LWSL Chapter 136

Big thanks and a shout-out to biki for sending me a laptop so that I can translate LWSL more conveniently!

Wu Bofang anxiously asked: “Where is the Beast-rearing Grass that Wu Ruo delivered here two days ago?”

“It’s in my room. What about it?”

Wu Bofang quickly said: “Quick, take the Beast-rearing Grass out. Get the servants to brew a few big pots of herbal soup with it and distribute that to everyone.”

Wu Bo nodded in understanding and turned back to his room to retrieve the herbs.

Wu Xuanran asked curiously: “Dad, what happened?”

Wu Bofang opened his mouth and was about to explain but when he thought about how this person had a selfish personality, he decided to tell them only after they had taken the herbal soup.

In less than half a shichen, the herbal soup was done brewing.

Wu Bofang firstly let those who had come in from outdoors have a bowl of soup, then he let Wu Xuanran and the others all have a bowl of soup. After that, he instructed the servants to take the remaining soup and distribute it among themselves. Following that, he explained the situation outside to Wu Xuanran and the others: “Right now, there are many people outside who have contracted a kind of thermotoxin. They will inexplicably pass out and fall into a coma, on top of that, their entire bodies will be very hot. However, after the physicians take their pulse, they are unable to detect any sort of illness. Right now, even all the physicians are at their wits’ end and are unable to find a way to cure this illness. Later on, I suddenly remembered the words of the guard that Wu Ruo had sent here with the Beast-rearing Grass two days ago. So, I thought to try it out and see if it works.”

Actually, if it wasn’t because there was nowhere outside that was selling the Beast-rearing Grass, they wouldn’t have come here either.

“What?!” Wu Xuanran and the others turned pale with fright and hurriedly distanced themselves one zhang away from Wu Bofang and his companions.

Although Wu Bofang had already known that they would react this way but he was still angered half to death by these people.

At this moment, Elder Rong agitatedly called out: “Xiao-Ya has woken up!”

Xiao-Ya was his youngest grandson yet he had accidentally contracted the thermotoxin. It had simply made their entire family frantic with anxiety. Now that he saw his grandson waking up, he was finally able to let out a breath of relief.

Wu Bofang said happily: “Quick, take his pulse and check on him.”

“Yes, sir.” Elder Rong hurriedly took the child’s pulse: “His body is no longer as hot as it used to be and I’m also able to detect that his pulse is a little weak. Right now, it should be as though Xiao-Ya has contracted a regular common cold. As long as he rests well and recuperates, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”

“Xiao-Shang has also woken up!” Another elder said excitedly.

Xiao-Shang was the same as Xiao-Ya and had also contracted the thermotoxin.

Wu Xuanran anxiously asked Wu Bofang: “Dad, then what about us? We won’t be infected, will we?”

“You wouldn’t be able to die even if you wanted to.” Wu Bofang said irritatedly: “Didn’t Wu Ruo already say? The Beast-rearing Grass can be used as a preventative, so all of you won’t be infected.”

“Then that’s good.” Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

When Wu Chenzi, who had been hiding outside and eavesdropping this whole time, heard all this, he quickly turned around and left. He also ordered all the guards to keep watch over Wu Bofang and the others, instructing the guards to temporarily confine them within the estate first. This was to prevent the news of the Beast-rearing Grass being able to cure the thermotoxin being spread. Although he didn’t know how many people knew about this matter right now but at least he still hadn’t heard about the Beast-rearing Grass being able to cure the thermotoxin yet.

That’s right, he had to send some people over to Wu Ruo’s side as well just to be safe.

After Wu Chenzi instructed his own people to secretly hoard all the Beast-rearing Grass, he hurriedly left the Wu estate and entered the palace to look for the second imperial prince. Then, he brought the second imperial prince to seek an audience with the Emperor, taking on the responsibility of all matters regarding the treatment of the thermotoxin. They used the Beast-rearing Grass stored within the palace to treat all the consorts, concubines and princes. Less than half a shichen later, all of the people in the imperial palace who had contracted the thermotoxin had all woken up.

The Emperor was extremely pleased. He immediately issued an imperial decree to put Wu Chenzi and the second imperial prince in charge of handling the thermotoxin pandemic.

When Ling Mohan — who was in the midst of discussing with his aides — heard the news, he was so infuriated that he chased all of his aides out of his palace.

“Biaoge, don’t be so angry. This time, just take it that we let that old thief Wu…” Ling Zisheng was in the midst of speaking when his gaze sharpened and he turned to look behind the screens¹屏风 (ping feng): refers to the usually decorative screen used to separate parts of a room. Sometimes it’s made entirely out of wood with ornamental carvings, sometimes it’s a painting, sometimes it can be embroidered on cloth with a wooden frame. If you watch guzhuang dramas, you will notice it often placed in front of a bed or slightly after the entrance of a room to shield the rest of the room from the view of someone casually walking past., then he shoutedly loudly: “Who’s there?”

Following after, a person’s white silhouette walked out: “Hei Yang greets His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince.”

When Ling Mohan saw that it was Hei Yang, he suppressed his fury: “I heard that you were injured a few days ago. I wonder if the injuries were very serious?”

As he said this, he took out a medicine bottle from his sleeve and handed it to Hei Yang: “This is some wound medicine for healing Gui clanspeople. See if it has any effect for you.”

“Thank you, Your Royal Highness.” Hei Yang didn’t stand on formality and accepted the medicine bottle: “This time, my madam sent me here because there is a matter to inform His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince. He says to instruct your people to go to the cities and towns that haven’t been infected by the thermotoxin, and to secretly hoard the herbs for curing the common cold.”

Ling Mohan frowned and asked: “Did he mention a reason?”

“He says it’s a necessity for curing the thermotoxin.”

Ling Zisheng laughed coldly: “Right now, the Lord State Tutor has already found the solution to curing the thermotoxin. What’s the point of us preparing all of this?”

Hei Yang threw a side-eyed glance at Ling Zisheng, then he disappeared from the palace.

Ling Zisheng asked: “Biaoge, who is this Gui clansperson? And who is his madam²In verbal conversation, there is no way to distinguish between he/him and she/her pronouns because they are both pronounced ta with the exact same tone. Since male wives are not a common occurrence in the LWSL setting, Ling Zisheng is automatically assuming that Hei Yang’s ‘madam’ is a woman and not jumping to the conclusion that his ‘madam’ is the only male wife in the whole city.?”

“A person who thoroughly hates the Wu family.” Ling Mohan narrowed his eyes: “Zisheng, just do what he said. That’s right, don’t let my second imperial brother and the State Tutor find out about this matter under any circumstances.”

“Biaoge, the Lord State Tutor already has the solution to curing the thermotoxin. If we still go and prepare these things, it’s simply a waste of time!”

Ling Mohan had already worked with Wu Ruo several times before, so he felt that this person wouldn’t recklessly tell him to do something if he didn’t have any guarantee: “Even if we make these preparations, it won’t be much of a loss to us, will it?”

Ling Zisheng sighed: “Alright, then I’ll go back and get it prepared.”

The moment he left, Ling Mohan also sent someone to investigate Wu Chenzi’s solution to curing the thermotoxin. They were able to find out that Wu Chenzi was actually using Beast-rearing Grass to cure the thermotoxin, and had already sent people all over to buy out all the Beast-rearing Grass. Even if they wanted to meddle in the process and cause Wu Chenzi difficulties, Ling Mohan was still already one step later than him.

Ling Mohan originally thought that the achievements would be snatched away by the second imperial prince this time. Unexpectedly, the people surveilling Wu Chenzi’s every action reported back that Wu Chenzi’s people were unable to purchase any Beast-rearing Grass. The people who had left to buy out the Beast-rearing Grass had left empty-handed and also returned empty-handed. The thermotoxin pandemic on the other hand had become even more dire, to the point that there were people dying consecutively.

The Emperor flew into a rage and summoned Wu Chenzi and the second imperial prince into the royal study, and viciously scolded them for an entire morning. They only dejectedly³灰头土脸 (hui tou tu lian): literally ‘head and face covered in dust’. came out from the royal study at wushi⁴11am to 12:59pm..

The second imperial prince was brimming with fury: “Maternal Great-Grandfather, do you think it was foul play by Ling Mohan? Otherwise, why weren’t we able to find even a single stem of Beast-rearing Grass?

He had originally thought that they had the upperhand over the crown prince this time around, but he hadn’t been smug about it for long before something like this had happened. It was truly too infuriating.

Wu Chenzi narrowed his cold and stern gaze: “I once divined the upcoming events in Tianxing. Although I managed to divine that there would be a calamity, but there was no way to determine what the specifics of the situation would be. Unless Ling Mohan has a practitioner who is more powerful than I in the art of divination, otherwise, there’s simply no way he could’ve bought out all the Beast-rearing Grass ahead of time. If this was really the truth, he probably also would’ve been worried that I would’ve bought out all the Beast-rearing Grass a long time ago and wouldn’t have given me the opportunity to take action. On top of that, after he found out that we had cured the consorts, concubines and princes, he wouldn’t have been so angered to the point of chasing his aides out of his palace.”

“If he wasn’t the one who bought it out, then who else could’ve bought out all the Beast-rearing Grass?” The second imperial prince’s expression was extremely ugly: “Now that we aren’t able to buy out the Beast-rearing Grass, what should we do?”

Previously, they had already spread the word and overpromised that they would be able to cure the commoners who had been infected by the thermotoxin. But now, not only had they not managed to cure anyone, many people had already even died. Right now, who knew how many commoners bore grudges against them.

Wu Chenzi said: “Now, we can only investigate the identity of the person who had bought out all the Beast-rearing Grass as we continue trying to buy it ourselves.”

Now, they could only pray that the person who had bought out all the Beast-rearing Grass wasn’t someone who was on the Crown Prince’s side.

Ling Mohan had never thought that the situation would take such a favourable turn. Things were really out of his expectations and he couldn’t help but think of Wu Ruo. He felt that this matter had something to do with Wu Ruo. It must’ve been Wu Ruo who had bought out all the Beast-rearing Grass in Tianxing a long time ago.

When Ling Mohan thought of this, he internally rejoiced that he was working together with Wu Ruo; otherwise, he really would’ve lost a good assistant and the thought of taking down the Wu family would also become something for the distant future.

When Wu Ruo felt that the situation had progressed sufficiently, he instructed Hei Yang to inform Ling Mohan to lead his people to a more remote location to distribute free gruel and provide free healthcare services.

Ling Mohan brought his people with him to Lu City, which was the furthest from Huangdu City and was the mostly severely stricken by the thermotoxin, to meet up with Hei Yang.

Hei Yang handed over the medicinal liquid that Wu Ruo had refined from the Beast-rearing Grass to Ling Mohan: “My madam said that all this medicinal liquid was refined from Beast-rearing Grass. As long as the Crown Prince administers this medicinal liquid to the patients, then it’ll cure them of the thermotoxin. On top of that, the Crown Prince may rest assured that the medicinal liquid has been painstakingly processed. No one will be able to tell that this medicinal liquid was refined from Beast-rearing Grass. Moreover, for the people who have been treated of the thermotoxin, it’ll become as if they have a regular common cold. When the time comes, they will need a physician to come and treat them appropriately.”

“Thank your madam for me.” Ling Mohan’s expression was calm but he was internally surprised that Wu Ruo had actually made such meticulous plans. In this manner, they wouldn’t have to worry that Wu Chenzi would trace the matter back to them after being unable to obtain Beast-rearing Grass. Otherwise, not only would they not be able to claim the achievement, it would also come back to bite them in the ass. At that time, Wu Chenzi would definitely write him up⁵In these guzhuang settings, in the imperial court, officials and participating princes like Ling Mohan can write up a report or a ‘petition’ to the Emperor for various matters regarding governance. They can complain about their colleagues not doing their jobs, or offer proposals about policy changes in governance, etc. All of these reports/petitions will be sent to the Emperor, sometimes after screening by the Censorate. In LWSL, it hasn’t been established yet whether or not the Tianxing imperial court has a Censorate. for having Beast-rearing Grass but not offering it up, which resulted in the deaths of many innocent commoners.

Hei Yang continued saying: “My madam also said that the thermotoxin was transmitted from the Yao clan’s common cold. As for the rest, Your Royal Highness probably knows what to do.”

When he heard this, Ling Mohan’s expression sobered up and he hurriedly asked: “Is this true?”

They had persistently been unable to find the origin of the thermotoxin. Who would’ve thought that it had been transmitted from the Yao clan. It must be said that the Four Clans Festival was something that Wu Chenzi had set up. If the thermotoxin had really transmitted from the Yao clan, then…

Ling Mohan narrowed his eyes, already thinking about how he would properly write Wu Chenzi up.

“Crown Prince, it’s about time to prepare someone to take over the position of the Lord State Tutor…” After Hei Yang said this, he disappeared in front of Ling Mohan.

Ling Mohan was stunned. When he thought about kicking Wu Chenzi down from the position of State Tutor, his heart couldn’t help but feel agitated. However, it still required proper strategizing. After all, Wu Chenzi had already sat in this position of State Tutor for many years. It was easier said than done.

With Wu Ruo’s help, the matter of Ling Mohan curing the thermotoxin progressed extremely smoothly. In just five days, Lu City and the neighbouring cities and towns that had been stricken with the thermotoxin were all under control.

The Crown Prince’s charitable actions very quickly spread to Huangdu City. All the officials in court were full of endless praises for the Crown Prince’s actions and the Emperor himself was on cloud nine. He even said that he would properly reward the Crown Prince once he returned. When the second imperial prince and Wu Chenzi heard these words, their lungs almost exploded from how angry they were⁶Reminder: in TCM, anger manifests in the lungs. Someone who is often angry is thought to commonly have respiratory issues as well., yet they didn’t dare to express their dissatisfaction, lest they strike the Emperor’s raw nerve. After all, their current reputation in Huangdu City wasn’t very good. If the Emperor was reminded of them, and criticized them in front of all the officials⁷文武百官 (wen wu bai guan): literally ‘the hundreds of literary and martial officials’. Although most people would be familiar with the ministers and officials in the (typical) Six Ministries of guzhuang and historical Chinese governance, military officials are often forgotten about in court sessions. However, they are present and do contribute to governance, which is why the term for ‘all the court officials’ mentions both literary officials like those from the Six Ministries and also martial officials., they would really lose all their face.

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• 1
  屏风 (ping feng): refers to the usually decorative screen used to separate parts of a room. Sometimes it’s made entirely out of wood with ornamental carvings, sometimes it’s a painting, sometimes it can be embroidered on cloth with a wooden frame. If you watch guzhuang dramas, you will notice it often placed in front of a bed or slightly after the entrance of a room to shield the rest of the room from the view of someone casually walking past.
• 2
  In verbal conversation, there is no way to distinguish between he/him and she/her pronouns because they are both pronounced ta with the exact same tone. Since male wives are not a common occurrence in the LWSL setting, Ling Zisheng is automatically assuming that Hei Yang’s ‘madam’ is a woman and not jumping to the conclusion that his ‘madam’ is the only male wife in the whole city.
• 3
  灰头土脸 (hui tou tu lian): literally ‘head and face covered in dust’.
• 4
  11am to 12:59pm.
• 5
  In these guzhuang settings, in the imperial court, officials and participating princes like Ling Mohan can write up a report or a ‘petition’ to the Emperor for various matters regarding governance. They can complain about their colleagues not doing their jobs, or offer proposals about policy changes in governance, etc. All of these reports/petitions will be sent to the Emperor, sometimes after screening by the Censorate. In LWSL, it hasn’t been established yet whether or not the Tianxing imperial court has a Censorate.
• 6
  Reminder: in TCM, anger manifests in the lungs. Someone who is often angry is thought to commonly have respiratory issues as well.
• 7
  文武百官 (wen wu bai guan): literally ‘the hundreds of literary and martial officials’. Although most people would be familiar with the ministers and officials in the (typical) Six Ministries of guzhuang and historical Chinese governance, military officials are often forgotten about in court sessions. However, they are present and do contribute to governance, which is why the term for ‘all the court officials’ mentions both literary officials like those from the Six Ministries and also martial officials.