Noble's Woman Guide

Chapter 92 - Report

A thousand miles away Shuzhong was even more stifling hot and humid than Wangdu on this same midsummer night. Such conditions were not suitable for recuperating, hence endless groaning and moaning could always be heard in the streets and alleys late at night.

The main cause of this plague was flooding.

Shuzhong is located in the river basin where the water flow is not smooth on majority of its bends, particularly the most liable to collapse embankment on this segment which had been the focus of reconstruction during the previous years. However, Chu Sanghuai did not bother about it ever since his ascension to the throne, hence the already shaky and on the verge of collapsing embankment was officially done for when it coincidentally chanced upon high tide this year. After the flooding, there were too many casualties and no clean water sources hence the outbreak of this epidemic.

But the situation is much better now than expected due to Chu Jinglan's decisive move to lock the city down which stopped the spreading of the plague. The city has also been divided into two zones. The northern zone is in the process of restoring the embankment where it is also the operation hub for the soldiers and supplies which only healthy people can enter, while the southern zone houses the infected patients with the surrounding areas separated by barbs barriers and heavily guarded.

It was kind of torment entering the southern zone every time where houses had crumbled and corpses sprawled on the road. Ruined temples and ancestral halls were like hellholes on earth filling with people lying askew in ragged clothes, ashen faces and yellowish-green pus-covered bodies as well as constant mournful wailings that even the complexions of the adeptly experienced physicians changed when they saw such sights.

Anyone who had been to the southern zone must undergo the moxibustion treatment and not be allowed to enter the northern zone for a short period of time. Therefore, Lu Heng spent most of the time at the border to facilitate the treatment of patients and had apparently not seen Chu Jinglan for quite a few days already.

Chu Jinglan was not idle too as he slept less than a total of twenty hours these days.

Though he was weary, he could not sleep well and woke up after leaning against the back of the chair for a while. His mind not only kept thinking about the embankment restoration or the epidemic situation in the southern zone but also finding time to keep an eye on the newly dug canal which was just too much. Fortunately, he had some rather competent subordinates that allowed him time to rest when he felt exhausted yet something came to his mind as soon as he sat down.

It has already been five days since he last received a letter from Ye Huaiyang.

Due to the need for secrecy, the letters between them were brought together in the supplies transported by Ye family's trade merchants who had always been on time and Tang Qingfeng would usually place the letter on his desk at this time.

The long finger that was lightly tapping the desk stopped abruptly. He then got up and flicked the front of his robe before going alone to the Ye family's shop.

Nightfall had just arrived while traces of dark blue streaks that still remained in the sky gradually blended like wash painting until it was too dense to distinguish its boundary. The lighting in the city was still dim and the underfoot road was too dark to discern but once the destination got closer, lighting at the end could be seen and the lit lantern with the word 'Ye' caught his sight instantly in the moment of clarity.

At this moment, the shop assistants were still lugging some goods. Due to shortage of manpower, they were extra busy shuttling back and forth from the shop entrance to the warehouse without break and left profound dark traces of sweat sprinkled over the bluestone road.