Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 230 - 228

When everyone had finished washing their hands, Huang Wei prepared to dump out the water and refill the basin for Shangguan Xuanyi to wash his hands.

"I’ll clean it once first, then I’ll fetch clean water for you to wash your hands again." Xiao’er decided to take over this task.

Shangguan Xuanyi nodded his head. Given the special circumstances, he couldn’t be too picky, and besides, no one had directly touched the bottle.

Eyebrows raised as they watched Xiao’er daringly offer Shangguan Xuanyi the same water they had all washed their hands in. This was disruptive to the etiquette of reverence!

They were very impressed by her bravery.

Looking at the Sixth Prince, the Countess of Rui’an gestured at his side, demonstrating and instructing him on how to wash the palms of his hands, how to wash the backs of hands, how should fingers be washed, and the fingernails...

As grown men, they all find the Countess of Rui’an much too nagging. It was just mere hand washing; there shouldn’t be so many meticulous details!

Nevertheless, the Sixth Prince seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, his colorless lips constantly curling upward, and he dutifully followed along with good temperament. But when the Countess of Rui’an tried to help him, he refused, worrying about transmitting the disease to her...

Thinking about this, they remembered that the Sixth Prince had bravely taken a serious injury to save the Countess of Rui’an and then without hesitation placed himself in harm’s way to catch the bottle containing the smallpox virus...

Finally, the group of men with their single-track minds understood!

No wonder these two interacted like a married couple, and the Sixth Prince seemed to be the one ’afraid of his wife’.

Afraid of his wife, the Sixth Prince?

The absurdity of this thought scared them away from taking another glance at the prince.

If the Sixth Prince knew what they thought of him, their heads wouldn’t be safe!

After Shangguan Xuanyi had washed his hands, Xiao’er fetched water for them to wash their faces.

She had run back and forth so much, her feet were almost falling off.

"Everyone, please stay in that ruined temple over there for a few days, for isolation purposes. I don’t want anyone else to be infected. I have a special constitution since childhood, and I’m immune to all diseases. So I’ll be in charge of preparing food for everyone." Xiao’er used this excuse to justify why she could leave freely.

After Xiao’er left, Huang Wei arranged for someone to clean up the ruined temple and let Shangguan Xuanyi rest there.

The moment Xiao’er arrived back in town, she met up with Xiao Fuzi, who was about to leave the city, and gave him Shangguan Xuanyi’s token. She instructed him to seal off a five-mile radius around the ruined temple outside the city and not to allow anybody in without permission.

She also bought blankets, ready-made clothes, a charcoal furnace, charcoal, iron pot, steamed buns, meat buns, bath bucket, water bucket... and other necessities to send over to them.

Once Xiao Fuzi had finished his tasks, he returned to the palace to report to the emperor and then went to pack Shangguan Xuanyi’s clothes and necessities.

Hearing of these events, the empress couldn’t help but cry, "My Emperor, what are we to do? It’s smallpox! That is an incurable disease!"

"Don’t worry just yet. Didn’t the Countess of Rui’an say everything will be okay? Don’t you remember the elixir she gave to Yi’er? Yi’er’s poison was something that the Imperial Doctor couldn’t cure, yet she easily solved it." The Emperor gently comforted the Empress, but he was deeply concerned as well.

"Right, the Countess of Rui’an’s medicine is indeed miraculous. Everything will surely be alright." Reminded by the Emperor, the Empress finally felt a little relief.

The Emperor gently dried the Empress’ tears: "Yi’er and the Countess of Rui’an will need to stay in the ruined temple for several days before they can come back. Huang Wei and his soldiers are also there. You should arrange for their meals to be delivered every day."

Realizing the amount of work that awaited them, the Empress stopped crying. She pushed the Emperor gently and got up from his arms. "You should get back to work too, Your Majesty! We don’t know which county the Japanese envoys have spread the virus to. The sooner we find out, the sooner we can isolate it. I also have to arrange food and clothing for them, heaven forbid they don’t get smallpox but end up starving or freezing instead."

Hearing the Empress, the Emperor knew she would not cry anymore. He disliked seeing her tears.

"Then I’ll return to Zichen Palace first." He indeed had a lot of matters to urgently arrange.

This Japanese envoy has really left him with a heap of problems...

Moreover, Japan daring to spread the smallpox virus in his kingdom is something that absolutely cannot be settled here and now.

――

Shen Chengyao and Aunt Rong watched as Xiao’er drove away with a carriage full of items, their hearts filled with worry.

"Marquis, I better follow and serve the young lady! It’s not convenient for her, a young girl, to be there by herself."

"No. The young lady grew up in a village and can do any household work. She can take care of herself. The Sixth Prince has saved Xiao’er multiple times, so it’s only right for her to take care of him! We shouldn’t add to her burden." Shen Chengyao was certainly worried, but Xiao’er had mentioned that she didn’t have many medicines left, and they didn’t know which county the Japanese envoy had spread the smallpox virus in, or how many people had caught smallpox...

When he was young, he had heard stories about how entire villages were burned to the ground to prevent the spread of epidemics when someone caught smallpox or other contagious diseases.

Every bit of medicine saved could potentially rescue one more person.

The Empress, being overly zealous, had packed no less than five carriages worth of supplies to be delivered to the ruined temple.

When Xiao’er received a Pigeon Post the next day instructing her to send someone to the border to receive the supplies, she became stunned at the sight of the five large carriages of items, anyone who didn’t know might have thought they were there on a holiday!

After finally moving all the items into the ruined temple, Xiao’er assigned the guardsmen to arrange everything and then sat down wearily next to Shangguan Xuanyi.

"The Empress likely moved everything from your courtyard here. She probably wants you to settle down here. Congratulations on being swept out of the door!"

"That might not be so bad!" Shangguan Xuanyi had personally prepared his meal the previous day, covered him with a blanket, and had been caring for him meticulously. Being taken care of by the one he loves made him feel deeply satisfied.

Of course, it would be even better without those outsiders around.

Xiao’er was rendered speechless. This man could lead a life of luxury anywhere with everything provided for him, so of course, it wouldn’t be a problem for him! ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"Let me take a look at your wound."

"It doesn’t hurt anymore, and it’s stopped bleeding."

Xiao’er gently opened Shangguan Xuanyi’s clothing to examine the wound, then crushed a pill and applied it to the wound.

"In a day or two, it should start to form a scab." Thankfully, the wound was quite a distance from his heart. After adjusting his clothing, Xiao’er prepared to bring over the soup that the Empress had brewed for him to drink.

Shangguan Xuanyi stopped her: "Rest for a while."

This girl must not have had a good night’s rest; she even had dark circles under her eyes.

Xiao’er usually got a good night’s sleep inside her space every night. How could she have slept well in such an unfamiliar environment?

Shangguan Xuanyi couldn’t bear seeing her bustling about for him and decided to engage her in conversation: "Tell me about your master."

"My master?" She didn’t have any master; she had been lying, alright!

"Yes."

"There’s not much to say about my master. The Empress had brewed soup, it should still be warm. I’ll go and get it for you to drink." She didn’t want to spin more lies to cover up her previous ones. It was better to just leave!

Shangguan Xuanyi watched as Xiao’er ran off, he gave a helpless smile. He wanted to have a chat but clearly chose the wrong topic.