"Oh! Well, there's nothing we can do about that then." Old Mrs. Zhu shrugged at Chen Xiang indifferently, smiling as she looked at the approaching officials.

Pei Sining, who was sitting on a cart, overheard their conversation. He quietly jumped off the cart and tiptoed to the carriage behind Zhu Yanyan.

Then, while everyone's attention was on the officials, they opened the wooden box on the carriage.

"Huh, what's this?"

Everyone turned around at the sound and saw the silver in Pei Sining's hand. Chen Xiang angrily pointed at the box and questioned her.

"You, Zhu Yanyan, you dare to lie to me."

Zhu Yanyan never expected that Pei Sining, that little beast, would be so shameless as to touch her things without permission.

"This isn't mine; who knows where he stole it from?"

Wow! Xixi has never seen such a shameless person. The thing was hidden under the box, and she found it just by searching.

What's there to argue about? Has being a bad person for too long made you lose your mind?

If we don't pay up soon, we'll all become roast suckling pigs.

Xi Xi's sigh reached Pei Sining's ears, and he hurriedly pushed the box off the carriage.

In an instant, the sound of silver coins hitting the ground came from behind the carriage, and the loud sound aroused the curiosity of the county magistrate.

The magistrate stepped through the crowd and saw the silver scattered on the ground. His face changed drastically, and he excitedly pointed inside, "Master, is that silver?"

"Master, it's silver." The clerk looked inside in the direction of the voice, nodded excitedly, and then called out to the inside.

"Lord Chen, we are not heartless people. If you can appease our brothers, we might be able to buy you some time."

The advisor's words were so obvious that even a child could understand them. He sneered, drew his broadsword, and gestured for Zhu Yanyan to leave.

He walked up to the silver, picked up a few ingots at random, threw them outside, and shouted.

"Two silver ingots per day, until the external condition is fully healed."

The clerk took the silver that Chen Xiang tossed to him, wiped it, put it in his mouth and bit it to make sure it was real before respectfully handing it over to the magistrate.

"Sir, it's true."

The magistrate took the silver, played with it in his hand, and waved to the officials with a smile, "Let's go."

"Master, will they really recover?" The advisor was very curious as to why Chen Xiang would be so foolish as to enter Lu Family Village to his death. If this disease could be cured, so many people wouldn't have to leave their homes.

The magistrate didn't care about the lives of the scoundrels inside; in his eyes, making money was the most important thing.

"Tomorrow, find some men to sneak into the village, kill all these people, and give me the silver."

The clerk immediately understood and nodded repeatedly, "Understood."

After the magistrate and his entourage left, Chen Xiang looked at Zhu Yanyan with a sinister gaze and raised his foot to kick her.

"You bastard, how dare you play me for fools."

"Lord Chen, come quickly and help."

Sun was leading the Zhu family to help the village headman who was lying on the ground to his feet, but there were too many villagers lying on the ground.

The Zhu family alone could not lift everyone up.

After hearing Sun's voice, Chen Xiang spat at Zhu Yanyan and turned to help.

With everyone's help, all the villagers of Lujia Village gathered in the thatched hut to rest.

Looking at the dying old woman before him, Chen Xiang frowned and asked, "Madam Zhu, what should we do next?"

"We used up all the herbs we used to detoxify Da Bao and Si Ning last night. If we want to cure everyone, we need a lot of herbs."

Looking at the patients lying in a mass of collapsed bodies before her, Mrs. Sun frowned with worry and sighed helplessly.

The mountain behind the village is a cliff, and there are officials guarding the area outside the village, so there is no way to go out and find medicinal herbs.

"Damn it, corrupt official! He only cares about his own life and death, and doesn't care about the common people."

Chen Xiang was furious at the helpless scene before him and punched the wooden stake.

Zhu Yanyan overheard their conversation. She clutched her aching chest, rolled her eyes, and turned to look at Wen Xiuying.

"Mother, later you can secretly take out the dregs from the medicine that the Zhu family brewed, and I'll find a way to go out and buy some."

Zhu Yanyan was so confident because there was a motorcycle in the space, and she could just secretly drive the motorcycle out.

She could then go to the county town to buy herbs. Once she had the herbs, she would take her family and flee far away, searching for a place to take refuge on her own.

Wen Xiuying didn't understand her daughter's actions and asked worriedly, "Yanyan, why are you stealing the dregs of the medicine?"

"Don't worry about that," Zhu Yanyan said with a smug smile to the Zhu family and Chen Xiang.

[Again? Aren't you tired of fighting every day? You're making Xixi worry sick.]

[Zhu Yanyan wanted to steal the dregs of medicine, presumably to go out and buy more. But what was the magistrate's purpose?]

[Was it really just for this little bit of silver that they sent people into Lu Family Village to kill people?]

Xixi really couldn't understand these people's selfish desires; they would do anything for money or to harm others.

Grandma Zhu heard her granddaughter's words and looked up in Zhu Yanyan's direction.

Sure enough, Wen Xiuying was seen sneaking towards the back of the thatched hut, while Zhu Yanyan stood by the roadside, vigilantly observing the surroundings.

"Mother, Lord Chen wants to go and negotiate, what do you think?"

Zhu Chenfeng's voice brought Old Lady Zhu back to her senses, and she looked up at the darkening sky.

"Third brother, tell Xixi to the eldest brother's wife, the rest of you go find Lord Chen."

Zhu Chenfeng took his granddaughter with a puzzled look on his face, and stared blankly at his mother's departing figure.

Old Mrs. Zhu brought her family to Chen Xiang, "Lord Chen, there is something I would like to discuss with you."

"Grandma Zhu, what do you want to say?" Chen Xiang was just about to take Zhu Wen to the village entrance to bribe the officials to let them pass.

Worried that outsiders might overhear what she was saying, Old Mrs. Zhu pulled Chen Xiang aside and whispered to him.

Chen Xiang's expression grew increasingly grim as he listened, and he clenched his fists, about to turn and leave.

"Lord Chen, don't be impulsive. Since we're all in the same boat, let's resolve the issue at hand."

“Yes, we’ll settle this score after everyone’s fully recovered.” Chen Xiang clenched his fists, suppressing his anger. He had agreed to Grandma Zhu’s suggestion because Zhu Wen had also contracted smallpox.

If the timeline is accurate, he and his brothers will soon be infected, and their only chance of survival is to cooperate with Old Lady Zhu.

"Alright, in that case, let's split up and do our own thing."

Grandma Zhu didn't want to delay any longer, so she turned around and gestured to her son and daughter-in-law to start.

Seeing this, everyone went their separate ways in different directions.

As night fell, Lujia Village was gradually enveloped in white mist, and a small voice appeared in the middle of the village road.

"Mother, you go back quickly, I'll go buy the medicine myself."

Zhu Yanyan put the dregs of the medicine into the backpack behind her and turned around to gesture to Wen Xiuying, who had followed her out.

Wen Xiuying was worried that her daughter would not come back after leaving, so she pulled Zhu Zinan along behind her.

No, I want to go with you.