The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2115 - 2090: Request

In spring, vegetables are scarce, and meat is plentiful, but recently the price of meat has risen a little.

As soon as the meat was brought home, Junior Ms.Qian asked Zhou Dalang and his brothers to chop up the meat, then they divided some to the Bai Family, and the rest was either steamed or preserved.

She also cut a few strips of good pork and hung them in the kitchen to smoke; everyone in the house liked smoked meat, it’s convenient to carry when going out, and it can be stored in boxes for up to six months without spoilage.

Manbao and Bai Shan Bai Erlang ate to their heart’s content, and even Bai Dalang couldn’t resist bringing his wife and son back to stay, eating for two days before moving back to Changqing Alley.

After eating, Manbao brought two bowls into the palace and directly shared them with her colleagues at the Imperial Hospital. Then she used a bowl to scoop some for Director Xiao and asked him with a smile, "Director Xiao, have you mentioned the vaccination matter to His Majesty?"

Director Xiao reached out to take the bowl, placed it in front of him, and opened his lunch box to eat his lunchtime meal, saying, "I have mentioned it, His Majesty has approved it. We are lucky; there are now three prisoners approved for execution in the Ministry of Justice. Once they were offered to substitute execution with hanging, they all agreed."

He continued, "But the location for the trial hasn’t been decided yet. It can’t be in the Ministry of Justice’s dungeon, nor can it be within the capital."

Manbao pondered, "It would be best to find an independent Little Manor, clear out the people inside, and have everyone, except us, remain outside, letting them live self-disciplined lives."

She said, "They are physically healthy; if they just contract smallpox and we stagger the times, they should be able to care for each other."

Director Xiao nodded, "If we can find someone who has had smallpox to oversee and care for them, that would be ideal."

He paused and continued, "The capital had a previous record, and the County Governmental Office still has those records, it’s just a matter of whether they’re willing or not."

At that time, the capital’s situation was special; many people were forcibly conscripted, they received money and were released home afterward. However, since this is an Imperial Hospital experiment, clearly, forcible conscription is not an option.

Manbao thought for a moment and said, "I’ll ask County Magistrate Tang."

The next day, when Manbao went to class at the Imperial Hospital, she wrote a letter to County Magistrate Tang and had the Imperial Hospital’s errand send it to the County Governmental Office of Chang’an County.

Actually, she was hoping County Magistrate Tang would reply with a letter, but she never expected County Magistrate Tang to personally come to the Imperial Hospital by lunchtime.

"You want to experiment with vaccination?"

Manbao nodded, "We’ll try human smallpox first. If it’s truly as effective as rumored, then we’ll look for a safer cowpox method."

County Magistrate Tang thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I’ll help you find people."

The County Governmental Office has records of those who have had smallpox, and no one is better suited to find them than him.

County Magistrate Tang asked, "How much is the pay?"

This, Manbao really didn’t know.

She paused, then said, "This is a dangerous task; even if they’ve had smallpox, it’ll still require them to avoid seeing friends and family for a long time, which is quite a psychological burden. I’ll talk to Director Xiao about giving more pay, what’s the current wage?"

County Magistrate Tang said, "City workers earn between six hundred to eight hundred coins."

Manbao pondered, "How about offering them nine hundred coins or one thousand coins a month for their work?"

"That works," County Magistrate Tang stood up and said, "You should discuss it with Director Xiao, try to increase it a bit, as you said, looking after and overseeing those with smallpox, especially death-row inmates, certainly, it’s unpleasant for them. A higher pay will help me find someone for you."

Manbao quickly reminded, "It’s best to find adult men who are honest and obedient, or strong elderly women would also be fine."

County Magistrate Tang said it wouldn’t be a problem, took a few steps outward, then turned around and asked her, "Manbao, is there really a method of vaccination in this world?"

Manbao replied, "Am I the type to speak nonsense? Of course, there is."

County Magistrate Tang couldn’t help but marvel at her good luck, "It seems Heaven truly favors you. You wanted to study in the Western Regions, and that happens to be where the method of vaccination originates."

Manbao simply smiled.

County Magistrate Tang went back to find people, while Manbao went to see Director Xiao to ask for money.

In regard to this, Director Xiao was rather generous; he said, "I’ll go ask the Ministry of Revenue for funds. Since the Ministry of Justice has agreed, let’s proceed. I thought about it all night and found three locations. One is in Chang’an County or Wan’nian County’s official lands, we can build a few houses on the edge to confine people; another is the Ministry of Justice’s Mountain Deity Temple outside the city. Sometimes when the Ministry of Justice’s prison can’t house all the prisoners, they temporarily hold them at the Mountain Deity Temple. Now it’s spring, many prisoners won’t be escorted to the capital until spring and autumn, so the Mountain Deity Temple is empty, and the place is strictly controlled, which I think is feasible."

"Another option is to ask His Majesty for some rooms at the royal estates," he said, "The first option requires spending money, and Chang’an or Wan’nian County might not agree, but they’re smaller officials, surely they’ll be pressured by the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty; the second option is the simplest and most convenient now, but it’s tough to clean up afterward, you know, smallpox can survive for a long time, we’re worried they may leave remnants inside, and then the prisoners moving in during summer and fall would spread smallpox. As for the other two places, afterward, we can simply demolish the houses and set fire to everything."

"The third option is both convenient and cost-effective, and easy to clean up afterward. As I said, if it’s difficult, just set fire to it. If not, sealing it off is easy too."

Since the royal estates are so large, no matter how brave he is, he wouldn’t dare enter once smallpox is mentioned.

Manbao touched her chin thoughtfully, realizing what she lacked most was time. She had to finalize her journey to the Western Regions before the letter from Anxi returned. So she said, "Let’s choose either the Mountain Deity Temple or royal estates, you negotiate with the Ministry of Justice first, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll go see His Majesty."

Director Xiao raised his eyebrows, then after a while, smiled and agreed. When she left, he watched her back and shook his head with a chuckle, "Truly, still young, too eager, how can one rush such matters? Naturally, it should be done steadily."

Despite his words, Director Xiao still went to communicate with the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice obviously disagreed; as Director Xiao had considered, for the moment it might be nice to lend them the place, but what if their Ministry of Justice needs it and they really get infected with smallpox?

Not to mention the patients, even their ministry’s officials value their lives, don’t they?

So they refused outright, no matter how Director Xiao argued, they wouldn’t agree.

Thus the next day, Manbao went to visit the Emperor for a routine health check, also checked the Empress’ pulse afterward, and cheerfully returned to the Imperial Hospital, telling Director Xiao, "The Empress is the reasonable one."

Director Xiao knew it was almost certain.

The Emperor had dinner with the Empress in the evening, heard what she said, couldn’t help but blow his nose and said, "I didn’t say I wouldn’t agree, but seeing her rush around, I wanted to calm her down to avoid careless mistakes; how did she end up finding you?"