After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 52

Among the laborers in the room, quite a few had come in the same batch of exile as Li Chanxiu before.

Li Chanxiu knew clearly that most of them were very poor. Not to mention eating meat, on the road of exile, many had been fortunate just not to starve to death.

So seeing them actually stewing mutton to eat late at night, Li Chanxiu was somewhat surprised. However, at this moment he did not think too much about it, his gaze continuing to search through the crowd for Aunt Xu’s son.

At this time, Pei Er spoke, directly asking on his behalf, “Is Ding Chenghai here?”

Among the laborers kneeling beside the pot, several people suddenly trembled in fear.

After a while, one person among those kneeling raised a hand, slowly half-straightening his body, his hoarse voice carrying some nervousness: “Re, replying to the military lord, I am Ding Chenghai.”

When Li Chanxiu saw him, his eyes lit up slightly. Avoiding the kneeling people, he quickly walked over and said, “Brother Ding, it’s me. Aunt Xu asked me to bring you some things.”

Ding Chenghai was startled to see him and said, “Miss Shen?”

On the road of exile, Li Chanxiu had once fallen seriously ill, and it was thanks to Aunt Xu and him taking care of him. Back when they were exiled, he and Aunt Xu’s family often supported each other as they walked. Now, as he came before Ding Chenghai, he instinctively reached out to help him up.

Ding Chenghai glanced at him, then cautiously looked at Pei Er behind him, not daring to stand.

Pei Er looked at the hand Li Chanxiu had extended, his gaze dark. After sweeping a glance over everyone, he said lightly, “All of you, get up. Do whatever you should be doing.”

Only then did everyone let out a breath of relief and slowly stand up. But seeing that Pei Er wore armor, and clearly held a leading position among the soldiers, they were still somewhat restrained, especially those gathered around the pot.

By this time, Li Chanxiu had already handed the buns to Ding Chenghai and asked whether he had received the clothes and quilt.

Ding Chenghai was a young man in his early twenties. Though he appeared dark and thin from doing hard labor, his physical foundation was there, he looked taller than the other laborers, and his features were also upright.

Pei Er walked over without a word, compared their heights, confirmed he was not as tall as himself, then returned to Li Chanxiu’s side.

At this time, Ding Chenghai had already learned that he was actually Li Chanxiu’s husband, and moreover a commander of a thousand. After a brief daze, he quickly stiffly congratulated Li Chanxiu.

Then he scratched his head, seeming to grow a bit restrained with Li Chanxiu, saying that he had received both the clothes and quilt, and then asked how his mother and younger sister were doing in the military camp, whether they had been bullied.

Li Chanxiu smiled and told him about Aunt Xu and little Ah Yun’s recent situation, and reassured him: “Right now I’m working in the pharmacy and have been promoted by the general to military physician, I can take care of them.”

Hearing this, Ding Chenghai quickly expressed a burst of gratitude and said, “No wonder when I came back today, I heard Xu Da and the others say the general brought a female physician to treat everyone. I didn’t expect it to be you.”

Li Chanxiu smiled faintly. After saying this, he then looked at the bowl and chopsticks in his hand and asked casually, “By the way, you all… are going to eat mutton? Where did the sheep come from? Did everyone pool money to buy it?”

Just now he had already noticed the bowl and chopsticks in the other party’s hands, and he was truly surprised. Others aside, he knew very clearly how poor Aunt Xu’s family was.

On the road of exile, Aunt Xu’s daughter, little Ah Yun, fell ill and nearly died, yet the whole family couldn’t even come up with a single copper coin. Back then, in order to save his younger sister, Ding Chenghai went to kneel and beg the escorting officers, was whipped more than a dozen times, and still failed to obtain even a bit of medicine or food.

In the end, it was Li Chanxiu who couldn’t bear to watch and secretly took out his own medicine and broken silver to help them.

So he was truly a bit curious, how did Ding Chenghai suddenly have money to eat mutton? It couldn’t be that life on the city wall was better than in the military camp, could it?

Hearing this, Ding Chenghai’s expression changed slightly, and for a moment he stammered.

The people by the pot also suddenly grew tense, their gazes drifting this way from time to time.

Pei Er had originally been idly listening to the two talk; noticing the change in atmosphere in the room, he immediately became alert as well.

From the corner of his eye, Li Chanxiu noticed the changes around him. The faint smile on his face did not change as he probed, “Is it… something that can’t be said?”

Ding Chenghai could be considered familiar with him, and moreover, it was Li Chanxiu who had saved his sister’s life. He had always been grateful to Li Chanxiu. Hearing this, he clenched his teeth and suddenly, ignoring the warning looks from those by the pot, spoke up: “Miss Shen, this sheep… we picked it up.”

“Picked it up?” Li Chanxiu was surprised.

“Yes.” Ding Chenghai nodded and said simply, “We picked it up outside the Great Wall.”

About a dozen days ago, when some of them went outside the Great Wall to transport sand, they picked up a dead sheep whose leg had been half gnawed off by some kind of ferocious beast.

Life for the convict laborers on the Great Wall was harsh; ordinarily they could only barely eat half full, and as for meat, they didn’t even dare think about it. When they saw that dead sheep, the dozen or so laborers transporting sand all went green with envy, and hurriedly, while the guards weren’t paying attention, hid the sheep under the sand cart.

After they came back, those people skinned and stewed the sheep and ate well for two days.

Strangely enough, after that, every time they went out to transport sand, every few days they would pick up another dead sheep. In this period of time, they had already picked up three in succession.

Although some people felt it was strange, when one was starving, who cared about that? Moreover, the mutton was shared among everyone, and there was a tacit understanding to keep it secret and not speak of it.

It was just that, because the mutton was limited, most people could only get one bowl, while only those transporting sand could eat their fill at one time.

So in the past few days, the laborers had all been scrambling to go transport sand. Ding Chenghai, seeing this, was also envious and went to the military clerk to plead in every possible way, finally getting the chance to go transport sand today.

And his luck was especially good. While digging sand, he found an excuse to relieve himself, and actually let him pick up two dead sheep. When he came back tonight, the laborers in the room had almost treated him like a hero, and on the spot they skinned one sheep, stewing part of it first, while planning to roast the rest.

Only, before the mutton had finished stewing, Li Chanxiu and the other arrived.

After finishing, Ding Chenghai somewhat cautiously glanced at Pei Er beside Li Chanxiu and said uneasily, “Officer Pei, this sheep… we didn’t steal it.”

The people by the pot also all grew tense. The reason they had concealed this matter was mainly because they were afraid that if the soldiers found out, they would intercept the sheep, and then they would have nothing to eat.

Although the soldiers’ rations were better than theirs as laborers, they were not so good that they could eat large mouthfuls of meat every meal. Now that there was free mutton, who wouldn’t want to eat it?

One of the laborers by the pot came back to his senses, hurriedly scooped a large bowl of meat from the pot, carefully brought it to Pei Er, and tried to ingratiate himself: “Sir, you eat first.”

Although when they had just entered the room, they had smelled a strong mutton odor, now that the mutton was brought before them, there was instead a waft of meat fragrance. It was just that it probably hadn’t finished stewing; the meat clung tightly to the bones.

Pei Er didn’t take it, turning his head to look at Li Chanxiu.

After listening to Ding Chenghai, Li Chanxiu was frowning in thought.

This matter was truly strange, how could there be so many dead sheep outside the Great Wall just waiting for people to pick up? Even waiting by a stump for a rabbit wouldn’t be this easy. And even if there were dead sheep, in a place like beyond the frontier, they would more likely be eaten by wild wolves before anyone could pick them up, unless…

Unless someone had deliberately wanted them to pick them up?

Li Chanxiu’s expression changed slightly, and he suddenly said, “Didn’t you pick up two sheep? Quickly bring out the remaining one for me to see.”

Hearing this, the laborers looked at each other, thinking he wanted to take the sheep away, and were all reluctant to bring it out.

Seeing this, Pei Er directly removed the blade at his waist, tapped the sheath on the table, and swept his gaze over the crowd: “Hurry up.”

The crowd immediately hesitated in fear, yet still no one moved. In the end, Ding Chenghai gritted his teeth and dragged out that dead sheep from under the bed.

Li Chanxiu immediately had someone light a lamp, and crouched down holding an oil lamp to examine it.

The more he looked, the more alarmed he became, especially when he saw the blood spots on the bald patches of the sheep’s body and the white spots on its hooves.

Suddenly, he covered his mouth and nose and stood up, set down the oil lamp, and with his other hand pulled Pei Er back, saying to everyone, “Everyone go outside first. Wake up those who are asleep and take them with you, except the sick.”

After speaking, he looked at the pot again and added, “Put out the fire, carry the pot outside. The dead sheep and the skinned hide must also be carried out. Don’t touch them directly with your hands, find worn-out clothes to wrap them, and later burn them together with the clothes.”

As soon as the laborers heard that it would be burned, there was an uproar, and none of them were willing to move.

Seeing this, Pei Er directly went outside to call soldiers to handle it, while “driving” these laborers out.

Soon, torches were lit outside, and soldiers bustled about, all handling things according to Li Chanxiu’s instructions.

Pei Er stood beside Li Chanxiu, frowning as he watched the scene, and asked in a low voice, “There’s something wrong with the sheep?”

Li Chanxiu nodded, his expression more grave than ever before.

In the dream, later on, there had been an epidemic that swept across Beihu and Great Zhou, lasting nearly ten years and causing the deaths of several million people. Until the end of Li Chanxiu’s dream, the epidemic had still not ended.

And this epidemic had initially been transmitted from cattle and sheep to humans.

Just now, he had carefully examined that dead sheep, the blood spots on its skin and the white spots on its hooves were exactly the same as those of the infected cattle and sheep that had died in the dream.

Only, in the dream, that epidemic did not break out until three years later. He had not expected that at this time, cattle and sheep were already infected with this disease.

Thinking again of those sick laborers, as well as the two soldiers suspected of having caught a chill, Li Chanxiu suddenly grabbed Pei Er’s sleeve and said urgently, “Quick, have someone go ask those two sick soldiers, did they also eat mutton? Did they have contact with the sick laborers?”

Pei Er hurriedly pressed down his hand, signaling him not to be anxious, then turned and ordered soldiers to go ask.

Before long, the soldier sent to inquire came jogging back and reported, “Thousand-man Commander, Physician Shen, those two soldiers did indeed eat mutton. They said a laborer shared roasted mutton with them. I also went to take a look just now, the laborer is not sick. Aside from that, they have not had contact with other laborers.”

Li Chanxiu nodded thoughtfully. That meant these two soldiers had also been infected from eating the mutton, not from being infected by sick laborers.

Suddenly, he thought of another matter. In the dream, that epidemic had not been highly contagious at the beginning; it was only after several outbreaks in the first year that it suddenly spread on a large scale.

In the dream, the traveling physician had also said that when the epidemic first appeared, its infectivity was not strong and initially only appeared in some remote villages. It was only later, as more and more people were infected, that changes occurred.

This also explained why sheep were already dying of this disease now, but its outbreak among humans occurred three years later. It should be that at the beginning the epidemic was not very contagious and only appeared in remote areas.

This speculation finally let the tension Li Chanxiu had been holding ease somewhat.

At this time, the laborers who were not sick had all been driven outside by the soldiers and lined up one by one. Those who were sick were not allowed to come out even if they wanted to.

That pot of mutton, the dead sheep, and the skinned hide had all been placed together.

Li Chanxiu nodded and said to Pei Er, “These sheep had an epidemic disease. Those sick laborers and soldiers should all have fallen ill because they ate the mutton. Burn the hides, the meat, and the sheep.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the laborers opposite immediately showed pleading expressions. They usually could not eat their fill or keep warm; now that they finally had some mutton to eat, they truly could not bear to part with it.

Some even thought, sick sheep are just sick sheep, back home, it wasn’t like they had never eaten chickens that died of illness before, and nothing had happened.

Just then, a soldier who saw the situation inside through the window suddenly shouted, “Commander, Physician Shen, one of the sick laborers is vomiting blood!”

The laborers who had just been thinking that sick sheep could still be eaten immediately turned pale, and the others who had also eaten mutton all showed panic and fear.

Ding Chenghai had also eaten mutton and could not help but feel nervous.

As soon as Li Chanxiu heard someone was vomiting blood, his expression changed slightly and he immediately moved to check. But just as he lifted his foot, his arm was suddenly seized.

Pei Er’s expression was tense. He gripped him tightly, his hand like an iron clamp, he said nothing, yet did not let go.

Li Chanxiu saw the worry in his eyes. He pried his hand away bit by bit and reassured him, “Don’t worry, this illness is not so easily transmitted for now.”

As he spoke, he had someone bring his medical kit, took out a strip of silk cloth, and covered his mouth and nose. Fortunately, before coming, when General Chen told him about this matter, he had suspected it might be an epidemic, so he had prepared in advance.

Then he took out extra strips of silk cloth and distributed them to the other soldiers, telling them to cover their mouths and noses before coming into contact with the sick.

Pei Er also took one, covered his mouth and nose, and immediately followed him.

Li Chanxiu kept his brows tightly furrowed all the way as he entered to examine the patient. Unexpectedly, after vomiting blood for a while, that person suddenly died, beyond saving.

Having failed to save the person, Li Chanxiu felt a heaviness in his heart.

But after examining the cause of death, his brow relaxed slightly, no longer as tightly knit as before.

The patient had been struck in the chest by a heavy object and had suddenly vomited blood and died, not because of the epidemic.

The worry in Li Chanxiu’s heart eased somewhat. In the dream, the epidemic did indeed easily cause death in the infected at the beginning, but most died suddenly during high fever; there was no vomiting of blood. When he had just seen this person suddenly die vomiting blood, he had almost thought the early-stage symptoms of the epidemic were more severe and different from the later stage.

However, after this incident, those laborers all believed that the person had died from the epidemic. Each of them turned pale with fright and no longer dared to look at the mutton.

Just then, General Chen, having received the news, hurried over. After listening to Li Chanxiu explain the situation, he immediately ordered, “Burn it. Burn everything!”

“And the laborer who just died, his body should also preferably be cremated,” Li Chanxiu added from the side.

These were all methods used by the traveling physician in the dream to deal with the epidemic. Although that laborer had died from injury, he had indeed also contracted the epidemic.

Upon hearing that the body would be burned, everyone’s expressions changed again. In their view, this was no different from reducing the bones to ashes.

Although he was only a laborer, it was not only laborers who were infected.

For a moment, everyone’s gaze turned to General Chen, waiting for his decision.