Perhaps his words were too moving, so much so that, while they were grateful to him, they also began urging him to go to Chijia'ao after dawn.

He said that it was too early in the morning to talk about these things, and that they should be discussed in the afternoon.

However, once noon passed, these people began to flock to his residence.

They either looked at him with hopeful eyes, or, taking advantage of their age, urged him to come down the mountain.

Seeing that the time was almost right and Qin Mu had not yet arrived, Song Chongjin got up and, as everyone wished, went downstairs.

But before he could get very far, Qin Mu's voice came from up the mountain.

"Scholar Song, please wait!"

Hearing Qin Mu's voice, Song Chongjin breathed a sigh of relief.

He turned around quickly and rushed over to meet Qin Mu when he saw Qin Mu's figure appear not far away.

The people from Wuning Prefecture who had been urging Song Chongjin looked at Qin Mu with puzzlement upon seeing this.

They had followed Song Chongjin all the way to this place and knew him to some extent.

This was the first time they had ever seen Song Chongjin with a fawning expression on his face.

Yes, it's about ingratiating yourself.

I wonder who that man is, that he could make Song Chongjin act like this.

As Qin Mu descended the mountain, his gaze involuntarily swept over the refugees.

When he got close to Song Chongjin, he raised his voice and said:

“Scholar Song, Anping County also had a plague outbreak before, but that person came from a neighboring county and got infected.”

Fortunately, the adults were wise enough to have someone keep an eye on things, otherwise anything went wrong.

In addition, during that period, the adults happened to have a highly skilled doctor by their side who specialized in treating difficult and complicated diseases.

After discovering the plague, the divine healer moved into the village where the infected person lived.

After tirelessly working day and night to prepare and test the medicine, he finally managed to develop an antidote.

In other words, anyone who contracted the plague but didn't die could be saved.

The people of Wuning Prefecture feared plague the most.

Upon hearing Qin Mu's statement that even if one contracted the plague, one wouldn't have to wait to die, some people began to waver.

Life here is difficult, but although the journey back is long, with government officials escorting us, we don't have to worry about food, drink, or safety.

Why don't they go back?

While some people were thinking about these things, Qin Mu continued:

“You have come here because the plague has given you no way to survive.”

The epidemic has now been overcome and is no longer a life-threatening disease.

In addition, there are upcoming natural disasters such as extreme heat and drought.

Do you want to go back, or do you want to settle down here?

If you want to go back, Scholar Song, please take a count of who's there and how many people there are in total. I'll go to the yamen later and talk to the county magistrate.

If I want to stay, I will talk to the adults as well.

When the time comes, you'll register your household here; it'll be equivalent to migrating here.

Those who were already planning to go back immediately said upon hearing this:

"I'll go back! I choose to go back!"

"Our family is the same; we also chose to go back."

“I’m not going back home! Our house in Mingyang County collapsed a long time ago.”

Going back now would be a long and arduous journey, not to mention the expense of rebuilding the house.

Given our situation, even if someone were willing to lend us money, who knows how many years it would take before we could pay it all back.

Rather than running around and accumulating debt, I'd rather stay here.

At least the county magistrate here is a good one. They suffered the same disaster, but their food prices haven't risen much, unlike ours.”