Chapter 341: 337: Plague_1

Upon returning home, he broke the news about the price hike at the grain store to his old father and Master Wu.

Master Wu stroked his beard and said, “I brought this issue to the county magistrate’s attention some time ago, it seems he hasn’t done anything about it.”

Not only had he not done anything, it seemed that he was adding fuel to the fire.

Master Wu shook his head, expressing a silent sigh in his heart.

It’s not bragging, but how many officials in this dynasty are as committed to serving the people like his son?

Maybe they might stay true to their hearts when they first take office, but over time, they become corrupted by their surroundings and focus solely on amassing wealth, paying scant regard to the welfare of the people.

Jiang Sanlang linked this situation to the dream his daughter had and was deeply worried.

He felt the urgent need to return to his hometown now.

He decided not to sell his own grain. In case something happened in the future, no amount of money could guarantee availability of food.

And to make things worse, the next day, Jiang Quan and Jiang Cheng came running in a panic.

“Uncle, it’s bad! Our village has been flooded and several other villages are submerged!” Jiang Quan was headed back to the village to pick fruit but had to turn around halfway due to the floodwaters, forced to go back to the county town.

Jiang Sanlang grew anxious: “What? Submerged in water?” His daughter’s words have come true.

Last year his daughter had warned them that there would be a massive flood this year, and now it really happened.

No wonder the river in the county town had risen to the banks, and low-lying areas had accumulated water. It turned out that several downstream villages were all submerged.

“What should we do now?” Before Jiang Sanlang left for the prefecture city with his son, he had warned his wife, parents, and siblings that there could be a major flood this year due to the excessive rainfall.

His family had listened and pledged to be vigilant, but the flood had indeed arrived.>

Jiang Quan said, “Uncle, the whole area is covered in water. I saw that only the rooftops were visible in the lower villages. Many villagers are heading to the county town.”

Jiang Sanlang was stunned for a moment, then he immediately rushed out of the house and ran towards the grain store.

He didn’t have much grain stored in the county town, and it would probably last for about five or six days. If he didn’t buy some more, his large family would in trouble.

Jiang Cheng also followed his uncle to the grain store.

The grain store was crowded with people at this time. The price of grain had risen from sixty coins per bushel yesterday to seventy coins today, and brown rice had risen from one hundred coins per bushel to one hundred and twenty coins, almost catching up with the price of pork.

Without saying a word, Jiang Sanlang tried to buy two stones of rice, but the shop assistant told him that each person could only buy up to five bushels.

“Five bushels it is!” Jiang Sanlang and his nephew each bought five bushels of rice.

Back at home, Jiang Sanlang immediately pulled his daughter aside and asked her quietly, “Baobao, tell your father, what else have you dreamed of?”

Yingbao recounted the dream she had that day once again.

At the end, she tried to comfort her father, “Dad, we are quite far from the Jurchens, and our small place is not an important transport route, so the bandits won’t be interested.”

This held true, the county was located in a remote area and half of the terrain was low-lying, making it highly susceptible to floods.

But because of the presence of the river, floodwaters would quickly drain away. As long as the villagers were alert, there wouldn’t be much loss of life, but the villagers’ property could not be guaranteed.

Jiang Sanlang was still worried, “Baobao, even if the Jurchens don’t reach this part, the bandits don’t care about such things, they go around killing, as long as they can get food and money, they would even search through the most remote corners.”

Yingbao fell silent.

In the next two days, the heavy rain was still falling, and more and more villagers were migrating into the county town carrying their belongings.

Soon the grain stocks in a few other grain stores sold out and they were forced to close their doors.

During this time, Yingbao visited Master Zhou Wuchang at the medical office, only to find that he and the senior brother were not there, and no one knew where they had gone.

Two more days passed, and the rain finally stopped.

Jiang Sanlang was eager to go back home, so he quietly left the town with his second nephew in a horse carriage. However, they didn’t get far before they couldn’t proceed anymore.

The view in front of them was all water, even the official road was flooded, and they simply couldn’t cross it.

With no other choice, both of them returned to the city in the horse carriage.

On the way back to the city, they saw countless refugees who had fled into the county town.

They had nowhere to go and were sitting on the side of the road, relying on the polluted rainy water from the river for their daily needs.

Jiang Quan even saw these people defecating anywhere and everywhere, making the streets extremely filthy.

Jiang Sanlang was somewhat dejected upon returning home.

He was deeply worried about his family’s condition, but he was unable to go back.

Yingbao was unaware that her father had gone out and returned, and she asked about the grain prices outside.

Jiang Sanlang shook his head, “It’s still high.” He went out to buy five bushels of rice every day, so there was no shortage of grains at home right now.

And of course, there was no shortage of vegetables either. His daughter could bring back a full basket of fresh vegetables, along with some fresh fruits every day.

Several days later, a huge epidemic broke out in the county town, many people were vomiting and having diarrhea, and had persistent high fevers.

Yingbao sensed something was off after going outside once and immediately returned home. She called everyone and told them not to go out recently.

“There’s an epidemic outside, you must not take it lightly. Try not to go out unless necessary.” After Yingbao finished speaking, she went back to the room, took out some pills and distributed them to everyone, “If anyone gets fever, vomits, or gets diarrhea, take one immediately.”

Master Wu also looked grave and couldn’t help cursing, “The county magistrate in this county deserves to die.”

Once a plague breaks out in the county town, it’s no small matter. It could result in the loss of tens of thousands of lives.

And even now, with the floodwaters outside not yet receded, it was impossible to get medicine for treatment.

Yingbao was also troubled. Although she had some medicine in her cultivation cave, it was not much and just about enough for her family.

But the situation outside was really scary, people were collapsing on the ground, and nobody knew if they were dead or alive.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Someone was knocking on the courtyard door.

Jiang Quan ran out to open the door and saw his Aunt Jiang Yunniang standing outside. “Aunt, why are you here?”

Jiang Yunniang anxiously asked, “Erquan, where is Yingbao?”

“She’s inside. Come in.” Jiang Quan let his aunt in.

Yingbao came out of the room and asked, “Aunt, what’s wrong?”

Jiang Yunniang caught hold of Yingbao and began to cry, “Yingbao, please go and see Yuying and her husband. They are vomiting and having diarrhea, they’re not going to make it.”

Without a second thought, Yingbao said, “Wait here, I’ll go get my medicine box.”

She hurried back to her room, picked up her medicine box, and Jiang Sanlang and Jiang Quan wanted to go with her, but she refused, “Dad, don’t wander around, there are several baskets of vegetables and fruits in my room. You can eat those, don’t go out and buy food.”

Jiang Sanlang worriedly looked at his daughter, “Baobao, just give the medicine to your aunt. Why do you have to go there?”

Yingbao didn’t really want to go either, but since Yuying, her husband and her aunt were ill and there were Hong Xiao and her first cousin’s family as well, it didn’t seem right if she didn’t go.

Jiang Yunniang apologetically said to her brother, “I was careless, didn’t notice that Yuying and her husband went out to fish, and they both fell ill that night.”

They had cooked a pot of fish soup that night, she had carefully boiled the fish until it was well-cooked, yet they still got infected and fell sick.

“Let’s go.” Yingbao put on a DIY mask and led the way out of the courtyard.

She and her aunt walked to the shop. On the way, they encountered several groups of collapsed refugees, and there were many times when she almost stepped on excrement.

When they arrived at the shop, the shop door was already closed. Dahei was helplessly squatting at the door. Seeing Yingbao from afar, he barked and ran over.