Chapter 256 - How Should I Die

Li Jin was over fifty this year and had reached the age where he knew heaven’s mandate.Today, just like usual, he wanted to take a stroll, but the town constable stopped him at the street corner.

“What do you mean by this?” Old man Li puffed his beard and glared.

The Li surname was the second most common in Qingyang Town, only after the Hu surname.

Therefore, as a clan elder of high seniority among the Li family, he was highly respected throughout Qingyang Town.

He knew this constable, a boy from the Wang family, but now cloaked in a dog’s hide, he dared to block his way—it was an affront!

“Old Mr.

Li,” Constable Wang said, trying to be nice, “the town hall issued orders that a travel ban is in place for the time being.

No one is allowed to wander the streets, everyone has to stay at home!”

“Why a travel ban?”

“Didn’t two people die of disease the day before yesterday?

The Magistrate finds it very dangerous, and for the time being wants everyone to lay low.

After this blows over, out for a stroll you can go!”

“Hu Laojian knows shit!

I know that old fool!” Old man Li confronted Constable Wang, “Do you think this old man can’t read?

Have you seen the peace notice sent from the city?

There’s nothing to worry about this disease; out of my way.”

Constable Wang showed an awkward expression, “Sir, it’s better to be safe than sorry, isn’t it?

Better safe than risk that one-in-ten-thousand chance.”

“As the saying goes, at fifty one knows heaven’s mandate.

Do you understand what that means?

I’m this old; what do I have to fear?” Old man Li stared with wide eyes, “If I get sick and die, I won’t blame you, alright?”

With that, he flicked his hand and pushed open the barricade at the street corner.

As he walked out, he grumbled, “In this peaceful world, they won’t even let you leave the house!

It’s really bizarre!

Have I broken any laws, that you treat me like a criminal?”

With no other choice, Constable Wang exchanged a helpless look with his colleague and pretended he hadn’t heard anything.

This was not an isolated instance.

Despite the peace decrees issued from Jia City, the common folk were fearless.

Those few who did urge caution were mostly regarded as rumor-mongers.

Even places like Qingyang Town, which took early precautions, found enforcement of restrictions difficult to carry out.

At least in name, Qingyang Town was still under the jurisdiction of Jia City.

So-called travel bans were in effect, nothing more than a sham.

Inside the town hall.

Jiang Wang crumpled the proclamation into a ball and casually tossed it to the floor.

Bang!

Infused with formidable power from Path Origin, the ball of waste paper punched a hole in the ground.

Hu Laojian was taken aback, flopping down on a chair.

Jiang Wang looked at him coldly, “I gave you power, I bore the losses, you didn’t have to do anything but carry out my orders.

Yet you couldn’t even do that.

Every person who dies in this town, you’re responsible.

Hu Laojian, your sins run deep, a hundred deaths wouldn’t atone for them!”

Hu Laojian’s face turned ashen.

“I too have responsibility, to have entrusted such a position to a worthless man like you!”

Jiang Wang left the town hall with a flick of his hand, giving orders as he went, “Dugu Xiao, stay in the town hall and temporarily serve as acting Magistrate with full authority, overseeing all resources.

Zhang Hai will be in charge, all community leaders, arrest officers who do not comply or obey, can be killed!

All constables, samurai, everyone, get moving.

From this day forward, no one is to roam the streets or alleys, everyone must stay at home.

The town hall will be the center; Xiang Qian, Zhu Bijing, you two patrol the eastern and western districts respectively.”

This journey of tens of thousands of miles from Zhuang Country to Qi Country had honed his understanding of the world.

Faced with this crisis, he became even more decisive, “I’ll personally visit each village in the town’s domain.

First, enforce the travel ban and then inspect each household for illness, one by one.

This wave of illness…

I suspect it’s an epidemic!”

“What if the people refuse to be isolated?” Xiang Qian asked, “Do we kill them too?”

Jiang Wang stopped, glanced at him, and said, “We cut off contact inside and out to save the people—if you kill them, what’s the point of our actions?

If they refuse, persuade them first; if persuasion fails, then enforce it.

You can fine them or seize their grain, punish them as appropriate.”

“Understood!”

Jiang Wang immediately set out alone with his sword to inspect the villages within the town’s territory, while everyone else busied themselves with their tasks.

Hu Laojian, stripped of his power, sat listlessly in his seat, looking utterly defeated.

As Dugu Xiao began arranging affairs, he seemed to come back to his senses, stood up, and staggered out.

Like a walking corpse.

Dugu Xiao glanced at him indifferently and continued with her work.

She had defended Hu Laojian before only to display her value to Jiang Wang.

For Hu Laojian himself, she harbored not the slightest bit of affection.

It was Hu Laojian who had hired her to the mine site, where she later suffered at the hands of Ge Heng.

Even if Hu Laojian didn’t necessarily know of Ge Heng’s cruelty, the facts he had created could not be erased.

The only reason she hadn’t sought revenge was because Jiang Wang wouldn’t allow it.

Fortunately, through this incident, whatever slight goodwill he had with Jiang Wang was now utterly depleted.

This was the price he paid for his incompetence and self-righteousness.

After spending so much time with Jiang Wang, Dugu Xiao understood well that Jiang Wang was not one to vent his anger or shift responsibility to others.

If she carried out his directives and the error lay in his decision, he would never make others bear it.

In the performance of Hu Laojian as Magistrate this time…

Jiang Wang’s decision not to kill him on the spot was already a restrained one.

Hu Laojian dragged his feet as he left the town hall.

It was already June, and the sun was no longer gentle.

Especially at midday, the naked sunlight shone down fiercely, pricking like needles.

Hu Lao Gen squinted his eyes, but he could not stop the murky tears.

He was actually a simple man; he was not upset about losing his brief authority.

When he worked as manager at the Hu Clan Mine Site, he never embezzled.

When he became the head of Qingyang Town, he never sought wealth for himself.

He had no children, only a fierce old wife, and the couple had little desire for material possessions.

So even after he became the head of the town, he still lived in his previous house.

What truly saddened him was the realization that he had become a “murderous killer.”

If he had followed Jiang Wang’s earlier orders strictly, isolating the inside from the outside, perhaps many townspeople wouldn’t have had to die today.

As Jiang Wang had said, he, Hu Lao Gen, was responsible for every one of the townspeople who had died of the disease!

How could his decrepit shoulders bear such a burden?

Jiang Wang acted swiftly, ordering the actions and then going to the villages himself.

Those places were even more lacking in control, and he had to deal with them personally with his Transcendent cultivation level.

But in the middle of Qingyang Town, it wasn’t so simple to implement these measures.

The entire population of Qingyang Town hadn’t taken the situation seriously enough before.

Under the command of Dugu Xiao, posting new announcements, declaring the severity of the disease, and dispersing crowds gathered in various places…

all these took time.

And the manpower of a Qingyang Town hall was pitifully scarce.

Hu Lao Gen walked outside in a daze, and each group of people he saw on the road chilled his heart.

If it was the plague…

If it was truly the human plague that had erupted…

He didn’t dare to imagine the consequences.

“My fellow villagers!

The old man is telling you!”

Hu Lao Gen came to the edge of a crowd and suddenly shouted hoarsely, “A major disease has broken out in Qingyang Town, dozens of people have died!”

“It’s likely the human plague!”

“Quick, go back home, don’t gather together, don’t go out anymore!”

He shouted this as he passed by each place.

Many people recognized him.

He was born, grew up, got married, and aged in Qingyang Town.

Many people here trusted him.

Seeing this pitiful old man, some felt it was strange, some were puzzled, but even more chose to believe.

Finally, at the largest market in Qingyang Town, at the market on the west side of the town,

people saw their current town head, Hu Lao Gen, climbing tremblingly up a ladder onto a rooftop.

He was an old man far past his prime, not looking tall on the roof but rather hunched over.

He loudly repeated the words he had been repeating all along the way.

But his hoarse voice could not make it very clear to the listeners.

With a loud voice, he bellowed at the end, “So many dead, all because of this old man’s sins!”

“The old man apologizes to all of you!”

He then tumbled down, crashing from the roof to the ground.

Thump!

Like a watermelon bursting open.

He remained etched in many people’s memories.

PS: These past few days, I have received concern and affection from readers for this novel.

Zhihu private messages, reader groups, Weibo private messages, Weibo groups, and book reviews…

I’ve seen every bit of concern.

Having written this book with so much effort up to now, facing so much ridicule, enduring so many sleepless nights—if it were to suddenly end, the blow to me might be devastating.

Then why do I write these things?

I have explained once in the reader group, and considering that many people now have questions and truly care about this book, I have to explain once more.

[The plague plotline was decided long ago.

Literature carries the way, words express emotion.]

That is my explanation.

A reader’s comment struck a chord with me; he asked, isn’t it better to discuss philosophy while sitting down?

But this is my philosophy.

Once again, I thank you all for your care.

— Written with deep feelings, at 9 a.m.