PFC Chapter 086 Encountering a Boy
Chapter 086 Encountering a Boy
Ruan's information was incorrect; the Southern Chu people did not transport the grain into the city, but rather to the outskirts.
To avoid alerting the enemy, the four of them traveled light, mounted their horses, and, carrying the general's mansion's token, fled the city that very night, heading straight for the outskirts. The original body was too weak to ride a horse, so Lu Zhiyuan nestled in Xie Chaoyun's arms.
"What kind of place is this Chaiyu Village? So much grain has been transported into the village, yet no one has reported it to the prefecture or county. I'll have Captain Ma investigate this thoroughly."
"No need to investigate, it's a village of the dead."
Xie Chaoyun gazed into the distance, looking towards Chaiyu Village.
Eight years ago, a plague struck Chaiyu Village. Villagers either died or fled, and it quickly became a ghost village no one dared to visit. The imperial court ordered the entire village sealed off; for miles around, no one dared to live there. If Lu Yun hadn't mentioned Chaiyu Village, Xie Chaoyun would have completely forgotten that such a village existed on the outskirts of the city.
As they approached the village, they saw a person lying on the ground. Upon helping him up, they discovered it was a young boy.
The boy wore a thin, patched shirt. His exposed face, neck, arms, and legs were covered with scars of all sizes. He wore straw sandals, from which several blackened toes peeked out.
“He looks like a beggar to me.” Qingzhi squatted down, brushed the hair sticking to the boy’s face, and checked his breath: “He’s still alive.”
What is a beggar doing in this ghost village instead of begging in the city?
"Mother, let Yuan'er go down and take a look."
"Be careful," Xie Chaoyun warned. "A beggar suddenly appearing in a place like this is either a coincidence or a trap."
Lu Yun touched the boy's body; he found no hidden weapons. Looking at his hands and feet, he didn't seem to know martial arts. He looked up at Qingzhi, who understood and glanced into the surrounding woods.
"Since there are no Tibetans, it shouldn't be a trap."
Lu Zhiyuan took the boy's wrist and examined his pulse. It was strange; it didn't seem like that of a living person, nor a dead one. It didn't seem like illness, nor poisoning. She had never encountered such a strange pulse before.
After scanning the boy up and down, there were no external injuries on his body.
She pursed her lips and began to tear off the boy's clothes. Lu Yun quickly stopped her and asked Lu Zhiyuan what she was doing.
"I want to see his front and back."
“Miss,” Lu Yun looked at Lu Zhiyuan with a helpless expression, “Men and women should not touch each other, and besides, he is not good-looking.”
“What does his appearance have to do with whether he has injuries?” Lu Zhiyuan frowned and looked at Lu Yun: “If you won’t let me take his clothes off, then you take them off and help me check if there’s anything unusual about his chest and back. If there’s nothing on his chest and back, then take off his pants and check.”
"Miss!" Qingzhi's expression changed slightly, and she covered her mouth: "You are the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's family. You must not say such things. If others hear this, how will you ever get married?"
"A doctor doesn't care about gender! It's just treating an injury, how does it involve marriage?" Seeing Xie Chaoyun staring at him, he reluctantly turned his back: "I'm having Lu Yun examine me, not me. Besides, what's so interesting about a little kid?"
Lu Yun coughed lightly, stopping Lu Zhiyuan from speaking.
There were also many wounds on her chest and back, but none of them were fatal. Her legs had also been examined, and there were no signs of snake or venomous insect bites as Lu Zhiyuan had mentioned.
When Lu Yun laid the boy down, he saw the grime in his nostrils. Finding it an eyesore, Lu Yun casually picked up a small twig and used it to remove the obstruction.
"insect?"
Lu Yun's expression changed when he saw what was on the tree branch.
Hearing Lu Yun's surprised voice, Lu Zhiyuan turned around and, by the moonlight, looked at the branch in his hand. It was indeed a black, dead insect.
"Picked out of his nostril?"
Lu Yun nodded, and Lu Zhiyuan turned to the side and looked into the boy's nostrils.
"There's still some in that nostril. Find a way to get it out. I want to see what this thing is."
Carefully, the object was removed from the boy's other nostril. The previous one had been punctured, was dark and blurry, and difficult to see clearly. This one was relatively intact, and when parted, it looked somewhat like a horsehair worm. Although it was unclear how the worm had gotten into the boy's nose, based on experience, it was likely related to his strange illness.
The boy suffering from the strange disease couldn't have appeared here for no reason; it's highly likely that it's related to a conspiracy by the people of Southern Chu.
The cause of the illness was unknown, and Lu Zhiyuan wasn't confident she could save the boy's life, but waking him up was still possible. After inserting three silver needles, the boy finally opened his eyes. He was first confused, then terrified; if Lu Yun hadn't reacted quickly, the boy would have bitten a hole in his hand.
"Look carefully, we are not bad people, we are the ones who saved you."
A slap landed on the boy's face, forcing him to calm down.
The beaten boy, like an overly frightened cat, huddled in a small ball in the quiet moonlight, looking blank.
Although I don't know what he went through, judging from his behavior, it must have been something extremely terrible. Just as I was thinking about how to start the conversation, a rumble came from the boy's stomach.
Lu Zhiyuan touched her waist.
Before leaving, Liu Ying, worried that she might be hungry, prepared some dried meat for her as a snack. The aroma of the dried meat brought a spark of life to the boy's eyes.
He pursed his lips, neither opening his mouth nor reaching out. After glancing at Lu Zhiyuan, he focused all his attention on the small meat jerky.
"Tell me what you've been through, and I'll give you all my jerky."
Tempted by the small meat jerky, the boy opened his mouth.
The boy was an orphan who had been begging on the streets since he could remember. A few nights ago, he and some other beggars were brought here in their sleep. At first, they didn't understand what was happening, until those people locked them in a dilapidated hut and lit dry grass on fire.
"Dry grass, are they going to burn you to death?" Xie Chaoyun frowned.
Under the emperor's very nose, they commit murder and arson; these Southern Chu people really don't respect Northern Liang at all.
The boy chewed on a small piece of dried meat and shook his head: "At first, that's what we thought too. But instead of throwing the dry grass at us, they put it around that dilapidated house. The grass smelled strange, a little fragrant and a little foul. It didn't smell pungent but gave us a headache."
What kind of grass is that?
Lu Zhiyuan looked at Lu Yun, Lu Yun looked at Xie Chaoyun, Xie Chaoyun looked at Qingzhi, and Qingzhi looked at Lu Zhiyuan. Well, none of them knew.
The boy continued.
He clenched the jerky in his hand, his whole body tensing involuntarily, then turned to look in the direction of Chaiyu Village. Lu Zhiyuan knew he was about to get to the crucial point. She unconsciously adjusted her posture and held her breath.
“We inhaled a lot of smoke, and our heads were throbbing. In a daze, it felt like something was crawling on us.” The boy touched himself and said, “Insects, very long and thin insects. They crawled into our noses, ears, and eyes.”
The bugs the boy was talking about were probably the ones Lu Yun had picked out of his nostrils.
Lu Zhiyuan had never seen such a strange insect before. Hearing the boy's description, she unconsciously leaned forward, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on him: "What did it feel like? How did you feel when the insect crawled into your nose?"