Clouds and Moon Shadow

Now, Chai Hu's hair is messy, his robe is loose, and apart from his face being relatively clean, he looks like a completely different person.

After exchanging only a few words with her, he eagerly followed Doctor Zhang to the backyard to brew the medicinal pills, his eagerness comparable to a groom going to his bridal chamber.

Gu Qingyue found it amusing; this was a rare case of someone obsessed with medicine.

Fortunately, Yue Ling has now transplanted all the medicinal herbs from the small herb garden back, and not a single one is missing. The herbs are now complete, and the second body tempering can begin.

Because she had to rush back to the Lizhou camp the next day, Gu Qingyue decided to be the first to try the second body tempering prescription by evening.

When we arrived at the room next to the pharmacy, the medicinal bath was already prepared.

Gu Qingyue took off her outer clothes, put on her inner clothes, and sat in the bathtub.

This time, the body tempering took an hour. Unlike the first time, Gu Qingyue felt that her internal strength had improved, but not very significantly.

The most obvious change was that my senses became much sharper and more acute.

She circulated her internal energy twelve times and released her spiritual power, which now allows her to detect a distance of at least one hundred meters in radius!

Gu Qingyue was overjoyed; this skill improvement was more useful than anything else!

Tell Doctor Zhang and Chaihu in detail about your feelings during the body tempering process, so that they can adjust the dosage of the medicinal materials according to each person's constitution.

The two men, who were already highly gifted in medicine, nodded in understanding and said that the boys would undergo a second body tempering once they returned from their training at Nanchong Mountain, and that they would take care of it.

Gu Qingyue had no worries. Doctor Zhang's medical skills were already superb, and he had improved a lot under Gu Qingyue's guidance. Now that she had entrusted these matters to him, she was very at ease.

Lying in bed that night, Gu Qingyue thought about making money again, and couldn't fall asleep for a long time, sighing deeply.

Sigh, it's not easy to feed so many people. I still need to tell Liu Feng to take on more tasks to earn money.

The beginning is always the hardest, but once the framework is in place, the rest will go smoothly.

We need to pay close attention to Wenxianglou, Yueyingge, and the planned brothel.

Gu Qingyue had already made up her mind. She would carefully examine Steward Wang and Jin Weizhou. If they were useful, she would let Steward Wang take charge of the business of Wenxianglou. That would be the official arrangement. In private, she would let Jin Weizhou manage the accounts of Yueyingge. The business would still be temporarily managed by Liu Feng. There were still not enough capable people.

She thought of Song Ming and the others again. Liu Feng said that he had sent people to take them on a survey of the entire city of Lizhou these past few days to see how they would decide. He would let her know as soon as there was any news.

Gu Qingyue didn't want to try to persuade them directly. She wanted to hear their thoughts first, and ideally, find a win-win solution that would align their interests with her own.

Talking about feelings is all superficial. She believes that Song Ming and the others want to further develop and promote the Divine Weapon Tower, at least to pass on their craft.

After arranging everything, Gu Qingyue rode her horse towards the Lizhou camp early the next morning.

Just ten miles outside of Lizhou City, Gu Qingyue encountered a large group of refugees, about several hundred people. They were dragging their families along, their expressions ranging from numb to terrified, and some were already starving and dying by the roadside.

The children were even more listless, some were still crying loudly, they were hungry.

Gu Qingyue pulled on the reins and dismounted.

I took the pulse of the old lady who had collapsed by the roadside. She didn't have any serious illness; she was just hungry.

It's alright for now, but the two children next to her saw their mother fall and cried incessantly, which made Gu Qingyue feel distressed.

Looking around, Gu Qingyue felt a strange mix of emotions. The country had become like this, what was the emperor doing, who was high above everyone else?

"Little sisters, where did you come from?"

"Waaah------ We came from Wangpo Town in Meng County. The southern barbarians are about to invade, everyone has fled, my father is dead, waaaah-------"

Upon hearing this, Gu Qingyue understood.

This is a county town near Nanchong Pass, but it's still quite a distance from Nanchong Pass. Could it be that Meng County has already fallen? If Meng County has fallen, wouldn't that mean Nanchong Pass has fallen long ago?

But there's nothing like that at Nanchong Pass; something's strange.

If you can't figure it out, don't think about it for now. Seeing that the little girl couldn't say anything, don't ask her anymore.

Looking up again, Gu Qingyue saw a group of refugees surrounding her, and she suddenly realized what was happening.

Those people, seeing that I was dressed neatly, must have assumed that I was there to feed this old woman and her child; you could tell from the shrewd glint in the eyes of a few of them.

She wouldn't be so foolish as to give the old woman food in this situation. If she did, the old woman and her two children would become the targets of everyone's attacks.

If they can't get food, they might even lose their lives, and they'll be surrounded and attacked.

She understood the psychology of refugees all too well; when faced with a life-or-death test, many people had no moral bottom line.

After looking around, seeing the refugees all pale and emaciated, with dark circles under their eyes, and their clothes so worn that their original color was barely discernible, Gu Qingyue felt a pang of pity.

Gu Qingyue raised her hand to beckon everyone over.

With a quick step, she landed on a large rock nearby and shouted, "Fellow villagers, Lizhou City is not far ahead. Three miles outside the city, the merchants are distributing porridge. Hurry up and go. There will be a queue, so don't fight. Everyone will get some porridge. Just keep walking in this direction and you'll get there."

Upon hearing this, the refugees stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

Many of them had never left the town in their entire lives, let alone knew where Lizhou City was.

They fled because they heard by word of mouth that Lizhou City was in this direction, so they came with hope.

But they had no idea when they would see the gates of Lizhou City, and they were already in despair from hunger.

Now that someone is telling them that they are not far away and there is porridge to fill their stomachs, how could they not be excited?

The refugees bowed to Gu Qingyue in gratitude.

"Thank you, bro!"

"Thank you, there's finally hope!"

"What a kind person!"

As they spoke, they immediately helped each other and walked in the direction Gu Qingyue pointed.

Where there is hope, there is hope.

While Gu Qingyue was overjoyed, her mood became even heavier.

Along the way, Gu Qingyue encountered more and more refugees. Of course, there were also bandits who robbed and plundered the refugees. Gu Qingyue dealt with them all without hesitation.

In this chaotic place, if you don't kill, you'll be killed; it's brutal and bloody, and there's no civilization to speak of.

Gu Qingyue adapted to local customs and killed bandits without hesitation. She had no compassionate thoughts, nor did she intend to educate or reform the bandits.

The knife fell quickly and decisively.

For ordinary people, and for ourselves, just to live, while some people don't deserve to live.

It was already the afternoon of the third day when we returned to the camp.

After setting down her luggage at the small tent, Gu Qingyue took her medicine box and went to the main medical tent.

It's said that Mu Yun Chu went directly to the vicinity of Nan Chong Guan, and it seems that Gu Qing Yue has no chance to find him now. She is also helpless and hopes that he can be safe and sound.

"Qingyue is back? Is General Mu feeling better?" Zhao Lansheng immediately came forward to greet her.

His gaze toward Gu Qingyue was deep, tinged with a hint of joy.