"Since you've brought up Prefect Jiang, I'll have to back down for his sake. In that case, we'll do as you say."
"But I'm only giving you half a month. If these villagers' disease doesn't show any signs of improvement, then I will show no mercy!"
After speaking, Magistrate Sun raised his hand to stop the guards from splashing oil.
"Thank you, sir!" Shen Yuan put away her jade token and bowed respectfully.
Unexpectedly, the jade token that Prefect Jiang bestowed upon her in the Drunken Spring Pavilion case came in handy today. Regardless of whether she was a bully using someone else's power, what she did today must have been what Prefect Jiang wanted to do.
Shen Yuan was so certain because in her previous life, Prefect Jiang had never given up on the people of Jian'an City who were infected with the epidemic.
Magistrate Sun waved his hand.
Shen Yuan then pulled Xiao Ling back. She unloaded half of the medicinal herbs from the carriage and said to Xiao Ling, "I need to go into the village, and I'm afraid I won't be able to leave for at least a month. Please help me send the rest of the herbs back to Jian'an City and give this letter to my grandmother!"
Shen Yuan handed Xiao Ling a note she had hastily written, instructing him to return to the city by carriage.
Xiao Ling did not answer.
Shen Yuan was stunned. Could it be that Xiao Ling wanted to enter the village with her?
However, the people of Chu Family Village have contracted a plague, and anyone entering the village risks being infected. This journey is extremely dangerous, and she absolutely cannot bring another person into danger.
"Xiao Ling, you have to go back, otherwise my grandmother won't know where I am and she'll worry about me!" Shen Yuan grabbed Xiao Ling's hand and forcibly handed him the letter she had written and the reins of the carriage.
"Furthermore, I'm willing to go to Chu Family Village for two reasons: first, to learn medicine and save lives, and second, because there are some people I know in this village. You have no connection with the people in this village, so there's no need for you to risk your life with me!"
Xiao Ling pursed his lips, his gaze falling on Shen Yuan's face, his eyes darkening slightly.
But... she was someone he knew.
After Shen Yuan finished speaking, seeing that Xiao Ling was unmoved, she nudged him again.
Xiao Ling then put away the letter Shen Yuan had given him, grabbed the reins, and mounted his horse.
He sat on horseback, staring intently at Shen Yuan with a deep gaze.
Shen Yuan smiled and waved at him: "Go back now!"
Xiao Ling lowered her eyes.
He actually wanted to stop Shen Yuan before she put out the fire starter. Whether these villagers lived or died was none of their business, and there was no need to cause trouble for them.
But he knew he couldn't stop Shen Yuan. She was always like this, seemingly as small and ordinary as a weed, yet wanting to grow into a towering tree to protect others, always filled with inexhaustible kindness.
But if it weren't for this kindness, she wouldn't have saved him in the first place.
She could have waited for him to die and then simply stripped him of all his gold, but she didn't do that.
She was greedy and loved money, yet she was kind-hearted; she was as insignificant as an ant, yet she harbored a heart to benefit all people.
Are people like this just born without a brain?
Xiao Ling smiled slightly, as if mocking himself, and then spurred his horse and galloped away.
Seeing Xiao Ling obediently leave, Shen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Carrying two large sacks of medicinal herbs for treating the plague, she entered Chu Family Village under the watchful eyes of Magistrate Sun and the guards.
Upon seeing her enter, the villagers of Chu Family Village, their eyes reddened, knelt down in the direction where Shen Yuan was standing.
Tian, carrying Xiao Huzi, tumbled down the ridge and ran to Shen Yuan, but then suddenly stopped ten steps away from her, not daring to take another step forward.
"Yuan girl! How could you be so foolish? We all wanted to escape, but you insisted on going in!"
Shen Yuan wore a specially made veil, so thick that it completely covered the lower half of her face. Madam Tian couldn't see the lower half of Shen Yuan's face, but seeing her eyes slightly curved, she knew she was smiling at her.
Tian's nose tingled, and she choked up, saying, "Was it because you saw Xiaohuzi and me that you went to the magistrate to plead for our lives?"
“Aunt Tian, now that you know my good intentions, you must cooperate with me during this time. Let’s leave this village healthy and strong together,” Shen Yuan said with a smile.
Ms. Tian wiped away her tears, "Alright! Alright! We'll listen to you!"
The old patriarch of the Chu family, supported by the villagers, walked over and bowed deeply to Shen Yuan: "Yuan girl, we will never forget your great kindness. After the villagers get through this calamity, I will have the village build a statue and erect a monument for you, and place it in the Chu family ancestral hall so that the descendants of the Chu family can admire and worship you!"
"Clan leader, you flatter me!" Shen Yuan raised her hand to interrupt the old clan leader. She had no interest in being worshipped and revered by the descendants of the Chu family.
With a calm expression, she said to the old clan chief, "This is, after all, the place where I have lived for fifteen years. I am very familiar with the hills, paddy fields, and forests here. I don't want the once vibrant mountains and forests to be destroyed by a fire!"
The old clan chief nodded, understanding the meaning behind Shen Yuan's words.
Shen Yuan didn't come to Chu Family Village to exchange pleasantries with people she knew before. She said succinctly, "Clan Chief, please gather everyone in the village and provide me with three large houses!"
"Okay, okay!"
The old clan chief was, after all, an elder in the village and held great prestige. The people who had been hiding were all summoned out and gathered in twos and threes on the rice paddies at the entrance of Chu Family Village.
The rice paddy is where villagers spread the harvested rice to be threshed during the annual harvest. It is very spacious and can accommodate hundreds of people.
Because they were sick, the villagers tacitly kept a distance from Shen Yuan and did not get close to each other, each keeping a distance of three to five steps.
The old clan chief said to Shen Yuan, "Yuan girl, everyone's here!"
Shen Yuan nodded, then stood on the tall pile of straw and said, "Those with persistent high fever and cough need to stay in the ancestral hall and are not allowed to leave after entering. Those without fever but with cough, headache, dizziness, or general weakness should stay temporarily in the old clan chief's courtyard. Those who are not currently ill and whose family members have not been ill in the past few days should stay temporarily at Aunt Tian's house."
"Anyone who enters the ancestral hall, the clan head's house, or Aunt Tian's house is not allowed to leave once inside. Now, please truthfully assign yourself to a team according to your illness. If anyone deliberately conceals their illness or stands in the wrong team, then your illness will never be cured!"
"For the sake of your wives, children, and families, please cooperate with me unconditionally."
After Shen Yuan finished speaking, the villagers began to consciously divide into teams, standing in the teams according to their own illnesses.
But at that moment, Shen Yuan spotted two suspicious figures in the group that had not yet shown symptoms.
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