She accidentally flirted with the villain and was fiercely criticized as the regent for forcibly mar

The palace maid's trembling hands opened the letter, inside which was a silver hairpin and a note.

Shi'an approached, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief soaked in medicine.

He looked down at the contents of the letter.

There are only six names.

He turned back to his carriage and quietly announced his name.

Xiao Che gave a faint "hmm": "She already guided me to find these people, but I just haven't dealt with them yet."

Shi'an was surprised, yet not so surprised: "The Eldest Princess... is mighty."

Xiao Che: "Who could be smarter than her!"

Shi An teased, "Smarter than you?"

Xiao Che thought about it seriously for a moment, then his clear, calm voice carried an indescribable sense of pleasure: "They're evenly matched."

She admires strength, so he has no choice but to be strong too!

Shi An: "..."

Xiao Che sat in the carriage, yet he could almost see the corner of his eye twitching: "What's with that expression?"

Shi'an wasn't surprised at all by his lord's "X-ray vision": "Your subordinate is reminiscing about the lord of the past!"

Xiao Che confidently declared, "She loves me at every stage!"

Shi'an had lost the desire to speak.

Inside the dimly lit carriage, the Regent's lips curled into a smile, seemingly quite pleased: "Back to the palace!"

The year is over.

Spring is just around the corner.

Qinghai Province is about to face a plague following a large-scale death.

It may be controllable, or it may get out of control.

Although I promised not to interfere with her actions, why not use your strength and connections if you have them?

The carriage moved forward.

I hadn't walked far when I heard a loud "bang"!

Shi An looked back.

The palace servant who had just delivered the message committed suicide. Some tried to stop him, but failed. Blood splattered on the palace walls, like claw marks left by a demon, and the air was filled with the ashes of the burned note.

"He probably couldn't withstand the torture and spilled the truth, so he promptly chose death; that does take some guts!"

Xiao Che smiled enigmatically: "Xiao Cheng's methods of bewitching people are quite impressive."

……

End of February.

The entire army of Zhao, numbering 50,000, was wiped out.

Fearing that the Great Zhou might mobilize its troops to attack them in a fit of rage, they immediately sent an envoy to the Great Zhou with their crown prince as a hostage and their most prized possessions.

Although the country was a bit poor, the royal family's most treasured possessions were still quite good.

The regent, seeing how eagerly they were to offer their lives to his beloved lady and gain prestige, generously forgave them and accepted all the treasures.

He took it for granted in court: "The Princess deserves all the credit, so the treasures should naturally go to the Princess!"

The Empress Dowager performed three breathing exercises to prevent an attack during the court session.

None of the officials dared to say anything.

The Regent then gave the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue another warning: "Hurry up with the construction schedule and allocate funds. If the residence isn't repaired before the Princess returns to the capital, I won't hesitate to teach you a lesson!"

Trusting Minister of Revenue Jiang Huai: "..." Listen to this, is it reasonable?

Seeing that the Empress Dowager and Grand Tutor Cui were completely overwhelmed, the Minister of Works was seriously considering whether he should just offer his sincerity directly!

He hadn't fully expressed his sincerity yet, and hadn't even revealed it to anyone.

But a letter appeared in his study: Welcome to your surrender!

The Minister of Works was shocked: "...!!!"

Then, when the Empress Dowager saw that one of the two ministers she had left had sided with the regent, she was so angry that she had a headache.

Upon learning that the young emperor was secretly laughing, he had two more doses of drugs administered to him: one to make him even weaker, and the other to induce aphrodisiacs.

Because of the continuous impregnation, the young emperor fell into a coma while in the arms of a woman.

After examining His Majesty, the imperial physician sent a message to the Regent: "His Majesty's body has been severely weakened by the two drugs, and he has only two years left to live. Furthermore, I have discovered that His Majesty's body has been damaged by the infertility-inducing drug, making it impossible for him to conceive!"

The Regent raised an eyebrow.

The emperor is infertile, but the empress is pregnant...tsk!

"interesting."

The Cui family was on the verge of collapse, so they had to leave themselves a backup plan. The best way was to put their own bloodline into the royal family and take another gamble.

Even if we can't push it through, we have to take another gamble. The Regent will keep the child for the sake of his reputation, which means preserving the Cui family's bloodline.

Xiao Che waved his finger: "Go ahead! Just pretend you don't know anything."

The imperial physician nodded: "Your Majesty, I understand!"

……

In early April, spring finally arrived in Daning Prefecture, the snow melted, and all things began to revive.

At the same time, the plague also revived!

Even with continuous patrols throughout the night and the timely disposal and cremation of the bodies of those who could not survive the extreme cold, the plague still began to spread.

People first start coughing, then develop a high fever, and find it increasingly difficult to breathe. Those with severe symptoms die within five or six days. Those with milder symptoms suffer from high fever, cough, and weakness for half a month before dying. The disease progresses very quickly and is highly contagious.

If one person in the village falls ill, the entire village will fall ill within half a month.

By the time the people realized something was wrong, the plague had already spread from one village to the city.

The first to fall ill were the families of the Zhao spy who had been killed.

He deliberately concealed his illness and spread the plague by contacting people everywhere during his illness, all for revenge, indiscriminate revenge.

Upon discovering the source of the plague, the people were filled with rage and gritted their teeth in hatred.

"frenzied!"

"For a traitor who attempted to massacre the city, someone who so blatantly harmed his own country deserves to be executed by slow slicing!"

"They died after only a few days of suffering from the plague; it's too easy for them!"

……

The most frustrating thing is that the person who maliciously spread the virus died so easily.

If the epidemic cannot be controlled, this frustration will gradually turn into collapse.

Collapse is something far more terrifying than a plague. Once it spreads, it can cause everyone to give up resistance and passively wait for death within a few days!

"I had people investigate the spies who were caught, and the spies who had lived with the family of the culprit who spread the plague for more than ten years. One of them had a sister who was married in the city and had gone to the countryside after the snow melted."

"The plague in the city was very likely brought back and spread by her on purpose. Now that she's disappeared, everyone must search carefully when patrolling in and out; we can't let anything slip by!"

Jiang Ruining deliberately fabricated this person to instill in the hearts of the people a kind of anger and resentment that would not easily dissipate. These two forces would support their will.

The burly patrolman, gripping his stick, his eyes bloodshot, thought to himself, "My elderly father, succumbing to the plague, died yesterday! I'll find her, and she'll pay the price for betraying everyone!"

Anger united them, and their shouts were truly heartfelt: "Catch her! Kill her! Avenge the wrongfully killed!"

"Ningning!"

"Good news!"

Chu Jin jogged to catch up with Jiang Ruining's group who were outside offering their condolences: "He's better! Chen Dazhu's condition is clearly improving. He's coughing less today, and his wheezing has eased!"

"If we can control the high fever for the next two days, the epidemic will be under control! Then we won't be far from eradicating the plague!"

Jiang Ruining's nerves, which had been on edge for half a month, suddenly relaxed.

The story here is about the male protagonist's experience, but it's only briefly mentioned in the book as a flirtatious little scene where the female protagonist hugs the male protagonist with heartache and lingering fear afterward.

The medicinal herbs used to combat the plague were something the author had the female protagonist hoard by mobilizing all the noble families in the capital to demonstrate her influence. They appeared repeatedly until she finally remembered them.

However, the prescription was not mentioned in the book, so we could only rely on Aunt Wan to start preparing and experimenting on the spot after the plague broke out.

Aunt Wan is a skilled doctor, but not a god. Adjusting the prescription takes time, and that time is enough for the plague to continue to spread rampantly.

Fortunately, the doctor was a miracle worker; he developed an effective prescription in about ten days.

With a few more modifications, the prescription will be even more effective.

"Everyone heard that! The plague will be under control soon!"

The people, however, remained skeptical.

Since the plague was discovered, no fewer than several hundred people have died!

The number of people getting sick is constantly increasing, and conservative estimates suggest it has already reached tens of thousands!

"Really?"

The woman, who had locked herself tightly in the doorway, looked sallow from prolonged anxiety and poor appetite. She wanted to come out of her house to ask for details. Her child had been taken away after coughing and there had been no news of him since.

The patrol herded her back inside the gate: "Don't wander around!"

In order to prevent the spread of the plague as much as possible, no one was allowed to go out and wander around without permission. Those who were sick were immediately sent from their homes to isolation areas on different hilltops according to the severity of their illness.

The streets were deserted except for patrol teams and Jiang Ruining with his guards.

The woman hurriedly retreated, then cautiously asked, "Is it really under control? Will my child be back soon?"

Chu Jin spread her arms wide, showing everyone her healthy state: "Of course it's true! And look at me, I help brew the medicine at the charity hall every day after taking my medicine, and I haven't gotten infected! That proves the medicine is effective!"

The patrol team members went in and out of various places every day, and there were more people there than those who stayed at home. One member whispered a question, "But the other people who helped have all fallen ill one after another!"