge. She also tested these doctors on their basics. After these things were handled, Hundred Herb Hall was reopened officially three days later.

Her fourth cousin, Yao An, temporarily took over Wang Lin’s position as shopkeeper, but Feng Yu Heng wanted him to communicate with Wang Lin by letter every month to talk about the situation in the capital. Also, he would learn more about management from Wang Lin. As for Yao Nan and Yao Xin, their focus would be on the new “Hundred Herb Medical School” and the various tasks related to it.

The new school was located next to the Imperial College. That place was originally part of the Imperial College, and it had served as a school building for the students, but the Imperial College was large, and that building had been left empty. Xuan Tian Ming found the person that managed the Imperial College and obtained it without needing to waste any words. When the Imperial College heard that Princess Yu wanted to open a medical school, they fully supported it. They had also experienced the medical abilities in Hundred Herb Hall and hoped that those medical abilities could be spread around, thus they were very cooperative. They even took the initiative to help resolve the problem of tables and chairs.

This area was able to hold roughly 150 students, but Feng Yu Heng did not want to take in too many people. First, something like learning medicine needed more than just kindness. At the very least, the first batch of students needed to have a bit of a foundation. After all, she could not do things like in the modern world and have these students go through five years of undergraduate studies first. As a whole, they were emphasizing speed. This meant that the medical school had some requirements for those that wanted to attend this medical school.

In addition to this, all of the students that wanted to enter this “Hundred Herb Medical School” would need to pass a variety of examinations. They did not just test the fundamentals, but they also had to have their family backgrounds investigated. They needed to be perfectly innocent. Even if there was the slightest blemish, they could not be accepted. The people that Feng Yu Heng wanted to train would be people that she could truly call her own. They definitely could not allow any people with ulterior motives join.

The person in charge of the school would be Yao Xian. Feng Yu Heng then turned the empty classrooms were turned into research labs, as she pulled out a number of human models from her space. She also brought out medical tools for the students to use. As for herself, she would come and present a lecture every three days, and she would do everything possible to allow these students to quickly graduate.

Hundred Herb Hall’s reopening also saw the opening of Hundred Herb Medical School. To the citizens of the capital, it was something that was incomparably good. On the day that Hundred Herb Hall reopened for business, a large number of citizens came to seek treatment and fetch medicine. There were even people that had come to Hundred Herb Hall’s entrance and begun setting off firecrackers, while quite a large number of people dropped to their knees to kowtow in the direction of the Imperial Palace, thanking the Emperor for supporting the citizens and allowing Hundred Herb Hall to be reopened.

Over the course of a few days, the topic that most of the people of the capital talked about was Hundred Herb Hall. Of course, there was another side, and they were talking about the battle in the South. Who knew if it was intentional or not, but the people that discussed the battle would, without exception, speak about Fu Ya, who had gone with Bi Xiu. There was also the situation that had occurred with Da Shun attacked Yue Ping City, and what Bi Xiu had done with Fu Ya at the top of the wall. There were also people who spread the information that Fu Ya was the eighth prince’s concubine, and this information spread more and more. It was to the point that there was nobody in the capital did not know about it. The eighth prince’s concubine had lost him a lot of face. She had even engaged in such passionate acts on the city walls!

Xuan Tian Mo spent the entire day furious with an ashen complexion. He had done everything possible to prevent this information from spreading; however, he found that it was impossible to shut everyone up. It also caused the officials of his faction to harbor complaints about him. In just two days time, Feng Yu Heng had sent him another account, revealing the amount that he needed to “express” himself. It was a full 3 million tales of silver.

Xuan Tian Mo already knew that he would be getting scammed; however, he did not think that Feng Yu Heng would be so fierce when acting. To ask for 3 million taels of silver just like that, in the past, he did not think too much about this amount of money; however, had his palace not been robbed during the first month? He had lost so much. Now, 3 million taels really did seem like quite a large sum. But could he choose not to give it? It was definitely no good. Speaking of this money, it was his old man, the emperor, who had collaborated with Feng Yu Heng to get it out. No matter where he went, he would not be able to reason with anyone.

With this grievance that he could voice not voice, 3 million taels in banknotes were obediently sent to Feng Yu Heng. When Feng Yu Heng received these banknotes, she said to the servant from the Sheng Palace: “Go back and tell your master that this 3 million taels is not a loss at all. Compared to the things that he would do, this bit of money is far from enough!”

The servant gloomily slinked off. When leaving, they even pondered for a bit whether or not to pass this message along to the eighth prince in full. If it was said, would the eighth prince have him killed in anger?

The ninth prince had returned to the capital and was currently enjoying a “honeymoon.” He did not pay much attention to the battle for the throne. As for the eighth prince, he temporarily needed to focus on shoring up his image and regain some strength. For a while, the court really did not have any important matters. The Emperor spent his days receiving reports from all over. While reading these reports about this great peace, he began to feel flustered from the tranquility.

The left prime minister, Lu Song, was not feeling very at ease today. This feeling was not mental. Instead, it was a physical feeling. It had been nearly a month that he had felt his chest hurt, and he was short of breath. He would even have bouts of dizziness. In the beginning, he believed it to have been a result of the heat, thus he asked the Emperor for a few days off and did not attend court. But this condition continued to persist without any improvement. Today, it even got worse.

His wife, Ge shi, had invited quite a few doctors to try and figure out what was wrong with him. Seeing that Hundred Herb Hall had been reopened and Feng Yu Heng had returned to the capital, Ge shi really wanted to go to Hundred Herb Hall to invite a doctor to see Lu Song, but she was also afraid of acting and causing offense. After all, the situation between the Lu family and the Yao family had been quite ugly. Last time, they had already asked Feng Yu Heng once for Lu Yan’s matter. To go again now, she truly could not bring herself to open her mouth. In addition to this, the Lu family’s situation was still quite bad. Hundred Herb Hall’s doctors charged quite a steep fee, and as a result of the person, they would set a price. Once someone had any enmity with Feng Yu Heng, Feng Yu Heng would immediately begin looking down on them. Or for families with sources of income that were unclear, she would charge an exorbitant fee. Based on the relationship between the Lu family and Feng Yu Heng, she was a bit knowledgeable. She knew that she definitely would be unable to afford one.

Thinking about it, there were no other options. Ge shi simply just set out early in the morning to pray to the statue of the Bodhisattva that had been built in Feng Yu Heng’s image outside the city.

While Ge shi had left the city, after Lu Song left court, he did not return home. Instead, he sat in his carriage and went straight to Hundred Herb Hall…