Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Half an hour later, the guards at the palace gates wore puzzled expressions. “Xu Lang, what are you doing?”

Xu Yanmao was sitting on a wooden cart pulled by a horse, surrounded by boxes upon boxes of items.

He jumped off the cart. “Go ahead and check.”

After carefully inspecting the boxes, the guards allowed him to pass, but their expressions grew even stranger.

Xu Yanmao paid no mind to their reactions. He simply got back onto the cart and urged the driver to continue forward.

—He had imperial permission to ride a carriage within the palace city.

When the carriage stopped in front of Wuying Hall, the old emperor was stunned. “What is all this?”@@novelbin@@

Xu Yanmao directed the palace servants to carry all the boxes inside. Then, he cheerfully announced, “Your Majesty! I’ve thought of a great way to get people to willingly receive the vacci— I mean, to get inoculated with cowpox!”

The emperor smiled. “Oh? What method?”

The young man grinned. “Your Majesty! I brought all the rewards you’ve given me over the years, as well as the jewelry and treasures the princess gifted me. It should amount to a fair sum.”

The emperor fell silent.

He looked at the young man, who spoke so decisively, his dark eyes shining with determination. “If each person who gets inoculated receives a reward of 300 coins, surely many will be willing to come!”

“I’m willing to donate everything I own—except for my house!”

At that moment, Xu Yanmao seemed to be glowing.

But…

The old emperor felt a pang in his heart. How many people can you save with this money?

He thought this, but he also said it aloud.

Xu Yanmao hesitated before replying, “I’ve spent too much on food and clothes, so right now, I can probably only afford vaccinations for about ten to twenty thousand people.”

Then, he brightened again. “But saving even one person is better than nothing! I’m no savior, but if a smallpox outbreak happens now, at least these twenty thousand people will survive!”

And if he ran out of money and life became difficult… well, he could always return to the modern world.

He still had 200 yuan on his meal card!

The old emperor wanted to tell Xu Yanmao that if smallpox truly broke out, across the entire country—aside from those twenty thousand people—at least 80% of the population would blame him. They would ask why he hadn’t forced them to get inoculated. They would demand to know why they weren’t among those twenty thousand.

But looking at Xu Yanmao’s bright, clear eyes, he swallowed the words back down.

“Enough!” The old emperor knocked Xu Yanmao on the forehead. When Xu reflexively pulled back, clutching his head, the emperor grumbled as if annoyed, “Take your money back. Since when does a young man like you have to use his future marriage savings for matters of state?”

Xu Yanmao’s eyes lit up. “Your Majesty?”

The emperor flicked his forehead again, but his tone softened. “The national treasury still has plenty of money. We’ve also mined a lot of gold and silver from Wokou territory. There’s enough to incentivize the people to get inoculated.”

Xu Yanmao was willing to give up his entire fortune to push this initiative. As the ruler of the empire, with millions of citizens under his care, if he were unwilling to spend money to save lives, he would be worse than a beast.

Besides, the Wokou lands had mountains of gold and silver. Even if he had to “smash” an entire gold mine to fund this effort, it would be enough for every citizen in the country to be inoculated.

This decision earned Xu Yanmao’s enthusiastic cheer: “Your Majesty is wise!!!”

The emperor accepted the praise without hesitation. “Of course I’m wise. If I weren’t, your head would already be rolling.”

Xu Yanmao’s eyes widened in shock.

The emperor picked up a teapot and took several gulps of water before saying heavily, “Spending your entire fortune to save the people—do you realize this is buying public favor? If you encountered a paranoid emperor, do you think he would care…”

Would he care that once you’re dead, there would be no more secrets?

“Would he care that your method prevents smallpox? No. To protect his throne, he would have to kill you.”

“But I—”

“I know you don’t have that intention,” the emperor sighed. “But what about others?”

“I may not have many years left. I trust the crown prince won’t be a foolish ruler, but you’re still young—only twenty. It’s entirely possible you will live to see the crown prince’s son take the throne as well. And who can guarantee what kind of ruler he will be?”

“Xu Yanmiao.”

“You must learn to protect yourself.”