The couple went about their own business. By the time the fire on the men in black was extinguished, all necessary instructions had been given.
There were twenty-six people present: thirteen men in black and thirteen virus carriers. Lu Qingwan looked at the two groups with distinctly different expressions.
She turned to Si Fengwu with a wry smile, "You know, I told you these people were infected, so why did you come over?"
After a long separation, Si Fengwu was still as handsome as ever, to the point where it made women feel inadequate. Even with his hem singed and his face smudged with soot, it did not detract from his unparalleled elegance.
Hearing her, he dropped the empty fire extinguisher on the ground, "Who told you I am your husband? And it just so happened that you taught me how to use this thing. How could I stand by and do nothing?"
The day Feng Qingheng died, the Daqian imperial palace caught fire, and Lu Qingwan almost perished in the flames, which had greatly frightened Si Fengwu. To appease him, Lu Qingwan had shown him the fire extinguisher and demonstrated its use. She had originally intended it as a lifesaver for critical moments, but now, it had inadvertently trapped them with death.
Lu Qingwan felt a pang of helplessness, tilting her head, "Cover me..." As she spoke, she reached into her sleeve. The moment her hand went in, a man in black beside her exclaimed urgently, "Princess Consort, no!"
Lu Qingwan instinctively looked over and saw that the man in black had suffered burns on his face and hands. While his clothing concealed some injuries, the fingers of his left hand were fused together from the burns, and his leg was contorted strangely. Patches of his not-so-fair face were blistered and broken, bleeding, a sight that looked painful.
However, "You know what I'm about to do?"
The man in black gave a shy grin, "Your subordinate certainly does. Princess Consort's sleeves are quite amazing; she can produce anything. But not now."
The other men in black chimed in, "Yes, Princess Consort. There are too many eyes, they will mistake you for a monster."
"Yes, Princess Consort. You and His Highness arrived in time. We don't feel much pain, please have Doctor Meng send us medicine. We can endure it."
...
Each one eagerly echoed the sentiment, fearful that Lu Qingwan would conjure medicines and instruments out of thin air.
Lu Qingwan stared, "How... how do you all know?" Her gaze, filled with suspicion, fell upon Si Fengwu. She had only told him about the space laboratory. If anyone else knew, he would be the sole source of the leak.
Si Fengwu, seeing Lu Qingwan's suspicion, quickly protested, "Misjudged, my dear! I haven't said a word!" Fearing that Lu Qingwan's secret might be revealed, he picked up a fire extinguisher from the ground and smashed it down before any crucial information could be divulged. The virus carrier closest to him fainted. Following suit, Si Fengwu repeated the action twelve times, rendering unconscious all those who shouldn't have pried into Lu Qingwan's secrets.
Lu Qingwan found the scene strangely familiar but couldn't recall why. Just as she was about to drift off, the man in black who had wisely kept silent earlier spoke, "Princess Consort, please don't blame His Highness. His Highness has never told us anything. But Princess Consort, we all came down from the Northwest Snow Mountain! Your secret has long been the shared secret of the three hundred soldiers of the Heavenly Guard Camp of the Xuanjia Army."
Lu Qingwan was stunned, "Northwest Snow Mountain? You... you are the brothers who were trapped in the snow mountain that time when you helped me find my father and His Highness?"
The man in black with less severe burns offered a shy smile, "On that day in the snow mountain, Princess Consort didn't have to save us. You are the matriarch of the Xuanjia Army, and we are soldiers of the Xuanjia Army. We would have died without complaint for His Highness. If you hadn't saved us, your secret would never have been discovered. But you did. Now, it is our turn to save the Princess Consort."
Lu Qingwan's nose twitched, and she handed a medicine bottle to Si Fengwu, "Help me." She then, without a word, put a pill into the mouth of the man who had spoken. Si Fengwu followed suit.
"A little bit of kindness and you repay it with your lives, how foolish can you be? No wonder you're all grown up and still don't have wives. You deserve to be bachelors forever, just common soldiers!"
The tall, burly soldiers blushed crimson but still forced smiles and bantered, "We are waiting for the Princess Consort to arrange wives for us! If we all remain bachelors, won't the future young master have no one to command..."
Lu Qingwan playfully spat at them, administering the medicine one by one. Finally, she took a few pills for herself and Si Fengwu.
Si Fengwu frowned, "I wasn't injured, why would I take medicine?"
Lu Qingwan forcefully pushed the pill into his mouth and turned to the thirteen soldiers of the Heavenly Guard Camp, "These people are carrying the cholera virus. Are you afraid?"
The jovial laughter abruptly ceased, and Si Fengwu looked stunned, "Cholera?"
"Yes." Lu Qingwan said with bitterness, "They are all equipped with a special kind of bomb. The gunpowder is mixed with the virus. Lin Tianmu likely intended for these people to detonate the explosives in the crowd. Now, although we've created some distance from the crowd, the situation is still dire. And we are too close to the virus." She reached out to the soldier closest to her and whispered, "Cover me."
The soldier looked at Lu Qingwan with complex emotions and subtly shifted his body, trying to shield her actions. His voice trembled, "Princess Consort, can we still be saved?"
"Yes. Trust me, I will do everything in my power to save everyone. You all know my medical skills; you must believe me."
At that moment, Si Fengwu also came over. Lu Qingwan didn't inject vaccines into each soldier; he followed to help conceal her actions. The soldiers, despite their own fear, urged Lu Qingwan, "Princess Consort, we are fine. Please administer the medicine to yourself and His Highness first. Our lives are cheap. If the worst happens, we will entrust our families to you and His Highness, but you and His Highness must not fall ill!"
"Yes, Princess Consort!"
...
When one spoke, the others all echoed him. Lu Qingwan's expression darkened as she berated them, "Shut up! Am I the doctor or are you? Who gets medicine and how it's administered, I know best. Do you need to teach me?"
A group of hot-blooded men, who rarely shed tears, lowered their heads, their eyes reddening, and silently allowed Lu Qingwan to administer the medicine. Only when Lu Qingwan finally gave medicine to herself and Si Fengwu did their hopeful gazes recede.
Despite their limited movement, their presence provided a deterrent, allowing many matters to be handled in an orderly fashion without too much chaos. However, by the time everyone had withdrawn and Lu Qingwan, Si Fengwu, and the thirteen Heavenly Guard Camp soldiers could be evacuated, it was already the next day.
...