Volume One, Chapter Four: Teaching the Method of Cowpox Inoculation, the Execution of Lady Lü

“Your Majesty, Crown Prince, you have been inside for two hours; at last you’ve come out,” an anxious eunuch said.

“Eunuch Chen, inform the Household Department to prepare five hundred taels of gold for me. I need it urgently,” Zhu Biao instructed.

“Yes, Your Highness, I’ll arrange it at once.”

“Let them all go. I’m heading to the Imperial Kitchen to make some vegetable porridge for my sister and eldest grandson,” Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.

“Let me help with the fire,” the prince offered.

Thus, father and son went to the kitchen to prepare vegetable porridge for Empress Ma and Zhu Xiongying. Everyone looked utterly astonished—the emperor himself would cook, and the crown prince would tend the fire! After their mysterious disappearance, the two of them seemed to have become different men.

An hour later, Zhu Biao returned carrying a chest of gold, while Zhu Yuanzhang held a food box. Together, they entered the Kangshou Medical Hall. Inside, they found Xia Jingtian decocting medicinal herbs.

“Your Majesty Hongwu, the Crown Prince has returned. I am preparing a mulberry and chrysanthemum decoction to treat smallpox for the imperial grandson and Her Majesty the Empress,” Xia Jingtian explained as he worked.

The decoction was composed of mulberry leaves, chrysanthemum, apricot kernels, forsythia, mint, platycodon, reed rhizome, and licorice—an effective remedy for smallpox.

Zhu Biao set the chest on the table and gently opened it. Inside, twenty gold ingots lay in neat rows, each weighing fifty taels—altogether, a thousand taels of gold.

“Divine Physician Xia, this is to thank you for saving Xiongying and treating my mother. You also administered the smallpox vaccine to me and the Emperor. Father wishes to reward you with a thousand taels of gold.”

Seeing the chest of gold, Xia Jingtian was delighted. He marveled at the generosity of Emperor Hongwu, who gifted him a whole chest of gold ingots.

“Thank you for your gracious reward, Your Majesty. The imperial grandson has awakened and is now in good health. You may go upstairs to see him.”

The three of them ascended to the second-floor ward. There they found Zhu Xiongying propped up in bed, eating a tomato and watching the animated series ‘Calabash Brothers’ with great fascination. Empress Ma, dressed in a blue-striped hospital gown, sat beside him, also savoring a tomato as she watched TV.

“What is that? The little people inside are moving!” Zhu Biao asked curiously, pointing at the screen.

“That’s called a television. What they’re watching is an animated cartoon,” Xia Jingtian explained.

Having finished her tomato, Empress Ma took two more from the plate. “These are tomatoes—tender, juicy, sweet and sour. Chongba, have a taste. Eldest, one for you as well.”

She handed a tomato each to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao. It was their first time seeing such a fruit, so they bit into it with curiosity. Just as Empress Ma described, the taste was sweet and sour, juicy and tender—a flavor and texture they had never experienced before.

“This fruit is so delicious!” Zhu Biao said between bites.

“I have tasted all manner of rare and exotic fruits, but never anything like this—truly sweet and juicy,” Zhu Yuanzhang marveled.

In the Hongwu era of the Ming dynasty, tomatoes had yet to be introduced to China. No wonder they found them so extraordinary.

“Tomatoes are not only a fruit but also a vegetable. They’re wonderful for cooking as well,” Xia Jingtian added.

“Is that true, Doctor Xia? You can make porridge with tomatoes? I’d like to try it,” Zhu Xiongying asked eagerly.

“Of course, I’ll make some for you right now,” Xia Jingtian replied with a smile.

“My dear grandson must be hungry. Grandfather cooked some vegetable porridge personally—try my cooking, sister. You always prepared meals for me; now see how mine tastes,” Zhu Yuanzhang said as he opened the food box and took out the porridge.

This so-called vegetable porridge was a simple rice porridge with greens and lean meat—light and flavorful, a family favorite. Though Empress Ma was attended by many, she insisted on cooking for Zhu Yuanzhang daily.

Zhu Biao filled a bowl and handed it to Empress Ma, then another to feed Zhu Xiongying.

“Grandfather, did you put salt in this porridge? It tastes bland,” Zhu Xiongying asked.

“I did add salt; how could it be tasteless?”

“It’s a bit salty for me. You probably didn’t stir it well enough—just mix it more and it’ll be perfect. I never thought I’d live to taste porridge cooked by the Hongwu Emperor himself. It’s just not particularly delicious,” Empress Ma teased.

Zhu Xiongying giggled, and the family enjoyed a lively, harmonious meal together.

Meanwhile, Xia Jingtian was downstairs, unable to take his eyes off the chest of gold. Suddenly, the system in his mind chimed: “Congratulations, host! You have received a reward of one hundred catties of gold, convertible to fifty-eight million yuan. Would you like to exchange it in the general store?”

Seeing that the gold could be exchanged for over fifty million, Xia Jingtian immediately agreed. In the next moment, a flash of white light, and the gold vanished.

Host: Xia Jingtian
Merit: 149,600 points
Skills: Photographic memory, social acumen
Wealth: 58 million yuan

He entered the kitchen, beat five eggs, sliced three tomatoes, and deftly cooked a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Though a common dish, it was beloved by people of the Dragon Kingdom, suitable for all ages.

Carrying the dish upstairs to the luxury ward, he said, “Try my scrambled eggs with tomatoes.”

The vibrant red tomatoes and golden eggs looked irresistibly appetizing. Empress Ma took a bite—the tomato was sweet and tangy, the eggs soft and flavorful.

“This is delicious; you should all try some,” she recommended.

The grandfather and grandsons tasted it, lavishing praise with every mouthful, finishing the plate in no time. Xia Jingtian mused that this family was utterly captivated by a simple plate of tomatoes.

After the meal, Empress Ma asked, “Divine Physician Xia, do you have any of the smallpox vaccine you gave to the Emperor and Crown Prince? I wish to have all the royal consorts, princes, and princesses vaccinated, and also the palace staff—even the common people, if possible, so they won’t catch smallpox.”

Kindhearted Empress Ma thought not only of the royal family but also the palace staff and the people beyond the palace walls.

“There’s not enough vaccine for all. The best way is to inoculate them with cowpox. Find a cow whose pox sores are scabbing and nearly healed—the pus contains antibodies against smallpox. Apply the lymph to the sores of someone infected, and it will cure them. For the uninfected, make a small cut on the arm and apply the lymph; this will confer immunity. Inoculating with cowpox is safer and more effective. I’ll write down the method for you; any physician can perform it.”

Xia Jingtian transcribed the cowpox vaccination method, which he had just looked up on his phone. With his photographic memory, he wrote it out in traditional characters on lined paper, from right to left, and handed it to Crown Prince Zhu Biao.

The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao brought a wooden plaque inscribed in vermilion with the words “Divine Hands, Miracle Doctor,” bearing Zhu Yuanzhang’s signature and seal. Overjoyed, Xia Jingtian replaced his grandfather’s banner on the wall with this imperial plaque.

In the following five days, the imperial physicians followed the cowpox inoculation method provided by Xia Jingtian, treating those in the palace who had contracted smallpox and vaccinating those who had not. The method was then disseminated among the common people to contain the outbreak.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao continued attending to state affairs, but each evening, they visited the medical hall to check on Zhu Xiongying and Empress Ma. After seven days of treatment, Empress Ma was fully recovered, and the blisters on Zhu Xiongying’s body had scabbed over, allowing him to get out of bed and play.

Every day, he watched cartoons, drank milk, ate fresh vegetables and fruits, and played with all kinds of novel toys, recovering swiftly.

The recently established Embroidered Uniform Guard conducted a thorough investigation of all those infected with smallpox. They eventually discovered that a palace maid responsible for dressing the imperial grandson had contaminated Zhu Xiongying’s clothes with smallpox pus. Under interrogation, it was revealed she had been instigated by Consort Lü, the crown prince’s second wife.

Zhu Biao had five sons and four daughters: his eldest son Zhu Xiongying, second son Zhu Yunwen, third son Zhu Yunteng, fourth son Zhu Yunjian, and youngest Zhu Yunxi. The eldest and third sons were born of Lady Chang, daughter of Chang Yuchun. Four years ago, after Lady Chang’s death, Consort Lü, seeking to secure the position of imperial heir for her own son, secretly ordered the maid to harm Zhu Xiongying.

Upon learning the truth, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and ordered Lü to hang herself with a white silk cord—granting her the mercy of an intact corpse for nearly killing his legitimate grandson and wife. Zhu Biao, though saddened, knew that compared to his son and mother, Lü’s death meant little.

The execution of Consort Lü greatly surprised Xia Jingtian, who thus witnessed Zhu Yuanzhang’s ruthlessness. For the sake of his own grandson, he did not spare even his son’s consort. The heart of an emperor is indeed pitiless—Xia Jingtian saw firsthand the darker side of imperial life.

As the legitimate eldest grandson and heir, Zhu Xiongying was the future successor of the Ming throne. Lü dared to attack him; had Zhu Yuanzhang not executed her entire family, it was already a rare mercy.

One day, Empress Ma was playing with Zhu Xiongying in the garden pavilion, while Xia Jingtian filmed them with his phone. Suddenly, the back gate swung open, and a slender young woman of seventeen or eighteen entered, supporting an elderly man of about seventy, his hair gray, face pallid, body stooped and frail, leaning on a wooden staff as he staggered forward.

“Doctor—doctor, is there a doctor here? Please save my father!” the young woman cried as she half-carried the old man into the courtyard.

Xia Jingtian rushed over to help her steady the old man.

From the pavilion, Empress Ma caught sight of the pair and was visibly shocked. She hurried over, her face filled with disbelief as she gazed at the aged, haggard man with white hair, bent back, and ashen complexion.

“Liu Bowen, weren’t you said to have died seven years ago? How are you still alive?”