Chapter 311 Tongji
In the palace.
After a busy day, Su Qingqing fell asleep as soon as she came back.
After the queen's enthronement ceremony ended, Su Qingqing told Rong Que about her pregnancy. She did not have any negative emotions in her heart. She slept until nightfall and woke up drowsily.
After waking up, I looked at the dark sky outside and felt a little hysterical.
Rong Que's voice of "baby" was still lingering in her ears, sweet to her heart.
Looking at the sky outside and recalling what happened in the carriage for a long time, Su Qingqing had a smile in the corner of her eyes when she turned over.
Hearing some rustling noises from inside, Jixiang came in through the curtains and lit the lamp. "Is the queen awake?"
He handed her a bowl of honey water that had been prepared long ago.
Su Qingqing sat on the edge of the bed with her legs drooping, took the honey water and drank it, "What time is it?"
Jixiang took the empty bowl and said, "It's time for dinner. His Majesty came over a quarter of an hour ago. You fell asleep, and he was supposed to review memorials with us. Later, Lord He came, and the two of them went to the imperial study to discuss things.
Before leaving, His Majesty also said that if you don't wake up after half an hour of sleep, I will let the servant wake you up. You didn't eat lunch and fell asleep as soon as you came back. If you miss the dinner time again, your body will not be able to bear it. "
Su Qingqing stared at Jixiang in astonishment.
"Hey, who gave our Jixiang some kind of drug?"
Ever since Su Qingqing entered the palace, Jixiang looked at Rongque and thought that the nose was not a nose and the eyes were not eyes. To open his mouth like today and praise her so subtly was like a dream.
Jixiang pouted and rolled her eyes, "You have already told His Majesty about the pregnancy, what else can I do?"
Seeing Su Qingqing about to stand up, Jixiang went over to help her up, "By the way, Aunt Xu just said that our house outside the palace has been sold. The steward from the Minister of Rites' residence went to buy it this afternoon."
Su Qingqing walked towards the outer room. "How is it? Is he suspicious?"
"No, with the Jin's silk shop across from the Broken Red Building as a cover, how could he be suspicious? The Jin's silk shop is an old shop that Mother Du has secretly opened for more than ten years. Everything matches up. What can he be suspicious of? He paid the money and transferred the ownership on the spot. I guess he has moved in now."
Su Qingqing had just woken up and had no appetite, so she walked out of the house and strolled in the yard.
Jixiang followed beside her, "When the queen asked Madam Xu and the steward to buy the house, I thought it was just a way out for us when we had a falling out with the crown prince. I never thought it would be used like this."
Su Qingqing walked under the flower stand and gently brushed her fingers across the layer of flowers that trembled in the wind.
"You're talking like I can predict the future. I bought the house to leave a way out and to give them a temporary place to stay after rescuing Lieutenant General Zhao. How could I have thought that I would have to sell the house now?"
Jixiang stuck out his tongue and laughed: "Who can say for sure? Anyway, I think that the queen knows everything!"
After chatting for a while, Su Qingqing breathed some fresh air outside and stretched her muscles. As she had not eaten much at noon, she soon felt hungry.
Because of the pregnancy, Rong Que mentioned to Nanny Xu early in the morning that Su Qingqing could prepare her own meals in the small kitchen here, and should do so as much as possible, so that she could feel more at ease with her food and drink expenses.
According to Su Qingqing's taste these days, the small kitchen prepared a large table of dishes in various styles.
She had severe morning sickness a while ago, but has felt much better these days and has a good appetite. She ate half of the meal, and the rest was shared by Jixiang and a few palace maids.
Jixiang and the others were eating outside, while Su Qingqing was spreading out a map on the table under the window in the inner room.
It was still a floor plan of Kyoto, with the route to Duke Xue's Mansion and the moats outlined in red cinnabar.
Before, Su Qingqing had never figured out what the connection was between Duke Xue's Mansion and the residence of the Minister of Rites, so when she went to perform the enthronement ceremony today, she specially gave the Minister of Rites a big gift package.
When the fire broke out in the residence of the Minister of Rites, a soldier of the Su family army who was brought into the palace by Jixiang was standing at the highest point of the palace, overlooking Kyoto.
He clearly saw where the people from the Minister of Rites' residence escaped from and which road they took to Duke Xue's residence, and he clearly marked it for Su Qingqing on the map.
From the residence of Duke Xue to the residence of the Minister of Rites, there is no smooth road simply by looking at the map. But at this moment, under the candlelight, there is a straight line outlined with cinnabar on the map.
That line connected the residence of the Minister of Rites and the residence of Duke Xue, passing through a horizontal street and two households in the middle.
Today, the people from the Minister of Rites' residence passed through the homes of those two families.
Who would have thought that two ordinary, small houses sandwiched between two high-ranking officials' residences could have such a function.
Hearing footsteps and the sound of a beaded curtain being lifted, Su Qingqing knew that it was Jixiang coming in after dinner. She clicked on two houses on the map and asked, "Whose house is this? Have you checked?"
Jixiang poured himself a cup of tea and swallowed it down with a gulp.
"I checked and found that both families are doing business. One of them opened a pharmacy in Kyoto, which is quite big, Tongji Pharmacy. The other one is an escort company, and the escort agency is located outside the city. This is the home of the chief escort of the escort agency."
Su Qingqing twisted her fingers.
"Does Tongji Pharmacy's business have anything to do with our Imperial Hospital?"
"I asked Minglu this afternoon, and he said that, theoretically, the imperial doctors of the Imperial Hospital are not allowed to set up private pharmacies outside, but because the imperial doctors are not busy all the time, they have a lot of free time, and their salaries are not high, so there is an unwritten custom.
Most of the imperial physicians in the Imperial Medical Bureau were registered in some pharmacies in Kyoto to see patients.
Not only can I generate some income for myself, but I can also bring some benefits to those who come to see a doctor.
There is no harm in it. It has been like this since the previous emperor, and it has not changed after Your Majesty ascended the throne.
Currently, there are two doctors working in Tongji Pharmacy. One is Imperial Physician Liu, who is good at internal medicine and dermatology, and the other is Imperial Physician Ula, who came from the grassland and is good at external injuries, especially bruises and injuries.
Every time they set up shop at Tongji Pharmacy to see patients, there were always people coming to see them, and there were long lines of people waiting to see the doctor.
These two doctors have good medical ethics and see patients from morning till night. Sometimes, there are so many patients that they only have a small lunch. They don’t charge extra for consultations. Anyway, they have a good reputation outside.”
Su Qingqing nodded.
"Are these two imperial doctors on duty today?"
Jixiang shook his head. "I don't know. Can I ask someone to ask?"
Su Qingqing hummed, "Don't alarm others, just take a look quietly."
