nashuaworldcup Chapter 129 The Edge of the Forest
Chapter 129 The Edge of the Forest
Upon hearing her words, Meng Fuqing quickly realized what she was about to say, and sure enough, she heard it—
“Miss Meng, if you take a bottle of this with you while you’re fleeing, no matter who it is, I guarantee they won’t survive three breaths against you! Want to give it a try?” She looked at Meng Fuqing with a sincere expression.
Meng Fuqing paused for a moment, then said, "Miss Yan, you said you never deceive innocent people. Are you trying to fool me by offering a Nourishing Heart Pill and a secret medicine, as if I were a corrupt official?"
She didn't know if the secret medicine would work, but a gourd of pills was indeed an ancient product. Bored on her journey, she took out the pills and tried heating them. She saw the silvery-white steam evaporating, which meant that the pills likely contained mercury.
Meng Fuqing knew from the beginning that Yan He was a greedy swindler with little kindness.
How should a scammer be dealt with? Naturally, let her play to her strengths and scam those who are worthy of being scammed.
Yan He rolled her eyes at her and muttered under her breath, "You can't compare to corrupt officials. They're much more generous than you..."
At this moment, Xie Jin passed by the two of them and asked softly, "Are you really going to bring her along?"
"Didn't you hear what she said? Even if she has to be a bad person, she'll stay by my side. Who can refuse?" Meng Fuqing's voice was tinged with laughter.
Xie Jin commented on this: "Eloquent and persuasive."
Upon hearing this, Yan He objected, "What do you mean, young master? How can you speak so rudely! I, Yan He, am skilled in both literature and martial arts, equally adept in the hall and the kitchen. Where else in the world can you find someone like me besides Miss Meng? Don't be so blind..."
She couldn't bring herself to say the words "looking down on others" under Xie Jin's murderous gaze.
Yan He slowed his pace, looking at the sky and the ground but ignoring the two people in front of him.
Xie Jin looked away in annoyance, glancing at Meng Fuqing, hesitant to speak.
Meng Fuqing seemed to see through Xie Jin's furrowed brows beneath his mask. She suppressed a laugh and said, "Miss Yan is a first-rate flatterer, though her words are slightly flawed. Young Master Xie, please be magnanimous and don't take it to heart."
The three of them walked right up to the convoy. Xie Jin's expression softened slightly. He glanced at Yan He lightly and warned, "Behave yourself."
After saying that, he walked towards his carriage.
Knowing he could stay, Yan He fawned, "It doesn't matter if Miss Meng doesn't buy my medicine. Just take me with you on your journey south. My word is as good as water spilled on the ground. I will serve Miss Meng like a slave without hesitation!"
One person squeezed in from the family of four. Apart from Meng Fuqing, the other three were very curious about Yan He.
Shan Qiyu stepped forward and handed Yan He the mask she had made, then helped her tie it up. This made Yan He, who was usually thick-skinned, feel embarrassed for once. She lowered her head and didn't say a word until she finally whispered a thank you.
After Shan Qiyu left, Meng Ali looked at Yan He's white hair and couldn't help but ask, "Big sister, are you an old lady?"
Yan He hadn't expected Meng Fuqing to have two such adorable younger siblings, and she couldn't resist teasing them.
She cleared her throat and, using the same voice she had used before, said, "Hey, what are you saying, little brat? I'm clearly an old man!"
Her commotion startled Meng Ali, who hurriedly hid behind Meng Fuqing. Even Meng Ranran couldn't help but look her up and down before finally turning to Meng Fuqing with overflowing curiosity.
"Sister, is she an old lady or an old man, a brother or a sister?"
Meng Fuqing: ...This is quite confusing.
"She's a mean-spirited older sister; don't talk to her unless it's absolutely necessary."
The two little ones always listened to Meng Fuqing and wouldn't say anything if they weren't told to, no matter how Yan He teased them.
Only after the convoy resumed its journey did Yan He, still feeling unsatisfied, mutter, "This is boring."
To make it easier to ask questions, Meng Fuqing spoke to Shan Qiyu and then led Yan He to the donkey cart.
Yan He was very perceptive and immediately took on the job of driving the carriage, serving it with great attentiveness.
Along the way, Meng Fuqing thoroughly investigated Yan He's background.
Yan He was apprenticed to a Taoist priest named Xuan Yi from an unknown small Taoist temple. She heard from her master that she was found in the grass one morning when Xuan Yi was practicing his morning exercises.
A little girl came to the Taoist temple. After two days of care, the quiet temple was filled with warmth. However, a little girl was not suitable to live with the Taoist priests in the temple.
At the abbot's request, Xuan Yi carried Yan He to the village at the foot of the mountain, hoping to find her a family to live with.
After searching around, Xuan Yi finally found a family willing to give the girl some food. Just as he was about to hand the child over to the village woman, the usually cheerful girl burst into tears.
After several attempts, it still didn't work. If left unattended, the child seemed determined to cry himself to death, which made Xuan Yi unable to bear it.
Master Xuanyi was a free spirit. He felt that he had a connection with this girl, so he took her away.
Years later, the abbot passed away, and the Taoist temple became increasingly dilapidated due to declining incense offerings. Xuan Yi took Yan He on a journey, during which Yan He learned how to deceive—divination, alchemy, and manipulating people's hearts.
This experience is consistent with Yan He's personality. As they were talking, Yan He suddenly brought up the matter of the plague.
"Miss Meng, I just heard you say that the plague first appeared in Yezhou?"
Meng Fuqing rallied his spirits, "Yes, the person we met on the night we were about to leave after selling the grain was very likely infected with the plague."
Yan He paused for a moment, then said, “When you were selling grain, I learned from the refugees about the twenty epidemic prevention measures you had set up. One of them was that rats would spread disease.”
"Correct."
"Does Miss Meng know where the Yezhou government has taken the bodies of the refugees from ten miles outside the city?"
"where?"
"They dumped all the dead in the mass graves outside the city. The last time I passed by, I saw a lot of rats gathered there from afar, and most of the villagers who had no food also gathered in that place."
Meng Fuqing's heart skipped a beat. "The body wasn't burned or buried?"
Yan He shook his head. "No, as long as their own safety is not threatened, they will not do more, they will only do less or nothing."
Meng Fuqing, who had previously thought that the officials of Yezhou were not just sitting around eating public grain, was now speechless.
There are many ways to dispose of corpses. The simplest way is to bury them directly. Simply throwing them away without burying them is tantamount to raising a venomous insect. No wonder Yezhou, the only place that disposed of corpses properly, experienced a plague outbreak.
Meng Fuqing had an increasingly bad feeling about the upcoming escape route.
After discussing the plague, Meng Fuqing listened to Yan He mutter about all sorts of trivial matters that happened during her childhood. By the end, she closed her eyes and pretended to doze off.
As Yan He hurried to catch the carriage, she finally mentioned Jing'an Prefecture, her tone suddenly dropping to a low point. "...Speaking of which, my master and I have been to Jing'an Prefecture before. It's not like what you think, Miss Meng, a place of great fortune. Perhaps it has improved over the years..."
When they opened their eyes again, the caravan had already left the official road and arrived at the edge of a relatively flat forest.
After deviating from the official road, they needed to use a geomantic map, and Xie Jin happened to have a geomantic map of the entire Great Yan.
Next, they need to cross the forest to reach the Lan River.
The forest is rich in resources, but it is also fraught with dangers. For ordinary refugees, entering the forest is no less terrifying than a plague.
For large groups like Meng Fuqing's group, this place meant they would no longer have to worry about firewood, and with so many people, they could hunt and have meat to eat.
Therefore, after learning that they were going to enter the forest, everyone looked eager to try it out.
But with the sun about to set, no matter how excited we were, we had to rest for the night on the outskirts of the forest.
Meng Fuqing, accompanied by Doctor Zheng, then found Du Zhong and Meng Bochang and briefly explained the precautions to take after entering the forest.
If we don't dampen their enthusiasm, it could lead to trouble if they try everything they encounter, relying on their connections.
Thus, following the "Twenty Measures" for epidemic prevention, the team has added the "Ten Dos and Ten Don'ts" for forests.
Meng Fuqing had no idea that her worries were easily resolved; all it took was for night to fall.
As the last rays of sunlight faded and darkness fell, the surrounding area was bathed in warm yellow firelight. Looking towards the forest, the darkness was eerie.
Wolf howls echoed through the forest from time to time, along with the calls of unknown birds, some sounding like a baby crying, others like someone sobbing... The boiling blood of the crowd instantly cooled down.