Bai Ruozhu believed that regardless of whether this person was a man or a woman, the fact that they could dress so flamboyantly and act so coquettishly meant that they must be a lover of beauty. And lovers of beauty certainly didn’t like scars, so her words should be able to persuade them, right?
"Oh dear, after using so many precious medicinal materials and nurturing them for so many years, you still spotted it," the butterfly deflated its mouth, looking like a little girl who had been wronged.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t know what to say, so she just chuckled twice.
"Not fearing that the little emperor of Danliang Country would know the method you teach me to prevent chickenpox?" The person’s face quickly changed, adopting a teasing expression.
"Such important matter, I guess you wouldn’t disclose it, right?" Bai Ruozhu raised her eyebrows.
"I thought you would put up a life-and-death struggle for the glory of Danliang Country, how boring." He grumbled.
Bai Ruozhu thought to herself that she wasn’t teaching them how to make weapons of war, and she didn’t actually want to keep this life-saving method a secret. If it could save more lives, it would be a good deed.
The flower butterfly walked a few steps around Bai Ruozhu’s bed, suddenly putting on a serious expression, "Alright, if your method of preventing cowpox is true, I’ll spare you and your family."
It’s just a temporary reprieve, right? Bai Ruozhu sneered in her heart. Her choice of the chickenpox prevention method wasn’t merely to cater to his preferences. It also was because the cowpox method she proposed would take time to develop. And before it was successfully developed, this butterfly would certainly not kill her.
Bai Ruozhu calmly gave an explanation on how to develop cowpox, followed by inoculating cowpox as a way to prevent it. His eyes widened slightly, making those pair of slender phoenix eyes seem a bit rounder.
"Does this work? And what about its safety?" He asked.
"As you should know, people who have already had chickenpox won’t get infected again. Therefore, for those inoculated with cowpox, it would cause a mild case of chickenpox, just on the arm, and they will recover quickly. After that, they will no longer fear being infected," Bai Ruozhu explained.
He was silent for a long while, but suddenly he released Bai Ruozhu’s acupoints. Her heart tightened and she nearly snuck into the space holding Dengdeng. However, she wasn’t sure whether she was fast enough to escape him, and if she disappeared, he would definitely vent his anger on the people in the yard.
Bai Ruozhu took a deep breath, waiting for his reaction.
Finally, he turned to her, squinting his slender phoenix eyes and said, "Alright, I’ll go back and study it first. If I have any questions, I’ll come and find you. I guess you won’t go around asking for help, right? What would happen if the officials of Danliang Country know you sold such information to me?"
Bai Ruozhu quickly put on a panicked expression and sealed her lips in silence.
The colorful figure suddenly flashed, and the person had flown out of the window. She hurriedly got out of bed to close the window, almost falling on the ground, as her legs were too weak to stand.
After closing the window, she quickly turned off the oil lamp. Terrified, she dove into her blanket, holding Dengdeng and hid in the space.
Fortunately, nothing else happened during the night. The next morning, she tried to ask the two guards about the situation last night. They both seemed unaware that they had been poisoned and fainted. Only Bai Ruozhu found a little bit of powder residue on the ground. Her heart sank.
If she hadn’t accidentally obtained the Poison Scripture in her previous life, she couldn’t have been his opponent. But now it seems that her poison skills might not be superior to his.
Given the current situation, trying to escape with her family is not an option. If they could find her here from Chengshui Country, even if she fled to the Turkic Country, they would still be able to locate her.
If only Jiang Yichun was here, at least she would have someone to discuss with. Now she didn’t dare to act recklessly even if she wanted to ask for help. She absolutely won’t say a word to Xu Huilin, unless she wanted to be dealt with secretly by the Tongzhi Department.
So after some thoughts, she decided to stay calm and deal with changes. At least for the time being, that butterfly would neither take her life nor harm her family easily.
Once she figured this out, Bai Ruozhu calmed down. Holding Dengdeng, she went out and found Ge Yapo. She bought eight maids, two boys, and two servants with some martial arts skills.
When she brought all the servants back home, she gave Lin Ping’er a fright. She quickly pulled Bai Ruozhu aside and whispered, "Where are so many people going to live?"
"First, we clear out two rooms and make a big bunk. After I train them for a few days, six out of the maids will be sent to the Hot Spring Mansion. Those two will also guard the Hot Spring Mansion and won’t be back on usual days. The boys will serve as helpers for Uncle Zhang and my elder brother, doing some miscellaneous tasks," Bai Ruozhu explained.
"That’s a good idea. The Hot Spring Mansion will definitely need a lot of manpower once it’s opened," Lin Ping’er sighed with relief.
That afternoon, they cleared out two rooms. One for the maids and one for the servants.
In the following days, Bai Ruozhu selected one maid who has talent for cooking, and assigned her to Fang Guizhi. She let the maid take over the cooking tasks gradually, and Fang Guizhi’s focus would shift to the Hot Spring Mansion. Bai Ruozhu also chose a loyal and honest maid for Fusa to help with the chores in the shop. The remaining six were trained by Bai Ruozhu on how to do facial treatments for clients, and selected the most stable one to be the head maid.
Things proceeded smoothly. In the blink of an eye, five days had passed. Bai Ruozhu started to become a little anxious.
"Ruozhu, what’s the matter with you recently? Worried that the Hot Spring Mansion won’t be able to open as scheduled?" Guizhi noticed Bai Ruozhu’s nervousness and couldn’t help asking.
Bai Ruozhu quickly said, "No, no. I’m just a little frustrated because of being busy. It will be fine in a couple of days."
Actually, she was worried that the butterfly might come back again. Every day and night, she was on edge and couldn’t sleep well at night. How could she not become anxious?
Fortunately, Guizhi didn’t overthink and stopped asking more after Bai Ruozhu’s reply. She just reminded her that her body was more important and she mustn’t overwork herself.
By nightfall, Bai Ruozhu couldn’t sleep peacefully again. Soon, she heard faint noises from outside, followed by sounds of a skirmish. The two people fighting didn’t use any weapons, just fists, and feet, so they didn’t make a lot of noises.
She couldn’t help but widen her eyes. It must be the butterfly again. But even Cui Fan, the best martial artist among the guards, wouldn’t be able to fight him . So, who else was out there?
Her heart started to beat faster, and she wished she could rush out to take a look right away.
"Hmph, you think you can stop me forever just because you stopped me once? I will remember you today!" The butterfly’s soft voice echoed. The sound was very faint, but it was extraordinarily clear in the quiet night. With Bai Ruozhu’s superior hearing, she caught every single word. Her heart pounded even faster. Who was he talking to?
Finally, it’s dawn today, so how about Mouka begging for a monthly ticket with a thick skin?