Don't Ask Where People Go After Time Travel

Chapter 1761 Initiative
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Awan stood a little further away from Fang Zilan and beckoned, "Come here."

"I'm in a hurry to get your medicine," A-Wan said, making to leave, but Fang Zilan called out to her, "Wait, you said the Xiahou family heard I was seriously ill, so they let you come back to treat me..."

She paused deliberately, "When did the Xiahou family become so kind?"

“General Xiahou is a good person, otherwise how could Yue be peaceful…” Awan started to say, but Fang Zilan interrupted her without saying a word, “Yue’s peace does not depend on who is good.”

Her words were profound: "Only by being decisive in killing and taking, and knowing when to give up, can one win people's hearts."

"What...do you mean?" Awan asked, feigning composure while feeling guilty. Fang Zilan saw this and sneered, "The situation is still unclear. If General Xiahou has to make a choice, he will definitely choose the Xiahou family head and not me."

Awan pursed her lips, stubbornly saying, "But I'm standing right here now, and General Xiahou hasn't sacrificed anyone..."

"A-Wan," Fang Zilan called out softly, "the Xiahou family caused you to get injured, are you still going to cover for them?"

"I didn't..." Awan subconsciously retorted, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she realized that she had implicitly admitted to being injured.

She lowered her eyes and spoke again after a long while, "I'm not trying to cover up for the Xiahou family. The incident happened so suddenly that even if the young master hadn't forcibly brought me back, I would have crawled back on my own."

Hearing this, Fang Zilan said irritably, "You're injured like this, and you still want to crawl back?"

Awan coughed lightly, "Even dying on the road is better than staying in the Xiahou family's den of wolves and tigers, not knowing when I'll lose my life..."

"Don't talk nonsense." Fang Zilan's face turned cold. Awan quickly moved closer and sat on the edge of the bed. "I know, I am a female healer. Only if I am safe can I save more people. So, I cherish my own life."

"That's more like it." Fang Zilan's expression softened slightly, but she still stared intently at Awan until she explained, "It didn't injure any vital organs..."

"One cut under the ribs, one cut in the arm?" Fang Zilan calmly interrupted Awan's next words, nodding hesitantly, "Nothing can be hidden from you."

"Where is the person who hurt you now?" Fang Zilan pressed. Awan pursed her lips, trying to evade the question, "You've just woken up, don't worry about these things, it's too much trouble."

“I can ignore other people’s business.” Fang Zilan slowly sat up straight. “But I’m determined to take care of your business.”

Awan sighed heavily, as if resigned to her fate. "The young master has taken the person from the Xiahou family, but he hasn't dealt with them yet. He said he'll hand them over to me, or wait until you wake up before making a decision."

Fang Zilan pondered for a moment and made up her mind. "Was it a member of the Wu family who hurt you?" "Yes." Awan was silent for a moment. "I don't know what to do. She stabbed me twice, but I don't want to stab her twice."

Fang Zilan remained noncommittal, only asking, "Do you want to let her go?"

"I don't want to." Awan said without hesitation, "Even if it was an accident, she still hurt me."

"Then we can deal with it after you've thought it through." Fang Zilan was unexpectedly easy to talk to, which left Awan somewhat at a loss. "Didn't you say you were going to take charge? Is this how you're going to take charge?"

“I used to be a small-time镖头 (bodyguard/escort) named Lin Jian. I had a few brothers under me, and we made a living by escorting goods. About two months ago, that man came to me and asked me to deliver someone to Linjia Village. Because he was very generous, I agreed without hesitation.” Lin Jian’s eyes stopped on the banknotes as he spoke. “Most of these are the ones he gave me back then, and some are from about a month ago when he suddenly came to me again, giving me money to keep an eye on what was happening in town and report any news to him immediately.”

"If that person only asked you to tip him off, why did you incite a crowd to cause trouble?" Wang Shen frowned slightly, and Lin Jian chuckled, "I haven't finished yet. About a few days ago, around the time of Uncle Wang's funeral, someone said they saw Elder Yun, who was infected with the disease, and he was in great spirits. Everyone said that the epidemic might be curable, so I told that person the news. But after hearing this, he insisted that the epidemic was incurable, and he even gave me some money, saying that if he heard anyone else say that the epidemic could be cured, he would encourage the sick people to expose the lies. That's why I incited a crowd to cause trouble. After all, I was paid to do something to help people avoid trouble."

"That man said there was no cure for the plague, and you believed him?" Yun Qinghan couldn't help but interject with a question. Lin Jian's expression suddenly darkened, and his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "I didn't want to believe him either, but several of my brothers have died or are in a coma because of the plague. I'm the only one left who can still walk. We've come to this point. What else could it be but an incurable disease?"

Upon hearing this, none of them spoke. After an unknown amount of time, Fang Zilan's voice slowly rang out, "Have you ever considered that all of this might have been caused by that person?"

"What did you say?" Lin Jian's pupils twitched, while Fang Zilan's expression turned stern. "Who did that person ask you to deliver? Where did they depart from? Why did they want to deliver them to Linjia Village? And where is Linjia Village? Tell me all of this in detail."

The man was taken aback by her expression and murmured, "The person asked me to take a fisherman. I picked him up from a fishing island in the East China Sea. Even the boat to the island was bought by that person. At the time, I wondered why he didn't hire a boatman but bought the boat himself. But the amount of money he paid was so much that I didn't dare to ask."

He paused, then continued, "Linjia Village isn't far from here. It's a small, dilapidated, and poor village, but fortunately, there are many towns nearby, and the villagers often go to the town markets to buy and sell things. As for why I sent them to Linjia Village, I don't know. However, when I took the fishermen to Linjia Village, I saw that the man gave a lot of money to the family that took them in. I suppose the fishermen must be a relative of that person, otherwise why would he spend so much money on them?"

Fang Zilan's face turned extremely ugly upon hearing this. She gritted her teeth and asked, "Was the fisherman sick when you took him away?"

"I hadn't noticed that." Lin Jian frowned, as if he had suddenly remembered something. "Oh right, he gets seasick. He was really uncomfortable on the boat. I even laughed at him for being a fisherman and getting seasick..."

He turned pale halfway through his sentence. Fang Zilan tried to control her emotions and said in a deep voice, "You figured it out, didn't you? Your brother who contracted the disease has the same symptoms as that fisherman."

“No! No way…” Lin Jian’s expression was almost distorted, and Fang Zilan’s hand holding the plum sword trembled slightly. “That fisherman wasn’t seasick; he had contracted a plague.”

Finally, she said, word by word, "Those fishermen are the source of the plague."