I Am Immortal in Great Yu

Chapter 160: Chapter 68: Fourth Grade 3

"I can see you’re not quite well enough for wine, Brother Jiang. I do have some excellent tea, however."

"That sounds good."

The two of them sat facing each other at the stone table under a tree in the courtyard.

Jiang Ping’an sat on the stone stool, here once again. He looked at the familiar surroundings, but his state of mind was vastly different from before.

The joy of reuniting with an old friend, the relief of escaping death, the bitterness of seeing human nature at its best and worst during the ordeal... It all left him with a swirl of complicated emotions.

GURGLE...

Fang Rui lifted the teapot and poured a bowl for Jiang Ping’an and another for himself. The tea rippled in the ceramic bowls, catching the light and spreading out in concentric circles.

"It’s a long story."

Jiang Ping’an cradled the tea bowl in his hands and slowly began his story. "That day, after I left your home with the mask and the Insect-Repelling Medicine Pouch you gave me, Brother Fang..."

"Once I contracted the plague, everyone—my colleagues, my subordinates, even people I’d helped in the past—they all shunned me. No one was even willing to pass a message to you for me."

"To be honest, I thought I’d never see you again, Brother Fang," he said with a bitter smile, his voice heavy with sorrow.

"It was that dangerous?! And those people..." A chill entered Fang Rui’s voice.

His medical skill told him all he needed to know: if Jiang Ping’an had arrived any later, it would have been too late.

’If that had happened, I wouldn’t have let those people off so easily. They certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to drink the medicine from my prescription!’

’Sure, from an outsider’s perspective, their actions might seem justifiable. But so what? I’m not a perfectly rational being.’

’Siding with your own over reason—isn’t that perfectly normal?!’

"Let it go, Brother Fang!"

Jiang Ping’an smiled and waved his hand. "After I recovered, they all came to apologize. They brought a lot of nice things, and I accepted them. The matter is over."

"This whole ordeal... it’s made me see things clearly. Sometimes in life, it’s better to turn a blind eye and not sweat the small stuff." He shook his head, then raised the tea bowl in his hands and took a small sip.

"You have a good outlook, Brother Jiang!"

Since Jiang Ping’an himself wasn’t pursuing the matter, Fang Rui certainly wasn’t going to overstep his bounds. "For you to be able to talk about this so calmly, Brother Jiang... you’re aware of how the world works, but you haven’t let it corrupt you. That’s a rare quality."

"What’s more, you fell ill for the sake of the people, Brother Jiang. You’re a hero. I’ll toast to you with this tea in place of wine."

’That’s something I could never do,’ Fang Rui thought. But that didn’t stop him from admiring it, and it made him all the more willing to be friends with such a man.

"Not at all!"

Jiang Ping’an waved his hand dismissively and said with brutal honesty, "I’m not as selfless as you say, Brother Fang. To tell you the truth, I regretted it afterward. Even now, if I had to do it all over again, I probably wouldn’t."

"I see it clearly now. I’m just an ordinary man!"

"Besides, it was an impulsive act. If it weren’t for that master physician’s prescription saving my life, I’d have been long gone."

He sighed with regret. "That master physician who developed the cure... both the Xia Family and the Rebel Army have searched for him, but to no avail. I suppose the master was just a wandering traveler who has likely already left. It’s a shame. I’ll never be able to thank him in person..."

CLINK!

Fang Rui and Jiang Ping’an touched their bowls together. ’No need, Brother Jiang,’ he thought. ’I’ll consider your thanks accepted.’

"This whole affair was actually incredibly sinister!"

Jiang Ping’an began to speak of the hidden truths he had since uncovered. "It was only afterward that I heard the Rebel Army leadership had originally planned to burn Changshan City to the ground. Everyone in an infected household, and anyone in a ten-zhang radius of a suspected case, was to be left behind. Only those in other areas would be evacuated..."

"Thank goodness that master physician appeared. Otherwise, the whole of Changshan City might have been put to the torch!" he said with a deep sigh.

’Just as I thought.’

Fang Rui’s heart skipped a beat. ’So I didn’t underestimate the ruthlessness of that person in the Rebel Army’s command.’

His earlier suspicions were confirmed. In a way, he had indirectly saved at least half the city.

Moving on from the plague, the two began to discuss the current situation in the city.

"It’s just one thing after another. The plague has barely ended, and now the Xia Family is stirring up trouble. They want to form new gangs to replace the old Tiger Gang and Wild Wolf Gang..."

Jiang Ping’an shook his head as he spoke. "But the Rebel Army is in control of Changshan City now. How could they possibly agree to that? The two sides are at a complete deadlock over it."

"Oh?!"

Fang Rui’s eyes narrowed.

He could actually understand the Xia Family’s motives.

’Just for me to maintain my Realm, the amount of Great Medicine and Old Medicine I need is already a significant expense. Let alone the Xia Family, with one Fourth Grade master, two or three at the Fifth Grade, and that entire clan to support. The resources they require must be immense. It’s practically impossible for them to sustain themselves without squeezing the common folk dry.’

But understanding was one thing. Being targeted himself—being treated like a crop ready for harvest—that was something he could not tolerate.

’I was planning on letting the Xia Family stick around for a while longer, but I didn’t expect them to be in such a hurry...’ he thought, his heart turning cold.

...

The two chatted idly over the pot of tea until the sun began to dip toward the horizon. Finally, Jiang Ping’an took his leave with a return gift from Fang Rui, heading home under the lingering glow of the setting sun.

...

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