Chapter 49 Was I Wrong?

The restaurant manager quickly replied:
"The Grand Preceptor is already waiting for the magistrate in the private room."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Zhuo finally felt a sense of relief.
He had previously worried that the Grand Preceptor might be late, leaving him—a magistrate in all his dignity—waiting, which, if it spread, would utterly destroy his reputation.
In the past, he would never have worried about such a thing; who in Taiyang County would ever dare keep him waiting?
Yet now, if the Grand Preceptor had truly done so, Qiu Zhuo would have been utterly helpless.
The Way of Peace had become far too powerful in Taiyang County.
So powerful that more people listened to the Way of Peace than to the yamen.
Even in the depths of Qiu Zhuo's heart, a faint sense of dread had taken root.
He knew that once the plague subsided, he would be promoted and transferred away from this place entirely.
Therefore, he could afford to be indifferent to the gradual erosion of the county office's authority, but he could not bear the stripping away of a magistrate's dignity.
Fortunately, the Grand Preceptor had not slighted him today, inadvertently arousing a measure of gratitude within him.

Qiu Zhuo's appointment with the Grand Preceptor today was for a new round of negotiations.
Not long ago, Qiu Zhuo had joined forces with the Grand Preceptor to deal with the disobedient wealthy citizens in the city, amassing a vast amount of wealth in the process.
Yet all this wealth had been monopolized by the Way of Peace, and it had never been shared with Qiu Zhuo as agreed.
Pressured to fulfill his superiors' demands, Qiu Zhuo had to recover these funds today.
At the same time, the Way of Peace was growing rapidly, its membership now numbering in the countless.
Qiu Zhuo needed a means to keep the Way of Peace in check, which was why he had repeatedly demanded the roster of members, only for the Way of Peace to continually evade the request.
Thus, today he also needed an explanation from the Grand Preceptor.

"Let's go. It is time to meet the Grand Preceptor."
"He has done a fair share of good deeds for this official and this county, so we must not keep him waiting."
With these words, Qiu Zhuo led his secretary, Zhang You, toward the interior of the restaurant.

***

Just as the magistrate and his secretary entered the restaurant,
on another street,
Lu Tianxing, the master of the Lu Estate, was also stumbling along the main thoroughfare.
His gaze was vacant as he looked at everything around him, muttering to himself:
"Was I wrong..."
Why... has it come to this?"

Wherever Lu Tianxing passed, he saw only signs of recovery.
He still remembered what the city looked like when the plague was at its worst.
Yet the current situation was as different as heaven and earth compared to those initial days.
The Way of Peace had grown even stronger, and he was even more terrified.
Yet the county office continually maintained that the Way of Peace preached kindness and benevolence, championed righteousness and propriety, and dedicated itself to disaster relief and saving lives.
It was a righteous sect fully worthy of vigorous promotion throughout Taiyang County.
These words...
Lu Tianxing could find no fault with them.
Everything he witnessed along the way showed that the plague in Taiyang County was being brought under control.
Although many people had not yet fully recovered from the pestilence, there were clear signs of improvement, and he had not even heard of anyone dying from the illness.
Perhaps before long, the plague that had been ravaging Qingzhou would be completely eradicated in this small county town.

"Heretics causing chaos and bewitching the minds of the people... is that truly the case?"
Lu Tianxing felt his mind growing increasingly chaotic.

His judgments regarding the Way of Peace conflicted sharply with the reality before him, leaving him completely at a loss.
Just as Lu Tianxing was lost in thought, a voice suddenly rang out from the roadside:
"Quick!!!"
"The Way of Peace is giving out porridge again!"
"If you're late, there won't be any left!"

Following this cry, the pedestrians around him swarmed toward the front of the street.
In the distance, a group of followers of the Way of Peace were hauling out cauldrons of freshly cooked rice porridge to distribute to the crowd.
The ravages of the plague had broken many families, reducing them to poverty.
During an epidemic, poverty was often far deadlier than the disease itself.

Lu Tianxing was startled.
The Way of Peace was distributing porridge?
Where on earth did they get so much grain?
Then Lu Tianxing recalled that joining the Way of Peace required each person to donate five dou of rice.
He had also heard that wealthy citizens in the city who had fallen ill were recently making massive donations of money and grain to the Way of Peace in exchange for a cure.
By now, the Way of Peace must be extraordinarily wealthy.

"Hmph!"
"Buying the hearts of the people!"
Lu Tianxing thought to himself with quiet defiance, fancying himself able to see through the tricks of the Way of Peace.
Yet he could not help but feel a lingering doubt.
Even if it was truly an effort to win people's hearts, these bowls of porridge were nevertheless being delivered directly into the hands of the starving.
If no one stepped forward to win hearts in this manner, how many more people would have starved to death?

Just as Lu Tianxing felt his thoughts growing increasingly tangled, a wave of shouting broke out.
He heard several members of the Way of Peace roar angrily:
"How dare a traitor come asking for porridge?"
"Drive him out!"
Immediately afterward, the followers of the Way of Peace rained blows and kicks upon a man, driving him out of the crowd.
When Lu Tianxing saw the beaten man, his expression changed in profound shock:
"Master Xu?!"

The man was none other than Xu Gui, the very person who had once led the betrayal against the Way of Peace alongside Lu Tianxing.
Overwhelmed by shock, Lu Tianxing hurriedly stepped forward to help Xu Gui up.
"Master Xu, what has happened to you..."
He looked at Xu Gui in astonishment.
In just a few days, Xu Gui had transformed into a completely different person.
He had once been a reasonably well-known merchant with a prosperous household and proper attire.
Yet now, Xu Gui wore a starved expression, and his clothes had become ordinary and worn, making him look utterly destitute.

Xu Gui said with bitter misery:
"Estate Master Lu, to tell you the truth, I haven't eaten a single grain of rice all day."
"If I weren't driven to the edge by hunger, how could I possibly lower my face to beg for a bowl of porridge?"
By the end, Xu Gui was sobbing with agitation.
Lu Tianxing was filled with deep puzzlement and hurriedly pressed for details.
Weeping, Xu Gui recounted his recent plight.

Ever since they had peddled the ineffective medicine obtained from Secretary Zhang last time, Xu Gui had been ruined, losing his entire family fortune.
When his family fell ill and required medical treatment, Xu Gui could not obtain the holy water of the Way of Peace due to his betrayal, forcing him to borrow money to buy medicine.
Now, his family's plague remained uncured, his fortune was gone, and he was deeply in debt.
This had reduced Xu Gui to a state where even basic survival was a struggle.
Driven half-mad by hunger, he had attempted to slip through the crowd and secure a bowl of porridge from the Way of Peace.

Upon learning the truth, Lu Tianxing let out a long sigh:
"Alas..."
He felt his mind grow even more chaotic.
They had originally thought themselves heroes, yet they had fallen so low that even basic survival was in question.
Lu Tianxing could only offer a few words of comfort, taking a few fragments of silver from his own pocket and pressing them into Xu Gui's hands.

After expressing his thanks, Xu Gui sighed:
"If only we had not chosen to betray them back then..."
"I would still be part of a wealthy household today, my family would be healthy and well, and how could I ever have been reduced to this wretched state?"
"Ah, how I regret it! How I hate myself!"
Hearing this, Lu Tianxing could only fall into a profound silence.

At that moment,
another group of people gathered around, glaring daggers at the two men.
Lu Tianxing looked closely and recognized that these individuals were the very people who had once followed him in breaking away from the Way of Peace.
Just as he was about to speak,
the crowd began to hurl furious abuses:
"Lu Tianxing! Xu Gui! You two bastards, we've finally found you!"
"If we hadn't trusted your lies back then, why would we have chosen to rebel against the Way of Peace alongside you?"
"Now, because of our past betrayal, the Way of Peace won't take us back, leaving us without holy water to cure our illnesses, let alone any porridge to eat."
"All of us have been utterly ruined by you two primary culprits! How do you plan to compensate us for our losses?"

The crowd grew increasingly agitated, rolling up their sleeves as if they were ready to beat the two men to a pulp at any second.
In the past, the two might have tried to argue their case.
However, having taken several beatings over the past few days, they had learned their lesson.
They knew it was completely impossible to reason with a mob burning with such fury.
Without a second thought, Lu Tianxing shouted:
"Master Xu! Run!"
The two hastily scrambled out of the crowd and broke into a sprint.
Seeing them flee, the crowd's anger flared into a blazing inferno, and they roared as they gave chase.
The main street was thrown into utter chaos.

Lu Tianxing and Xu Gui ran through several streets, not stopping until they had escaped beyond the city gates, finally shaking off their pursuers.
By the time they caught their breath, collapsing onto the grass outside the city to gasp for air,
they looked up and took in the surrounding scenery, causing them to draw in a sharp breath of cold air:
"This..."