Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Troublemakers
The tent was silent for a moment.
Ji Yang's hand gripping the teacup paused slightly, the corners of his lips drooping, as if hesitant. The lights in the tent flickered, and his expression was half-lost in the light and shadow, without a single word.
Lu Linchuan continued to persuade him, "I know you dislike everything about Liang Province, and you're even more unwilling to bow to Jiang Huaice. But right now, do you have any other options? Liang Province is located on high ground, has had abundant harvests year after year, and has rarely suffered from floods. Now that Ningling is in crisis, do you really want to sit back and watch the people starve to death and the soldiers suffer?"
He paused, his voice lowered: "Why don't you just..."
"Grind the ink." Ji Yang suddenly spoke, interrupting him.
Lu Linchuan was startled for a moment, then a look of joy appeared on his face: "I'll grind the ink right away."
Ji Yang leaned against the table, his eyes calm yet filled with an inexplicable sense of fatigue and determination. "Hangzhou, we've reached the end of the road. I also understand that dignity and face are worthless when faced with the lives of ordinary people. You don't need to persuade me anymore. I've figured it out—for the sake of the future, I must bend this knee today."
Ji Yang sat at his desk, his brow furrowed, his hand already finishing a letter. He held the corner of the letter, took a deep breath, and was about to seal it when he heard footsteps approaching from outside the tent. A soldier, his face beaming, entered, his breath still barely steady, when he loudly declared:
"Commander-in-Chief! Good news! Someone has arrived from Liangzhou! Envoy Meng of Liangzhou... is right outside the tent!"
Ji Yang was slightly startled, and looked up at the soldier: "Who?"
"Emissary Meng...Emissary Meng Xiao, from Liangzhou. He's none other than your brother-in-law!"
Ji Yang's eyes glared: "My brother-in-law?"
The soldier was so frightened that he immediately changed his words: "It's... the madam's brother-in-law. I spoke out of turn."
Ji Yang was silent for a while, put the unsealed letter back on the table, stood up and said, "Please."
A moment later, a man walked in, wearing a green robe and carrying a bronze envoy's token. It was Meng Xiao.
Meng Xiao bowed and saluted, "Commander-in-Chief, the grain and medicinal materials allocated from Liangzhou are ready and are being loaded onto the ship at the ferry now. They should all be delivered by this afternoon at the latest."
Ji Yang took two steps forward and said calmly, "How did you arrive so timely? Who ordered you to come?"
Meng Xiao smiled and said, "Three days ago, the Zichuan Mansion received an urgent letter from my wife's sister, Jiang Ci, saying that an epidemic had broken out in Ningling and the people were starving. The situation was critical. My father-in-law ordered me to come that night to explore the route and to gather surplus grain from the three counties closest to Ningling. Large quantities of grain and fodder will also arrive from Zichuan later."
Ji Yang's expression changed: "She wrote a letter asking for help?"
Meng Xiao nodded, and said with some admiration, "Yes. Every word in the letter is urgent, but not a single word is for himself. The entire letter is about the safety of the people and soldiers."
There was silence in the tent.
Ji Yang glanced down at the unsent letter on the table and was speechless for a moment. He had thought he would have to shoulder all the hardships on his own, but he had never imagined that the woman had already silently walked several steps ahead of him.
Lu Linchuan also walked in at this moment. After hearing this, he couldn't help but sigh in a low voice: "Madam's letter saved not only Ning Ling, but also you."
Ji Yang sat down, brushing his palm across the writing on the table, and muttered, "I didn't even know she had a brother-in-law..."
Meng Xiao smiled and said, "Commander-in-Chief, you may not know that Ah Lan and I were married only last month, and this marriage was only finalized last year. I'm afraid my wife hasn't informed you yet."
Ji Yang raised his eyebrows: "Then I'll have to trouble Meng...Brother-in-law."
Meng Xiao clasped his fists and retreated, saying, "I'll go and watch them cross the river."
Lu Linchuan suddenly sighed with emotion, "Zisu, this match is a good one. You always said that you were forced to marry because of political pressure, but now it seems that she understands your worries and concerns better than most women in the world."
Ji Yang rolled his eyes at Lu Linchuan and said, "You once said 'beauties ruin a country'."
Ji Yang slowly closed his eyes, and after a long moment, he whispered, "Early tomorrow morning, have the soldiers march to the Shili Ferry to collect food."
He leaned back in his chair and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Tonight, Tingzhou City, which had been struggling for so long, finally saw a ray of hope. He never imagined that this ray of hope was a retreat quietly laid out for him by the very person he least wanted to face.
The next morning, in the epidemic area.
Jiang Ci was squatting by the fire, boiling a medicinal decoction with several doctors. The heat was surging, and the aroma of the medicine filled the air. Everyone wore face towels, and they worked swiftly and collaboratively. Several large pots of medicine were boiling, and the medicine bowls were neatly arranged on the long table.
Jiang Ci pointed out the boiled medicines one by one to the guards: "This one is for preventing epidemics. There is a red line on the label. It is distributed to those who are not infected. That pot is for clearing heat and detoxifying. It is specially used for seriously ill patients. Don't mix them up."
After she said that, she stood up, stretched her stiff neck, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Yin Shuang came over with an empty bowl, her face brimming with relief. "Miss, you've been here for days without much sleep, but your efforts have finally paid off. The patients' fevers have subsided a lot, and they're eating and drinking more. They're starting to recover."
Jiang Ci looked at the former intensive care unit on the east side. The tent was originally overcrowded, but now there was a lot of vacant space.
The corners of her lips curled up slightly, her eyes sparkling. "Yes, hold on a little longer. The medicinal materials from Liangzhou should be arriving soon. They will be distributed to various pharmacies. As long as they don't drink raw water or go into the infected area, everyone will slowly get better. We can rest up tonight. Let Wanniang make a hot meal when we get home."
Yin Shuang also smiled and nodded: "I want to eat braised pig's trotters with sauce, how about you?"
"Cold shredded radish, stewed chicken soup... and soft and glutinous rice." Jiang Ci said as he looked at the rising sun and felt the warmth of hope for the first time in a long time.
But this tranquility did not last long.
"Someone come quickly—someone has fainted!"
"Ah—what's going on? Why is he vomiting blood?!"
Suddenly, a burst of exclamations erupted from the crowd. A young man, supporting his mother, stumbled out of the tent. His mother's face was pale, her eyes rolled back, and black blood was oozing from the corners of her mouth. Then, a commotion erupted from several other wards.
"He was fine just now...why did he suddenly twitch?"
"It's the medicine! Is it brewed incorrectly?!"
Panic spread quickly among the crowd. In less than half an hour, four or five people had fallen to the ground. Several doctors came forward to examine them, and their expressions suddenly changed.
"Symptoms of poisoning, acute onset..."
"Quick, call the lady! Something happened!"
Jiang Ci rushed over after hearing the news and saw several people lying on the ground at a glance. Their lips were black and their faces were gray. Her heart suddenly tightened and she squatted down to check their pulses. The pulses were chaotic and the breathing was weak, which showed that they were suffering from poisoning.
"How could this happen... We personally checked all the herbs we prepared..."
She subconsciously looked at the medicine table, but saw that next to the overturned medicine barrel was the heat-clearing and detoxifying prescription that she had distributed personally.
"You made the wrong medicine, didn't you?! You're a liar! You killed someone, did you know that?"
"We've been talking about this before, where did this female doctor come from?! She's definitely harmful!"
A single stone caused a thousand ripples, and anger instantly ignited in the epidemic area. People gathered around and cursed endlessly.
"She was sent by the governor, wasn't she? Fake doctor! She made us drink poison!"
"My brother just finished drinking the medicine you gave him yesterday, but he hasn't woken up today. You have to give me an explanation!"
"Kill a life for a life! How can a woman like you pretend to be a savior?!"
Jiang Ci stood frozen in place, her fingertips cold, her body as if struck by a heavy hammer. She opened her mouth to explain, but her throat was dry.
"I...we didn't make a mistake...the herbs are all...I checked..."
But the more she explained, the angrier everyone became.
"Stop pretending! Didn't you originally just want to do some good deeds and add luster to yourself? Now look what happened, someone's dead!"
"The governor has probably been bewitched by this woman! She's a vixen!"
Yin Shuang rushed forward to protect Jiang Ci, shouting, "Our wife did nothing wrong. She boiled medicine day and night, researched prescriptions, and didn't sleep for days! How could she have poisoned you? You are wrongly accusing her!"
But the noise around her drowned out everything, and the crowd pressed closer and closer, as if to swallow her up.
Jiang Ci looked at the still warm body of the patient lying on the ground. His heart felt as if it was being cut by a knife, and his eyes were blank.
She knew something was wrong, but where exactly was the problem? Was it her, the herbs, or...
Su Yu stood at the edge of the crowd, watching the chaotic situation in front of him coldly.
The corners of her eyes were slightly raised, and there was even a hint of interest at the corners of her mouth, watching the anger of the people ferment bit by bit. Some people were so angry that they picked up stones, sticks, and even iron pot handles, roaring "liar" and "murderer" while approaching Jiang Ci.
Jiang Ci stood in the middle of the crowd, completely defenseless, without even the intention of hiding. She just stared blankly at the crowd coming towards her, as if she had not recovered from her self-blame and astonishment.
When the knife in Yinshuang's sleeve had already slipped into her palm, the sharp blade was unsheathed with a sound.
A figure suddenly rushed out from the crowd, sweeping a long sword and blocking Jiang Ci.
Lou Qi was wearing a black robe, with a fierce look on his face. The cold light of his blade flashed, blocking the swinging stick.
"Stop." His voice was not loud, but as cold as the wind. "If you take another step forward, don't blame me for being merciless."
The people were shocked by his murderous intent and stood there in a daze for a moment, as if the air was frozen.
Lou Qi slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, and said, "You say she poisoned, but have you forgotten how many people she saved? In the past few days, she hasn't left the epidemic area, and she personally supervised the brewing of every dose of medicine. If it weren't for her, you would have been carried away by the crematorium days ago."
His voice was low, but every word was powerful. "Not many people are in trouble right now. The herbs are collected from the mountains, and the distribution and brewing process is complex. Perhaps someone simply picked a poisonous herb by mistake and mixed it in. It wasn't her intention. Now, just because you insist that she is the murderer, you are ganging up on her. Where is your conscience?"
Everyone looked at the sharp long sword in Lou Qi's hand. For a moment, no one dared to step forward. Although their anger had not completely subsided, hesitation was revealed in their eyes.
Jiang Ci finally came back to her senses and whispered, "Young Master Yan, thank you very much. I suspect someone has tampered with the herbs."
Lou Qi frowned. "You've been brewing the medicine yourself these past few days, so there's no way you could have made a mistake. There must have been a mistake in the distribution or preparation process."
Before he finished speaking, a burst of footsteps came rushing over.
The Dongyang Army broke through the crowd and lined up in neat formations. A sense of oppression suddenly hit them. Everyone subconsciously retreated.
Ji Yang, wearing military uniform, walked steadily through the crowd with a stern look on his face. His eyes fell on Jiang Ci and Lou Qi who were under the sword light, and his face immediately darkened.
He had come here specifically to thank Jiang Ci and to pick her up to meet her brother-in-law Meng Xiao, but he didn't expect to run into this chaos.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "Commander-in-Chief, it's her! She gave us poison to drink! Everyone's dead!"
"Yes, three or four people died! We saw it with our own eyes!" "It was her. The medicine made by her wife killed people!"
For a moment, there were shouts and the crowd was in turmoil.
Ji Yang didn't move, but his eyes swept across everyone like a sharp blade, and he said in a cold voice: "Shut up."
These three short words were like a heavy hammer hitting the ground, and all the noise suddenly fell into silence.
He turned and walked towards Jiang Ci, his tone restraining his anger: "What's going on?"
Jiang Ci looked up at him, his expression firm. "I don't know. I personally selected the herbs and brewed them these past few days. I didn't do it carelessly. I even checked every step of the process. There shouldn't be any mistakes."
“I personally collected most of the herbs, and used them only after confirming the formula.”
Lou Qi nodded in agreement, "It's probably because some poisonous herbs were accidentally mixed in. For example, Aconitum kusnezoffii looks similar. If they were picked by mistake, it would easily cause trouble."
Suddenly, a stranger among the people shouted, "I think your Dongyang army is out of food. Why don't you just let the governor's wife poison us to save some food?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd immediately became restless again.
Someone chimed in, "Right! We haven't had enough to eat in days. They don't want to give us food, so they make us drink poison!"
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