“Okay.”
Since he did not want to leave, she could not say anything else.
They stopped talking about this topic, lest she made him feel she wanted to chase him away impatiently.
In all honesty, she really did not have such thoughts.
…
Over the next three days, Qian Jiyun brought Qian Yiyun and Yan Nuo to the forest. They hunted a lot of animals and gathered a lot of edible wild vegetables.
There were still a lot of things on top of the mountain. Meanwhile, the wild vegetables and tree barks were almost depleted nearer to the foot of the mountain.
An Jiuyue often walked around the forest and would come across a few women from the village occasionally. The women formed groups to go to the mountains to dig for wild vegetables and pick mushrooms. They would take everything edible.
She also heard a lot of gossips.
For example, Old An and his family had been living in the straw shed for the past two days. No matter how much they wanted to return to their home, they were stopped by the men patrolling the village.
The Chief was annoyed and gave them a final warning: If they did not stay in the straw shed, they would be removed from the family genealogy!
Old An’s family no longer dared to charge into the village. They settled down in the straw shed and ate wild vegetables dug by the villagers and porridge every day.
They felt being able to live like that was not bad. They did not have to work for a living every day or starve to death. Meanwhile, the other villagers were already gnawing on tree bark.
Old An and Aunt Wang went to town a few more times. They loitered at the entrance of Ministry Councilor He’s residence several times but never saw their grandson.
One day, they went to Ministry Councilor He’s residence as usual to cause a scene, only to find their door shut.
They asked the neighbors and discovered that something big had happened—the He family had contracted the epidemic disease at some point!
The news frightened Old An and Aunt Wang. Although their grandson was very important to them, their lives were too—they had not lived long enough yet.
They quickly returned to the straw shed outside their village and did not mention going to town to find their grandson again.
They did not even dare to tell their sons that the entire He family was infected. Their sons might chase them out of the straw shed if they mentioned it.
Finally, An Jiuyue heard from the women in the village two days later that Old An’s family had successfully contracted an epidemic disease. No one escaped from it.
The women said they could hear the family’s wails in the straw shed daily.
Although An Jiuyue was not present to hear their wails, she could imagine it.
They’re probably crying even more miserably than they will at their parents’ death. After all, they’re the ones about to die. How can that be comparable?
This is getting what you deserve when the time is ripe! Look, not a single family member is spared from the disease. Everyone contracted it!
At the mention of the epidemic, An Jiuyue suddenly remembered something. She turned to look at Qian Jiyun while eating. “Is there any news about the prescription? Can it be used?”
Qian Jiyun said it could be used last time, but that was only the preliminary update. She still did not know how the prescription could be improved and if it could be used to treat the epidemic disease.
“No news yet.” Qian Jiyun shook his head.
He was also anxious. The sooner they suppressed the epidemic, the better.