The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 1043 - 1043 503 Siblings Step In (Second Update)

Chapter 1043: 503 Siblings Step In (Second Update) Chapter 1043: 503 Siblings Step In (Second Update) At night, Gu Chengfeng fell asleep feeling unfairly treated as he didn’t wait for his elder brother to come.

“Hmph, tomorrow, big brother will definitely come to see me!”

The next day, Gu Changqing left the Capital City…

Gu Changqing had left the city together with Gu Jiao.

The crisis in Yuegu City had been resolved, but two more crises were waiting for them in the upcoming battles: one was Gu Changqing getting both his legs chopped off, and the other was the annihilation of the Gu Family army.

These two incidents were actually related, with the cause traced back to Lingguan City, held by remnants of the former dynasty.

To deal with the Gu Family army, those remnants had resorted to anything necessary. They somehow brought in a plague patient and let him infect the townspeople. After the Gu Family army recaptured Lingguan City, they were unaware that a plague was quietly spreading within the city.

By the time the doctors confirmed it was a plague, the Gu Family army had already been infected.

It was highly likely that the plague was the Black Death, with a short incubation period, extremely rapid onset, severe symptoms, and a very high mortality rate.

The Gu Family army quickly took measures, but it was still one step too late, and a large number of their forces were infected.

Without proper medical treatment, hundreds of Gu Family soldiers died in the quarantined barracks every day.

To completely stop the plague, their bodies could only be burned, leaving no remains to be taken back.

Gu Changqing was ambushed on his way to find medicine for them, by a very formidable dead soldier, not inferior to the Dragon Shadow Guards of Zhan Country. However, the opponent didn’t take Gu Changqing’s life but just chopped off his legs.

The enemy’s purpose seemed to be to let Gu Changqing live in clear and painful awareness of his condition, having lost the Gu Family army, his grandfather, and his own brother, yet leaving him Gu Chenglin at the mansion, leading him to a life worse than death, wanting to die but unable to.

He was to live forever in the abyss of agony.

Gu Jiao genuinely thought it through, to save the Gu Family army, the source of the plague had to be eradicated to prevent its spread.

To avoid the tragedy of Gu Changqing, not letting him leave the army to search for medicine was secondary. The decisive solution was to find and kill that formidable dead soldier!

Gu Jiao didn’t know where that dead soldier was for the time being, so she decided to deal with the plague first.

On their way to Lingguan City, they rode across the snowfield, and Gu Changqing suddenly turned his head to look at her, “Your horsemanship has improved.”

Gu Jiao didn’t really know how to ride a horse when she was in the Capital City.

Gu Jiao said, “From the Capital City to here, I rode a horse, so I learned.”

To be honest, her horsemanship wasn’t great—it was the horse that was good, running joyfully without her needing to manage much.

But even a small improvement in her sister’s skill was significant.

Gu Changqing felt very reassured and his eyes shone when he looked at Gu Jiao.

“By the way,” he spoke again, recalling the purpose of their trip to Lingguan City, “how did you know there are plague patients in Lingguan City?”

Gu Jiao unflinchingly answered, “I have been to Lingguan City before, and even to the former dynasty’s Governor’s Mansion.”

But that has nothing to do with me knowing this news.

Gu Jiao added to herself mentally.

However, Gu Changqing naturally filled in the blanks with the information she didn’t disclose—that Gu Jiao had been to the Governor’s Mansion and overheard the plans of the former dynasty’s remnants.

It must be said, the skill of mental filling was very well mastered by the Gu family patriarch and his sons.

The news of the Gu Family army’s annihilation of Chen Country’s twenty-thousand strong army spread far and wide, making the defenses of Lingguan City tougher than before. However, the cities at the border pass were not like the Capital City, surrounded by walls on all sides; Lingguan City only had several checkpoints on essential routes.

Passing through those checkpoints posed no difficulty for the two of them. They hid their horses in nearby woods, and then Gu Changqing, using his light body technique, led Gu Jiao around from the side.

Such a dangerous place naturally wouldn’t be within the Governor’s Mansion; the remnants of the former dynasty kept the plague patients in a small fortress to the northwest of Lingguan City.

After entering the city, the two made their way straight to the small fortress.

The small fortress was situated at the foot of a mountain, surrounded on three sides by mountains and facing water on one side.

To enter the fortress, they had to cross a wooden bridge over the river.

The two crouched behind a bush, watching the activities inside the fortress carefully.

The fortress was small, with only about a dozen little houses made of mud and vegetation, all closed tight, with occasional muffled coughs coming from inside.

After observing for a while, Gu Changqing whispered, “Strange, there are no guards.”

“There are no locks on the doors either,” said Gu Jiao.

Gu Changqing nodded.

This was a significant mystery.

Those inside were plague patients, and although they were intended to be used against the Gu Family army, the Gu Family forces had not reached Lingguan City yet, and those stationed here were the rebel army of the former dynasty.

The streets were full of soldiers from the former dynasty.

Were they not afraid that these patients might accidentally run out and infect their own people?

Gu Jiao found it very strange too; in her dream, she only saw the outcome and not the process, so she couldn’t immediately guess what the remnants of the former dynasty planned before releasing these patients.

However, since they had come, they would surely find out the truth eventually.

“Someone is coming!” Gu Changqing covered Gu Jiao’s head with his hand and pressed their bodies further down into the bushes.

Two soldiers, remnants of the previous dynasty, each carrying a large food container, walked through the creaking snow.

Gu Changqing had used his light-footed skills to bring Gu Jiao here earlier, therefore they had left no footprints in the snow, and the soldiers walked right past Gu Changqing and Gu Jiao.

The two soldiers arrived in the village and set the food containers down in the open space before them before leaving.

“Is this food delivery?” Gu Jiao asked.

“It seems so, it’s time for lunch now, are you hungry?” Gu Changqing suddenly focused on a different matter.

Just as Gu Jiao was about to say she wasn’t hungry, she saw Gu Changqing take out something wrapped in wax paper from his chest—unfolding it revealed a packet of dried meat.

Gu Jiao: “…”

Before Gu Jiao had a chance to eat, there was a noise from one of the small cabins in the village.

With a creak, the wooden door was pulled open from the inside, and a tall, burly man stepped out unhurriedly.

Wrapped in a thick quilt, he was carrying an empty bowl, his footsteps solid and heavy.

His aura felt familiar to Gu Jiao, so she wrote two words in the snow with her index finger: “Dead soldier.”

Gu Changqing’s brow furrowed.

He took her cold fingertip and warmed it in his own hand.

The two continued to observe the activities in the mansion.

The dead soldier’s complexion and condition seemed off, clearly suffering from the plague as well.

He approached the open space in the village, opened the left food container, and slowly took out a pancake and a piece of steamed bread. Then he opened the right container and scooped out a bowl of dark soup medicine.

After doing this, he turned and returned to his cabin.

His movements were labored, showing that the infection had taken root and was blossoming within him.

Following the closing of his door, the rest of the cabin doors gradually started to open, and those who came out were unarmed villagers, aged between twenty and forty—a time in one’s life when the body is generally at its strongest.

They seemed to have been carefully selected, and Gu Changqing’s heart sank.

Each cabin held two villagers, totaling fourteen individuals, who, like the dead soldier before them, each took their share of dry food and medicinal soup.

“Can you smell what medicine this is?” Gu Changqing retrieved a dagger and wrote a line in the snow with its sheath, then handed Gu Jiao the dagger.

Gu Jiao wrote: “Medicine for treating the plague.”

“Is it curable?” Gu Changqing took back the dagger and wrote.

Gu Jiao shook her head.

It was not curable.

If this really was the plague, they would need streptomycin or perhaps tetracycline, chloramphenicol, or sulfonamide drugs. This kind of traditional medicine could only relieve symptoms to some extent, allowing the sick to live a few days longer, but they would ultimately still succumb to death.

Gu Changqing fell into deep thought.

They hunkered down behind the shrubbery for a while longer when suddenly, the door of a cabin at the far east end opened, and a young man in his early twenties sneaked out.

Gu Jiao had spotted him earlier when he went to get his food.

As a physician, Gu Jiao could tell who was most ill and thus had paid more attention to this young man, who appeared to be the least symptomatic.

The young man was apparently trying to escape; he tiptoed across the open space toward the wooden bridge.

However, before he could even step onto the bridge, he was flipped over by a strong force and hit the snow face-first, blood gushing from his nose.

“If there’s a next time, I’ll chop you into pieces and feed you to the dogs!”

It was the voice of the dead soldier.

At this point, Gu Jiao and Gu Changqing finally understood why there were no guards here.

With that formidable dead soldier present, the villagers couldn’t escape at all.

Besides, it would reduce the risk of the soldiers being infected.

The young man covered his bleeding nose and resignedly crawled back to his own cabin.

Gu Changqing’s eyes suddenly turned cold.

He understood what the remnants of the former dynasty were plotting.

A battle for Lingguan City was inevitable. If the Gu Family’s army lost, Lingguan City would remain in the hands of the former dynasty’s remnants, and these plague patients would be executed on the spot.

If, however, the Gu Family’s army won, these plague patients would be released to infect the townspeople and the Gu Family’s forces.

The maxim “If I can’t have it, then nobody can” seemed very fitting.

As for why they didn’t simply drive this group of sick people to Yuegu City, first, because they were ill, they couldn’t travel that far; second, during the drive, accidents could easily happen.

If even one escaped or accidentally came into contact with soldiers, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Gu Changqing’s eyes were icy as he stood up, not even needing his dagger, and declared, “I’ll go kill that dead soldier.”

Gu Jiao pressed his hand: “I’ll kill him.”