Chapter 439 – With Me Here, The World Will Not Descend Into Chaos
With Me Here, The World Will Not Descend Into Chaos
The words extreme heat caused everyone to see a scene that seemed to have come from hell.
After the natural disaster, the extreme heat would give rise to an epidemic. The Emperor stared at Feng Yu Heng and asked her: “Is there any hope?”
Feng Yu Heng pulled her eyebrows tightly together and thought a bit before saying: “I already sent people to gather the corpses together in a distant location. In order to control the epidemic, the corpses must be cremated, and the living people must be observed. Any small wound on the body, if not treated properly, may end up becoming infected. The environment that the refugees are staying in must also be continuously sterilized. The bacteria must be quarantined, and the food that they eat must be clean. In the event of a fever or cold, it must be treated immediately for an immediate recovery. Under these sorts of conditions, a single sneeze could be disastrous. I…” She said a bunch of things in a single breath. When she finally stopped, however, she grabbed Xuan Tian Ming’s hand. She then looked at the Emperor with a resolute expression and said: “I will go outside the capital.”
“No good!” Xuan Tian Ming was the first to react. Turning his hand, he grabbed her small hand and said seriously: “Absolutely not.”
The Emperor also nodded, “There are some things that can be delegated. A-Heng, you should not go.”
Feng Yu Heng helplessly shook her head, “No good. Only I can save them. If I don’t go, the doctors that are sent out will not be able to help.”
She advised Xuan Tian Ming: “You must trust me. I have the ability to protect myself, and I definitely will not become infected by the epidemic.” Fearing that Xuan Tian Ming would not believe her, she immediately added: “I can give myself a shot. As long as I have that shot, I will not get sick.”
Xuan Tian Ming did not understand what it meant to get a shot, but when he thought about the times that Feng Yu Heng had saved others. Her expression and those weird tools allowed him to know that if this girl was so resolute, he knew that she could definitely protect herself. Thus he nodded and said: “That’s fine. This prince will go with you.”
These words caused the Emperor to become irritated, as he slapped the table and loudly said: “No!”
Zhang Yuan also advised from the side: “Your Highness, please think carefully!”
Perhaps the Emperor could accept Feng Yu Heng going out of the city, but he absolutely could not accept Xuan Tian Ming going out. He could not allow his son to suffer even the slightest, thus he waved his hand and made his decision very resolute. “We shall not give any leeway on this matter!”
Xuan Tian Ming stared at the Emperor and did not speak for a long time. Just as Feng Yu Heng felt that this atmosphere was too awkward, she wanted to advise Xuan Tian Ming to give up on going outside the city. At this time, Xuan Tian Ming suddenly spoke up, saying to the Emperor: “I finally understand why imperial concubine mother does not wish to see you.”
These words completely killed any momentum that the Emperor had. His hand remained in the state of being waved, remaining frozen in midair. The anger on his face did not disappear. Instead, it exuded traces of sadness. It was as though he had returned to a time many years ago, back to a time when he had lived freely on a mountain with his beloved Yun. That girl diving for butterflies could cause him to laugh for a long time. When fishing, she fell into the water, and he laughed until tears appeared in his eyes. But later on, a plague spread, and a large number of people died in the tribe. The palace sent people to pick him up, forcing him to return to the capital. He gritted his teeth and brought imperial concubine Yun away from the tribe that had raised her. This ended up saving her life; however, there was no way to control the epidemic. In the end, the entire tribe was lost in the long river of history. He hid this from his beloved imperial concubine Yun for a few years until the situation was revealed. Imperial concubine Yun then locked herself in Winter Moon Palace, never meeting him again.
The Emperor had lost all vigor. Zhang Yuan worriedly supported him, repeatedly giving looks to Xuan Tian Ming. He wanted for him to say something nice, but the Emperor waved his hand. With a heavy sigh, he said: “Just go! Just come back alive. Save the refugees and treat it as… treat it as compensation for the Xi Ye tribe.”
Feng Yu Heng did not understand what the Emperor’s words meant, nor did she understand what the situation was with the Xi Ye tribe. But she was not too curious. With the natural disaster before them, who still had the mind to inquire about gossip.
The night was deep. When the two came out of the imperial palace, it was already past midnight; however, there were still a large number of soldiers running back and forth. Just watching it caused people to feel flustered.
Feng Yu Heng said to Xuan Tian Ming: “In truth, you don’t need to come outside the city with me. After all, the inside of the city is not stable either. The people need to be reassured.”
Xuan Tian Ming patted her shoulder, comforting her: “The capital has father Emperor and seventh brother. When it comes to reassuring people, seventh brother has always been better than me.”
Feng Yu Heng understood this reasoning, but right before leaving the palace, the Emperor’s reluctant appearance circled her mind. She said: “Father Emperor is unwilling to allow you to go. I can go out. In the end, I am not a member of the imperial family. Even if something happens to me, he will not feel too distressed. But you are different. Xuan Tian Ming, I can see that father Emperor does not want to let you go out. If something were to happen to you, he could not endure it.”
“You will allow something to happen to me?” Xuan Tian Ming turned around and asked her, “If something would happen to me, it definitely would not be safe for me. Heng Heng, when there is fortune, we will enjoy it together. If there is trouble, we will endure it together. This is nothing. I am a man.”
The words I am a man made it hard for Feng Yu Heng to say anything else. She could understand Xuan Tian Ming’s desire to help her shoulder the burden. If this situation were flipped, she would have done the same.
As the imperial carriage went toward the county princess’ manor, Xuan Tian Ming advised her: “Get a good night’s sleep tonight. Early tomorrow morning, we will head outside the city.”
Though told to get a good night’s sleep, who could possibly sleep. After Feng Yu Heng returned to her courtyard, she went straight to the medicine storage room. She then entered her space and took out all of her antibiotic injections. Picking out the ones that could be used, she placed them in boxes. She then brought out a large amount of disinfectant along with some spray bottles. THere were also a large number of necessary medicines that needed to be prepared. Medicine for colds, diarrhea and all sorts of illnesses that she could think of were prepared and brought out of her space. She did this a number of times, and the medicine storage room became filled with things that she had brought out. Feng Yu Heng sat on the ground and looked at the piles of medicine surrounding her. She did not feel relaxed at all because she knew that just having medicine was not enough. She did not know how things were going for Xuan Tian Ge with the purchasing of rice. There was also the matter of clothing.
Thinking of clothing, Feng Yu Heng sighed and entered her space once more to pull out set after set of raincoats. Fortunately, this sort of item that could not be exhausted would be replenished as soon as it was taken from the space. Otherwise, there really would not be anything that she could do.
She worked all through the night, filling the medicine storage room completely, but it still was not enough. But she could not continue to pull things out. There was too much stuff. Transporting it all to the city’s gates would be a problem. She called Wang Chuan inside and gave an order: “Quickly go prepare the carriage. Place all of these things on the carriage. Remember, the carriage must be sturdy and block the rain.”
Wang Chuan told her: “Young miss, don’t worry. A number of the raincoats that you gave to the servants have been taken apart to supplement the carriage. Right now, the carriages have been wrapped by raincoats. They definitely will not leak.”
Only then did she relax.
After quickly eating breakfast, Xuan Tian Ming’s imperial carriage had already arrived in front of the county princess’ manor. It was not just his carriage. Xuan Tian Ge’s carriage was also there. In that carriage sat Bai Fu Rong, Ren Xi Feng and Fung Tian Yu. There were also the carriages that carried all of the rice that had just been purchased.
Feng Yu Heng kept Qing Yu at the manor to take care of Yao shi, while she brought Wang Chuan and Huang Quan, along with all of the things inside of the room, into two carriages and joined this group of carriages.
Just as they were about to leave, Xiang Rong quickly ran out from the manor in a raincoat, urgently calling to her: “Second sister!”
Feng Yu Heng turned back and loudly said: “Stay in the manor. Don’t go anywhere. Be good.”
“It’s not that!” Xiang Rong spoke anxiously: “I am not wanting to go outside the city. I just thought of how the people outside the city are all wearing clothes that are completely soaked. Even if shelters are built, and they have food to eat, wearing those sorts of clothes will still lead to them getting sick! Second sister, it’s a little too late to make clothes. My courtyard still has some clothes that I wore in the past. They are very clean, and I have already sent someone to get them. It would be better for us to send our old clothes over. Give them out to as many people as possible!”
Feng Yu Heng’s eyes lit up. She had completely neglected this point. Xiang Rong’s idea was very good. Using old clothes was far more convenient than making new clothes, and it was not wasteful. But with just a few people, how many sets of clothes could be brought out?
At this time, Ren Xi Feng, who had come with Xuan Tian Ge, loudly said from a carriage in the back: “How about this! Tian Yu and I will stay behind with third young miss to collect clothes. If there are not enough clothes from our own homes, we will go ask other homes. There are so many large homes in the capital. No matter if it is masters or servants, as long as they have clean clothes, it will be fine. Without worrying about good or bad, as long as we can collect one carriage worth, we will send out one carriage worth. How about it?”
Fung Tian Yu nodded, “This is a good idea.” SHe then waved to Xiang Rong: “Third young miss, come over here.”
Xiang Rong happily ran to the back. Xuan Tian Ge then gave them another carriage. Feng Yu Heng saw that everything was going smoothly and quickly hurried the drivers to get going.
Xuan Tian Ming told her: “The Eastside and Southside are the places where the most people have gathered. By comparison, the North and West sides have less people. Soldiers have already been dispatched with some imperial physicians. There is not too much trouble. The refugees are mostly from the South because the rain has been Heavier in the South, thus the number of people coming from there to escape the disaster will naturally be higher. We will be going South first.”
The group of carriages went toward the Southern gate. When they finally stopped, they heard what sounded like booms of thunder. She furrowed her brow: “Is there thunder?”
Xuan Tian Ming furrowed his brow tightly: “I fear that that is not the sound of thunder.”
Just as this was said, another voice came from the outside: “Have his Highness and county princess arrived?”
They could tell that the person that had spoken was Wang Zhuo. Wang Chuan walked forward and lifted the curtain of the carriage. They saw Wang Zhuo stand in the rain and loudly say: “Your Highness, it’s not good. The refugees outside are trying to break in. They are working together to ram the gates!”
The two heard this and felt their heads swell. Quickly standing up in a see-through raincoat, they both got out of the imperial carriage. While walking, Xuan Tian Ming asked: “Haven’t shelters been built outside the capital?”
Wang Zhuo said: “They have been built, but just building shelters is pointless. Their main problem is not having any food to eat. The majority of people have died from hunger. Early this morning, they reached an agreement and all gathered together to try and ram the gate.”
Xuan Tian Ming angrily shouted: “Troublesome! Will there be food if they break in here? Are they escaping a disaster or committing robbery?”
Seeing him get angry, Wang Zhuo did not dare say anything else, fearing that Xuan Tian Ming would give the order to kill everyone in anger.
But in truth, Xuan Tian Ming did not have this sort of thought. He just tightly held Feng Yu Heng’s hand and walked over to the city tower. Behind them, Xuan Tian Ge and Bai Fu Rong followed them. Everyone was in low spirit and slightly flustered.
When everyone finally reached the top of the city tower, Feng Yu Heng looked down and saw a number of refugees gathered outside the city. There were some that were so sick and hungry that they could not move. They just lay in the puddles of mud. Some of the people with some energy left were running against the city’s gates. There were also children that were crying endlessly. There were also the elderly and women silently praying.
She made a rough estimate that there were at least ten thousand refugees outside.
The hand that Xuan Tian Ming was holding gradually became colder and colder. Even for her, Feng Yu Heng, faced with this sort of scene, she could not help but feel horrified.
Outside the city, the refugees flung their bodies, causing a heaven-shaking sound. From time to time, the people that had been seriously injured would be swapped out. They repeatedly shouted: “Let us in.” It seemed that even the city tower that they were in began to shake.
Xuan Tian Ming could sense her emotions and held her hand even tighter. He then whispered into her ear: “Don’t be scared. With me here, the world will not descend into chaos.”