Simply put, the child had pneumonia, but since the term 'pneumonia' did not exist in the Da Shun Dynasty, He Zhiran could only explain it in a way they could understand.
As soon as she finished speaking, the woman fell to her knees in front of her.
"Madam, please save my son!"
He Zhiran quickly helped her up.
"Don't worry, I happen to have the right medicine in my carriage. Let's give it to the child first."
He Zhiran went to her carriage and took out some fever-reducing medicine and granules for treating children's pneumonia from her space.
After changing all the packaging, she handed them to the woman and instructed her to give them to the child immediately.
At the same time, He Zhiran did not forget to ask the couple why the city gates had not opened yet.
"Do you know why the gates of the Capital city have not been opened at this hour?"
The man explained, "You must be from out of town, so it's understandable that you don't know the situation in the Capital city."
"Oh? What's going on?"
He Zhiran feigned curiosity in her inquiry.
"It has been three days since the gates of the Capital city were opened. We are all residents of the villages around the Capital city. If it weren't for our child's illness, we wouldn't have waited here hoping to get lucky.
From the looks of it today, the city gates may not open as usual."
After hearing the man's explanation, He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye exchanged a glance, both having a bad feeling about this.
The gates of the Capital city not opening for three days could only mean one thing - a major problem had occurred inside.
Especially for He Zhiran, who knew a lot about ancient history.
The most likely scenario was that someone was staging a coup.
The two of them instinctively looked up at the city walls.
Mo Jiuye said softly, "It seems that something major has happened, or else there wouldn't be so many guards on the city walls."
Although He Zhiran was not as familiar with the situation here as Mo Jiuye, she could also see signs from the state of the city wall guards.
Those guards were all wearing armor, each holding a large spear, and their expressions were solemn.
In her understanding, city gate guards were never this formidable - these were clearly Da Shun's regular soldiers.
Mo Jiuye's gaze eventually fell on the person at the very center of the gatehouse.
Even if he turned to ashes, Mo Jiuye would recognize him.
It was none other than Xue Bo, the youngest son of Prime Minister Xue.
Xue Bo was a few years older than Mo Jiuye and had always enjoyed playing with swords and spears since he was young, though he was not particularly skilled.
Seeing that Xue Bo lacked the talent for academics, Prime Minister Xue had hired martial arts masters to tutor him, which suited Prime Minister Xue just fine since there were no martial generals in his family of civil officials to command troops.
Due to his status as the Prime Minister's son, Xue Bo had always been arrogant and disrespectful.
When the Mo Family was resisting the invasion from the Southern Territory, the shameless Prime Minister Xue recommended that Xue Bo accompany the Mo Family troops to the Southern Territory for training.
On the surface, it was to allow Xue Bo to gain experience, but he had secretly passed information about the Da Shun army's movements to the Southern Territory forces.
As a result, the Da Shun army's provisions were nearly burned down by the Southern Territory.
At that time, it was the Seventh Elder Brother of the Mo Family who was leading the troops in battle. When he discovered this, he immediately had Xue Bo captured and interrogated.
However, Xue Bo sealed his lips quickly, and the Seventh Elder Brother could not find any solid evidence that it was Xue Bo who had leaked the information to the Southern Territory.
Even so, in a fit of rage, the Seventh Elder Brother had Xue Bo severely beaten with fifty military sticks and then sent back to the Capital city for the Emperor to deal with.
After Xue Bo was sent back to the Capital city, who knows what tricks Prime Minister Xue used, but he managed to secretly secure Xue Bo's release.
Since then, Xue Bo had kept a low profile in the Capital city and had not been seen again.
Little did they expect that upon returning to the Capital city, they would encounter him here!
If not for not wanting to alert him too early, Mo Jiuye would have taken his life right then and there.
Seeing his troubled expression, He Zhiran tugged at his sleeve and asked softly, "Husband, what's wrong?"
Mo Jiuye shook his head. "Let's leave this place first. I'll explain later."
He Zhiran also knew this was not the place to talk, so the two of them wordlessly led their carriage to a deserted area.
Once they found a suitable spot and saw that there was no danger around, they flashed into their space.
The first thing Mo Jiuye did was to tell He Zhiran about Xue Bo's history.
"Husband, since Xue Bo is leading the guards, it means the Xue Family has likely taken control of the entire court."
Mo Jiuye nodded. "Yes, that seems to be the case."
"What should we do now?"
In this kind of situation, He Zhiran was also at a loss.
"It's still early, but there will definitely be more people trying to enter the city later. We can mingle with the crowd then and take action when an opportunity arises."
As the two of them discussed their strategy in the space, the little white creature seemed to notice its masters' worries and came fluttering over.
It landed on Mo Jiuye's shoulder, making a series of coo-ing sounds, as if offering to help.
At first, Mo Jiuye did not understand the little white creature's intention and thought it was just being affectionate.
However, He Zhiran sensed something.
"Husband, is the little white creature saying it can help?"
Upon his wife's prompting, Mo Jiuye finally paid attention to the little white creature.
He turned to look at it, still coo-ing on his shoulder.
"Little White, are you saying you want to go to the Capital city to deliver a message?"
The little white creature continued to coo and nod its head vigorously.
Mo Jiuye instinctively looked at its wound, and the little white creature seemed to realize something and immediately took flight, as if telling Mo Jiuye that its injury was no longer an issue.
In fact, having the little white creature deliver a message to Fei Nanyu to communicate was a good idea, and since it was a short distance, it would not take much time.
The only concern the two of them had was the little white creature's injury.
He Zhiran called the little white creature over and re-examined its wound.
"Husband, the little white creature's wound is not severe. As long as it doesn't fly too far, it should be fine."
"In that case, I'll write a note to Master Fei and ask him about the situation in the Capital city. If possible, I'll request his assistance for us to enter the city."
After all, they had planned to meet with Fei Nanyu upon arriving in the Capital city if necessary, so it wouldn't hurt to let him know a little earlier.
The note's content was simple, inquiring about what had happened in the Capital city and why the gates were closed, not allowing anyone in or out, and whether Fei Nanyu could help them enter the city.
The little white creature left with the note, and Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran squeezed into the crowd of people trying to enter the city.
As Mo Jiuye had expected, by this time, there were more and more people lining up at the city gates.
Everyone was discussing the same topic - when would they be allowed to enter the city.
Many were residents of the Capital city who had gone out on errands and could not return home, while others were carrying goods to sell in the city.
Some were merchants from out of town, and they looked miserable as they gazed at their fully loaded carts and wagons.
Unfortunately, no matter how much these people discussed, none of them knew why the gates of the Capital city were not allowing anyone in or out, or when they would be opened...
