Hundred Herb Fragrance
No matter how strong and unreasonable the civilians were, they could not endure an actual suppression by the military. Xuan Tian Ming’s side did not even touch a single hair on them. It was left to He Gan, as he directed the Divine Archery Group to shoot toward the sky for a while. The civilians that had gathered around to cause a commotion and refuse to cede an inch of Gu Shu’s territory became frightened. Nobody dared to step forward, and they closed their mouths. The cleavers and axes were also put down, as they withered away and returned to their own homes.
Feng Yu Heng snorted coldly: “Spineless.”
Xuan Tian Ming had already begun directing the soldiers to have the entrance of the government office cleaned up. The front yard would be a court, and the backyard would be used as a residence. Once again, the army left through the southern gate and set up camp outside the city. They prepared to fight off the heat that would quickly be assaulting them.
They moved very quickly and proficiently because they had gained experience from Sha Ping City. They all knew roughly how long it would take for the heat to overwhelm their bodies. They would do their best to finish everything that needed to be accomplished within half a day.
Their expectations were correct. During that evening, Jue Ping City caused even more people to collapse than the heat in Sha Ping City. The majority of them were soldiers that had come from Qian Zhou. Fortunately, Feng Yu Heng was present this time. From a psychological perspective, it was far more comforting than the previous time. They were not particularly afraid. They all knew that regardless of how severe the illness, Imperial Daughter Ji An could cure them. They just needed to wait a bit.
Of course, Feng Yu Heng did not disappoint. Before moving into the government office, she brought Song Kang’s group of military doctors to the military camp to the South. Inside the city, things were left to Xuan Tian Ming and the soldiers who were still in good health. When she arrived in the military camp, the sun had not yet gone down. There was a certain time difference between the desert and the lands in Da Shun. Feng Yu Heng figured that it was around a two-hour difference. The sun went down relatively late, and the day was much longer than the night.
The soldiers setting up camp immediately set up a medical tent after setting up the general’s tent. Feng Yu Heng went inside the medical tent first to bring out all of the necessities before calling in Song Kang and the others. Everyone was provided with more medicine. There was Chinese medicine and Western medicine. They were told make use of it to treat the patients by severity. As for themselves, they would go around to the various tents with the sick soldiers and set up infusions for them. At the same time, diarrhea medicine was handed out. Fearing that the soldiers would be unable to become accustomed to the food in the area, as well as the heat being unbearable, one could easily come down with diarrhea.
With Feng Yu Heng present, the symptoms affecting the soldiers in the military camp were quickly contained. There was no need for Xuan Tian Ming to worry about it. It was just that inside Jue Ping City, the civilians continued to remain resistant to Da Shun’s governance. They did not cause a commotion, and they returned to their regular lives in the city; however, they used a different method to express their opposition to Da Shun, for example: “This fragrance will only be sold to people of Gu Shu. The facial creams here will only be sold to people of Gu Shu. If you Da Shun people want to come into our shops, I won’t stop you, nor do I dare to stop you, but these things belong to me. I have the right to choose whether or not I will sell it to you.”
Today, Feng Yu Heng had just come to Jue Ping City to wander around, and she happened to see a shop selling fragrances. Wanting to buy some stuff, she went inside to take a look. Not to mention the extreme heat of the desert, but the sunlight was also extremely bright. The skin had already begun to peel from the faces of a number of soldiers. There were even some that had begun to get hurt from the sun. They had heard that the people of Gu Shu had researched a sort of facial cream that was specifically used for protection against the sun. It was very effective. Of course, there was no need for men to use that sort of thing, and it was all sold to girls. She thought that if she could buy some more to be distributed to Da Shun’s soldiers, they should be able to recover a bit. Her space did have sunscreen, but taking it out would be too conspicuous. Also, she wanted to see which one was more effective between the one produced by Gu Shu or the one from the modern world.
Unfortunately, upon entering the door, she was met with resistance. The business owners of Gu Shu had never been willing to sell things to the people of Da Shun. They also said: “Unless you people of Da Shun came to steal it! But that would be just like how you stole our Gu Shu’s city. What’s the difference from a robber?”
Huang Quan laughed in anger, “Since you people are so set on viewing Da Shun as robbers, even if we did not rob your store, we would not be free of our titles as robbers. Thinking about it like this, it would be better if we just robbed you!”
Wang Chuan was also very angry, agreeing with this and saying: “Gu Shu’s army could not hold its own city was a result of it not having any ability. You, as civilians, should just live your lives. Where did such nonsense come from? Our army hasn’t even slaughtered the city yet. This can be considered as sparing your lives. Shouldn’t you show a bit more restraint?”
Seeing the two grow fierce and that they were both carrying swords, the people of Gu Shu knew that the two servants might be girls, but they also knew martial arts. If it really came to a fight, they definitely could not win. Moreover, they recognized the young miss at their side. It was Da Shun’s Imperial Daughter Ji An. She could set foot on the battlefield and throw heavenly lightning. If these people really were offended, not to mention running a business, but even their lives would be lost.
Thus the people of Gu Shu became horrified once more; however, it was done in a very awkward manner, as they adopted an attitude of “ignoring” them. The shopkeeper and clerks hid to the side with an appearance of “steal it if you want.” This put Huang Quan and Wang Chuan in an awkward position.
The two cast inquisitive glances toward Feng Yu Heng to ask: “Do we steal it?”
Feng Yu Heng, however, shook her head: “What is there to steal. It’s just some shitty fragrances and facial creams. I recall that the neighboring shop’s original owner was the prefect’s madam, right? Now that the previous prefect’s entire family has died for the country, we might as well just also open up this sort of shop. We’ll let the people of Jue Ping City know what Da Shun’s fragrances and facial creams are like!”
She did as she said. That very afternoon, she called for soldiers to tidy up the shop. Previously, that shop had sold accessories. Naturally, those accessories were confiscated. Feng Yu Heng remained in the shop overnight on her own, as she brought out all kinds of medicine and perfumes from her space. It had to be said that she did not dare to make any guarantees about her sunscreen compared to the one produced by Gu Shu; however, her perfumes would definitely be considered extremely good things in this era. Even that shitty thing that the seventh princess of Gu Shu had brought to Da Shun’s imperial palace had been suppressed by her. Now, that very same thing was brought out to be sold. She did not believe that the madams and young misses from the wealthy families of Jue Ping City would not be moved.
What loyalty to Gu Shu. What betrayal of country? Not to mention the problems with Gu Shu’s governance, but just given that it was Gu Shu that had attacked Da Shun first, Da Shun counterattacking could be considered just. No matter where they went, they would be able to explain it. Who has ever heard of being hit then not being allowed to hit back. Could it be that they had to go and tell a teacher?
Feng Yu Heng worked through the entire night, and the counter on the first floor was completely covered. The second floor was not to be opened temporarily. It was being used by her as storage. This would save her the trouble of running out of stock and needing to replenish it from her space.
Huang Quan and Wang Chuan were called into the shop to receive some “last-minute training.” For the time being, Feng Yu Heng could not find any helpers. She could only use her own servants to serve as clerks. Wang Chuan and Huang Quan were able to get over the strange things that Feng Yu Heng could suddenly bring out. Back when they had helped detoxify the soldiers in the military camp, they had personally seen their young miss bring out a large butt from her sleeve.
The two servants were quick to learn. They were already very clear on the use and effects of various items. The group also prepared quite a few pieces of paper in preparation to keep track of who came to buy their goods. Because things were prepared in a hurry, and Jue Ping City did not have any people from Gu Shu that wished to do business with the people of Da Shun, they did not even have a sign for their shop. There was nothing that Feng Yu Heng could do. She simply used white paper and wrote in large characters. She then stuck it on top of the sign outside and called it: “Hundred Herb Fragrance”
Just like this, she worked for an entire morning. Just after noon passed, Hundred Herb Fragrance announced its opening. It was not particularly busy, and there was not a single person that came to take a look. It was just opened without any fanfare. When people passed by, they did not even understand what this shop did.
But very quickly, there were people that could figure it out because they could smell a faint fragrance when passing by the shop’s entrance. It just lingered around outside the entrance. It was not a piercing smell, but the fragrance was very enticing. The impression that it left on the people that smelled it was very deep. It was such that they would yearn for it until they got home.
On the first day, there were no people that visited, but there were quite a few people that stood outside to smell the fragrance. This was within Feng Yu Heng’s expectations. The next day, she wrote down the main products and stuck them on the wall outside. It was not the slightest bit different from the shop next door.
But the boss of that shop was not afraid in the slightest. In the end, that was a shop opened by someone from Da Shun. The civilians of Jue Ping City had already reached an agreement. Not only would they not sell things to the people from Da Shun, but the civilians also would not buy the things sold by the people from Da Shun. That boss even brought out a chair to sit in front of the entrance to laugh at Hundred Herb Fragrance. Seeing that not a single person visited during the morning, he was so happy that he nearly called for a celebration.
However, what was seen might not be the truth. Nobody entered Hundred Herb Fragrance through the front entrance; however, the back entrance was nearly trampled. Those that visited were the maidservants and grannies from the wealthy families. They had all come as a result of the fragrance that had come from the front entrance.
The people of Gu Shu all knew that Gu Shu’s imperial family had a special perfume, but it was hard to get. It was specifically made for the imperial family. Even if these people had large sums of money, they could not buy it. These past few days, they had smelled the fragrance coming from Hundred Herb Fragrance, and they had seen the instructions stuck to the wall. They knew that this was something that was roughly the same was that special perfume; however, it was infinitely better than that special perfume. Even Gu Shu’s seventh princess, who had brought that special perfume to Da Shun’s imperial palace, had been quickly defeated by this sort of perfume.
Thus the madams and young misses of the wealthy families could not sit still. They all sent their maidservants and grannies to Hundred Herb Fragrance to inquire about the situation. But given their identities as citizens of Jue Ping City, it was inconvenient for them to enter and exit through the front entrance. They could only sneakily enter through the back.
Feng Yu Heng had already prepared for such a thing, as she split the perfume into smaller bottles to serve as samples, which were then sold at a high price to the people that had come to ask about it. The amount of perfume was too little, and it was only enough for two uses. At the same time, she announced that Hundred Herb Fragrance’s rear entrance would only be open for three days. After that three-day period, it would never be open again. Those that wished to buy things would then need to enter through the front entrance.
This made it clear that if you wanted to buy nice things, don’t even think of being loyal to Gu Shu. If you want to continue being good citizens of Gu Shu, don’t come and buy things from Hundred Herb Fragrance.
To a city, aside from the governor, the one with the most sway would be the wealthy families. As for those that could move the hearts of those wealthy families, the women in the families definitely had an advantage. Madams, concubines, and daughters, as long as they spoke sweetly, what was this about being a loyal citizen of Gu Shu? How could that compare to the beauties of their families. Moreover, that fragrance was something that they themselves liked…