Lou Xin pressed her lips together and said, “Thank you, Divine Doctor.”
She stood up, bowed slightly, and turned to leave for the back hall.
Lou Xiaowu, noticing her suppressed anger, said to Mo Sigui, “I’ll go check on Sixth Elder as well.”
The others followed Lou Xin and Lou Xiaowu out, leaving only Mo Sigui and An Jiu in the room.
Mo Sigui could see Lou Xin’s displeasure, but he didn’t care. “Why did you come? Missing me already after just one day apart?”
An Jiu ignored his latter comment and said, “I was attacked in Bianjing. The Crane Control Army rescued me, and when I returned to Meihua Village, I was assigned to accompany the Lou family here.”
Mo Sigui rested his chin on his fan handle, his alluring eyes glancing at her as he said casually, “You were attacked? These people have no standards, targeting even minor characters.”
An Jiu nodded, “So I heard you were attacked too.”
“Ha!” Mo Sigui chuckled, sitting up straight. “I especially enjoy chatting with you. It’s great for practicing patience.”
Before meeting An Jiu, Mo Sigui had never been outdone in the art of teasing. Encountering someone who could render him speechless was quite interesting.
After sitting for a while, Mo Sigui prepared to go to the ice cellar when he suddenly realized something. “Wait! They all left, who’s going to carry the bodies?!”
An Jiu looked at him silently, and the atmosphere suddenly turned somber.
“Don’t be like that, it’s eerie,” Mo Sigui said, moving closer to her. “Mei Fourteen, come with me to the ice cellar.”
“No,” An Jiu flatly refused. She had come only to understand the situation, not to exert herself.
“If you accompany me, I’ll devote my life to healing your meridians,” Mo Sigui called out.
An Jiu paused at the doorway, turning her head to look at him. “If I don’t go, you won’t be able to resist treating me anyway, right?”
Given Mo Sigui’s obsession with medicine, he wouldn’t be able to resist an unusual injury. An Jiu wasn’t falling for this trick.
Left alone in the spacious meeting hall, Mo Sigui could have abandoned the task. But out of a doctor’s responsibility, he couldn’t ignore the bodies in the ice cellar that could potentially cause a major epidemic.
Mo Sigui picked up a lantern and went to the back hall to find someone to lead him to the firewood storage, feeling justified in his actions.
Although angry, Lou Xin didn’t leave Mo Sigui hanging for long. After all, this was the Lou family’s matter, and his help was already a favor.
With winter requiring more firewood, the Lou estate had stored plenty of dry wood. Mo Sigui looked at the sky, estimating that it wouldn’t snow again, and ordered all the firewood to be moved out. He then took one person with him to carry bodies from the ice cellar.
As a century-old prestigious family, even though the Lou clan had dwindled, they still had over forty members including servants. Even if each person only had one maid to attend them, it would be an equal number.
As expected, all the deceased were servants. Even if they had martial arts skills, most were below the fourth level and couldn’t withstand such extreme cold. Almost all of them were piled up at the entrance of the ice cellar, saving the effort of searching for them.
It seemed that some had tried to escape from the ice cellar, which was why Lou Mingyue had stood guard at the tunnel entrance with her sword.
Mo Sigui worked through the night, removing a total of 107 bodies, over half of which were girls aged thirteen or fourteen.
Seeing these lives cut short before they could bloom, Mo Sigui felt a deep sadness.
The woodpile was doused with a thick layer of oil. When torches were thrown on it, it burst into flames. The bodies had been completely frozen, and it took from dawn until afternoon for them all to be reduced to ashes.
Mo Sigui ordered people to go down the mountain to buy large quantities of atractylodes and soapberry for another round of disinfection.
In the evening, the people who went to buy medicine returned with terrifying news – an epidemic had broken out in the outskirts of Bianjing!
Usually, epidemics occur in spring and summer, but this one, happening in the dead of winter, spreads just as quickly as a summer outbreak. In a village north of the city, everyone fell ill within two days, with deaths occurring one after another. The villagers, panicking, tried to flee elsewhere.
Fortunately, the court was prepared this time and barely managed to quarantine the entire village.
“This servant heard that other villages have also discovered cases of the epidemic,” reported the person who had gone to purchase the medicinal herbs.
The meeting hall fell into dead silence. Lou Mingyue, seated at the head, turned pale. In just one night, this girl not yet twenty had streaks of white in her hair at the temples, making her look five or six years older.
Everyone present knew where this “epidemic” had originated. Given the high altitude and howling north wind, the poison might have been carried elsewhere. Another possibility was that when the Lou family sent for help to Meihua Village, they unwittingly spread the poison to villages along the way.
Lou Xin stammered, “But we took secluded paths and never went near any villages!”
“It seems someone has improved the plague bug,” Mo Sigui said gravely. “In the past, as long as one didn’t have close contact with an infected person, there was no risk of transmission. Now, the toxin is much more potent than before, not only easily transmissible but also with a shortened incubation period by one day.”
Based on the toxicity of the original plague bug, Mo Sigui had estimated that delaying the disposal of those still alive in the ice cellar for a few days wouldn’t be a problem. But now…
The gazes directed at Lou Mingyue varied. Lou Xin and Lou Xiaowu’s sorrowful looks held a glimmer of hope that she might find a solution to protect both the Lou clan members and innocent people. However, this hope, falling on Lou Mingyue’s shoulders, was like a mountain crushing her.
Mo Sigui, on the other hand, hoped she would quickly decide to burn those deeply infected, which seemed too cruel for Lou Mingyue.
Seeing that familiar yet strange face so haggard, Mo Sigui’s heart softened, and he turned away, unable to bear the sight.
Lou Mingyue stood up and walked out of the meeting hall. At the door, she suddenly stopped and looked up at the four bold characters on the plaque.
An Jiu, leaning against the inside of the door closest to her, saw how the dazzling snow made her pale skin appear almost transparent. The words on the plaque were reflected in her glass-like eyes.
Loyalty, Righteousness, Honor, and Integrity.
Lou Mingyue closed her eyes and forced out a single word through gritted teeth, “Burn!”
The hoarse voice carrying those four words – Loyalty, Righteousness, Honor, and Integrity – struck An Jiu’s heart like a heavy hammer, leaving an indelible mark.
“You all should go back,” Mo Sigui said. “Mei Fourteen and I will handle this.”
This was a thankless task. Although it was Lou Mingyue’s decision, no one could calmly face someone who had personally ended the lives of their loved ones. Surprisingly, An Jiu didn’t object this time.
Mei Jiu was already sobbing uncontrollably as if the people to be burned were her clan members.
Lou Mingyue took a deep breath and said resolutely, “No! I must go. How else will I remember this blood debt if I don’t see it with my own eyes!”
“I’m going too!” Lou Xiaowu said.