get married first, fall in love later

Qian Xiaobao pondered for a moment and asked: "Dare you all come from the disaster-stricken village?"

"That's right," the young man looked Qian Xiaobao and his party up and down, seeing that they were dressed luxuriously and had an extraordinary bearing.Immediately, some meager hope rose in my heart, and I asked hesitantly, "Are you sent by the imperial court to provide disaster relief?"

Several people were shocked when they heard the words, it seems that as they expected, the disaster-stricken place has not received any assistance so far.

Qian Xiaobao raised his head and looked at the expectant eyes of more than a dozen people on the opposite side. Although he couldn't bear it in his heart, he still replied truthfully: "No, we are just passing through here."

The young man was very disappointed when he heard this, waved his hands and said impatiently: "Even if you are an insignificant person, don't babble and block our way here." After he finished speaking, he turned around and added: "I would like to advise you, don't go any further. There are dozens of miles around here that have been affected by disasters. The dead fled, and the rest were all infected with the deadly plague. If you want to survive, you should leave here as soon as possible. good."

At this time, the middle-aged man who had been arguing with him before came up, grabbed the young man's arm and said, "Okay, okay, tell them what to do after so much, it's important to hurry."

When it comes to the young people on the road, they naturally thought of the unresolved problem of whereabouts before, and immediately shook off the opponent's hand, frowned and said: "Even if the road is not far enough, we should wrap up the dry food as soon as possible. Let's go our separate ways!"

Before the middle-aged man had time to answer, a woman who still had charm walked out of the crowd, walked up to the young man, bowed her head and gently persuaded: "Why don't you listen to your second uncle and go to Zhuzhou, the magistrate of Yuzhou City is afraid The city was infiltrated with plague-stricken people, and the city was sealed off half a month ago, even if we arrived, we might not even be able to enter the city gate."

The young man turned to the woman and complained, "Mother..."

The woman patted the back of his hand, and continued to persuade: "Furthermore, if we are a large family of more than a dozen people, if we really separate into two places, without each other's help, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult to survive."

After the young man heard this, although he was still a little unwilling, he still nodded his head reluctantly.

Qian Xiaobao listened to the side for a while, and he understood the ins and outs of the matter clearly in his heart. Seeing that everyone had discussed everything and was about to leave, he immediately stepped forward to stop the young man and said, "Wait a minute."

As he spoke, he took off his purse from his waist, weighed it, put it in his hand and said, "These silver taels should be able to help you get to Zhuzhou safely."

The young man froze for a moment, staring at the purse in his hand as if he couldn't believe his eyes, and said, "This...these are all for us?"

Qian Xiaobao nodded, and the young man knelt down with a "snap" as if he had suddenly woken up, bent over and was about to kowtow.

Qian Xiaobao reached out and quickly touched his shoulder with a folding fan: "Little brother, don't do this, please get up."

But the young man seemed to have his own persistence, he pushed the folding fan away with his palm, looked at her firmly and said: "Young master, I really can't repay you for your kindness, so I can only express my gratitude with this." After finishing speaking, "Papapapa "After kowtowing three times, he stood up.

Ouyang Xi also came up at this time, looked at the young man's family and asked suspiciously: "It's been more than a month since this disaster happened, why do you only think of fleeing now?"

The young man's mother heard the words and replied: "I don't know what the girl is. In the beginning, only Niujia Village and Lijia Village were affected by the flood. Our Pinghu County has not suffered much damage because of the slightly higher terrain."

Hearing the words, Jiang Qingxiao stepped forward and interjected, "Since you didn't suffer any disaster, why are you running away?"

"Alas," the woman sighed, her tone full of helplessness: "You can escape the flood, but you can't escape the plague. I don't know if it's because some people who were affected by the disaster went to Pinghu County to bring the plague. Since more than ten days ago At the beginning, a large-scale plague suddenly broke out in the entire county."

The young man's second uncle interjected: "The epidemic is really severe. By the time we left the city the day before yesterday, it may have killed nearly half of the people in the city."

Jiang Qingxiao was speechless when she heard the words: "Is this disease really that serious?"

At this time, the young man standing beside her was taking advantage of the time when everyone was talking, packing up the dry rations and carrying them on his shoulders, and carefully putting the money bag given by Qian Xiaobao into his bosom. Hearing this, he hurriedly said: "This plague is fierce. I heard that half of the people in Niujia Village and Lijia Village died here. Miss, don't underestimate it."

"Yes, yes," the middle-aged woman persuaded: "If you guys don't have any important matters, don't go any further."

Qian Xiaobao, who was standing by frowning and listening to their conversation silently, suddenly asked, "Is there no cure for this disease?"

The middle-aged woman sighed again and said: "Speaking of which, we have a miracle doctor in Pinghu County. Although the doctor Wu is young, he is very skilled in medicine."

"My mother is right." As soon as he talked about this person, even the young people before him had bright eyes: "I suddenly got a strange disease half a year ago, and it was cured by the witch doctor."

"Since there is such a miracle doctor, why is it difficult to cure this disease?"

"At the end of the day, it's not because the witch doctor is so famous in the Jianghu, he has to be invited to see a doctor from time to time, and he is often not in the city. Because we don't know if we can wait for her to return to the city, so our family has no choice but to do this. He fled in a hurry."

Qian Xiaobao nodded lightly when he heard the words: "So that's the case." Looking at the sun that was gradually setting in the west, he hurriedly urged them: "It's getting late, you should hurry up and get on the road."

Everyone then thanked Qian Xiaobao again for his gift, and left with tears of gratitude.

After those people had gone far away, Qian Xiaobao and his party returned to the carriage to fetch water and dry food, found a clean space to sit around and discuss what had just happened, and then resolutely decided to go to Pinghu County for a visit after all.

So, after a brief rest, the few of them resumed their journey without stopping.Ouyang Xi sat on the soft bed in the carriage with his chin resting, lowered his head and thought for a while, and asked Qian Xiaobao, "Xiaobao, in your era, can the plague be cured?"

Although Qian Xiaobao didn't know why she asked the question suddenly, he still answered truthfully: "It is indeed difficult to treat, but I have never heard that so many people will die."

"Yes," Ouyang Xi frowned and said, "Although it is always said that there must be a severe epidemic after a catastrophe, most of the diseases are caused by bacteria and infections. Even if you don't have antibiotics in this era, you won't be helpless and just wait for death." ah."

"Did you think of something?"

Ouyang Xi shook his head: "No. But..."

"But what?"

"I always feel that this matter is not simple. It sounds like this disease is not just a plague. There is also the witch doctor they talked about. Why did she disappear as soon as the plague happened? Even if it is treating people, it should take so long Are you back? Why is there still no one there?"

"You suspect it has something to do with her?"

"I'm just guessing, and I won't know until I actually see it."

Qian Xiaobao nodded and said, "It's only half a day's drive to Pinghu County. We'll hurry at night and we should be able to enter the city before dawn."

As expected, as Qian Xiaobao said, the group of people worked on their horses, and finally arrived at Pinghu County before dawn.

Pinghu County is similar in area to Yongshan County, but because it is located in a trade distribution center, its population is nearly double that of Yongshan County.The Qian family has a lot of business in Yuzhou. Qian Xiaobao passed by Pinghu Lake when he went to check the accounts earlier. Seeing the beautiful scenery and quiet environment here, he even purposely stayed here for a few days to experience the unique Jiangnan style.

However, only a year later, walking on the streets of the county town again, what I saw before my eyes was already very different from the past.At this moment, it was supposed to be the busiest time of the morning market, but on the spacious and empty main street, there was no one else except Qian Xiaobao and the others.The early autumn wind blows off some yellow leaves, and spreads a thin layer on the ground, making this empty city look even more lonely.

Ouyang Xi turned his head and looked at a sizable inn not far in front of him, but the door was also closed.She took two steps forward and tapped on the door panel, but there was no response after waiting for a while.

"Could it be that everyone in Pinghu County has died?"

"Probably not." Qian Xiaobao frowned and thought for a while, and said: "The family I met earlier had only left for two days, and according to what he said, there were still more than half of the people here before leaving. No matter how severe the disease is, It won't kill everyone in this city within two days."

"Then let's go door to door to see if anyone is alive."

Qian Xiaobao nodded in agreement, and the crowd separated automatically, going door to door to check on every house.It's just that they knocked on a main street, but no one answered.

This time even Wuying couldn't help but frowned slightly, looked at Qian Xiaobao and asked in a low voice: "Master, is it possible that all the survivors in this city have also fled?"

Qian Xiaobao frowned, but finally shook his head after thinking for a while.

"I don't think so." Ouyang Xi said: "Just now we went door-to-door to check. Although no one answered, the doors of every house were locked. I quietly looked through the window. Most people's The house is clean and tidy, without any trace of being disturbed. If you really fled in a hurry, who would have the heart to tidy up the house? Besides, why don't you take all the valuables away and keep them in the house?"

"Madam Qian is right." At this time, even Li Zirong came out to help: "During the investigation, I saw a family whose windows were not closed. At a glance, there were many famous calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall. This person who loves painting always He would rather lose his life than discard his collection."

Jiang Qingxiao said again: "Then where did the people in this city go?"

"Could it be quarantined?"

"Isolation?" Everyone looked at Ouyang Xi when they heard the words.

"Oh, there used to be a very serious infectious disease called euthanasia in my hometown. In order to prevent it from spreading rapidly, whenever someone showed symptoms of the disease, they would be arranged to stay in one place and not be in contact with other people. "

"What Xi'er said is not impossible." Qian Xiaobao thought for a while and then said: "Maybe it is to prevent the spread of the epidemic, or it may be to facilitate the sick people to be taken care of together. In this situation, it is better to unite together." Good strategy."

After Qian Xiaobao finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to pull Ouyang Xi, and said to the rest of the people: "Pinghu County is not big, but it is not small. In order to find people in the city as soon as possible, we will divide into three groups. Ah Er and Qing Xiao, Young Master Li, Ah San, Xi’er and I, let’s go find them separately, and if we find anything, we will use signal flares to contact the other two teams to join us.”

"Okay!" Everyone had no objection, and after briefly discussing the details, they each chose a street to search for.