Sensing her mistress's displeasure, Lian He's heart tightened, but she had to brace herself and reply, "Not yet... the Regent has protected that woman too well. News came from the palace that the Emperor tried several times to see her, but was unable to."
"Even the Emperor couldn't see her?" Qin Yijia looked surprised.
Given the relationship between the Regent and the Emperor, if he truly had a woman he wanted to marry, he would undoubtedly bring her to see the Emperor first.
Qin Yijia was puzzled and couldn't fathom the reason.
She didn't waste any more time on the matter and said, "Prepare the brush and ink. I will write another letter to Wen'er. This time, I'll send it secretly, and ideally, bribe a servant in the Regent's manor."
Hearing this, Lian He wore a troubled expression, looking at Princess Yonghe as if she wanted to say something but didn't.
If the servants of the Regent's manor were so easily bribed, the Regent wouldn't have instilled fear in so many people across the land.
However, at this moment, Lian He wisely kept silent.
She resigned herself to preparing the brush and ink, and then spent a full fifty taels to bribe the person who emptied the night pots in the Regent's manor. Only then did the person reluctantly agree to accept the letter.
Little did she know, the night pot emptier immediately handed the letter and silver to Yan Bo, who then took them to Ru Mo Ju to find Li Yue Shu.
Seeing this, without Li Yue Shu even needing to speak, Shi Dong and Ying Xin went to fetch a fire starter and a teacup respectively, their actions swift and decisive.
As for the fifty taels of silver, Li Yue Shu let the night pot emptier keep it directly.
Within two hours, the news had spread throughout the entire Regent's manor. Everyone envied the night pot emptier's good fortune and hoped for another foolish person...
Ah, no, they hoped Princess Yonghe would send someone again.
Qin Yijia was completely unaware of all this. She never imagined that the people of the Regent's manor would do something so shameless.
Unbeknownst to her, this was something Li Yue Shu had specifically instructed Yan Bo to pass down after burning the first letter.
...
After burning the letter, Li Yue Shu left with Shi Dong and Ying Xin.
The medicine that was transported from Tong Mu County was arriving today, and she naturally had to go and see it.
As soon as Li Yue Shu entered the room, she saw two familiar faces.
"Shen Tan, Shen Chi?" Li Yue Shu exclaimed joyfully, "Did you two have any trouble on the road?"
Shen Tan was steady and worldly, possessing a maturity beyond his years, but he was still young, and Shen Chi was a girl.
Escorting this batch of medicine from Tong Mu County to Chong Zhou was no easy feat.
Feeling the familiar concern, Shen Tan's heart warmed slightly. He shook his head, "We hired a reputable escort agency and had disguised ourselves along the way, so we didn't encounter any issues."
Shen Chi also asked with concern, "How has Madam been lately? When we left, everyone entrusted us with many things to bring to Madam."
Hearing the familiar address, Li Yue Shu also felt a pang of nostalgia. "I don't have to do anything myself for food, clothing, housing, or transportation now, so I'm naturally living very well."
In fact, at first, she was somewhat unaccustomed to it. If she hadn't strongly insisted on doing many things herself, she might have even had someone feed her.
Seeing that Madam indeed looked much more refined than when she was in Tong Mu County, Shen Tan and Shen Chi didn't ask further and led Li Yue Shu to see the things everyone had entrusted them with.
Li Yue Shu could guess that the items Shen Tan brought wouldn't be few. Especially Aunt Liu, if food could be stored for a long time, she might have prepared a table full of dishes to bring.
But Li Yue Shu hadn't expected that the items they brought would fill an entire horse-drawn carriage.
Shen Tan seemed to find it a bit excessive and awkwardly touched his nose. "When they heard we were coming to see Madam, everyone was very enthusiastic. Even the village head and Aunt Zhao prepared a lot of things."
Shen Chi also chuckled sheepishly, "Some of it was for the young master and mistress and the master. To distinguish them, Aunt Liu and Zhou Shi spent two days labeling everything."
Li Yue Shu was both amused and touched.
Her initial impression of that village wasn't very good, but after spending more time with them, she realized that most of the villagers were fundamentally simple and honest.
It was a pity that there were no convenient communication methods in this world. If she wanted to know how everyone was doing in Tong Mu County, she could only ask Shen Tan and Shen Chi.
The two had anticipated her questions and spoke candidly about the situation in Tong Mu County, even mentioning how the prefect had specially visited Ling Xian Wine House to promote it.
They talked until dusk.
With many more matters to attend to, Li Yue Shu had to temporarily halt the conversation and arrange for the two to stay at the new pharmacy.
The arrival of Shen Tan and Shen Chi was also something Li Yue Shu had arranged for early on.
Her ambition was to open Heng De Pharmacy all over the world, and Shen Tan and six others were those she was specifically training to manage this.
Previously, she had them in charge of the pharmaceutical factory to train them. Now, asking them to come to Chong Zhou to take over the new pharmacy was to formally expose them to these responsibilities.
Shen Tan and Shen Chi clearly understood this as well. They woke up early the next day to find Hong Dai and, before the opening, thoroughly understand the current situation of the new pharmacy.
...
In the blink of an eye, the day for the new pharmacy to open arrived.
As she was being watched by too many people, Li Yue Shu did not appear. However, she found a suitable vantage point to observe the situation outside.
Hong Dai had indeed created quite a stir. With the crackling sound of firecrackers, the ground was almost covered with spent red firecrackers.
"A new shop is opening here? It's so big, what is it for?"
"It seems to be Heng De Pharmacy from a place called Tong Mu County. I heard the owner is a young and beautiful lady."
"Heng De Pharmacy? Is that the Shen Madam who invented new medicines, performed lung transplants on living people, and reconstructed broken bones?"
"Lung transplants on living people are unheard of, and reconstructing broken bones is something only immortals can do. This sounds like a lie!"
"That's because you're ignorant. The local magistrate and prefect have personally confirmed this! I have a distant relative who happens to be from Tong Mu County, and he even saw the patient who received the lung transplant."
"If that's true, wouldn't that Shen Madam surpass Ji Mo Bai and become the number one physician in the world?"
...
Discussions arose one after another, but more were doubts about the rumors.
Li Yue Shu was unconcerned by this.
She had confidence in her medicine. As long as she could build a reputation and pique people's curiosity, she wouldn't worry about future sales.
Seeing Shen Tan and Shen Chi ushering people into the pharmacy, Li Yue Shu was about to go down and take a look.
As she was about to leave, her gaze suddenly fell upon a figure not far from the pharmacy.
That was... Shen Cheng Cai!
He was still alive?
Li Yue Shu was shocked. She hadn't expected this person, who didn't even have a name in the original book, to be so tenacious, more so than a cockroach!
Looking at his attire, had he struck it rich?
Li Yue Shu couldn't understand how a child not yet ten years old could have traveled alone from Tong Mu County to Chong Zhou and be so well-dressed, even his skin had become much fairer.
"Ying Xin, go and investigate that person for me."
Li Yue Shu pointed to Shen Cheng Cai below, who was staring at Heng De Pharmacy with a look of disbelief.
"Yes."
Ying Xin immediately went to investigate and submitted the results to Li Yue Shu that evening.
Upon seeing the results, Li Yue Shu didn't know what expression to wear.