Chapter 260: Crossing the Fire Basin

“Xiao’an Village isn’t exactly nearby. How did you get here? By water?” asked the masked constable.

“Yes, officer. We came downstream on a raft,” Yan Lao’er replied.

“This your son?”

Yan Lao’er hesitated. “Yes, he’s my boy.”

“Quite the gutsy one. Northern Rong troops just passed through your village in broad daylight, and you still had the nerve to raft your way to Gufeng…”

He glanced over at Yan Lao’er.

“Guess he takes after his father.”

He looked the two of them up and down. “Judging by your clothes, you don’t seem ignorant of the situation in Gufeng. So why come here? What’s so urgent?”

“Visiting relatives?” He shook the travel permit in his hand.

That was the reason listed on it.

Yan Yu’s eyes widened.

Now that she looked at these men again, they did seem familiar. The voices too.

Could they be…?

“We’re visiting family, and also delivering a letter,” Yan Lao’er answered honestly.

Just saying they came to visit someone would sound too suspicious. Mentioning they were delivering a letter for Doctor An made for a more believable excuse.

“How very kind of you. Father and son, running all the way to Gufeng in the middle of the night just to deliver a letter…”

As soon as he finished speaking, the other constables burst out laughing.

It was obvious they didn’t believe a word of it.

What kind of relative would warrant such a trip?

“The letter?” the man asked offhandedly, not expecting them to actually have one.

To his surprise, Yan Lao’er really did pull one out.

He was even quicker fetching the letter than he’d been with the travel permit.

“Here it is, officer. The letter’s right here.” He placed it on the ground again and gave a sheepish grin. “If it’s not too much trouble, could you kind sirs deliver this family letter to the three Doctor Ans at Huimin Hall in Yongning City?”

He added, “Any one of the Doctor Ans will do.”

The constable hadn’t planned to pick it up, but when he heard “Huimin Hall in Yongning City,” he immediately bent down and picked up the letter.

“You’ve been to Yongning? You know the Ans from Huimin Hall?”

Yan Lao’er replied, “Young Doctor An was seeing patients in Crouching Tiger City. My elder brother works at the yamen there. When he heard I was heading to Gufeng, he asked me to bring a letter to Doctor An’s father and uncle.”

“Crouching Tiger? That city’s sealed off too, isn’t it?” the constable asked. “How’d you get in?”

“It’s been locked down for a while now,” Yan Lao’er said. “The magistrate relocated the refugees and sick outside the city walls and put up wooden barricades. We spoke from a distance.”

“You said your brother works at the yamen in Crouching Tiger? If I remember right… your village folk were all refugees, only recently registered. What department is he in?”

It wasn’t unreasonable for the constable to ask so many questions.

Constables might seem like the lowest rung in the government office, but the job was often passed down through generations.

Even when new recruits were needed, they were usually chosen from local families with known backgrounds.

Why would they pick someone from a recently registered refugee family?

“He works in the Household Registry Office,” Yan Lao’er answered honestly.

The constables all fell silent.

“Your brother… is he a scholar?”

Getting into the Household Registry right off the bat meant either strong connections or real ability.

If he had connections, he wouldn’t be stuck in Crouching Tiger City. So he must have talent—literate, educated, and capable enough for the magistrate to assign him a cushy post to keep him around.

“He is…” Yan Lao’er had wanted to brag a little—his brother held an official title!

But he thought better of it. Better to stay low-key.

The constable thought for a moment and said, “Stand over there and wait. Once we’re done here, we’ll take you in.”

With that, he placed the letter back on the ground, stepped back two paces, and looked at Yan Lao’er, clearly waiting for him to pick it up.

Yan Lao’er: …

We don’t want to go anymore. Can we just leave?

“If Gufeng’s locked down like Crouching Tiger, we’d rather not cause trouble,” Yan Lao’er said. “Sorry to bother you all…”

The constable waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Gufeng also relocated the sick outside the city. The three Doctor Ans you’re looking for are all there. Just come with us.”

Then he turned to the others and told them to dig the pit deeper.

They worked quickly, clearly speeding up for Yan Lao’er and his son’s sake.

Yan Lao’er wasn’t the least bit touched.

While they weren’t looking, he used a cloth to pick up the letter and quickly tossed it into the basket on Sanbao’s back.

He looked at his daughter.

Yan Yu quickly spread her hands, signaling she was out of ideas.

She whispered the identities of the men to him.

Only then did Yan Lao’er realize why they spoke with such familiarity—it was the same group of constables from Yongning City who had visited their village earlier that day.

Constables from the prefectural city always carried more weight than those from smaller towns.

Yan Lao’er knew better than to say too much now.

But Yan Yu, taking advantage of their previous encounter, tried to strike up a friendly conversation with the “uncles.”

The constables still remembered the clever little girl who had impressed them earlier. Now that they knew she was Old Yan’s daughter, their aloofness faded, and they started chatting about the Northern Rong soldiers, the mountain crossing, and pretending to be hunters.

“Good thing there weren’t too many of them. Otherwise, your village would’ve been in real danger…”

“Those Northern Rong scouts were probably just testing the route. You’ll need to stay alert from now on.”

“But don’t worry too much. If those men don’t make it back, the Northern Rong will have to think twice before trying that path again.”

“Crossing the mountains is only suitable for small groups anyway…”

Yan Lao’er chimed in at just the right moment.

Though he hadn’t been in Guanzhou for long, he’d already been to quite a few places. To promote charcoal and scented soap, he’d interacted with all kinds of people and kept an ear out for street gossip. No matter what someone brought up, he could always join the conversation with a few words.

Especially when it came to things happening in Yongning City—those stories hit close to home for the others, making them feel an instant connection.

The atmosphere gradually warmed.

At first, they’d been suspicious of this odd pair, one tall and one small, acting like they were avoiding a plague. But now, they were more worried the two weren’t standing far enough away.

They kept urging them to step back a little more.

“Your outfits look strange at first glance, but the more I think about it, the more it seems like you really thought things through,” one of the constables commented.

Yan Lao’er’s eyes lit up. “I saw folks in Crouching Tiger City dressing like this, so I had my family sew up something similar. Seems to work pretty well. Over there, the constables and even the refugees helping out rarely caught the illness.”

These constables from the Prefectural City were sharp.

They picked up on the key point immediately.

“Crouching Tiger City used refugees to help? Help with what? How could they let them wander around? Aren’t they worried about the plague spreading out of control?”

“They were overwhelmed, so they came up with the idea. But it’s been working out. Those folks wrap themselves up tight, just like we do. They help cook porridge, clean, wash, deliver medicine, feed the sick, take care of patients…

There’s actually a lot they can do,” Yan Lao’er explained.

Then he added, “My brother said things are looking up in Crouching Tiger City. If things keep improving, he might be able to come home in a few days.”

The constables exchanged glances.

Once their task was done, they kept their word and escorted the two of them to the outskirts of Gufeng City.

Unlike the orderly setup of Crouching Tiger City, this place was a complete mess.

Yan Lao’er had seen the chaos when Crouching Tiger City first went into lockdown, but compared to what lay before him now, that had been nothing.

Someone spotted their return and brought over a brazier, lighting it up.

The constables stepped over it calmly, one by one.

Then they gestured for Yan Lao’er and Yan Yu to do the same.

(End of this chapter)