Entering the city
After the Spring Festival, the days of leisure are officially over.
After bidding farewell to Yu Tongxin who said goodbye with a gloomy face, and Mu Mian who had other important matters to attend to, Mingyu and Xueliu followed Yu Tongan to Sulou County.
Sulou County is located in the south of Tianqi Kingdom. As you go south, the snow gradually decreases, green leaves begin to become common, and the temperature rises.
"Curious?"
"A little bit. I've never seen a place that's not covered with ice and snow in winter." Mingyu put down a corner of the curtain and did not hide his curiosity.
"Although the areas south of Huanzhou belong to the same country, due to geographical reasons, the further south you go, the less influence they are from the capital, and they have preserved many local cultural customs." Seeing Mingyu's rare curiosity, Yu Tongan kindly came over and began to explain.
"Master Yu comes here often?"
"I don't come here often, I just have business dealings and occasionally go to the south. But it's rare to see you so curious about this." Yu Tongan was even more interested when he saw Mingyu coming here.
"I shi..." Mingyu changed his words, "My father once told me that he came here when he was young and told me some things. I originally thought I would never have the chance to see it."
"Did your father teach you these skills?" Yu Tongan was a little surprised. It was difficult to verify anything about Mingyu's father's youth, and he didn't know much.
"Did your father come to the South when he was young?"
"Yes." There was nothing to hide, so Mingyu told the truth, "But he rarely left the palace after that."
Mingyu was a little sad. Her master was already very old when he adopted her, and he passed away when she was sixteen years old.
"I'm sorry, I overstepped my bounds." Yu Tongan noticed that Mingyu had become a little depressed and felt very sorry.
Mingyu waved his hand, indicating that the other party should not mind: "Father's death is a happy one, not a sad thing."
Although it was a happy funeral, Mingyu still couldn't let it go at that time.
During that time, Mingyu would look at Wu Zhuguan who was forced to be silent for a long time and couldn't help but question why her master adopted her and taught her all this.
Yu Tongan changed the subject: "Does the witch society have different schools?"
"This..." Mingyu hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head. "I'm not sure. I haven't come into contact with any other witches besides my father. My father never said he had a school."
…
There is still some mountain road to go to Sulou County. Today we will stop in a town in front of Sulou Group and set off again tomorrow.
Although it is not far from the Sulou Group, the atmosphere here is quite peaceful and it seems that it is not affected by the Sulou Group.
There are small vendors selling snacks on the roadside, which are served in small bowls. They are crystal clear and decorated with one or two dried fruits.
I've never seen the cakes sold here.
"Boss, what is this?"
When the hawker saw that there was business, he immediately stood up with a smile on his face.
"Hey miss, this is pot cake, it's sweet and very popular among girls like us." The vendor was busy showing Mingyu the taste.
"Give me two to try first."
"Okay, that's good." The vendor was quick and skillful, using bamboo sticks to mix the two best-selling flavors.
"Boss, Sulou County is heading west from here, right?"
The vendor suddenly looked miserable: "Oh, Miss, where are you going? Sulou County is not a good place right now."
"What's wrong?" Mingyu took it and tasted it. It was indeed sweet. "Hmm, delicious. I heard that the Panax notoginseng production there is good. Even though it's early spring, I'll take a look at the situation first so that we can harvest it later."
Seeing that Mingyu liked it, the vendor felt a little proud.
"I told you that you would like it, Miss. But I don't want you to go, Miss."
"What?" Mingyu picked a few at random and said, "Please help me wrap them up."
"Okay, sure." The vendor smiled so much that his eyes narrowed into slits when he saw Mingyu was a good customer.
"Well, there's a strange disease, and it's spreading rapidly. Although Panax notoginseng is a good herb, it's not enough for us. We've shipped all the medicine from the surrounding area over, but we're still seeing people die in droves."
The vendor wrapped up the snack, handed it to Mingyu, and lowered his voice.
"I heard it's cursed. The dead turn purple all over. It's scary. Everyone who has seen it later died in the same way. It's easy to enter Sulou County, but difficult to leave. People from Sulou County are not allowed to enter anywhere. It's better not to go there, young lady."
"Thank you."
Mingyu was about to give the money when Yu Tongan handed it over.
Mingyu looked up at him.
"Business trips should be at public expense."
That's right, she earned this money through hard work.
"It's almost consistent with the intelligence." On the way back, Mingyu held some snacks and discussed with Yu Tongan.
"You can't hold this snack, or it will stick together." Yu Tongan pulled the snack out of Mingyu's arms and held it. "Indeed, but how did this infection come about? We were in and out of Tian Qianwu at the time, and no one was infected."
"But he hasn't developed into the late stage. But are there diseases that only become contagious in the late stages?" Mingyu let him take the snacks and reminded him, "Remember to return them to me later. I bought them for Xueliu."
Xue Liu helped her pack up for the night and did not follow her out.
"I'm not sure. After all, Tian Qianhua hasn't developed to that stage yet." Yu Tongan gently shook the paper bag. "I thought you liked to eat it, but it turns out you were just bringing it to Xueliu."
"Infectious diseases are nothing more than three aspects: the source, the method, and who was infected." He didn't dislike it either. "It's quite unique. I thought Xueliu liked sweet things, so I brought some."
"But first of all, it's an infectious disease. Tian Qianhua was infected with voodoo. So what do you like to eat? I can prepare it for next time."
"Indeed, we should consider both aspects." Mingyu thought for a while, but couldn't think of anything he particularly liked: "I don't seem to be picky."
Yu Tongan opened the door for Mingyu with a faint smile on his face.
"Miss Ming is really hard to please."
Mingyu didn't hesitate and went in directly.
"It's not difficult. Just stop plotting against me."
Yu Tong sighed pretentiously.
"That's really difficult."
“…” Mingyu snatched back the paper bag containing the snacks.
…
In order to facilitate travel in and out, they also temporarily rented a yard outside the city.
There is only one mountain road in Sulou County, and carriages cannot go in, so not much can be carried.
But there was not a single pedestrian on the road, no one going in or coming out.
This situation doesn't look very good. People in a county have to communicate with the outside world to ensure sufficient supplies.
There is no need to travel back and forth. One reason may be that there is no spare energy to travel back and forth. The second reason is that too many people have died, resulting in excess food. There is no need to replenish it so urgently from the surrounding areas.
"It could also be due to the surrounding rejection." Yu Tongan added with a slight gasp, "But do you really not need to get on the ox cart and rest for a while?"
After walking along a mountain road for a while, Mingyu felt a little hot, but it was far from the point of needing to rest.
"Need not."
The rest of the people either practiced martial arts or were traveling all year round. Except for Xue Liu, they all relied on their feet to go into the mountains in order to carry more supplies.
The mountains were quiet, and there wasn't much noise in Suqun County.
The city was dead silent. People walking on the street had their faces wrapped in cloth, and many of them had white cloth tied around their arms.
When the pedestrians saw Mingyu and Yu Tongan and their group, their eyes showed surprise and vigilance, and they quickly lowered their heads and walked away.
"Sir." Seeing them, a man wrapped in a black scarf came forward and said, "The house has been found."
Yu Tongan sent people to prepare in advance.
Walking towards the rented courtyard, I could feel the desolation and loneliness in the city even more. It didn't seem like the atmosphere was just after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
"No one in the city is moving around anymore, and the inns and shops have been closed for a long time." Yu Yao led the way and talked about what he had seen recently.
"Given the situation in the city, why don't other government offices send reinforcements?" Mingyu frowned. The city was filled with a heavy gloomy aura, and it was obvious that many people had died in a short period of time.
Yu Yao glanced at Yu Tongan, and seeing that he had no objection, he said, "This has not been confirmed yet."
"But it seems that all the city officials have left."
"What?"
"It seems to be in a state of no one's management right now, and is entirely managed by the local people on a small scale. The nearby towns also said they hadn't received any official notices asking for help, so they didn't come to help."
Perhaps they felt that Sulou County was located in a remote area and the disease was spreading rapidly, so intervening would be of no benefit to them. In any case, there was no official document asking for help, so they just left it alone.
Yu Tongan also frowned, probably thinking of this as well.
Yu Yao sighed and couldn't help cursing: "This bastard official runs away when he encounters trouble and can't get anything done."
The courtyard was dilapidated, with flowers and plants growing randomly. There was obvious dust in some places, and it seemed that it had been tidied up in a hurry.
"There have been instances of people snatching medicine and food in the city. Although there have only been a few cases, the willingness to interact with others has greatly decreased since then," Yu Yao said, clasping his fists and begging for mercy. "I'm incompetent and can only find this place. I'm sorry to bother you, young master."
"You've been a great help." Yu Tong comforted Yu Yao, acting like a good boss. "I'll give you a bonus when I get back."
The people around me started to get busy, helping to tidy up the yard.
Hearing this, Yu Yao's expression relaxed a little: "Thank you, sir."
Yu Yao took off the heavy face mask and was finally able to breathe fresh air. He couldn't help but take a deep breath and stayed where he was to continue talking to Yu Tongan and Mingyu about the situation in the city.
"Now, anyone in the city with red scars or dark or purple skin will be expelled from the city, or in other words, 'voluntarily' leave here and fend for themselves in the wild forest."
Mingyu's brow furrowed as he listened. The terrain in the south was complex, with an alarming number of poisonous insects, snakes, and ants. Even in winter, it was fraught with danger for ordinary people to enter, let alone those who were ill and had disabilities.
"Where is the body?" Yu Tongan asked.
There were no corpses in the city, and the air was only filled with the occasional smell of decay.
Yu Yao gave a wry smile, his tone thick with doubt: "I didn't find that either. When I arrived, the city had already maintained its status quo, and for some reason, there haven't been any new infections recently."
Why is this happening? Is this a sign of improvement?
We'll have to see it for ourselves tomorrow to find out.
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