"Quick! Everyone, let's work together and get the house up and running before it rains!"
Gu Zhixing was engrossed in reviewing Shen Jintang's notes when the shouts outside the window interrupted his thoughts.
He frowned, got up and pushed open the wooden window. A cold wind carrying the smell of damp earth rushed in, making him shiver.
Chaos reigned in the quarantine zone in the west of the city.
A group of poorly dressed people were struggling to support the broken beam.
The fierce winds of the previous night overturned several already dilapidated thatched huts, and now dark clouds are pressing down, the thick clouds seeming ready to unleash a torrential downpour at any moment.
Gu Zhixing's heart tightened. Most of those gritting their teeth and carrying timber were elderly people with gray hair and thin women. Their sallow faces were flushed with an abnormal redness, a sign of the epidemic.
He pushed open the door, about to stride out to help, but was hurriedly stopped by the servant.
"Young Master, please don't come any closer!" The servant's voice trembled slightly as he pleaded, "Those people are all afflicted with illness..."
Sickness?
Gu Zhixing glanced at them, then subconsciously looked down at his own hands. These slender, clean hands had held pens and swords, but had never done any rough work.
At this moment, his hands were trembling slightly, not because of the cold, but because of the inner turmoil.
In the distance, the intermittent coughing of a child could be heard, like dull knives cutting into his eardrums.
Clang—
A loud bang pierced Gu Zhixing's thoughts.
An old man stumbled and fell into the mud, his legs pinned down by a heavy wooden beam.
The crowd panicked instantly and rushed over, but no one had the strength to lift the log.
The old man's groans sounded particularly jarring in the air, which was thick with the impending storm. Gu Zhixing's brows furrowed tightly, and he could feel his heart racing. A strong impulse was spreading through his heart.
A sentence he had read in the Book of Documents when he was a child suddenly came to mind: "The people are the foundation of the state; when the foundation is firm, the state is at peace."
At that time, the Grand Tutor stroked his beard and patiently explained, "The people are the foundation of the country. Those who are supported by the people should keep the people in mind."
At that time, he simply nodded in bewilderment, never truly understanding the weight of those words.
At that moment, his fingertips trembled slightly.
Over the years, he lived a life of luxury, always surrounded by lavish carriages, yet he never considered the deeper meaning of those words.
Only now, watching the old man's withered wrists struggle in the mud and water, and seeing the despair in the eyes of the people around him, did he suddenly realize that the silks and satins and delicacies offered to kings and generals were all earned bit by bit by these rough hands.
He abruptly ripped off the coarse cloth robe hanging on the screen, pushed aside the servants, and ran towards the screen, shouting, "Don't follow me!"
"Your Highness!" The servant's exclamation was left far behind him.
Gu Zhixing rushed into the rain, the icy rainwater running down his neck and into his collar, his expensive brocade boots sinking into the mud, but he was completely unaware.
The pain of splinters piercing his flesh when his palm touched the damp wooden beam instantly brought him to his senses.
This is not charity, it is repayment.
He knelt in the mud, his shoulders braced against the slippery wood, and shouted, "Count to three, then push together!"
Everyone around was stunned.
The young prince, who always stood aloof and high above the others, now had mud-stained sleeves and his hair ornament askew, stuck among his loose hair.
He is helping them now.
"Three, two, one—Go!"
As he shouted hoarsely, more hands reached out from around him.
There were women's chapped fingers, teenagers' palms blistered and bleeding, and old people's trembling arms.
When the wooden beam was finally lifted, Gu Zhixing knelt in the mud and carefully helped his father-in-law up.
Only then did he realize that under his father-in-law's tattered cotton coat, his ribs were clearly visible, and he was so thin it was heartbreaking.
Tears welled in the old man's cloudy eyes, yet he dared not touch the sleeve embroidered with dark patterns, muttering, "Noble man... filthy..."
Gu Zhixing grabbed the old man's hand, which he was trying to pull away, and then realized that the hand, which had worked all his life, was as rough as old tree bark, full of cracks and calluses.
Rainwater slid down his chin, mingling with the heat from his eyes, and fell onto their clasped hands.
The rain poured down harder and harder, pattering against the muddy ground like the beating of his heart.
"Your Highness, please have some water."
While he was lost in thought, someone handed him a chipped earthenware bowl filled with somewhat murky water.
This is the cleanest water we could find here.
Gu Zhixing took the bowl, his eyes filled with complex emotions, but amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, he tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.
The cold rainwater mixed with the murky water, sliding down his throat, yet it brought him a sense of clarity he had never felt before.
"Keep working."
He shoved the bowl back into the stunned child's hands and turned to walk toward the mountain of straw.
This time, he will not retreat in fear.
When Gu Zhixing, soaking wet, carried the first bundle of straw, the silent crowd seemed to come alive.
Someone started giving orders: "Two more people come from the east to deliver straw mats!"
"Patch up the hole in the roof first!"
Amidst the shouts, Gu Zhixing wiped his face on the swaying ladder.
The rain washed away the bloodstains on his palms, but it couldn't dispel the surging heat in his chest.
It turns out that the feeling of being alive is not the luxurious life in the princess's mansion, nor the various playthings for pleasure, but the heavy straw on my shoulders at this moment, and the calloused hands reaching out from all directions.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
