Su Yi was delirious with fever, and the familiar smell made him especially nostalgic; it was the smell he had dreamed of when he couldn't find anyone.

Liu Huan reached out and pushed him away, but he hugged her tightly. "I know you don't like it, but can I just hug you for a little while?"

"You always only stay for a short time when you come. Could you spend more time with me this time?"

As Liu Huan listened to his soft plea, a bold idea formed in her mind, yet she found it hard to believe.

"Stone, stone, look who I am?"

Without looking up, Su Yi replied in a hoarse voice, "Huanhuan, you're Huanhuan."

Liu Huan felt a pang of sadness and helped the man up from her arms. Looking at Su Yi's dazed eyes, her own eyes welled up with tears.

Su Yi was very anxious and hurriedly wiped away her tears: "Why are you crying today? If you don't want to come, I'll come to find you next time. Please don't cry, okay?"

As she spoke, she lay down and closed her eyes, muttering, "Go away. It was my fault today. I made you cry. It was my fault."

She kept saying it was my fault, and eventually fell asleep.

Liu Huan was startled by this scene and quietly left the room, closing the door behind her. Just then, Chang Bai came over with the medicine.

"Miss, is Master awake?"

Liu Huan composed herself and asked, "What is this?"

Changbai explained, "Last night, the master's high fever persisted, so I called a doctor to prescribe medicine. He will need to take it for two more days to recover."

Liu Huan looked at the dark medicine soup and said, "I'll go in with you."

Changbai shook Su Yi awake. Su Yi's eyes lit up when he met Liu Huan's gaze. "Why are you here?"

It was as if he had been a completely different person just now, hugging and acting coquettishly towards her. Liu Huan wasn't sure if he was faking it, so she said, "I've been here for a while."

Su Yi's eyes were filled with apology. "I was probably sleeping too soundly and didn't notice. It won't happen again next time."

His eyes were perfectly focused, and he didn't look like he was acting at all.

Liu Huan put aside her doubts, picked up the medicine on the table and handed it over, saying, "You have a fever, drink the medicine first."

Su Yi looked at the person in front of him and suddenly became vulnerable, "My hands hurt so much I can't hold the bowl."

Liu Huan put down the medicine bowl and took his hand: "What's wrong with your hand?"

There was a large cut on the palm of the hand, which was whitish because it had been soaked in water. It looked like it was infected, probably because no medicine had been applied.

"Why hasn't any medicine been applied even though it's so serious?"

Seeing that Liu Huan really cared about him, Su Yi said aggrievedly, "I was too busy yesterday and didn't have time."

Liu Huan picked up the medicine bowl and fed him, saying, "If you're injured, see a doctor first. Don't take it lightly; you'll only hurt yourself."

Su Yi nodded obediently as he drank the medicine Liu Huan handed him, "Yes, next time I get injured, I'll see a doctor no matter how busy I am."

Changbai, standing to the side, could hardly bear to watch. Yesterday, when he discovered his master was injured, he immediately prepared to apply medicine to him, but was stopped by a single look.

And coldly said, "Is this little injury really necessary? When did you become so dramatic?"

Changbai used to believe that statement, but what does it mean now?

Who's being dramatic here?

Seeing the two of them, one feeding him medicine and the other looking so weak, he felt he shouldn't be there, and he felt like he was being rejected.

After feeding him the medicine, Liu Huan found some wound medicine to treat his hand and then wrapped his hand in a cloth like a big rice dumpling.

Su Yi looked at his rice dumpling hands and wondered if he had gone too far.

Liu Huan could tell he didn't like being assertive, so she said, "Don't take your hands off; keep them tied up for the next couple of days."

Su Yi nodded obediently, his eyes moist from the fever, looking harmless. Liu Huan could already imagine what Dao Anzhi would look like in the future.

"You take a nap first, I'll call you for dinner later."

Su Yi struggled to get up. "I still have a lot of things to take care of. I'm not going to sleep yet."

Liu Huan pressed the person down, saying, "Nothing can be done in a day. Besides, there are other people around. You should rest first."

And so, Su Yi was forced to rest in bed, and Chang Bai brought the urgent and important case to his bedside to handle.

Changbai said worriedly, "Master, why don't you rest for two days?"

Su Yi swept a glance over, "Too talkative."

Changbai felt wronged, but when it came to him, he just talked too much.

Because Su Yi was sick, Liu Huan specially made chicken and lean pork porridge and sent it to him.

When I arrived, he looked like he had just woken up and was still sleepy.

As he was about to get up, Liu Huan stopped him, saying, "Don't get up, just sit on the edge of the bed and eat." She then brought over the rice she had served, scooped up a spoonful, and held it to his lips, saying, "Eat, it's not hot."

Su Yi drank the porridge she fed him, seemingly lost in thought. Liu Huan's face flushed under his gaze. "How does it taste?"

Su Yi licked the porridge from his lips, still savoring the taste, and said, "It still tastes the same as before. Yours is the best."

Liu Huan pretended to be serious and fed him three bowls of food before stopping. She then reached out and touched his forehead. "It's still very hot. Is the medicine not working? Should we call the doctor to come and take a look?"

Su Yi shook her head, "No need, I feel much better."

Liu Huan didn't want to stay in the same room with him, so she made an excuse and went back.

After she left, Su Yi got up and went to his study to handle official business. Chang Bai brought in a bowl, but Su Yi didn't even glance at it.

"I'm throwing it away, I won't drink it."

Changbai: "..."

"Master and Miss instructed me to make sure you drink it."

Su Yi glanced at him unhappily, "If you listen to her so much, why don't you go and be with her?"

Changbai felt wronged; he was truly caught in the middle.

Changbai looked at the medicine in the bowl, not knowing what to do. Su Yi took it and poured it out the window. "Take it. Just say I've already drunk it."

When the two children returned home that evening and heard the news, they were very worried and ran straight to Su Yi's room. An Ran asked anxiously, "Daddy, what's wrong?"

Su Yi was afraid of catching the illness, so he kept the child far away, saying, "Don't come over, Daddy is sick and taking medicine."

An Ran didn't want to go anymore when she heard about taking medicine; she didn't want to drink bitter medicine.

Anzhi frowned and kept looking at him as he coughed. "Isn't the medicine helping?"

Su Yi was surprised that his son cared about him, so he said loudly, "It's alright, Daddy is in good health."

Because he was sick, Su Yi only spoke a few words to them before letting them go back.

That evening, Su Yi felt unwell all over and wondered if it was because he hadn't taken his medicine. He asked Changbai to bring him the medicine prescribed by the doctor, drank it, and then drifted off to sleep in a daze.

The next day, when Liu Huan came to see him again, he was unresponsive and could only murmur words that Liu Huan couldn't understand.

It's even worse than last time.

Liu Huan told Changyun to hurry up and find a doctor, but unexpectedly, the news they received was that many villagers outside the city were sick, and all the doctors in the city had been called over.

Liu Huan then realized the seriousness of the situation and lifted Su Yi's clothes, where she indeed saw a rash.

She staggered back two steps and called Changyun over to ask, "Where have you been recently? Have any people there had a fever?"

Changyun thought about it carefully and realized that there really was such a thing.

"Miss, the places we've visited these past few days are several villages along the river that have been severely affected by the disaster. The doctor said that the people there seem to be having fevers as well."

Liu Huan immediately called Qiu Rong and Qiu Ju, "You two go and find An Zhi and the others and bring them back to the courtyard. Don't go anywhere else. Remember, anywhere, including coming to find me."

Seeing her so serious, Qiu Rong knew something bad must have happened, so she asked worriedly, "Miss, what's wrong?"

Liu Huan voiced her suspicions and then instructed the two men, "Don't spread rumors before this matter is confirmed. Just do as I say, and the same goes for the Su family."

With reddened eyes, Qiu Rong asked, "But Miss, what will you do?"

Liu Huan reassured the two, "Don't worry, I'm with your Master Su. I trust you both the most, so you must take good care of this family for me, okay?"

Without time to say more, the three of them split up.

Liu Huan put on a veiled hat and then made a simple mask inside with a handkerchief, and had Chang Yun take her on a tour of the disaster-stricken villages.

They found dead poultry and murky sewage everywhere, clearly things that had been washed out of the flooded huts, and the stench was unbearable.

As we walked past a villager's house, we saw him butchering a pig that had been soaked until it was white and bloated.

Her vision blurred, and she hurriedly stepped forward to ask, "Uncle, this pig looks like it's been dead for a long time. Is it safe to eat?"

The old man had a simple, honest smile. “This pig looks like it’s been fed for more than half a year. The New Year is just a few months away. It would be such a waste if it drowned. I’ll slaughter it, salt it, and eat it for a long time.”

Liu Huan thought it belonged to the old man, but it didn't.

It only drifted to the old man's doorstep today. The old man, who is used to being frugal, would never let this opportunity pass him by.

Liu Huan could smell the faint stench emanating from the pig, and her nose tingled as she said, "Uncle, this meat smells rotten; it's probably inedible."

The old man comforted her, saying, "It's alright, you won't smell the slight odor if you just marinate it with salt."

As the old man spoke, he stabbed the pig in the stomach with the knife, and instantly murky, foul-smelling blood flowed out.

Liu Huan instinctively stepped back, but the old man seemed oblivious to the smell and happily declared it was good meat.

I saw several places where children and villagers were picking up dead poultry from the ground, and some people were coughing incessantly.

What's there to be confused about? It's just that this environment is causing trouble.

When Liu Huan found the doctor who was treating the villagers, the doctor was somewhat bewildered.

"Why are there so many patients with fever?"

"Uncle Ma!"

Uncle Ma was the doctor who took Liu Huan's pulse when she was pregnant. Because of a connection between their families, Liu Huan always called him Uncle.

When Dr. Ma saw it was her, he stopped what he was doing and asked, "Liu Huan, what brings you here?"

Looking at the people lying on the ground coughing, Liu Huan asked worriedly, "Uncle Ma, can you tell what's wrong with these people?"

Dr. Ma stroked his beard thoughtfully, "It's strange. I've seen many patients, but I've never seen so many identical ones."

Just as the two were talking, the apprentice ran over and said, "Master, someone over there is dying."

Liu Huan followed, and the person was gone. There were many rashes on his hands and feet.

Dr. Ma was about to step forward to examine him when Liu Huan stopped him, "Don't touch him!"

Dr. Ma withdrew his hand and asked, "Why?"

Liu Huan swallowed hard and said seriously, "So many people have similar symptoms, and they even have rashes, especially after being flooded."

At this point, Dr. Ma instantly understood what was going on. A few meters away from the corpse, he tentatively asked, "You mean smallpox?"

Those nearby paled instantly upon hearing that word, and the apprentice asked tremblingly, "Master, what should we do now?"

To avoid causing panic, Dr. Ma called Liu Huan and the others into the tent.

"At my age, I have never seen what smallpox looks like, so I dare not say what it is. My skills are not good enough to cure these people, so I will take my leave."

Liu Huan knew he was scared. Who wouldn't be scared? That was smallpox, not just any rash or chickenpox.

"Uncle Ma..."

Dr. Ma turned around and kindly reminded her, "Liu Huan, if what you say is true, then this is an unsolvable problem. You should run."

Doctor Ma left with his apprentice. The person lying on the ground, unaware of what had happened, assumed the doctor had simply gone to prepare the medicine.

On their way back, Liu Huan and Chang Bai tentatively asked, "Miss, is what you said true?"

Liu Huan's face was grave. "It's almost certain that this time it will really be difficult."

After they returned, the doctor from the yamen had already come back from another place, and the group went together to Su Yi's room.

Su Yi had gotten up; his forehead wasn't so hot anymore, and he seemed much better.

After taking his pulse, the doctor said, "You look much better, sir. You should be fully recovered in a couple of days."

Judging from this, the symptoms don't seem like those of smallpox. Once you get smallpox, it's definitely not easy to get better.

Seeing Liu Huan covered up tightly, Su Yi asked with concern, "What's wrong with you?"

Liu Huan shook her head, beginning to doubt whether she had made a mistake in her judgment.

Su Yi was still worried, so he stood up and touched her forehead. He was relieved to see that she didn't have a fever.

"If you have nothing else to do, go back and rest. I've been sick these past two days, and you've had a hard time."

Liu Huan shook her head and voiced her concerns, even if they were unfounded, she didn't want to cause irreversible consequences.

Everyone present paused upon hearing this, especially the doctor from the yamen, who hurriedly asked Liu Huan how he knew.

"I don't know either, but all of this is similar to the smallpox symptoms I read about in books, and it all happened after a disaster, so I..."

Her guess was not without reason, and Su Yi immediately said, "Changbai, go and gather everyone at the yamen."

He wanted to pull Liu Huan away but was afraid that he was unclean. "Why don't you go back first? No matter what happens, don't come out."

Seeing the worry in his eyes, Liu Huan shook her head helplessly, "It's too late, I've already been in contact with those patients."

Su Yi was about to say something when Chang Bai interrupted him, saying, "Wait here for me, I'll be back in a bit."

Liu Huan waited all night but no one came. Only Changbai came over and said, "Master is busy. You should rest first."

The atmosphere in the government office grew increasingly heavy, so heavy that the entire Nanchang County felt uneasy.

Su Yi immediately wrote a report to his superiors and summoned all the patients to destroy all the meat hanging in their homes.

Limestone was scattered everywhere, and the city gates were tightly closed to check every suspicious person.

If a fever or cough develops, the room should be immediately closed.

A notice was posted stating that no one was allowed to leave without permission, otherwise they would be treated as deserters.