CH 139

February 9, 2023Merchie

Yue Nu wasn’t a foreigner, so for him to be able to cross the foreign tribe’s border, there was only one more possibility.

He was a barbarian.

Because some barbarians would pass through the foreign tribe’s territory in order to return to the barbarian tribe.

Shen Huan’s mind had almost immediately come to this conclusion, but she was so surprised that she was speechless for a long time.

Yue Nu was actually a barbarian!

They had all seemed to acknowledge that Yue Nu was from the Celestial Dynasty; no one bothered to find out which nation he was actually from.

But now she knew that Yue Nu was a barbarian, and the barbarian tribe and the Celestial Dynasty were clashing like fire and water.

Shen Huan couldn’t help but think, does Zhao Litang know Yue Nu’s a barbarian?

“I-I-” Yue Nu’s eyes darted back and forth as he fumbled for something to say.

Shen Huan said, “Forget it. I know.”

Yue Nu gave a nervous explanation, “Master Shen, please don’t misunderstand. Th-the truth is, I’ve always regarded myself as someone from the Celestial Dynasty, truly. I don’t have any ulterior motives. If it weren’t for the urgency of the situation today, I wouldn’t have recklessly entered foreign tribe territory-“

“Don’t be so nervous. I wasn’t suspecting you of anything, I was just a little surprised, that’s all.”

Shen Shijiu still didn’t know what the two of them were talking about, and asked, “Shifu, A-Yue, what are you guys saying, what’s Shifu suspecting A-Yue of?”

Shen Hua waved her hand, “Nothing, little disciple. What were you talking about earlier? Oh, right, why is Yue Nu hiding from Lieutenant Wu?”

Shen Shijiu repeated himself, and Shen Huan understood. Shen Shijiu suggested that Yue Nu accompany the two of them to meet with the chief of the foreign tribe, and Shen Huan agreed.

After the soldiers outside had all left, the three walked out. With Shen Huan in the lead, they set off to meet the chief of the foreign tribe.

The chief was a very kind-looking old man, and he was very excited to see Shen Huan.

“Xiao Huan, you’re finally back! Those who’ve been praying to the stars and the moon1 have probably been praying for your return as well! Our foreign tribe is saved!”

Shen Huan said, “Chief, please don’t say that, I can only do my best. On the way here, I got a sense of the general situation. To be honest, the infection has already spread extensively, so it won’t be easy to treat.”

The chief’s gaze became sorrowful, “Xiao Huan, I know that you’re under a lot of pressure, so just go out there and do what you do. Just tell me what you need, and I’ll have others lend their strength to you.”

Shen Huan said, “Then I’ll make a request. Have all the people in the city stay inside as much as possible during these next few days, unless they have a good reason to go out. Also, those who have already been infected by the plague cannot be left to fend for themselves. Many of them are homeless vagrants and beggars, so they must be given a safe place to stay. At the very least, they need a shelter from the wind and rain. Next, we’ll talk about treatment.”

The chief instructed several people to make the arrangements.

Yue Nu quietly asked Shen Shijiu, “Shi, is this epidemic very serious?”

Shen Shijiu nodded, “It is, those people’s skin has already begun to fester. If this continues, their bodies will rot completely.”

“I saw that some of the Celestial Dynasty’s soldiers have these symptoms.” Yue Nu tried his best to recall.

Shen Huan walked over, holding a pill, “I just gave the chief a pill. This is the last one, you take it.”

Yue Nu took it, and asked, “Master Shen, what is this pill for?”

“It can prevent you from getting infected, now eat up.” Shen Shijiu answered on Shen Huan’s behalf.

Yue Nu didn’t hesitate and swallowed the pill. He had faith in both Shen Huan and Shen Shijiu; he believed that they definitely wouldn’t harm him.

At this moment, the chief of the foreign tribe walked out as well. When he saw Shen Shijiu and Yue Nu, he asked, “Xiao Huan, who are these two?”

Shen Huan introduced them, “This is the apprentice I took in, his name is Shen Shijiu. This is my disciple’s friend, his name is Yue Nu.”

The chief was quite shocked to see Shen Shijiu.

Shen Huan had never been willing to accept apprentices. In the past, the chief feared that Shen Huan would end up without a successor, so he had forcefully pushed one onto her. But in just few days, she had driven him away.

But he never expected that there would actually be a day when Shen Huan decided to take an apprentice.

The chief pulled Shen Huan to the side.

“Xiao Huan, could this Shen Shijiu be some kind of rare prodigy?”

Shen Huan shook her head, “No. His brain doesn’t work too well.”

“Then there must be something special about him.”

Shen Huan continued to shake her head, “Besides that fact that he’s really good at crying, there’s nothing.”

“Then… what did you see in him?”

Shen Huan thought for a moment, “Chief, I don’t know if you still remember Ning-er?”

“Ning-er, Ning-er,” The chief’s eyes widened slightly, “He’s Ning-er’s-

“Son.” Shen Huan said, “Ning-er was given the title of Noble Consort Ning, and had two sons. My little disciple is one of them. So, he shares our ancestry. Blood is thicker than water, and the foreign tribe will never turn its back on its own members.”

The chief nodded, “Ning-er suffered a terrible fate. She protected the foreign tribe at the cost of her own life, so I’ll definitely take good care of her son.”

Shen Huan continued, “Also, Chief, there’s something else. I think that after you hear this, you’ll want to take even better care of him.”

Shen Huan leaned into the chief’s ear and whispered a few words, and the chief’s eyes immediately darted toward Shen Shijiu, his gaze full of disbelief.

“Impossible, impossible, how could this happen? It was just a legend, no one has ever experienced it, nor has anyone even seen it.”

Shen Huan said in a low voice, “Then now is the time to experience and see it.”

Shen Huan asked the chief for a place she could turn into a makeshift pharmaceutical room, and immediately began developing a cure for the plague. After seeing the symptoms of the people on the streets earlier, Shen Huan already had a general understanding of the infection.

Shen Shijiu had been helping her from the side this entire time, and Yue Nu was helping Shen Shijiu. The three of them cooperated in tacit agreement.

After Shen Huan finished cooking a batch of medicine, she passed a bowl to Shen Shijiu.

“Little disciple, this is yours.”

When Shen Shijiu caught a whiff of the bitter medicinal soup, his brow furrowed.

“Shifu, aren’t you making medicine for the infected people? Why do I have to drink this?”

“I haven’t started on theirs yet, I made yours first. You’re my first priority, now drink up.”

Shen Huan had made Shen Shjiu a medicine that could stabilize his condition. After traveling for long, Shen Huan was worried that something would happen to his body.

Shen Shijiu pinched his nose and obediently drank it all.

Only then was Shen Huan satisfied, and she went off to cook medicine for the others.

Yue Nu worriedly asked Shen Shijiu, “Shi, what did kind of medicine did you drink just now? Are you ill?”

“I’m not ill, I don’t know why Shifu wants me to drink this either.”

Yue Nu nodded, “I just thought that the medicine smelled familiar, I feel like I’ve smelled it somewhere before.”

Shen Huan finished cooking the medicinal soup, and the three of them took it along with them as they set out to the streets.

The infected people that had been piled up in the streets and alleys had already been transferred to an unused, abandoned temple.

Although it was rundown and in poor condition, it was much better than an open alley that provided no protection against the wind and rain.

The moment Shen Huan opened the door, a dozen people glanced toward the doorway.

Under the gaze of this group of bloody people, Shen Huan wasn’t at all afraid. She walked inside, her expression no different than normal.

Shen Shijiu trailed behind Shen Huan. He recalled the indescribable odor he had smelled in the alley, and he began to feel sick to his stomach.

Once they came inside, that overwhelming odor swirled toward them. On top of that, the stench was even more powerful inside this enclosed temple.

Shen Shijiu tried his best to endure it. He followed his shifu, and began to distribute bowls to the infected, before he poured them each a portion of medicinal soup.

Yue Nu was at the side, bandaging a patch of bloody flesh on a child’s arm.

The moment he got too close, Shen Shijiu was suffocated by the stench and couldn’t hold himself back. He suddenly ran to the side and retched a few times.

Originally, the infectees had been extremely wary of the three of them, and weren’t planning on drinking the medicinal soup that they had been given.

Shen Shijiu’s actions undoubtedly made those people even more unwilling to believe them. Instead, they thought that these three strange people who were giving them medicine had actually come to insult them, because their illness was incurable.

Yue Nu hurriedly ran over to examine Shen Shijiu. Shen Shijiu’s face was deathly pale due to retching for so long.

With a splash, an infected man turned toward Shen Shijiu and knocked over his bowl of medicine soup, shattering the bowl in the process. Then, he turned around and laid down, refusing to take another glance at the three of them.

“If you think it’s disgusting, then hurry up and leave. You’re just pretending to be kind by giving us medicine, it’s probably poison that the chief granted us. Does he think we’re troublesome? Is he scared that we’ll infect all the normal people?”

Shen Shijiu wiped his mouth, “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant, I’m just not feeling very well-”

“Little disciple, there’s no need to explain.”

Shen Huan said, “I’ll leave the medicine here. Whether you like it or not, this medicine probably won’t be able to cure your illness in one day. It can only ease the pain a little bit. Since you don’t want to drink it, you can stay in pain.”

After Shen Huan finished speaking, she led her little disciple and Yue Nu out of that temple.

After coming out and taking a breath of fresh air, Shen Shijiu still felt a strange discomfort in his stomach, as well as the urge to vomit.

Shen Shijiu suddenly pressed down hard on his belly, but he was met by a sudden stabbing pain, which scared him stiff.

“Shifu, my stomach hurts.”

Shen Huan hurriedly had him sit down and rest, “Don’t move, don’t move, your master will take your pulse. You are not to press down on your belly anymore! You hear me?!”

“I got it.” Shen Shijiu was in so much pain that he was blinded by tears; he looked rather pitiful.

He hadn’t done anything, but why was he always feeling unwell? Could it be… that he actually had some sort of illness?

Shen Shijiu’s heart thumped. He had to be ill. Shifu was just too scared to tell him, which was why she had made him drink so much medicine.

“Shi… Shifu,” Shen Shijiu wiped his tears, and asked cautiously, “Tell me the truth. Am I… am I sick? I don’t… have much time left, do I?”

Notes

Thanks for reading~

1.盼星星盼月亮 (pàn xīng xīng pàn yuè liàng): ‘hoping for the stars and moon’, it’s an expression for being very hopeful.