Chapter 76 - Greetings, Prefectural Princess

The lad who was picked up by Chu Junyi drooped his head and appeared to be unconscious. Chu Junyi curled up his lips coldly, and shook him by the collar back and forth for a long time.

The lad couldn’t go on pretending any longer. He opened his eyes and covered his mouth. “Oh, let go, let go of me.”

Chu Junyi released his grip. The lad’s butt fell to the ground, causing him to grimace. However, he didn’t dust off the soil on his body before he ran to the corner of the wall and spat out. After a while, he stood up with feeble arms and legs and shouted with faked ferocity, “Who are you? Why are you arresting me?”

Chu Junyi’s sharp gaze swept the lad from head to toe. From whichever aspect, he was just an immature boy. So what was special about him that attracted Shen Ninghua? “Do you know Shen Ninghua?”

The lad widened his eyes and then nodded abruptly. “Shen Ninghua? Yes, yes, that’s my sister.”

Chu Junyi frowned. “Then where is she?”

“What are you looking for my sister for? I warn you, my sister is very powerful, and I also have a super powerful brother-in-law. If you bully me, sister will definitely ask brother-in-law to avenge me.”

Chu Junyi raised his eyebrows. “Your brother-in-law is very powerful? Why don’t I know?”

“How can an ordinary person like you know about my brother-in-law? If you let me go, I won’t ask my sister to cause trouble for you, okay?”

“I don’t believe you. It’s better to silence you now.”

“No, no.” The lad’s face was filled with terror. He tried his best to restrain from trembling and quietly grabbed a handful of soil from the wall. “I tell you, if you kill me, you will definitely run into a very big trouble…” As he said that, he threw the soil in his hand towards Chu Junyi and ran away.

Chu Junyi snorted coldly. “I wonder what exactly makes him attractive to you.” His feet exerted some strength, and a stone flew out and landed on the youth’s leg. Then he jumped in front of the youth, picked him up, and disappeared into the street.

The disaster in Jiangnan became more and more serious, and many refugees were pushed to their limits. Originally, when they heard that the Imperial Court had developed a prescription for curing the plague, they were overjoyed and couldn’t wait to take the medicine. However, not only did the medicine fail to cure their illness, it almost killed them.

Their hearts were now filled with as much hatred as they had happiness before. Therefore, when they heard that the Imperial Court had again sent people down to deliver medicine, their first feeling was not happiness, but they wished to drive all of them away. If it weren’t for the medicine from the Imperial Court, how could they end up in such a miserable situation?

Shen Ninghua got off the horse. Just as her toes touched the ground, she almost fell to the ground. Qing Que hurriedly stepped forward to support her and asked, “Miss, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

Baili Jinchuan frowned and walked over. “I don’t see you are fine. We’ll arrive at Ping City in the evening. There’s no need to be in such a hurry. You should get on the carriage to have a rest now.”

Although there was a carriage, Shen Ninghua had never sat in it. She rode her horse and bumped with them all the way to Jiangnan. The horses had already been changed five times, but she stubbornly persevered, which made people feel sorry for her.

Shen Ninghua did not say anything. She sat down and slowly drank water. She knew very well in her heart that she was not trying to be brave, but that the people of Jiangnan couldn’t wait. If she dragged on, something big would really happen to Jiangnan.

Now, not to mention the five hundred guards, even the arrogant imperial doctors had complicated feelings towards Shen Ninghua. Along the way, a weak girl like her had never requested to take the carriage, so they as men naturally wouldn’t take the initiative to make the request. They had lived comfortably in the Imperial Health Institute for many years and had never ridden a horse for such a long time. Their legs and buttocks were worn out and were extremely painful. They never expected that such a young lady would persevere…

After they rested for a while, it started to rain. The Second Prince frowned and looked at the sky for a long time. “Ninghua, let’s rest here for a while. We can go on tomorrow.”

Shen Ninghua suddenly raised her head and said, “No. Your Highness, we won’t die from pushing on with our journey, but if we are late, many people in Jiangnan will die. Please distinguish which is more important.”

“You…” Baili Jinchuan gritted his teeth. He was defeated by her insistence. “Since that’s the case, then let’s keep going!”

The Second Prince angrily mounted his horse and advanced. He didn’t know why, but seeing Shen Ninghua not caring about her own body made him very angry.

At this moment, in a high courtyard in Ping City, Chu Junyi had just entered when a guard came up to greet him. “Master, this is the news that has just been received. The Second Prince and Miss Shen have brought a group of imperial doctors to Jiangnan.”

Chu Junyi’s eyes moved and he immediately threw the struggling lad to his subordinates. “Take him down and wash him clean.”

“Yes, Master.”

After Chu Junyi finished reading the letter in his hand, he directly crumpled it into a ball and said, “When will they arrive at Ping City?”

“Master, they’ll be here this evening.”

Chu Junyi looked at the rain outside and his eyes grew deeper. “I know. Do everything according to our plan. I am the young master of the Mo family. I am out on a study tour to broaden my experience. You are my guards. All of you must take care not to let the cat out of the bag.”

“Yes, we understand.”

The rain became increasingly heavier and didn’t let up until Shen Ninghua and the others arrived at the gate of Ping City. Shen Ninghua’s clothes were completely drenched. Her black hair was wet by the rain and stuck to her pale face, making her look even more fragile.

Bai Ruo was very worried. “Miss, we will be entering the city soon. You should change your clothes first, so as to avoid catching a cold. If you are ill, you can’t relieve the disaster even if you want to.”

Shen Ninghua nodded. “I know.”

The guards arrived at the gate of Ping City and shouted, “We are the subordinates of Commandery Prince De and Prefectural Princess Ninghua. His Highness and Her Highness are here. Open the city gate!”

The guards shouted three times, but the city gate was tightly shut and there was no sign of opening.

Shen Ninghua’s heart sank. Did any unforeseen incident happen in the city?

The Second Prince also thought of this and frowned. “Forcibly break the city gate open.”

Ping City was not rich, and the city gate wasn’t strong, so it wouldn’t be difficult to break the city gate open.

Just as the guards were about to step forward and break the city gate open by force, there was finally a sound coming from inside the city gate. “We don’t believe you. You guys should hurry up and leave! The farther away you are from here, the better.”

The Second Prince asked coldly, “We have come here to carry out the disaster relief mission on His Majesty’s order. How can you not let us in?”

“It was also His Majesty who ordered to relieve the disaster last time. But the medicine didn’t have any effect. Instead, it almost killed people. We don’t believe you. You guys should leave quickly.”

Baili Jinchuan was angry. These people simply didn’t know what was good for them. “Ninghua, do you…”

Shen Ninghua’s expression was cold. She turned around and directly instructed, “Qing Que, open the city gate.”

Qing Que answered and got off her horse. She quickly ran two steps and jumped up. With the tapping of her feet, she directly climbed onto the city wall.

Baili Jinchuan was shocked. Although the city wall wasn’t well built, it was still more than ten meters tall. This maid Qing Que actually had such good martial arts skills.

Not long after, a loud noise came from within the city, and the city gate was opened from within.

Seeing the scene in the city, many people were immediately shocked. They had seen the victims all the way here, but they did not expect the scene in Ping City to be so miserable.

Many refugees lay on the streets as if they didn’t feel the rain. Mud splashed all over their bodies but they didn’t care. The sewage flowed across the street, emitting a foul stench. There were even corpses at the corners of streets and walls of houses. No one knew how long the corpses had been there.

Shen Ninghua’s heart trembled as she looked at a group of victims standing not far away. “Didn’t the Imperial Court send officials to relieve the disaster? Where are they?”

Those people remained silent for a while. Finally, someone couldn’t help but break the silence,

“They are gone. They dropped the medicine and left.”

Shen Ninghua frowned. “What about the people from the Ping City Government? They couldn’t be gone either.”

“We are all going to die. How would the governor care about us? They left long ago.”

Anger rose in the heart of the Second Prince. “They are officials of the Imperial Court, and they didn’t even care about the lives of the people. I will definitely report to His Majesty and have these officials beheaded.”

Shen Ninghua did not ask any more questions. Instead, she looked at a woman holding a child on the side of the street and directly walked over.

Seeing Shen Ninghua walking around, the victims who were standing in the middle of the street kept retreating, each having a panicked expression on their faces.

The entire city was in deathly stillness. They were already used to the mess and filth in front of them. When they suddenly saw Shen Ninghua standing in the street with a gorgeous dress and an exceptionally beautiful appearance, their first feeling was fear.

Shen Ninghua ignored them and directly squatted down in front of the stunned woman. She reached out to grab the child’s wrist in her arms and said, “How long has he been unconscious?”

The woman intended to dodge, but when she saw Shen Ninghua’s movements, her eyes suddenly lit up. “Two days. He’s unconscious for two days. Miss, can you save my child?”

Shen Ninghua turned to look at Bi Zhu and said, “Bring my medicine kit over.”

Bi Zhu hurriedly ran over with the medicine kit in her arms. Shen Ninghua took out a golden needle from the kit and stabbed it into the child’s philtrum.

The woman was surprised and exclaimed, “Ah, what are you doing?”

The nearby victims all revealed furious expressions.

“Drive them out!”

“Get lost, quickly get out of our city!”

“Even if Ping City is destroyed, we don’t need your help!”

A scream suddenly sounded. “Bao’er is awake! My child is awake!”

Everyone was stunned. They looked over. The child in the woman’s arms slowly opened his eyes, crying weakly as if frightened.

Shen Ninghua took out a porcelain bottle, poured out two pills and handed them to the woman. “Grind the pills and let him swallow them with warm water. He is not infected with the plague. Two pills are enough.”

“Benefactress, thank you for saving my child.”

Shen Ninghua helped the woman up and said, “Find clean clothes for him. Children are weak and can easily catch cold in the rain. Hurry up and go.”

“Yes, yes.”

The woman with the child happily ran away looking for clothes. The victims who had been confronting Shen Ninghua suddenly knelt down and cried, “Miss, please save us.”

Many of them were already crying bitterly. They were all ordinary people, and they only wanted to live a peaceful life. Who would have thought that a calamity would ruin everything? If there was any way, they would not choose to go against the Imperial Court. They were really forced to do so and they just wanted to survive.

Shen Ninghua’s face was pale, but her words were loud and forceful. “We have come here to relieve the disaster according to His Majesty’s decree. If the plague in Ping City does not stop, we will not leave!”

“We’re saved, Ping City is saved!” Everyone finally wore a long-lost smile, and they all cheered and rushed to inform each other.

People escorted Shen Ninghua and the others to the Ping City government office. This place was already empty, so it was just convenient for Shen Ninghua to move in.

After changing the wet clothes, Shen Ninghua walked towards the hall.

Inside the hall of the Ping City government office, a man dressed in a moon-white robe turned his head. His deep eyes carried a bright smile. “You are Prefectural Princess Ninghua, right? I’m Mo Junqing. Greetings, Your Highness.”