Chapter 83 - 62: Escaping to the Ends of the Earth
After this cry, Zhou Qing cried for a full hour, until his eyes were swollen, his tears were dry, his throat was hoarse, and his body was tired. Only then did he stop crying.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuan was beside him, waiting for a full hour as well.
When Zhou Qing’s cry was tired and his mood calmed down a little, he finally spoke up about his own thoughts.
“Xiaoqing, I know doing this will make you sad. But I have to tell you that we are in great danger right now.
The true disciple of the Iron Sword Sect has died here, and you and I are both involved. If the news gets out, we will face the double pursuit of the Iron Sword Sect and the government.”
Lu Yuan briefly mentioned the situation the two were in, and then said, “So now what we should do is to deal with the corpses, and then escape the city before anyone else notices, or even leave Luling Prefecture.”
The Iron Sword Sect’s roots in Luling Prefecture are too deep, intertwined with the local area, and their ears and eyes are everywhere.
In this place, even if you hide really well, you can’t avoid being found.
So to escape the pursuit of the Iron Sword Sect, it’s best to flee to somewhere the Iron Sword Sect can’t reach, only then can we be safe.
After a bout of crying, Zhou Qing’s emotions had also stabilized somewhat, enabling him to think about things. When he heard what Lu Yuan said, he immediately realized something and hurriedly asked, “What about my father and the others? What about their funeral?”
Lu Yuan said helplessly, “You know.”
Zhou Qing was stunned, and after a moment of silence, he nodded and said, “I understand. I have to trouble Brother Lu.”
His body was broken in countless places, and even if he wanted to dispose of the corpses, he was powerless to do so.
So these tasks had to be handed over to Lu Yuan for resolution.
The solution was simple.
Since they couldn’t make too much noise and also wanted to save time, Lu Yuan found a room in the courtyard and simply dug three large holes to bury the three corpses one by one.
After burying them and cleaning up the traces, and making sure that there was nothing visible on the surface, he was satisfied with his work.
Then he cleaned up the courtyard and kitchen, removed the bloodstains, and finally finished cleaning up the entire scene.
By the time all this was done, it was already dark.
It was impossible to leave the city at this time, so Lu Yuan simply made a quick dinner, and after he and Zhou Qing finished eating, they went to bed early.
When the two woke up the next day, he found Zhou Qing.
“We shall leave today.”
Lu Yuan looked at Zhou Qing, who still had red eyes after a night’s sleep, sighed, and said, “If you want to take anything as a memento, get it now. Also, take any gold, silver, and other valuables with you.
Practicing martial arts is very expensive, so if you really want to learn martial arts with me, you can’t do it without money.”
Zhou Qing was silent for a moment, then said, “I don’t need mementos. As for money, there’s a hidden compartment in the wall next to my father’s bed, where my Zhou family’s savings are stored.
There’s also some silver buried under the stone table in the yard.
Oh, and there are also some valuable herbs stored in the medicine room. There are some with a hundred-year-old history, which are worth a lot. They are stored separately in redwood boxes, and can also be taken with us.”
“Alright.”
Lu Yuan nodded his head, then turned around and searched for everything according to what Zhou Qing said.
A moment later, he found all the items, with more than a dozen boxes in his hands, as well as nearly three thousand taels of gold and silver.
These were basically all the accumulated wealth of the Zhou family throughout the generations.
Of course, the biggest property was this medical clinic, and the countless herbs stored in the clinic, which was the greatest treasure.
But since the clinic couldn’t be taken away, they could only sadly take away a small part of the floating wealth.
After packing everything up, there was already a cart waiting at the door of the pharmacy.
After closing the pharmacy door and locking it, Lu Yuan hung up the prepared sign, which read, “The shop is closed from today.”
This decision was made last night.
Since Doctor Zhou had died, the pharmacy couldn’t continue to operate. In order not to expose this matter, they used a closing sign to stall for as long as possible.
Maybe they could really deceive everyone?
Carrying Zhou Qing and the bags, the two got on the cart.
The carter was an old acquaintance in the city and had known the Zhou family for a long time. Seeing the pharmacy closed, he was somewhat surprised and asked the reason, “Why has Young Doctor Zhou closed the shop?”
from the carriage, Zhou Qing coughed twice, “A few days ago, I caught a serious illness that my father couldn’t cure, so he went out to find a friend to help. Today, I am going to find my father and follow him to get treatment.
So the pharmacy in the city has to be closed for a while. I can only come back and open it again after my illness has been cured. I apologize to everyone.”
“No problem, no problem.”
The carter glanced at Zhou Qing, who was pale and shivering with every cough, and had no doubt, believing right away. He hurriedly said, “Young Doctor Zhou, go treat your illness, and get well soon.
When you take over Doctor Zhou’s mantle, we will still need you to treat us in the city for decades to come.”
For generations, the Zhou family had been treating people in the city, especially Doctor Zhou, who was kind, helpful, and had helped countless people in the city.
The carter had been helped by him before, so his words were heartfelt.
The cart traveled to the city gate without incident but was stopped.
After the tax collectors and members of the Black Wolf Gang came to inspect the carriage, Zhou Qing repeated what he had said earlier, and with his appearance that he was about to run out of breath, they really believed him.
Adding to that the presence of Lu Yuan, who was not to be provoked by the orders of the Black Wolf Gang elder, no one dared to make things difficult for them, and they were quickly let out of the city.
Once they were out of the city, the carter followed Lu Yuan’s instructions and headed to Yangmei Town.
Upon arriving in the town, Lu Yuan went home to get the silver and the secret book of Cloud Palm, then returned to the carriage and continued on their way.
It was now afternoon, and after the carter had driven for more than an hour, it was getting dark, so they stopped in a small town on the road.
On the second day, they let the carter go, found another cart, and continued their journey.
They changed carts at the next stop and continued on their way.
After changing seven or eight carts and several routes, making sure that no one could track them any longer, Lu Yuan finally relaxed a bit.
It couldn’t be helped.
The power of the Iron Sword Sect in Luling Prefecture was just too great.
Although they’d concealed themselves when they left, who knew whether they would be exposed or not?
Without being cautious and careful, they might not even be able to save their lives.
“But after doing so much protection and concealment, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”
Three hundred li to the west of Dayu County, in a small town inn near the border of Luling Prefecture, Lu Yuan looked out at the sparse lights outside the window and felt a bit more at ease..