Chapter 81 Better safe than sorry

His subordinates were always obedient to him and rarely acted so rudely.

It seems something really has happened.

Li Dali casually closed the ledger and looked at him with displeasure.

"I told you, knock before you come in, and don't panic. If word gets out that you're acting all flustered, I'm not afraid of losing face!"

"Please calm down, sir. A report has come from outside the city that the city gates were suddenly closed because refugees from Jiangnan were storming Yangguan County!"

"Refugees from Jiangnan? It's only been a short time since the incident in Jiangnan, how come they've already made it to Yangguan County?"

Li Dali felt that something was wrong.

He worked his way up from the bottom to get where he is today.

At his poorest, he fled from Huainan to Yangguan County, walking the entire way for a full month and a half.

It took half a month to travel from Huainan to Jiangnan, and then more than a month to travel from Jiangnan to Yangguan County!

With so many refugees, their escape speed is naturally slower than it was back then.

Not to mention that these refugees are traveling with their families, begging and pleading all the way, which will only slow them down even more.

"Does the boss mean that someone is helping those refugees escape to Yangguan County?"

As soon as his subordinate finished speaking, he immediately shook his head, denying his guess.

"Impossible. Yangguan County isn't a large city; it can't accommodate so many refugees. Besides..."

"Since taking office, Lord Yang has always been a diligent and honest man. Who harbors such deep hatred as to send refugees all the way from Jiangnan?"

Li Dali unconsciously tapped the table with both hands, a suspicion creeping into his mind.

"Has the old Valley Master arrived?"

"They've arrived and are already treating the refugees outside the city."

With the old valley master here, things should be fine.

Li Dali felt somewhat relieved and handed a list to his subordinates.

"Go and gather all the brothers in the city. I'm going to see the old Valley Master."

If the plague were to spread to Yangguan County, no one would dare say they could escape it.

At this point, sticking to the old valley master is the only sensible thing to do.

Just then, someone else rushed in from outside.

"Master Dong, there's a tiger!"

"Are you dreaming? When has a tiger ever appeared in Yangguan County?"

Li Dali thought his brothers were probably terrified, otherwise how could they think they had seen a tiger?

"Really, there was even a little kid riding on it, saying he wanted to see the boss!"

He himself couldn't believe it when he said it, but it was the truth.

Little baby?

Li Dali suddenly remembered the child who had given him acupuncture yesterday.

Such an outrageous thing seems quite reasonable when applied to her.

"I'll go take a look."

Li Dali strode out, and the entrance to the casino was already crowded with people.

The brothers all looked terrified, as if they had seen something horrifying.

"The boss is here!"

Someone shouted something, and in a flash, everyone scattered.

Upon seeing the situation outside the door, Li Dali subconsciously stopped in his tracks.

Standing at the entrance of his casino was a huge tiger!

In the dim light, the tiger's eyes even gleamed with an eerie green light!

But on the tiger's back was a clever and mischievous little girl.

It was indeed the little baby who gave him the injection yesterday.

Yun Zhao waved to him: "Uncle Li, don't be afraid, Tiger is one of us. My master needs to talk to you! It's important!"

Only then did Li Dali realize that the person standing next to the little girl was none other than Pei Jishi, the old master of Medicine King Valley whom he was looking for.

He hesitated for a moment, but eventually strode over.

"Old Valley Master, that's exactly what I was looking for!"

"Dali, let me ask you first, do you know any Imperial Guards? Did they come looking for you yesterday morning?"

Pei Jishi interrupted Li Dali directly.

Li Dali's brow twitched, and he subconsciously looked at Yun Zhao beside him.

She blinked innocently, as if to say she knew nothing.

"Does the old Valley Master know them?"

The imperial guard was poisoned, and even the imperial physicians were helpless. His superiors recommended him to seek out the old Valley Master.

Li Dali was worried that the Imperial Guard had offended someone, so he declined to say that he couldn't find the old Valley Master.

Now that the old Valley Master has come, could it be to interrogate me?

"I don't know them. Do you know where they are now?"

Li Dali turned to look at his subordinate, who quickly replied.

"They said they had to return to the capital to report."

Yun Zhao calculated the time, and his mood sank even further.

"Master, the time they left the gambling den was less than an hour before the incident outside the city. They must have run into the refugees!"

Now Li Dali finally understood that they were worried that the Imperial Guards might encounter refugees who contracted the plague and bring the disease back to the capital!

"They came looking for me as soon as the city gates opened yesterday, asking if I needed to return to the capital to report."

After leaving the gambling den, they probably headed straight for the north gate, given the gate's closing time.

They should be able to leave the city smoothly. Even if a conflict breaks out, they shouldn't get infected in such a short time, right?

The Imperial Guards are after him; they mustn't let anything go wrong and push him out to take the blame.

Others might not be so easily infected, but only Yun Zhao knew that Yan Jing had been poisoned and his body had long been destroyed by the toxins.

In this situation, if he were to come into contact with a refugee infected with the disease, he would likely become infected as well.

Just as Yun Zhao was thinking about how to persuade them to intercept the person, Wei Jingchen spoke up.

"It's better to be safe than sorry. Let's go out through the north gate and track them along the way."

"Yes, yes, better safe than sorry!"

Yun Zhao quickly echoed.

Pei Jishi nodded and looked at Li Dali: "Dali, could I borrow a few skilled fighters from you to help me out?"

"sure!"

Li Dali selected a few of his men and had them lead horses to give chase.

"Thank you for your trouble."

While waiting to have his horse led, Li Dali's gaze fell on Yun Zhao.

Seeing his hesitant expression, Yun Zhao looked up and asked, "Uncle Li, what's wrong?"

"When did you become the old Valley Master's disciple?"

She didn't know about the old valley master's descent from the mountain until yesterday. How come she's already calling him "master" after only one day?

"I saw that Zhaozhao was exceptionally talented, so I took her as my disciple. By the way, I heard that she saved you. What happened?"

Only then did Pei Jishi have the mind to think about saving people.

"It's about this scar of mine."

Only a few close confidants knew about Li Dali's poisoning.

With so many people around, he couldn't speak openly.

Upon hearing him mention scars, Pei Jishi quickly realized what was going on.

He looked at Yun Zhao in astonishment, "Zhao Zhao, do you know how the scars on his face came about? Do you know how to fix them?"

This method of detoxification is truly inhumane. Could it be that Yun Zhao disregarded human ethics and detoxified him?!

"Don't worry, Master, Zhaozhao is using a different method; it won't involve human blood."

Yun Zhao knew what he was thinking and quickly explained.

Now it was Pei Jishi's turn to be curious.

He had known Li Dali for several years and had come up with many solutions for him, but he could never escape the need for a blood transfusion.

Li Dali runs a gambling den, and naturally, he also does some shady business behind the scenes.

Pei Jishi has no right to interfere in what business others do, but if asked to risk his life to save someone, he cannot do it.

So even though he saw Li Dali's poisoning getting worse, he didn't use that method to detoxify him.

This is also a regret in his heart.

Unexpectedly, Yun Zhao accomplished what he couldn't!