Near Lin’an there was a tea-producing county town called Tangli. Every deep spring, tea merchants from Lin’an, Jinling, and various other prefectures would gather there to select tea leaves, making the town lively and bustling.
But this deep spring, Tangli—usually thick with travelers—was eerily silent, its streets and alleys empty. Inside the county office, the magistrate sat on edge, having ceded the head seat to the female general who had arrived just the day before, carefully watching her expression.
Yun Xi said little. She hadn’t slept the entire night before, and was now resting with her eyes closed to conserve her strength. Before long, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the office.
Cui Yu entered the hall and cupped his hands toward Yun Xi. “General, I’ve been to the two nearby towns. There are patients with the same symptoms there too. It looks like this really is an epidemic.”
Yun Xi asked, “Have Chu Mu and Ke Yong come back yet?”
“Not yet. The towns they went to are farther out, but they should be back soon.”
Yun Xi made a sound of acknowledgment, her brow furrowed, and said nothing more.
Half a month earlier, Yun Xi had come to Lin’an on official business. Because the young master of the Yin family—prominent medicine merchants in Lin’an—was getting married, she’d stayed on a bit longer than planned. She’d originally intended to use the extra time to ask around the counties near Lin’an about Cheng Chang’s whereabouts, but had only made it through two counties when she suddenly received an urgent letter from the Lin’an prefect, saying Tangli County might be facing an epidemic, and asking her not to go there.
Yun Xi was a court official who had been to the battlefield, had suppressed bandit uprisings, and had dealt with epidemics before. Knowing there was an emergency in Tangli, she naturally didn’t shy away—she immediately led troops to the county and dispatched trusted aides to the nearby towns to investigate.
Before long, Chu Mu and the others returned as well. The nearby towns all had patients infected with the epidemic, though fortunately not many—it seemed the spread hadn’t yet gotten far.
“Seal the town first,” Yun Xi decided at once, then instructed the magistrate beside her, “Take me to the medical hall.”
The medical hall was on the east side of town; at present all of Tangli’s epidemic patients were being sent there. But with so many patients and not enough space, the county office had also requisitioned a few nearby shops. The moment Yun Xi arrived at the medical hall, the first people she spotted helping out were Sun Haiping and Zhang Dahu. She called them over. “Go rest for a while, you two.”
Before his final disappearance, Cheng Chang had once told Sun Haiping that, given the heavy weight of the wrongs he’d committed in his earlier life, he should perform one good deed a day from then on. These past few years, with Sun Haiping and Zhang Dahu having nothing much to do at the estate, they’d taken to accompanying Yun Xi on official business instead—it made it easier to search for the young prince along the way, too.
Sun Haiping had been counting carefully, and by his reckoning, today’s good deed had already been fulfilled—helping any further would be overdoing it. He quickly said “right, then,” and went off to the back room for a nap.
Zhang Dahu wasn’t quite as calculating as Sun Haiping, but seeing Yun Xi, he too lost interest in continuing his work at the medical hall and came over to her side. “General Yun, you’re here? Just give me any orders—I’ve got plenty of strength to spare!”
Yun Xi, anxious, glanced around and spotted a young man and woman in the medical hall, and strode over quickly. “Dr. Yin, Dr. Ling, how does it look?”
Dr. Yin had just finished examining a patient. He led Yun Xi aside and removed the cloth mask covering his face. “It’s confirmed. It really is an epidemic.”
“Is it treatable?” Yun Xi asked.
“Hard to say. My wife and I are already working on a formula tailored to the symptoms, but how long it’ll take is largely a matter of luck. Judging by the current situation, the patients’ conditions aren’t too severe—mostly the elderly, children, and women, likely because they’re weaker to begin with. But it’s spreading fast. Have you sealed the town already, General?”
Yun Xi nodded. “Done. Thank you for your and Dr. Ling’s efforts.”
This Dr. Yin was, in fact, the young master of the wealthy Yin family of medicine merchants in Lin’an. Half a month earlier, he had married the youngest daughter of the Ling family, a family with generations of physicians, and had personally invited Yun Xi to their wedding feast.
Though the young Ling woman was a physician herself, she had shown remarkable talent in medicine from childhood, having studied alongside her father and brothers. She and the young Yin master had been childhood friends who’d fallen for each other, sharing a passion for medicine besides. Now, newly married and deeply in love, when they heard Tangli had an epidemic outbreak, they’d immediately brought servants and medicinal supplies to help.
Yun Xi had only brought a few hundred soldiers on this trip. She was in the middle of planning how to allocate manpower when Cui Yu came to report from outside. “General, Magistrate Liu has arrived with his officers.”
The main street had already been cleared. A thousand officers stood arrayed at the street’s entrance, and in the distance, a thin, gaunt man with bulging, fish-like eyes could be seen approaching, supported by his aide, making his way toward Yun Xi.
This was none other than the Lin’an prefect, Liu Qin.
As for this Magistrate Liu—he and Yun Xi were, in fact, old acquaintances. Three years earlier, when the Ministry of War’s defense maps had gone missing and Yun Xi had gone to Yangzhou on official business, she’d dealt with him then too. Cheng Chang’s previous two disappearances had also occurred within his jurisdiction.
Not long after Tian Ze’s ascension to the throne, during the routine three-year rotation of officials, Magistrate Liu had been transferred from Yangzhou to take up his post in Lin’an.
Yun Xi’s impression of him could be summed up in two words: cries easily.
Whatever the matter, big or small, good or bad, he’d cry about it first before anything else.
And sure enough, the moment he reached her, he was already tearing up.
Magistrate Liu clutched his handkerchief, dabbing at his puffy, tear-swollen eyes, and bowed to Yun Xi, addressing her mournfully. “General.”
Yun Xi asked, “Magistrate Liu, why did you come yourself?”
Magistrate Liu bowed toward the heavens. “General, you are His Majesty’s most trusted subject, a pillar of the court, and you did not shrink from danger, venturing straight into peril yourself. How could this humble official, the father-figure of Lin’an’s people, retreat in the face of such a thing? Only…” His voice broke, and he dabbed at his falling tears again with the handkerchief. “This humble official is old, and my life is worth little. If I were to perish here, it would at least count as a contribution to the realm. But General, you are still young—never mind falling ill, if even a few extra hairs fell from your head, how could this humble official ever explain that to the court?”
Yun Xi’s status these days was nothing to be trifled with—she herself held the third rank as General Yunhui, and her brother was a first-rank marquis at court and the emperor’s most trusted subject. Even on this trip to Lin’an, the emperor’s sworn brother, Lord Tian, had written specially to ask that she be looked after.
So while Magistrate Liu’s words sounded exaggerated, they were also, in fact, sincere—given her standing, how could he dare treat her carelessly?
Yun Xi nodded. “It’s just as well you brought these officers, Magistrate Liu. I was just worried we didn’t have enough hands.”
Though he cried easily, Liu Qin was competent at his job. He asked at once, “How is Tangli faring?”
“It’s confirmed to be an epidemic. Dr. Yin and Dr. Ling are working on a formula, though it may take some time yet. The patients’ conditions aren’t too severe—symptoms of chills and fever, mostly affecting the elderly, weak, and women. This morning I already sent people to check the nearby towns—several have infected patients too, but it seems to have been caught early and hasn’t spread far yet.”
Magistrate Liu asked, “Have you found the source?”
Yun Xi shook her head. “Not yet.”
As the two of them spoke, the sound of hoofbeats rose from the street—Ke Yong had returned.
Ke Yong was one of Yun Xi’s most trusted aides. Back when Yun Xi had been a constable at the capital prefecture, he’d already been with her; later, when Yun Xi was promoted to lieutenant, he’d spent several years as a chief constable himself before joining the ranks of the Loyal and Brave Army.
That morning Yun Xi had sent him to the farthest town to investigate, which was why he’d come back so late.
“The situation in that town is severe—five out of every ten households have patients. According to the townspeople, the illness suddenly appeared just over a month ago.”
“This town you mention—was it called Pinghua?” Dr. Yin and Dr. Ling, having just finished their work, emerged from the medical hall just in time to catch Ke Yong’s report to Yun Xi.
“That’s the one.”
“That explains it.” Dr. Yin nodded, addressing Yun Xi and Magistrate Liu. “Beneath Pinghua there’s a village called Cuifeng.”
As its name suggested, Cuifeng sat deep in the mountains. Surrounded on all sides by peaks, the village was extremely isolated—its people usually only came out once every half month to a month, to buy supplies in town.
Tangli was largely populated by tea merchants and farmers, but Cuifeng, due to its terrain, wasn’t suited for growing tea. The village had been poor originally, until, over a decade ago, someone from the Yin family of medicine merchants had come foraging for herbs deep in the mountains and discovered the local climate was ideal for cultivating medicinal herbs. He’d given the villagers seed stock, with an arrangement to buy herbs from them monthly in Pinghua.
“Last month, no one from Cuifeng came to town to sell herbs. I thought it was strange, but since my wedding was approaching and the pharmacy had enough stock, I didn’t think much of it. I later wrote to the village, inviting them to my wedding feast, but never heard back. Yesterday, when my wife and I heard about the epidemic in Tangli, we suspected the people of Cuifeng might have been infected and sealed themselves off in the mountains—but since we weren’t sure, we didn’t dare speak carelessly of it to the General. Hearing this officer’s account now, it does seem the epidemic likely originated from Cuifeng or Pinghua.”
Ke Yong said, “Dr. Yin is right. When I went to investigate Pinghua, the local residents asked me to bring some soldiers to check on Cuifeng—they said it had been nearly two months since anyone from Cuifeng had been seen in town.”
“That settles it,” Dr. Yin said. “The source of the epidemic may well be Cuifeng village.”
Beside him, Dr. Ling’s brow furrowed slightly, and she said to Yun Xi, “General Yun, my husband and I are willing to go to Cuifeng to take a look.”
Yun Xi nodded slightly—if they could locate the source of the epidemic, it would greatly help in formulating the treatment.
She sorted through the officers Magistrate Liu had brought, quickly assigned roles, left Cui Yu and the others to coordinate matters within the county, and said to Ke Yong, “Bring some men. I’ll go with Dr. Yin and Dr. Ling to Cuifeng.”
Military officers moved fast—within a short while, they were ready to set off.
Magistrate Liu watched the departing procession, mulling it over for a long moment, then sighed, had his aide fetch him a horse, and clambered awkwardly up into the saddle.
His aide asked quietly, “Sir, are you going too?”
“What else can I do,” Magistrate Liu said mournfully, gesturing toward Yun Xi’s retreating back. “That one’s already going.”
“You could stay in Tangli, sir, to manage the epidemic response here.”
“How many people are sick in Tangli, how many in Pinghua? She’s already handled all the coordination herself—what use would I be here?”
Magistrate Liu, thinking himself thoroughly cursed by fate, felt his bulging eyes well up with tears again. “You think about it—she’s a young lady from a prominent household, the beloved little sister of the Marquis of Loyal Valor, someone Lord Tian in the palace guards like the apple of his eye. Why couldn’t she have just stayed comfortably in Jinling, instead of landing in my jurisdiction? If she catches this epidemic, His Majesty taking my head would be the mildest punishment I could hope for. Or if I take the blow meant for her and she stays well while I fall ill—how many more days could this worthless life of mine last anyway? It’s over, it’s all over. Either I die for nothing, or I die a violent death—which would I even prefer?”
“Please don’t think like that, sir. Maybe neither you nor the General will catch the epidemic at all, and it’ll clear up soon enough?”
“Even if the epidemic clears up,” Magistrate Liu said, dabbing at his tears again, “this spring’s tea and silk trade is already ruined. When the year-end records go up, His Majesty will still hold me accountable—unless…”
The aide perked up his ears, waiting for what came after “unless.”
Magistrate Liu blew his nose, utterly despondent. “Unless, just like the last two times, some Third Young Master falls out of the sky again. Otherwise, this old life of mine is done for right here.”