The Lucky Heiress

Are you saying that the things of Wei Qingwan’s that I’ve taken, were not originally mine?” Wei Ruo asked Wei Yilin back.

“How could they originally be yours… that is…” Wei Yilin’s voice faltered.

“How could they not be mine originally? If it weren’t for the mix-up, wouldn’t I have been the one living in the Military Prefecture these years? Wouldn’t the status of the eldest legitimate daughter have always been mine from the start? At the moment I was born, didn’t it belong to me?”

“The one originally supposed to go study at the Xie Family was also me from the start. It was your own misunderstanding, how could it be that after a single misunderstanding, you could claim it was originally Wei Qingwan’s? How could such a principle exist in this world?” Wei Ruo challenged.

Wei Yilin was left speechless by Wei Ruo’s retort.

He never thought so deeply about it before, he simply took Wanwan’s side. Because life was good for Sister Wanwan originally, and it was only after Wei Qingruo arrived that various problems emerged.

Every time he saw Sister Wanwan sad and upset, he would blame Wei Qingruo, wishing he could immediately drive Wei Qingruo out of their home to make Sister Wanwan happy again.

And yet… what Wei Qingruo said did not seem unreasonable…

Wei Ruo didn’t care about Wei Yilin’s thoughts, seeing that it was about time, she rose and left the Chrysanthemum Garden to return to her own courtyard’to attend her own matters.

After Wei Yilin finished his thoughts and noticed that Wei Ruo had already disappeared, he couldn’t help stomping his feet in frustration.

She left without a word!

###

Once back at Tingsong Garden, Wei Ruo busied herself with her own matters. Presently, she was always occupied with her own enterprise. After delivering seeds to the south of the city, she felt much more at ease as there were government officials overseeing the process. After providing the citizens of the city’s south with new wheat seeds, she was much less worried.

Wei Ruo and Xiumei discussed the ongoing cultivation situation at Xiaoyang Mountain. After enduring a period of cold weather, the oilseed rape, radishes, and mustard greens planted on Xiaoyang Mountain were somewhat affected, but they could still be salvaged.

The weather warmed up slightly these past few days and the newly sown oilseed seedlings have already sprouted, and soon they would make up for the losses.

Moreover, these crops have short growth cycles. As long as there is stable sunlight in the upcoming days, they will be able to be harvested in succession. Once the oilseed rape is harvested, they would be sold directly or preserved as pickled vegetables.

The same went for the mustard greens, they would also be pickled to elongate their storage life.

Soon, when the weather becomes colder, there won’t be any crops that could grow. By then, pickled vegetables and meats will become an important source of food.

When the new batch of shiitake mushrooms grows, Wei Ruo plans to make a large batch of shiitake sauce.

The medicinal herbs that Wei Ruo and Xie Ying planted together were also chosen for their frost-resistance, as Wei Ruo had predicted that the cold weather would come early. Thankfully, they have survived the cold snap. A batch of medicinal herbs procured by Wei Ruo and Xie Ying recently was also ready to be sold, and with the recent scarcity of medicinal herbs in all pharmacies, selling the medical herbs to the pharmacy should bring in quite a sum of silver.

In addition, Madam Yuan from the Government City sent a message saying that because of the sudden cold snap, the original planting plan was disrupted. Madam Yuan hoped that Wei Ruo would visit the Government City again to help the city’s citizens plan for their upcoming planting.

Madam Yuan sent the letter to Wei Ruo alone first, and would only send the letter to the Military Prefecture after receiving her consent in response.

Madam Yuan did this because she was concerned about the possibility that the Military Prefecture would directly send Wei Ruo to the Government City, disregarding her own wishes, should they receive the letter first.

Madam Yuan held sincere appreciation for Wei Ruo and did not wish to impose on her unwillingly.

Wei Ruo was of course, willing. Hence, she wrote a reply to Madam Yuan, and had the messenger relay her response back to the Government City.

She supposed that she needed only a few days, and then she would have to visit the Government City.

This also provided her with an opportunity to check on her manor in the Government City.

###

For a few consecutive days, there have been gunshots coming from the east of the city, causing a panic among the people in the city.

At this moment, in a high-security military camp, Wei Mingting’s tent.

After hearing the military doctor’s report, Wei Mingting looked rather concerned.

The medical supplies had run out. This meant that many wounded soldiers were now lying in the medical tents without receiving effective treatment.

Wei Mingting asked his subordinates, “When will the medicine-delivery team sent by the court arrive?”

The subordinate lowered his head, not daring to respond.

Wei Mingting guessed the answer immediately, “Is there still no news?”

“Yes… because there was a lull in the fighting a while ago, and up to now, there still hasn’t been any clear information. So, we really don’t know when we can get the new supplies.”

The medical supply request passed through various layers of bureaucracy, and they were not sure where it got stuck.

But one could guess as much. As Xingshan County wasn’t the only place affected by Japanese pirates along the southeast coast, once Xingshan County successfully drove away the invaders, the court let its guard down.

There was no information forthcoming from the top, and they had no idea when the medical supplies would be resupplied. However, the injured soldiers couldn’t afford to wait.

After contemplating for a while, Wei Mingting commanded an aide, “Can you help me deliver two letters back to the city? One is for Magistrate Qian, and the other is for the Military Prefecture.”

Wei Mingting could only hope now that the Magistrate Qian could think of a solution and manage to purchase some urgently needed medicine from the pharmacies within the city.

As for writing to the Military Prefecture, he did not hold much hope, but it was better than nothing. If his family could help find some medication, it would at least save some lives.

Even though this might not solve the urgent medical shortage, for now, they could only pin their hopes on this.

###

Wei Mingting’s letters soon arrived in the hands of Madam.

Upon learning of her husband’s concern over the medical supply situation, Madam urgently wanted to help.

But now, there was a shortage of medicinal herbs in the city’s pharmacies; they couldn’t buy any medicine at all.

Even if the Military Prefecture had the money, there was no place to buy meds.

Returning from Magistrate Qian’s, Wei Qingwan went to visit her mother Madam.

After learning about the situation, Wei Qingwan was unable to aid Madam in this crisis, and could only softly console Madam, “Mother, you need not worry, this matter isn’t the fault of the Military Prefecture. If anyone should be worried, it wouldn’t be its turn to do so.”

“I know it is not the fault of the Military Prefecture, but your father is quite worried about it. If because of the shortage of medicinal herbs, those that could have been saved end up losing their chance of survival…”

Madam was still filled with concern.

Weiqing Qingwan, knowing she can’t do anything to help, then said, “Then let me lend a hand by helping mother manage the affairs of the Prefecture, to ease some of mother’s worries.”

Madam nodded, then called Nanny Zhang over, instructing her to find out if there were any channels available to buy a bulk batch of medicinal herbs.

But after a half-day of efforts, they found nothing.

As the pharmacies in the city were currently suffering from a shortage of medicinal herbs themselves, there was no surplus stock that could be supplied in large quantities.

Even the medicinal herb merchants did not have any stock on hand; they reportedly mentioned that recently, the production of medicinal herbs hadn’t been good. Disasters had struck in many places, and they all needed medicine..