Chapter 142: An Urgent Shortage of Medicinal Herbs

"Is what you claim I snatched from Wei Qingwan not originally mine?" Wei Ruo retorted to Wei Yilin.

"How could it originally be yours... That was..." Wei Yilin's tone wavered.

"How could it not originally be mine? If not for the mix-up at birth, wouldn't the person living in the garrison commander's mansion for these dozen years have been me? Wasn't the status of the eldest legitimate daughter mine from the very beginning? From the moment I was born, did it not belong to me?"

"The person who was supposed to go study at the Xie family was also me from the very beginning. You all made a mistake yourselves. What? Can you treat something as originally belonging to Wei Qingwan just because you made a mistake once? Is there any such logic under the heavens?" Wei Ruo countered.

Wei Yilin was left speechless by Wei Ruo's rhetorical questions.

He had not thought so much about it in the past; he had simply stood purely from the perspective of older sister Wanwan.

Because older sister Wanwan had been living perfectly well, and it was only because of Wei Qingruo's arrival that all these various problems had arisen.

Whenever he saw older sister Wanwan sad and distressed, he would become very angry with Wei Qingruo, wishing he could immediately drive Wei Qingruo out of their home so that older sister Wanwan could be happy again.

However... what Wei Ruo said seemed not to be without reason either...

Wei Ruo paid no heed to Wei Yilin's thoughts. Seeing that the time was about right, she got up, left the Proud Chrysanthemum Courtyard, and returned to her own courtyard to attend to her own matters.

Seeing that Wei Ruo had already vanished after finishing his thoughts, Wei Yilin could not help but stomp his feet in frustration.

What is this! She just left without saying a word!

###

Upon returning to the Listening Pine Courtyard, Wei Ruo set to work on her own affairs.

Now Wei Ruo was busy with her own business ventures. After the seeds were sent to the south of the city, she hadn't needed to worry much about them anymore. With officials keeping an eye on things, she knew they were taking it very seriously now, so after providing the new wheat seeds to the commoners in the south of the city, she didn't have to fret over it.

Wei Ruo instructed Xiumei regarding the subsequent planting situation on Xiaoyang Mountain. Having endured a period of cold wave, the rapeseeds, radishes, and mustard greens on Xiaoyang Mountain were somewhat affected, but fortunately, there was still room for remedy.

With the weather warming up slightly over the past few days, the newly sown rapeseed seedlings had already sprouted and would soon make up for the losses.

Moreover, the growth cycles of these vegetables were relatively short. As long as the sunlight remained stable going forward, they would soon be harvested batch after batch.

Once the rapeseeds were harvested, whatever could be sold directly would be sold, and the surplus would all be made into pickled vegetables.

The same went for the mustard greens; they would all be pickled to extend their shelf life.

After some more time, when the weather grew even colder and no more vegetables could grow, pickled vegetables and salted meats would become vital sources of food.

After the new batch of mushrooms came in, Wei Ruo planned to make a large batch of mushroom paste.

Next was the medicinal herb cultivation she was doing together with Xie Ying. At the time, Wei Ruo had already known that the weather would turn cold early on, so the varieties planted were cold-resistant, and they had managed to weather this storm.

In addition, the batch of medicinal herbs she and Xie Ying had jointly purchased had recently reached the time when they could be shipped. Major pharmacies were currently experiencing shortages of medicinal herbs, so turning around and selling them to the pharmacies should yield a tidy profit.

Furthermore, Madame Yuan had sent word from the prefecture city stating that due to this cold wave, the original planting plans had been disrupted. Madame Yuan hoped Wei Ruo could visit the prefecture city once more to help the commoners there plan their subsequent cultivation.

Madame Yuan had sent this letter to Wei Ruo privately first, and she would only send a letter to the garrison commander's mansion after receiving Wei Ruo's affirmative reply.

Madame Yuan did this out of concern that if she sent a letter directly to the garrison commander's mansion, the mansion might send Wei Ruo to the prefecture city directly without regard for her wishes.

Madame Yuan felt deep gratitude toward Wei Ruo and naturally did not wish to do anything that would force Wei Ruo against her will.

Wei Ruo was, of course, willing, so she wrote a reply letter to Madame Yuan and had the messenger bring it back to the prefecture city to report back.

Presumably, in just a few days, she would be heading to the prefecture city.

Coincidentally, she could also take the opportunity to check on the condition of her estate in the prefecture city.

###

For several consecutive days, sounds of artillery fire echoed from the east of the city, leaving the city's residents in a state of panic.

Meanwhile, in the heavily guarded military camp, inside Wei Mingting's tent.

After listening to the military doctor's report, Wei Mingting's brows remained tightly locked in worry.

The medicinal herbs had run out, which resulted in many injured soldiers currently lying in the medical tents unable to receive effective treatment.

Wei Mingting asked his subordinate, "When will the imperial court's herb-delivery convoy arrive?"

The subordinate lowered his head, not daring to answer.

Wei Mingting instantly guessed the answer: "Is there still no news?"

"Yes... Because the war came to a temporary halt a while ago, and there has been no clear news transmitted since then, this subordinate does not know when we will be able to obtain new supplies."

Reports requesting medicinal herbs were submitted level by level, and they were unclear at which specific level the request had gotten stuck.

Yet, they could easily guess that because Xingshan County was not the only place along the southeastern coast troubled by Japanese pirates, once Xingshan County repelled the pirates, those higher up had let down their guard regarding this place.

With no news from above, and no knowing when the medicinal herb supplies would arrive, the wounded soldiers could not afford to wait.

After pondering for a long time, Wei Mingting ordered his subordinate, "Deliver two letters back into the city for me—one to Magistrate Qian, and one to the garrison commander's mansion."

Wei Mingting could only hope at this point that Magistrate Qian might help think of a way to see if some urgently needed medicines could be procured from the pharmacies in the city first.

As for writing to the garrison commander's mansion, he held no great hopes, but it was better than nothing; if the family could truly manage to secure some, it could save lives.

Although doing this might not necessarily resolve the critical shortage of medicinal herbs, for now, they could only pin their hopes on this.

###

Wei Mingting's letters were swiftly delivered into Lady Yun's hands.

Learning that her husband was deeply worried about the medicinal herbs, Lady Yun was anxious to help.

Yet, currently, the herb shops in the county town were all short of supplies and simply had no medicine to sell.

Even if the garrison commander's mansion could produce the silver, there was nowhere to buy the drugs.

Wei Qingwan, returning from Magistrate Qian's residence, came to visit Lady Yun.

Upon learning the ins and outs of the matter, Wei Qingwan had no way to help Lady Yun resolve her worries either, and could only softly comfort her: "Mother need not worry. This matter is not the fault of the garrison commander's mansion; if anyone should be worrying, it is not the mansion's turn to do so."

"I know it is not the mansion's fault, but your father is agonizing over this. What if, because of the severe shortage of medicinal herbs, commoners who could otherwise have been saved lose their chance at life?"

Lady Yun remained heavy-hearted.

Knowing she could not be of help, Wei Qingwan said, "Then daughter shall assist Mother in managing the household affairs, sharing the burden and relieving Mother's worries."

Lady Yun nodded, then summoned Mama Zhang and instructed her to go out and inquire whether there were any other channels through which medicinal herbs could be purchased in large quantities.

Yet, after bustling about for half a day, they still came back empty-handed.

Because the current pharmacies themselves were severely lacking in medicinal herbs, how could they possibly have any surplus to supply in bulk to others?

Even those herb merchants had no goods on hand; it was rumored that the recent harvest of medicinal herbs had been poor, and with disasters striking everywhere, medicine was in high demand across all regions.