The "rejuvenation camp" mentioned by Wang Huanlian is located in Benli Village, ten miles south of Jinhua City. On a large flat dam at the bottom of the hillside, the Qing court built a prison-like quarantine camp for relatives of "those who may have been cursed by banshees" in the name of preventing the spread of the plague.

Within the boxy high walls, there are wooden cages that can only accommodate one person, and the cages are arranged in thirty-six horizontal rows and thirty-six vertical rows, a total of 1,296 of them, which are vast and magnificent, and are isolated by countless red curtains to prevent mutual prying eyes.

In the face of a shortage of manpower and time, this is almost the limit of what the authorities can provide.

There is a gate on the east and west sides of the wall, and on the left and right sides of the gate stand two tall Pixiu stone statues to ward off evil spirits, and each is guarded by two Qing soldiers with red scarves. Inside the wall, there were also four camp patrols with red scarves walking slowly back and forth between the red curtains, controlling the discipline inside the walls from time to time.

On the west side of the city wall, there was a simple office for the camp supervisor, and a man in official uniform was currently working in the premises, this person was called Quan Xinghuai, about fifty years old, with a white beard half a foot long, and was immersed in writing some official documents.

An open-top carriage drove near the yafang, and two officers and soldiers opened the cage in which a woman was held on the carriage, escorted her down, and took her to the yafang. An officer and soldier took off the red scarf on his face and said to Quan Xinghuai: "Supervisor Quan, Li Jiande's wife has been brought by us, where should I be isolated?" ”

The officer and soldier who spoke was called Liu Xun.

Hearing this, Quan Xinghuai stopped what he was doing, looked up at the woman, and asked the two, "Is there anyone dying today?" ”

Liu Xun responded: "Back to the supervisor, after investigation, there is no information on the death of the quarantined person reported today, so I am here to ask the supervisor for instructions." ”

Quan Xinghuai pulled his lips and said in a strange tone: "How can no one die?" I'm afraid you're mistaken, right? ”

Liu Xun said: "This ...... It's true that no one died, and they couldn't get out of the cage. ”

Quan Xinghuai coughed twice, and said angrily: "Hehehe, impossible, impossible, you go to Haosheng to check again, one cage after another, someone will definitely die." Quan Xinghuai deliberately pulled the word "death" long, which seemed to imply something.

At this time, another officer and soldier named Wen Zhengzhi understood, took off the red scarf on his face and said: "Supervisor Quan, I understand, it should be that we are not strict in the investigation, we will go and take a look again, and we will definitely be able to free up the cage." ”

Quan Xinghuai smiled: "That's right, young man, you have to use your brains more to do things." ”

At this time, when the woman saw that the two of them called the person in front of her "Quan, the supervisor", she immediately didn't care much, and affirmed: "Quan, the little woman is innocent!" ”

Quan Xinghuai smiled disappreciatively: "Eh, who said you are guilty?" We are only afraid that you will be infected with the plague and protect you. When the plague passes, it will naturally let you go, don't worry. ”

The woman tried to argue again: "My lord, although my husband Li Jiande is infected with the plague, I am not infected, but he is sick in bed and needs me to go home to take care of him. I beg the adults to be merciful and let the little girl go back, otherwise, he will die. ”

Quan Xinghuai was obviously immune to such arguments, and he was not angry, and still responded easily: "It's better for one person to die than for a family to die, right?" Now the whole province is implementing this policy, and we are also doing things according to the rules, there is no way. You can stay at ease, you won't be missing anything to eat and drink, and you won't be charged a penny, so why not? ”

The woman seemed to know her fate for a long time, and after arguing to no avail, she sighed and said no more, leaving them at their disposal. The woman was supposed to be taken into the cage immediately, but now that the wooden cage was full, the two officers and soldiers took the woman to the cage on the carriage and locked her up, and then put on their red scarves again and went to check if any of the more than 1,000 quarantined people had died, so as to free up the cage.

On the way, Wen Zhengzhi slapped Liu Xun's head and solemnly reminded: "Do you really not understand or pretend not to understand?" The above only built such a large place for us, only built so many cages, and ordered the whole supervisor to be closed, you say, from his angle, what can you do? Do you still want him to say it explicitly? ”

"Alas......" Liu Xun sighed and said, "It's not that I don't understand, sitting in his position, if you don't pay attention, you will lose your hat." However, this is the case, there are not enough cages, and no one dies, so I can only pick out the old, weak, sick and disabled and move them to the mountains to wait for death, and then lock the new people in. ”

"You think I want to kill someone?" Wen Zhengzhi persuaded, "You and I are just people who use people to eliminate disasters for others, and it is not us who is wrong, but this era, even if we do this, the history books of a hundred years later will not be written on our heads, and when we get to Lord Yama, it is reasonable, isn't it?" ”

Liu Xun said: "A person like you will really be an official in the future, if you want me to say, I really don't know what evil I did in my last life, and I was sent to do this work in this life." Alas, sometimes, I really want to give the whole supervisor back, so that he can see for himself whether all of these more than 1,000 people are alive and well. ”

The two of them have entered the cage area, in order to prevent others from hearing it, Wen Zhengzhi lowered his voice and smiled: "The scholar's temperament, if you change to the Queen Mother's side, I'm afraid it will not only be a matter of losing your job, I'm afraid that even this little life will be lost...... Come on, what about you, don't think so much, think like me, there are mothers-in-law and children to raise at home, let's do these hurtful things with notoriety, isn't it also for their good? ”

As he spoke, the two looked at the cage one by one, and after looking at about three rows in a row, their eyes fell on a dying old man.

Wen Zhengzhi whispered to Liu Xun: "Look, this old man Du has been locked up for more than a month, and it seems that he is not far from returning to the West, anyway, he has no children and no daughters, and he has no energy to live, so it's him." ”

Liu Xun said helplessly: "You have the final say." ”

Wen Zhengzhi suddenly said vigilantly: "No, no, no, it's not that I have the final say, but we found out that this old man is dead after patrolling, understand?" Hey, don't be so depressed, everyone is fucking on a boat, okay? ”

Liu Xun nodded silently, took out a bunch of keys from a large bag, found the key corresponding to the cage number seven, four, five, and opened the cage.

Old man Du was woken up by the sound of the two, opened his eyes, and seemed to be looking forward to it, but he could only ask weakly: "Two adults, can I go home?" ”

Wen Zhengzhi smiled and said: "Hey, hey, old man Du, we're here to send you home, and soon, you can meet your wife and son." ”

Although Old Man Du was so old that he stepped into the coffin with one foot and was terminally ill, his mind was still quite clear, and he heard the sound of Wen Zhengzhi's words, and asked in horror: "You ...... Where are you taking me? ”

Wen Zhengzhi said: "Oh, don't ask about this, in short, when you get down, don't blame us, if you want to blame, blame your life." But then again, you've made it to the age of 90 in this fucking world, but you've lived enough. After speaking, he reached out to the cage to catch Old Man Du out.

Old man Du struggled with all his remaining strength: "What are you going to do?" I'm not going! I don't want to die! ”

Wen Zhengzhi slapped Old Man Du hard, and suddenly changed his face: "Damn, toast and don't eat and drink, believe it or not, Lao Tzu will shoot you with one shot!" ”

The two were competing, and in the cage next to them, there was a burst of laughter: "Hahaha, let's do it, you can do it to your heart's content, if the Manchu Qing continues to play like this, sooner or later he will finish playing with himself!" ”

The owner of the voice is Ji Hongyu's father, Ji Boyan, although it is separated by a red curtain, but from his full voice, it can be heard that this person still has the spirit and fighting spirit of ordinary people.

Liu Xun still felt a little guilty, and when he heard this, he immediately passed through the red curtain and shouted at the No. 744 cage: "Presumptuous, Ji Boyan, dare to make such a big rebellious statement!" ”

Ji Boyan asked disdainfully, "Am I not right?" Open your eyes and see what has become of the Manchu Qing Dynasty now? For the sake of a few dog bones, you have lost even the most basic humanity! You must know that once you lose the hearts of the people, what Manchu Qing and what queen mother will just survive! ”

Liu Xun shouted: "You fart!" Tell you, not long ago, Hong Xiuquan was dead, and the nest of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was also taken away by us, and there is only one word for any great rebel - death! ”

Ji Boyan smiled: "Hahaha, is there only one Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rebelling against you under this sky?" In my opinion, neither the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom nor you are a good thing, and one day, I am convinced that there will be stronger and more righteous people who will overthrow you. This is the wheel of history, and it can't be stopped! ”

Liu Xun couldn't help but take out his pistol, pointed at Ji Boyan and said, "You warn you, if you talk like this nonsense, be careful that sooner or later you will die on this stinky mouth!" Don't blame me for not reminding you, here, whoever wants to kill you, but no one will hold you accountable! ”

At this time, Wen Zhengzhi had knocked Old Man Du unconscious, and dragged him out with all his might, seeing Liu Xun's tense appearance, he persuaded through the red cloth curtain: "Ouch, brother, we are just here to eat, don't you do what you should do, what are you going to do with that big mouth?" Come and give it a hand. ”

Seeing that the two patrolmen behind him happened to pass by, Liu Xun took back the pistol, and pointed at Ji Boyan viciously, so he let him go, and turned around to assist Wen Zhengzhi in dragging the old man to the west gate.

Out of the west gate, the two of them respectively took one of Old Man Du's arms and continued to drag them up the hillside, not far uphill, and came to a flat dam.

The flat dam was covered with corpses wrapped in straw mats, which had been drenched in the rain all night. The two of them put Old Man Du down in the direction where the other corpses were placed, and then they clapped their hands and breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Xun sighed: "Poor, if you don't care about him, it is estimated that at this time tomorrow, he will starve to death." ”

"It's okay if he really starves to death, I'm afraid that he won't starve to death, and it will be troublesome if he wakes up and runs, so I'll give him a good time." Wen Zhengzhi said, taking out a pistol from his waist.

Liu Xun exclaimed: "Such a thing, or don't do it, okay?" ”

Wen Zhengzhi said disapprerovingly: "You only know about this matter, and no third party knows." What's more, be careful to sail the ship for ten thousand years, this is also for our good future. ”

Liu Xun wanted to say something, but saw that Wen Zhengzhi had already loaded the gun and aimed it at Old Man Du's head.

was about to shoot, suddenly, the two of them tilted their bodies and were swept to the ground by a wave of anger.

Wen Zhengzhi got up and scolded: "His grandmother's, what's going on with this gust of wind?" ”

Liu Xun looked around at the corpses around him, and said timidly: "That's it, the yin qi here is too heavy, let's leave quickly, be careful of what demons and evil spirits are alarmed!" ”

As he was talking, there was a burst of laughter from the bottom of the hillside: "Hahaha, don't be careful, the demon has been found." ”

With the sound of laughter, I saw two officers and soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the east gate, walking towards the two of them on the left and right.