The middle-aged man was very thin and dark, looking like a countryman rather than an official.
He sat there allowing Jiang Jing to take his pulse and diagnose, but his eyes were not idle, looking around as if he was very curious about this place.
"How many patients do you have here?" the middle-aged man asked.
"Why are you asking?" Zhang Zhaodi said beside him, "These are court secrets, don’t inquire carelessly, or you might get yourself in trouble."
The gentle and refined man who spoke first said, "Please don’t be offended, it’s really because we’ve heard that the epidemic here is very serious. Our boss just happened to be passing through, and planned to rest here for the night before leaving; however, resting for just one night has instead stirred up unnecessary trouble. This epidemic is so frightening, our boss is worried that his illness might not recover quickly, which would affect the big business he plans to discuss next."
"What business are you in?" Zhou Wangshu asked, "Since you’ve heard about the severe epidemic here, why have you dared to enter the city? If you were to take the remote paths, you wouldn’t take such risks."
"The situation is dire now, bandits are more numerous than before. If we take the small paths, there’s no epidemic there, but there are bandits! We heard that the County Magistrate here is capable of governing well, so we thought that with such an official presiding, the epidemic must have been controlled."
"You’re fortunate; coming here at this time is indeed not problematic." Zhou Wangshu said.
"Was there something wrong before?" the middle-aged man asked.
"No, no problems." Su Yaoguang pretended to glare at Zhou Wangshu, lowered her voice and said, "If you don’t want trouble, just shut up. Why are you saying everything out loud? Do you not want to go home?"
Zhou Wangshu made a regretful exclamation.
The middle-aged man and the refined man exchanged glances.
Zhang Zhaodi and the others had already guessed the identities of these two men. Unlike Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu, who couldn’t keep secrets and didn’t play tricks, they immediately went to care for the patients.
"Your body is fine, it’s just a common cold. You can take two doses of medicine for colds. All my patients here are suffering from the epidemic, you should get your medicine from another medical center!" Jiang Jing said.
"Doctor, I don’t trust other doctors, only you. You’re able to cure such a terrifying epidemic; our boss’s cold is a simple matter for you. Just prescribe the medication, and our boss will stay here to recuperate. You don’t need to worry about the epidemic infecting us; we’ll find a place to stay alone and won’t contact others, ensuring the epidemic won’t affect us."
"You two are really interesting; while others avoid coming close, you insist on coming here. Weren’t you sent here as spies?"
"We’re honest businessmen. What kind of spy would dare to come into an epidemic area; isn’t that courting death?" the refined man said, "We just don’t trust other doctors."
"Suit yourselves." Su Yaoguang said, "As you can see, we have many patients here and no extra strength to take care of you; you need to care for yourselves."
Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu exchanged looks and left the room one after the other, preparing medicine for the patients as usual, recording the patients’ recovery, and regularly fumigating the patients’ living spaces with herbal medicine for disinfection.
The two men secretly contacted the patients, probing them for information. What Su Yaoguang wanted them to know, they quickly found out. Once they gathered the information they wanted, they found an excuse to leave. They thought they had hidden well, but Su Yaoguang and the others saw through but didn’t expose them, pretending that nothing happened. As for the 1,200 taels of silver, they wouldn’t accept this dirty money. They would use the silver to buy large quantities of rice and flour, distributing them to the poor people to improve their living conditions.
While Su Yaoguang and others were helping people in the neighboring city, Xiao Yanci restored his spirits, regrouped, and studied fervently preparing for the upcoming exams.
The Wen Family still worked at the academy. Although the temporary workers originally at the academy returned, the Wen Family didn’t ask for wages and voluntarily stayed to do odd jobs, most importantly Xiao Yanci was willing to keep her. The academy now placed high hopes on Xiao Yanci, and wouldn’t trouble him over trivial matters. Moreover, no matter how diligent the Wen Family was, she was merely a widow, Xiao Yanci wasn’t likely to fancy such a widow.
"Surname Xiao! My sister hasn’t returned yet, where exactly have you hidden her?" Jiang Yihui’s first action upon returning to the academy was to trouble Xiao Yanci.
Jiang Yihui had been having too much fun lately, not wanting to return to the academy to study. To him, his mother had opened a shop, earning so much money every day, he already had endless money, why should he suffer the hardships of studying?
To avoid returning to the academy, he pretended to have stomach aches one moment and headaches the next. This time Zhong Lanhua saw that he hadn’t returned to the academy and was firm, saying that if he didn’t study, she would cut off his allowance.
Jiang Yihui returned to the academy, found out Jiang Yihuan wasn’t there, and immediately demanded her return.
Xiao Yanci felt baffled, "Didn’t your sister already go down the mountain and return home?"
He had been down the mountain for so long, Jiang Yihuan never came to see him, his heart had grown cold. In his past life, he loved Jiang Yihuan to the bone, but now he started doubting whether his feelings with her were truly as steadfast as Jiang Yihuan claimed them to be. Otherwise, why in this life was she inferior even to a Wen Family, this was supposed to be the deep love like the ocean?
"She hasn’t returned since she followed you up the mountain; when did she go down? Did you see her go down, did she tell you she went down?" Jiang Yihui slapped the table and shouted fiercely, "I’m telling you, if anything happens to my sister, I’ll make you pay!"
Xiao Yanci frowned, "Do you mean she hasn’t returned home?"
"Of course."
Xiao Yanci stood up, "Let’s report to the authorities then."
The Wen Family came in with snacks, saying to Xiao Yanci, "Mr. Xiao, you looked tired from reading, I made some pastries for you."
Jiang Yihui scrutinized the Wen Family.
Though she was dressed in coarse cloth, her figure was indeed nice, and her appearance carried charm. She looked over shyly, possessing both the bashfulness of a young girl and the allure of a mature woman.
An unusual gleam appeared in Jiang Yihui’s eyes.
"I’ve heard you had a dispute with my sister; did you do something to her?"
The Wen Family acted startled, "No, I haven’t seen Miss Jiang for a long time."
"Just because you say you haven’t seen her doesn’t mean you haven’t done something; could it be you harmed my sister, and now she’s in grave danger?"
"Brother Xiao, Miss Jiang fainted at the academy’s entrance; the gatekeeper asks you to go out quickly and deal with it." A student called out from outside.
Xiao Yanci ran out quickly, "Where is it?"
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