Chapter 59 (Wishing everyone a happy Children’s Day! Hahaha!)

“Magistrate Chen, that chaotic graveyard behind the mountain must be dealt with at once. You must find people to burn the bodies. The corpses of those who died of illness cannot be discarded at will; they must be cremated!” Wang Keyue said.

At her words, the crowd of villagers, who had only just quieted, broke out into fresh wails. In the minds of these ancient people, eternal rest meant burial in the earth, a return to one’s roots. Cremation was the very destruction of their being—their greatest fear.

Wang Keyue’s tone was stern. “If you refuse to cremate them, these bodies will carry the sickness into the soil. In time, the land around here will be tainted, and then nothing will grow. Your children and grandchildren will suffer from this illness for generations. For the sake of your descendants, we must choose cremation!”

Reasoning and science meant nothing to these people. Only by appealing to what they valued most could she hope to change their minds.

Sure enough, everyone present, including Magistrate Chen, was left speechless by her words.

“Doctor Wang, is… is what you say true?” Magistrate Chen’s face had gone pale with fear. If this was the truth, he would have to act immediately.

“Magistrate, every word I speak is true. You can offer some reward to the families who agree to cremation. That way, someone will take the lead, and gradually, it will become a custom,” Wang Keyue replied. After two years in the post-apocalyptic world, she had seen too many scenes of life and death like this, and yet her heart still felt as if weighed by a stone.

While the two of them spoke, several more people on the other side breathed their last.

“Aren’t you a miracle doctor? Why do you just stand by and let people die? How can you be so heartless?” a shrill woman’s voice pierced her ears.

The refugees who had been weeping suddenly froze, then seemed almost invigorated, their eyes shining as they fixed on Wang Keyue.

“Yes! You’re a miracle doctor! You must save my child—why won’t you save him? Why do you let people die?” one accusation after another exploded around her. If not for the government guards standing at her side, their blades drawn, these desperate people would have rushed her already.

A deep sadness filled Wang Keyue’s heart. There was little resentment or indignation—only sorrow for these ignorant, pitiable people.

She said nothing more, leaving behind enough epidemic-clearing powder before taking her apprentice back to her little courtyard.

While Wang Keyue continued to fulfill her compulsory task with all her strength, elsewhere, Hong Er, Hong San, and Cheng Er were leading more than twenty members of the Zhou clan. After two days’ journey, they finally arrived on the outskirts of Wang Family Village.

From afar, the patrols had already spotted their small party. Quickly, the patrollers reported to Jin Yi, who was in charge of security. Without hesitation, Jin Yi went straight to the ancestral hall in the center of the village, and following Wang Keyue’s instructions, activated the defense formation.

Hong Er and her group advanced toward Wang Family Village. From a distance, they saw a strange white mist rising before them, eerie and mysterious.

Old Zhou and his clan members were so frightened they fell to their knees, mumbling prayers to the immortals and begging the Bodhisattva for mercy.

Hong Er called them to their feet and arranged the terrified Zhou family members outside the mist. Wearing the jade token given to her by the young mistress before departure, Hong Er boldly held up the token and strode into the fog.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the white mist retreated, revealing a small village—not large, but remarkably striking. Fields surrounded the settlement, crops growing in the earth, and within the village, children of all ages played together.

Hong Er emerged, leading a group of women in unusual attire—each with her hair tied high, dressed in long shirts and pants, armored, wielding sharp sabers and swords. In the distance, three more women sat astride tall horses, bows in hand, the sunlight glinting coldly off their weapons. The sight left the Zhou family trembling, their legs weak with fear.

“You have come a long way. Please, come in and rest. Our Madam is awaiting you,” Jin Yi greeted them kindly.

The Zhou clan responded meekly, not daring to overstep in the slightest, following the female captain and her entourage into Wang Family Village in perfect order.

All along the way, the villagers emerged to watch the newcomers, gathering beneath the great jujube tree at the village center. There, the old Madam sat in a round-backed chair, her smile warm and benevolent as she welcomed the new arrivals.

Hong Er stepped forward and briefly recounted their journey, presenting the Madam with a letter handwritten by Wang Keyue.

The old Madam gazed at the mixed group before her, men and women, old and young, her heart full of excitement. As her granddaughter had written, these people were to be settled properly, and the village’s fields entrusted to their care—the very purpose of their coming was to farm.

Though there were some in the village who could tend to the land, their skills were nothing compared to true farmers. Besides, with the village made up almost entirely of women, they needed men for labor-intensive tasks like farming.

With the arrival of the Zhou family, the old Madam could finally rest easier about the fields. What pleased her even more was the steady growth of Wang Family Village; in this way, she was fulfilling the ancestral charge entrusted to her granddaughter. Her granddaughter would gain the guidance of the ancestors and, in doing so, become even stronger.