Xuanxia

Chapter 618: The Wisdom of the People

This night is destined to be uneventful.

Many people who were already asleep in the refugee camp were quietly woken up and then led out of the camp.

The ones who woke them up were also refugees - but they all had gloomy faces and were extremely serious. They didn't say clearly what was going on, making it very mysterious.

Chen Qingshan is one of them.

He was in his forties and had once been a captain in the Panyang City garrison. He was a high-ranking official with a tall and mighty stature. He was also a fourth-level cultivator. In addition to his wife, he had two concubines at home. He had lived a very carefree life in the past.

But ever since he contracted zonolithiasis, his life has gone downhill. Not only did his wife and concubine all run away, he spent all his money but still couldn't get treatment, and he was even driven out of the city!
Fortunately, he at least has some skills and is known by many people in Panyang City, so he has some prestige.

After leaving Panyang City, he was the one who made suggestions and led everyone towards Anyue City.

Along the way, he also played the role of a leader and was considered the backbone of the refugees.

However, after arriving outside Tianshou Village, the monks of disaster appeared, and his role naturally became much smaller, even almost non-existent - but he didn't care too much, as long as he could cure the disease and return to Panyang, who would want to be the leader of the refugees?

"what happened?"

Chen Qingshan, who was awakened by the slap, muttered and rubbed his hazy eyes: "Is there something wrong?"

"Brother Qingshan, you have to come with us."

The one who called him was a scholar that Chen Qingshan knew. He said in a deep voice, "Something big has happened."

Chen Qingshan was startled: "What's the matter?"

"Shh..." The scholar raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Don't talk here, follow me."

Although Chen Qingshan was puzzled, he could see how serious and nervous the scholar was, so he stopped asking questions, stood up quickly, and followed the scholar out of the tent.

The two quickly passed through the sleeping camp and came to the outside of the camp.

Unexpectedly, after walking for a while, Chen Qingshan saw a lot of refugees standing in front of him!

Moreover, he had the impression that most of these people had some status and prestige in Panyang City before. Some of them had worked in the government, some had done business, or some had studied or taught.

When everyone came all the way from Panyang City, these people were also his "think tank" and provided a lot of ideas.

"Brother Qingshan is here!"

Seeing him coming, someone called out.

Chen Qingshan was a little confused, but continued to move forward.

But soon, his eyes widened.

The refugees made way for them, revealing the people they were surrounding - they were actually a group of monks!
These monks were obviously the troubled monks who were revered by everyone on a normal day, but now they were tied up. Two of them had their heads hung low and fainted, and many others had bruises on their faces, obviously having been beaten!
"what happened?!"

Chen Qingshan was surprised: "Why did you touch them?"

"Qingshan, you have to make a decision on this matter." An older man in the crowd who used to be a teacher said solemnly: "Do you know? They spread the disease."

It was like a bolt from the blue. Chen Qingshan's eyes widened, he staggered, and almost fell.

Soon, he knew the whole situation.

The monk just now saw that he was about to be fed with yellow mud powder, and he had been frightened by the "ghost" before, and was hit on the waist for no reason, which made him lose his temper. He thought that retribution had finally come to him, so he dared not hide anything and confessed everything.

They spread the disease and then used the Buddha's grace to help the sick. They pretended that the medicine was a miracle, and even deliberately killed more refugees in the process, just to have an excuse to ask the city to send coffins to facilitate their delivery of prescriptions and medicines...

Chen Qingshan was so shocked and furious when he heard this that his whole body was shaking. He clenched his fists tightly and his eyes were even red.

"Now that you know all this, what else can you decide?"

He said angrily: "Kill all these evil monks and leave a few alive to be sent to the authorities!"

When the monks heard this, they were shocked: "It has nothing to do with us! We really don't know the situation! We, we were also deceived!"

"We only know how to disguise the herbs and make them into nectar for you to eat. We don't know anything else!"

They all started to argue, but Chen Qingshan just sneered: "Don't know? You used coffins and corpses to transport prescriptions and medicinal materials. Is that something that one or two people can do? When you opened the corpses and stuffed things in them, didn't you feel weird?"

When the monks heard this, they immediately fell silent and lowered their heads.

Yes... Even if they didn't know much, they were all in the same boat. The "seniors" with higher status around them didn't avoid them too much when doing things, and sometimes needed them to do something. How could they not notice anything?

"Brother Qingshan."

At this time, the scholar stepped forward and frowned, saying, "We think we shouldn't send him to the authorities."

Chen Qingshan gave him a puzzled look.

The scholar said softly: "These evil monks are so presumptuous, daring to commit such a taboo and do such evil things, I guess..."

Chen Qingshan was in a bad mood and a little impatient: "Speak to the point!"

"Oh……"

The scholar coughed and said, "I just feel that they are so arrogant, yet they can still transport things to Anyue City, and send so much raw rice every day... Just think about it, when the epidemic is rampant, Panyang City is so scared that they drove us all out, but Anyue City is willing to support us? Those officials are still watching the rice and coffins coming and going, and they don't care?"

“These things are in and out of our refugee camps. Aren’t they afraid that people in the city will get sick?” “Even if we take a step back, rice and coffins are important supplies during the epidemic. Why don’t they check them?”

Chen Qingshan was shocked as he listened: "You mean, the officials in Anyue City... also know about this?! And are they even in cahoots with them?!"

"It's not impossible."

The scholar said in a deep voice: "Therefore, we must proceed with caution."

"More importantly..." The old teacher stroked his beard and said slowly, "After all, they have the medicine that can save lives. If we expose them now, no one will treat us, and we will be dead, right?"

Chen Qingshan pondered.

"and many more!"

He suddenly thought of something: "Couldn't the Living Buddha Jigong save people before? Is he in the same group as these monks?"

"No!" He was answered by a childish voice.

Chen Qingshan was startled and lowered his head to look for the source of the voice. He happened to see Yang Fuwang, the child standing at his feet and looking up at him.

"You are……"

Chen Qingshan tried to recall: "The child whose mother died a few days ago? How do you know that Jigong is not in the same group with them?"

"Anyway...it's not him!"

Yang Fuwang blurted out: "Without Living Buddha Jigong, I would not have discovered this bad monk!"

"Huh?" The eyes of several refugees around him lit up when they heard this.

"its not right?"

The tall refugee raised his eyebrows and said, "Little devil, didn't you say that you called us over because you went to relieve yourself and saw the monk fainted? Are you lying?"

"Alas!"

Yang Fuwang was startled, and then he realized that he had let the cat out of the bag. He then smiled awkwardly: "Anyway, he is a bad monk, right?"

Several adult refugees looked at each other, seemingly understanding something.

"It seems that those Jigong Living Buddhas are indeed here to help us."

Chen Qingshan said slowly: "There is no need to ask too clearly about some things. We just need to know what is beneficial to us."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone around nodded, showing their deep agreement.

Chen Qingshan turned his gaze to the monks again.

"If we silence them, we will definitely alert the enemy."

He said in a deep voice: "We still need to stay in the camp, wait for the seven days to expire, and cure the disease... Everyone, do you have any good ideas?"

"We need to have something on them to use against them." The scholar said, "If we have something on them, they won't dare to tell anyone about what happened today."

Chen Qingshan smiled: "That's easy."

He took the yellow mud powder handed to him by the tall refugee beside him and said, "Didn't the monk tell me before that if this packet of yellow mud powder was mixed into the well water, it would be enough to infect the entire town with the disease?"

Several people nodded.

"Then if we pour this whole packet into their mouths..." Chen Qingshan said, "Will they die? Will they die immediately? Or will they not survive tonight?"

“No, no, no!” Several monks shouted, “Donor… No, big brother! We are just doing our job, we don’t want it to turn out like this!”

"Really?" Chen Qingshan sneered: "That's easy, now, just tell us all the dirtiest and most hateful things you have ever done!"

"Xiao Liu..."

He said to the scholar, "Go find a way to get some paper. If you don't have paper, you can use cloth. Write down everything they say and have them sign and seal it!"

"Go back and give these things to trustworthy people. As long as they reveal what happened tonight, they must ensure that these things are immediately sent to all parts of the country. Whether in the underworld or in the government, everyone in the world will know about their deeds!"

The scholar smiled and nodded, then immediately set off and recruited a few refugees to go find paper together.

All the monks looked shocked, but finally they lowered their heads dejectedly and did not dare to refute.

"There are two more monks, they haven't woken up yet."

The old teacher added, "They must have practiced cultivation... but for some reason, they all seemed injured. The one who explained the situation became breathless and fainted. The other one came with us from the camp and fainted quietly."

"It must be the help of Living Buddha Jigong."

Chen Qingshan smiled and said, "Don't think too much. He must have his own way. These two monks will stay here, and the others will be taken away for interrogation."

As he spoke, he straightened his back again, suppressed his smile, and said in a deep voice: "Remember, what happened today must not be immediately known to other people in the camp, so as to avoid confusion and prevent others from acting impulsively. But these days, we can secretly spread more rumors in the camp to let them prepare in advance."

"We need to wait for seven days to finish drinking the porridge and cure the disease before we can do anything else! What's more..."

He whispered, "That Living Buddha Ji Gong must have some tricks up his sleeve."

(End of this chapter)