The Dramatic Crown Princess Wants to Poison Me!-Chapter 268: The Only Chance

Huangfu Jingchen said in a deep voice, "Silver is not as important as human lives. As long as it can help, we will not hesitate to spend it all. However, this epidemic must be contained within Wangshan Town. If you run out and carry the virus with you, even if just one person carries it, it will be like a spark that sets a forest ablaze. Neighboring towns, Yanglu County, Huainan Prefecture, and even more places will be affected. This is a risk we cannot take! Listen to me, go back. The epidemic will soon be controlled!"

"Can it really be controlled?"

Huangfu Jingchen heard this skeptical voice and said loudly, "Our rewards are still ongoing. More and even better doctors will come. Trust me, and trust Monk Master’s presence. We are with you. We won’t leave until the epidemic subsides!"

Shang Jingwang also said, "Rest assured, as long as I’m here, I will not leave until the epidemic is cleared!"

They had already done a lot to treat the epidemic.

After Zhang Jiantang was imprisoned, seven days ago, he claimed to have a remedy for the epidemic. Shang Jingwang personally went to the place where he was held. Although it was called a prison, the town naturally had none, it was actually just an abandoned empty house guarded by people. Along with those who tried to kill Xia Wenjin at the time, they were all held there.

Zhang Jiantang cried bitterly, expressing his remorse. He said he was blinded by greed before and made mistakes. He now understood his errors and begged Lord Shang for a chance to redeem himself. As a member of Wangshan Town, he previously only cared about making money. It was only now he realized what image he had in the villagers’ minds and did not want to be despised by them. He hoped to contribute to the fight against this epidemic and change the villagers’ perception of him.

He even provided a prescription.

Shang Jingwang didn’t know if the prescription would be useful and handed it over to Xia Wenjin, who prepared it and observed the effects. While it couldn’t cure the epidemic, it did have some palliative effects. According to Zhang Jiantang, it was an ancestral remedy for treating miasma. Since this epidemic bore similarities to miasma, it might be effective.

Seeing his genuine attitude and acknowledging the shortage of doctors, Shang Jingwang released him.

To treat the epidemic, Shang Jingwang mobilized all available forces and resources.

Many villagers, though initially unaware of the epidemic, now knew of the incident. The efforts of Lord Shang and Young Master Huang left many villagers feeling ashamed. They were ordinary people, and they wanted to leave for fear of eventually contracting the epidemic and dying.

But if even a high official like the Prefecture Lord stayed, and this Young Master Huang was willing to stay, were their lives not valuable?

If they continued to stir unrest, could their lives be worth more than the Prefecture Lord’s?

Someone whispered, "Let’s go back. We trust Young Master Huang!"

"Lord Shang is right. This has nothing to do with Young Master Huang. He’s staying, so why should we leave?"

The majority of villagers were ready to back down.

But suddenly a voice shouted, "Even Doctor Xia is sick, who can save us?"

"Right, if we go back, aren’t we just waiting to die?"

"Why should we be imprisoned because of sick people when we’re not sick?"

"If we stay here, everyone will die. Only by leaving can we have a chance to live!"

"No matter how reasonable Young Master Huang is, he can’t save our lives."

"Yes, why do you think they’re willing to spend so much silver? They’re buying our lives, buying time for us to wait here and die!"

"Folks, don’t listen to them. If we wait any longer, we’ll all catch the epidemic one by one and end up as the burned bodies at the quarantine site."

"Right, after being burned, you’ll just end up as ashes. Your parents won’t know who you are, your loved ones won’t know who you are. Do you want to die without anyone knowing?"

"We’re healthy, why should we wait here to get sick, then wait to die? What good is silver? What good are medicines? We don’t need them. We just want to leave here, we don’t want to wait here to die!"

"Everyone charge! If we dash out today, there’s still a chance. If we don’t, there will never be another chance, only a dead end ahead!"

...

With such words, the villagers became agitated again.

Huangfu Jingchen’s eyes turned sharp.

Just now, many villagers were obviously ready to back down, having been convinced by Shang Jingwang. But as soon as these few opened their mouths, emotions among the villagers were stirred up again.

Everyone was afraid of death. Amidst the long wait, people around them fell ill and were sent to the quarantine site. Especially since they sneaked into the quarantine site at night, they knew how patients who died from the epidemic were handled. To prevent further spread, burning was indeed employed.

Doing such a shocking thing during the day was, of course, dealt with at night. As the epidemic spread, out of over a thousand people, several hundred serious cases emerged. Among these hundreds, a few died each day. The ratio was low, but handling and burning bodies nightly was not an exaggeration.

This news reaching the ears of the villagers indeed filled their hearts with panic.

The once-calm villagers quickly changed their minds and began charging forward again.

The twenty-four soldiers were already covered in injuries. Though they held long spears, they dared not truly stab them into the civilians.

What’s more, though there were twenty-four men and twenty-four spears, they faced hundreds of civilians.

If they started a fight, they’d be overwhelmed at once. If all the villagers lost control, military reinforcements would be necessary to suppress the situation, inevitably leading to bloodshed.

That would truly make things spiral out of control.

But at this moment, the villagers were already incited, with only one thought in mind: escaping was the only way to survive, and they all rushed forward eagerly.

Huangfu Jingchen narrowed his eyes. Among those who charged to kill the soldiers earlier were these people. Now, as the villagers hesitated, these same people provoked them again.

He focused and saw among the instigating group a person wearing a hat, with a face all dusty and wearing patched clothes. That person kept hiding behind the crowd, their eyes flickering, but was evidently the leader of those instigators.

Now, under the incitement of those people, the villagers lost their sanity and charged toward the guard post. If they breached this point and moved away the barricade, they could leave the town.

The soldiers dispatched from the county, along with those brought by the Prefect, were mostly guarding the quarantine site and conducting checks in the village.

The quarantine site personnel couldn’t be withdrawn, and the severe epidemic patients would not run; they lacked the strength. But those with mild symptoms, some even just showing a red spot, were in a state of panic about their condition. If there weren’t enough people there and those infected escaped the quarantine, the problem would only worsen.

The inspectors in the village couldn’t return in time either.

The lack of manpower here was their only chance to escape.