“Big Head, get Wangcai out of the way! How can you let him bark at the master?”
Though Manager Lü found it unbelievable, he was still the first to react amid the uproar of the crowd.
“Master, has the blockade outside been lifted? Has the warden permitted people to come in?”
As he spoke, he craned his neck slightly, hoping to see who else had entered the village with Duan Yan. To his surprise, Duan Yan was alone.
Duan Yan put away the knife at his waist, which he had drawn to drive off the dog. He had been silently listening to the others when Wangcai suddenly came bounding out from somewhere. Seeing the knife in his hand, the dog had not dared to come closer and bite him, but had merely barked furiously from a distance.
“No. I heard that the situation in the village has grown increasingly serious, so I found a small path in and came to inspect the farmstead.”
He looked at the villagers constantly gathering around the main courtyard and asked, “The gate was open just now, so I came straight in. Why wasn’t it shut at this hour?”
“The gatekeeper, Old Sun, has fallen ill with the epidemic, and he’s been muddle-headed. He must have forgotten to close it while coming and going.”
Manager Lü hurriedly added, “I’ll give him a proper scolding later. It was also my fault for giving improper instructions—I should have had Wangcai tied up outside the gate.”
Duan Yan had not come to make an issue of the matter. His eyes fell upon the worried faces all around him, and he immediately asked, “How are things at the farmstead? Has anyone caught the epidemic?”
Manager Lü was taken aback by the question, but still answered, “There are ten people living at the farmstead altogether. Four have fallen ill so far. As for the tenant farmers, I went to ask around yesterday. More than ten of them have already caught the disease.”
“That many?”
Duan Yan was somewhat shocked. There were only eight tenant households, each with three to five people. With so many infected, how could the situation not be alarming? If he had not heard Second Uncle Song speaking to Song Fengsui after entering the village, he would not have known that anyone at the farmstead had contracted the epidemic.
He had originally thought there were only two or three cases. He had never imagined things would be this bad.
“Why didn’t you send word sooner?”
The tenant farmers all looked at Duan Yan in surprise.
The master really didn’t know about the situation at the farmstead? Who would believe that?
Everyone had seen Manager Lü running back and forth to the guards every day. He himself was living in the midst of the disease—there was no reason for him to put on an act or deliberately conceal the illnesses at the farmstead.
But then again, if the master was lying, why would he risk coming to this nest of disease alone by the most heavily guarded route?
He could simply have continued pretending not to hear or know anything in town. There was no need for him to come into such danger.
Those with sharper minds were already turning the matter over in their heads. Yet there were still plenty of thickheaded men bold enough to speak up.
“Master, that’s an unfair accusation. How can you say no word was sent? Manager Lü has to go to the guards every day, and he’s been so anxious he hasn’t slept properly for two or three nights.”
“After Manager Chen received the message, he sent word back that he was trying to find a way and told us to wait patiently and not lose our heads. But the disease doesn’t give people time to wait. Old Seventh Wan’s father was the first person in our farmstead to collapse. We couldn’t find any medicine to save him, and he died in the middle of the night the day before yesterday.”
“The disease spreads so fiercely. Even after he died, we didn’t dare bury him in the usual way. The village head came and had him wrapped in white cloth, then carried him to the hollow in the hills and burned him…”
As he spoke, the man wiped away his tears.
Duan Yan’s brows drew tightly together. The situation was already at the point where the fire was burning their eyebrows, yet he had received not the slightest bit of news. He knew at once that this was another one of Chen Hu’s schemes.
Anger welled up inside him. That bastard had deceived those above and below him, disregarding even people’s lives. This farmstead had been under his complete management for several years, yet he was so cold-blooded.
But then again, he had even plotted against the original owner—the very man who had personally promoted him and had never treated him unfairly. How could he possibly care about the lives of the people working at the farmstead?
“You’ve all suffered while guarding the farmstead. I should have come to see you sooner. If I had, I wouldn’t have let anyone take advantage of the situation.”
Duan Yan did not directly name Chen Hu. Instead, he comforted everyone, saying, “For now, none of you need to panic. Now that I’m here and understand the farmstead’s actual situation, I will not abandon you.”
“Where are the people who have fallen ill? I’ll go take a look.”
Manager Lü hurriedly led Duan Yan to see the patients.
Those who had contracted the disease had been settled in the rear courtyard and separated from everyone else at the farmstead.
Manager Lü only allowed Duan Yan to look through the window from outside. He did not dare let him enter, fearing that he would catch the illness.
That Duan Yan would come to the village to see them at such a critical time was already deeply surprising to Manager Lü. Seeing him patiently reassure the people at the farmstead only made him more astonished. Vaguely, he felt that Duan Yan must have had some unpleasantness with Chen Hu. Otherwise, he would not have said that someone had been taking advantage of the situation. Though he had not named anyone, he was clearly no fool.
Regardless, Manager Lü was deeply grateful that Duan Yan had made the trip.
“Manager Lü.”
“Manager Lü!”
Duan Yan stared at the four people lying on the wooden plank beds inside the room. Their lips were cracked and pale from fever, and they lay there weakly, like eggplants wilted beneath the fiercest summer sun. It seemed they could not even move enough to turn over.
The sight left him deeply troubled. He called out to Manager Lü beside him, but the man seemed lost in his thoughts. Duan Yan called him a second time before he finally came back to himself.
“Master.”
Duan Yan said, “You’ve had the hardest time of anyone these past few days. You’ve carried this enormous burden and guarded the farmstead without allowing chaos to break out.”
“I didn’t come empty-handed. I have a few doses of medicine with me, which I brought especially for you. They may be useful in treating the epidemic, though there isn’t much.”
Seeing that no one was nearby, he carefully took the medicine Song Fengsui had given him from his bundle and handed it to Manager Lü.
After quietly making his way in, Duan Yan had overheard Manager Lü’s conversation with the tenant farmers. Combined with everything he remembered, he knew that Manager Lü was someone who could be entrusted with responsibility. That was why he had given him the medicine.
“Have someone you trust decoct it and give it first to the people at the farmstead and the tenant farmers under your care.”
Duan Yan earnestly instructed Manager Lü, “Medicinal herbs are in short supply. Do not spread word that we have medicine, or it may cause unrest and lead to even more bloodshed.”
Manager Lü took the bulging packets of medicine. When he heard that they were meant to treat the epidemic, along with Duan Yan’s warning, his entire body tensed in an instant. He held the packets as though they were bundles of gold and jewels, afraid of gripping them too tightly or too loosely.
Although Duan Yan had not said the medicine would definitely work, at a time like this, even the slightest hope was worth trying.
“Yes, I’ll follow your arrangements, Master. I understand how serious this is.”
Duan Yan said, “Go quickly. An epidemic cannot be delayed. Even if it does not take someone’s life immediately, a prolonged fever will leave them delirious.”
“Give the medicine to the patients first. Everything else can wait.”
Manager Lü agreed and hurriedly summoned a reliable person to handle the matter.
Duan Yan was anxious as well. He was not the sort of person who would only care about those connected to him and give medicine solely to the people at his own farmstead. He was neither that selfish nor that narrow-minded.
If they only treated the people at the estate, while the others in the village remained ill, how could those living in the same place hope to stay untouched? As the saying went, “When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold.” Everyone’s illness had to be cured and the epidemic eradicated before they could all be safe.
But as Song Fengsui had said, the medicinal herbs were limited, so they could only be distributed in order of priority.
Besides, being among the first to receive the medicine was not necessarily a good thing. After all, the prescription had only been used on Old Master Song. Whether it would be effective for anyone else could not be guaranteed completely. Thus, those who received it first were also, in a sense, the initial test subjects.
After watching the four tenant farmers at the estate take the medicine one after another, Duan Yan followed Manager Lü to the homes of several tenants who did not live at the estate. He watched as the sick people there were given the medicine before he finally felt somewhat reassured.
He had not gone around personally merely to make the tenants remember their landlord’s kindness or to show off in front of them. He was genuinely worried that, at such a critical juncture, someone might grow greedy and keep the medicine for themselves—that the people above might provide the supplies, while those below secretly withheld them instead of giving them to the sick.
Once everything had been taken care of, black spots swam before his eyes. He knew that his body, still weakened by the lingering poison, was beginning to give out. He did not dare force himself to keep going, and only after Manager Lü made arrangements did he go inside and take a short nap.
Manager Lü carefully closed the door and stepped outside. There, a tenant who had been waiting nearby asked in a low voice, “Is the landlord resting?”
“He came into the village under cover of darkness last night, taking a roundabout route, and then rushed about all morning. Who knows how exhausted he must be? Of course he should rest.”
Manager Lü continued, “Earlier, when I went out, I heard people saying that Old Third Qian’s men had caught two people trying to sneak into the village last night. They slipped away before they could be seized. I reckon one of them was our landlord.”
“That was dangerously close. The landlord and Old Third Qian have never seen eye to eye. If he’d been caught, who knows how much Old Third Qian would have made him suffer.”
The tenant said, “Given the circumstances, I never expected the landlord would actually risk coming in here for everyone’s sake.”
Remembering how Duan Yan had rushed around handling one matter after another, Manager Lü felt a warmth stir in his heart as well.
It was not only the tenants who found him difficult to recognize—even Manager Lü himself felt that he had changed into someone almost unfamiliar. But no matter how a person changed, if it was in a good direction, what more was there to criticize?
“Who says otherwise? The landlord said that the medicine might not work, so everyone should wait and see for now.”
“Mm.”
Manager Lü left the inner courtyard and went out to the open grounds. One head after another immediately gathered around him.
“How is the landlord?”
“Has he gone to rest?”
“Nothing’s happened to him, has it?”
Everyone had seen Duan Yan risk coming to the estate, and even lower himself to visit the tenants who had fallen ill one by one.
Only when someone gave you charcoal in the snow did you realize that, sometimes, the most beautiful words in the world were worthless. When trouble truly came, that was when you learned who genuinely cared about you.
Some of the tenants had spent their whole lives laboring in the fields. They were not especially sharp, nor did they understand all the twists and turns of human dealings, but neither were they fools. They could see who had truly stepped forward and done something for them when they were at their most desperate, and who had merely offered sweet words while remaining nowhere to be found.
Once the two were compared, the difference was obvious.
Most of their former prejudice against Duan Yan had faded away. In its place, they had developed a considerable dislike for Chen Hu.
“The landlord is resting for a while. All of you keep your mouths shut. During this period, don’t go running into people outside and shouting your heads off as you did before. If you catch the disease and cause trouble, you’ll bear the consequences yourselves.”
“Right, right…”
With Duan Yan’s arrival, the tenants’ hearts—which had been drifting like duckweed—finally found something solid to cling to.
Manager Lü waited anxiously by the oil lamp for the length of a stick of incense. In between, he went to check on the rooms where the sick tenants were staying three or four times, but saw no sign of improvement. He could not help growing anxious, afraid that their hopes would come to nothing.
It was not only him. The families of those who had fallen ill were equally tormented by worry. Then, after more than an hour, one of the young men lying in the room suddenly began vomiting uncontrollably.
Manager Lü was startled by the way the man’s chest heaved and his abdomen contracted, as though even his intestines might be expelled along with the vomit.
“Manager, could the medicine be wrong? It’d be better to lie here suffering with a fever than to be killed by the medicine!”
Manager Lü snapped at him, “What nonsense are you spouting? He was going to vomit anyway!”
“He did vomit before, but never this violently! If he keeps going like this, who could stand it?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than another man suddenly let out a retch and began vomiting as well. Everyone moving in and out of the room with cloths covering their mouths and noses was immediately assaulted by the sour stench, and the room descended into hurried confusion.
Seeing that the situation was truly alarming, Manager Lü said he would fetch Duan Yan. He had barely taken a few hurried steps out of the room when someone inside shouted, “Manager, don’t rush! It looks like Hantian’s fever has gone down!”
Hearing this, Manager Lü hurriedly turned and ran back.
“He’s stopped vomiting… He’s stopped! Look, there’s already some light returning to his eyes. The medicine the landlord brought really works!”
Amid the delighted cries from the people in the room, Manager Lü hurried over and touched Hantian’s body. The torso that had been burning hot like fire had truly cooled to a warm temperature.
He could not restrain his joy. Even his hands began to tremble slightly.
They were saved. They were saved…
Duan Yan slept lightly for a while beneath the weight of his many worries. Once his body had recovered a little, he opened his eyes again.
He had thought he had only slept briefly. But when he rose and saw the water clock used to record the time, he realized that more than three hours had passed. Perhaps because his poisoned body was still recovering, his senses were indeed not as keen as they had once been.
He hurriedly got up and went outside. With a loud scrape, he pulled open the door, only to come face-to-face with Manager Lü, who was standing outside with joy filling his eyes.
Clearly, the man had been waiting there for quite some time.
“How is it?”
“The fever’s gone down. Everyone who took the medicine has had their fever reduced, sooner or later.”
Manager Lü reported every detail to Duan Yan. “The elderly and weak are slower to recover. But strong, healthy men like Hantian have been able to get out of bed and walk around once their fever subsided!”
Duan Yan let out a breath of relief. Seeing that the medicine had worked for everyone who took it, he felt even more reassured.
“Good. It’s good that it works.
“But don’t let them neglect their bodies just because they’ve seen some improvement. They still need to rest and recuperate properly. There isn’t much medicine, and with so many people, there’s only enough for one more dose to make sure the recovery holds. I’ll find a way to obtain more medicine as soon as possible.”
Manager Lü’s eyes reddened. “You’ve gone to so much trouble, landlord. I’ll be sure to remind them to take proper care of themselves and not recklessly ruin their health.”
Duan Yan said, “I should have paid more attention to the estate long ago. It’s fortunate that you’ve been looking after it these past two years. I’ll have to rely on your diligence from here on as well. Because of my youthful arrogance in the past, I took a few wrong turns and brought countless troubles upon myself. As a result, I may not be able to handle every matter at the estate as thoroughly as I should.
“But if you run into any difficulties or cannot make a decision, Manager Lü, come to the main residence and look for me. If I’m too busy to see you, find Gou San’er instead. He and I are of one mind.”
Manager Lü looked at Duan Yan with his eyes full of meaning, then hurriedly picked up the corner of his robe and dabbed at his eyes.
He was a clever man; how could he fail to understand what Duan Yan meant? Instead, Duan Yan’s words stirred a surge of emotion within him.
“Now that the master has taken the trouble to give me these instructions, I understand your intentions and feel all the more at ease. My thoughts remain as they have always been—I will do as the master commands.”
The corners of Duan Yan’s lips lifted slightly, and he nodded.
After giving Manager Lü a few more instructions, he personally went to check on the tenant who had fallen ill. Only after confirming that the man had indeed begun to recover did he ask Manager Lü for some salt and grain.
He had no intention of staying any longer. He still had to make another trip to the Song household, and after that, he needed to find the supervising magistrate to take care of some business.
Manager Lü hurriedly prepared the supplies. Before Duan Yan left, he slipped a booklet into Duan Yan’s robes.
“Now that you’ve made up your mind, Master, this will surely come in handy if you decide to purge the household.”
