“We have to do that openly so everyone knows that there might be someone coming to check and monitor every household in the village anytime. We have to use extreme measures and not show mercy.”

“Is that all we need to do?” Aunt Ju asked.

An Jiuyue raised her eyebrows. “Of course not. These are just some of my suggestions. If they are helpful, we will benefit greatly. There’s a saying that rewards allure men to brave danger.

“How about this, Aunt Ju? Tell the Junior Officer and the Chief that if anyone finds an extra person in a house and reports them, the Chief or the Junior Officer can collect a piece of preserved wild boar meat from me on their behalf,” she said.

Their eyes widened when they heard about the wild boar meat, mouths almost drooling.

“Alright, we’ll go back now.”

Aunt Ju nodded and was about to leave when she turned to look at An Jiuyue.

“Jiuyue, is everything alright here? I think you should let Young Master Qian and Miss Qian stay here for a few more days. It’s really not safe out there now.”

It was not safe due to the epidemic. What if they left and contracted the disease? It would be better for them to stay.

An Jiuyue was silent.

Even if it’s safe outside, Qian Jiyun, this rascal, will not leave so quickly.

However, she was rather thankful. If not for the crisis outside, she would not have had an excuse for why Qian Jiyun and Qian Yiyun were staying at her house and even building a fence for her.

“Yes, I’m also thinking about letting them stay for a few more days. Zheng’er and Rong’er want to learn some martial arts too. They can become Big Brother Qian’s disciples and learn some martial arts.

“The skills will be practical for living on this mountain in the future.”

“Good, good, that’s good,” Aunt Ju replied repeatedly.

After some time, the two women left together.

“Actually, we can ask them to find a physician in town to prepare some medicine for epidemic diseases,” Qian Jiyun reminded her.

An Jiuyue shrugged and replied, “I’ve told them about this last time.”

A few families in the village had spare money to buy medicine. However, everyone believed that they would be safe if they did not leave their houses and would only go out if they had to make a necessary trip.

“Let’s hope that the royal court can settle this matter as soon as possible,” she said and went upstairs to cook.

This was not something an ignorant woman like her could handle. She was only concerned with having three meals a day. She had to eat breakfast, right?

Qian Yiyun walked up to her brother secretly and asked, “Big Brother, will the royal court care about this?”

“What do you think the royal court will do?” Qian Jiyun asked.

The people there, who set themselves high above the masses, had always trifled with the lives of the commoners.

When has anyone really cared about the lives of these poor commoners? Everyone knows how to say honeyed words, and no one is stingy with them. They say things the emperor likes to hear.

“Uh…” Qian Yiyun staggered at her brother’s words.

If the emperor knew about this, it would be considered a great blessing if he sent a few imperial physicians to them.

However, if chaos broke out here, the royal court would only send troops to suppress it by setting fire to the village. They were capable of doing that.

In fact, there had been such records in history.

“Big Brother, are you not going to care about this?” she asked.