Chapter 95 Fuxing, did you have a dream last night?
Spring, 212th year of Tianxi.
Li country, Kyoto.
The once prosperous Kyoto seems to be shrouded in a veil of cold colors.
Early spring is supposed to be a season of new green sprouts and full of vitality.
But the whole Kyoto was a desolate and bleak white.
The long elegiac couplets were blown away by the cold spring breeze, the sobbing sounds were faint, the long streets and alleys were deserted, even the beggars kneeling on the ground begging for food were nowhere to be seen.
The epidemic this year originated in a farm outside Beijing and then spread rapidly, like an invisible ghost or monster, running rampant and silently devouring lives.
It has been more than a month since the epidemic was discovered.
But there was no improvement. Everyone could only close their doors in fear, not daring to go out or talk. Even if they were going to starve to death at home, they would not dare to take another step outside.
In order to protect the noble and high-ranking people inside and outside the imperial city, the gates of the imperial city were lowered heavily and the inside and outside of Kyoto were blocked.
Everyone prayed in panic that the emperor and his ministers could come up with a solution to control the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible and restore Kyoto's former prosperity.
But no one expected that the plague was not blocked outside Kyoto by the heavy city gates. Instead, they were trapped inside the city along with the plague.
In just one month, dozens of households in Kyoto had white hangings on their doors. They died quietly and passed away peacefully. There was not even any guide to carry the coffin, play suona, or scatter paper money. The charity cemetery in the capital had long been unattended. One after another, blue-gray and stiff corpses were piled up haphazardly. As the temperature rose, mosquitoes and flies increased in number, maggots began to hatch, and the stench of corpses made people feel nauseous when they smelled it from afar.
The charity cemetery turned into a mass grave.
Only in front of the Imperial Medical Bureau and various drug stores and clinics, people would kneel down, kowtow and cry for help every day.
But when the Imperial Medical Bureau closed down and drug stores and clinics began to hang white mourning couplets, the people of the entire Kyoto no longer saw any way to survive.
No, that's not right.
They still have one way to survive.
Those who grasped at a glimmer of hope in despair were almost driven mad by the shadow of death. They finally remembered that there was also a major epidemic in the Kingdom of Li last year! But the epidemic was quickly quelled last year, and the imperial court widely circulated the emperor's decree...
The imperial edict said: A fairy child has been sent down from heaven, who can predict disasters in dreams, and will then send down fairy dew and sweet rain, and all malaria and epidemics will be quelled. The Kingdom of Li has a lucky star, and the world will be at peace.
Then why didn’t the lucky star bring any dreams or rain of blessings this time?
Is it because the people of Kyoto are not favored by the lucky star and do not worship him devoutly enough?
The people, who had long since run out of options, took out the clay and wooden sculptures of the lucky star fairy boy that they had worshipped in their homes, knelt before it every day to ask for its protection, kowtowed to it, and offered incense to it.
But one day passed quickly, and day after day, the eyes of the people who originally knelt on the ground respectfully were gradually filled with suspicion, anger, and even resentment that grew from despair and madness.
I have worshipped for so many days, burned so much incense, and kowtowed so much...
Why hasn’t the lucky star brought us blessings yet?
Why? Did the lucky star not receive our faith and offerings? Or... did the lucky star simply not want to protect us? Did the lucky star just want to watch us die of illness?
Some people who were barely alive knocked down the clay sculptures on the high platform with trembling hands, some people whose family members had all died tightly clenched the wooden sculpture of Lucky Star in their hands with pale and skinny fingers, some people threw it into the fire with curses, and some people dragged their sick bodies and knelt outside the palace gate with their clansmen. The blood flowing from their severed bodies finally dyed the spotless imperial land red.
There was more and more blood, and the faces guarding the palace gate were getting newer and newer. Inside the high walls of the palace, everyone was terrified at the mention of the epidemic. Even the emperor of the time... trapped himself and his chosen lucky star in a small space, not allowing any outsiders to enter.
"Jinyuan, did you have a dream last night?"
"My lucky star, were you dreaming just now?"
"Jinyuan, go to bed early today, and you must, must have a dream quickly!"
"Jinyuan, why aren't you dreaming yet? Where is the immortal in your dream? Go find him! Ask him to put an end to this epidemic as soon as possible!"
"Why aren't you dreaming yet? Go to the temple and kneel down to pray to the gods sincerely. Tell them that whether they want gold, silver, treasures, or young boys and girls, I will give them all. I will ask them to appear immediately to quell the plague!"
"It's been a month... Li Jinyuan, how much good fortune do you have left? Why are you so useless that you can't even put an end to the epidemic? Wasn't it very fast last year? What's wrong this year? Tell me!"
"Come here! Give Li Jinyuan acupuncture to bleed him, and watch him write prayer scrolls with blood ink. Have the Imperial Observatory burn each scroll he writes until the epidemic subsides!"
"Why haven't those useless people in the Imperial Hospital developed a cure for the epidemic?! Why is there no sign of the doctor I asked you to invite? You are a bunch of deceitful dogs and slaves. Have you ignored my orders? All of you should be taken away and beaten to death!"
"Send a message to all prefectures, counties and districts. Issue a nationwide arrest warrant for the doctor who provided the prescription last year. Also summon all doctors to Kyoto to develop an antidote for the epidemic. Anyone who disobeys will be killed!"
"Useless! You are all a bunch of useless! I will give you three more days. If you still can't come up with an effective prescription..."
"... I haven't had a dream in such a long time, so let him get sick with the disease. Remember to keep a close eye on him. Perhaps only if he gets sick, the gods in the dream will be willing to show up. I should have thought of such a good idea earlier..."
“…”
In just a few days, Li Jinyuan had been tortured to the point of being emaciated by the almost crazy emperor.
This body of his is only eight years old this year. Even though he has always been strong, he has been imprisoned for many days in a row and copied scriptures with his own blood and ink every day. Now he is locked up in the same place with a pile of clothes of dead people who have died of the plague, in an attempt to infect him with the disease.
Li Jinyuan was almost driven crazy by this crazy emperor.
He never imagined that the epidemic that he had deliberately spread by the system just to make up for the shortcomings of that mission would last for so long without any results!
All the doctors in Li Kingdom are a bunch of trash!
Li Jinyuan huddled in a corner, gritting his teeth in hatred, shaking all over, cursing the emperor who was becoming increasingly insane and the bunch of useless people in the Imperial Hospital with bloodshot eyes, while in his heart he kept asking the Gold Finger Recycling System questions like when this epidemic would end.
However, he has asked the same question hundreds of times.
Every time, I get the same answer.
"Until someone develops a cure, or until all pathogens die completely."
"Do you have any prescription? Or some kind of elixir or detoxifying pill?" Li Jinyuan asked, and when he saw the clothes of the dead people in front of him, fear flashed in his eyes.
The system remained indifferent: "Sorry, the system cannot provide the relevant items."
"Then what use are you?!" Li Jinyuan's apparent calmness was finally broken, and he became hysterical as well. "Aren't you the Gold Finger Recycling System? Didn't you say that I recycled a Koi Gold Finger? Why am I so unlucky now? I'm going to be killed by that dog emperor!!"
He panted and trembled all over because of his excessive emotions. He stared at the system in front of him with a sinister look and asked word by word: "What can I do now? You said that the system and the host live and die together. If I die, you will not be able to have an easy life!"
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