Villainous Fake Eunuch (5)
“You…”
Song Xuyi stood there, momentarily stunned, unsure of how to react. Instinctively, she glanced at the old doctor, but he turned his head away, avoiding her gaze, and tightened his grip on the reins—
At that exact moment, the man in the carriage turned to look at Song Xuyi, his brows furrowing. Before Song Xuyi could react, she felt a sudden, immense force at her waist, and in the next instant, she found herself in the carriage.
“Doctor, I noticed there’s still some room in the carriage. You wouldn’t mind if the two of us joined, would you?” The man spoke unhurriedly, glancing at Aunt Wang, who was chasing after them from the roadside in the distance.
The old doctor remained silent, but the woman in the carriage nodded anxiously and repeatedly. The man chuckled softly, then pulled Song Xuyi into the carriage to sit down.
The two horses, overwhelmed by the heavy load, trudged forward slowly. Seeing that the two of them had boarded the carriage, Aunt Wang stopped chasing after them.
Song Xuyi squeezed into a corner of the carriage, watching the elderly woman inside softly comforting the child in her arms. She couldn’t help but think of the countless villagers in Wang Family Village who regarded the old doctor as their pillar of support, causing her frown to deepen…
The carriage moved slowly along, passing by dozens of houses in Wang Family Village that had white soul-guiding banners1 hanging outside, past the weathered village entrance plaque, and onto the only road leading out of the village.
Seeing that they had left the village, the elderly woman in the carriage noticeably let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps sensing that the danger had passed, the child in her arms grinned, stretching out his hand to offer Song Xuyi a crumpled piece of candy he had been clutching.
“Qiu Ge’er!”2
Seeing the child’s action, the elderly woman nervously glanced at the man beside Song Xuyi, who was sitting with his eyes closed, seemingly resting. She hurriedly pulled the child into her arms.
Throughout the journey, Song Xuyi had been observing these two. When she saw the child’s vacant eyes and the drool dripping from the corners of his mouth, Song Xuyi confirmed her suspicion: this child was mentally impaired.
The child, unaware of the situation, continued to fuss, still trying to offer the candy to Song Xuyi. The elderly woman grew anxious and finally slapped the child on the back.
The child burst into tears with a loud wail, and the elderly woman’s tears began to flow as well—
“Why are you so thoughtless?” The elderly woman cried with deep sorrow. “Your grandpa has abandoned us, and now it’s just an old woman like me taking care of you. How will we survive…”
“Didn’t I already say?” The old doctor’s suppressed, hoarse voice came from the front: “My nephew is a man of his word. He promised to look after you, and he certainly won’t go back on his word…”
“And what about you?” The elderly woman stared ahead, her expression visibly agitated. “We’ve been married for half our lives, and you expect me to just watch you walk down a path of no return?”
“This isn’t a path of no return,” the old doctor continued to explain, though there was a noticeable hint of guilt in his voice. “I’ve almost figured out the general formula. Given some time, I can definitely eradicate this plague!”
“Given some time, given some time! You said the same thing last time!” The elderly woman’s tone became increasingly agitated. “But by the time you finally came up with the formula, our son had already been dead for seven days!”3 As she spoke, the elderly woman began to wipe her tears again. “I’ve lived with you for half a lifetime; don’t I know you? If it weren’t for this plague getting out of control, would you really be thinking of sending us away?”
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“The plague keeps coming back, and more and more people are dying. Over half the people in Wang Family Village have started coughing. Your formula might cure them once, but what about the second time? The third time?”
The old doctor fell silent.
For a moment, the only sounds in the carriage were the elderly woman’s sobs and the sucking noises of the mentally impaired child with his candy.
Song Xuyi pressed her lips together tightly, her emotions complicated as she glanced at the old doctor’s thin and frail back outside the carriage. She had initially thought that the old doctor wanted to escape as well, but she hadn’t expected that his intention was to send his family away while he stayed behind to live or die with Wang Family Village.
“System, I want to go outside first to contact Gu Ruyu, then bring people back to Wang Family Village,” Song Xuyi finally spoke softly in her mind, after much consideration. “I think the old doctor’s formula is effective, but in this era, people have no awareness of how to prevent plagues. So many people have died in Wang Family Village, yet they’re still holding banquets everywhere, and the bodies haven’t been dealt with. In such circumstances, it’s easy for the plague to spread again and again. The old doctor can’t handle this alone; I want to help him…”
“But you’ve just managed to escape!” The system was shocked that Song Xuyi was actually considering going back to Gu Ruyu, and exclaimed, “Doing so will delay your mission…”
“Zheng Lian’s current situation is relatively safe, but in Wang Family Village, lives are in imminent danger…” Song Xuyi tried to persuade the system. Just then, the man beside her suddenly opened his eyes, pulled Song Xuyi into his embrace, and quickly crouched down—
The man’s chest was incredibly hard. Caught off guard, Song Xuyi slammed into it, feeling as if she had collided with an iron plate, and it hurt so much that she almost cried out—
At that moment, the horse pulling the carriage suddenly let out a mournful whinny, and an arrow whizzed in from the front, embedding itself in the wall of the carriage with a tremor—
What is this?
Song Xuyi’s eyes widened, and in the next instant, she heard the sound of hoofbeats approaching from ahead.
The sound of hoofbeats was synchronized, powerful, and clearly indicated that more than one person was approaching.
The man frowned as he lifted the curtain of the carriage to look outside—
About ten meters away was a troop that appeared strong and robust. The number of soldiers exceeded a hundred. Each soldier was tall and well-built, their armor encasing their strong frames, making the old doctor in front of the carriage look even more hunched and frail.
“The magistrate has issued an order: it is strictly forbidden for anyone in Wang Family Village to go outside. Those who disobey will be executed without mercy!” The leading general looked down at the group, his disdainful gaze as if he were watching a swarm of ants.
No doctor, no medicine, no officials…
Song Xuyi scrutinized the group, and an unpleasant suspicion suddenly surfaced in her mind. Meanwhile, the old doctor seemed unaware of the current situation. He stepped down from the carriage and took a couple of steps forward, trying to explain, “I am a doctor; we only wish to visit relatives and are not breaking any laws…”
Before the old doctor could finish his words, the general had already picked up his bow again, his face cold as he drew an arrow and aimed it at the old doctor: “If you come any closer, you will be killed without mercy!”
The arrow whizzed past the old doctor’s leg, buzzing loudly, proving that the general was not joking.
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The old doctor froze in place, his legs trembling. After a long moment, he finally realized what was happening, and his expression became agitated as he looked at the general: “You can’t do this! This is attempting to take lives! There are so many villagers in Wang Family Village, and many have not contracted the disease. This plague is not without a cure…”
“Not without a cure?” The general looked at the old doctor and scoffed mockingly, “His Majesty specifically sent the imperial physician from the Imperial Medical Institute to examine it, and the physician diagnosed it as an incurable disease. How dare you, a mere barefoot doctor from the countryside, question the skills of the imperial physicians?”
“Truly a frog at the bottom of a well!”4
“Anyway,” the general raised his bow again slowly, the cold arrow tip aimed at the spot where the old doctor stood. Seeing the old doctor’s expression of despair, he instinctively shrank back. The general let out a loud laugh, further mocking, “This road is surrounded by elite soldiers. I advise you to be sensible and return to Wang Family Village as soon as possible!”
……
In an instant, there was a stalemate.
The old doctor stood between the carriage and the army, his wrinkled face flushed red, and his disheveled white hair made him look like a comical clown.
A hero who dedicated himself to others, even willing to sacrifice his own life, should not end up in such a situation!
Song Xuyi clenched her fists, feeling a bit distressed, and bit her lip as she stepped down from the carriage.
As if ignoring the general’s show of force with his bow and arrow, Song Xuyi walked over to the old doctor and helped him up, speaking softly, “Old doctor, please take care of yourself. There are countless people waiting for you to save them.”
The old doctor was taken aback. In his mind, Song Xuyi was an impolite, cowardly bandit who forcibly wanted to leave Wang Family Village; he had never expected this young girl would speak so.
However, what Song Xuyi said made a lot of sense.
The old doctor glanced at the elite soldiers and ultimately turned the horse’s head around, his face filled with indignation.
As he got back into the carriage, Song Xuyi caught the man’s gaze fixed on her. His expression became somewhat strange, and she instinctively smiled at him. However, the man merely pressed his lips together, his eyes filled with complex indifference as he turned away.
“This must be the magistrate acting on his own,” the old doctor maintained a stern face and didn’t speak until the soldiers were no longer visible. Finally, he said with outrage, “I must find a way to report this and complain to His Majesty the Emperor!”
Song Xuyi’s lips moved, but in the end, she didn’t speak up: the elite soldiers of this caliber couldn’t be mobilized by just a magistrate; it was likely due to the emperor’s orders.
In recent years, the emperor had become obsessed with alchemical medicines, believing he was seizing the right timing. While he felt smug about it, he also feared retribution. In ancient times, plagues were often seen as divine punishment, and perhaps the emperor thought this outbreak was heaven’s punishment for him personally, leading him to want to keep it hidden.
Song Xuyi remained silent, but the man beside her scoffed, “What if all of this is indeed at His Majesty the Emperor’s behest?”
“That’s impossible—” The old doctor instinctively wanted to deny it, but as he recalled the emperor’s recent actions, his voice grew softer and eventually trailed off into silence.
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Song Xuyi hadn’t expected that the man shared her thoughts and couldn’t help but glance at him in surprise; yet, he leaned back against the carriage wall, closing his eyes, as if the person who had spoken earlier was not him at all.
The carriage slowly returned to the village.
By this time, night had fallen, and the night wind was chilly. The sounds of lamentation and joy echoed through the village, yellow paper5 fluttered in the air, and the white banners at the village entrance looked especially desolate and cold in the darkness.
The old doctor remained silent throughout the journey, gazing at the scene with a heavy sigh. However, the woman in the carriage seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and smiled, saying, “Life and death are in fate; don’t worry too much. Since the heavens have pushed us to this point, I can only go along with you…”
A glimmer of tears crossed the murky depths of the old doctor’s eyes as he lowered his head and fell silent.
Once they entered the village, in order to prevent others from discovering that the old doctor had hidden his wife and grandson in the carriage, Song Xuyi and the man got off at the village entrance.
Now that they couldn’t go out, Song Xuyi thought for a moment and decided to go to the old doctor’s home and volunteer to study the plague with him. Just then, the man beside her suddenly turned around, his gaze fixed intently on Song Xuyi. “If I find a way to escape from Wang Family Village, will you come with me?”
LP: Re-translated on August 12, 2024
Footnotes
- Soul-Guiding Banners (引魂幡): In Chinese culture, white banners, often referred to as “soul-guiding banners” (引魂幡, yǐnhún fān), are traditionally hung outside homes during funerals. The white color symbolizes mourning and is believed to guide the soul of the deceased.
- Qiu Ge’er (秋哥兒): The term “哥兒” (gē’er) is an affectionate diminutive often used for young boys. In this context, “秋哥兒” (Qiū gē’er) could be translated as “Little Qiu” or “Qiu Boy”.
- Head Seven (頭七): “頭七” (tóuqī) refers to the traditional Chinese mourning period that ends on the seventh day after a person’s death. It is believed that the soul of the deceased returns home on the seventh day to bid farewell to their loved ones.
- Frog at the Bottom of a Well (井底之蛙): The phrase “井底之蛙” (jǐng dǐ zhī wā) is a Chinese idiom that describes a person with a limited perspective or narrow-mindedness.
- Yellow Paper (黃紙): In Chinese culture, yellow paper is often associated with funerary rites and rituals, symbolizing the sending of messages to the afterlife or representing wealth for the deceased.