CMWKSD -Chapter 196 Shao Qing Arrives!

The rain threw many plans into complete disarray.

Downstream from Peach Blossom Village were at least three more villages.

Even the smallest of them had no fewer than a hundred residents.

The official in charge no longer bothered with formalities. “Organize the evacuation of the people. At the very least, we must evacuate the villages downstream of Peach Blossom Village first.”

Mudslides were no joke.

They could sweep away houses, and once people were wrapped in mud, they couldn’t even struggle. If their noses and mouths were buried, even a moment of carelessness meant suffocation.

The garrison troops and the people from the Ministry of War quickly sealed off the burial grounds.

At times like this, they had to be especially wary of anyone trying to take advantage of the chaos to loot the silver.

Ji Yiqing tucked the hem of his robe into his belt.

Together with several other officials dressed the same way, he hurried toward the downstream area of Peach Blossom Village.

Ordinary people feared and revered those in official robes.

But at times like this, that very uniform gave them a greater sense of security.

Ji Yiqing only had time to glance at Jiu Yue.

He didn’t even have time to leave a single word of instruction.

Jiu Yue let out a sigh, looking at the bustling camp.

Everyone was moving in haste. Standing idly in the middle of the crowd, Jiu Yue seemed out of place.

But Jiu Yue was a commandery princess. After Assistant Minister Jiang was executed, an official surnamed Li immediately filled the vacancy.

Seeing Jiu Yue standing there, he hurried forward, intending to take her to a safe place.

Instead, Jiu Yue pulled a prescription from her pocket and, as if grabbing a conscript, caught him. “Arrange for people to buy these medicinal ingredients.”

This weather was truly cursed.

Soaked like this, the usual dispelling-cold decoction was clearly no longer effective.

“Boil it in large cauldrons. Everyone must drink it.”

“Move the camp to a more upstream position. Stop using tents—set up all the oilcloth with frames…”

Jiu Yue tried her best to explain every countermeasure she knew.

Fortunately, these officials were more experienced than she was, so they understood most of what she said.

Still, what Jiu Yue said wasn’t useless.

At the very least, when it came to prescriptions, they were nowhere near as professional as she was.

After listening to her, Assistant Minister Li carefully accepted the prescription from Jiu Yue’s hand.

Even more carefully, he tucked it against his chest, afraid it might get soaked by the rain.

The rain lashed against his face, so cold that he could barely speak. Wiping the water away, he said, “Your Highness is truly noble and righteous.”

Jiu Yue froze for a moment. She hadn’t done this to gain any reputation.

She did it simply because she wanted to. Besides, how hard was it to write a prescription?

Yet Assistant Minister Li, his hair already streaked with gray, bowed deeply to her and did not straighten up for a long time.

For a moment, Jiu Yue didn’t know how to react.

They did all this because it was their duty—yet when she did it, it was called noble righteousness?

Vaguely, Jiu Yue seemed to touch upon something.

Unfortunately, she was clumsy with words and couldn’t clearly explain what it was.

Two more days passed. The rain alternated between heavy and light.

But in any case, it was no longer as fierce as at the beginning.

Jiu Yue and the others also withdrew to the upstream area of Peach Blossom Village.

Still, quite a few people were left behind in the village. There was no choice.

No one knew how much silver was still buried beneath Peach Blossom Village.

That silver was the reason they had come.

There could be no room for error.

But being soaked in water and battered by fierce winds and rain like this…

Many people began coughing, their noses running.

In an era with scarce doctors and medicine, even a simple cold could claim lives.

Jiu Yue didn’t go upstream with them.

Instead, she stayed near the burial grounds and directly became the army’s accompanying physician.

More and more people fell ill.

The common cold itself was highly contagious.

With even a bit of negligence, the entire force being wiped out would be entirely normal.

On the eighth day, the rain finally began to ease.

Because preventative measures had been taken early, there was no large-scale flooding.

Still, many places were washed away.

But compared to their initial expectations, the current situation was already quite good.

Jiu Yue hadn’t seen Ji Yiqing and the others for three or four days.

They had been ordered to evacuate the civilians downstream of Peach Blossom Village.

Jiu Yue decided that once things here were properly arranged, she would make a trip there herself.

Colds wouldn’t be limited to just the people on this side.

She had just ordered another large cauldron of cold-remedy decoction to be boiled when a young soldier came running up to her.

His face was full of joy. “Your Highness!”

Jiu Yue responded in confusion, “What is it?”

“Your household servant has arrived, bringing a lot of medicine and people.”

Jiu Yue froze. Household servant? What household servant?

She didn’t have any household servants.

She walked all the way to the entrance of the camp.

There she saw a travel-worn Shao Qing, along with cart after cart of medicinal herbs behind him.

Jiu Yue suddenly stopped short.

That person, his entire face wrapped in a scarf with only his eyes showing, his whole body caked in mud and shivering from the cold—

Was that Shao Qing?

“Shao Qing?”

Jiu Yue hurried forward a few steps.

Shao Qing was instructing people to wrap the oilcloth tighter, emphasizing again and again that the medicinal herbs must not get wet.

Hearing her voice, he turned his head.

When he saw Jiu Yue, his eyes lit up instantly. Even covered in mud, he couldn’t hide his excitement.

After taking a few hurried steps, he broke into a small run.

He stumbled along, waddling like a big white goose.

Finally, he stopped in front of Jiu Yue. “Boss!”

In that instant, Jiu Yue felt as if she had bitten into a sweet-and-sour orange.

Her whole being seemed soaked in that tangy, sugary juice.

“You… why did you come?”

The mud in Shao Qing’s hair had already dried. He instinctively wanted to scratch his head, but his hand came away full of hard clods of dirt.

He didn’t mind at all, using both hands to brush away the mud from his hair.

“After you left, I just couldn’t feel at ease. I asked around about your route.”

“Then I heard that it had been raining heavily here. After days of nonstop rain, I grew worried. So I bought some medicinal herbs along the way and hired some people to come over, thinking I might be able to help somehow.”

Jiu Yue looked at Shao Qing, feeling that things were definitely not as simple as he made them sound.

And indeed, just as she suspected—

Ever since Jiu Yue came to Ling Su County over the embezzled silver, such a huge sum made Shao Qing worry about her safety along the way.

At the fastest speed possible, he gathered members of the Dark Moon Pavilion stationed from the capital to Ling Su County.

His original intention was to secretly ensure the safety of the silver on its way back to the capital.

Thus, every morning, Shao Qing would be the first to handle news from Ling Su County.

Because of that, he learned about the heavy rains in Ling Su County earlier than many others.

Before anyone even thought of floods or mudslides, Shao Qing had already begun making preparations.

He arranged for people along the route to buy medicinal herbs for treating colds.

After all, even if they bought too much and couldn’t use it all, they could always sell the excess later.

It wasn’t a big deal. Jiu Yue had given him great authority.

Even if tens of thousands of taels were spent, as long as it was for a proper purpose, Jiu Yue would never blame him.

After days of continuous heavy rain, Shao Qing finally couldn’t hold back anymore.

He gathered the able-bodied men of the Dark Moon Pavilion, brought along all the purchased medicinal herbs, and—

Against the driving rain and howling wind—

Came to find Jiu Yue.

Jiu Yue was his boss.

She was his benefactor.

For Jiu Yue, he was willing to do anything—
Willingly and without regret.