"Yes," Lu Yunan nodded, "and it’s in accordance with the reward requirements—a fine aged wine with sediment."
In Yu Country, wine symbolized the nation’s wealth and power. Elite individuals and scholars enjoyed this drink, and even the common people in moderate households would occasionally buy a few dou from the taverns.
The price was thirty to forty percent more than ordinary liquor.
Li Ang asked, "Did you bring the actual product?"
Lu Yunan turned his head slightly, and the guard beside him immediately unfastened a bundle, crouched on the ground, and took out two glass wine bottles sealed with corks from the package stuffed with cotton and straw.
Li Ang took the wine bottles, his fingers tensing slightly as he twisted off a cork.
A refreshing fragrance of wine immediately burst forth from the bottle.
An assistant from the sick house instinctively swallowed, staring fixatedly at the thick, scarlet liquid inside the bottle.
Even Li Ang, who didn’t usually drink, could tell it was genuinely fine wine.
He tilted the bottle, pouring the wine into a bowl and staring intently at the bottom.
As the wine poured out, grainy sediment, like sand, also slid to the bottom of the bowl.
Li Ang ignored the wine, scooped out a bit of the sediment with Telekinesis, and tasted it, noting a rich fragrance and a slightly sour taste.
He breathed a sigh of relief, his expression easing considerably, and then he opened the second bottle.
This bottle had even more sediment, with purple residue clinging to the bottom of the cork and the inner walls of the bottle.
Li Ang looked up and said, "Where is this wine from? How much does it cost, and how much can you supply?"
"A part is brewed by our own clansmen, and another part is brought by our maritime fleet from the direction of the Western Country," Lu Yunan replied. "The total is about two hundred thousand jin, at three hundred wen per jin, totaling sixty thousand strings of coins. Including transportation and other costs, the price is seventy thousand strings."
"I’ll offer eighty thousand strings and take it all," Li Ang said. "Furthermore, I want the barrels used for brewing and storing the wine, especially the ones with sediment."
Lu Yunan’s expression was somewhat strange; he had never heard of someone buying the barrels along with the wine. "Transportation might take some time. I need to send a letter; I’ll have someone take it to my subordinate in Chang’an to arrange for the fleet to ship the goods..."
"That won’t be necessary. Just give me an address, and I’ll use the Nearby Worm to contact Chang’an and send someone to find him," Li Ang said.
Suzhou, as a Xiongzhou, had a Nearby Worm stationed in its Governor Mansion, available for long-distance communication.
Li Ang was one of the primary officials responsible for controlling the epidemic and was authorized to use the Nearby Worm to contact Chang’an.
"The address is on East Market Third Street..."
Lu Yunan wrote down the address and contact person on a piece of paper. After receiving a down payment of ten thousand strings of coins from Li Ang, he left the sick house.
Qiu Feng watched Lu Yunan’s retreating figure with some confusion and asked, "Risheng, are you buying all this wine for..."
"Pharmaceutical production. We’ve tried other Herbal Medicines without success, so we have to try a folk remedy," answered Li Ang without elaborating further. He could sense that Lu Yunan was also a Cultivator, with a higher realm than his own, and harboring some unspoken secrets.
But in these times, who in Chang’an City, operating a business under a barbarian identity, didn’t have a few secrets?
Who Lu Yunan was and whom he served didn’t matter; what mattered was when the batch of fine wine would arrive.
He took the note, left the sick house, and rode quickly to the Governor Mansion.
「In the Governor Mansion」
He met with Prince Guang, Li Shan.
During this period, Li Shan, who also served as the Inspector, had been working tirelessly night and day, coordinating material transportation, overseeing frontline construction, promoting skilled officials, and punishing lawbreakers. These included: merchants who hoarded goods or jacked up prices, thieves and robbers, landowners who abused private punishments, and witches and wizards who misled the people. Strictly following Yu Law, Li Shan dealt with no less than a hundred such individuals, and in the process, also unearthed many wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice from the previous Suzhou Prefecture, all of which were re-examined and judged.
He had lost a lot of weight, but his eyes were especially bright.
"Risheng, you’re here."
Seeing Li Ang appear, Li Shan managed a weak smile. "Are you here to use the Nearby Worm?"
Li Ang nodded. Noticing that Li Shan was wearing armor and his personal guards were also armored as if they were about to leave the city, he asked, "Your Highness, are you planning to..."
Li Shan hesitated for a moment and said, "There’s a bit of trouble at the Haotian Temple; some of the common people have gathered."
Li Ang frowned. "A crowd causing trouble?"
"No, no trouble, they’re just crying there."
Li Shan sighed. "More of the common people have died. Some who have lost all their relatives, or who are severely ill themselves and feel death is near, gather outside Haotian Temple and cry day and night."
Li Ang couldn’t help but fall silent.
Although the Yu Kingdom’s Court had responded quickly enough, providing supplies and manpower as needed, and the various State Mansions had cooperated commendably, the schistosomiasis outbreak was too widespread, and the number of severely ill patients was too numerous.
The Ascites Grass prescription dispensed by Qiu Jing and Qiu Quan could alleviate the symptoms, but the real cure was the Mind Silk Surgery to directly remove the parasites from the body.
However, the number of Telekinesis Masters capable of performing the surgery was limited, as were the beds in the sick house. Consequently, the sick house was forced to only admit the most critical cases, sending some patients with milder symptoms home to wait.
For these afflicted patients, hundreds of new Blood-sucking Worms hatched in their bodies every day, yet they could only watch helplessly, waiting day after day for a notification from the sick house.
From mild symptoms, they worsened to moderate.
From moderate, they worsened to severe.
From hope, they slipped into despair.
All they could do, perhaps, was cry.
It was nobody’s fault; everyone in Suzhou was already trying their utmost to control the Blood-sucking Worm. It was just... beyond their power.
Li Shan forced a smile and said, "I’m responsible here, Risheng. You needn’t worry."
"I understand," Li Ang took a deep breath. "I will develop a medication that can cure the disease as soon as possible."
He strode toward a secluded room in the Governor Mansion and showed the Academic Palace Patrol’s Jade Pendant to two expressionless garrison officers.
The officers glanced at the pendant, then turned sideways, clearing the path.
Li Ang entered the secret room.
The room was empty except for a table and a giant grasshopper placed upon it. Newest update provıded by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⚫𝙣𝙚𝙩
He skillfully pulled the antennae on the grasshopper’s body surface and inserted them into grooves on either side of its body.
These grooves were like ’phone numbers’; only by arranging them in a specific sequence could he contact another specific Nearby Worm.
As sharp, short sounds emanated from within the insect, Li Ang dialed the Academic Palace number. "Hello? Is this Dr. Su? I need some Antimony."
What Li Ang intended to make was Potassium Antimony Tartrate, a specific medication highly effective against Blood-sucking Worms.