"Chongyang, imprison everyone. Without my orders, not even a fly is to be released!"
Gu Zhixing released Shen Huaixu and walked out, looking travel-worn.
"Yes!" Chongyang always obeyed Gu Zhixing's orders.
"No!" Shen Huaixu, seemingly drawing strength from nowhere, struggled to his feet and roared at Gu Zhixing, "You can't do this!"
"If you imprison all of us here, who will take care of the people? Who will repair the river?"
With the flood season fast approaching and time running out, if he were to order a few more days of work stoppage, the project would fall behind schedule.
Frequent floods will cause even more people to be displaced!
"Let whoever wants to manage it manage it!" Gu Zhixing turned his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over Shen Huaixu and the group of officials, and said, "I only believe in one principle: if anything happens to Shen Jintang, every single one of you here will be implicated. You will all be murderers, and I will definitely slice you alive with my bare hands."
These words were extremely sinister, each one carrying a chilling coldness, like the biting wind of winter, penetrating straight to one's bones, making one shiver and feel a chill down one's spine.
The officials present were no longer ignorant; by this point, who didn't understand who this imposing man was?
Although Dayong was a vast country with a large population, Gu Zhixing's name was already widely known, even among those who were indifferent to worldly affairs. Everyone knew him.
He was of noble birth and dissolute, and there was nothing he couldn't do if he wanted to.
Even if he committed murder and arson, no one dared to hold him accountable.
So when he said he would skin them alive piece by piece, it really was possible that he would skin them alive.
Furthermore, after skinning them alive, Gu Zhixing might not have to pay any price.
"Your Highness, spare my life!"
Finally, someone in the crowd reacted and immediately knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly, their foreheads slamming heavily on the ground with a "thump-thump" sound, their voices filled with endless fear and pleading.
As if awakened by the pleas for mercy, the people around them also woke up from their dream. One by one, they knelt down, kowtowed and begged for forgiveness, and their pleas rose and fell like fallen leaves shivering in the cold wind.
Their foreheads bruised from hitting the cold ground, but no one dared to stop. They just cried out in trembling voices, "Your Highness, spare us! Spare us!"
However, Gu Zhixing turned a deaf ear to these pleas for mercy, as if they were nothing more than buzzing flies in his ear.
He glanced coldly at the crowd, his eyes devoid of any pity, and simply walked out.
He strode onto the horse's back, squeezed its flanks with his legs, and the horse neighed loudly, galloping straight towards the west of the city like an arrow released from a bow.
The sound of horses' hooves beat out a rapid rhythm in the silent night, but it couldn't keep up with the speed of his heartbeat.
Shen Jintang, you must wait for this young master.
Gu Zhixing's heart was pounding like a drum, his cheeks were flushed red from the wind, but his eyes were fixed straight ahead.
He lashed the horsewhip down hard, yet still felt the horse wasn't running fast enough, wishing he could reach Shen Jintang's side immediately.
The wind howled, but he couldn't hear anything. He only knew that there was a voice in his heart: Shen Jintang must not die.
As dawn broke, Gu Zhixing and his group finally arrived at the west side of the city.
The journey and anxiety had kept Gu Zhixing on edge, but when he saw the scene before him, his heart sank again.
Previously, Gu Zhixing thought that the county government office in the city center was already rudimentary enough, but now that he saw the west side of the city, he truly understood what dilapidated and desolate meant.
The western part of the city is barren, with hardly any greenery to be found. The landscape is filled with a grayish hue, as if even the sky has darkened.
More importantly, there was no sign of human activity here, no children playing, no vendors hawking their wares, no bustling pedestrians; only deathly silence, as if the world had forgotten it.
The officers and soldiers stood guard all around, completely surrounding the area.
Those inside are trapped inside and cannot get out; those outside are also kept out and cannot get in.
This isolated atmosphere made the entire western part of the city feel even more oppressive and desolate, like a sealed-off island, and Gu Zhixing's unease grew stronger in this atmosphere.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
The guards at the gate stopped Gu Zhixing.
Gu Zhixing reached out and took out a dragon-shaped jade pendant. Upon seeing this, the soldiers immediately made way for him.
"I was blind and did not recognize your greatness. I hope you will forgive me."
Gu Zhixing didn't have time to argue with them; he only cared about one thing: "Was a woman sent over from the city center a few days ago?"
"Are you referring to Lord Siyan, sir?" The officer looked up at Gu Zhixing.
"right!"
Gu Zhixing's heart pounded like a drum. He didn't know why the soldiers knew about Shen Jintang, and he didn't want to think about it. But when he was about to hear news about Shen Jintang, his heart trembled uncontrollably.
He was afraid of hearing bad news.
If something were to happen to Shen Jintang, he really wouldn't know what to do.
He only hoped that Shen Jintang was still alive. As long as she was alive, he would have a way to save her.
The palace has all kinds of rare medicines; saving someone's life couldn't be easier.
The reason why the plague cannot be stopped is simply because cheap and widely available medicines cannot be found to save everyone, but if you want to save one person, that is still possible.
"Lord Siyan is in the innermost room. Lord Shen instructed that only Lord Siyan is allowed to stay there, and he even specially assigned a doctor to take extra care of him!"
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