Chapter 409: Stop Talking Already

“What… what is that? It’s so gross.” He quickly averted his eyes and forced himself to look at Li Yiyi, asking through his disgust.

Seeing his reaction, Li Yiyi’s lips curved up slightly, but as soon as he looked over, she returned to her serious expression and said, “We don’t know exactly what kind of worm this is either, but it came from an old well in your village. Did you know about that?”

Dazhu’s face turned even paler than the color of the worms. He seemed a bit dazed as he slowly came back to his senses and shook his head lightly. “No, I’ve never seen anything like that in our village. Dr. Li, do you know what kind of worm it is?”

Li Yiyi shook her head gently. “We don’t have any leads on this type of worm yet either. The reason we didn’t touch the food you brought earlier is because we saw these worms. No one really had the appetite to eat after that.”

Dazhu nodded. He now realized he’d misunderstood them earlier.

Just as he was nodding, a thought occurred to him. He looked up at Li Yiyi and anxiously asked, “Dr. Li, did you just say that water came from one of the old wells in our village?”

“Yes, from the old well at the entrance of your village. Do people in the village still use water from that well?” she asked.

Dazhu nodded vigorously. “Yes, everyone in the village still drinks from it. Although we also use water from the mountain springs, that well has been there for generations. Even though we don’t lack water now, we still fetch a few buckets from it every day to keep the tradition alive.”

Just then, Hong Shuo came running in from outside.

“Comrade Li! The parents of the child we rescued earlier have come looking for him. Come take a look,” he called out from a short distance away.

“Ergou and his wife? What are they doing here?” Dazhu muttered when he heard that.

Li Yiyi smiled. “Maybe they’ve come to give us some new information.” With that, she immediately headed outside.

Seeing this, Dazhu followed her.

The two of them arrived at the front yard and soon saw Ergou, his wife, and their son.

At this moment, the little guy no longer looked like he was in pain and actually seemed much more energetic.

When he saw Dazhu approaching, the boy obediently greeted him, “Uncle Dazhu.”

Seeing how lively the boy looked now, Dazhu happily stepped forward and ruffled his hair. “You rascal, finally looking like yourself again! You scared your parents to death earlier. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Ergou smiled and then looked seriously at Li Yiyi before stepping forward and saying, “Dr. Li, thank you for saving my son. Besides coming here to thank you, we also brought something to show you. Look at this—this is something my son passed out of his body. It scared my wife half to death.”

As he spoke, he went outside and brought in a bag. Just as he was about to open it, he looked at everyone present and paused. With an apologetic expression, he said, “Everyone, what’s inside is something my son passed in his stool. If it makes you uncomfortable, please step outside for a moment.”

Quite a few people’s faces changed when they heard that. Stool? So it’s… poop?

Just the thought of it made several people stand up and hurriedly leave the room, heading outside.

Once most people had cleared out, Li Yiyi said to Ergou, “Brother Ergou, you can take it out now.”

Ergou looked around at the now-empty hall and nodded. He opened the bag he was holding.

At first, a strong stench of feces hit everyone’s noses.

But Li Yiyi was a doctor, so this kind of thing didn’t faze her. She stepped forward and opened the bag completely by hand—and was met with the sight of several dead thread-like worms.

“Aren’t those… the same kind of worms we found in the water bucket in the backyard?” Dazhu, who had been standing right behind her, also saw them and gasped in shock.

After tying up the bag again, Li Yiyi’s mind was already made up. “I think I understand now. These worms are the source of the poisoning.”

She looked at the few villagers around her and said slowly, “If every household in your village has been drinking from that old well, then chances are, all of you have these worms in your bodies.”

As soon as she said this, Ergou and his wife, along with Dazhu, all went pale at the same time. After hearing her warning, they suddenly felt itchy and uncomfortable all over—as if something was swimming around inside them.

“Dr. Li, please save our village,” Dazhu pleaded earnestly.

“You didn’t even have to say it—I was going to do that anyway. It’s our duty as doctors to save lives. Don’t worry. Come by tomorrow morning during the free clinic, and we’ll take a look,” she replied.

Then, she glanced at the food on the table and apologized to Dazhu. “Brother Dazhu, I’m really sorry. We can’t eat the food you brought. I’d advise you to tell the rest of the village not to use the water from that well until we figure out what’s going on.”

Dazhu now fully understood and nodded. “Got it. We’ll take the food back later. But what will you all eat?”

Li Yiyi smiled. “We’ll manage with a few bites. We used to get by just fine on the mountain—no reason we can’t do the same now that we’re down here.”

Dazhu chuckled too. “True enough. Alright, then. You all rest. I’ll go inform the village chief and the others.”

After Dazhu left, Ergou and his family also made their way out.

Looking at the now-empty table, Hong Shuo remembered that no one had eaten anything all evening. It’d be a long night on an empty stomach.

After thinking it over, he walked up to Li Yiyi. “Comrade Li, how about I take a few guys up the mountain to hunt something? Maybe we can bring back a little something to fill everyone’s bellies.”

Li Yiyi glanced at the people sitting outside chatting and nodded. “Alright. I’ll come with you—more hands make lighter work, right?”

Hong Shuo had been about to refuse her offer, but when he heard that, he had no choice but to swallow his words and change his response. “Alright, let’s go.”

Since it was nighttime, everyone heading up the mountain carried a flashlight in their hand.