Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

122. Cao Mo’s Prescription

Translator: Sissy That Walk

The second batch of grain had arrived at the Xiaos’ country estates this day, Cao Mo decided to have a look by himself.

Xiao Yi helped Cao Mo pack, but he couldn’t help complaining, “A cold spell just came, it snowed last night, Cousin Wenyuan invited us to his poem gathering, I meant to take you there to have some fun, but you just have to go to the countryside.”

“Yi, you have no idea who busy I am, Third Aunt just asked me to make another batch of lotion. Plus, our messengers we sent to Dingzhou are supposed to come back today. Gee, I don’t care for you poem or whatsoever!” Cao Mo pouted, and he pulled a sachet from his belt.

“I told you I don’t like these doodads, you never listen to me!”

Xiao Yi’s face darkened, “This is a mint sachet, you are going to spent time with the peasants in the country estates, I put this on your belt for your own good, you can smell fresh all day.”

Cao Mo was dumbfounded for a second then he nodded, ‘Yi is right, in this time and space, I can never be too careful, pandemic always comes hand in hand with a drought.’

“All righty then, it’s just mint won’t help much… …” Cao Mo recalled when he was a freshman there was a useful prescription for flu prevailed among them, “20 grams of Astragalus membranaceus, 10 grams of white atractylodes rhizome, 10 grams of honeysuckle and 5 grams of glycyrrhiza.” One dose per day, and people would feel better after three doses.”

Cao Mo wrote down the prescription and asked Mohua to get the medicine, everyone in the manor should take the dose since that day, including kids, kids could have a smaller dose. He asked Xiao Yi to keep his dose and he would be back home at night.

Cao Mo was back at dusk, but he pulled a long face, Xiao Yi asked Mohua to warm up the decoction for Cao Mo.

“What’s the matter?” Xiao Yi asked with concern.

“How many granaries are there around the capital city?” Cao Mo gulped down the decoction with his brows furrowed.

“There are five government ones, they could store several million kilos of grains. Why?”

“That’s not enough!”

Cao Mo recalled what he had seen in the country estates during the day.

A peasant cried seeing the wheat seedlings covered with snow.

“Senior, why are you feeling sad, isn’t snow a good thing for the crops? No more draught.” Cao Mo asked.

The old man snorted, “Young man, you know nothing about the crops, yes, no more draught, but they will freeze and perish. This doesn’t bode well!”

Cao Mo’s heart sank, ‘This looks terrible. Throughout history, social instability, pandemic and even armed rebellion will come on the heel of a natural disaster.’

Cao Mo thought chances were armed rebellion had already taken place in remote areas because that was a time of limited news resource.

Cao Mo told Xiao Yi his concern, “I have no idea about the population in the capital city, but what I know is the five government granaries is utterly inadequate to feed the entire capital city, people will starve to death by then.”

Xiao Yi found that made perfect sense, he figured he better pay a visit to Prince Xing and presented Prince Xing the prescription Cao Mo made.

… …

“Chide Xiao is here.” Prince Xing’s page reported.

“Such a late hour, it must be an emergency, invite him in now!”

With that Prince Xing put down his pen and pressed his forehead with frustration, he had been busy all day, and he asked Eunuch Liu to serve dinner, that was his first meal of the day.

Prince Xing was eating when Xiao Yi walked in, he asked Xiao Yi, “I heard you lent your new residence to your father-in-law the other day?”

Xiao Yi smiled, “Yes, Your Highness, please forgive me for not letting you know.”

“Humph, you almost made yourself a laughing stock in the capital city.” Prince Xing looked mad.

“Please forgive me, Your Highness, he is Mo’s father after all. I’m here to make amends. Here is an article I wrote about the current national affairs, the drought and other matters.”

Prince Xing took the article, he was blown away by Xiao Yi’s observations.

“How come you know drought has hit five provinces? You haven’t been out of your manor even!”

“Yuzhou suffered a drought before Prince Ning left the capital city, Qingzhou suffered banditry from Ganzhou and Shanzhou, plus Dingzhou where Prince Ning has gone to, and bandits rise in revolt because of the drought, that’s five provinces.” Xiao Yi repeated what Cao Mo had taught him.

Prince Xing nodded, “You are a great talent, Yi! I just found that out in court from His Majesty today, but you found that our based on the limited news.”

Xiao Yi produced the prescription from his sleeve, “This is made by Mo, it’s for the flu and the pandemic, why not give it a try?”

Prince Xing took a look at the prescription and he found they were all common herbal medicines, “Eunuch Liu, go ask the servants and maids to take a dose for three days.”

Eunuch Liu looked hesitant, “But we haven’t tested it yet.”

“No need, Yi won’t harm me. Make a copy for the Yao Manor, forget it, send one dose to Wenyuan per day, and you watch him to take it.”

Eunuch Liu’s lips twitched, he could almost see the way Yao Wenyuan roared in front of him.

Xiao Yi went back to Magnolia House, Cao Mo was reading lying in bed.

“Look at you, your shoulders are bare, you will suffer when you get old!”

“I’m not that delicate, I’m just waiting for you, I will tuck in later.” Cao Mo yawned, “What took you so long?”

“Prince Xing wouldn’t let me go, he asked me to explain my article and he wrote an article to present to His Majesty.” Xiao Yi washed his face and went to bed, he cuddled Cao Mo, “I presented your prescription to him, guess what he said.”

Cao Mo rolled his eyes, “Make a copy for Yao Wenyuan!”

“How come you get it immediately?” Xiao Yi pouted.

“It’s not hard, Prince Xing values that dumb cousin of yours, hehe, it baffles me what Prince Xing sees in him… …”