Chapter 687: Witch Medicine
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Old Madam Yu nodded. “That’s true. The dirty money that was confiscated previously was from the tails. The real big deal are those that had been stolen by powerful officials at the top…”
The Imperial Court’s annual taxes were only around a million taels of silver. In addition to maritime trade, it was only three to four million silver.
However, the amount confiscated previously was already a million taels of silver, which was equivalent to a year’s worth of taxes from the Imperial Court.
It was obvious there would be a huge sum of money hidden by the heads.
Yu Youyao was worried. “When you pull a radish out of the ground, dirt comes up along with it. Ye Hanyuan will be busy exterminating the pirates until
October at least. When the weather turns cold, the war at sea will be settled. Once the battle is over, it’s done. The difficult thing is to deal with the aftermath of the war. To provide food relief, help the people, and rebuild…” This was the most important thing.
All of this could not be done without the governance of the local officials, let alone without Ye Hanyuan managing the overall situation.
At this rate, it was going to be really busy in Zhejiang!
Old Madam Yu had also thought of this. “After your father leaves the government office, I’ll talk to him and ask him to send a memorial to the Imperial Court to persuade the Emperor!”
Yu Youyao shook her head. “The Emperor has been anxious to see quick results for a long time. If we can think of the problem, it’s impossible that the court officials haven’t thought of it. If the Emperor is being stubborn, it’s useless no matter who persuades him.”
Moreover, Yu Zongzheng was not someone who could be directly admonished.
Old Madam Yu sighed when she heard this. “Women and children of the Inner
Residence like us can’t interfere in the important matters of the court.”
Previously, in her letter, her cousin had reminded her that Zhejiang was going to be in chaos. He had asked her to gather all the businesses in Zhejiang and buy more farmland. There was nothing more practical than attaining farmland.
Land in Zhejiang was generally expensive. Even if one had money, they couldn’t buy it. The fields were the lifeblood of the commoners. Unless they were at their wits’ end, no one was willing to sell their fields.
The Imperial Court’s disaster relief was only temporary. It was impossible to count on the Imperial Court to live.
When the commoners couldn’t live anymore, they could only sell their fields for food.
Now that Zhejiang was really going to be in chaos, be it farmland or land, money and food were more important.
Once Zhejiang becomes chaotic, the price of farmland would only be lower. There would even be people who would take the opportunity to suppress the price of farmland so that they can buy low and sell high to obtain huge profits.
Yu Youyao was about to make the first move and keep the land price in Zhejiang at a better rate to ensure that the commoners could exchange for more money and food.
There were people who offered a high price, while others offered a low price for the same plot of land. The commoners were not fools.
However, no matter how rich Yu Youyao was, she couldn’t control the price of a province’s land alone. She planned to cooperate with the Xie family.
Moreover, Yu Youyao had already planned it!
In the future, when Zhejiang settled down, she would rent the land back to the commoners for free to farm. The commoners would get 30 0/0 of the harvest.
When the commoners earned enough money, they would be allowed to redeem the sold land at the original price.
She did not feel that she would be suffering a loss.
It was known that the land in Zhejiang was expensive to begin with. It would take many years for the commoners to have the ability to redeem the land. The harvest in these fields had already made her a huge profit.
It was mutually beneficial without her doing much. Why shouldn’t she do it?!
However, such a big business needed a thorough plan. She could not be careless in all aspects, let alone harm the interests of the commoners.
Hence, there were many things to consider and worry about.
Yu Youyao recorded some immature thoughts in her heart, then picked them out one by one and thought them through carefully.
While Yu Youyao was racking her brains and to come up with a grand plan, Yu Jianjia finally couldn’t resist the temptation of the “cure” and secretly asked Divine Physician Xie about the “Blood Medicinal Catalyst”.
Divine Physician Xie also told her everything.
Knowing that the “Blood Medicinal Catalyst” belonged to witchcraft with a very long history, the crazy thoughts in Yu Jianjia’s heart grew like vines. For the sake of safety, she looked up a large number of ancient books and realized that there were many records of witchcraft medicine in the Cla.s.sic of
Mountains and Seas. There were also records of it in the Shennong Herbal Sutra…
Yu Jianjia was like a drowning person who had grabbed a straw to clutch at. She already firmly believed in the “Blood Medicinal Catalyst”. She thought to herself: “Yu Youyao, don’t blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself.”
Yu Youyao was the eldest daughter of the first wife and had been conferred the t.i.tle of County Head of Shaoyi. Who would dare to use her body to create medicine?! No matter how tempting the “Blood Medicinal Catalyst” was, she could only open her eyes and watch.
However, G.o.d had allowed her to get to know Old Madam Lai.
She also knew Old Madam Lai’s secret.
She could even control Old Madam Lai.
Even G.o.d was helping her.
Also, the person who had caused her mother to be locked up in the Tranquil Heart Residence back then was Yu Youyao herself.
It was also because Yu Youyao had made her unable to stay in the residence that she had taken the initiative to go to the manor to recuperate.
Yu Youyao was also the one who sent her maidservant away. As she did not have enough people by her side, it gave her a chance to get to know Old Madam Lai!
She had gone to the Tranquil Heart Residence a few days ago.
Yu Jianjia had specially taken a detour to the Tranquil Heart Residence. Fortunately, when Yu Youyao fell sick, her father had asked her to pay more attention to the matters in the residence, which allowed her to take advantage and avoid being noticed.
Otherwise, she really wasn’t confident that she could come to the Tranquil Heart Residence without alerting anyone.
Why else would she say that even G.o.d was helping her?!
Since there were too many coincidences, it must be fate.
Yu Jianjia asked Hui Xiang to guard the courtyard. No matter who came, she had to come in and report it.
Hui Xiang quickly nodded.
In broad daylight, the room became a little darker, and a lingering sour smell kept entering her nose.
Nanny Li and Bi Tao were not in the house.
There was no filial child who visited to help in a long time. Her mother had been sick for three years. No matter how deep their master-servant relationship was, it had been exhausting for them. It wasn’t easy for them to guard the door of the Tranquil Heart Residence. Nanny Li and Bi Tao had been locked up for three years and were easily lured out of the Tranquil Heart Residence.
In the entire Tranquil Heart Residence, there were only her, her mother, and Hui Xiang.
Yu Jianjia resisted the urge to cover her nose and walked to the bed. She called out softly, “Mother, Mother, wake up quickly. I’m here to see you…”
When Yang Shuwan heard the call, her eyelids moved slightly and she opened her eyes hard. Her daughter’s pale and weak face was reflected in her turbid eyes. “Jia… Jia Jia. Are you Jia Jia?”
Yu Jianjia’s eyes welled up with tears, and even her voice choked. “It’s me, Mother. Mother, are you feeling better? It’s all my fault for being unfilial. I couldn’t serve you and made you suffer…”
At this point, she couldn’t help but feel sorrow from the bottom of her heart. For a moment, tears fell like rain. Her tears flowed down her overly pale face and onto her sharp chin. It made her look even more pitiful.
Yang Shuwan’s heart ached so much that she panted and her eyes rolled back. Yu Jianjia was shocked and cried, “Mother, Mother, what’s wrong? Mother…” Fortunately, Yang Shuwan still managed to catch her breath. She held her daughter’s hand tightly, not knowing where she got the strength from..