——How do you know so much about the thoughts of these disaster victims?

Of course, it's because he has experienced all of this before.

When the Yutai flood occurred, an epidemic broke out immediately. The Yutai County Magistrate directly ordered the city to be sealed off. The victims trapped in the city had no food and were threatened by the epidemic, and they fell into such a situation.

When people are in desperate situations, they will always do many things that they would never do in the past. For example, ordinary people who used to be law-abiding will break into government warehouses and rob the food stores of rich families.

Naturally he participated in it.

Even when the prince first entered the city to provide disaster relief, some victims learned that the warehouse was full of food and wanted to rob it at night. However, they gave up because there were too many guards in the warehouse and the remaining victims, even if they were still alive, could not defeat the strong soldiers.

Thinking back on those scenes now, I still feel as if I were in purgatory.

I am always afraid that everything now is just an illusion before death.

Xue Shu avoided Yin Chengyu's oppressive gaze and still did not answer.

Seeing this, Yin Chengyu became more certain that he was hiding a secret.

He suddenly leaned closer and said as if whispering to Xue Shu: "If you don't tell me... I will know it sooner or later."

The two stood outside the granary, their bodies were very close to each other, and because Yin Chengyu deliberately lowered his voice, it was difficult to hear what they were saying. To others, they just thought they were discussing something in a low voice.

Then only Xue Shu knew that the breath beside his ear carried a sudden heat, and the deliberately suppressed voice turned into a whisper, with a hoarse and soft hook, drilling into his ears and finally landing on his heart.

"Your Highness, why are you so obsessed with my past?"

Xue Shu raised his eyes and looked at him. His hands hanging at his sides were clenched into fists, and his body was tense, showing a defensive posture.

Like a beast whose territory has been invaded, it dares not attack and can only crouch down anxiously and vigilantly to defend the last piece of territory.

Yin Chengyu squinted his eyes and looked at him, not missing the resistance in his expression.

But he was never a sympathetic person towards Xue Shu. The more Xue Shu tried to hide something, the more he wanted to know.

In this life, he would not allow Xue Shu to keep any secrets from him.

Yin Chengyu smiled slowly. The shadow of the sunlight fell on his face, making his expression more gloomy than usual. His eyes looked narrower and longer as they were slightly narrowed, and the evil hidden in them was clearly visible.

At this moment, he did not look like the handsome and clear-headed prince in front of people at all, but rather looked a bit like the mysterious and unpredictable nine thousand year old man in his previous life.

"I don't like people around me to have secrets." He raised his hand, as if he was pressing down on his shoulder, but in fact, his cold fingertips were faintly stroking the back of his neck. Seeing Xue Shu getting more and more tense, he finished the rest of the words with a smile: "...Especially you, do you understand?"

After saying this, he put his hands behind his back, looked at Xue Shu with satisfaction, and said loudly: "Supervisor Xue is right. Commander Hao should arrange more personnel around the warehouse tonight, just in case."

He spoke, and then, with his hands behind his back, he went to discuss the defense of the warehouse with Commander Hao Cheng at a leisurely pace.

Xue Shu was left standing there, his eyes fixed on his figure.

Both ferocious and happy.

He recalled the question he had asked in Tianjin.

At that time, His Highness only said that he was "still angry", but never said that he didn't like it, nor did he ever blame him for it.

His Highness always treats him differently from others.

Xue Shu licked his lips, with a gleam in his eyes.

If Your Highness really wants to know those past events that he has buried deep in his heart, which have become rotten and smelly, what would he give in exchange?

Xue Shu touched the handkerchief in his arms and chuckled softly.

That little bit of ambition and extravagant hope finally took root, sprouted, and flourished in the endless desire and intentional or unintentional indulgence.

Following Xue Shu's suggestion, Yin Chengyu ordered Commander Hao Cheng to relax the guard on the surface, but in fact he secretly increased the manpower and set up a dragnet, waiting for the disaster victims who were hiding everywhere to show up.

Yin Chengyu did not sleep that night. He and Xue Shu and others hid in the dark, patiently waiting for the rabbit to knock on the door as time passed.

At three o'clock in the morning, there was finally a commotion outside the warehouse.

More than thirty people rushed up from all directions, knocked down the warehouse guards, and began to break down the door with all their strength.

The warehouse door was solid. After they knocked against it several times and found that it didn't move, they tried to climb up and get in from the roof.

The first person to climb up was a thin but very agile boy. Just as he climbed to the roof and was about to use tools to lift the tiles, he saw the soldiers surrounding him not far away.

He shouted in alarm: "Oh no! The soldiers are coming!"

When the others heard this, they looked around and saw hundreds of soldiers surrounding them with knives and guns, each wearing a cloth covering their mouth and nose.

Among the thirty or so disaster victims, there were tall young men, frail old men and teenagers, and even a few strong women. But regardless of their age, all of them had sunken cheeks and were pale and thin.

These people originally just wanted to steal some food and run away at night, but they didn't expect that there were already soldiers guarding them, and they were all panicked for a moment.

In the panic, some victims clenched their axe and tried to break out, but the leading officer shouted, "Put down your axe and we will not kill you."

The general shouted loudly several times, but did not attack rashly. He just surrounded the people from a distance.

Seeing that they had no intention of killing them right away, the victims hesitated for a moment.

Seeing that they were already wavering, the general followed Yin Chengyu's instructions and gestured to the officers and soldiers to put away their weapons. He then said loudly: "Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come to Taiyuan Prefecture in person to provide disaster relief, the relief food in the warehouse will be distributed to the victims tomorrow. Why do you have to rob them?"

After he finished speaking, he pushed out an old man dressed as a doctor and advised, "Put down your weapons. We will forgive what happened tonight. Come forward one by one and let the doctor diagnose you. Those who are not infected can line up at the city gate. In half an hour, the porridge stalls at the city gate will be set up."

The thirty or so disaster victims looked at each other, wanting to believe it but not daring to.

"Is there really such a good thing?"

"Isn't this a new way to arrest people?"

“But when we came in, there was indeed a shed set up at the city gate.”

"They said the prince is coming. Maybe the court really sent someone..."

“…”

The victims discussed quietly for a while. Although they did not surrender immediately, the atmosphere was no longer so tense.

The general repeated his previous words several times, and the doctor now moved the desk aside and sat down behind it.

The doctor was originally a doctor at Tongrentang in Taiyuan Prefecture. He was quite old and did not look threatening. He saw no one coming and pulled down the cloth covering his mouth and nose, revealing his entire face. He said, "Some of you have secretly come to me to get medicine before, right? Can I work with the soldiers to harm you? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come in person to provide disaster relief. He will not arrest people everywhere in the future."

Many people did recognize the old doctor's face. After hesitating for a while, someone finally put down his weapon and stepped forward hesitantly to let the old doctor take his pulse.

Someone started it, and then things went smoothly.

The victims who were able to move around were all in good health. After a thorough examination, they were all released, and officers and soldiers led them to the porridge stalls outside the city gate.

Yin Chengyu looked at it and breathed a sigh of relief: "Finally, it's a good start."

"What about the other people who were captured? Take me to see them."

——When the granary was robbed, the pharmacy that stored medicinal materials was also robbed.

But judging by the response of the disaster victims who looted the granaries, it seems that the two sides are not the same group of people.

Yin Chengyu put on the cloth fumigated with mugwort and went to the pharmacy.

Because all the attention was focused on defending the granary, they didn't expect the pharmacy to be robbed. By the time the officers and soldiers reacted, several disaster victims had already broken in.

In the panic, a row of medicine shelves fell over, and the medicinal materials were scattered all over the floor. Six disaster victims had their hands and feet tied up, and they were glaring at Yin Chengyu and his group who had come in.

Xue Shu frowned, stopped Yin Chengyu from getting close, and signaled the accompanying imperial physician to come forward and take the pulse: "Let's see if anyone is infected first."

The imperial physician stepped forward and took a closer look, then shook his head.

Xue Shu then ordered his men to untie the men and said, "These men themselves are not infected with the disease, but they risked their lives to come to the pharmacy to steal herbs. I think someone in their family is sick and they are in urgent need of herbs."

Nowadays, all the pharmacies in the city have been closed, and the remaining medicinal materials have been swept away. If someone in the family did not urgently need the medicinal materials, they would not risk stealing the medicinal materials from the government.

Upon hearing this, several disaster victims immediately looked terrified.

Seeing this, Yin Chengyu was moved: "Are there still patients infected with lumpsy plague in the city? Have you hidden them?"

Several people kept their mouths shut and no one spoke.

Yin Chengyu was thinking about how to persuade them to speak up, but Xue Shu said, "You risked your life to steal the herbs. I guess you don't have any left. If you can't bring them back today, the patient will probably just have to wait to die."

Some victims looked at him angrily when they heard what he said, but they dared not say anything.

Xue Shu said calmly, "These grains and herbs were originally brought here to provide relief to the disaster victims. If you take us there now and find out the situation, maybe our relatives will still have a chance of survival."

He picked up the medicine basket that had fallen to the ground, picked up the scattered herbs one by one and put them in place, and stuffed the herbs into the hands of the woman kneeling behind him: "Rhubarb, saltpeter, bitter orange, Sichuan pepper... This is a well-known prescription for curing the epidemic. You are the doctor."

There was no doubt in his tone, and he was very determined. The woman who had been protected behind him and had been lowering her head finally raised her head and looked at Yin Chengyu: "Are you really here to help with the disaster?"

Yin Chengyu nodded: "Really."

The woman seemed to be weighing the pros and cons. After a long while, she bit her lip and said, "Give me two baskets of herbs and I'll take you there."

Yin Chengyu nodded slightly, and immediately a servant packed the medicinal materials the woman needed, carried the medicine basket and followed her.

The woman looked at the officers and soldiers around her again, and finally took the others and led the way.

The author has something to say:

Gou Gou: I’m a bit tired of using the handkerchief =v=