Chapter 162
The plague spread rampantly through the city of Jinling as woe washed over the city overnight. Luckily, the ministers blocked the city gates when they entered, and the plague did not reach other towns.
Whether it was a natural or man-made disaster, the Daye Dynasty was at stake.
The ministers were anxious, fearing both for the country's safety and their own burial in Jinling. This group of people wandered to the entrance of Murong Mansion while lost in their thoughts.
"Elder Liu, you have the highest seniority here. What do you think we should do about this?"
Old General Liu was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly raised his head in anger and shouted in a bold voice, "I'll fight them!" With that, he stormed through the gate in a fury.
"Old General Liu, think twice!" Someone pulled him back and gave him advice, "Have you still not figured it out after coming to Jinling for so long? This Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge......I mean the Prince, are not easy people to push around. If you barge in like this, I'm afraid you'll make a fool of yourself in trying to be smart!"
Old General Liu countered, "Humph! I came into this world with no intention of returning alive! I don't care if it's the Jade Emperor or King Yan; I'm giving up my life today! He has to take this throne if he wants it. Even if he doesn't want to, he still has to take it!"
"Old General Liu......" Everyone was still trying to persuade him, but Old General Liu had already pushed through the gatekeeper's block and rushed in.
Everyone looked at each other and, in the end, followed suit by rushing into Murong Mansion.
When Old General Liu finally eliminated ten thousand difficulties on his way to Murong Mansion Main Hall, Murong Yunshu was preparing to go out with a dozen household servants. They were carrying grain and medicinal herbs on their shoulders.
"Is there something wrong?" Murong Yunshu asked, raising an eyebrow.
Old General Liu had a fire in his belly, but it all went out once he saw the situation in front of him. "You are very kind-hearted." Old General Liu spoke awkwardly through his moustache.
Murong Yunshu said, "General also seems to be very worried about the country and the people."
Old General Liu grunted reluctantly and did not respond to her statement. Originally, he had planned to fight her to the death, but since she was preparing to go out for disaster relief right now, he could only put up with it for a bit more.
At this moment, Chu Murong ran in and requested, "Mom, I want to go too."
Murong Yunshu replied, "It's chaotic outside, so you stay at home."
"I can do martial arts, so I'm not afraid of any more chaos." Chu Murong said with great backbone.
"I was afraid that you would add to the chaos outside." Murong Yunshu was nonchalantly honest.
"......" Chu Murong's petite body and huge self-esteem took a severe blow.
Chu Changge then entered the door, just in time to hear Murong Yunshu's words, and the corners of his mouth curled up. He uttered earnestly, "Madam, how many times have I reminded you that you should be subtle in your words to your son. Do you even know how to be subtle?"
"No, I don't." Murong Yunshu's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, "Would you show me how to do it then?"
"Uh......" Chu Changge forced a smile and said, "Let's forget about the whole subtlety thing."
"Really good."
This 'really good' from Murong Yunshu sounded like 'she had seemingly achieved her purpose' to Chu Changge's ears, making him not know whether to laugh or cry. Ever since Little Murong had turned against her, her bossy attitude had become even stronger!
Old General Liu looked at Chu Murong with a sympathetic face and lamented in his heart: being born to these parents need many skills!
Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge went out with the disaster relief team and met the rest of the ministers, who were in a panic, on their way. They nodded and smiled at them and then left with a breezy view of their back.
The ministers looked at each other. Didn't Old General Liu come to risk his life fighting with them? How......was it possible that......had he already done with his fight to the death with the couple?
Suddenly, the crowd walked quickly towards the direction where Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge had come from.
"Old General Liu, you're not dead yet?" When the crowd saw the living and breathing Old General Liu, all the big stones hanging in their hearts fell.
General Liu's eyes were wide open when he heard what they asked as he bellowed, "This old man has a much tougher life than you people. If you are not even dead yet, of course, this old man will still be alive!"
"......that's not what we meant......"
Chu Murong quickly walked away from the sadness of being left behind by his parents and asked with an excited look on his face, "Grandpa Liu, you are a general?"
"Yes."
"Then, can you shoot arrows on horseback?"
"Any human can do something as simple as riding a horse and shooting arrows!" Old General Liu said as he raised his lower chin in disdain.
Suddenly, two-thirds of the ministers present were ruthlessly classified as non-human. [EX] ← If you want to know what this means, come read this chapter at xinshou blogspot com.
Chu Murong asked again, "Is it that great?"
"A hundred shots, a hundred bull's-eyes!" A proud looking Old General Liu noticed Chu Murong's eyes begin to glow, and his self-confidence began to swell blindly. He asked in his helping-the-poor tone, "Want to learn?" Poor kid. His parents must have groomed him into a bookworm that he can't even ride a horse and shoot an arrow. [T/C]
Who would have thought, however, Chu Murong rejected his offer and reacted very calmly, "I don't want to. But I want to compete with you."
In an instant, the shoulders of the two-third civilian ministers who Old General Liu had just put them into the non-human category began to shake violently. Their suppressed laughter nearly gave them internal injuries. While on the other hand, Old General Liu's facial muscles beat in perfect order. From top to bottom, it rose and fell, stretching on and on.
*
"The epidemic is much worse than I imagined." Murong Yunshu looked at the long line of victims in front of her and muttered indifferently.
A dark cloud also appeared in Chu Changge's heart. Under such circumstances, the plague's emergence would undoubtedly be like snow added up with frost for the Daye Dynasty. Although Jinling City was currently closed, if no one stopped the epidemic from spreading soon, it would reach Lincheng and become uncontrollable.
The two people were preoccupied with their thoughts when suddenly, there was a commotion in the distant queue of people waiting to receive food and medicinal herbs.
"Old Zeng, go and see what has happened." Murong Yunshu instructed the domestic servant beside her.
"Yes, Young Mistress." The domestic servant called Old Zeng was only walking halfway to when he saw the chaotic crowd rush towards him head-on like mad. "Young Mistress, Young Mistress......" Old Zeng called as he backed away.
Chu Changge also noticed that something was wrong and immediately shielded Murong Yunshu behind him, waiting with cold eyes for the leader of this chaotic crowd to appear.
Soon, the rioters grew in number, raging straight at Chu Changge.
At this moment, a voice of righteous indignation came from the incoming crowd, "It's him! It's the great devil that has brought disaster to our Jinling City!"
"Yes, that's him! If it weren't for him, how could there be a plague in Jinling City?"
"Drive the great devil out of the Jinling City!"
"Drive the great devil out of the Jinling City!"
The mob began to pour forward and lift the tables. In an instant, grain and medicinal herbs spilt all over the floor.
Murong Yunshu originally wanted to leave the matter to Chu Changge, but as soon as she saw the mob trampling the grain and herbs on the ground, she became enraged and shouted, "That's enough!"
In an instant, one could hear not even the sound of a crow or sparrow.
"I can give you these grains and medicinal herbs for free, but I will never allow you to trample on them. If you don't want them, you can turn around and go either left or right, and I won't bother myself to send you off! However, whoever dares to touch my Murong Mansion's relief goods again, I will immediately send him to a mass grave to be buried alive." Murong Yunshu's tone was the same as usual, not too fast nor too slow, without even a hint of anger in them which somehow scared the mob into retreating while checking to see if they were still stepping on any food or medicinal herbs under their feet.
As soon as the mob moved away, the domestic servants of the Murong Mansion immediately began to clean up the scene, picking up the medicinal herbs that were still usable on the ground and packing up all the rice mixed with mud in a separate sack. [+]
Murong Yunshu looked coldly at the mob in front of her. After a long time, she faintly spat out two words, "Go on."
"Young Mistress, they are so ungrateful. They pay our kindness with enmity. Let's just leave them to starve to death and die of illness!" Old Zeng said with a face full of resentment while holding tightly the sack's mouth containing the dirty rice.
"Yes! They, these people, are just relying on the kindness of your heart, Young Mistress!"
"They also called Guye a great devil. They deserve to die of hunger!"
"We haven't even cursed him yet. How dare they do it first!"
……
The Murong Mansion's domestic servants went on strike together, resolutely refusing to continue.
Murong Yunshu listened quietly and waited until all the domestic servants had stopped talking before saying, "Go on. I can't eat them all anyway, and they take up too much of the mansion space."
"But......"
"Do you want to live in a city full of dead bodies?" Murong Yunshu rhetorically asked as she raised her eyebrow.
They were silent for a few moments. "Don't want to."
"Then let's act quickly. These herbs can't completely eradicate the plague, but at the very least, they can give us a few more days of a good life." Murong Yunshu said.
Hearing Murong Yunshu's words, the domestic servants went into action once more, with resignation written all over their faces.
"Have you found the leader?" Murong Yunshu whispered to Chu Changge.
"If I can't even find the leading sheep, how can I still have the nerve to hang around on the street?" Chu Changge answered with a cold smile. When Murong Yunshu had calmed down the unrest just now, he had been observing the reaction of the mob and had found the leading sheep——the fastest one running——without much effort. "Come, let's go and meet that sheep." He said.
Murong Yunshu glanced at the people queueing again, and seeing that it was still in order, she nodded, "Okay."
*
Murong Yunshu followed Chu Changge around the alleyway and finally stopped in a narrow, one-person-wide dead-end alley. At the end of the alleyway, a hooligan with a stuck out mouth and an ape-like chin stood there, motionless. His expression was full of resentment. It was obvious that someone had sealed his movement acupuncture point.
"The four of them really have a tacit understanding with you." Murong Yunshu sincerely praised. She didn't even know when he had given the order.
"It's three!" Three different voices came from above at the same time. [T/C]
Murong Yunshu tilted her head to look, only to see the trio of South, East and West dressed in the ever-present dark clothes, standing majestically on the roof above the hooligan. Their hands were wrapped on each other's shoulders, standing in the air, with their long hair flowing with the wind, very warrior-like.
Murong Yunshu stared at them expressionlessly for a moment, then turned back to Chu Changge and asked, "Did you forbid them to change their clothes, or did you not give them any money to buy clothes?"
Instantly, the corners of the trio's mouths twitched a few times in perfect unison. We have so many good points all over, and that's all you've noticed, Madam? [T/C]
Chu Changge said, "You should not dislike them. They are born that way. In their consciousness, there is no such thing as changing clothes."
The three of them only felt their feet go weak, and they almost couldn't standstill. How much do you want to use us to bolster your lofty image in Madam's heart, Leader!
Hearing Chu Changge's explanation, Murong Yunshu nodded in understanding and then spoke to the hooligan who had caused the trouble just now, "I know you are not afraid of death. Even if the plague doesn't kill you, you still won't survive since others will kill you by then."
Only when Murong Yunshu spoke to him did the hooligan's face change colour. The blue veins that had previously flared up in anger disappeared abruptly, leaving only a pale face.
"So you're afraid to die? That's much better." Murong Yunshu had a relieved look on her face.
Suddenly, the hooligan's body shook and then fell to the ground.
Murong Yunshu was about to exclaim that not only did the trio have a tacit understanding with Chu Changge, but they could also even guess her mind when she noticed the young hooligan begged with a terrified face. "Don't kill me, don't kill me, I'll tell you everything, everything......"