After hearing this, Xiaocao breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was just a minor problem and could be fixed with some eye drops.
"I will prepare the medicine tomorrow and send it to the prince."
Prince Duan naturally agreed, "The princess and I will take you back?"
"That's not necessary. The prince and princess should go back and rest earlier." Although she didn't have a princess's mansion, she still had the basic equipment. It's just that she basically didn't use the princess's guards. Even so, when she went out, she had at least four guards. They looked like ordinary guards, but in fact they were elite soldiers like the Black Armor Guards. Now there were as many as thirty-two of them accompanying her, so she was safe.
"In that case, Anguo, you go first." Prince Duan smiled gently, but deliberately ignored Prince Cheng. He neither asked him what he wanted nor asked whether he had finished talking to Xiaocao.
Xiao Cao didn't look at him, but she understood Prince Duan's intention. She nodded slightly and got on the carriage.
Prince Duan and Princess Duan watched the motorcade go away, and turned to leave, "Hey, is my ninth brother still here?"
Prince Cheng's face twitched slightly, "I originally wanted to talk to Princess Anguo about something." He directly exposed the truth.
"I see, then it must have been resolved. Then you can go back early. Your sister-in-law and I will go ahead."
He is a gentleman with a dignified and upright demeanor, but he acted as if it was a matter of course to stop King Cheng just now.
Prince Cheng was so furious. He really thought that his eldest brother was in trouble and was not as powerful as others, so he just took a step back and waited. But the fact was, he clearly sent Wen Renxuan away on purpose. Did he not allow other brothers to contact Wen Renxuan
It wasn't just Prince Cheng who hadn't left yet. There were other sounds of sneering. Prince Cheng looked over and saw that they were his good brothers, with a look of contempt on their faces. They left in a haughty manner in front of him, not taking him seriously at all.
King Cheng was so angry that he was panting like an ox, his eyes were red, and for a moment, he seemed to want to rush over, overturn their carriage, and kill everyone. - Of course, all these dramas can only be played out in his mind.
Ming Zhixin stood quietly beside him, with her brows lowered and eyes closed, not saying a word.
In the past, she could use the Ming family to suppress King Cheng. After all, she was born in the Ming family and represented the Ming family at times. Moreover, she was also a princess after all. The Ming family would never ignore her. Only by grasping this point could she challenge King Cheng. But now that the Ming family has fallen, her support is gone. Even if she is very cunning, she is just a weak woman who is powerless. She has few people around her, and Ming Zeyue once destroyed her dowry, and what was later compensated for her became an apology gift to King Cheng. Now it is easy for King Cheng to deal with her. However, fortunately, she is pregnant.
For the sake of power, connections and money, Prince Cheng took in many concubines after he married his wife. Moreover, when he was bargaining with Prince Heng, he was promised to give him a concubine who was good in all aspects. Therefore, there was no shortage of women in the backyard of Prince Cheng's mansion, and fighting was inevitable. It was as if the princess did not exist, and there was no one to suppress her, so the fighting became more fierce. Things like scheming to abort the baby were simply the most basic operation.
Of course, it is not known whether it is because Prince Cheng himself lacks luck in having children that he did not dare to have children before he officially married a concubine. From the time he has been married to Ming Zhixin until now, including Ming Zhixin's current child and the one that Li Ruoshui is pregnant with, there are many women, but only four. Needless to say, Li Ruoshui's was given medicine by Lady Pingjin Hou on her wedding night, and the other two were easily killed in the conspiracy, and now there is only the only child left in Ming Zhixin's belly.
It was probably because of the punishment by Emperor Xuanren and the fact that Prince Cheng did not allow her to leave his courtyard that she was able to save the child. This child was considered Ming Zhixin's amulet, so she had to keep the child. Even if other changes might occur after the child was born, at least Prince Cheng would not touch her after that.
Ming Zhixin looked indifferent but was nervous in her heart. Prince Cheng was also nervous. After all, without an heir, he would have one less bargaining chip in the fight for the throne. Considering his situation, he was still "reluctant to give up", which showed that he was quite strong. It was not known whether it was because Ming Zhixin was depressed or because she was abused too badly by Prince Cheng before, which led to her poor health and her pregnancy was not looking good. Therefore, she blamed Xiaocao. Ming Zhixin hated Xiaocao, but she also acquiesced to Prince Cheng's approach.
As a result, Wen Renxuan, a "villain who succeeded in his ambition", did not take them seriously. Before he could even start to endure humiliation, he was completely disrupted by Prince Duan, and then he was mocked by the other brothers. It was simply a triple critical hit!
After Xiaocao left, she no longer cared about King Cheng and Ming Zhixin. After returning home, she tidied up as usual, took a shower and went to bed, as she had to continue being busy tomorrow.
The next day, when Xiaocao was taking a group of beauties to class, Wen Renying came back from her husband's house and came over directly. Seeing Xiaocao in class, she did not disturb her, but just sat quietly aside. However, her silence was only on the surface, and she was actually a little anxious in her heart, which inevitably led to some small movements.
After Xiaocao finished her talk, she looked at Wen Renying and said, "Seventh sister is back."
Wen Renying is living a good life now, although due to the original differences in life, there are considerable conflicts not only with Cheng's mother, but also with Cheng Wenzheng. However, because they had already taken precautions, Cheng's mother and Cheng Wenzheng are very tolerant of her. Wen Renying is not really an ignorant girl. She tries her best to control her temper and talks about anything that happens.
After two or three months of adjustment, the effect is quite good. Influenced by Cheng's mother and Cheng Wenzheng, Wen Renying has become calmer and more stable, and has also made progress in her interpersonal relationships. Although Wen Renying was not bad in this aspect in her previous life, due to the difference in class, the gap is huge whether it is just about saving face or changing from the root. The mother and son of the Cheng family have also gradually changed their "holding" problem because of Wen Renying. I believe that if this continues, they will get along more harmoniously in the future.
Wen Renying went back to the Wen family not often but not too often either. The main reason was that she knew very few people in the Cheng family and it was boring to stay at home all day. However, when she went back to her parents' home, she brought Cheng's mother with her half of the time, which was unique. At the beginning, Cheng's mother felt uncomfortable, but after being persuaded by Wen Renying a few times, she gradually accepted it.
When she was free, Wen Renying also took Cheng's mother out to explore all the interesting places in the imperial city. In terms of "Madam's social skills", Cheng's mother was definitely not as good as Wen Renying. Wen Renying taught her when she was at home and gave her careful advice when there were outsiders. She never made any trouble or made a fool of herself, and gradually she became proficient in it.
You know, before Wen Renying got married, Cheng's mother seldom had social events, and she was worried that she would not do well and embarrass her son. She knew very well that she would not be stage-frightened in front of outsiders, but etiquette was always a big problem. For those who didn't care, it was naturally a no-brainer, but in fact, in this world, those who cared were the majority.
Cheng Wenzheng has his own things to do, and as a grown man, he knows very little about the affairs of the inner house. Cheng's mother would not agree with him focusing his attention on her, so some things should be avoided as much as possible. With Wen Renying around, things are completely different. She has been the marquis's wife for many years and can handle all occasions, big or small.
As a result, Cheng's mother had not been able to even get the basics for the first six months, but in just the past two or three months, she has basically mastered it.
Seriously speaking, Cheng's mother is a straightforward person with an outgoing personality. She likes to make friends. She has been holding it back for more than half a year, which is quite difficult for her. Cheng's mother is grateful to Wen Renying, and Cheng Wenzheng is naturally grateful to her. Wen Renying waved her hand and said, "We are a family, so let's not talk about this." Well, the relationship naturally became more harmonious.
"Did you come back by yourself today, or did you bring your mother-in-law with you?"
"She recently learned how to play cards and was enjoying it, so she went to find someone to play with. I was bored at home alone, so I came back."
It has to be said that Cheng's mother now cares less and less about Wen Renying's visit to her parents' home. If she wants to go back, she can go back. It's no big deal. Anyway, their family is small, there are not many people, and there is nothing to do. It's not allowed for her to go out or anything.
That meant there was nothing to worry about, so Xiaocao didn't pay any special attention to her and just did her own thing.
Wen Renying came close to her and chatted with her in a casual manner, and then, intentionally or unintentionally, she heard about the drought.
"You also know this?" Xiaocao didn't turn around, but just said casually.
"Wen Zheng told me a few words casually after he got home."
Xiaocao nodded. She didn't know what was happening outside, so she wouldn't tell a woman about it. "The court will be well prepared, so there's no need to worry too much." Xiaocao knew more because of her different status and the "plug-in" Wei Tingyu. She was quite convinced of Emperor Xuanren's ability to govern, and believed that even if there was a severe drought, they would be able to survive with minimal losses.
Wen Renxuan was of course not worried. The drought was not serious. You have to know that in the previous life, Prince Dun had already sat on the throne and things were not going well in all aspects, so the impact of the drought was limited. Now Emperor Xuanren is still in power, so it is naturally unlikely that there will be any major problems. Of course, it is also possible that another incident weakened the impact of the drought.
Compared to the other matter, this matter is indeed nothing, and that is the reason why Wen Renying is anxious.
In August of the seventeenth year of Xuanren, a plague was discovered in a county town under the jurisdiction of the Dongqing Chengxuan Administration. Local officials concealed the situation and failed to report it, which led to the situation becoming increasingly serious. Later, they even committed such a cruel act as massacring the entire city. However, even so, the matter was not over. The plague spread and affected a nearby prefectural city and several other county towns. If a county town could be massacred, could a prefectural city also be massacred
Dongqing is located in the southeast of Qi Dynasty. Although it is not the most prosperous area of Qi Dynasty, it is also of medium level. The population of an ordinary county town is more than 30,000. The county town where the plague occurred is about this level, and the population of the affected city has reached nearly 400,000. Can they kill batch after batch, or can they kill them all
Things finally got out of hand and out of control.
According to the news heard by Wen Renying and other people in the imperial city, almost the entire city was hung with white flags, there were constant wailing sounds, and every day there were groups of people dragging dead bodies out of the city, with paper money flying all over the sky. It was August, and the weather was hot, and the bodies were rotting and stinking. The scene was horrible just by thinking about it.
At the beginning, Emperor Chongwen, who had just ascended the throne, sent imperial doctors to the place and collected a lot of medicinal materials. At the same time, he issued a reward order to the people, and those who volunteered could get many benefits. However, those who went disappeared soon after and all died.
In this case, no one dared to go in, so they had to send soldiers to guard the city and prevent people from leaving. Anyone who disobeyed the order would be killed without mercy. As a result, the people trapped in the city had no one to cry out to, and even healthy people were trapped to death. In the end, the city almost became an empty city.
Emperor Chongwen's throne was not stable to begin with, and because of this incident, he was affected even more. Some people said that his throne was not obtained in a legitimate way. At the beginning of his reign, he killed loyal and good people in order to eliminate dissidents. He was unkind and unworthy of his position, which angered heaven. Heaven punished him and required him to abdicate and let others take over before this disaster could be judged.
In the end, Emperor Chongwen did issue an edict of repentance. Although he did not abdicate, his situation became increasingly precarious.
However, some people speculated afterwards that the initial massacre might have something to do with Prince Heng. But the county town was not a remote place, with frequent traffic and tens of thousands of people. People were not animals to be slaughtered. It was not easy to massacre them, and it was easy for the news to leak out. How could a small local official dare to do such a thing? After the massacre, the court actually received the news for more than half a month, which was even more incredible. So people suspected that it was actually premeditated.
However, suspicion is just suspicion, after all, no one has any evidence.
This incident naturally became one of the reasons why Prince Heng later overthrew Emperor Chongwen with justification.
Those were hundreds of thousands of living people. It would have been fine if they didn't know about it, but Wen Renying knew about it, and she couldn't remain indifferent. The series of misfortunes that had happened before had made her almost forget about it until Cheng Wenzheng accidentally mentioned the drought, and then she suddenly remembered it.
To say that in the beginning, it seemed that because of the drought, most of the attention was focused on it and no one noticed the hidden disaster.
In fact, a few days ago, Wen Renying had already found some books on the plague in Xiaocao's study. She didn't know until she read them that there were many ways to deal with it. With early detection, early prevention, and early treatment, most epidemics can be controlled and will definitely not develop to the point where hundreds of thousands of people in a city are trapped and killed.
Wen Renying felt that being able to start over was a great blessing, so she had to do something. Apart from this, Emperor Xuanren was in power now, and he was her fourth sister's strong support, so she shouldn't let his image as a wise ruler be tarnished.
Apart from revealing the fact that she was "reborn", she could only be vague and tactful in an attempt to draw people's attention to this matter in advance. If people noticed it in advance, perhaps not only the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of people could be avoided, but also tens of thousands of people in the county might not have any problems.
The only influential person she can easily contact now is her fourth sister. Although her biological father is also okay, it is not appropriate to mention these things in front of him. It is easy for people to find something incongruous. The same is true in front of Cheng Wenzheng. Only her fourth sister is not so serious about listening to her when she is doing other things. And she is studying medicine, so her appropriate verbal guidance may lead to the plague.
In fact, Wen Renying was quite successful. She did talk about the plague, and then, intentionally or unintentionally, she asked about the consequences of the plague. She further determined that if the plague was discovered early, the consequences could indeed be reduced a lot.
Then, Wen Renying thought about how to lead the water towards Dongqing. Unfortunately, Dongqing was not within the scope of the drought, which made her feel confused. Wen Renying implicitly expressed her concern, wondering if officials in those places where there was no drought at present might be concealing information for the sake of their political achievements.
Seeing that Xiaocao still didn't pay much attention to her words, Wen Renying was obviously a little anxious. She wanted to say it directly, but she swallowed the words back when they came to her lips. Wen Renying looked at Xiaocao, then went to the side and drank a cup of tea.
Wen Renying didn't know that all her reactions were seen by Wei Tingyu.
Wei Tingyu originally came to ask Xiaocao to check the condition of her legs, but when he saw the sisters talking, he did not interrupt them. Everyone here was very familiar with him, and since he did not speak, no one said anything to Xiaocao.
Because he knew Xiaocao's origins, Wei Tingyu naturally became extra perceptive in some aspects. Xiaocao did not focus his attention on Wen Renying, so he naturally did not notice anything unusual. However, Wei Tingyu discovered something was wrong almost immediately.