Chapter 144: Don't rush to leave after clearing the level.
The epidemic in Zhen Ding County was a name that Shangguan Jieyou had never heard of. If you take medicine in time, there will be no major problems. However, there are two types of epidemic outbreaks. One type is long-term and chronic, which can last for about a month from infection to death.
There is another type that is more virulent, and the onset time is very similar to cholera. If a person is infected in the morning and does not realize it, they may die by night. The time from birth to death is at most one day. Qi's parents were infected with the latter type. When Shangguan Jieyou heard Qi Baozhu's crying and broke open the door, the two of them were already unconscious in the room.
Shangguan Jieyou carried the two to the clinic and gave them medicine. Only then did she learn that their servant had received bad news about a family member. She had prepared a day's worth of food for the Qi family and then went home. The three members of the Qi family had eaten together in the morning, but by noon the two adults could not be woken up. To make matters worse, news of an epidemic came from outside, and every household was in danger and closed their doors and windows. The little girl could not open the door and had no way to ask for help.
Qi's father was a scholar, but not particularly wealthy. He only employed one maid to do laundry, clean, and cook. He thought that a day's absence wouldn't be a big deal, but by sheer coincidence, Shangguan Jieyou saw the little girl's eyes swollen like peaches from crying and remembered the old doctor's words that it would be too late if she was brought over any later. She was able to piece together the cause and effect of Qi Baozhu becoming an orphan.
The illness came on suddenly. The little girl couldn't move the door latch. By the time someone from the county came to check on her, or the servants returned, the two adults in the Qi family would probably be too late to save her. Qi Baozhu would be all alone, like a child holding gold...
The beginner's quest was easy, and after the Qi family parents took the medicine, the Zhen Ding woman's quest was marked as complete. However, there was no countdown for forcibly exiting the instance world. Shangguan Jieyou was not in a hurry to leave. Seeing the miserable situation here, after confirming that the quest taker was not at risk of contracting the plague, she decisively used all the silver she had except for the final payment to buy medicine and even joined the team to help.
It's impossible for everyone to have no objections, but after Shangguan Jieyou demonstrated her super strength, everyone consciously kept their mouths shut.
Gossip, what gossip? This person is the demonized golden cudgel in Sun Wukong's hand. If you offend her, you'll die from the slightest touch, you'll perish from the slightest bump, you'll get a scratch or a muscle injury. They don't have steel bones, and besides, she's genuinely doing good deeds.
A month has passed in the blink of an eye.
The sudden epidemic has finally come to an end. Many people are still immersed in grief, but life goes on. The county town has begun to recover its former prosperity, and Shangguan Jieyou has finally made time to start preparing food for his stall.
She wasn't in a hurry to leave. Although the instance world of Zhen Ding Nu showed that the mission was completed, the man who attacked Zhen Ding Nu hadn't shown up yet. Shangguan Jieyou was worried that Zhen Ding Nu's story was just a replacement rather than a solution. Since she wasn't in a hurry to leave anyway, she might as well deal with this man before she left.
In the setting of the Fate Change Record, after people choose to become mission takers, their past memories are temporarily sealed. Common sense things are not affected, but apart from knowing their own name, they can't remember anything else, such as their home address, past grudges, relatives and friends.
However, there is no need to worry too much. These memories will be returned when the mission taker meets the standard for returning to reality. The mission taker also does not need to worry about the world changing. No matter how long they stay in the dungeon world and mission space, the time of return will be fixed at about five minutes before death, and the body will automatically repair itself to its best condition.
However, becoming a mission taker is not all good. Once you choose this path, unless you reach the summit and return to reality, you will die and your soul will be scattered, with no chance of reincarnation.
Shangguan Jieyou had forgotten why she was resurrected, and she didn't think she could be one of the very few who returned to reality. In addition, there were no non-scientific powers in the world of Zhen Ding Nu. After completing the mission, she simply thought she had transmigrated and prepared to grow old naturally in this world. Teaching that man a lesson was what she wanted to do, and it was also one of the excuses for her to stay for a long time.
She was content to live a lifetime on a single dungeon quest, even if she died after only a few dungeons.
With this in mind, Shangguan Jieyou set up her rice noodle stall after researching food for a few days. Business was good. Her strength made many things easy, and she could take care of everything at home without much effort. Three years passed in the blink of an eye. Just when Shangguan Jieyou had almost forgotten that she was in the dungeon world, the man finally came.
When Yao Xiaoyu wrote the dungeon world, she referenced the game's settings. The main characters all had names above their heads. For example, Qi Baozhu had the words "Zhen Ding Nu" above her head. However, these words would disappear after the mission was completed. The man and his mother were the second and third people Shangguan Jieyou saw with names above their heads, so she couldn't mistake them.
The text above the man's head reads "Husband of the True Woman," while his mother's reads "Mother-in-law of the True Woman." Looking at these two names, Shangguan Jieyou felt that she had vaguely figured out the definition of the main characters in the dungeon—all the characters appearing in the story were like that. However, this was only a preliminary speculation, and more data was needed to verify its authenticity.
Shangguan Jieyou wrote down this little trick for identifying characters in her little notebook, which she reviewed every day. She then went out to set up her stall as usual. Everyone knew she loved gossip, so after Shangguan Jieyou showed interest in the man's family, she gathered all the information in just a few days.
The minimalist story makes almost no mention of men, but in Zhen Ding County, they are all living, breathing people, and even their long wait for them to move here is inextricably linked to Shangguan Jieyou.
The epidemic was supposed to take many lives, and the man's family of four would have become new residents of the county. However, Shangguan Jieyou's help broke the monolithic wealth of the rich. Officials in Zhending County used her as an example to pressure the wealthy families, forcing them to reluctantly hand over the money to buy medicine. So, although there were still unfortunate people, the number was not as high as expected.
With limited losses, the available land and houses were not enough to supply the county, so the family of four had to postpone their move. If the family selling the shoddy noodles hadn't suffered repeated defeats in their battle with Shangguan Jieyou and hadn't slunk away, this family might not have come at all.
Shangguan Jieyou had no interest in the man's family. She was just hesitating whether to actually take action if the man hadn't done anything wrong. Zhen Ding County was a peaceful and prosperous small town. Although she was strong, she rarely even got into group fights. Although she didn't remember what she did before, she felt she couldn't bring herself to take someone's life so casually.
Hesitating and wavering, Shangguan Jieyou overheard that the man's family had acquired a child bride. She climbed over the wall to peek and met the man's gaze as he intently watched the girl doing chores. She immediately realized how ridiculous her dilemma was.
Two days later, the drunken man was found in a ditch with a beautiful red mark on his genitals. His mother cried for a long time and could only accept the fact that one of her two sons had become a daughter. She even hurriedly arranged a marriage for her still-normal second son, fearing that her remaining sons would follow in his footsteps, and then the old couple would truly be childless.
The eldest son didn't need a wife, and the second son already had one, so the newly adopted child bride was no longer of any use. Keeping her at home would require food, and selling her to a dirty place would be against their conscience. Just as the family was struggling with this dilemma, a woman came to their door, saying that she was a distant relative of the child bride. The family was overjoyed and immediately gave the girl to the woman, restoring the normal life of the five-member family.
The man whose tools of the crime were confiscated was unlucky. He was not content with being supported by others and often went out drinking. One snowy day, he got drunk and fell into a ditch and froze to death.
These things didn't attract much attention. Only Shangguan Jieyou breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the words disappear above the mother and child's heads. After secretly checking on the girl every few days and confirming that she was doing well, he was completely relieved.
The woman wasn't a distant relative, but an embroiderer who couldn't have children and wanted to adopt one. When the embroiderer was wandering around, the little girl tore off half a piece of cake from her hand and gave it to her, saving her from starvation. Now, she was adopting the child both to provide for her old age and to repay the kindness.
Having resolved the last hidden danger, Shangguan Jieyou did not stay in Zhen Ding County any longer. Of course, she did not intend to leave the instance either—life in Zhen Ding County was too peaceful, which made her almost forget that in ancient society, due to the lack of transportation, there were many beasts. If she didn't have the ability, that would be fine, but she couldn't turn her divine strength into pretty muscles that looked good.
And she doesn't want to hear any more pressure to get married!
But preparing to leave wasn't something that could be done in a day or two. Her small business had grown quite large in the past few years, and she needed to find a reliable person to sell it. It's better to be prepared for a difficult journey than to be poor. This isn't a modern society where food delivery can take you directly to Mount Tai. You need to prepare everything you need for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.
As the days passed and the matter was gradually resolved, Shangguan Jieyou kept the courtyard as the only thing she didn't sell, and exchanged the rest for gold, silver and supplies. In her second year here, she bought the rented courtyard.
It's not that no one wants to buy the courtyard, but that Shangguan Jieyou doesn't want to sell it. This is her first residence since she came here, and if possible, she hopes to live out her days in this courtyard.
If Shangguan Jieyou were still alive at that time, and could have come back.
She didn't choose any meaningful day to leave. She just left the city on a winter day with her bag on her back. The Qi family thought she would always come back, but they never expected that Shangguan Jieyou would be gone for decades. She said she was going out to make a name for herself, but she actually accomplished something earth-shattering!
When Shangguan Jieyou left, Qi Baozhu was not yet a teenager. When she returned, the little girl already had a large family and brought a lot of people to Shangguan Jieyou's place every day to listen to stories.
Shangguan Jieyou: ...
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Author's Note: The story is temporarily finished. I'll continue with the Little Fish story tomorrow and try to write until the Lunar New Year.
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