‘No, shouldn’t I have come first?’
At this moment, Xiao Yue was completely frozen in place.
Her pretty face, usually more mature than her peers, was now at a loss, unsure of what to do.
She really wanted to rush in and interrupt the two of them, whose atmosphere was off, but deep down she didn’t dare.
Because she still couldn’t reveal her identity in front of Shen Yu, and barging into the Empress Mother’s room would mean she’d get a scolding… or even a solid spanking on her little butt.
A gust of cold wind from the deep autumn night blew in, and Xiao Yue shivered involuntarily, suddenly snapping back to her senses.
Only then did Xiao Yue realize with surprise… she had almost lost all restraint in her urgency just now.
Why?
Was it all for Shen Yu?
The old Xiao Yue could remain calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before her.
Though young, the education she had received from the Empress Mother since childhood made her more scheming than the most seasoned ministers.
She knew all too well how dangerous the impulsiveness of a hot head could be.
What’s more, it had been many years since she had lost her head over a person or a matter, nearly throwing all caution to the wind.
But this time…
‘What… is wrong with me?’
Xiao Yue looked at her trembling hands.
Right now, she was still glad she hadn’t pushed the door open directly.
‘This is the time to stay calm and analyze the situation. The Empress Mother taught me that if you really want something, the most important thing is to keep your cool. The more you rush for quick gains… the harder it is to achieve your goal.’
Xiao Yue took a deep breath.
She was well aware that the relationship between her Empress Mother and Shen Yu was unusual.
And indeed, Shen Yu was naive and seemed to have no ulterior motives.
She was cute and pleasant to look at, and her medical skills were far superior to those useless doctors at the Imperial Academy of Medicine.
If I could fall for her, how could the Empress Mother not?
Moreover, the Empress Mother was the sovereign of the nation.
If she took a fancy to something, it was just a matter of a word…
Facing such an opponent, Xiao Yue only felt immense pressure.
Yet at the same time, she also felt a surge of excitement from the bottom of her heart.
Snatching someone from her own Empress Mother—if she succeeded, wouldn’t that prove her status as Crown Prince was already secure, and that ascending the throne in the future would be well within her grasp?
Anyway, Xiao Yue truly regarded Shen Yu as a family heirloom of the royal family.
After all, a rare physician with such brilliant skills was a solid guarantee to keep by her side.
Just as Xiao Yue was about to ponder how to continue stealthily competing with the Empress Mother for Shen Yu, how to gradually win her over, and whether she should send half a pig over tomorrow, the conversation between the two drew her attention again.
“Minister Shen, what do you think? You’re willing to make this medicine formula public, and you’re also willing to make the vaccine production and inoculation methods public. Your concern for the world far surpasses even my own.”
“But… this vast empire isn’t simply black and white. Once these things are made public, the noble families, who can sniff out business opportunities, will soon seize control.”
“My dear minister, do you believe me? As soon as this imperial decree to publish the formula leaves the capital, the noble families will monopolize it. They’ll inflate prices on the spot, using the people’s health as leverage to amass fortunes. What is the court supposed to do about that?”
The Empress’s question directly froze Xiao Yue in place.
This was precisely the issue Xiao Yue had been pondering lately.
Shen Yu’s medicine formula was absolutely ahead of its time nationwide.
Even the fever-reducing pills alone were a groundbreaking achievement.
Historians could split the empire’s entire medical history into two eras just because of this tiny pill.
Such a groundbreaking pill would definitely be seized by the noble families, who would bite down and never let go, even if they cracked a tooth.
The reason the noble families were the noble families was that their vision had been far-sighted and ruthless since the founding of the empire.
Their judgment of the situation was no less than that of the court.
In fact, because the court was in the open while they were in the shadows, their advantages were sometimes greater.
“Your Majesty, you don’t need to dwell on these petty gains. Your humble servant dares to offer you this advice… you know, I’m only a common wandering physician by origin, ignorant of the intricacies of court affairs. So let these words leave my mouth and enter your ears. I’m just giving you some ideas.”
“As for how to implement them, that still depends on Your Majesty’s far-sighted planning.”
Shen Yu’s words were perfectly watertight.
After all, she was merely a medical officer, a seventh-rank Inner Court physician.
She could say a few words about healing and saving lives, but she had no say in governing the court.
If she said too much, she might even be accused of overstepping her authority.
Shen Yu knew all too well how vicious those censors could be…
It was like: the Empress Dowager’s birthday—they’d say, “So what?”
The Emperor issued a self-criticism edict—they’d ask, “What does it mean?”
The barbarians’ cannons blasted the border walls until they hummed—they’d praise, “Now that’s festive.”
They truly had to oppose everything and criticize everything.
And the Emperor couldn’t kill them, because it was a rule set by the Founding Emperor and Taizong.
A censor’s death by remonstrance was even considered a virtue.
Even Shen Yu’s grandfather, Shen Qingtian, besides the Emperor, hated those gossipy censors the most.
“You must understand, there are advantages to standing in the open. We can make the pill and vaccine formulas public without necessarily relying on Your Majesty’s imperial decree to distribute them to the provincial governments.”
“We can use another approach. The capital’s tabloids and the famous local tabloids in each province are actually powerful propaganda tools.”
“Your Majesty, your humble servant was born at the border. With all due presumption, there, the heavens are high and the Emperor is far away. Children under eight don’t even understand the concept of the Emperor. But they understand the scandalous news in the provincial tabloids, the vernacular text, and the picture booklets.”
“For a well-known tabloid, the daily issue—I won’t say every household gets one, but at least sixty to seventy percent of families buy it. With sixty to seventy percent buying it, the remaining thirty to forty percent pass it around to read, basically making it known to everyone.”
“So…”
Before Shen Yu could finish, the Empress waved her hand and cut her off.
“No. How can tabloid papers be linked to the court? Even the noble families look down on them. How could I… treat something the noble families disdain as a treasure? How would I face the ancestors after my death?”
The Empress’s thinking was simple, and very feudal.
In ancient society, information was closed off and power was centralized.
There was no need for any propaganda machine to consolidate imperial power.
First, it was unnecessary; second, because the noble families—including the Emperor—all considered tabloids to be low-class products that used sensationalism to attract eyeballs.
Take merchants, for instance: three generations of emperors ago, they were still lowly outcasts with no status.
It was only when the previous few emperors suddenly came to their senses and realized how lucrative commercial taxes were that they slowly elevated the merchants’ status.
But just this one thing—raising the merchants’ status—had consumed the efforts of three generations of emperors.
Even the first emperor to reform commerce exhausted himself, scheming and heart and soul, and worked himself to death without seeing any return.
He died not knowing whether his reforms would benefit the empire.
It just goes to show that vision has been declining with each generation.
“Your Majesty, the fact that the noble families look down on tabloids is precisely our best chance to bypass them!”
“Moreover, we’re not going to publish Your Majesty’s imperial decree in the tabloids. Instead, we’ll marshal the nation’s resources, reorganize and rectify the industry, and completely monopolize it. Imagine—what you say today could appear in newspapers across the country tomorrow for the people to revere, while the noble families would have no way to counter us.”
“The newspapers would be yours. You could make them say whatever you want, write whatever you want the people to believe. Those noble families who sneer at the newspapers would be left helpless, wouldn’t they?”