This time the funeral went relatively smoothly.
It only took five days to send all the heroic spirits and female relatives back home in Xingluo County.
In Longyuan City, Ren Ning and Lei Er rarely had free time and were shopping after dinner.
The streets are busy with traffic and people are coming and going.
"Why don't you stay at home for a few days?" Ren Ning asked.
This time, among the fifteen coffins that came back, Lei Er's eldest brother Lei Yi was also among them. He had just sent the coffin home, but he ran out within half a day.
Lei Er bought a bunch of roadside snacks and was eating them with gusto.
He didn't even raise his head, "It's boring to be at home. I'm crying all the time. I feel upset, so I might as well go out and stay with my brothers."
Ren Ning nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
"Where are you, Lao Ren?" Lei Er asked back: "The team will go to Yingchuan County tomorrow. Since it's not far away, why don't you go back to the ancestral home of your Ren family to have a look?"
"Why?" Ren Ning smiled.
"I grew up in the imperial capital, and this is the first time I have set foot on the land of Xingluo. I am completely unfamiliar with the people here. I guess no one knows me when I go there, so I won't go there to join in the fun."
He wasn't going to go back to Ren's ancestral home to join in the fun, but outsiders eagerly came over.
Across the street, the third prince Chen Xiuzhu was riding a tall horse and waved to Ren Ning and Ren Ning with a cheerful face.
Lei Er's tone was strange and he lowered his voice.
"It's been so long since the Qingming Festival, but the third prince hasn't returned to the imperial capital yet, and he's often 'ran into' us in the past few days. He's not afraid of the imperial capital's taboos either."
After all, he is the commander, so Ren Ning knows better.
"During the Qingming Dynasty, the royal family sent a total of three princes back to pay homage to their ancestors. Later, when they learned that there was an epidemic in Yunzhong County next door, the other two princes ran back to the imperial capital early. Only Chen Xiuzhu asked to stay to appease people."
"To appease people's hearts? Hehe." Lei Er smiled disdainfully, "In this Longyuan City? Shouldn't we go to Yunzhong County?"
At this time, Chen Xiuzhu's bodyguard had already come over, "Commander Ren, Second Young Master Lei, my Highness invites you two to a restaurant to have a drink and listen to music."
Ren Ning frowned.
He has refused several times in the past few days on the grounds of responsibility. The two of them looked up and saw that the weather was bad before refusing, and then walked over.
After exchanging pleasantries, the three of them entered a restaurant not far away together.
The restaurant is luxuriously decorated, and there is even a beautiful dancer twisting her waist on the stage, which is quite a bit like the bar of later generations. It's just that the dancer didn't reveal that much, and there was no deafening background dance music blasting the streets.
The three of them went to the private seats on the second floor and sat down separately for the guests of honor.
There was no electronic music, the door was closed, and the lounge was quiet.
The shopkeeper recognized Chen Xiuzhu and hurriedly bowed down to greet him personally.
After serving the wine and fruit plate, Chen Xiuzhu spoke.
He was half joking and half serious, "Cousin Ren came all the way back from the western border. It's been hard work these days traveling around to see the spirits. But don't forget to go back to the Ren family's ancestral temple to offer incense."
Ren Ning and Lei Er looked at each other.
Most of the noble families in the imperial capital are related by marriage, so it's not surprising that Chen Xiuzhu calls Ren Ning his cousin.
But Chen Xiuzhu must also know the details of Ren Ning. He is an illegitimate son, and there is no official family tree yet. The person in a high position still calls him so affectionately, which inevitably makes people think too much.
"The emperor's destiny is greater than heaven, and the family is just a trivial matter in comparison. When his responsibilities are over, if there is still time, Ren Ning will definitely go back to the ancestral temple to visit."
Lei Er nodded while stuffing peanuts into his mouth.
"That's what Lao Ren said. There's no rush in offering incense or anything else. Of course sending off the spirit is the most important thing. Less than half a day after I sent my brother's coffin back to my hometown, I hurried out to help."
Ren Ning wiped the sweat silently in his heart.
He replaced the wine with tea and chatted for a few more words before asking: "Your Highness, if everything goes well, our team will head to Yunzhong County in four or five days. I wonder what the epidemic situation is there?"
It seemed that the table full of food and wine couldn't stop Lei Er from talking, he had already taken over the conversation.
"Old Ren, do you want to ask His Highness about this?" He ate the food on the table like a storm, "I think Yunzhong County should be fine by now."
"Look at Xingluo here, the people are eating and playing, but they don't seem to know there is any epidemic. It's fair to say that the people are not afraid if they don't know."
"The Third Highness should be aware of the situation. Therefore, Yunzhong County should be fine soon."
Chen Xiuzhu was speechless and could only mumble a few words to fool him.
Neither said the situation is getting better nor that it is not getting better.
Ren Ning is the security commander and is responsible for the entire team, so he doesn't dare to fool around with it like this.
He stared at Chen Xiuzhu with a keen eye, "Your Highness, our ancestors said that there will be great epidemics after major disasters, or during lean times, people will eat randomly to fill their stomachs and they will easily contract epidemic diseases."
"There have been no major disasters in Yunzhong County in recent years. It was around the Chinese New Year a few months ago. How could an epidemic occur?"
"This..." Chen Xiuzhu spread his hands with a wry smile, "Father has ordered the imperial doctors to come over to investigate the origin. But the most important thing at the moment is to treat the people and control the epidemic, and let other things go first. Therefore, what exactly caused it? The epidemic situation is still unclear.”
Lei Er next to him couldn't wait to speak again: "Then our team can enter Yunzhong County in a few days. I finally took a vacation, and I want to have a good experience with the old God Ren, so don't be stuck here and never finish it. Task."
Chen Xiuzhu had a headache and glared at this guy who was eating and drinking angrily, "Don't worry, Mr. Lei, you will definitely be able to get in."
As for whether it can come out, it's hard to say.
The three of them chatted east, west, north and south for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, Ren Ning took Lei Er away with him on the pretext of returning to the county captain's house to check on the team's situation.
In the restaurant, Chen Xiuzhu stood by the window sill, watching Ren Ning and the two slowly walk away.
"Your Highness, this illegitimate son of the Ren family is too ignorant of current affairs."
"Yes." Chen Xiuzhu nodded and changed his tone: "Have you found out what that thing called a telescope looks like?"
The guard shook his head and said, "The Lord Lieutenant asked someone to carefully look through the entire fleet, but he didn't see anything strange. Presumably, this kind of treasure should be carried with him."
"There wasn't anything particularly obvious about him just now."
The guard hesitated for a moment, "Except for the two short knives on his waist, there is nothing unusual about him."
"Two daggers?"
"There are two. One of them is murderous even in its sheath. The other one..." The guard looked at the gorgeous sword on Chen Xiuzhu's waist and said no more.
After adjusting his clothes, Chen Xiuzhu said: "Go and check carefully. We must find out what is going on with this telescope."
Ren Ning didn't know this.
The next day, he left Lei Er to take care of the female family members and ashes of Yunzhong County. He and Ma Dali led the team to Yingchuan County in the southeast.
Five days later, Ren Ning and a soldier finished delivering the last altar of ashes, and they were preparing to ride back to the capital of Yingchuan.
He glanced at it accidentally and frowned immediately.
To the front left is an ordinary village. The sound of crying in the village was loud, and a family hung up white flags and was doing something innocent.
Under the golden fingers, there was a faint red among the people wearing sackcloth and mourning.
Ren Ning's heart skipped a beat.
He stared closely at a middle-aged man who had just turned from yellow to red, watching his red value slowly rise from 1 to 30. After he touched the door frame, it soon started to turn red.
A young neighbor's child ran over, leaned against the door frame and looked inside curiously.
Not long after, his color began to change from yellow to red, and the value slowly increased.
Epidemic!
I don't know where it has spread to Hotukawa County, or even further.
