Shen Yu stepped forward and bowed with cupped hands to the Divine Lady.
“Divine Lady, the plague is currently raging in Yecheng, and the sick in the city number in the thousands. If we do not treat them in time, I fear lives will be ruined and corpses will litter the fields.”
“I, Yu, boldly ask the Divine Lady: may Buyan first lead the followers into the city to treat the sick? Doctor Lin and I will accompany Governor Cheng to his estate to examine the Governor's wife.”
As his voice fell,
all the followers bowed their heads, waiting for the divine decree.
The Divine Lady's narrow phoenix eyes were as cold as frost.
She did not look at Shen Yu. Her gaze drifted past the crowd, landing on the bleak, grey skyline of Yecheng in the distance.
“I have said that I will not interfere with the karma of the mortal world. How you choose is your own affair.”
She neither agreed nor refused, offering no guidance.
She gave no merciful promise, nor did she show any intent to stop them.
In the blink of an eye, she vanished.
Shen Yu bowed deeply toward the spot where the Divine Lady had vanished, then turned and strode quickly toward Cheng Ji, who was waiting in the distance.
“Governor Cheng, please lead the way.”
Already burning with anxiety, Cheng Ji nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.
While instructing his subordinate officials to handle the affairs in the city, he quickly led the group toward the Governor's estate.
The streets of Yecheng were empty and desolate.
The doors and windows of the houses on both sides were tightly shut, with occasional muffled coughs escaping through the cracks.
A putrid stench filled the air.
It was the smell of livestock that had died of the disease, mixed with waste that had not been cleared in time.
As Lin Xun walked, he looked at the coarse earthenware medicine bowls discarded by the roadside, his expression growing increasingly grim.
The Governor's estate was even more desolate than imagined.
The gates of the estate were wide open.
Yet not even a gatekeeper was in sight.
Only after entering the front courtyard did they see a few servants slumping against the corridor pillars, their faces pale gray and their bodies covered in rashes.
Lin Xun walked over and squatted down.
He took the wrist of the nearest servant.
“This pulse suggests mild symptoms.” He pulled a bottle of pills from his sleeve, poured out one, and popped it into the man's mouth.
Afterward, he checked the condition of the other servants and administered the medicine to them in the same manner.
“Young Master Shen, those with mild symptoms can be controlled with the medicine. Please give them another pill in half an hour. I will accompany Governor Cheng to see his wife first.”
Shen Yu took the medicine bottle and nodded to him.
Cheng Ji's eyes reddened. He did not speak, but simply bowed to Lin Xun and Shen Yu once more.
Immediately afterward, he led Lin Xun toward the rear courtyard.
The rear courtyard was even more deathly silent than the front.
Passing through the moon gate and winding around the rockery, they did not see a single servant along the way.
Only a few dry leaves were swept up by the wind, swirling across the bluestone path with a rustling sound.
Cheng Ji's steps grew faster and faster.
In the end, he was practically running as he burst into the main room.
The room was dimly lit, and the bed curtains hung low.
On the canopy bed, a woman lay on her side, her face as pale as paper, her lips chapped, and her breathing rapid and weak.
Although she was covered with a thick silk quilt, she was still shivering as if freezing.
On the footstool beside the bed, a maidservant slumped, still clutching a handkerchief in her hand.
She had likely collapsed on the floor when she could no longer hold on while serving her mistress.
“Qingqing!” Disregarding all decorum, Cheng Ji threw himself by the bedside and grabbed Ye Qingqing's hand, which was as ice-cold as a corpse's.
Lin Xun squatted down first to check the maid's pulse.
After a moment, he furrowed his brow and said in a heavy voice, “This maid has severe symptoms. Her condition is already critical.”
He stood up, walked to the bedside, placed his fingers on Ye Qingqing's wrist, and focused his mind.
Everyone in the room instinctively held their breath.
Cheng Ji stared intently at Lin Xun's face. In his bloodshot eyes, despair and hope intertwined, like a drowning man clutching at a final straw.
Lin Xun took her pulse for a long time, peeled back Ye Qingqing's eyelids to examine them, and then looked at the rashes on her arm.
The rashes had already merged into large patches, turning a dark purple-black.
He slowly withdrew his hand and remained silent for a few moments.
“The Madam's illness is deep-seated and has already entered her vital organs.” Lin Xun's voice was very low. “I fear my medicine will have little effect.”
These words were like a blunt knife gouging into Cheng Ji's chest, making his body sway so violently he could barely stand.
The subordinate officials standing at the doorway all had reddened eyes.
The Governor's wife had always been kind to others, and almost all of them had received her favor in one way or another.
Yet such a benevolent person was not rewarded with good fortune. How could this not fill them with deep grief?
Cheng Ji knelt by the bed, holding Ye Qingqing's hand against his face as tears streamed down silently.
“Qingqing, wake up, look at me...”
“My Lord, please restrain your grief,” the subordinate officials consoled him.
Deaf to their words, Cheng Ji let go of Ye Qingqing's hand, turned to face the door, and fell heavily to his knees.
He did not know if the Divine Lady could hear him, nor did he know where she was. He could only gaze at the boundless sky.
“Divine Lady above!” His forehead slammed heavily onto the cold green bricks, making a dull thud.
“I beg the Divine Lady to show mercy!” Having kowtowed once, he did not rise, but immediately kowtowed a second time.
“My wife has been virtuous all her life. She has never harmed a single soul, nor has she ever mistreated anyone!”
He kowtowed a third time.
“I beg the Divine Lady, please save my wife!”
His forehead was cut, and blood streamed down his brow, but he was completely oblivious to it.
The subordinate officials also knelt down one after another.
“We beg the Divine Lady to show mercy!”
“The people of Yecheng who have received Madam Ye's favor number in the hundreds, if not thousands. We beg the Divine Lady to save Madam Ye for the sake of her lifelong accumulation of virtue and good deeds!”
“We beg the Divine Lady to show mercy and save Madam Ye!”
Cries, the sound of kowtowing, and desperate pleas mingled together, echoing throughout the dim bedroom.
There was no greater tragedy in the mortal world than this.
On the bed, Ye Qingqing seemed to hear something. Her eyelids fluttered slightly, but in the end, she failed to open them.
Only a single tear silently rolled from the corner of her eye, vanishing into the messy hair at her temple.
Hearing the commotion, Shen Yu rushed over. Looking at the crowd pleading so bitterly, his heart was filled with mixed emotions. He both hoped the Divine Lady would appear to save her, and feared she would.
He had heard the Divine Lady say more than once that she would not interfere too much with mortal affairs or become entangled in mortal karma.
The Divine Lady had already sacrificed so much for mortals. If she were to drag herself down by entangling herself in mortal karma once more...
He would never be able to find peace for the rest of his life.
Luo Daoqing's claim that there were no gods in the future had planted a seed of hidden worry in his heart.
He was terrified. He feared that the Lady Nüwa, who Luo Daoqing said had sacrificed herself to mend the heavens and save all living things, was actually the Divine Lady.
The Divine Lady had never revealed her sacred title or true name, and they, as her followers, did not dare to ask without permission.
After all, how could mere mortals pry into the affairs of deities?
A long time passed without any response from the deity. Everyone's face was pale, their hearts like cold ashes.
The dry leaves on the treetops rustled.
Suddenly, a refreshing and delicate fragrance wafted over.
Someone looked up, and through tear-blurred eyes, they saw the sunlight in the courtyard suddenly dim, then instantly brighten.
A figure descended gracefully from the horizon.
The Divine Lady's skirts unfolded layer by layer like lotus petals. Her silver hair was half-tied, and a plain veil fell to drape over her hair bun and shoulders. Her entire body radiated a brilliant light that one dared not look at directly.
She trod upon the wind, walking with lotuses blooming beneath her feet.
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