Chapter 61

Seeing her friend’s serious expression, Yang Zhizhi knew something urgent must have happened. Without asking any questions, she stood up and took Xu Qinyu’s hand, saying, “Qinyu, come with me.”

The Yang family lived in the county magistrate’s office’s back courtyard but also had their own house.

Madam Wei owned shops and land, and the rent collected each year brought in a considerable amount of money. They were quite wealthy, which is why they could afford to spend twenty taels of silver each month for Zhizhi’s weight loss.

Even on the way, Yang Zhizhi didn’t ask many questions and led Xu Qinyu to her father’s front courtyard.

The county magistrate was handling official duties in the front courtyard, reviewing case files. When he heard that his daughter had brought a young lady from Xu’s Food Mansion, he invited them in. Seeing the young lady’s serious expression, he asked in surprise, “Young Lady Xu, what brings you here?”

Xu Qinyu immediately replied, “Sir, I just saw some disaster victims heading towards the town outside the city.”

The county magistrate knew that many disaster victims from the north had been fleeing due to last year’s snow disaster, but he thought they had gone south or to the capital. He didn’t expect to see them outside the town.

He pondered for a moment and said, “Since they are disaster victims, we need to see if they will enter the town. Once they enter, we need to know where they want to settle. Some places have high settlement fees, but some villages under our jurisdiction do not require settlement fees. They can go there, and the village head can allocate some land for them to cultivate. If they have money, they can buy houses, fields, and land.”

Disaster victims usually carry all their belongings with them when fleeing, and they might still have some money left. With money, they can establish a new home.

“Sir, that’s not possible!” Xu Qinyu shook her head. “Sir, when I returned, I saw that several of these disaster victims were extremely thin, with sunken cheeks and eye sockets. They were dehydrated, with dry rashes on their faces and cracked lips. They looked very sick. If only one person had these symptoms, it wouldn’t be a problem, but several of them did. I’m worried.”

Epidemics are common knowledge after a major disaster. The border town was far from the south and the capital, and information was not transmitted in time. The people there had no idea about the situation of the disaster victims or whether they had contracted any plague.

When she returned, she saw that the group of disaster victims, except for the woman carried on a man’s back, had similar symptoms. If only one person had these symptoms, it wouldn’t be a problem, but several people had the same symptoms, indicating that they had the same disease. The same disease suggests it is contagious, so she was worried that these disaster victims might have already contracted the plague.

The county magistrate’s face changed when he heard this, and he understood the situation. He quickly stood up and ordered the yamen runners, “Quick, go to the two town gates and inform the soldiers guarding the town to set up wooden barriers at least a hundred feet away from the town gates. Do not allow the disaster victims to enter the town for now. Keep them at a distance outside the barriers. Hurry, ride there.”

After the two yamen runners left, the county magistrate paced anxiously in the room. If it was indeed the plague, there was no way to deal with it. They could only quarantine all the disaster victims together and provide them with food and water. If they all got sick, they would have to wait for them to die and then burn the place down. There was no way to cure the plague.

“What should we do? What should we do?” He had experienced a plague before, though it wasn’t his village that was affected, but a nearby one. The entire village was ordered to be sealed off, and after everyone in the village died, the village was burned down.

Xu Qinyu and Yang Zhizhi turned pale, and Yang Zhizhi’s body trembled slightly. Although she had never experienced a plague, she knew how terrifying it was. Everyone here knew the horrors of a plague.

Xu Qinyu took a deep breath and said, “Sir, the most urgent thing now is to have a doctor check these disaster victims to see if it is really a plague.”

She knew that contracting the plague here was basically a death sentence. There was no cure; even if someone recovered, they could get infected again. It was impossible to completely cure it, and they could only wait for death.

She hoped she was wrong and that she was just overthinking it. But if the disaster victims had contracted the plague, then other disaster victims heading to different places might also be infected, spreading the plague to other counties and killing many people.

The county magistrate was almost in tears. “Which doctor would dare to check them?”

If they didn’t inform the doctor and let them check the patients, and it turned out to be the plague, the doctor would return to the town and infect everyone there.

In the past, doctors who went to check on plague patients never returned.

Xu Qinyu said, “Sir, I can ensure that they won’t get infected after contacting the patients. If it is indeed the plague, these methods can be used for both the patients and everyone else. By using these methods, we might be able to control the plague. Besides, it might just be my overthinking, and none of the disaster victims are actually infected.”

The plague mainly spreads through contact, breathing, mosquito bites, and food. As long as proper precautions are taken, it is not easy to get infected.

The county magistrate was stunned. “Young Lady Xu, do you really have a way to control the plague?”

Xu Qinyu replied, “Cover the mouth and nose with gauze, wash hands with strong alcohol after contacting patients, and immediately burn the clothes that were worn. Also, pay attention to food and water.”

The county magistrate was very hesitant. If it was indeed the plague, he could either trust Xu Qinyu to control it or quarantine the disaster victims and burn them after they all died, to protect the people of Yuanbao Town.

The county magistrate paced back and forth in the room, finally gritting his teeth and calling for the yamen runners to bring all the doctors from the town’s pharmacies to the yamen for a discussion.

After the yamen runners left, Xu Qinyu asked Yang Zhizhi if there was any gauze at home. Yang Zhizhi, with a pale face, nodded.

Yang Zhizhi then took Xu Qinyu to the back courtyard to ask her mother for gauze.

Madam Wei was curious about why Miss Xu suddenly came to visit. She asked the maid to fetch the gauze and smiled, “Miss Xu, what do you need the gauze for?”

Yang Zhizhi glanced at Xu Qinyu, and seeing that she didn’t stop her, she quietly explained the situation to Madam Wei. Madam Wei Shi’s face turned pale.

Xu Qinyu didn’t care about anything else and just focused on making the masks.

To ensure protection, at least ten layers of gauze were needed. This was simple to make, and even though Xu Qinyu wasn’t very skilled in needlework, she managed to sew a few. Yang Zhizhi and Madam Wei, despite their distracted and worried minds, worked quickly with the help of the maid, and soon they had about thirty masks.

Xu Qinyu handed all of them to the county magistrate.

Meanwhile, the yamen runners had already summoned all the doctors in the town. Most of these doctors were quite old, but there were a few younger ones in their twenties and thirties.

The county magistrate explained the situation of the disaster victims outside the town who might be infected and mentioned that he had a method to protect the doctors from getting infected. He hoped the doctors could go outside the town to diagnose the patients among the disaster victims.

Before leaving, Xu Qinyu had instructed the county magistrate not to tell anyone that the method was her idea. After all, she was a family member of a criminal official. If she made a significant contribution and the people in the capital palace found out, it would bring trouble to the Pei family and her own family.

The doctors’ faces changed when they heard this.

An old doctor trembled and said, “Sir, are you asking us to go to our deaths and risk the lives of everyone in the town? If the higher-ups find out that the people of Yuanbao Town have been in contact with infected individuals, they might send soldiers to guard the town and leave us to fend for ourselves. Sir, regardless of whether any disaster victims are infected, they should not be allowed into the town. They should be quarantined outside the town; if they are indeed infected, it’s their own fault.”

The county magistrate frowned and said, “If there’s a chance to save them, why should we let them die?”

The doctor replied, “Throughout history, no plague has ever been completely cured. Even if there are remedies that temporarily improve the patient’s condition, those who come into contact with them will get infected, and they will get sick again. It’s impossible to cure.”

The county magistrate said, “That’s why this method can prevent the spread of infection and stop the patients from getting reinfected.”

He took the gauze mask handed over by Xu Qinyu, covered his mouth and nose, and secured it with the ear loops. “By covering the mouth and nose with gauze, washing hands with strong alcohol after diagnosing patients, and burning the clothes immediately, we can stop the source of infection. The doctors who diagnose the patients should stay in the wooden sheds outside the town for a couple of days. If they show no symptoms, they can return to the town.”

The county magistrate also said that those willing to diagnose the patients outside the town would receive twenty taels of silver each.

With such a reward, two younger doctors stepped forward and said, “Sir, we are willing to go.”

The county magistrate took forty taels of silver from the public account and gave it to the two doctors. He then sent them to the town gate with gauze masks, hemp clothes, and strong alcohol.

The disaster victims had already been stopped outside the wooden barriers at the town gate. The soldiers, following the county magistrate’s orders, had not come into contact with the disaster victims and had driven away any villagers trying to enter the town.

At this moment, only the emaciated disaster victims stood at the town gate. The disaster victims stood there in confusion and fear. Even though some had died on the way, they didn’t know what was happening. They just wanted to find a place that would take them in and give them stability.

The prosperous prefectures would never accept these disaster victims. They walked until they arrived here, not even knowing where they were. Seeing a town in the distance, they hurried over, only to be stopped by the soldiers who told them they couldn’t enter the town for now and had to wait for the county magistrate’s orders.

So they waited.

Two doctors dressed in hemp clothes arrived, their mouths and noses covered with thick layers of gauze. They began diagnosing the sick among the disaster victims. As they continued, their expressions changed drastically. They retreated to the wooden shed at the town gate, washed their hands with the alcohol from the wine jar, and burned their hemp clothes with a fire starter.

The two young doctors hadn’t expected that these patients were indeed suffering from the plague. They shouted something to the soldiers guarding the town gate, who then hurried back to the county office to report the situation.

Xu Qinyu, the county magistrate, and the doctors didn’t leave immediately. They all waited in the front courtyard of the yamen.

Xu Qinyu was worried, her mind in turmoil. She thought that if Fourth Brother were here, with his excellent medical skills and her protective methods, they might be able to control and treat any plague.

Then, a soldier guarding the town came over and said tremblingly, “Sir, some of the disaster victims at the town gate have contracted dysentery.”

Upon hearing this, all the doctors present turned pale.

Xu Qinyu knew that dysentery was similar to cholera in later generations, caused by contaminated water and food, leading to rice-water stools, vomiting, and severe dehydration. It made sense, as after a major disaster, the disaster victims’ food and drink were not clean, and in the summer, food spoiled easily. The disaster victims didn’t care whether the food was edible or the water drinkable; they ate and drank whatever they could find, making dysentery the most common illness. This disease could be prevented by improving hygiene, boiling all drinking water, eating cooked food, and washing hands frequently. She didn’t know the treatment methods, but the doctors should.

Xu Qinyu called the county magistrate outside and quietly told him how to prevent the spread of dysentery.

The county magistrate, already anxious, listened and knew what to do. He first reminded the townspeople of Yuanbao Town and the nearby villages that dysentery had appeared, advising them not to go out, to boil all drinking water, not to eat raw or cold food, and to wash hands frequently with soap or soapberries.

Additionally, he needed to send someone to Raozhou City to inform the prefect, as there was a military camp guarding the border near Raozhou City. If dysentery spread to the camp, it would be disastrous, and the border town would fall without a fight.

He also needed to write a letter to the prefect with the preventive measures for dysentery and send it with the yamen runners.

There were more doctors in Raozhou City with better medical skills and more treatment methods for dysentery.

With preventive measures and treatment for the patients, the plague might be stopped.

After explaining, Xu Qinyu knew there was nothing more she could do. She could only cook some food for the doctors treating the patients outside the town and the disaster victims.

The premise was that there had to be doctors willing to go outside the town to treat the dysentery patients.

The two doctors who had gone outside the town to diagnose the disaster victims would definitely not be able to return. They needed to stay outside the town and continue treating the patients.

After Xu Qinyu left, the county magistrate spoke to the doctors, but none of them were willing to go. They were afraid of dying. The county magistrate knew he couldn’t force them, as the plague was too terrifying, with a high chance of death. He sighed and said, “If the two doctors outside the town can treat the patients without contracting dysentery in the next two days, I hope you will help them. Otherwise, it will be difficult for just the two of them to manage. Anyone willing to go outside the town to treat the patients will receive ten taels of silver each.”

The doctors had no hope, thinking the two young doctors outside the town were too reckless. Dysentery was highly contagious, and even if the patients temporarily improved with medicine, they would get infected again in a couple of days and die.

Xu Qinyu first went to Xu’s Food Mansion. Cheng Ge’er sent the mushrooms and wild vegetables she brought back to Osmanthus Alley while the wild grapes were still in the restaurant’s backyard.

Xu Feng and the others were also at the restaurant, and Madam Wen had already returned to Osmanthus Alley.

Xu Feng and the others didn’t know what had happened. Seeing Xu Qinyu’s gloomy expression, they were worried. Xu Feng asked, “Boss, did something big happen?”

“Yes,” Xu Qinyu replied. “The restaurant won’t be open for the next half month. Disaster victims have arrived outside the city, and some of them have contracted dysentery. So, everyone should stay put and not run around. You should also stay in the restaurant and not wander off.”

The large storeroom in the restaurant’s backyard was filled with rice, flour, grains, dried goods, eggs, and some live poultry. These supplies were enough to feed the restaurant’s customers for a month, which meant they had enough food for their family of six and the children for several months. They didn’t have to worry about food and drink.

She was only worried about other things, and she felt very uneasy. She wasn’t a doctor and couldn’t treat patients. Even though she knew some protective methods, she didn’t know if they would work or if everyone would follow them.

Moreover, this place was different from the future. The current emperor was useless, and the empress dowager was ruthless. If disaster victims went to the capital and the court found out they had dysentery, they would probably kill and burn the victims instead of quarantining them.

Although the children were young, they knew what dysentery was. Their faces turned pale with fear.

Xu Qinyu could only reassure them and, together with the children, cleaned and destemmed the wild grapes. They would dry them the next day to make wine. She had planned to make wine for some time and had ordered many large wine jars.

After cleaning all the grapes, she cooked some noodles for herself and the children and told them to lock the door and sleep well. She would come back the next day.

That night, the county magistrate personally took the yamen runners to the town gate. He reassured the disaster victims and told them the truth about the dysentery. The disaster victims panicked and wanted to run, fearing they would be quarantined and left to die.

The county magistrate stopped them and said, “I have asked doctors to diagnose you. Now, two doctors are staying outside the town. What are you worried about? If you run, you will only die. Now, there are doctors willing to treat you. If you accept the treatment and take precautions, you might have a chance to survive. Do you really want to run away and wait for death?”

The disaster victims stopped and looked at the two doctors with strange gauze masks under the wooden shed in the distance. They shouted, “Are you really willing to treat us?”

Actually, the two doctors were also panicking and regretting their decision. Initially, they thought it was unlikely that these disaster victims from the north would have the plague. If it were the plague, they would have died long ago. They figured they could easily earn twenty taels of silver by diagnosing them, so they went.

Now, the situation has changed. The county magistrate would definitely not let them back into the town. Their families were also in the town, and if they ran away, the county magistrate would surely arrest their families. So, they had no choice but to reluctantly agree to treat the disaster victims.

The disaster victims calmed down.

The county magistrate began giving orders. In an uninhabited area outside the town, he designated a place half a mile away for the disaster victims to stay and not wander around. They would be provided with food and water, but they couldn’t eat anything randomly outside, and there were designated areas for waste disposal.

The disaster victims obediently moved to the designated area, and the place where they had previously stayed was sprayed with strong alcohol.

The herbs and medicine brewing equipment requested by the two doctors were also sent to the town gate.

…

Xu Qinyu returned to Osmanthus Alley at the hour of Xu. Her family had already eaten and gone to bed, but Madam Wen was still waiting for her. Seeing her return, Madam Wen sighed with relief, “Yuniang, you’re back. Did you talk to the county magistrate? What is his plan? Will he first find a place to quarantine the disaster victims?”

Throughout history, all places affected by the plague were quarantined, and even if treatments were available, they were often ineffective. The final fate was usually death and then being burned.

Madam Wen thought her daughter-in-law went to inform the county magistrate to prevent the disaster victims from entering the town.

Xu Qinyu nodded, “I’ve already told him. Don’t worry, mother. Let’s go to bed early. The restaurant won’t be open tomorrow, so you don’t need to go there.”

Madam Wen sighed, feeling sorry for the disaster victims.

Xu Qinyu couldn’t sleep, so she took some gauze and started sewing masks to cover the mouth and nose.

Seeing this, Madam Wen also stayed up to help her sew these strange items and asked, “Yuniang, why are you sewing these?”

Xu Qinyu briefly explained the reason. She didn’t tell Madam Wen that the county magistrate planned to treat the disaster victims. Madam Wen thought Xu Qinyu was scared and sewed these masks for protection.

They sewed a lot before going to bed, but neither of them slept well.

The next morning, the county magistrate sent yamen runners to post notices in the town and nearby villages. Not only that, but the yamen runners also beat gongs and drums, announcing on every street and alley that dysentery had appeared among the disaster victims outside the town. They explained the preventive measures, advising everyone to stay home, sew gauze masks to cover their mouths and noses, and check the notices for instructions on how to sew the masks.

The yamen runners posting the notices and informing the villages also wore gauze masks.

The people of Yuanbao Town were terrified. After reading the notices, they were shocked to learn that the disaster victims were still outside the town. They began to complain about why the county magistrate allowed the disaster victims to stay outside the town and why they weren’t quarantined. However, despite their complaints, they had no choice but to stay at home. They were afraid of dying, so they stopped drinking raw water, boiled all their water, and only ate cooked food. In this regard, they were quite obedient.

Although the county magistrate had arranged everything properly, he was still anxious, and his cheeks were swollen from the stress.

Xu Qinyu arrived at Xu’s Food Mansion a bit late today. The three waitresses, Da Niu and Er Niu were already there, but all the other shops in the market were closed, and there were hardly any people on the streets. They had already heard that some disaster victims had contracted dysentery.

Everyone stayed in the restaurant, and for some reason, they felt reassured when they saw Xu Qinyu.

Xu Qinyu noticed that not only had everyone arrived, but there were also fish and milk in the backyard.

Xu Feng explained that Old Man He had brought them. The nearby villages hadn’t yet heard about the dysentery among the disaster victims, so Old Man He didn’t know either. He continued his routine of delivering fish and milk every morning, along with the usual snails and eels.

However, Xu Feng told Old Man He to stay at home for the next half month and not come to town. By tomorrow, the nearby villagers may be too scared to go to town.

The fish were still half-alive, so Xu Qinyu put them in a wooden basin. The milk, however, needed to be consumed that day. In the hot weather, it would spoil by the next day if not finished. Moreover, they couldn’t eat all the fish. Even if they kept the fish in the wooden basin, there wouldn’t be enough oxygen, and they would likely die by the next day. They needed to be dealt with within the next two days.