Chapter 411 - The Cannibals

Shen Xiao lived up to her self-praise. After confirming that Mo Junyang was infected with ptomaine, she made a prescription for the disease soon and personally decocted the medicinal herbs for Mo Junyang.

Of course, she didn’t feed him medicine.

Shen Xiao was worthy of the miracle-working doctor’s sister, and her medical skills were spiritualized.

In the beginning, nobody thought highly of this little girl less than fifteen years old except Shi Qingxue and Mo Junyang.

When she treated the patient, Yan Xu once came to greet Mo Junyang in an affected manner and cared about his condition on the surface. He didn’t care if he would be “infected” but greeted Mo Junyang to his face, looking like a “loyal official”.

If Shi Qingxue didn’t know what had happened to Mo Junyang, she might hesitate and wonder whether she had misunderstood Yan Xu earlier, yet now she just wanted to carve one big word on his forehead, “Shameless”.

He was so shameless.

He knew that the ptomaine wouldn’t infect others like the epidemic but still came to Mo Junyang and acted like a loyal official. He was so disgusting.

This idea flashed in Shi Qingxue’s brain, and she frowned again. After Yan Xu left, she couldn’t wait to ask Mo Junyang, “Did your infection have something to do with him?”

Mo Junyang took the medicine made by Shen Xiao these days. Although he still looked pale and weak on his face, the most direct representation of turning better was that he didn’t feel sleepy like before.

He lay in the bed just to fool public opinion, yet his expressionless face could frighten others at any time.

When he didn’t speak, even Shi Qingxue didn’t know what he was thinking about.

However, Mo Junyang didn’t choose to hide it from Shi Qingxue this time. After a while, he nodded. “It must be him. Right.”

“When?” Shi Qingxue asked anxiously.

“When we were assassinated in Shang Village, although I wasn’t infected, I must have been affected with the poison. Later, when I fell off the cliff, I was injured…”

This time, Mo Junyang was frank unexpectedly and told her in detail.

So Shi Qingxue seemed to be personally on the scene and felt panic-stricken.

Till Mo Junyang finished his words, she still felt scared. After a long time, she murmured, “Fortunately…”

Mo Junyang felt Shi Qingxue’s feelings seemingly and didn’t speak as he was considerate.

Quite a while later, Shi Qingxue involuntarily wiped her cheeks, which was what she did most frequently these days. After she did that, she realized that she was stupid to do so. Then she hurriedly withdrew her hands.

She took a deep breath and smiled at Mo Junyang in embarrassment. “Don’t laugh at me.”

Mo Junyang looked at Shi Qingxue deeply. In fact, he didn’t want to tell her such unhappy news.

It was pointless yet would make her sad.

That was what he couldn’t bear to see.

However, after he understood what Shi Qingxue meant when she wiped her cheeks, he felt warm for no reason.

“What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me all the time?” Shi Qingxue couldn’t help but cover her eyelids once more as she thought that she would shed tears in secret uncontrollably again.

Mo Junyang shook his head and didn’t say anything.

It was hard to speak out this feeling, and he would never speak it out.

However, he did feel excited because he affected Shi Qingxue’s all emotions.

He felt satisfied abnormally as long as it was because of him, no matter whether it was joy, infatuation, annoyance, sadness or even hatred.

And he would never be content with it.

Shi Qingxue still looked at Mo Junyang, but this man was always expressionless. If he was unwilling, even she could hardly read his mind.

However, she always indulged Mo Junyang in this aspect, so she considerately changed the subject.

She grabbed Mo Junyang’s hand gently and showed the most relieved and sincere smile these days. “I am happy as you are fine.”

Mo Junyang paused for a moment and then smiled, saying softly, “So am I.”

Shi Qingxue was confused.

Could she say that she didn’t understand it? The patient who was always sick was Mo Junyang. Why did he say “so am I”?

Shi Qingxue just felt confused for merely a little while. When Mo Junyang continued to talk about what he had found in Shang Village, she put this question aside easily.

When she recalled what happened these days many years later, she finally understood what she had missed.

“Why is there such a horrible disease in Jiangzhou?” Shi Qingxue asked in a low voice.

This was what she couldn’t figure out till now. The epidemic was scary, and the ptomaine which couldn’t be infected through normal channels was more terrifying.

“I have checked the records in the government. Although there must be something wrong with the account books of Yan Xu and the others, they did take out some disaster relief food and money from the imperial court to relieve the victims. No matter how miserable and hungry the common people were, they wouldn’t be so poor as to eat…”

Shi Qingxue couldn’t speak out such a disgusting thing as eating dead people’s flesh. She had heard the sad stories about eating tree bark and soil, but eating people’s flesh was beyond the scope of what she could accept.

The behavior that the creatures ate those of the same kind, even the dead ones broke the limit of human nature, and it was frightful to the ear.

The key point was that even if some people ate dead people’s flesh in order to stay alive, there must be few. The ptomaine couldn’t be infected simply when people stayed together, yet why did it spread in a large area in Jiangzhou?

Mo Junyang paused for a moment and then asked, “What did you find when you summed up the information of the people who died of the disease from all villages and towns?”

Shi Qingxue felt by instinct that this question was critical. She pondered carefully and then answered, “Most of them are victims of the flood?”

She said that with uncertainty, while she suddenly awakened after speaking.

Right, she thought of the notebooks she had checked earlier and found that most of them were in the disaster area.

She didn’t think much then. After all, the environment of the disaster area was so poor, and the victims were struck fatally. Their physical strength and psychic force were inferior to the average people’s. It was normal that they were infected first.

However, when she thought about it now, she felt frightened.

Shi Qingxue thought of a possibility, and her face wrinkled. Nobody knew whether she was scared or disgusted.

“No, no way?”

She couldn’t believe her guess because she thought that it was too frightful to the ear.

Mo Junyang shook his head and didn’t say whether he thought that something like this couldn’t happen or disapproved of Shi Qingxue who deceived herself and others. He just said indifferently, “We have to wait for a key person before knowing all the truth.”

“Who?”

Mo Junyang didn’t answer but asked, “By the way, where is Ye Zhixin?”

Shi Qingxue was stunned to hear Ye Zhixin’s name.

She knew that Ye Zhixin had nothing to do with Mo Junyang even though she fell for him, yet her expression became subtle.

“Why do you ask about her?” Shi Qingxue asked awkwardly. She thought that it was improper to ask such a question, but she couldn’t stop herself.

Especially when Mo Junyang uplifted his brows in surprise rarely after hearing her question, Shi Qingxue felt that her face was burning. She hurriedly corrected herself. “Forget it. Just think that I didn’t ask. She must stay in her room now. If you want to see her, I will tell Dong Shuang to bring her. I will go and see if your medicine is ready.”

She said all that in one breath almost without a stop. Afterward, she couldn’t wait to get up and walk out.

Mo Junyang couldn’t stop Shi Qingxue. After looking at her back for quite a while, he suddenly thought of something, and the gloom on his face disappeared. He showed a smile with relief.

“Qingxue…”

Mo Junyang wanted to bring Shi Qingxue back and hold her in his arms, telling her his feelings, but he couldn’t help feeling satisfied as he could see that she was kind of jealous because of him. He wanted such an emotion to last longer.

When Mo Junyang had conflicting feelings, Dong Shuang brought Ye Zhixin here.

Hearing that Mo Junyang wanted to see her, Ye Zhixin got excited and dressed up for fifteen minutes under Dong Shuang’s glare before coming late.

After she bowed to Mo Junyang in greeting, she looked up at him

Her eyes were bright with fascinating brilliance and would make others soft in the bone at a glance.

“F**k, she is afraid that others don’t know that she covets another woman’s future husband.”

Dong Shuang cursed in secret and disdained Ye Zhixin from head to toe. Then she opened her big eyes wide and looked at Mo Junyang.

Even though the young lady was not around, Dong Shuang would keep an eye on Mo Junyang for her.

Fortunately, King Rui’s heir remained unmoved facing Ye Zhixin’s shameless seduction. He looked indifferent as usual and asked straightforwardly, “Where is your father now?”

The tender smile on Ye Zhixin’s face stiffened at once, but soon it became a weaker and pitiful expression. She looked at Mo Junyang with expectancy. “My father disappeared for no reason, while I wandered from place to place, enduring many hardships in the past few days, and I am sad as I lost my mother. I am afraid that my father might have been killed by those evil people.”

While speaking, she covered her mouth and sobbed on and off, looking pitiful.

Unfortunately, the two people in front of her weren’t moved.

Dong Shuang snorted, and Mo Junyang looked cold.

Ye Zhixin sobbed for a long time yet nobody comforted her, so she looked embarrassed. She held back her tears and explained in a soft voice, “I really don’t know where my father is.”

Mo Junyang didn’t believe her but sneered. “So, if I know that your father may be in danger, I don’t need to tell you. After all, you don’t know anything.”

Ye Zhixin turned pale in an instant, and as the first reaction, she thought that Mo Junyang cheated her, but soon she realized that he didn’t need to cheat her in something like this.

“Your Excellency, I am his daughter. If you know some news about my father, please tell me frankly. I will appreciate it.” Then Ye Zhixin looked at Mo Junyang with affection in her eyes again.

Mo Junyang glanced at her lazily and said without mercy, “Ye Zhixin, do you think that under the situation, you can protect your father if you hide everything from us?”

“No. My father is always free from corruption as an official and did everything for the country and common people. It’s a difficult time, and he…” Ye Zhixin was in panic because of Mo Junyang’s indifference and defended Ye Zhirong in a hurry.

However, Mo Junyang wasn’t in the mood to listen to her crap. He interrupted her coldly. “I will ask you once more. Where is Ye Zhirong?”

Ye Zhixin noticed Mo Junyang’s last diplomatic note and suddenly had no nerve to talk nonsense like before.

She was afraid that Mo Junyang would ignore this matter if she denied it again this time.

Nevertheless, Yan Xu, the local tyrant was too powerful, and even Mo Junyang had been injured, so she didn’t dare to tell them Ye Zhirong’s whereabouts.

Ye Zhixin pursed her lips and said in a weak and bitter voice, “Your Excellency, I really don’t know. If I know…”

“Dong Shuang, see her off.”