After Old Man Cen finished admonishing Xiao Ruo, he hurried to the private school where Xiao Zhao was.
Along the way, he observed everyone passing by.
This man was holding a clay pot with a corner missing, the man ten meters away had a wet cotton-padded jacket on his elbow, and another was carrying a dead chicken hanging upside down, dangling contentedly...
Old man Cen had a panoramic view of all the details that he had not noticed before. The more he looked, the more frightened he became. He could only speed up his pace secretly to get to the private school as quickly as possible.
"Hello, Mr. Xiao family, are you here to see Xiao Zhao?"
Everyone in the private school knows that the teacher's favorite student is Xiao Zhao, the youngest but the most talented, and as cute as a jade sculpture.
Even the doorman of the private school paid close attention to Xiao Zhao's family to see if there was such a child prodigy coming out of the ancestral grave. Naturally, they all remembered Xiao Zhao's family as familiar faces.
"Hey, yes, yes." Old Cen didn't bother to correct the doorman's title. He raised his hand and said, "Please tell me, Mr. Xiao, that there is something urgent at home. I will take Xiao Zhao home."
In order to prevent others from disturbing students' studies, the private school does not allow others to enter the private school without permission, and can only let the doorman inform them.
The doorman bowed in return, and then went to report to the master who was teaching that day.
"Xiao Zhao, since it's your family here to look for you, there must be something important at home, so you should go back. But you can't miss your homework, and you have to finish it on time, you know?"
Seeing Xiao Zhao obediently nodding, the Master smiled happily and said, "Go ahead, don't keep your family waiting."
After packing up his textbooks and putting them in his pocket, Xiao Zhao followed the doorman out of the private school.
Old man Cen stood outside the private school with his hands folded and stretched out his head to look eagerly. When he saw a familiar little figure coming out, he quickly waved to Xiao Zhao.
"Zhaozhao, here!"
The little body ran to Old Cen. Xiao Zhao raised his head and asked, "Why did Grandpa Cen come to pick me up so early today? Did something happen at home?"
"Come home with me first, and we'll talk when we get back."
After taking the cloth bag from Zaizai and holding his little hand, old man Cen did not dare to stay any longer and hurriedly took Xiaozhao home.
When they got home, Xiaoniao and Xiaoxun had been called back, and the family was neatly organized.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, old man Cen quickly closed the courtyard door tightly and bolted the door bolt. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the table in the courtyard to sit down.
His actions made others even more confused.
"Old man, what happened?"
Xiao Ruo asked while pouring him a glass of water and letting him take his time.
"Hey, today's incident reminds me of my childhood." Old Cen took the cup and took a sip of water, and said slowly: "I was only eleven or twelve years old. I must have been a baby when Taili was born, so I didn't know what happened at that time.
What."
Zheng Dongyang nodded. He really didn't know why Old Cen was so nervous today.
"It was also night at that time, everyone was still sleeping, and an earth dragon turned over."
Speaking of the past, old man Cen's somewhat chaotic eyes became even more confused.
"The scene was so miserable. Countless people were crushed to death by falling roof beams. There were cries and cries everywhere..."
"Many families were wiped out directly. The corpses were piled up more than ten meters high and could not be buried in the cemetery. In the end, they had to be thrown into mass graves..."
"Then later, there was a gangster who had gambling debts. He had nothing in his home that could be sold for gambling money, so he deliberately targeted the destitute families and rummaged through empty houses."
"First he dug out people's hidden savings to gamble, and then continued to dig through them after losing. Just like this, he went back and forth. He went through all the empty houses where people had died because of the earth dragon."
"When he ran out of gold and silver, he took pottery and pottery to sell it. Later, when there was nothing left to take, he even went to mass graves to pick up the clothes of the dead that were still intact, washed them casually, pawned them, or sold them to unsuspecting people at low prices.
of."
"Just like that, this bastard lived a comfortable life for a while, but before he knew it, people in the town began to suffer from strange illnesses."
"First there is a cough and fever, then there is vomiting and diarrhea, the person becomes chilly, his limbs are weak, and finally his hands and feet ulcerate, pus oozes all over his body, and he dies miserably. The whole process occurs quickly, and it only takes a few days from the beginning to death."
"Those who got sick first were those who bought clothes and equipment from that gangster. When they realized something was wrong, they angrily went to the gangster to ask for an explanation. Only when they arrived at his house did they find that their whole family had already died at home.
!”
"The corpses were rotting and infested with maggots! This disease could also be transmitted to others. In that year, people died every day in the town. The doors of every house were closed, and no one dared to go out casually."
"But some doors were closed and never opened again..."
In the old man Cen's old voice, Xiaoruo's heart gradually sank, and she understood what the strange disease the old man mentioned was.
In ancient times, science and technology and sanitation were backward. Once a major disaster occurred, the bodies of humans and animals would rot quickly if they were not disposed of in time.
The bacterium that breeds will spread into groundwater or be infected with humans and animals that come into contact with it, resulting in the outbreak of widespread and violent infectious diseases, commonly known as plagues.
What Xie Chunhua said today is exactly the same as what old man Cen said was a precursor to the plague. I am afraid that Qinzhou will not be able to escape this disaster in the future.
"When I went to pick up Zhaozhao just now, I saw a lot of dead people's artifacts in their hands..."
At the end of the conversation, the four adults looked at each other, understanding how serious the situation that might happen next would be.
Xiaoruo was the first to calm down. She understood that in this world without antibiotics or hypochlorous acid for disinfection, the plague could not be avoided or cured entirely by human effort. More often, it was only a matter of fate.
She mentally calculated the amount of grain and oil stored at home. Although she had prepared a lot before the year, after a month of consumption, the remaining rice, noodles, meat and vegetables were only enough to feed the family for about half a month.
"Senior Zheng, Ah Xun, you bring your money to buy rice, noodles and meat. Buy as much as you can. It's best to go to several stores and spread your purchases out so as not to draw too much attention to others."
"Old man, you are at home, watching Niaoniao and Zhaozhao. I remember that we still have realgar tung seeds in the warehouse. We will take them out and burn them later. We use the realgar tung seeds smoke to fumigate our clothes, shoes and socks when we enter and exit."
After arranging the adults' tasks, she knelt down and looked at the two Zaizai at eye level, and said with a serious face: "Niao Niao, Zhao Zhao, from today on, you two are not allowed to go out again, unless my sister says it's okay. Do you understand?"
"Isn't it okay to go to private school?"
Xiaozhao's little face wrinkled slightly. The Master had just begun to explain "Qu Li", and he wanted to ask the Master tomorrow what "arrogance cannot last, desire cannot follow, ambition cannot be fulfilled, and happiness cannot be extreme".
Touching his face, which had just begun to lose its baby fat, Xiaoruo looked at Xiaozhao's big black eyes and said word by word: "No, you can."
Then he patted his little head soothingly and said, "If you don't understand anything academically, you can ask Senior Zheng for advice first."
After getting the two Zaizai nodding in unison, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Once the arrangements are made at home, the rest is outside matters.
Xiaoruo looked at the sky. It was fine today, but heavy rain could hit the city at any time, and Qinzhou was on the verge of collapse.