The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2121 - 2096: Expansion

When she entered the palace, she overheard it and said to Feng Zongping, "Your grandfather must know about this. Why didn’t you ask him?"

Feng Zongping mumbled, "I didn’t pass the exams, why would Grandfather tell me this?"

Still, he was quite happy and said to Yi Ziyang, "This way, you have shown yourself in front of His Majesty. Even if your rankings don’t move up, if something comes up, His Majesty will remember you."

Even if he doesn’t, there are officials who are on good terms with the Yi family who will subtly remind His Majesty. That’s how social connections work.

Yi Ziyang was also quite pleased.

To thank Zhou Man for providing the information, Yi Ziyang ordered another big meatball.

Manbao happily accepted it.

Feng Zongping then asked her, "How is your experiment going?"

The Imperial Hospital is conducting a smallpox experiment, which hasn’t been widely publicized. Only some officials in the court know about it, and Feng Zongping learned about it not because of Minister Feng but through Bai Shan and the others.

After all, they are both at the Chongwen Pavilion. With Zhou Man suddenly not staying in the palace often, they only saw her occasionally in the dining hall, so they couldn’t help but inquire.

Although it wasn’t something to be widely advertised, as a special area outside the capital was used to keep smallpox patients, spreading this information could cause public panic.

But since it’s an achievement and not a secret in the court, Bai Shan spoke openly.

The result was that, recently, Zhao Liulang and others stayed as far away from the eastern suburbs as possible, avoiding even the polo grounds there.

I heard that in these twenty days, the polo field in the eastern suburbs couldn’t gather enough players for a match, much like when smallpox was rampant before.

When the polo field’s manager learned that the reason was the Imperial Hospital keeping smallpox patients in the royal manor, the business had already plummeted.

Finding the owner was useless, and as he said, "Not to mention that this was a decision by the ministers in the court. Who can make them move out?"

"Just endure it; it will be fine once the experiment is over."

"How long will it take?"

The other waved it off, saying, "A smallpox patient lasts ten days to half a month at most, either dead or alive. Giving more time, twenty days is enough. Let’s just wait. After they move out, I will organize a polo match with better prizes to draw people back."

Who knew that just as they received news of a smallpox patient dying and two surviving, the Ministry of Justice sent twelve more prisoners over.

The Ministry of Public Works sent craftsmen, along with servants from the royal manor, to build three more rooms for the prisoners next to the courtyard. Four people per room, it was quite spacious.

When the eastern suburb polo field’s owner and manager heard this, they nearly spat blood and finally gritted their teeth, "Fine, let’s schedule an event. We’re thirty miles away from the royal palace, and it’s not like the smallpox will grow wings and fly over. Didn’t they say that their house is far from the Longshou Canal? Even the water is different."

The manager said, "But those gentlemen and ladies don’t care about that. They just think our polo field is in the eastern suburbs along with the royal manor..."

"Where there’s profit, there will be brave men. We’ll issue a notice, invite some good teams from the capital and Yongzhou to liven things up, and offer a better prize. As long as someone comes, I don’t believe those young masters and ladies won’t come."

Those noble young masters and ladies in the capital may care, but those who make a living playing polo won’t mind. Once things heat up, won’t those who like excitement come?

It would just cost more money.

He couldn’t help but feel pained and then asked, "So, besides Director Xiao, who else is leading the Imperial Hospital there?"

"I heard there’s also an Imperial Doctor Lu and Imperial Doctor Zhou."

"Imperial Doctor Zhou, ah," he remembered and gritted his teeth, "Get the event going first, and then send invitations to the three doctors, offer them some silver to act as judges."

The manager was speechless, "Have the doctors as judges?"

The owner said, "It’s to put their minds at ease. We’ll invite more reliable judges, and their scores won’t matter too much."

The manager agreed and asked, "And the fee for judging..."

The owner thought for a moment and said, "Ten taels, it’s not too little."

The manager took the order and left.

Manbao didn’t know about the extra income coming her way. She was currently at the royal manor, looking at the twelve newly arrived prisoners.

The age groups were over thirty, twenty-five to thirty, twenty to twenty-five, and under twenty.

There were four people in each age group, with not much age difference between them.

Manbao numbered them, starting from number four according to their ages, all the way down to number fifteen.

Number fifteen was the youngest.

Four people per room, after numbering them, she wrote a paper with their numbers and stuck it above their beds to help the servants and prisoners identify them correctly.

Manbao and Director Xiao and Imperial Doctor Lu checked their health and said, "Let’s have them rest for a few days before we start."

Then, they also made a meal plan for them.

The survivors from the neighboring rooms, numbers two and three, didn’t have such treatment, but their living conditions were much better than in prison. Also, since they were no longer carriers of the smallpox virus, Director Xiao had their shackles removed and arranged for them to work with the servants to help care for the new twelve.

He said, "Taking them back to the Ministry of Justice would just have them rot in prison, better to have them here put to use. Also, I want to see if continuous exposure will get them infected again."

Manbao and Imperial Doctor Lu nodded in agreement.

All the servants and the guards outside were quite experienced by now, so the three doctors didn’t have to worry too much, just preparing meal plans and doing acupuncture to regulate their bodies.

The craftsmen from the Ministry of Public Works also built three more rooms on the other side of the courtyard: the middle one as a pharmacy, and the two on the sides as rest areas for the doctors.

This way, they didn’t have to go far to wash up, and the medicine cabinet didn’t have to be in the main hall either. Even the smallpox scabs kept in a box were moved to the pharmacy for safekeeping.

After completing all this, three days passed.

Manbao and Director Xiao checked the health conditions of the twelve patients and said, "We should be able to start the inoculations in two more days."

Director Xiao agreed, finding this batch larger and more comprehensive than the last. He was a bit nervous and hoped it all went smoothly.

After completing the health checks, Manbao packed up her medicine chest and left. Since the inoculations hadn’t started yet, there was no need for night duty. Director Xiao left with her, but no sooner had the carriage gone a little way from the royal manor than two fast horses galloped towards them, stopping just as they were about to pass. Someone called, "Is Imperial Doctor Zhou in the carriage?"

Manbao lifted the curtain, saw who it was, and exclaimed, "Mingli? What brings you here?"

Mingli was overjoyed, "Miss Man, I was just on my way to fetch you, our madam is about to give birth."