HLnovel Chapter 205 He Can't Bear It
Chapter 205 He Can't Bear It
Lu Yangyang glanced at her older brother, then raised her hand and placed it on Li Duan's back.
Before Li Duan could react, Lu Yangyang delivered a swift chop to the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious.
Li Duan softly nestled into Lu Yangyang's arms.
"Yangyang?" Sheng Junyao looked at Lu Yangyang's actions in surprise. Before he could even ask, he understood her meaning and immediately said in a deep voice, "No, you have to leave too."
He knew that Lu Yangyang had knocked Princess Liduan unconscious in order to send her away, but she herself wanted to stay.
He couldn't let her take that risk.
“Yangyang, I can agree to anything else, but not this. You have to come with me. I’ll make the arrangements right now. You must go.”
Sheng Junyao looked at her with an unquestionable expression.
Lu Yangyang had recovered from her shock. "Big brother, I'm a doctor. Instead of believing in fate or gambling on luck, you should trust me."
"No." Sheng Junyao refused her without even thinking.
"Brother, I'm not that reckless. I barely survived, and I'm more afraid of death than anyone else. I wouldn't have stayed if I wasn't absolutely certain."
Lu Yangyang knew that no matter what she said now, Sheng Junyao probably wouldn't agree to let her stay, but she really couldn't imagine the possible fate of the soldiers and civilians in this city. She just turned around and left; she couldn't do it.
“When I was young, a child in a nearby village contracted smallpox. Everyone thought it was hopeless, and the whole family was locked up. The village chief’s plan was to burn their house down after they died. But in the end, no one expected that the whole family would survive. The villagers waited for a long time and saw nothing unusual, so they breathed a sigh of relief. Afraid of causing trouble, they didn’t report the incident.”
"Later, when I was helping out at the clinic, I told the senior doctor about this. Together, we looked at many related cases and compared the reasons why these people survived. Finally, we found a way that might be effective in preventing and treating smallpox. However, no one dared to put such a thing into practice, let alone gamble on it, so it has not been fully verified to this day."
Lu Yangyang looked at Sheng Junyao calmly: "Brother, I'm not entirely sure, but I'm not completely without confidence either. If I stay, I might be able to save more people. If I leave, do you have any other options? I know you're not afraid of death, but what about the others? They're innocent too. Can you really bear to do that?"
Sheng Junyao clenched his fists and turned his head away with difficulty.
His eyes were slightly red.
Of course he couldn't bear it. He himself was not afraid of death. From the moment he chose this path, he had already gambled his life. But he was gambling his life to protect his country and to ensure that the people of Dazhao could live in peace and prosperity one day, instead of helplessly watching them die under such shameless scheming.
If Yangyang truly had a solution, it wouldn't just save him, but the entire population and soldiers of Yangguan City. Since ancient times, the method for dealing with plagues has been to confine and burn people to prevent their spread. When the merchant was initially identified as problematic, his initial thought was to immediately transfer and confine him. However, the merchant had already been in the city for many days, seeing countless people. In just a few days, simply tracing related individuals would reveal countless infections.
That's why he immediately sealed the city gates to prevent the epidemic from spreading.
However, there were limited doctors in Yangguan City, and the army's medics were also helpless. As the commander-in-chief, he had to stay in the city to take charge of the overall situation.
Even within the military, the situation is not entirely unaffected. With soldiers taking turns on leave, many soldiers' families are either in the city or in nearby villages and towns. In recent days, a small number of soldiers have been infected.
This isn't the worst part. The worst part is that winter has arrived, and every winter is when those foreign tribes in the northwest harass the border on a large scale. In recent years, he has joined forces with the Crown Prince to open border trade, and it has already achieved initial success. Give him another year or two, and the northwest region will gradually become stable.
But if the enemy finds a breakthrough at this point, and they engage in burning, killing, and looting, even if he manages to defend Yangguan City, all his efforts over the past few years will be completely wasted.
He desperately needs to stabilize this battle.
But as a human being, how could he not have selfish motives?
As the elder brother, he had already failed Yang Yang immensely. Now, even if there was hope, it would most likely be a dead end. He couldn't bear to do it for the common people, but how could he bear to do it for his younger sister?
Looking at Sheng Junyao's turned face, Lu Yangyang knew he was having a hard time making a decision, and continued, "Brother, this is not your decision, it is mine. Although I have nothing of value, I want to do my part. Since I have decided to stay, you can't make me leave. Even if you forcibly send me away, I will come back. As long as you can't keep an eye on me, I will find a way to get into the city. I mean what I say."
Sheng Junyao turned his face and looked at Lu Yangyang with eyes full of heartache.
Of course he knew, that's why he was sad.
It wasn't that he was having trouble making a decision; it was that when she made her choice, he hated himself for being powerless, unable to protect her, and instead causing her suffering.
Lu Yangyang smiled at him and said, "Big brother, believe me, I can definitely do it!"
Sheng Junyao gave a soft "Mmm," and said, "I believe you."
Hearing his words, Lu Yangyang finally breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, "You should have agreed earlier. It's been so hard for me to keep trying to persuade you."
Sheng Junyao was both amused and exasperated: "I was just thinking, what would you do if I just turned around and left, pretending I'd never seen you? Would you be angry and disappointed and just turn around and walk away?"
Lu Yangyang rolled her eyes: "Do you think I'm that stupid in my brother's eyes?"
"So I thought about it and realized that my idea was incredibly stupid."
Sheng Junyao's brows remained furrowed, and although he agreed to let her stay, he couldn't help but worry.
“I’ll have someone escort the county princess away tonight. If the journey is fast, she can still reach the post station before the snow falls,” Sheng Junyao said, glancing at the county princess, Li Duan, whom she was holding in her arms.
Lu Yangyang shook her head: "Big brother knows I'll come back, so how could Xiaoli possibly want to leave? She'll only run away in more bizarre ways than I have. You don't even know how we got here. Let's find a safe place to lock her up for as long as we can, just make sure she doesn't escape. Once I find a cure for the plague, I'll release her."
Lu Yangyang knocked Li Duan unconscious so that she could settle her affairs before finding a solution. If all went well, everyone would be fine; if she failed, she would send her away in time.
Sheng Junyao paused for a moment, clearly realizing something, and coughed slightly awkwardly.