Chapter 2617: Drawing the Sword to Help

Le Ziren stood at attention, awaiting orders. Zhang Jiayu nodded.

"My mother can't go on living with him anymore—she wants a divorce," Guan Zongbao said, pulling Huang Shi forward. "Mom, tell the officer everything."

Huang Shi hesitated, but under her son's repeated urging, she finally began to speak. As the words came, so did the tears. Years of bitterness had finally found an outlet, someone willing to listen. She poured out everything: how she had married into the Guan family, how her in-laws had bullied her, how her husband had squandered his youth on drinking and women, how he had tormented mother and son after falling ill, how he had destroyed their son's future by forcing him to drop out of school. Every grievance, every petty injustice accumulated over the years came spilling out. She rambled for nearly an hour.

Zhao Hening found herself moved by Huang Shi's anguish. She couldn't help but remember how her own birth parents had cruelly abandoned her by a bridge when she was young and sick, leaving her to fade away in the cold wind. Had Zhao Yingong not found and saved her, her bones would have been gnawed clean by wild dogs long ago. Hearing Huang Shi's story stirred that old pain, and tears of sympathy streamed down her cheeks.

A handkerchief appeared before her. She took it and wiped her eyes before realizing it was Zhang Jiayu who had offered it. A flush of embarrassment crept over her.

Guan Zongbao fetched a towel to wipe his mother's face. Huang Shi's voice came out hoarse. "I truly cannot bear to live with him any longer. If it were only my own suffering, I could endure it. But look at Bao'er's face—these bruises, these purple marks—his father did this. He even bit his leg."

She rolled up Guan Zongbao's trouser leg. A red, swollen bite mark marred his calf, crusted with dried blood where a chunk of skin was missing. It was a gruesome sight.

"Apply some medicine to that wound, young man—it could get seriously infected." Zhao Hening frowned and had Le Ziren fetch a small bottle of sulfanilamide powder for Guan Zongbao. The pharmaceutical factory had developed superior silver sulfadiazine ointment, but she hadn't brought any this time.

"Auntie, rest assured," Zhao Hening said. "If you want a divorce, I will see it done."

"The Guan clan has too many members, too much power. No one has stood up for us in all these years." Huang Shi dissolved into sobs. "How could we possibly divorce? It's hopeless..."

Indignation flashed across Zhao Hening's face. "Can their numbers stop bullets? I'd like to see just how tyrannical this clan really is."

Zhang Jiayu's blood had also risen at Huang Shi's account. He felt a burning hatred for this Guan Youde. He had hesitated at first—intervening in another family's domestic affairs seemed improper—but Zhao Hening's righteous determination stirred something in him. "Auntie, take heart. Championing justice is our generation's duty. Family matter or not, we will make the Guan clan answer for this."

"Family matter?" Zhao Hening scoffed. "The moment it reaches the court, it becomes official business. It's just a divorce—I've seen plenty in Lingao. One of our own Chiefs was divorced by his wife."

"Sister, are you from Lingao?" Guan Zongbao asked.

"Since we're being honest—we're an inspection team accompanying the Magistrate on his rural tour. Magistrate Zhang is my teacher." Zhao Hening's jaw tightened. "This lady is determined to see your mother's case through."

Both Guan Zongbao and Huang Shi stared in shock. They had assumed they were petitioning Officer Le, who stood nearby. They never imagined this delicate-looking young woman was the one in charge—and a student of the Magistrate himself.

Since ancient times, having a Qingtian Dalaye—a "Blue Sky Master," a just and upright official—had always mattered more than abstract notions of law. Huang Shi immediately pulled Guan Zongbao down to kneel, crying out, "Please, Blue Sky Master, deliver justice for this common woman!"

Zhang Jiayu and Zhao Hening hurried to help them to their feet. "Auntie, there's no need for such formality," Zhao Hening said. "Under the Senate's rule, all people are equal. Here is what we'll do: return home for now. In three days, come to the police station at Jiujiang Market. I'll have a clerk draft a divorce petition for you, and the case will be submitted to the Circuit Court. Whether Guan Youde is sick or well has no bearing on your right to divorce."

Mother and son thanked them profusely and insisted they stay for lunch. Zhao Hening declined, citing other inspections to complete. Seeing their pitiful state, she pressed a "Half Yuan" silver coin into their hands before departing.

On the way back, Le Ziren's stomach let out a loud grumble. He laughed self-consciously. "My stomach betrays me. Miss Zhao, shall we eat some rations under that tree before continuing?"

They settled cross-legged in the shade while Le Ziren distributed dry rations and water from his pack. After what they had witnessed, Zhang Jiayu found his admiration for Zhao Hening growing. "I wouldn't have expected it, Hening—though you're a woman, you have a true passion for justice."

In truth, Zhao Hening's reaction to Huang Shi's story ran deeper than mere sympathy. The woman's suffering had awakened her own buried pain of abandonment. But that was a private ache, not something to share with outsiders. Instead, she simply said, "Hmph. If I ever met such a man—if he dared lay a hand on me—I'd put a bullet in him."

Le Ziren shuddered and nearly choked on his food. When this particular young lady spoke of shooting someone, she meant it. Best not to provoke her.

"Hening, why didn't you accept their invitation to lunch?" Zhang Jiayu asked. "We might have learned more."

"Before we left, the Chief gave strict instructions not to eat food offered by strangers."

"Is it fear of poisoning? Those two hardly seemed like poisoners."

"Poisoning is a real concern—there's precedent for it. A work team in Lingao was once wiped out by villagers who poisoned their food." Zhao Hening paused. "But there's another consideration: the safety of the food itself. Did you notice whether they had hot water in their home?"

"Only well water." Zhang Jiayu looked puzzled. "What's wrong with that?"

"You need remedial lessons on parasites," Zhao Hening said. "All agricultural areas use night soil as fertilizer. Human and livestock waste contains countless roundworm and hookworm eggs. Water sources become easily contaminated. Drink unboiled water, and parasites follow. Did you notice anything unusual about Huang Shi and her son's complexions?"

Zhang Jiayu thought back. "They looked sallow—that vegetable pallor."

Poor folk who went hungry as often as they ate were typically malnourished, their skin tinged yellow and unhealthy.

Zhao Hening shook her head. "There's a disease common to Jiangnan and Zhejiang that locals call 'Mulberry Leaf Yellow.' Sufferers have withered, yellowed skin, constant fatigue, and swelling in the face and feet. When I was young, I thought it was simply normal for silkworm-farming households. It was only after I reached Lingao and attended Teacher Zhang's biology class that I learned it's caused by parasites—hookworm disease. It's called 'Mulberry Leaf Yellow' because it's endemic to mulberry-growing regions. Mild cases bring unbearable itching, dizziness, anemia, occasional nausea. Severe cases lead to edema of the limbs or entire body, progressive weakness, and eventual loss of the ability to work—which is why it's also called 'Lazy Yellow Disease.' Infected pregnant women suffer miscarriages and stillbirths. Infected children suffer stunted development. The disease is rampant throughout Guangzhou Prefecture as well."

"That serious?" Zhang Jiayu was taken aback. Though his family had been poor, as a scholar he had spent little time laboring in the fields. After passing his Xiucai examination, he had devoted himself entirely to preparing for the imperial exams, learning little of what common workers endured. Thinking of his parents' years of toil, guilt welled up within him.

"Indeed. Why else do you think Guan Zongbao—a young man—and Huang Shi together couldn't overpower his sickly father?" Zhao Hening asked.

"So it was weaklings fighting each other," Le Ziren quipped.

Zhang Jiayu sighed. "Bai Letian once wrote in Watching the Wheat Reaping: 'What merit have I today, never having tended field or silkworm? Three hundred shi my official salary, grain still left at year's end. Pondering this, I feel secret shame, unable to forget it all day long.' I used to concern myself with the great affairs of the world while remaining blind to what lay before my eyes. As Lu Fangweng said: 'What's learned from books remains shallow; true understanding demands personal experience.' Only today do I begin to grasp this. I am ashamed."

Zhang Jiayu's words suggested a man with genuine conscience. Zhao Hening felt her opinion of him rise, though she said, "The Chiefs have good reason to look down on those stale scholars of the Ming Dynasty. Every one of them chants classical phrases, yet they can't tell one grain from another and have never done a day's honest work. They fill their bellies without sparing a thought for the suffering of others. Mere rice buckets, truly unworthy of the food they eat."

"Hening, is there a way to eliminate these parasites?" Zhang Jiayu asked.

Zhao Hening shook her head. "Currently, no. We can only treat infections after they occur. But most farmers refuse to see doctors—they can't afford the expense."

Even the cheapest medicine remained beyond reach for many in this era. When poor folk fell ill, they couldn't rely on physicians. They simply endured.

"Alas," Zhang Jiayu sighed. "A long lament to hide these tears; mourning the hardships of the people's lives."

"In the long run, though, there is hope," Zhao Hening said, recalling something Zhang Xiao had taught in class. "Parasitic diseases like roundworm and hookworm spread primarily through night soil. The eggs enter the earth when feces are used as fertilizer. That's why proper composting is essential—the retting process kills most of the eggs. But many farmers, to save labor, either skip composting or don't let it mature long enough. So countless eggs persist in the soil. Anyone who works that soil risks infection—it's unavoidable. To eliminate parasitic disease at its source, we must develop our productive forces. When chemical fertilizer becomes abundant and cheap enough to replace night soil entirely, these diseases will finally fade into history."

"Productive forces again!" Zhang Jiayu was struck by the insight. The Senate's theories connected so seamlessly to practical reality. Small wonder they had swept through the Two Guangs in less than a decade.

While cadres fanned out across the region to gather information, Zhang Xiao was not idle. Medicine and hygiene were his expertise. He first took Hou Qing to inspect smallpox vaccination efforts at Jiujiang's Vaccination Bureau, then dispatched her to lead a team sampling parasite infection rates across the district. Afterward, he brought Tian Liang along to examine local education conditions.

The epidemic threat in Guangdong had always weighed heavily on the hygiene department. Unlike Hainan, the mainland's population density was extreme. Any outbreak could prove devastating. The plague in Guangzhou had taught the Senate a harsh lesson. Now every county treated epidemic prevention and vaccination as matters of the highest priority.

(End of Chapter)