Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"I'm a clerk at Wufutang. Now that the Zhu family is gone, can I come to work at Huimin Pharmacy?" A young man in his early twenties squeezed forward and asked hopefully.

Chen Shao asked Chan Yi: "Wufutang belongs to the Zhu family?"

Chan Yi took out the list of Zhu family businesses that she brought with her, checked it quickly, and nodded, "It's the Zhu family's medicine shop."

Chen Shao asked carefully: "Is it the Zhu family's own medicine shop, or a joint venture with the Gu family?"

Chan Yi said: "The Zhu family's own medicine shop, the only medicine shop of the Zhu family."

Chen Shao looked at the young man, who straightened his chest and tried his best to recommend himself: "I also took the examination for medical students in the academy before, but failed, so I went to Wufutang. My father is also a doctor in the village. He borrowed ten taels of silver from someone to send me to Wufutang. He originally wanted me to find a master and learn the craft. As a result, I entered Wufutang for less than half a year. I was just working hard. I hadn't even started learning the craft when the Zhu family disappeared."

"Since your father is the village doctor, you should know some pharmacology of common herbs, right?" Chen Shao asked.

The young man nodded repeatedly: "I know."

Chen Shao said casually: "Then let's talk about the horse hoof fragrance."

"The horse hoof incense usually grows in the grass in the shade and wet places of low hillsides, or in the shade and wet places next to rocks in the woods. Usually two or three plants grow together, each with two or three petioled leaves, which are thick and shaped like human kidneys. The surface of the leaves is dark green with white or light green spots, and the flowers are lavender. They bloom from March to April every year and bear fruit from May to June." The young man talked freely, "It can be harvested from April to October every year, washed and dried, and then used as medicine. It is mainly used to treat cold headaches and coughs."

Chen Shao nodded with satisfaction: "What's your name?"

The young man immediately replied, "Wang Yue."

Zhao Liangzhu went to the village to arrange the planting of medicinal herbs these two days, and all the affairs of Huimin Medicine Shop fell on Qiye. Qiye was originally in the warehouse supervising the shop assistants to count the medicinal herbs. When he heard the news that she was coming, he came to the shop in front. When he came, Chen Shao was answering the questions of the previous person. Now after hearing Wang Yue's answer, he said first without waiting for Chen Shao to speak: "Come on, the warehouse is just cleaning the medicinal herbs, go over and help."

"Thank you, sir, thank you, Mr. Qi." Wang Yue said as he hurried into Huimin Pharmacy and was about to go to the back. Chen Shao stopped him, "Don't worry, go back and tell the shopkeeper of Wufutang before you come back to work."

After Wang Yue agreed to go, Chen Shao looked at the crowd again and said, "Anyone who understands basic pharmacology and wants to work in Huimin Pharmacy can come and give it a try."

Immediately, more than ten people squeezed forward.

Three of them were doctors from other pharmacies.

Seeing this, Chen Shao slowly glanced at the crowd and said, "As long as you understand pharmacology and are willing to endure hardships, I welcome you to work at Huimin Pharmacy at any time. But there is one thing I must explain in advance. Huimin Pharmacy is a pharmacy for the people to see a doctor. Whether it is a doctor or a clerk, the salary is not high, most likely just enough to make a living. So, you have to think it through."

The three doctors and five others quietly retreated.

Only four people remained.

After he repeated his words and the four of them expressed their acceptance, after evaluating them one by one, Chen Shao allowed them to work at Huimin Pharmacy.

"Anything else?" Chen Shao looked at the crowd.

"Sir." An old woman with white hair, supported by a little girl of eight or nine years old, trembled and squeezed in front of him. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she began to cough. Chen Shao took the opportunity to support her and quietly took her pulse. The old woman's lips and nails were obviously blue and purple, and her wrists and fingers were also obviously swollen. The veins in her neck were distended and the pulsation was very obvious. When she coughed, she showed symptoms of shortness of breath. This was... a symptom of heart failure!

Chen Shao frowned and asked the little girl next to him: "Where are your father and mother?"

The little girl said timidly: "My father and mother are both gone."

Chen Shao's heart tightened. He gently patted the old woman's back and motioned to Chan Yi, "Help the old lady to rest in the back."

"No, no need." The old woman struggled to say, "It's all, it's all old problems, I'll just take some medicine and it will be fine."

There were so many people that Chen Shao couldn't ask in detail, so he could only comfort her: "Go rest inside first. I'll have someone bring you some medicine and boil it. You can take it home and drink it directly. Don't worry, I won't charge you much for boiling the medicine."

"Okay, okay." The old woman stopped coughing with difficulty, "I still have something to say to the adults, I will go after I finish speaking."

"Okay, go ahead." Chen Shao supported her carefully.

"Can we give up the lands originally owned by the Wen, Ding, and Zhu families?" The old woman coughed again before continuing, "I and my little granddaughter are the only ones left in the family. We can't manage so much land, and we can't pay so much tax."

She had never thought about this question before. She glanced at the crowd and saw many elderly people nodding in agreement. Chen Shao took note of the question and replied, "Okay, if you don't want to plant, then don't plant. I'll arrange for someone to go over and register for you later."

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir..." The old woman was about to kneel down. Chen Shao steadied her and handed her to Chan Yi. Then he turned to the crowd and said, "Don't worry, if you can't plant enough, you can leave the land empty first. I will arrange people to register each village later."

Someone immediately asked in a low voice: "Can we plant it for five years first, and then clear it out when the tax is due?"

Chen Shao said generously: "Okay."

Originally, it was just a tentative question. When the answer was affirmative, the crowd cheered. Datong collected taxes based on land. The more land a family had, the more taxes they had to pay. Although land was divided according to the number of people, it was a special case now. For families with a large population, it was naturally a good thing to get more land for free. For families with a small population, especially families like the old woman, more land would be useless because there was no manpower to farm. But when the government collected taxes, it only collected taxes based on the land, regardless of whether there was no manpower to farm.

Now, Chen Shao has given them more choices.

"Will you leave Hongyuan County in the future?" someone suddenly asked.

"My Lord, please don't leave. Please stay."

"Master, please stay. We all have a good life because of you!"

"I was asking you something, why do you suddenly want me to stay? I will definitely leave. The people of Hongyuan County are living a good life, but other counties are still in dire straits, waiting for me to rescue them." Chen Shao joked a few times before saying, "Don't worry, everyone, I will definitely not leave in the short term. Even if I leave, I will make clear arrangements for everyone and will not let you suffer anymore. Huimin Pharmacy still needs to treat patients, so I won't block it here. If you have any other questions, you can come to the prefectural governor's mansion to find me or wait until Huimin Pharmacy is free, and come to see Master Qi and Uncle Liangzhu."

After chatting about this and that for a while, Chen Shao finally bowed to them amid all kinds of praises and turned to go into the pharmacy.

The old woman had been taken by Chan Yi to the ward which had just been tidied up two days ago.

When Chen Shao arrived at the ward, Chan Yi was checking the old woman's body. The little girl stood aside obediently, while the old woman kept talking about her old illness and that she could get better after taking some medicine. Chan Yi did not reply to her, but pressed her legs with her fingers. The old woman's legs were swollen to the point of being transparent, and a dent could be made with a single press without applying force. When she saw Chen Shao coming in, the old woman started talking about her old illness again. Chan Yi waited until she finished talking before saying seriously, "Her illness is most likely..."

He glanced at Li Tianliu, omitted the words "Young Master said earlier", and then said: "Heart failure."

Chen Shao nodded: "Prescribe some medicine for her."

Chan Yi was still unsure whether the old woman's heart failure was due to spleen and kidney yang deficiency or lung congestion and blood stasis, so she asked the old woman a few more questions before tentatively writing a prescription and handing it to Chen Shao for review. She wrote the prescription for lung congestion and blood stasis, and after Chen Shao read it once, he handed it to the waiter at the door: "Prepare the medicine according to the prescription and send it back after boiling it."

Taking another look at the little girl, Chen Shao instructed another waiter, "Go to Shiweizhai and prepare two meals. They must be lighter."

The old woman was about to refuse out of habit, but Chen Shao said decisively, "Old lady, your illness is a bit serious, and you have to stay in the pharmacy for a few days. We don't charge you any money, but we will provide you with food and accommodation, so just rest assured. Don't refuse. Even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about the child. She only has you as a relative. What will she do if something happens to you?"

A few simple words brought out the old woman's tears. After wiping her tears, she hurriedly asked the little girl to kowtow to her. Chan Yi quickly grabbed the little girl and said, "No need to kowtow. After your grandma finishes taking the medicine and goes to bed, you can go out and help the brothers in the yard collect the herbs or do some handyman work. That will be the money for the medicine."

The old woman nodded repeatedly.

After settling them down, Chen Shao came out of the ward, asked a few simple questions about Zhao Liangzhu's progress, and then went to Zhu's house.

The Zhu family had a total of 108 farms, five vaults, 211 shops, 47 villas, seven granaries, and 289 recruited robbers.

Of the 211 shops, 176 were owned by the Gu family. The robbers who were recruited were also co-owned by the Gu family.

Since "betraying" the Zhu family yesterday, the steward has been actively cooperating. After Chen Shao said that he wanted to see the granary first, he immediately took them to the Zhu family's reserve granary and took the initiative to explain: "The Zhu family has a total of seven reserve granaries. The second branch manages one, the third branch also manages one, and the remaining five are in the hands of the first branch. The reserve granary in the Zhu family mansion is the largest one, with a total of 60 cellars, each of which can hold 800 shi of grain."

At present, there was no one in the Zhu family except the guards. After asking for instructions, the chief steward went to the warehouse to get the key, opened the three doors of the granary, and opened the cellars one by one for Chen Shao to check.

"Is the Zhu family just like the Wen family? After the grain from the farm is delivered, they transport it to various places to sell it?" Chan Yi asked curiously.

"Almost." The chief steward replied, "Except for this granary, the remaining granaries will send their stocks to the Zhu family in Wujun before the new grain arrives."

After a pause, he continued, "The grain in this granary is the best quality, mainly for our own consumption. Only the surplus grain stored for more than three years will be cleared out and sold."

Chan Yi asked again: "How many years has the grain been stored here?"

The chief steward replied, "The grain in here was loaded last year. This is the second year."

After visiting the granary, Chen Shao went to the treasury.

The Zhu family had five treasuries, just like the granaries. The second and third wives each managed one, and the first wife managed three. The three treasuries were a public treasury, a treasury for the first wife's direct lineage, and a small treasury shared by Mr. Zhu and Mr. Zhu. The public treasury and the treasury for the direct lineage were no different from the Wen family's, except that they were larger in scale, contained more money, jade, and other items, and were of a higher quality.

As for the small treasury...

Half of the small coin treasury is filled with raw jade stones, as well as various jade materials of different sizes and countless jade objects.

Jade objects inevitably have lotus patterns or dagger-shaped Buddhas sitting on lotus flowers.

Picking up a jade tablet, Chen Shao stroked the lotus on it with his fingertips, and then asked calmly, "Why do Master Zhu and Master Zhu have so many jades in their treasury?"

After searching the Wen family, she did not interrogate the Wen family's managers about the green jade. After Yuqing checked the account books of Fenglong Commercial Bank, her speculation about the green jade was confirmed when she saw the green jade in the Zhu family's small treasury.

That September six years ago, the reason behind the group-building must have been related to Qingyu.

The green jade is unique to the Shan Kingdom.

It was September six years ago, and all the strange things behind it were related to the Shan State.

The chief steward glanced at her, then at Chan Yi, Fu Jiu and Li Tianliu, and said hesitantly, "I don't know the reason either, I only know that these jades are being sent to the Zhu family in Wu County."

Chen Shao tilted his head to look at him: "I heard from the former governor Zhang that the green jade is produced in Shan State. Are all the green jades of the Zhu family transported from Shan State?"

"Yes." The chief steward answered honestly, "They were all bought secretly from Shan State by taking advantage of the freight transportation."

Chen Shao asked casually, "Earlier, when those students went to the cargo ship to investigate Shi Xing's odd jobs, was there green jade on the cargo ship?"

The steward swallowed quietly and answered with difficulty: "Yes."

Chen Shao retracted his gaze and looked back at the jade token in his hand: "Why did the Wujun Zhu family get so much green jade?"

"I don't know about this. I just heard Mr. Zhu mention it twice. He said that the Zhu family in Wu County had hooked up with some big shot, and that big shot liked Qingyu." The steward said nervously.

Chen Shao put the jade token back and asked, "What about these jade artifacts? Were they bought from Shan State, or did the Zhu family buy the jade raw materials themselves and then hire someone to carve them?"