Chapter 28
“My master is sincere. You should consider it carefully, young lady. Besides, you have no way to turn your life around. This is how it will be for you. You are no longer the young lady you used to be. You should start making plans now. Would my master treat you badly?”
The other party's words were derogatory, and Qingyun, with a dark face, was sitting on the edge of the bed when he heard this. He stood up in anger, looked around, grabbed something, and smashed it at the matchmaker's feet with a loud bang, causing the woman to scream and dodge away.
"Such a refined young lady, from the Qing family, yet she has absolutely no manners!" The matchmaker, having been turned away, grumbled as she hurried away, then told her maidservant that they mustn't imitate Qingyun's behavior.
As they were talking, they heard a noise behind them. It turned out that Qingyun had moved all the betrothal gifts outside the courtyard and placed them openly on the road, causing the surrounding neighbors to gossip.
"Oh my, this is quite a troublesome person," the matchmaker thought to herself, having witnessed everything. She decided to go back and report first.
Meanwhile, Qingyun was exhausted when she returned yesterday. As she was about to go to work this morning, she saw a large group of people waiting at her door. As soon as she opened the door, they immediately said "Congratulations."
Qingyun asked her what was the congratulations about. It wasn't a holiday, yet everyone was dressed in bright red and colorful clothes. The woman said she was a matchmaker and got straight to the point, saying that she had been asked by an important person to propose marriage and wanted to hire her as a concubine in his household.
Upon asking, she learned that he was from a wealthy family in the city. Qingyun just smiled and said that she had no such plans at the moment. Moreover, becoming a concubine was like jumping into a fire pit. She only learned about the hardships involved yesterday and would not consider it a good thing.
Although the matchmaker herself had second thoughts after seeing Qingyun's resolute attitude, the amount of money involved was too much. She hurriedly pulled the man back to the room and tried to coerce and entice him, but he wouldn't budge. In the end, she even got a hard slap in the face.
Qingyun felt disgusted; this was like a toad trying to eat swan meat. She was furious and complained to the system when she heard the wooden door being banged on again.
"Is someone in your family going to die? Why are you in such a hurry?" As soon as the door opened, Qin Yao was standing there.
The other person stood ramrod straight, but the hand still raised in the air showed his helplessness. Qin Yao, who had been scolded for no reason, straightened his expression and said, "Your Highness invites you."
Qingyun was momentarily speechless and somewhat embarrassed. He nodded to indicate that he understood, locked the door, and followed the person out.
When Qin Yao came out, he also noticed the camphor wood chests by the door. He didn't say anything, but he kept it in mind.
Song Chaoyun sought her out naturally because of the plague they had discussed yesterday. However, she was quite surprised to see Qingyun's angry expression, and the maid beside her quickly reminded Qingyun to watch her expression.
Song Chaoyun smiled and asked, "Have you had breakfast yet?"
Qingyun composed herself, though she no longer appeared as she had before. It was clear she was in a bad mood. She shook her head and said no. Upon seeing this, Song Chaoyun waved her hand and said, "Serve me food."
"Serve us food!" The announcements were relayed down the chain of command, and Qingyun sat down at the small square table next to him and began to talk about the plague.
Qingyun pondered for a moment, then asked, "Has anyone in the city died because of this?"
Song Chaoyun shook his head, "We only lost some cattle and horses."
Upon hearing this, Qingyun replied, "Don't eat these dead animals. If you can avoid burying them, burn them all."
What does this mean?
The principle is simple: rotting corpses spread germs, and wild dogs and rats will dig up the corpses and drag them out to eat.
Song Chaoyun was on the noblewoman's couch. She had heard a little about this. "I heard that in ancient times, people would cover the ground with lime and charcoal ash and then seal it with mud. This would prevent odors and prevent disease."
Qingyun nodded in agreement. He added that any waterlogged areas in urban villages should be drained as soon as possible, as they are a source of various diseases. As he spoke, Qingyun suddenly remembered the bowl of water he had drunk yesterday. Perhaps Lin Wanjun was half right. Their village was far from the well, so it was possible that they had to fetch water from puddles.
Qingyun looked up and saw Song Chaoyun's puzzled expression, so she explained the reason to her, "Your Highness, do you think it's necessary to care so much about those livestock that have only been dead for a few days?" As she spoke, she put the words in her mind into simple terms and explained them to her.
"The storms not only kill our pigs and cattle, but also the living and the dead from the desert, bringing with them maggots, worms, and all sorts of bacteria from their decomposition—these are all breeding grounds for plague."
Then he felt it wasn't quite right, because he didn't know if people in ancient times would have understood the concept of bacteria, so he changed his words: "If the excrement on the ground is blown into the sky and mixes with the rainwater before falling back down, can that rainwater still be considered clean water?"
The water in the puddle may look clear, but the actual number of organisms inside is unknown.
Most of the toilets here are dry toilets, and she saw many people rebuilding the thatched roofs on their toilets along the road.
Song Chaoyun listened, but her face showed some unease. Qingyun noticed this and turned to look at the maids around her. They all lowered their eyes and remained silent, but their expressions of disgust were very obvious. Clearly, they had images in their minds, and they were also surprised that Qingyun could talk about excrement and urine so seriously.
Qingyun then realized that neither ancient ladies nor ordinary women would describe these things so vividly and shamelessly.
Considering that Song Chaoyun was also eating, Qingyun used a more subtle way to imply that the dirty water was mixed with clean water, and that feces, corpses, and the viruses and bacteria carried by the corpses had all contaminated the drinking water system.
These contaminated water sources can easily spread waterborne infectious diseases such as cholera. Rats and mosquitoes can easily become carriers of pathogens, so this problem of stagnant water must be solved.
"All the patients we previously placed need to be isolated and recuperate, otherwise, gathering together could easily lead to cross-infection." As she spoke, Qingyun's breakfast was served.
She was starving, so she picked up the bowl and drank the congee in large gulps. People around her exclaimed in amazement, saying that she was still able to eat even though she had described it so vividly. However, Qingyun was unaware of what others thought. She only felt that her stomach was burning if she didn't eat.
Song Chaoyun pondered her words, staring blankly at a spot for a long while before finally speaking, "In that case, sprinkle ash along the streets and smoke it with mugwort." She played with the jade pendant in her hand and added, "And peach branches too."
He then instructed the people around him, "Have people set up several medical tents, prepare plenty of Coptis chinensis and Isatis indigotica, and make sure everyone wears masks these days. Also, have every household hang up a sachet to ward off the plague."
The maid standing in front of her responded with a "yes," but after taking only a few steps, she heard Song Chaoyun call her back again, "Send doctors to each household to investigate the illness. Report any cases of high fever or vomiting. Everyone must memorize the Seven Measures for Preventing Plague. Do you understand?"
The ancients were quite adept at dealing with plagues, knowing how to prevent them, and their epidemic prevention measures were no worse than those of modern times. However, Song Chaoyun initially only knew that these measures were necessary when there was a flood, but he did not know that they were also necessary when there was a storm.
With Qingyun setting the precedent, Song Chaoyun knew where to begin when assigning tasks.
However, regarding the issue of well water pollution, Qingyun felt it shouldn't be a big deal, since several wells had water purifiers in operation. The main concern was the few wells that she hadn't installed water purifiers in. She reiterated that people absolutely should not drink raw water these days.
Moreover, hygiene issues need to be addressed again. Qingyun was also thinking of digging a few more wells. She didn't tell Song Chaoyun about this idea directly. It would be more convenient to ask Song Junwu for help, as his men were more capable than the eunuchs.
The two discussed some more matters before Qingyun left the command post. However, as soon as she stepped out of the room, Qin Yao appeared in front of Song Chaoyun.
Song Chaoyun slowly sipped her tea and asked, "What happened?"
Qin Yao: "I saw betrothal gifts at Miss Qingyun's door, it seems a matchmaker has come to propose marriage."
Song Chaoyun was surprised, "Have you found anything this morning?"
"It was the Qin family that sent the betrothal gifts. I heard that Master Qin took a fancy to her and wanted to hire her as a concubine."
Upon hearing this, Song Chaoyun merely scoffed. She put down her porcelain cup, a ruthless glint flashing in her eyes. "Him? He's not worthy." Didn't he know what this man was up to? A man with one foot in the grave was still thinking about such things.
"If he wants to die so badly, then let him die." No matter how lowly Qingyun's current status is, she, Song Chaoyun, is there to protect her. As for when she will get married, she, Song Chaoyun, will decide.
After saying that, Song Chaoyun stood up, revealed a cold smile, walked up to Qin Yao, lightly lifted the other's chin with her finger, and slowly asked, "Can you get this done for me?"
Upon meeting the woman's gaze, Qin Yao immediately lowered his head and bowed, replying, "Your Highness, rest assured."
Qingyun, recalling her earlier words and the bowl of water from yesterday, finally realized what had happened and felt nauseous. She quickly bought some medicine from the system as a precaution. "I'm really broke right now," she sighed, gazing at the electronic screen.
Since that's the case, I might as well not take the holiday and plant trees to earn some points.
Now the sand dunes and the surrounding land are covered with crisscrossing grass squares, like a huge chessboard spread across the land, with trees and ice grass growing sparsely on these squares.
The poplars planted earlier were growing well, and when she saw Mu Helian, she immediately went up to ask about the longhorn beetles.
Mu Helian: "Much better."
Qingyun then realized how foolish she had been. She could have easily checked the progress on the panel, but she had gone to the trouble of asking. However, seeing that Mu Helian's expression wasn't good, she asked her what was wrong.
Mu Helian rubbed her temples and said she was fine, but she had been too busy these past few days with many tasks assigned to her by her superiors, and she felt exhausted.
Then he asked about the progress of Qingyun's house renovation.
"Most of the repairs were completed yesterday, and Feng Sijing is finishing up the rest today."
Before the two could exchange more than a few words, they heard someone call Mu Helian over. Qingyun didn't disturb her work, picked up the saplings, and turned to leave. As she was working hard, she suddenly felt a bump. Looking up, she saw a woman smiling at her, seemingly trying to strike up a conversation.
"Miss Qingyun?"
The woman looked around warily before bending down and whispering, "I have a business opportunity here, would you like to do business with me?"
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