goodbye

Things were escalating, and different voices appeared in the terraced fields overnight, with people discussing the matter everywhere.

"The county magistrate will be here in a week. By then, there will be no need to ask the people in the city for medicine." The man chased after the woman walking in front of him, pointing at her and talking loudly, attracting the attention of the people around him.

"Another week?"

Hearing this, the woman finally couldn't bear it anymore. She stopped remaining silent, turned around and slapped the man's hand away.

"Can my father wait a week? He might not even be able to wait until tomorrow night!"

"Then how can you selfishly forgive the people in the city? Don't you know how they treated us?"

"Selfish?" The woman scoffed, glaring angrily at the man in front of her. "Aren't you? You took the last bit of medicine, and when you felt better, you just watched my father die just to vent your anger?!"

"So are we going to let them go just for a couple of doses of medicine that might not even save their lives?!"

"Yes, even if that's the case, I don't want to sit back and watch my father get dumped outside the temple!" The woman raised her head, anger mixed with disdain. "You were one of the people who kicked us out back then, and you were kicked out later. What qualifications do you have to say that to me?"

The woman poked the man's chest hard with her fingers.

"If I don't forgive them, shouldn't I let you go too?!"

The man looked flustered for a moment, then returned to his original angry expression.

"What do you mean by that? Now is the time for unity, are you trying to divide us?"

"Unity? Then you should agree to exchange medicine with the city to save my father!" After the woman said this, she didn't want to argue with the man anymore, so she turned around and left.

Seeing this, the man looked around, snorted, and left the scene.

This kind of thing has happened several times today. The city lord asked everyone to go and vote and finally decide together what to do.

"Doctor, what do you think?" Wang Cailing pulled down her rolled-up sleeves and looked at Mingyu, waiting for her to speak.

The city lord did not disclose who proposed it, and they just assumed that Mingyu also knew it with them last night.

When Wang Cailing asked this question, everyone around looked over.

They could all see the Ming fish busy working in the terraced fields, and unknowingly gained the recognition of many people.

“I would support a change of medication.”

Wang Cailing was not surprised that Mingyu would support changing the medicine and sighed.

"To be honest, I'm very angry about the city people's behavior, but I can't even remember how many people I saw were still breathing in the morning, but had gone cold in the afternoon." Wang Cailing was silent for a moment, his expression gloomy. "There's still a week left."

How many more people have to die to get through this week?

"Doctor, doctor!"

The voice came from behind, and Mingyu responded reflexively.

"Here, right here."

When Mingyu turned around, he found that it was the nanny who usually helped take care of Xueliu.

In an instant, Mingyu felt nothing.

Nanny looked panicked and grabbed Mingyu's hand.

"I just wanted to wipe Xueliu's body, but I found that she was not breathing."

Mingyu only felt that the nanny's hand was very heavy.

"Doctor, Xueliu is dead."

…

"Excuse me, have you seen where the doctor is?" Yu Tongan asked a passerby who was sitting and resting.

In the terraced fields, Doctor Wang refers to the original doctor of Sulou County, and Doctor Cai refers to Mingyu.

"Oh, she seems to have gone that way." The passerby pointed to the left and reminded Yu Tongan, "Doctor, your friend has passed away, so be careful with your words."

"I see. Thank you."

When Yu Tongan found Mingyu, Mingyu was sitting in a corner of the terraced field with an orange beside him, looking at the sky with a somewhat dazed look on his face.

Hearing the sound, Mingyu turned around and was not surprised to see Yu Tongan.

“…You know.”

"Um."

Yu Tongan sat next to Mingyu and they sat together on the mound.

"They will bring Xueliu outside the temple together tonight."

Mingyu looked at the sky. The moon was not out, but the stars were bright. It was a good day for stargazing, but she just felt tired and didn't move.

"I'll send someone to take care of it."

"Thank you." After saying that, Mingyu looked at the sky quietly again.

Yu Tongan looked at Mingyu's profile and asked softly, "Are you okay?"

"Me? It was Xueliu who was taken to the temple, and you are her employer. I'm the least relevant person here, yet you ask me?"

"Mingyu." Yu Tongan called out calmly, interrupting Mingyu's words.

The surroundings became quiet for a moment.

Mingyu felt that it was difficult to breathe, and the dark sky seemed to be about to press down on her.

She had only been with Xue Liu for a few months, and she was sent by Yu Tongan to monitor him, but...

Mingyu lowered his head and the voice slipped through his throat.

"...I really wanted to save her. I didn't want her to die."

"I know." Yu Tongan said softly, "You've done very well."

"I wanted to save them, but why? They all died. I couldn't save them."

She took care of many patients in the terraced fields. Some of them were praying to the fish for help the moment before, but in the blink of an eye, they were silent and no longer belonged to the human world.

"You've tried very hard." Yu Tongan gently stroked Mingyu's head, trying to comfort her. "Their deaths were not caused by you, and their suffering should not be shared by you."

"Really?" Mingyu raised his head, his expression normal, but his eyes were red.

Mingyu picked up the orange beside her. She brought it to Xueliu after the sacrifice, but Xueliu didn't get to eat it in the end.

Suddenly she remembered that she had dreamed of her master after the sacrifice.

"Master said, 'It is not within human power to violate the law.'"

"What?"

Yu Tongan didn't hear clearly.

"It is beyond human power to defy the rules. This is what my master taught me through divination and sacrifice, and I was told to remember it."

Mingyu smiled bitterly and looked up at the terraced fields.

"It's a pity that I only realized it now. I was so conceited that I had received God's mercy and could save them. Who am I? I am no one. I only just realized it now."

"Ming fish."

Yu Tongan couldn't stand it anymore, so he stood up, walked to Mingyu, filled her eyes with attention, bent down, got close to Mingyu's face, and stared into her eyes seriously.

"You're excellent, and you've done your best. No one in Terrace is ungrateful to you. I think your master is just afraid that you'll blame yourself. There's no need to link Xue Liu's death or theirs to you. You don't need to take the blame."

In front of Mingyu was Yu Tongan's enlarged face. She was speechless. She felt someone patting her head gently and comforting her.

"You don't need to be so demanding of yourself, and there's no need to push yourself so hard."

Yu Tongan's face in front of her became blurry, and she felt her emotions were out of control.

The Ming fish's nose turned red and tears came out of its eyes, making it look very pitiful.

Yu Tongan was a little flustered. He didn't want Mingyu to cry, so he handed her the handkerchief helplessly.

Mingyu took the handkerchief with a low sob, glared at Yu Tongan, as if blaming him for making her cry, and wiped her tears with sobs.

"Then who is to blame?"

"I blame the guy in the capital, who was trying to get the job even though he couldn't do it. I blame the guy in the witch hall, who had evil intentions and took human lives lightly."

Mingyu clutched the handkerchief, his eyes red as he looked at Yu Tongan suspiciously.

"You're not still trying to figure out how to convince me to join you, are you?"

Yu Tongan laughed and waved his hands quickly: "No, really not. I haven't reached that point."

Mingyu was silent for a moment, then asked quietly, "What would you do if I joined you?"

Yu Tongan was stunned, and then he looked at Mingyu and said sincerely, "I really didn't intend to convince you with this. What I said above is really just my opinion."

"I understand." Mingyu was speechless and urged Yu Tongan to answer, "Then what are you going to do?"

Yu Tongan observed Mingyu's expression and confirmed that she was serious before speaking.

"We plan to use you to build momentum for the Third Prince. Most common people don't understand the affairs of the court, but they do trust the shamans. With the records in your hand, the success rate is very high." Yu Tongan tilted his head and added, "It's probably the prestige accumulated by your master."

Mingyu could not deny it and continued to ask.

"Then why do you think the Third Prince would be suitable?"

"We have some friendship with the Third Prince. In fact, since Grandpa retired, Emperor Dewen has sent people to inquire from time to time. The Third Prince often travels abroad, and he often sends messages to Emperor Dewen."

Mingyu sniffed, very suspicious of Emperor Dewen. "Inquiry? It's an investigation, right? Old Master Yu has quite a few connections."

Yu Tongan smiled and did not refute.

"Anyway, after all this time, I know the Third Prince pretty well. Is there anything else you want to know?"

Yu Tongan just watched her and waited patiently.

"First of all, you have to apologize to me. Even if you saved me, I gave you the transcript. How can you ask for help like this?"

Yu Tongan apologized sincerely.

"sorry."

"When you ask someone to do something for you, you have to consider the reward, you know? The reward."

Yu Tongan's expression was submissive: "What do you want? I'll prepare it."

Mingyu looked at Yu Tongan with focused eyes, and if he listened carefully he could still hear some crying tone in his voice.

"After I accomplish my mission, there will no longer be any shamanic houses in the palace. I want to be restored to my status as a free man, like ordinary people, without being restricted by the palace."

…

Finally, Titian agreed to the proposal of changing the medicine. Relying on these medicines, many people survived a week and waited for the assistance of County Magistrate Sun, including the father of the quarreling woman.

The arrival of County Magistrate Sun also means that they can withdraw.

"Doctor, what's your name? We've always called you Doctor, Doctor. You've helped us so much, and you provided the prescriptions. And now we don't even know your name. We don't know how to thank you."

Wang Cailing came to see Mingyu and the others off, followed by many people.

Mingyu's face was covered with a thick veil, just like when she came to Sulou County.

"My name is." Mingyu paused, "My name is Gu Bei."

Wang Cailing nodded seriously.

"I remember that. Thank you so much for doing so much for us."

"Need not."

As he spoke, Yu Tongan finished handing over the work to the city lord and the county governor and walked over.

"Ready to go."

Mingyu looked past Wang Cailing and towards the mountains to the north of Sulou County, and finally said goodbye to Wang Cailing.

"See you again if fate allows."