In the heavy rain, two men each carrying oil-cloth wrapped bundles of medicinal materials ran into the back courtyard.

Under the eaves, two solemn garrison soldiers watched them.

The two men’s footsteps involuntarily stopped.

Although everyone who could approach this place had already been checked, seeing them stop, the soldiers’ eyes still carried some wariness.

This was an important location for epidemic prevention supplies—there could be no mistakes.

Seeing the two soldiers’ expressions, the man behind came to his senses and bumped into the man in front while moving forward.

The two stood under the corridor one after another, not looking at the two soldiers as they removed the oil cloth, hung it aside, and carried the two perfectly dry medicinal bundles into the room.

When they came out again, the two soldiers’ gazes had turned toward the courtyard gate. Instinctively sensing the attention, they turned their heads simultaneously.

The two men emerging from the room were staring at them blankly.

Four eyes met, silent for a moment.

The two men’s bodies unconsciously tensed, their hands unconsciously moving to their waists.

Though there was nothing there…

Before the garrison troops arrived, Qianjin Hall was short-handed, so they hired more than twenty people who had delivered lime to serve as laborers, responsible for crowd isolation, goods transport, and other work. Without them, those panicked rushing crowds simply couldn’t be controlled, and it also prevented situations like supplies being looted.

After the garrison troops came and took over crowd isolation, these people didn’t leave but stayed to continue helping.

Under such a great plague disaster, those who could flee had fled. They weren’t from Yongqing Prefecture but hadn’t left and instead stayed. It was said that Qianjin Hall’s financial manager, Steward Hu, was withholding their wages, but…

“Thank you for your hard work,” the two soldiers nodded and said.

The two men gasped and widened their eyes, seeming somewhat incredulous.

“No, no…” one of them stammered.

“Not hard work, not hard work. You soldiers are the ones working hard,” the other interrupted, nodding and bowing.

The atmosphere immediately became lively.

Everyone nodded to each other, and the two men walked out into the rain.

Once they left this place, the two men couldn’t help but run. As if vicious dogs were chasing them, they ran breathlessly into a courtyard that was extremely noisy.

“Fourth Brother, Fourth Brother, guess what I heard, guess…” the man who rushed in grabbed a man who was talking grandly with four or five others and shouted.

“Guess what,” that man turned back irritably.

The speaking man laughed heartily.

“I heard those soldiers say ‘thank you for your hard work’ to me!” he clapped and laughed, as if this was the funniest joke. “Thank you for your hard work! Those soldiers said it to me!”

In the past, they were chased by these soldiers like homeless dogs. Today they were politely told “thank you for your hard work”!

This was something they couldn’t even dream of!

“Enough,” the man frowned and covered his mouth. “Control your mouth, don’t cause trouble for me!”

This man sat down resentfully, but still couldn’t hide his excitement.

“What’s there to show off about? Yesterday a soldier even helped me push a cart…” a smaller, younger man said.

While they chattered here, several more serious men gathered together over there.

“Fourth Brother, did Big Brother say when we’re leaving?” one of them asked in a low voice. “These boys are restless here and will cause trouble sooner or later. Then it won’t just be helping Lady Qi—it’ll bring trouble.”

“Right, don’t forget several of our brothers’ wanted posters are still posted in several prefectures,” another said in a low voice.

The man called Fourth Brother nodded.

“Big Brother said after we give Lady Qi one more big gift, then we’ll leave,” he said.

“The money’s all prepared. We’ll just throw it in Lady Qi’s courtyard when the time comes, right?” one of them said.

Fourth Brother smiled.

“That doesn’t count. Big Brother’s talking about those people’s matter,” he said.

This sentence made everyone understand.

“Right, right, it’s time,” they laughed.

“Oh my, Master Hu, how do you have time to come here?”

Voices came from outside the door.

This was the gatekeeper reporting. The people in the room immediately stopped talking.

Hu San had already entered with a cheerful laugh.

“Thank you for your hard work, brothers. I’ve come to calculate everyone’s wages,” he smiled.

“No rush, no rush,” Fourth Brother hurried to smile.

“No, my master said soldiers may not move before supplies are ready. You brothers are equivalent to our supplies this time. Everything else can wait, but you cannot be neglected,” Hu San said seriously, taking out a money pouch from his chest and slowly handing it over.

The man paused, then stopped declining. Anyway, he would return it to Lady Qi in the future. He reached out to accept it.

Hu San watched his suddenly empty hand with great reluctance. Seeing the man not even looking before throwing the money to someone nearby:

“Hey, hey, count it too,” he hurried to remind.

The man laughed heartily and quickly pulled back his hand to open the money pouch.

Wow, gold leaves…

Hu San raised his eyebrows and shouted for everyone in his heart.

In fact, no one around shouted. Everyone looked at him with that strange smile…

What was wrong with these people…

Logically, laborers earning money should be like seeing their own fathers when they saw money, right?

Why did they look so strange…

“Thank you, Master Hu,” the man said, casually tossing the money pouch to someone nearby.

The person nearby also casually hung the money pouch at his waist.

Well, these people hadn’t seen money, hadn’t seen gold leaves, didn’t know how to get excited. I, Hu San, understand and won’t mock them.

“You’re welcome, you’ve earned it. We’re so grateful to you all this time. Without you, things would have been terrible,” Hu San smiled and patted the man’s shoulder. “When everything is completely stable, I’ll have a good drink with everyone.”

Hearing about alcohol, the men all understood, and everyone’s eyes brightened.

Because epidemic prevention was crucial, drinking wasn’t allowed here. But they had to watch the liquor daily, which was like watching a beautiful woman undressing on the bed while being unable to move one’s hands and feet. A group of people were nearly tortured to death.

The atmosphere immediately became enthusiastic.

“I want to drink,” Qi Yue said, wrapped in a blanket.

A’Ru handed over ginger soup with no room for negotiation.

“You dared to jump in the lake, how can you not dare to drink ginger soup?” she said.

Urgent footsteps sounded outside, then someone burst in.

The rain was still falling outside. Chang Yuncheng, wearing only a bamboo hat, was soaked through.

“How did you fall into the lake?” he asked. When he asked this, he was still outside. Now that he entered and heard A’Ru’s words, he froze in place, his face showing fear.

Jump into the lake? Throw oneself into the lake?

“No, no,” Qi Yue hurried to smile, her wet hair sticking to her face. As she said this, she sneezed heavily.

Chang Yuncheng, not caring about the water on his body, removed his bamboo hat and set it aside. He took the ginger soup from A’Ru’s hands and handed it to Qi Yue, his expression brooking no refusal.

Qi Yue smiled, reached out from under the blanket to take it, tilted her head back, and drank it all in big gulps.

“Go get another bowl,” she said, sticking out her tongue.

A’Ru glanced at the dripping Chang Yuncheng, understood, and went out.

Only the two of them remained in the room. Chang Yuncheng was somewhat constrained, moving his gaze around the room.

This was Qi Yue’s simple resting place, even more modest than Qianjin Hall.

This woman…

Chang Yuncheng’s nose felt slightly sour.

“Take off your clothes.”

Qi Yue’s voice came. Chang Yuncheng was startled.

Take off…

He looked over to see Qi Yue had already stood up and taken out a robe from a small cabinet nearby.

This was one of those uniform laboratory robes from Qianjin Hall, loose and large, not distinguishing between men and women or sizes.

“No, no need,” Chang Yuncheng said.

Qi Yue looked at him and smiled.

“I’ll step aside. Change quickly. Do you really want to catch cold and make me feel guilty and worried?” she smiled.

Chang Yuncheng’s face flushed red.

“Step aside for what? It’s not like you haven’t seen it before,” he muttered, reaching out to unfasten his wet clothes.

Qi Yue quickly turned her head away.

“You really are…” she said with a smile, ultimately turning around.

Chang Yuncheng had only said this instinctively. After saying it and reflecting on it, only bitterness remained.

Various scenes of past bedroom play flashed before his eyes again, and he seemed to hear that woman’s startled shouts in his ears.

But at this moment, his ears were quiet, and the woman before him had her back turned, picking up a towel.

“Here. Dry yourself,” she said, reaching back with the towel.

Polite avoidance, no panic, no shyness. Everything so natural and casual.

Chang Yuncheng reached out to take it, slowly drying his body.

When A’Ru came in again, Chang Yuncheng was already wearing the robe. Being tall and large, the clothes on him exposed his arms and legs, looking extremely awkward.

Chang Yuncheng naturally felt awkward too. He simply sat down, using drinking ginger soup to cover his embarrassment, watching from the corner of his eye.

Here, Qi Yue and A’Ru were shaking out the clothes he had taken off.

“I’ll go dry this,” A’Ru said.

“This needs to be washed—it’s all rainwater,” Qi Yue shook her head. “Go see if anyone else has spare clothes, similar size, and borrow a set.”

A’Ru nodded and went out again.

“I didn’t jump into the lake. I was swimming,” Qi Yue said, turning around.

Chang Yuncheng lowered his gaze and made a sound of acknowledgment.

The room fell silent.

“When are you leaving?” Qi Yue asked.

“Since I’m already delayed, being a bit later doesn’t matter,” Chang Yuncheng said. “I’ll leave after everything is completely resolved.”

Delayed… indeed…

Qi Yue sighed.

Not knowing what to say, she sat down and said nothing.

The rain outside grew heavier, pattering against the roof and window lattices and splashing in. Qi Yue got up to close the windows, and Chang Yuncheng also hurried to help.

Because he got up quickly, the robe caught on the table corner.

Chang Yuncheng moved roughly without stopping, and with a ripping sound, it tore.

Qi Yue turned around in surprise to see half the man’s body exposed, revealing his strong chest, waist, and thighs…

Seeing her look over, Chang Yuncheng somewhat frantically reached to pull the torn robe to cover himself.

Qi Yue was both annoyed and amused. Seeing his embarrassed and comical appearance, she finally covered her mouth and laughed loudly.

“Chang Yuncheng, you exhibitionist! Did you come here deliberately to show off your muscles?” she laughed loudly.

Chang Yuncheng!

She hadn’t called his name like this for a long time…

Always “you” or “hey” instead.

Chang Yuncheng! Chang Yuncheng!

Chang Yuncheng looked at the woman covering her mouth and laughing before him, feeling his mind explode with a roar. He stepped forward and pulled this woman into his arms, one hand snapping the window shut.

With a snap, the room became even darker, rain beating against the window like beans, making intense crisp sounds.