Chapter 840 - The Capital’s Newly Opened Thousand Herb Hall
The Capital’s Newly Opened Thousand Herb Hall
The next morning, the prefect of Shu Zhou, Song Tian Qi, began a trial of the fat granny for kidnapping and selling the daughters of respectable families into prostitution. Feng Yu Heng, however, chose to avoid it, handing over all rights to the trial to Song Tian Qi.
Perhaps the eighth prince had indeed chosen this path to allow Feng Yu Heng to see it and give her a scare; however, who knew that Feng Yu Heng would actually use something like an open trial. The eighth prince assumed that Feng Yu Heng would definitely have the person killed in a bloody manner. Unfortunately, he did not understand this girl too well. To Feng Yu Heng, killing her would be the dumbest method.
The granny, the large men and the driver did not hide anything during this trial. Having suffered heavy punishments, they acknowledged that this was ordered by His Highness the eighth prince, and it was unrelated to His Highness the ninth prince. Song Tian Qi announced to the court that these people would be sent to the capital and handed over to the governor to be dealt with; however, the identities of the girls were kept secret. At the same time, the process and result of the trial were plastered all over the streets of Shu Zhou. As a part of Mei Province, they also arranged for people to visit their government office. Of course, they used Feng Yu Heng’s flag and had the Mei Province spread the word of the eighth prince’s guilt.
At the same time, the letters that were written to the families of these girls, Song Tian Qi’s wife, Liu shi, also verified that the daughter of a concubine from Peng Zhou was indeed her niece. Her name was Wu Fang Fei, and Liu shi personally wrote a letter to her younger sister. As long as the young miss was willing to act as a witness, Imperial Daughter Ji An would provide her with support in the future.
That daughter of a concubine gritted her teeth and agreed. Although admitting to being kidnapped was a very disgraceful matter and could result in never being able to get married, if she had the support of Imperial Daughter Ji An, everything would be different. As a member of an official’s family, she would have been able to hear at least a bit about the things of the capital. Imperial Daughter Ji An had His Highness the ninth prince and His Highness the seventh prince standing behind her. There were also His Highness the eldest prince and His Highness the second prince that got along with her. Even the Emperor would treat her like his own daughter. To have this sort of person as support, she would naturally be able to live a good life.
She agreed and went to tell the other girls about her decision. This young miss paid very close attention to this. Not only had she herself agreed to it, but she encouraged the other girls to also act as witnesses. Of course, these girls had not received any guarantees from Feng Yu Heng. Wu Fang Fei had just said to them: “If we had not met Imperial Daughter, we would still be in the hands of the criminals. We would have been sent to the South to become military prostitutes. At that time, not to mention our reputations, but even our family members would do everything possible to cleanly sever ties with us. For people like me, it’s even possible that someone would have been sent to kill me to keep the family from being humiliated. It could be said that our lives were saved by Imperial Daughter. Now, we’re just watching as those people slander His Highness the ninth prince. How can we just sit by and ignore it?”
She spoke with emotion and acted with reason, and this managed to convince half of the girls. The remaining girls could not bring themselves to make this decision. They were unwilling, and Wu Fang Fei did not insist. She just brought those that wished to act as witnesses to find Liu shi to await her instructions.
Very quickly, these girls were sent to the capital. Their families were informed that the governor in the capital had received them. Of course, Feng Yu Heng had also written a letter to Xu Jing Yuan, Xuan Tian Ming and Xuan Tian Hua, telling them about the situation that these girls were in. She also spoke about taking great care of Wu Fang Fei, especially when Wu Fang Fei’s family arrived in the capital. They had to settle them down. It must not be that the daughter agreed but the family would refuse.
But Feng Yu Heng had an understanding. Peng Zhou was to the East of the capital, and it could be considered a region in Lu Province. Based on what she knew, the Lu Province had pretty good relations with Xuan Tian Hua. This matter should not be considered too difficult to handle. If the prefect of Peng Zhou understood discretion, he should understand the matter of which side he stood on.
Their group stayed in Shu Zhou for five days until they received a letter from Xuan Tian Ming by eagle. After determining that everyone had already reached the governor in the capital, they felt at ease and left Shu Zhou to continue on their journey.
In the capital, on the day that the people had arrived, a medical clinic named “Thousand Herb Hall” had been opened. His Highness the eighth prince, Xuan Tian Mo, made a public appearance and stood with the Persian doctor to meet the commoners. He told the people that it could continue to survive without Hundred Herb Hall. He had opened Thousand Herb Hall and brought in a Persian doctor. All of the prices for medicine would be three times lower than the former Hundred Herb Hall, and the greatest benefit would be for the people.
These words allowed him to regain quite a bit of his reputation in just a short period of time. There were some citizens that noted the low cost of medicine and felt that the eighth prince was a good person. Thus Thousand Herb Hall was opened with a lively atmosphere. There was no shortage of people that had visited for medical examinations on this day. The medicine was also bought up extremely quickly. The Persian doctor had also been surrounded very tightly.
Xuan Tian Mo saw this and felt very happy. The medicine that was being sold at a third of Hundred Herb Hall’s prices were actually worthless things that had been recycled. They were medicinal herbs that had become moldy and lost half of their effect. Not only had he not suffered a loss, but he had actually made a huge profit. Someone had just come to secretly report that the fat granny’s group had been sent to the governor’s office, and this was a bit outside his expectation. Was it not said that Imperial Daughter Ji An had an explosive temper? When encountering this sort of thing, should she not immediately have them killed in a bloody manner? He had interacted with Feng Yu Heng a few times during the new year’s celebrations, and he felt that the girl was very sinister and would seek revenge for a mean look. At times, she would also play some small tricks, but they were just methods employed by a young girl; however, who knew that she would cause trouble for him when it came to this matter?
Xuan Tian Mo quietly held his breath, but this was not too big of a problem. A granny and a few strong men, people like this could not affect him. Who would believe them? Even if someone came to act as a witness, it would just be a bit troublesome. It would not do any real damage. They could not accuse a prince of a crime just based on a granny and a few large men, right? It was just… the kidnappings on the other roads might end up being caught. If only one case of this appeared in the capital, it would be fine, but if more and more appeared, he could not suppress it. Old ninth and old seventh were not herbivores. He did not want to cause too much of a disturbance before old ninth left the capital.
He secretly gave his subordinates orders and immediately informed the people responsible for the other routes to have them return the long way around. They must not mention anyone’s name, not even His Highness the ninth prince’s name would be used. This matter would be concluded.
It was just as Xuan Tian Mo had expected. The governor began a trial for the matter, and the fat granny continued to admit it, but her words did not carry any weight. Even with that many girls acting as witnesses, it was not much of a threat to the eighth prince. The eighth prince just needed to resolutely say that there was no such thing and that the fat granny was acting under someone else’s orders. Just like this, he brushed off responsibility for this matter.
Xu Jing Yuan also understood the logic of this, and he did not insist. He just used this case to write a clear notice and sent it to the surrounding areas, saying that such a thing would happen. It served as a reminder to everyone. It was this that caused even more people to suspect that the eighth prince was guilty of the kidnappings. It also happened that there were many families whose daughters had been kidnapped. Everyone turned their sights on the eighth prince, and the officials began to secretly hate him. The merchants had also decided that they would do their best to avoid the eighth prince. Any business that had even the slightest connection to the eighth prince, regardless of how beneficial it may be, would be avoided.
As for the officials that had lost their daughters, although they did not clearly state which prince they supported, if they were supporting the eighth prince, they definitely had some sort of understanding. This sort of thing might not be worth much now; however, it could become something that would trip him up. But if these people occasionally sent in reports to cause him trouble, it would be quite frustrating for him. The Emperor was also happy to share these reports causing trouble for His Highness the eighth prince with the officials. In just a short span of time, it created a phenomenon where many people began to hate the eighth prince.
Xuan Tian Mo had dropped a rock on his own foot, and he felt even more resentment toward Feng Yu Heng. From time to time, he would inquire about the location of the reports of skirmishes in the South. He was waiting for the Emperor to order Xuan Tian Ming to go South. The battlefield in the South was his territory. Once Xuan Tian Ming set foot on the battlefield, he had hundreds of ways to ensure Xuan Tian Ming went but did not return.
Unfortunately, before the report from the South could reach the capital, the Thousand Herb Hall that he had opened in a grand way had run into a big problem. The Persian doctor, for the sake of copying Feng Yu Heng’s treatment methods and to have Thousand Herb Hall quickly take the place of Hundred Herb Hall in the eyes of the citizens, had actually taken a risk and performed a chest surgery on a patient. Unfortunately, he did not even understand the basics of surgery. After just a few cuts, the person was cut to death.
With one person dying in Thousand Herb Hall, the patients began to cause a stir. This was in addition to the people that had bought the cheap medicinal herbs, only to find that they had no medical effect, and even some had found spots of mold in the medicine. These people gathered together and began to analyze this situation. They immediately understood that the eighth prince was a fraud, thus they could no longer sit still. The citizens gathered up a large crowd in front of the governor’s office, and the family members of the patient that had been killed carried the corpse to the office’s entrance. At the same time, another group had forcefully dragged the Persian doctor to the location. When the governor opened the court, the Thousand Herb Hall and the eighth prince, Xuan Tian Mo, were reported to the court.
There were not many cases of a commoner reporting an official, and it was even more unheard of for a commoner to report a prince. Normally speaking, when standing against the imperial family as a commoner, one had to be paddled 30 times when the trial began. After the paddling, they would need to have nails struck into them before they could begin to voice their complaints. Those that died could only be considered unlucky.
But there were too many citizens in the capital that had gone to Thousand Herb Hall to fetch medicine and be treated. These people were not completely ignorant of the laws. In regards to the lower-class people reporting the people above them, they understood it clearly. That was why all of the citizens that had gone up to bang on the drum. It was such that the entire hall was completely filled. There were at least 200 citizens that had participated, and the banging of the drum could still be heard coming from the outside.
Everyone pointed and accused Thousand Herb Hall, and the corpse of the deceased was placed in the hall, their family members continuing to cry. Even the officials calling for silence were drowned out.
The governor, Xu Jing Yuan, sat in court and looked down below; however, he was not angry in the slightest. Even if the citizens continued to squeeze inside and continued to curse the eighth prince and Thousand Herb Hall, he would not get angry. He even closed his eyes with a faint smile.
Very good, he liked this sort of outcome. The eighth prince, His Highness Prince Sheng, let’s see how you will handle this stage!