Chapter 582 Bury the Babies Alive
If Doctor Gu was the one who spread the poison, then he could continue doing it and thus make the entire Jin State fall into panic.
But now, he came forward to treat these patients. Did he do that just in order to buy popular support?
But it was unlikely. Now that almost all people in Yunzhou had been dead, his buying popular support seemed to be meaningless.
What exactly was this person up to?
This discovery cast a conspiratorial shadow on their trip to Yunzhou, during which there were plenty of twists and turns.
With doubts in mind, they all involuntarily wanted to arrive in Yunzhou as soon as possible.
They kept moving in silence. Even Xiu, who was the liveliest, stayed in the carriage obediently every day and followed Lin Mengya like her tail.
Baili Rui’s gradually finished his research. Just judging from Xiao Yixin’s gradual returning from a horrible-looking man to a handsome gentleman, they could tell that Baili Rui’s research result worked.
With her teacher as her backing, Lin Mengya finally had some confidence.
“Your Highness, we are now very close to the main camp of Yunzhou. There are small groups of refugees around. Please stay in the carriage with peace of mind.”
Li Jia’s warning came from outside. Lin Mengya, who was reading a medical book, raised her head and subconsciously looked out of the window of the carriage.
Yunzhou used to be the birthplace of the distinguished families of Dajin, as well as the grain storage of Dajin.
But now, the fields, where the rice shoots had just sprouted, all lay waste.
The civilians no longer had the mood to work in the fields. In the surrounding fields, there were only birds still pecking something as their food joyfully.
Although it was said that there were some refugees on the way, they only ran into a few sallow and emaciated people who were in a rush.
In the past, a quarter of the population of Dajin had lived in Yunzhou. But now, with a vast expanse of fields around, it was no longer as prosperous as before.
It seemed that how to restore Yunzhou after the plague would be a bigger problem.
“Don’t be tough on them. If they need food or money, we can give them.”
Lin Mengya sighed in her heart. The current situation was more serious than she had thought.
“Yes.”
Li Jia immediately went to transmit the order. Nevertheless, their group was extremely conspicuous.
There were refugees on the way from time to time, and they all wanted to leave this human purgatory as soon as possible. Meanwhile, they gradually went deeper into the epidemic area, which attracted a lot of people’s attention.
The reason why Lin Mengya and the others tried all they could to throw off the spies was that they wanted to keep Baili Rui’s existence a secret.
After they got here, more and more people came to their aid, which made it increasingly difficult for those spies to get close to them and find out the actual situation.
The faint smell of the mugwort in the air made Lin Mengya realize that they had arrived at the base camp for treating the patients.
Finally, the carriage stopped, and they heard some noises from outside.
Long Tianyu lifted the curtain and looked a little hesitant.
“Here we are. You and Xiu should be careful.”
Lin Mengya nodded, but she didn’t know why Long Tianyu looked hesitant.
However, when they got out of the carriage, they were involuntarily shocked by everything in front of them.
Destitute and homeless refugees gathered inside and outside of the base camp.
Despite the aid of the imperial government, an uneasy and desperate aura still spread throughout this area.
At the sight of Lin Mengya and the others, they just showed a little curiosity in their eyes.
Then the curiosity turned into deathly stillness.
What the plague brought to the people here was not only the pain of losing their family members but also the frustrating despair.
As Lin Mengya slowly walked through the crowd, their dark eyes made her heart tremble terribly.
“Madam, please save my baby! He’s only five months old! Please give him a chance to survive.”
Suddenly, a woman dressed in a cloth gown with her head and face filthy with grime rushed out of the crowd.
She grasped the hem of Lin Mengya’s dress tightly with her dry and dark hands, but she couldn’t squeeze any tears out of her eyes.
“Sister, what’s wrong with your baby?”
Lin Mengya hurriedly helped the woman up, and the woman immediately pointed to the back of the row of tents and said.
“Doctor… Doctor Gu said that my son is infected with the plague, so he must be buried alive. Otherwise, he will infect the others… Madam, please save my baby!”
What? There was such a thing?
Lin Mengya and Long Tianyu looked at each other and quickly followed the woman to the back of the tents.
However, they didn’t expect to hear babies’ cries as soon as they got there.
There was a waist-deep hole in the open space behind the tents.
Around the hole, there were plenty of babies who were still in their swaddling clothes.
“My baby! My baby! Doctor Gu, please do me a favor! I am willing to die instead of my baby. Please spare my baby!”
On the periphery, many soldiers tried to stop the crying women.
However, those heart-wrenching cries made the others anxious.
“Didn’t I tell you? These babies are the transmitters of the plague. I tried hard to suppress the plague. Do you want all the people in Dajin to die with you? Besides, they’re just babies. Even if you sacrifice them, you will have another baby sooner or later.”
A lazy and displeased voice came out of the tent.
Lin Mengya felt a surge of great fury went up in her heart.
What was he talking about? He just treated human lives as grass!
Unfortunately, she had misjudged the doctor from his reputation.
On hearing that these babies might infect them, a large number of refugees gradually surrounded the babies.
However, all of them looked cold and cruel.
Their eyes were so cold that even the last trace of pity of human disappeared in their eyes.
“Doctor Gu, I’m begging you to show some mercy! My Xiao Sanzi is only a month old. How could he be infected with the plague? Doctor Gu, I’ll kowtow to you. Please!”
In the camp, the mothers pleaded in a particularly tragic way.
However, even so, those, who were afraid of being infected with the plague, remained indifferent.
Some of them even rubbed their hands together and were anxious to kill these innocent babies as soon as possible.
Lin Mengya managed to suppress her anger, took the woman’s hand, and approached the baby step by step.
“Who are you? Doctor Gu said that no one is allowed to get close!”
Unexpectedly, they were stopped by a soldier.
Lin Mengya glanced at him coldly and said.
“Get out.”
Her cold tone and the sudden burst of deterrent made the soldier take a step back involuntarily.
While the soldier froze there, Lin Mengya led the woman to the open space where the babies were placed.
“Sob, sob, sob, sob…”
Although they were still babies, they probably cried out of instinct.
These babies seemed to have sensed the danger around them, but they were so weak that they were unable to resist at all.
So they could only summon their parents to protect them by crying.
Lin Mengya felt extremely distressed but was even more furious at the same time.
What fu*king doctor was he? How could he kill these innocent babies?
Such a person was simply unqualified to be a human!
“Who dares to stir up trouble here?”
The soldier went into the tent to report. After a while, a white figure came out of the tent and said loudly.
It seemed that this person was the so-called Doctor Gu.
However, he seemed to be different from the person described by the messenger.
Lin Mengya stared at the man with unfriendly eyes. However, the next moment, Lin Mengya felt that this man might not be Doctor Gu who saved people from the plague.
It was because he didn’t carry any mustard seeds.
The Shen Nung system had formed the component model of mustard seeds after examining the messenger soldier.
However, from the moment she came in until now, it did not detect any trace of mustard seeds.
It only meant that the person using mustard seeds might not be in the camp now.
Moreover, the person hadn’t shown up in the camp for a few days.
“Are you Doctor Gu?”
Lin Mengya raised her eyebrows and looked at the guy showing an impatient look in front of her.
He was not ugly but looked quite hostile. He looked like a local hooligan rather than a doctor who saved the dead and healed the wounded.
“Exactly. I’m Doctor Gu. Who are you? But in any case, I’m the one who treated everyone here. Do you want to disregard everyone’s lives for the sake of a few babies?”
His words provoked the public’s anger.
Almost everyone glared at Lin Mengya angrily.
She didn’t expect this guy to be so shameless.
“Well, since you say that these babies are the source of the plague, I will take care of them with their mother. In this case, we will be infected first even if there will be anyone infected. However, if we all survive, Doctor Gu, you should give us an explanation, shouldn’t you?”
He thought that Lin Mengya would play hardball with him. Unexpectedly, Lin Mengya made a concession and negotiated with the shameless Doctor Gu.
…
Long Tianyu didn’t know what Lin Mengya was going to do, but he didn’t move and just stood behind her to protect her.
“Who… who do you think you are! How dare you refute what I said? Come on, bury those evil babies!”
Doctor Gu rolled his eyes and attempted to bury the babies by force.
However, Lin Mengya showed the seal of the princess hanging on her waist.
“I’m Princess Yu, the special envoy sent by the emperor for relieving the people in the plague. Doctor Gu, I’ve been tolerant of you for the sake of your contribution in treating the patients. Now, do you think nothing of the emperor by saying that? Moreover, I ask to take care of these babies personally. Even if they are really the source of the plague, I’ll be the one infected. However, why do you still insist on pushing me even when I made such a concession? Or if you don’t kill these babies, your lies will be exposed!”
Doctor Gu gasped with surprise, while Long Tianyu also understood Lin Mengya’s shrewdness.