Chapter 483 - Living Signboard (1/2)
The other members.h.i.+p cards, on the other hand, were made of thin iron sheets plated with bronze, silver and gold. The decorations on the cards were also different, with the bronze card featuring auspicious clouds, the silver card featuring the qilin, and the gold card featuring the vermilion bird spreading its wings.
Yu Xiaocao gave He Wanning and Yuan Xueyan each a members.h.i.+p card that gleamed bright and silvery. It was carved in the form of a relief, with a large, s.h.i.+ning diamond in it.
Yuan Xueyan had read a lot of books, but she had never seen a description of this material in any book before. The diamond card was hard and had low malleability. She repeatedly scrutinized the members.h.i.+p card with a look of seriousness on her face and muttered, ”This material, if it is used to craft weapons…”
Yu Xiaocao laughed heartlessly, ''Older Sister Yuan, you thought of the same thing as Royal Prince Yang. This alloy was obtained by chance during smelting and it’s not available in large quant.i.ties. There's not much that we can do with it except to make members.h.i.+p cards. However, Royal Prince Yang has already invited that blacksmith to the smelting workshop under the Ministry of Works, and he’s been working day and night with those artisans under the Ministry of Works in hopes that the smelting method can be determined soon so that they can produce better weapons.”
Yuan Xueyan's eyes sparkled, 'People always said that Royal Prince Yang doesn’t do anything and won't become a successful person, but it seems that he still has an eye for politics. The emperor wasn’t wrong in his choice—Royal Prince Yang might become a dark horse that will appear in the upper-cla.s.s circle in the future, an able subject under the emperor!
He Wanning fiddled around with her members.h.i.+p card in fascination. Then, suddenly, she solemnly said, “Younger Sister Xiaocao, I’ve actually come to ask for a favor.”
“Older Sister He is too polite. As long as I’m able to help, I definitely won’t stand by.” Seeing her seriousness, Yu Xiaocao also treated the matter with utmost seriousness.
“The truth is, it’s somewhat unbecoming of me, a girl of marriageable age to be asking you this, but I know you’re not the kind of person who holds to worldly ideals, so I’ve dared to come ask for your help,” He Wanning paused, then, lowering her voice, she asked, “I heard that...Lady Fang only conceived her beloved son after taking your prescriptions?”
In her heart, Yu Xiaocao understood her reason. She had been in the capital for half a year, and she hadn’t exactly been cooped up in her house, so naturally, she would have heard of some rumors and gossip before. Ever since the Grand Princess Royal married her husband, she had never had much luck with children. She only gave birth to He Wanning’s father and an aunt of He Wanning’s, who had died at a young age. He Wanning’s father also only had her and her older brother.
When it came down to He Wanning’s brother, they had not seen any legitimate children conceived although he had been married for three years. He Wanning’s brother and sister-in-law were quite close, and could even be considered childhood sweethearts, but for the sake of the continuity of the bloodline, He Wanning’s sister-in-law heartachingly made one of her maidservants into her husband’s bed-servant.
That bed-servant put in quite the effort and conceived a child not long after. After ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to the eldest concubine-born daughter. However, ever since she was born, neither the legitimate wife nor the bed-servant had any stirrings in their wombs.
He Wanning’s sister-in-law was quite virtuous. She took in a few more concubines for her husband, but it had been more than a year and none of them had shown any signs of a pregnancy. The Grand Royal Princess’s Household had yet to produce their third generation heir, and this matter had become the matter of concern of the entire residence.
When Lan Fang had given birth to Lin’er in her advanced age, the Grand Princess Royal had let her daughter-in-law visit to ask for her secret recipe to conceiving a child, but Lady Fang did not have any secret recipes, and only said that it was because her G.o.ddaughter had helped her to condition her body. At that time, Yu Xiaocao was still far away in Dongshan Village, and though the Grand Princess Royal had the intention to pay her a visit to ask for her secret, she was still prudent and did not visit them unexpectedly.
When the Grand Princess Royal heard her granddaughter mention that she was quite good friends with the G.o.ddaughter of General Fang, she was once again tempted to visit them and ask for the secret recipe. He Wanning’s brother was older than her by eight years, so she had grown up being pampered by him. This was one of the reasons why she was so arrogant and difficult. However, she only acted like that around people that she disliked, so usually, she was still quite well-liked by others. Once she heard that her grandmother intended to ask for the secret to conceiving a child for her older brother and sister-in-law, He Wanning was naturally obligated to take on the grave task of testing the waters.
Yu Xiaocao was aware that she asked this on behalf of her older brother and sister-in-law, so she said, “I’ve read from an old book that the reason a person is infertile differs from person to person. For example, it’s only because my G.o.dfather was suffering from an old injury from war that my G.o.dparents had difficulty conceiving. The problem naturally faded away once I managed to nurse him back to health.”
If she had agreed straightaway, then He Wanning might not be so convinced, but she felt that Yu Xiaocao’s reasoning made sense and thus she breathed a sigh of relief, “Younger Sister Xiaocao might’ve heard some rumors of my family’s situation. My older brother is already twenty-five years old this year and he’s been married for nearly eight years, but he still has not had a son. A fortune teller once said our He Family would have difficulty conceiving heirs, and that we really can’t rush it, but I don’t believe him. I heard that you had been conditioning Lady Fang’s body the whole time before she gave birth to your little brother in her advanced age of forty, which is why I’ve come to ask for your favor!”
Yu Xiaocao paused for a moment, then, she said, “I’ll be frank with you, half of my medicinal skills were self-taught, so naturally I can’t compare with those imperial physicians or skilled physicians among the common folk. The most I can do is give you some simple, local prescriptions. If Older Sister He doesn’t mind, could I make a visit to your residence on another day to have a look at your older brother and sister-in-law?”