"What am I yelling about?"
Bai You'an's eyelids flickered, and he strode with his long legs towards Song Qingchao.
"Who is he?"
Zhou Zhengxi, whose existence was acknowledged, was instantly stunned. He looked at Song Qingchao, then at Bai You'an, unsure if he should speak.
"A person, what's wrong?" Song Qingchao replied innocently.
"A person?" Bai You'an's blood was about to rush to his head. "My eyesight is indeed not great, and now that my eye patch is gone, I can't see clearly, but I can still see blurry figures. Do you really take me for a blind man?"
"I never said that," Song Qingchao explained dryly. "He's a guard I brought back. What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Bai You'an's voice changed entirely. He mimicked Zhou Zhengxi's earlier posture of holding Song Qingchao, then approached her. "What's wrong?"
Song Qingchao leaned back and pointed her fan at Bai You'an's chest, pushing him away. "What do you want?"
She tilted her chin towards Zhou Zhengxi. "The guard I brought back from the Lin estate will be responsible for my personal protection from now on."
"You need protection?" Bai You'an said sarcastically, then fixed a dangerous gaze on Zhou Zhengxi.
"Why wouldn't I?" Song Qingchao found it laughable. She turned her head and told Zhou Zhengxi that he could start having his brothers unload the goods.
In the blink of an eye, seven people appeared behind her, unloading cargo from the carriages and carrying it into the Xiang estate.
Bai You'an looked at these eight people, and his head immediately started to ache again.
He frowned, holding his head with his hand, and asked impatiently, "Where did you go this morning?"
Song Qingchao looked down, tidying her clothes, distractedly. "To the Lin estate."
"The Lin estate?" Bai You'an lowered his hand. "What did you go there for?"
Song Qingchao smiled, then pointed to the carriages behind her and the busy people. "To discuss matters, of course. This is the result."
Bai You'an couldn't help but laugh. "What?"
He took his fan back from her hand, then lifted Song Qingchao's chin. "Did you sell me out after all? And why did you steal my fan?"
Song Qingchao gave him a direct eye-roll, slapped his fan away, and then, holding her skirt, directed people to unload the goods into the courtyard.
Bai You'an was still following behind her.
He finally grabbed Song Qingchao by her collar. "Miss Song, you haven't answered my question yet."
Song Qingchao reached back, trying to pull her collar free, but couldn't grasp anything.
She turned her head helplessly, resigned to looking at Bai You'an. "One, I didn't sell you out. Two, I wanted to find you, but you drank too much."
She snatched the fan from Bai You'an and with a "slap," broke his grip on her collar. "I took your fan to tell you I was here and that your capacity for alcohol is too low."
After speaking, she walked away, fanning herself.
Bai You'an stood there, hands on his hips.
Zhou Zhengxi passed by with medicinal herbs, and Bai You'an immediately grabbed him by the neck and stopped him.
"Tell me, what was she doing this morning."
Zhou Zhengxi glanced at him, then remembered his mistress's answer, and felt indifferent. "She went to the Lin estate."
"So you people are borrowed from the Lin estate?"
Zhou Zhengxi quickly shook his head. "Young master, please don't misunderstand. We are the master's people. We belong to the master in life and death."
Bai You'an frowned. "I didn't ask you that. What's your background?"
"Our master picked us up from the trash can." Zhou Zhengxi shifted the large pile of medicinal herbs in his arms, directly bumping into Bai You'an's chin. "Young master, do you need anything else? If not, I need to arrange the goods properly as soon as possible. The master is waiting for me."
Bai You'an, rubbing his chin, squinted at him.
Only when he squinted could he see more clearly. Looking at him, this young man was quite well-built.
With such a clean-cut fellow by Song Qingchao's side, what was she thinking?
Wasn't her own protection enough?
Why did she bring back eight extra men from outside?
"Clang."
His chin was bumped again by Zhou Zhengxi.
Bai You'an covered his chin, furious, and glared fiercely at Zhou Zhengxi's back.
If glaring had an offensive power, Zhou Zhengxi's back would have been pierced through by his gaze.
He held his chin with one hand and put the other on his hip, watching the men busy themselves.
He suddenly felt his position was threatened.
He needed to find a way to get rid of them.
On the other side, Song Qingchao had also found Xiang Yunling.
As she entered the pharmacy, Xiang Yunling was preparing a prescription.
He heard footsteps and put down the medicine in his hand. "You're back?"
His voice was steady, as if he had expected Song Qingchao to return safely.
"Yes, I brought back everything you asked for."
Song Qingchao, as if she were home, sat down on a chair. She picked up a teacup, lifted the teapot, and poured some tea to drink. "Your tea here is still the most comforting."
"Drink more if you like it," Xiang Yunling said, then lowered his head to continue his unfinished task. "A young medicine apprentice has already gone to receive the medicinal herbs. I heard you also brought back eight guards?"
Song Qingchao nodded. "Yes, got them from the Lin estate."
She paused. "Old Master Lin is very generous."
"Mm," Xiang Yunling murmured.
Song Qingchao looked up at his hesitant expression. "Only Miss Tingwan's courtyard at the Lin estate is infected. No one else is, they have self-isolated."
She rubbed the lid of the cup with her finger, testing him. "Old Master Lin rarely allows Miss Tingwan to go out. The only time Miss Lin went out was to a temple, and she fell ill upon her return."
Xiang Yunling still only said, "Mm."
Song Qingchao immediately doubted her own thoughts, but seeing that Xiang Yunling was unwilling to say more, she didn't ask further.
The most important task at this stage was to overcome this difficult period.
If the epidemic were allowed to spread unchecked, they would all die in this small city.
And there was still a month until the first snow.
After a month, the epidemic would disappear. How it disappeared, she didn't understand.
One possibility was that the person in front of her had developed the prescription in her previous life and saved these people.
Then, in this life, with Bai You'an's assistance, Xiang Yunling's prescription should be developed faster, leading to fewer deaths from this epidemic.
The second possibility was to let them fend for themselves, and the imperial court would eventually step in to resolve everything.
No treatment, using death to sever the spread of this cholera.
Song Qingchao had a strong feeling that the previous life was definitely the second scenario.
Otherwise, how could they have all suddenly recovered overnight?
Was there some miraculous medicine that could achieve this?
Compared to medicine, she was more inclined to believe it was resolved by force.