Chapter 69 A person has to want to live for themselves before they can…

Because of a trade fair, the refugees of Baishui County saw hope for rebuilding their homes and returned one after another from all directions. However, upon arriving at their doorsteps, they learned of the epidemic in Yujia Village, and panic ensued, with many considering scattering like birds and beasts.

The guards, who had been instructed by the authorities to remain silent, could not allow these potential patients to leave. They quarantined each one who arrived, and each family that came was quarantined. Having witnessed the severity of the epidemic in Yujia Village over the past few days, the guards dared not let a single one slip through their net.

At first, the people were quite resentful, but later, after being treated to good food and drink and having a doctor come to check their pulses, they realized that this was indeed for their own good and finally calmed down.

Who knew that overnight, a whole area would be burned down.

Bai Lixun sent people to carefully investigate along the route they had taken, and only found some suspected patients in villages and towns near Baishui County, who were then isolated for observation.

It is said that fortune and misfortune are intertwined. If it weren't for the trade, the epidemic would not have returned to Heishigou. However, if it weren't for the trade, the epidemic might not have been contained within Baishui County and would probably have been even more difficult to control.

The person most frustrated and resentful by this was none other than the Assistant Magistrate of Baishui County.

The imperial edict punishing him for concealing the disaster had just arrived when a large-scale epidemic broke out. The county magistrate felt that he had gone from being unable to keep his official position to having his head teetering on the brink of collapse.

When the trade market was opened, he repeatedly tried to curry favor with the princess, hoping to gain some political credit. However, the princess completely bypassed him and focused on running the trade market, clearly expressing her dissatisfaction and reprimand. This made him break out in a cold sweat, and he braved the wind to send several cartloads of jewels to Shengjing overnight, hoping to save his official position.

Now, even if we sell everything we own, we might not be able to save his life!

He was still reeling from the shock of the world collapsing, while the county magistrate's wife, exasperated, pinched his arm until it was bruised and purple. "Will you atone for your crimes? Will you! Will you?!"

That damned idiot!

The county magistrate suddenly realized what was happening and took out the jewels he had prepared to send to Shengjing. He then tried every means to buy food and medicine and sent them to Heishigou in a grand manner.

I pray that someone will remember his righteous deeds and say a few good words about him.

Another person who shared the same despair as the county magistrate was Cheng Lixu, the Minister of Agriculture of the Ministry of Revenue who had just arrived in Yunzhong County.

He happened to be inspecting water conservancy in a prefecture not far from the northern border when he received Gu Chunwen's letter and came over excitedly, ready to identify the superior varieties and make great strides.

And so I stepped into the northern frontier, which had become a place of great tension due to the outbreak of the epidemic.

The bandits were all discussing finding another stronghold, and the Alna tribe was also behaving themselves, not daring to cross the border. But he went against the tide and plunged in.

He rushed to the Prince's mansion and blocked Baili Xunzhou, who had just stepped out of the gate. Before he could even speak, Baili Xunzhou pinned Baili Xunzhou against the wall with his hands tied behind his back.

Cheng Lixu hurriedly introduced himself, "Your Highness, I am Cheng Lixu, the Minister of Agriculture of the Ministry of Revenue. I have come here at the invitation of the Princess!"

Upon uttering the words "Princess," Cheng Lixu immediately felt the grip on him loosen, and regaining his freedom, he turned and bowed, "Your Highness, your skill is truly remarkable! May I ask where the Princess is now? Is it convenient for this humble official to pay my respects?"

He secretly planned that the princess would surely be staying well in the prince's residence, and he could use the opportunity of his visit to play the victim and ask the princess to let him stay at the prince's residence for a while. At this time, where could be safer than the prince's residence?

"The princess is in Black Stone Gully, are you going with her?" Baili Xunzhou raised an eyebrow, looked him up and down, and thought, "Hmm, nothing special."

What? Cheng Li was stunned. He never expected that the princess's precious body would still be in such a dangerous place as Black Stone Gully. If this news reached His Majesty's ears, wouldn't all the officials present be implicated?

Seeing that he remained silent with a blank stare, Baili Xunzhou grew impatient. "I'm about to see the princess. Are you going or not?"

He was caught in a dilemma, unable to back down because he was too proud to admit that he was just afraid of death. He could only bite the bullet and get on the horse with a heart full of despair.

The horse galloped swiftly, its hooves kicking up dust on the bluestone road.

The dust swirled around the rumbling wheels of the car, which slowly came to a stop on the path in front of Yujia Village.

The strong smell of medicine was carried by the wind, and the crowd, covering their mouths and noses with face towels, hurriedly got off the carriage and were guided by the guards to check their information one by one.

Just then, a deafening wail rang out, drawing everyone's attention to the source of the sound.

The wooden barrier on the other side was moved aside, and two guards carried out a palanquin covered with a white cloth, beneath which a human figure could be vaguely seen. Suddenly, the guard in front tripped, the palanquin swayed slightly, and a lifeless, pale arm fell to the ground.

A suffocating tension filled the air. As the cries gradually subsided, one of the young men in the group broke down.

His face was flushed red from the fever, and he stumbled around like a madman, yelling, "I don't want to go in! I don't want to go in! You brought us here just to kill us all! Let me go, go home, I want to go home!"

The already jittery crowd erupted into chaos, pushing, crying, and scattering in all directions as they tried to escape.

"Going in is a dead end, I don't want to go in!"

"Let us out!"

"Calm down, everyone calm down!" The guards tried their best to maintain order, and Liu Jixue and several doctors also rushed over to calm everyone down.

They all looked exhausted, with dark circles under their eyes, indicating they hadn't had a proper rest for several days, yet they still mustered their energy to comfort the people before them.

The panicked people wouldn't listen to any words of comfort or advice. They had been suffering from high fevers for several days, which had already caused them great physical pain. They were then told to isolate themselves from other seemingly healthy people and receive treatment.

Having arrived at the place with some skepticism, they saw corpses being carried out. Their hearts, already on the verge of collapse, could no longer hold back. They roared and shouted in a fit of rage, and several people fainted on the spot amidst the noise, causing a great uproar.

"The princess has arrived! Everyone, please quiet down and listen to what the princess has to say!"

Before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, Feng Mian hurriedly jumped down.

Upon hearing that the princess had arrived, the crowd gradually quieted down. The elderly woman, supported by her grandson, weakly sobbed, "Your Highness, you...you are a good person! You must stand up for us!"

"Grandma, don't worry, quickly bring some stools for everyone to sit down and rest." Feng Mian first said gently to comfort them. Seeing that everyone was burning up and could hardly stand, he quickly gave the order, and the guards hurriedly began to bring out long stools from all over the place.

Taking advantage of the moment, Feng Mian hurriedly asked Liu Jixue what had happened. Liu Jixue briefly explained, then sighed, "The prescription has been revised again and again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. More and more people are being brought in, and more are being carried out... The temporary mortuary set up at the foot of West Mountain is almost full..."

The few words, seemingly light and casual, struck Feng Mian's heart like a boulder.

She could no longer hesitate. Thinking this, she suddenly took two steps forward, refusing to utter any grand words, and simply said, "I will go in with you."

The incident caused a great stir. The people looked up in disbelief, while the guards looked at each other in shock, wondering if they had misheard.

Liu Jixue disregarded propriety, grabbed Feng Mian behind her, and for the first time glared at her sternly, "Are you crazy? What risk are you taking?!"

“You and the doctors have been there so many times, and nothing has happened to you. If you can all go in, why can’t I?” Feng Mian said softly.

Liu Ying and Wu Liu ran up and surrounded her with Liu Jixue. "Princess, you are too frail to be compared with the doctors."

Wu Liu pressed down on her other hand, opened her mouth to call out "Princess," but paused, as if to say something. Having been with the Princess for many years, she knew the Princess's temperament best. Since she had made a decision, she must have already considered it and was determined to do it.

"If you contract the disease, how...how am I supposed to explain this to the Princess and the Crown Prince?" Liu Jixue gripped Feng Mian's arm tightly, her mind racing with terrifying scenarios. "If I can't save you, I..."

She feared she would no longer be able to save anyone.

"You won't." Feng Mian patted her hand reassuringly, her tone light. "You can keep this from the Princess and the Crown Prince, since they can't get in right now anyway."

She felt a pang of guilt; she had entered with the intention of contracting the disease herself. Perhaps if she fell ill, she could dream of an effective cure? Or at least, she would know how to stop the spread of infection.

However, this will inevitably cause everyone some worry for a while.

In the end, no one could persuade Feng Mian, so Liu Jixue could only say, "Then I'll go with you."

Although she wasn't of much use to anyone, at least she felt a little more at ease.

Feng Mian then stepped through the wooden barrier that separated them, entered the plague zone that instilled fear in everyone, and stood at the entrance, calmly welcoming each person with his gaze.

The once silent procession of people slowly began to move, helping each other off the bench and silently and orderly following her inside.

"Don't be afraid, everyone. We didn't come here to leave you to fend for yourselves. Doctors will come to check on you every day, and you'll never run out of medicine or water. We're doing everything we can to save everyone." Feng Mian walked inside with the others, and being there, he didn't feel the fear he had imagined.

Everything in sight was orderly. Smoke curled from the pharmacy on the left, and the strong smell of medicine was carried by the wind. It was bitter and pungent, but it was the most comforting smell for the sick. Their biggest fear was being cut off from their medicine, because then they would really have no choice but to wait for death.

When Wan Niang, who was washing and changing her face towel, saw the group of people come in, she quickly wiped the water stains off her cotton clothes and hurriedly got up to greet them.

A pair of smiling eyes peeked out from above the face mask. Wan Niang forced herself to be cheerful and raised her voice, "The new house has been prepared and fumigated with herbs. I'll lead you there."

Along the way, one could hear painful murmurs coming from the houses on both sides, but also see dozens of figures moving between beds and houses, washing the faces of those who were bedridden, feeding them medicine, and gently asking about their needs.

The house, shrouded in sickness and death, was clean and bright, and the anxious heart gradually calmed down.

The elderly woman was extremely surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid of catching diseases while working here?"

Wan Niang sighed softly upon hearing this, "Among them, only a few people are not sick and insisted on coming in to take care of their families. The others are all sick, but their symptoms are milder, and they can still get out of bed and walk."

"The doctors and their apprentices are working non-stop every day, which is really too hard. So we wanted to help with what we could, such as washing clothes, feeding medicine, and taking care of those who have high fevers and are delirious."

“The princess gave us medicine, food, and even a change of clothes. They never abandoned us. We can’t just do nothing and wait for outsiders to come and rescue us, can we? People have to want to live in order to survive.”

The greatest fear when a patient is depressed and loses their will to live is that the patient will be in a state of despondency. Seeing this makes me feel a little more at ease.

She helped the patients settle into their rooms one by one, while she herself, taking advantage of Liu Jixue's inattention, secretly touched this and that, then lifted her face mask to sniff around, shouting in her heart: Illness comes, illness comes, illness comes from all directions.

I was afraid that my body would be too resilient, and that after all that effort to get in, I would leave unharmed.

However, she had overestimated her physical condition. When she reached the second to last room, she felt dizzy and staggered, grabbing the wall for support. She managed to say "Don't make a sound" before collapsing to the ground amidst a gasp of surprise.

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Author's Note: This is all made up [crying emoji]. Please don't take it too seriously [crying emoji].