Chapter 233

After Tangtang and Guoguo left, Xu Ran asked Gao Quan, “Gao Quan, did Lu Qi say that he would come tonight? I want to ask him something.”

Gao Quan said, “He didn’t say that he would com, but I guess he will.”

Xu Ran nodded. “Well, Come to find me when he is here. Besides, inform Shao Yu of the whole thing. We will go to Yanzhou together.”

“Mm, I got it,” Gao Quan said.

After they finished talking to Gao Quan, the two went downstairs together. The eyes of the people in the house were on Guoguo and Tangtang and nobody noticed them.

Xu Ran cut in for a while and slipped away quietly. He went back to his room to find Liu Tong.

Liu Tong sat by the bed in a daze while Liu Tong sat beside him and hugged him. “What’s the matter? Can’t you accept it?”

Liu Tong shook his head. “No, Dad and Daddy have been gone for more than 20 years. I have forgotten what they look like, but I never thought that I would have something to do with a prince. Ran, do you think this is a good thing?”

Xu Ran said, “There is nothing good or bad about it. Things change. Roll with the punches. We will see if it is true as we go there. Although King Yan is not on good terms with the emperor now, he might have a good relationship with the next emperor. At that time, Tangtang and Guoguo will have a backer when they want to establish themselves in the court. At least he is a prince.”

When Liu Tong heard him say this, he suddenly smiled. “You even thought of this. Didn’t you always tell them to rely on themselves?”

Xu Ran said, “This only applies when they encounter difficulties! It’s not that I am asking them to shout on the street that their uncle is King Yan. If you hold a grudge about it, go ahead, hit me if you can!”

Liu Tong was even happier when he heard this. He didn’t bother about what he had just been obsessed, and said to Xu Ran, “Ran, I’ll listen to you. Let’s go to Yanzhou to see if we look alike. If he’s good, I’ll acknowledge him. If he’s not, then I won’t.”

Xu Ran smiled gently, “Well, if he’s not good, we won’t acknowledge him. I heard that the plague is getting more and more serious, so we should make thorough preparation first. We will leave when things go wrong.”

“Okay.”

The couple were chatting in the room while the people downstairs were chitchatting too. As for what was going on outside, none of them cared.

……

Lu Qi came at the mid-night. He secretly jumped from the roof of the Xu Family into the yard. The moment he came, Gao Quan detected it, and not long after, Tangtang and Guoguo woke up too, probably sensing danger instinctively.

However, Tangtang and Guoguo did not go down. They just watched from the dark. Previously when they saw Gao Quan come out, they kept staring at him without blinking, afraid that Gao Quan would do something betraying them. Later, when they saw Gao Quan calling their Dad down, the two kids fell back to sleep relievedly. Anyway, their Dad would not harm them.

On the other side, the first thing Lu Qi said when he saw Xu Ran was, “The two young masters have found out that I’m here.”

Xu Ran was stunned for a moment before realizing who he was talking about. Xu Ran said, “It turned out they have the ability now. Let’s not talk about this. Tell me about the plague first.”

Though it wasn’t raining at night, it wasn’t appropriate to talk in the yard. Lu Qi looked around, and Xu Ran understood what he meant, and said, “Let’s go to the living room first, but we can’t light the lamp. After all, everyone is asleep, and they’ll know if the lamp is lighted.”

About this, Lu Qi had no objection. He only needed a place to sit down.

In the darkness, they found seats to sit down in the living room. Then Xu Ran asked Lu Qi about the plague.

Lu Qi said, “The plague came from elsewhere. The first place affected is your town. The plague spread too quickly. Most of the people have been infected before people could study how to treat it. The town’s clinics are either closed or are helpless in front of the plague. That’s why it’s a troublesome thing. The officials in the town are intentionally trying to suppress the problem of the plague. In not distant future, there would be numerous casualties. Thus, I am so eager to take you away.”

Xu Ran was a little surprised. “The situation has already been so serious. Does the court not know? Could there be countless casualties in the village?”

Lu Qi said, “As long as there is a one infected with plague in the village, it will affect the whole village. At that time, the yamen would not differentiate whether everyone has got infected, they might set the whole village to a blaze.”

From Lu Qi’s words, Xu Ran could sense the cruelty of this era–human lives were light like dirt.

Xu Ran said, “Then the yamen will not know about what happened today! Even if I want to leave, I won’t be willing to let anyone burn this village. My house took me thousands of taels of sliver to repair, and my orchards, in which I have worked hard for three years to make the trees bear fruits. These are fruits of my painstaking labour. I would be devastated if all are ruined.”

Lu Qi was speechless. While human lives were lost every day, Xu Ran was still thinking about the house and orchards.

Lu Qi said, “That’s not the point. The situation is very serious now. You have to follow me to the Yanzhou. I’ve already prepared everything. All you have to do is bring your necessities and don’t care about anything else.”

Xu Ran waved his hand. “We’ll go, but it’s not now. It’s not that fast. We’re not going to be back in a short while. I still have something to arrange, so I need some more time. I know the seriousness of the situation and I’ll arrange it as soon as possible. Right, aren’t you good at the medical skills? Don’t you know how to deal with this plague?”

Lu Qi shook his head. “I haven’t studied the plague, and I don’t have the time to manage it. You know that I’m King Yan’s subordinate. Now that the old emperor is still in power, I don’t want to work for him.”

It seemed that the grudge was quite deep. Xu Ran thought. But if what they said was true, Xu Ran himself should hate the emperor.

However, this was not the focus now. Xu Ran said to Lu Qi, “In the next few days, I will make plans as soon as possible. You should also study how to deal with the plague, Just in case.”

Lu Qi nodded, “Alright, but you have to hurry up. If King Yan comes over personally, it’ll be troublesome.”

“Got it, I’ll do it as soon as possible. It’s not suitable for us to chat in the middle of the night. You’d better leave first! It would be bad if the villagers found out.”

Lu Qi got up and said, “Well, I’ll leave first. I’ll come back in two days.”

Then he got out of the door and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Xu Ran didn’t say anything to Gao Quan and went back to their separate rooms.

Liu Tong also woke up in the room. After Xu Ran came back, he asked him where he had gone. Xu Ran did not hide it from him and told Liu Tong what had happened.

Liu Tong sighed after listening, “I didn’t expect the yamen to do something like this.”

Xu Ran sighed, “Yeah! However, the fact that the local officials can behave like that can only attribute blame to the emperor, who is  not capable of using people.”

Liu Tong, not knowing much about this, only listened to Xu Ran talking. When Xu Ran had finished, he asked him, “Ran, when are we leaving?”

Xu Ran said, “In less than five days. Today, the infected villagers have been discovered in the village, and more cases will be found in the future, and it will be more dangerous. However, what I am worried are Zhuo Yun and Brother Qin. We are able to leave, but they are definitely not, because their root is here. They will definitely not leave with us, but if it won’t be safe if they stay in the village. We can leave our house for them to live. However, I am still worried about something else.”

Liu Tong couldn’t think of a way either. “Tomorrow, let’s talk about it and ask about their opinions. We have stored food, and it won’t be a problem to live here. As long as they don’t go out, they won’t be infected. If someone comes to the village to catch people, then run up the mountain. Ran, do you remember the cave we ever lived in before?”

Xu Ran said, “Remember, Tongtong, you’re smart. How could I not have thought of it! That cave is very spacious and can accommodate a lot of people. Plus the weather is hot, as long as there’s enough food and water, staying there for a period is no problem at all. Haha!”

Xu Ran was so happy that he burst into laughter. Liu Tong quickly covered his mouth, “Ran, don’t laugh. It’s not dawn yet.”

When he was reminded by Liu Tong, Xu Ran remembered that it was still midnight. He immediately stopped laughing, but he didn’t let Liu Tong go. He hugged him and gave him a few kisses, and then he simply tumbled together with him, keeping him awake till daybreak.

Liu Tong glared at him weakly but didn’t say anything.

In the morning, enduring his physical discomfort, he got up from bed and went to the kitchen to cook. Xu Ran felt a bit guilty.