General’s Gown - CH 43

Chapter 43 The Desert Kiss Part 8

“Not dead.” Helian Rongchuan said: “But only half a breath left.”

The little girl cried even more sadly when she heard that. Almost at the same time, Helian Rongchuan and Yan Changqing stretched their hands to the old woman to lift her up.

Helian Rongchuan smiled softly. “Let me.” Before the words came out, he had lifted the old woman onto his back. Yan Changqing was no longer long-winded. Holding the little girl’s hand, they walked out of the tent.

Not far from the soup kitchen was the medicine shed for the aid relief of the plague. However, there were far less lively people compared to the soup kitchen here. A row of small medicine stoves were boiling and steaming, but there was no disaster victim who came to collect the medicine. Little imperial physician Wei Jin had a white handkerchief tied to his face and was nestled on a small wooden bench. The big palm leaf fan used to stoke the fire slid to his feet, and his head was like a chicken pecking rice, as he was about to fall asleep.

Helian Rongchuan didn’t pay attention to his feet, and accidentally kicked an empty medicine jar. With a “bang”, Wei Jin was agitated in his dream and opened his eyes in a daze.

Helian Rongchuan: “It’s the auspicious opening day, the children should come out to welcome the guests!”

Wei Jin:???

Yan Changqing: …

After half an incense later.

Wei Jin frowned slightly, and carefully pulled out the silver needles stuck in the old woman’s Zhong and Baihui acupoints. The old woman gasped and slowly opened her muddy eyes.

“Grandma!” The little girl rushed forward, crying and laughing.

Wei Jin held a porridge bowl, seeming to want to feed the old woman. Yan Changqing, seeing the kerchief on his nose was loose, quickly reminded him. Wei Jin smiled frankly. “The general doesn’t need to worry. She doesn’t have the plague. She is just hungry.”

Yan Changqing’s eyebrows wrinkled deeply. He obviously sent people to distribute food for disaster relief as soon as he entered the city. How could such a thing happen?

After hearing Wei Jin’s words, the little girl bowed her head guiltily, and murmured. “It’s me who has not been good. I have been in line for almost a day before getting a bowl of porridge. When I got back, grandma was already like this… blame me.”

Helian Rongchuan squatted down, rubbed the little girl’s head, and asked, “Didn’t you hear that the relief food was distributed three days ago? Where is your food?”

The old woman on the side, because she drank Wei Jin’s white porridge, had a bit of spirit and  said weakly, “They bullied this old grandma! The food was robbed as soon as I got it in my hands and before it warmed my hands. I had to ask Little Liu Er to line up to receive the porridge, and they cut in line again. I couldn’t even receive a bowl, sigh…”

The old grandma spoke, while helpless tears shed on her face revealing her wrinkles and vicissitudes of life.

“They? Who are they?” Yan Changqing asked.

Was it the brawny guys he met just now?

Yan Changqing’s face was pale, and he immediately sent someone to grab the few brawny men who had jumped the line to eat, and escorted them into the yamen for questioning.

After fifty big boards were sent down, the few strong men trembled like a sieve, shivering uncontrollably.

It turned out that they were all helpers hired by a few wealthy businessmen in Qinchuan City. Some of them were in charge of cutting the line for the aid relief to freeload food. Even more of them were to take advantage of the fire at night to pick on orphans, widows, mothers, the elderly, the weak and the sick after the earthquake. All the looted grains were handed over to wealthy businessmen and resold at high prices.

On the one hand, it cut off the victims’ access to food, and on the other hand, they sold the looted food back to the victims at high prices. What a good scheme!

“These victims don’t even have money to eat, so what can they exchange for food?” Helian Rongchuan asked suddenly.

Several strong men lowered their heads and looked at each other, no one dared to speak first.

Yan Changqing looked at them coldly, and said slowly, “It seems that the fifty boards were still too light.”

“I’ll speak, I’ll speak!” The several strong men were almost scared into tears by Yan Changqing. When they first entered the yamen, they looked rather obscenely at the eyes of Yan Changqing and his thin waist. But now, they just wanted to kneel down and hug Yan Changqing’s legs and call out “Grandpa, please forgive me.”

“If you can’t get the money, you can sell your body.” A strong man lowered his head, fearing to make a mistake and being hit by a board. Cowering, he said, “As long as you pay the money or sell your body, you can get food.”

Another strong man spoke a little aggrieved, and murmured in a low voice.

Helian Rongchuan stepped forward and unceremoniously kicked him. “What are you mumbling for?! Speak louder, or this grandpa will beat you!”

“Grandpa, please forgive me!” The brawny man hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed: “In fact, we have been wronged. It’s not just us, even the citizens have robbed food, but it has been counted on our heads. I…I don’t…” The more he spoke, the less emboldened he was.

Strange. The food allocated to each household was sufficient, so why do they have to steal other people’s food?

The brawny man continued to explain with a guilty conscience. “Because if you hand in enough food, you can receive the holy medicine to cure diseases and ward off evil…”

“It’s the holy medicine again?!” Wei Jin suddenly jumped off the armchair and said, “No wonder there were so many victims unwilling to receive my painstakingly made medicine. It turned out to be your evil ways?”

Yan Changqing turned his head in confusion, “Isn’t it said that your medicine, although it can’t cure the disease, can also greatly alleviate the plague? How can everyone not take it?”

Wei Jin cried, “They don’t believe in my medicine!”

Standing aside, the Qinchuan County Chief, who had been too scared to say anything, seemed to be trying to please him, and couldn’t help saying. ” My lord …My Lord, have you ever heard of a sentence, ‘The earth crack, thousands of ghosts come out!’?”

Yan Changqing nodded, and the bitter spiteful face of Bei Rong’s Marshal Ah Du Lie appeared in his eyes before he died.

The Chief guessed Yan Changqing’s face and continued boldly: “My lord might not know, but it is said that the earthquake and plague in Qinchuan City were caused by the White Wolf King’s disaster. Only the witch doctor’s holy medicine can resolve it. But this holy medicine is extremely rare. It is something only the wealthy people can get from the witch doctors and then resell them to the people. So…” The Chief stopped speaking.

Yan Changqing finally came to understand why they had been distributing food, but the people of Qinchuan still couldn’t get enough to eat. It turns out that this so-called holy medicine was at work!

The sick people, hungry for the holy medicine, grabbed other people’s food in exchange for medicine. The people who were not sick had their food forcibly taken away, then either starved to death or sold themselves for food!

Qinchuan City was located in a remote area, so the citizens were not civilized, and worshiped sacrifices to witchcraft. Yan Changqing had heard of it before, but he did not expect it to be so serious. Unexpectedly, the food for disaster relief brought by him and Helian Rongchuan in the end was handed over into the hands of opportunistic wealthy businessmen and so-called witch doctors!

Yan Changqing suddenly felt that he had thought of the disaster of Qinchuan City as being too simple. There were not only natural disasters, but also man-made disasters.

To cure the natural disasters, they must first eliminate the man-made disasters!

——————————

Night.

Helian Rongchuan crossed one leg over the other and laid on the couch bed in the tent with a smile, looking at the figure behind the screen.

His Chanqing was really innocent. He just wanted to change clothes and thought that as long as he hid behind the screen, he wouldn’t be able to see it. Yet, he never thought that the silhouette of him changing clothes on the screen was also tickling.

After the cross-examination and discussion, several strong men came out with the secret place where the wealthy Qinchuan merchants contacted witch doctors to buy the holy medicine —— it was the underground black market in Qinchuan city. In order to lure the snake out of the hole, Yan Changqing decided to go to the black market to investigate. In order to prevent being questioned by black market merchants, he and Helian Rongchuan deliberately dressed up as rich merchants in Beirong. There was also a plague in Beirong, so it will not arouse others’ suspicion.

At this time, Helian Rongchuan had changed into a hidden blue bat pattern straight-breasted gown, a black rhino horn belt around his waist, and a circle of thin mink hair like dandelions on the hem of his clothes. This was exactly what the richest masters of Beirong wore the most often. Although this outfit was quite flamboyant, it inexplicably suited Helian Rongchuan’s unruly temperament.

“Master Yan?” Helian Rongchuan yelled, tilting his head against the black silhouette on the screen.  “Are you ready, do you want me to go over— ”

“No.”

Yan Changqing sorted out the neckline and walked out from behind the screen. He also changed into the outfit of a wealthy businessman in Beirong. A straight green robe with wide sleeves and a silver-lined vermilion belt of the same color tied around his waist made it even thinner and straighter. Bei Rong was a nation that lived on horseback, but the wealthy businessmen regarded wide-sleeved, gorgeous and complicated gowns as being noble. It seemed that the more unfavorable the clothing, the more they could highlight their dignity. Yan Changqing was accustomed to wearing tight-fitting attire with a waist and narrow sleeves, so he was not used to this cumbersome outfit. Helian Rongchuan felt that what was in front of his eyes was bright, and the gorgeous dress gave Yan Changqing a completely different temperament from the past.

Yan Changqing was a little uncomfortable and Helian Rongchuan had a fixed gaze. He scowled and said, “What are you looking at, why aren’t we going?”

Helian Rongchuan chuckled in a low voice, “You can’t go like this.” He walked behind Yan Changqing, then gently unbuckled the jade buckle behind his belt and raised it:

“You buckled it backwards, be careful that you don’t accidentally reveal the secret.”

Yan Changqing was surprised for a moment. He was not familiar with Beirong’s clothing. When he was wearing it just now, he was a little confused about the complicated buckle method of the belt, and he indeed buckled it wrong. So he grabbed the belt and buckled it again.

However, somehow, after several times in succession, it was still to no avail. That is, he couldn’t button it.

Under Helian Rongchuan’s unblinking gaze, Yan Changqing couldn’t help being a little impatient, his ears flushed slightly.

“You…” Helian Rongchuan smiled and shook his head.

He grabbed the belt in Yan Changqing’s hand and faced Yan Changqing. He wrapped his hands around Yan Changqing’s waist, as if embracing him, and buckled the belt again.

The jade buckle of this belt was extremely gorgeous, with a total of eight hidden buckles. It was meant to be auspicious, but it was not easy to buckle.

Helian Rongchuan almost completely embraced Yan Changqing. He lowered his head, as if he was seriously thinking about the buckle method, but his warm breath seemed to sweep over Yan Changqing’s sensitive neck.

Yan Changqing immediately pushed him away vigilantly. Helian Rongchuan deliberately glanced at the hourglass timer on the case table.

Yes. The opening time of the black market was approaching, he must not delay, and must not make any mistakes.

He had to compromise.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

Helian Rongchuan whispered a count every time a button was made. Obviously it was a very simple word, but it wasn’t clear why Helian Rongchuan’s low and magnetic whisper would make a person’s heart so chaotic.

“Seven.” Helian Rongchuan suddenly turned his head, seeming to be very puzzled. “Eh, why is Master Yan’s heart beating so fast?”

Yan Changqing suddenly became a little nervous. “I didn’t– ”

Helian Rongchuan didn’t wait for Yan Changqing to finish. He tightened his arms suddenly, and the two chests were pressed close to each other. He lowered his head and quickly kissed the corner of Yan Changqing’s mouth.

“Don’t object.” Helian Rongchuan smiled deeper, and gently stroked Yan Changqing’s chest. “Look, now it’s beating even faster.”