Starting from the imperial palace guards, his clones spread all over the world

The tavern keeper hurriedly replied, "The Great Virtuous Teacher is already waiting for the magistrate in the private room."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Zhuo finally felt relieved.

He had been worried that the Great Virtuous Teacher would be late, making him, a dignified county magistrate, wait.

If word got out, he would lose all face.

In the past, he would never have worried about such a thing. Who in Taiyang County would dare make him wait?

But now, if the Great Virtuous Teacher really did that, Qiu Zhuo would be helpless.

The Way of Peace in Taiyang County had become too powerful.

So powerful that more people in the county listened to the Way of Peace than to the yamen.

Even Qiu Zhuo felt a faint sense of fear in his heart.

He knew that he would be transferred and promoted after the plague, leaving this place completely.

Therefore, he didn't mind the gradual loss of power of the county yamen here, but he couldn't tolerate the dignity of the magistrate being stripped away.

Fortunately, the Great Virtuous Teacher hadn't offended him, which made him feel a little grateful.

Qiu Zhuo had arranged to meet the Great Virtuous Teacher today to conduct a new round of negotiations.

Qiu Zhuo was eager to complete the task assigned by his superiors, so he had to get the money back today.

At the same time, the Way of Peace was developing rapidly, and the number of people had become too large to count.

Qiu Zhuo also needed a way to restrain the Way of Peace, so he had repeatedly asked the Way of Peace to hand over the roster, but the Way of Peace had always refused to respond.

Therefore, today, he also needed to get an explanation from the Great Virtuous Teacher.

"Let's go, it's time to meet that Great Virtuous Teacher."

"He has done a lot of good things for this official and this county, so don't let him wait too long."

As Qiu Zhuo spoke, he led his advisor, Zhang You, towards the tavern.

… …

Just as the magistrate and his advisor entered the tavern,

On another street.

Lu Tianxing, the head of the Lu Family Manor, was also staggering down the street.

He stared blankly at everything around him, muttering to himself:

"Was I wrong… …"

"Why… …is it like this?"

Everywhere Lu Tianxing went, he saw signs of recovery.

He still remembered what the city looked like when the plague was severe.

But now, the situation was completely different from what it had been then.

The Way of Peace had become even stronger, and he was even more afraid.

However, the county yamen had been saying that the Way of Peace promoted kindness and love, advocated benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, and was doing its best to fight disasters and save people.

It was a righteous religious sect worthy of vigorous promotion throughout Taiyang County.

These words… …

Lu Tianxing couldn't find fault with them.

What he had seen and heard along the way was that the plague had been brought under control in Taiyang County.

Although the plague had not been completely cured in many people, there were obvious signs of improvement, and he had not even heard of anyone dying from the disease.

Perhaps after a while, the plague that was raging in Qingzhou would be completely eradicated in this small county town.

"Demons are causing chaos and bewitching people… …is it really like this?"

Lu Tianxing only felt that his mind was becoming more and more confused.

His judgment of the Way of Peace had deviated significantly from the facts, making him feel lost.

Just as Lu Tianxing was lost in thought, a voice suddenly rang out from the side of the road:

"Hurry! ! !"

"The Way of Peace is giving out porridge again!"

"It'll be gone if you're late!"

As the voice rang out, passersby swarmed towards the front of the street.

In the distance, a group of people from the Way of Peace were carrying out pots of cooked rice porridge, distributing it to the crowd.

Because of the raging plague, many families had been ruined and become impoverished.

In the disaster of the plague, not only was the plague harmful, but poverty was even more deadly.

Lu Tianxing was shocked.

The Way of Peace is giving out porridge?

Where did they get so much grain?

Then Lu Tianxing realized that everyone who joined the Way of Peace had to donate five dou of rice.

He had also heard that recently, wealthy families in the city who had contracted the disease had donated a large amount of money and grain to the Way of Peace in order to cure the plague.

Now, the Way of Peace was probably very wealthy.

"Hmph!"

"Buying people's hearts!"

Lu Tianxing thought to himself, unconvinced, claiming to see through the tricks of the Way of Peace.

But he couldn't help but wonder.

Even if it really was buying people's hearts, the porridge was actually being distributed to the hungry.

If no one was buying people's hearts, how many more people would starve to death?

Just as Lu Tianxing felt that his thoughts were becoming more and more confused, a burst of arguing came.

Only to hear several people from the Way of Peace shouting angrily:

"Traitors dare to come and ask for porridge?"

"Get him out of here!"

Following that, these people from the Way of Peace punched and kicked, driving a man out of the crowd.

When Lu Tianxing saw this beaten man, he couldn't help but be shocked:

"Boss Xu? !"

This man was none other than Xu Gui, who had led the betrayal of the Way of Peace together with Lu Tianxing.

Lu Tianxing was shocked and hurriedly stepped forward to help Xu Gui up.

"Boss Xu, what's wrong… …"

He looked at Xu Gui in surprise.

He hadn't seen him for a few days, and Xu Gui had completely changed.

He used to be a small but well-known businessman, with a wealthy family and well-dressed clothes.

But now, Xu Gui looked hungry, and the clothes on his body had become ordinary and old, looking extremely downcast.

Xu Gui said bitterly:

"Manor Lord Lu, to be honest, I haven't had a grain of rice all day."

"If I wasn't so hungry, how could I have lowered my face to ask for a bowl of porridge?"

In the end, Xu Gui was so excited that he even started to cry.

Lu Tianxing was puzzled and hurriedly asked.

Xu Gui told Lu Tianxing about his current situation while crying.

It turned out.

Since the last time he sold the ineffective medicine he got from Advisor Zhang, Xu Gui had lost everything.

His family was sick and needed medical treatment, and because Xu Gui had betrayed the Way of Peace, he couldn't get the talisman water, so he could only borrow money to buy medicine.

Now his family's plague couldn't be cured, and his family property was gone, and he was heavily in debt.

This made it difficult for Xu Gui to even maintain a basic life.

To the point where he was so hungry that he tried to sneak in and get a bowl of porridge from the Way of Peace.

Lu Tianxing sighed after learning about the matter:

"Alas… …"

He only felt that his mind was even more confused.

He thought they were heroes, but he didn't expect to be reduced to the point where they couldn't even make a living.

Lu Tianxing could only comfort him a few words and took out a few taels of silver from his body and handed them to Xu Gui.

After thanking him, Xu Gui also sighed:

"If we hadn't chosen to betray in the first place… …"

"Then I would still be a wealthy family, and my family would be healthy, why would I have fallen to this point?"

"Alas, I regret it so much!"

Lu Tianxing could only remain silent after hearing this.

At this time.

He saw another group of people surrounding them, glaring at them angrily.

Lu Tianxing took a closer look and saw that these people were the ones who had left the Way of Peace with him.

He was just about to speak.

The crowd had already started to curse angrily:

"Lu Tianxing! Xu Gui! You two bastards have finally been found by us!"

"If we hadn't listened to your lies, how could we have chosen to betray the Way of Peace with you?"

"Now, because of our past betrayal, the Way of Peace will no longer accept us, which means we don't have talisman water to cure our illnesses, and we don't have porridge to drink."

"We have all been harmed by you two culprits! What will you use to compensate us for our losses?"

… …

The crowd was becoming more and more restless, each of them clenching their fists and rubbing their palms, as if they were about to beat them up at any moment.

If it had been before, the two of them might have argued.

But these days, they had been beaten up several times, and they had become smarter.

They knew that at this moment, it was impossible to reason with the angry crowd.

Immediately, Lu Tianxing said decisively:

"Boss Xu! Run!"

The two of them hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd and ran away.

As soon as they ran, the anger of the crowd behind them was immediately ignited, and they roared and chased after them.

The street was in chaos for a while.

Lu Tianxing and Xu Gui ran for several streets, and only after running out of the city did they completely shake off the pursuit of those people.

At this time, the two of them were almost out of breath, and they sat down on the grass outside the city, panting heavily.

When they came back to their senses, they couldn't help but gasp when they saw the surrounding scenery:

"This… …"

Thank you to book friend "Stone Fungus Jun" for the reward!

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