snowstorm

"Who is Shunzi?" Xie Qiao asked, pointing at the man without taking back his sword.

"Shunzi is—" The woman thought for a moment and said, "Shunzi is the child of the old Zhang family." After she finished speaking, she rolled her eyes and added, "The one who lives in the bamboo forest at the entrance of the village—" She moved her body away from Xie Qiao's sword, and said with a smile: "Your Excellency, you can go to him now..."

Xie Qiao's sword followed the woman's movements and pressed on her shoulder again, saying: "Then let's talk carefully about the matter between you and that Shunzi."

The woman swallowed her saliva and said: "That Shunzi told me that the only people in the village who get sick are the concubine Jing who is angry. If she wants to appease the empress, the villagers are not allowed to leave the village, and outsiders are not allowed to enter the village..."

"Oh?" Xie Qiao looked around, looking at the newly added things in the woman's house, with a cold smile on her face: "Then Shunzi wants you to take the opportunity to get rich? "He bent down, looked straight into the woman's eyes and said, "It's true that I'm bold, and it's true that I have a bad temper. Although I don't want to kill people now, but—" He used the cold sword edge Pointing at the woman's arm: "It's not a problem to cut off your hands and feet. So you better not hide anything from me."

The woman looked at Xie Qiao's dark eyes, and saw him say the most terrifying words as if joking, her heart trembled, and she completely collapsed on the ground, and then tremblingly told the truth: "Shunzi said that every month He would give me money, and he asked me to find a way not to let the villagers leave the village, and not let foreigners come in... He also said that the concubine Jing could be used as the reason. As for the money of the villagers..." The woman said with a guilty conscience He lowered his head: "They insist on giving it to me, and I don't want to accept it—and besides, Shunzi didn't say that it is not allowed to accept other people's money..."

The old doctor glanced at the woman, sighed again and shook his head: This is human greed, human greed can go so mad, that they can put so many lives at risk just for the money...

Xie Qiao's face became even colder, and he asked again: "Who told you to cover your mouth and nose?"

"Shunzi covered his mouth and nose with a cloth towel every month when he came to look for the villain. I... I naturally have to be careful, after all, this disease is really serious..." The woman lowered her head even lower, afraid of thanking her. Jo saw the guilty look on her face.She originally planned to get another ticket and leave. After all, it is right to seek wealth and wealth, but it is also necessary to enjoy life...

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" The old doctor stomped his feet and sighed. He stepped forward and pointed at the woman and said, "There are black-hearted and greedy people like you in this world!" The patient may be able to suppress the spread of those diseases, but she allows more people to die for her own wealth.Because the woman was restrained by Xie Qiao, she didn't dare to answer at this moment.

At this time, there were chaotic footsteps and noises outside the courtyard. Lu Jue turned around and saw a group of people walking towards here with a device in their hands. It seemed that they were the helpers called by the person who just ran out.Xie Qiao smiled even more, he raised the sword in his hand, stared at the woman and said, "Do you know what I should say in a while?"

"Yes, the villain knows." The woman nodded quickly.

"You have to know that I cut people's hands and feet very fast." Xie Qiao added pointingly.

The woman was taken aback, quickly put away her little thoughts, and nodded.

The group of people soon came to the yard, most of them were holding hoes in their hands, like the young people they met at the entrance of the village, most of them had yellow complexions, and their eyes were cloudy and full of hostility.

"Who are you?!" They surrounded Xie Qiao and his party and asked vigilantly.

Xie Qiao kicked the woman's calf, and the woman hurried forward, pretending to point at the group of people and shouting, "What are you doing? They are my distinguished guests! Do you want disaster to come? "

The group of people paused, showing some fear on their faces, and the leader said: "My lord, didn't you ask Chuanzi to call us?"

"This is my honored guest, why would I ask Chuanzi to ask you to chase someone away. I think Chuanzi made his own decisions when he met a stranger." She gave the short man in the crowd a hard look: "Don't you think so, Chuanzi? "

Seeing the woman's stare, the man nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I was mistaken."

The woman said again: "This is the person sent by the concubine Jing to rescue us. If there are sick people at home, you can take them there."

Those people put down the hoes in their hands, but looked at each other hesitantly and did not answer.The village is closed, and the villagers are instinctively wary of outsiders. Although they believe in the words of the witch, they don't want to take the lead and bring strangers home at this time.

"You...can you really cure this disease?"

A faint voice sounded, Xie Qiao and the others turned around and saw an elderly woman sticking her head out by the door.

"You...can you really cure this disease?" The old woman was thin and bony, she leaned tremblingly against the door, and choked up as she spoke.Lu Jue hurriedly stepped forward to help the old man, and the old man grabbed his sleeves with his thin hands, and two lines of dirty tears meandered down the wrinkles like those carved by knives: "Please, save my little grandson! Bar!"

Lu Jue felt sore, he helped the old man up, looked into the old man's eyes seriously, and said softly, "Don't worry."

The old doctor walked up to the old man quickly and said, "Take us there quickly."

Xie Qiao was at the end. Before leaving, he said coldly to the sorcerer who pretended to be a ghost: "If you dare to run, even if you run to the ends of the world, I can catch you back. If you don't believe me, try it."

The woman was taken in by the words, she looked at Xie Qiao as if she had seen a ghost, but she still shook her body and nodded.

……

The old woman lived in the innermost part of an alleyway, and outside the alleyway was a well with a rope at the mouth of the well. The rope was severely worn out. I think this well is where the villagers get water every day.

All the way home, the old woman's hands were tightly clutching Lu Jue's sleeves.Her house is deserted and deserted, and there is almost no trace of popularity.There is a big jujube tree in the yard, and there is a small wooden horse under the jujube tree, which has already fallen to ashes.

She led them closer to a room, and as soon as the curtain was lifted, they heard a faint cry of a child.When they entered the house, they saw a child lying on the bed.The child looked seven or eight years old, his face was abnormally red, his eyes were tightly closed, and he seemed to be asleep, but he couldn't even sleep peacefully, but he was too weak, so he could only whimper softly.

The old doctor hurried forward to check on the child. The old woman looked at the child on the bed, and tears rolled down her eyes again. She grabbed Lu Jue's sleeve, choked up and said, "This is all retribution... retribution, but ..." She raised her head, and Lu Jue saw a pair of eyes full of wind, frost and suffering: "But, why should children pay for the sins done by adults? My grandson is only seven years old, and he has never done anything bad. ah……"

The old man trembled as he spoke, and Xie Qiao quickly stepped forward to help the old man: "Old man, where is your family?"

The old man wiped the muddy tears from his face: "Dead, all dead. My son and daughter-in-law, their corpses are placed in the east room - the empress will get angry and make us suffer retribution and take my wife's life away That's good, I've had enough of my life, but why, why..."

The young people in the family are all dead, so the yard is not popular.

The old man couldn't continue talking. Lu Jue supported the old man and gently stroked the old man's back: "Don't worry, that doctor is a famous doctor in Jinling, and he will cure him."

The old man nodded slowly with a sob.

Xie Qiao couldn't bear it. He closed his eyes and asked, "Old man, what do you mean by the retribution you just said?"

Hearing Xie Qiao's question, the old man calmed down instead. She sighed deeply and said, "It's all about crimes."

"That girl from the Zhang family was forced to death by the villagers..."

Xie Qiao's heart trembled: Zhang family, the sorceress said just now that Shunzi's surname is also Zhang.

Not long after that happened, the old man seemed to be telling a past story, and said quietly: "That girl is called Mei Xiang, and she was pretty since she was a child, but she has a cruel stepmother. She grew up to 16 years old. It was supposed to be the age to discuss marriage, but she was sold to the county by her stepmother..."

"After another year, the girl was picked up by her brother. The girl who used to love to talk and laugh became unable to speak, and she was covered with injuries when she rolled up her sleeves. Those people in the village did evil. They said she was dirty. , saying that she was redeemed by her brother from that unclean place..."

"When those people saw her, they scolded her, threw stones at her, and insulted her with those nasty words... Later, even some children in the village followed suit and threw stones when they saw her..."

"Men bully her, women bully her, and some children bully her..."

"The old lady wants to help that poor girl, but my son and daughter-in-law want me to mind my own business..."

"That poor girl was forced to hang herself in the end..."

"So, these are all retribution, all retribution..."

……

The old woman choked up and sobbed after she finished speaking.Xie Qiao gently stroked her back.He and Lu Jue looked at each other: now he finally knows who is buried in that grave in the bamboo forest.

The old doctor also came over at this time. He looked at Xie Qiao solemnly, and said, "The prescription prepared by His Highness is correct. This disease is indeed the one recorded in the ancient book, and all the symptoms are correct."

"Can it be cured?" The old woman looked at the old doctor with tears in her eyes. The old doctor shook the old woman's hand and said, "Don't worry, I can cure him. Let's go get the medicine right away." He also warned: "When you take care of him in the future, remember to cover your mouth and nose, and don't touch his body directly. You and him, don't eat raw food and water again."

The old woman burst into tears when she heard the word "can cure". She tremblingly grasped the old doctor's hand, tears filled with gratitude.

……

On the way back to the bamboo forest.

I don't know how many times the old doctor sighed today, he is a doctor, so he is used to seeing life and death, but what he saw today is really sad.

"Your Highness," he said to Xie Qiao, "I went to that room to see the two corpses later, and the symptoms matched. It is indeed the disease recorded in ancient books. If it wasn't for His Highness's prescription, I would never have done that Think about it quickly. After all, this disease is too rare."

"Fortunately, the disease is only found in this village."

Treatment is generally based on symptoms to prescribe medicine.This time it was based on the prescription that he realized what the disease was. If there was no such prescription, it would be too late for him to truly confirm the disease, and he didn't know how many more people would die.

"There are all kinds of people's hearts, all kinds of human feelings, and all kinds of people in the world. Good people, but they have to suffer together with bad people, hey!" The old doctor's sigh echoed in the night, but the sky did not answer.