Speaking thus, Bai Qingyan set down the cup in her hand and stood up: “Thank you, Physician Ji, for informing me of these matters. I still plan to walk around Feng County, so I won’t trouble Physician Ji any further.”

Physician Ji hurriedly nodded and stepped aside from the doorway, unable to resist reminding her: “Counting the days, Your Majesty has only two or three months before giving birth. On this journey back to the Capital City… you must not be too jostled or overexerted. You must take great care of yourself.”

“Good, I’ll remember that!” Bai Qingyan supported herself on Chun Zhi’s arm and stepped toward the door. “Please don’t see me off, Physician Ji.”

Physician Ji personally escorted them out through the Ji residence’s back door. Watching the departing figures of Bai Qingyan’s group, Physician Ji bowed deeply toward Bai Qingyan’s retreating form once more. Straightening up, he couldn’t help but feel moved in his heart. He had never seen an emperor like Bai Qingyan—completely without the airs of superiority, coming to Feng County while pregnant to inquire about the new policies.

He remembered what Ji Langhua had written in her letter when Bai Qingyan had just ascended the throne… she had said that the Bai family’s eldest daughter would surely be a good emperor. Now, Physician Ji believed it.

If Great Zhou’s future emperors were all like Bai Qingyan, why worry that Great Zhou couldn’t prosper? Why worry that the Great Zhou’s imperial line couldn’t last forever?

After Chun Zhi helped Bai Qingyan into the carriage, seeing that Physician Ji was still standing at the door, she asked Bai Qingyan in a low voice: “Young lady, why didn’t you invite Physician Ji’s family to return to the Capital City? If you had Physician Ji take a position at the Imperial Medical Academy, then when Miss Ji returns to the Capital City, the whole family could be reunited, and she would surely serve you even better.”

Bai Qingyan leaned against the cushions and said softly, “Miss Ji’s family played a key role in the case of Imperial Censor Jian Congwen back then. If I brought Miss Ji’s family back to the Capital City now and had Physician Ji take a position at the Imperial Medical Academy, once people dig up their family background, how could they live in the Capital City in the future? What would others think? An upright minister like Imperial Censor Jian Congwen had his entire clan exterminated, yet the descendants of those who framed loyal ministers could still enter the Imperial Medical Academy—wouldn’t this break the hearts of the people…”

“Moreover, Physician Ji has excellent medical skills. Staying in a remote place like Feng County to practice medicine and save lives will have a greater impact than entering the Imperial Medical Academy! I believe… when they originally chose to settle in Feng County, they also greatly intended to atone for their elders’ past wrongs.” Bai Qingyan smiled with lowered eyes.

Chun Zhi nodded: “Young lady, everything you say is right!”

Bai Qingyan looked up at Chun Zhi, who was as foolish as Chun Tao, and laughed: “Even if the young lady sold you, that would also be right?”

Chun Zhi thought for a moment and seriously answered Bai Qingyan: “If the young lady sold Chun Zhi, she must have encountered some difficulty and sold Chun Zhi for Chun Zhi’s good, not wanting to implicate Chun Zhi. Sister Chun Tao said… young lady are just that kind of good person!”

She was amused by Chun Zhi: “Look what Chun Tao has taught you, you’re exactly like another foolish Chun Tao!”

·

Bai Qingyan strolled around Feng County, seeing that the people’s lives seemed somewhat better than before. As for truly seeing the new policies take effect, that would still require another two years.

The Bai family guards, along with Weizhong and Chun Zhi, accompanied Bai Qingyan as she walked and shopped along various streets. Bai Qingyan would occasionally chat with the common people, and would also go to places near villages where people gathered to do farm work to ask for water. Seeing that Bai Qingyan was pregnant, the people were all very courteous in giving her water.

After drinking the water, Bai Qingyan had her guards give them silver. Then, not minding the lack of cleanliness, she sat on tree stumps and chatted with women sewing shoe soles about what Feng County had been like before.

At the mention of this topic, the women smiled so widely they couldn’t close their mouths.

“This lady speaks the truth! In the past, how could people like us wear whole, intact clothes? This… is all thanks to our Great Zhou Emperor’s good news policies!” An elderly woman smiled as she used an awl to pierce through a shoe sole, her hands moving skillfully to hook thread and pull the awl. “No wonder they say the Bai family general was sent by Heaven to save us people of Feng County! Back then, the Bai family army general led the Bai family army to protect us people of Feng County. Now that His Majesty has become emperor and implemented new policies, it’s all about letting us live good lives. What did that Master Cai say…”

The elderly woman turned to ask her daughter-in-law.

“Mother, that Master Cai said His Majesty’s new policies reduce the benefits of the wealthy and powerful while increasing the benefits of the common people! So those who don’t want the new policies to be implemented smoothly and say the new policies are bad are all wealthy people…” the daughter-in-law said with a smile.

“Yes, yes, yes! That’s exactly what he said!” The elderly woman’s eyes crinkled with laughter. “Our family doesn’t lack labor now, so we let Er Niu take her younger brother to school to learn reading and writing. The court is paying silver for our children to learn to read! In the past, we couldn’t afford the tuition for a teacher. If one scholar emerged from ten villages, that was remarkable! Now all our children can become scholars in the future! Isn’t this a tremendous blessing!”

“Exactly! If they study well and can make the honor roll in the imperial examinations, our whole family will be able to rise!” A young, spirited daughter-in-law interjected. “That Master Cai said that for poor families like us, if we want to get ahead, besides taking the imperial examinations, there’s no other way. Now His Majesty has decided to waive the tuition fees. We just need to squeeze out a bit of time for our children to let them go to school. This is a tremendous blessing!”

Initially, the people of Feng County sent their children to school because they felt they couldn’t afford the tuition before, but now they could go without paying, so their family was getting a bargain. Later, when they discovered that the children’s absence meant less labor for the family, they called the children back to help with farm work.

It was only after Master Cai came to Feng County and persuaded them that the people understood that having children study was the only way to escape the fate of generations of their ancestors who faced the yellow earth with their backs to the sky, scraping food from the soil.

Which family hadn’t dreamed of producing a top scholar when they went to sleep at night? Previously, they couldn’t afford tuition, but now, if they were reluctant to spare their children’s bit of labor and insisted on having them return to work, that would truly be delaying their family’s entire prospects.

“Aunt Gu, our little Erhuzi is getting out of school, and I need to go back to cook! I’m leaving!” A woman picked up her winnowing basket, stood up to bid farewell to the elderly woman, then shyly nodded to Bai Qingyan before walking away with a red face. My goodness… in all her years, she had never seen such a fine lady—like a fairy descended from heaven, yet without any airs at all.

Having chatted enough with the people of Feng County, Bai Qingyan stood up to take her leave, saying she wanted to walk around Feng County some more.

“How strange, it’s a Yan Kingdom shop…” Bai Qingyan saw a shop sign with the character “Yan” written on it along the main street. “How could Yan Kingdom open a shop in Feng County?”

By rights, Yan Kingdom merchants entering Zhou territory, especially clothing shops like this, should open in prosperous cities, or at least inside Tianmen Pass.