Peaceful Farm Life

Chapter 988: Chapter 989: Realgar

As soon as they walked out from Prince Yi’s Mansion, An Jing and Xiao Changyi mounted their respective horses, planning to meet up with Gong Juechen at the city gates before heading to Nanshen City together.

”Zhuqing,” Meng Lanqing called out to Meng Zhuqing, who was also about to mount his horse. Complicated emotions filled his handsome brows and eyes. This might very well be the last time he would see his younger brother.

However, Meng Lanqing did not indulge in sentimentalities, merely saying, ”Take good care of our lord and the lady.”

Meng Zhuqing was not dense and understood the deeper meaning behind Meng Lanqing’s words, but he too refrained from sentimentality, nodding and responding, ”Brother, rest assured, I will.”

Having said that, he too got on his horse and joined Qin Yi, Qin Er, Qin San, and Qin Si in pursuing An Jing and Xiao Changyi.

An Jing and Xiao Changyi led the way with Meng Zhuqing and the others following, and the seven of them quickly arrived at the city gates on horseback.

At the gates of the Imperial Capital, Gong Juechen had already been waiting on horseback. Upon seeing An Jing and the others, he raised his voice, ”On our way there, we must buy some realgar, realgar, cinnabar, and the like. These items are for plague prevention. If we carry some with us, although it will not completely prevent us from contracting the plague, it can make us less likely to be infected than most people.”

Since these were for plague prevention, both An Jing and Xiao Changyi naturally had no objections and immediately agreed.

The journey from the Imperial Capital to Nanshen City normally took more than half a month by horse, but An Jing and her group managed to arrive in just four days, though they hardly rested during that time.

Because they did not know how long the epidemic would last, nor how long they would have to stay inside Nanshen City, and fearing that the city might run out of food, An Jing had Meng Zhuqing take Qin Er, Qin San, and Qin Si to An’s Rice Shop near Nanshen City to transport food into the city.

An’s Rice Shop was almost spread over half of Xiyun’s territory and conveniently several counties near Nanshen City had An’s Rice Shop establishments.

Originally, An’s Rice Shop was intended to store grain in case of future wars, but now it served a new purpose.

An Jing and Xiao Changyi discussed and decided to transport the grain reserves of the five rice shops closest to Nanshen City into the city.

So, when they were close to Nanshen City, An Jing and her group separated from Meng Zhuqing’s group. Meng Zhuqing and his group went to transport grain while An Jing and the others continued on horseback into Nanshen City.

As Meng Zhuqing turned his horse around to transport the grain, Gong Juechen spoke up, reminding him to not forget to buy more medicines such as Realgar and Cinnabar during the grain transport, fearing they might run out later.

On the road, besides medicines like realgar, Gong Juechen had also made them buy some small cloth bags, similar in size to money pouches, which they had already filled with substances like realgar. Gong Juechen had each person hang one in front of their chest to prevent contracting the plague.

”Jingjing, Changyi, the plague in Nanshen City is rampant, and merely carrying these plague prevention medicines on our chests may not be that effective. How about we also smear some realgar powder on our faces? That should be more effective,” Gong Juechen suggested, thinking that it would greatly reduce the likelihood of infection.

Neither An Jing nor Xiao Changyi had any objections.

Only then did Gong Juechen address Meng Zhuqing, ”Zhuzhu, when you’re transporting grain into Nanshen City, don’t forget to have the Qin Guards also smear some realgar powder on their faces. Remember, realgar powder must not be ingested, as it is also poisonous.”

”I understand,” Meng Zhuqing nodded. Then, he led Qin Er and the others in a different direction.