Yun Shu watched the Shock Value shoot up rapidly, feeling exceptionally pleased. As expected, the people of Yecheng, who had never witnessed a miracle before, were incredibly easy to harvest Shock Value from. They were unlike the citizens of Xindu, who had grown so accustomed to her miracles that it was difficult to squeeze any more Shock Value out of them.
【Current Shock Value: 288,000】
She landed slowly in the courtyard, and the rising Shock Value finally came to a halt.
“I beg the Divine Lady to save Madam Ye!” A subordinate official, his eyes red, prostrated himself on the ground and repeatedly kowtowed to the Divine Lady.
“Madam Ye is a truly benevolent person!” another subordinate official chimed in, his voice trembling. “Last year, when refugees flooded the city, it was Madam Ye who opened her own granary and distributed porridge, saving thousands of lives. The year before that, during the cold wave, she donated all the quilts from her household. Sometimes, when the Governor was too harsh on us, Madam Ye would speak up on our behalf, sparing us from punishment.”
“Madam Ye does not deserve such a fate...”
“We beg the Divine Lady to show mercy!” another kowtowed. “Please, for the sake of Madam Ye’s lifelong kindness, save her!”
Hearing the words of his subordinates behind him, Cheng Ji’s eyes grew even redder. He knelt prostrate at the Divine Lady’s feet.
“Divine Lady, I beg you to save my wife! I am willing to exchange my own life for hers!”
His forehead was already bleeding from kowtowing, but he could not care less. He only wanted to grasp this final sliver of hope.
Yun Shu glanced at Ye Qingqing on the bed. Her face remained expressionless, but her mind was racing.
She would definitely save her.
Not only Ye Qingqing, but she also intended to save the other critically ill citizens of Yecheng whose lives were in danger.
This was something she had decided even before coming to Yecheng.
However, she could not simply make a move so easily. That would contradict her previous words, riddled with inconsistencies, and go against her original intention of training the people to cope with the plague themselves.
In any case, she needed a plausible excuse.
If a deity were to show a selfish bias, they had to be moved first. She hoped Cheng Ji and Ye Qingqing would not disappoint her.
Otherwise...
She would have to improvise and use other methods.
With this in mind, she asked the system internally, “Have you filtered out the critically ill people in Yecheng yet?”
After the Floating Dream Set was upgraded to level 4, its healing skill's range could basically cover the entire Yecheng. It had also become more flexible; during wide-area healing, it could filter out certain people to decrease or increase the healing effect.
Healing all the sick in the city in a single breath would net her a massive amount of Shock Value instantly, but it would be highly detrimental to the development of medicine in this world.
Medicine still required practice to find the truth, and the most she could do was buy them some time to research and develop a cure.
“Host, almost there! Stall for another ten minutes!” The little fox’s paws tapped on the system panel so fast they left afterimages.
On the screen was a map of Yecheng, densely packed with red and green dots that made one's skin crawl.
Yun Shu: “...”
Left with no choice, she could only remain silent and maintain her cold, aloof demeanor.
“Divine Lady, please, save my wife!” Cheng Ji could no longer remember how many times he had repeated those words, nor how many times he had kowtowed.
“Whatever you desire, as long as I have it, I will offer it all to you! I beg you, save my wife!”
In the past, he had never believed in the existence of gods.
Now, he only wished to beg for the pity of the deity before him to save his poor wife.
He could give up everything, but he could not lose the wife who had been by his side since his youth!
Shen Yu was also quietly waiting for the Divine Lady’s answer. His hands, hanging at his sides, clenched repeatedly, clearly showing his nervousness.
Selfishly, if saving people would entangle her in karma and harm the Divine Lady herself, he did not want to see her act.
Yet, he had no right to influence the Divine Lady's decision.
The Divine Lady had millions of followers, and he was merely an insignificant one among them, nothing special.
Perhaps the Divine Lady could not even remember his name.
The more he thought about it, the more sour and uncomfortable his heart felt. He even began to find his elder brother a little annoying.
Clearly, he was the first follower to pursue the Divine Lady, yet her gaze rarely fell upon him. Instead, his elder brother, Shen Jue, uniquely enjoyed her favor. The Divine Lady had not only personally acknowledged his brother as her follower but had also saved his life.
Was it simply because his brother could ride into battle and kill enemies, while he was just a frail scholar who couldn't even hoist a chicken?
Therefore, he would never compare to his brother—not in his parents' eyes, and not in the Divine Lady's eyes.
No one knew what Shen Yu was thinking.
Everyone present focused their attention entirely on the Divine Lady, hoping their sincerity could move her.
Out of the corner of her eye, seeing that Cheng Ji was on the verge of kowtowing himself unconscious, Yun Shu urged the system again in her mind, “Are you done yet?”
The little fox did not even look up. It wiped the sweat from its forehead while operating the panel, letting out a long sigh of relief. “Host, I’ve filtered everyone out. You can use your healing skill now.”
Hearing this, Yun Shu felt greatly reassured.
She finally looked directly at Cheng Ji at her feet. “Ye Qingqing’s life has run its course. However, considering she has been a benevolent soul for ten lifetimes and carries the merit of ten lifetimes, I can save her.”
Shen Yu subconsciously took half a step forward, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
Cheng Ji, however, was overjoyed. In his excitement, he kowtowed heavily to Yun Shu several more times, laughing and crying as he said, “Thank you, Divine Lady, for your great mercy and compassion! Thank you, Divine Lady...”
“To mortals, merit is an extremely hard-won and precious thing. With the merit of ten lifetimes protecting her, Ye Qingqing would be reborn into wealthy and noble families for generations to come, cherished by her parents, living a smooth life free of worries and disasters.”
The Divine Lady spoke in a tone devoid of joy or sorrow. “How do you know that Ye Qingqing is willing to trade this merit of ten lifetimes for a single life in this present world?”
Cheng Ji trembled all over, his mouth hanging open, unable to utter a single word. His joy shattered into pieces.
Right at that moment...
A weak murmur came from the bed.
“Zhongming...”
The voice was as thin as a thread about to snap, yet it sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet room.
Cheng Ji turned around abruptly, practically crawling to the bedside to grab Ye Qingqing’s outstretched hand.
“My lady, I am here...” Cheng Ji pressed her hand against his face, tears streaming down through the gaps between her fingers.
“You... have grown thin again.”
Ye Qingqing’s voice was faint and broken, each word seeming to drain all her strength. “You are always like this... so stubborn, always leaving me worried.”
“There is no end to those official documents. In the future... don't always stay up late into the night.” She coughed softly twice, her voice still gentle and tender. “And don't always lose your temper with the subordinate officials... they are good boys... just a bit slow...”
“If you teach them patiently... they will understand eventually...”
Cheng Ji’s shoulders shook violently. Unable to say any words to hold her back, he could only choke out, “Alright.”
The merit of ten lifetimes would ensure Qingqing’s smooth life in all her future births. He should not selfishly force her to stay.
“Yan'er is still small, so please hold him more,” Ye Qingqing’s voice grew fainter and fainter. “He is afraid of thunder... Every thunderous night... you must go and accompany him... coax him to sleep...”
“Husband, leaving you all alone in this world...”
“I am sorry...”
“If in the future... you meet someone who understands you...”
“You should... marry again...”
Cheng Ji tightly gripped Ye Qingqing’s hand, pressing it against his chest. Each word he spoke sounded like a vow made before Buddha.
“Qingqing, in this life, you are my only one.”
“I, Cheng Ji, swear to the heavens that I will protect our child with my life, love him, and raise him to adulthood.”
“Believe me, please believe me...”
By the end, he was sobbing uncontrollably.
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