After dinner, Lu Qiqi leaned against the wall and sat on the bedding for a short rest.

After traveling for half a day in the morning and then treating villagers' injuries in the afternoon, Lu Qiqi, exhausted, quickly fell asleep.

"Qiqi, wake up."

Lu Qiqi opened her eyes again, and in the dim candlelight, she could vaguely see a figure.

As her pupils gradually focused, Lu Qiqi was able to see Li Changlong's face clearly.

Lu Qiqi asked, "Second Brother, what is it?"

Seeing that Lu Qiqi had woken up, Li Changlong stood up and stepped aside.

Lu Da stood right in front of Lu Qiqi and said, "Miss Lu, Mangzi's fever won't go down even after taking the medicine, and now he's starting to talk nonsense."

Having figured out what was going on, Lu Qiqi quickly got up and said, "I'll go take a look."

By the dim candlelight, Lu Qiqi arrived at the place where Mangzi was resting.

Mangzi was wrapped in two thick quilts, sweat beaded on his forehead, and the dirt on his face had been cleaned off; he was a handsome young man.

When Lu Qiqi saw the two thick quilts, she instantly felt her temples throb a few times.

He quickly said, "Quickly, pull the blanket off him."

Lu Da and several young villagers were puzzled, but Li Changlong was quite adept at it and lifted the blanket without hesitation.

Mangzi, who had just lifted the blanket, seemed to feel a cool breeze and his body trembled slightly.

He was muttering something, but it was indistinct and hard to hear clearly.

“On Monday, wipe his body with cold water,” Lu Qiqi said, glancing at Li Changlong. “Second brother, you wipe the wine off him, just like you used to do for Third Uncle.”

“Okay,” the two agreed and got to work.

“Mangzi keeps complaining of being cold. Won’t it get worse if we take off his blanket?” Lu Da said.

Lu Qiqi said, "We're doing this to bring his fever down quickly. If the high fever doesn't go down, he'll wake up with a mental disability after a whole night of fever."

Lu Da seemed to understand, but as long as his brother was safe, he would do whatever it took.

It wasn't until close to the hour of Yin (3-5 AM) that Mangzi's high fever finally subsided completely.

Seeing that Mangzi was alright, Lu Da thanked Lu Qiqi profusely.

After a busy night, Lu Qiqi, Li Changlong, and Zhou Yi all had bruises on their eyes.

Lu Qiqi quickly sent Lu Da away and took advantage of the time before dawn to catch up on sleep.

The next day, early morning.

The doctors got up early. They had just arrived yesterday and knew nothing, but today they were ready to treat the villagers for the epidemic.

After several discussions, the villagers were asked to set up several tables in the center of the ancestral hall for pulse diagnosis and consultation.

Experienced doctors sat at the table, while inexperienced doctors had to go to each villager to take their pulse.

According to Lu Qiqi's speculation, seniority is simply based on who has more white hair.

A novel thought even popped into her head: wouldn't it be a huge advantage if that person had premature gray hair?

Thinking this way, she couldn't help but laugh at herself.

Jokes aside, serious matters cannot be neglected.

Among the villagers, Lu Qiqi saw the woman from yesterday, wondering why she hadn't sent her and her child to the epidemic area.

The woman lay on the ground, her face pale, with her youngest son nestled beside her.

Upon seeing Lu Qiqi, Zhao Yinhu quickly got up, his bright black eyes fixed on her.

Lu Qiqi smiled faintly behind her mask and asked, "How is your mother?"

Upon hearing Lu Qiqi's question, Zhao Yinhu looked down at the person lying on the ground and said, "He woke up and then fell asleep again, unable to get up."

Upon hearing this, Lu Qiqi squatted down to take the woman's pulse, but the woman's pulse was slightly different from yesterday's.

Lu Qiqi secretly made a note of what she had said, and after telling Zhao Yinhu to drink hot water, she went to examine other villagers.

After a busy morning, I finally managed to diagnose the illnesses of all the hundred or so people.

One of the doctors in white wrote a prescription, which was then circulated and revised among a dozen other doctors.

When it was Lu Qiqi's turn, the doctor in white skipped over her and handed the medicine to Dr. Huang next to her.

Doctor Huang didn't notice these minor details and took them directly to Lu Qiqi for discussion.

Upon seeing this, several doctors let out a cold snort, but Lu Qiqi didn't care.

After reviewing the prescription, Lu Qiqi felt that the medicine matched the villagers' symptoms perfectly, so she did not raise any objections.

He simply mentioned, "Add agastache rugosa as well."

"Agastache rugosa?" Doctor Huang asked.

"Agastache rugosa can treat edema and poisoning, dispel foul odors, and stop cholera," Lu Qiqi said.

Dr. Huang nodded repeatedly as if he had suddenly understood something, "Very good, very good."

Neither of them noticed the glint of shrewdness in the eyes of the old doctor in black robes standing to the side.

Now that the prescription has been written, we need to find the soldiers to prepare the medicine and treat the villagers.

This task naturally fell to Lu Da, who called two villagers and then left the ancestral hall.

The villagers in the ancestral hall are all patients with mild symptoms; those with severe symptoms are still in the so-called epidemic area.

The doctor in white said, "How about we split into two teams? One team will treat the villagers in the ancestral hall, and the other team will go to the epidemic area to treat them. What do you think?"

There's no better way right now, so we can only do as the doctor in white says.

They can't all go to the epidemic area. If they all get infected, then these dozen or so medical workers who were conscripted will really not have a chance to return alive.

Ultimately, a lottery was held to decide who could stay in the ancestral hall and who would go to the epidemic area.

Lu Qiqi, who is usually very lucky, had a really bad run of luck this time.

There were three of them, and they were all sent to the epidemic area three times in a row.

As fate would have it, Lu Qiqi accepted it calmly, leaving Li Changlong and Zhou Yi in the ancestral hall, and went to the epidemic area alone for treatment.

After drawing lots, Lu Qiqi discovered that Doctor Huang and the old doctor in black robes who finally had his hair standing up today had also been assigned to the epidemic area.

Goodness, they're all acquaintances, and they all have the same bad luck.

A young man in a long robe, who sounded like a scholar, led several doctors to a crossroads in the village and said, "This is it. Inside are people who are seriously ill. Doctors, please take care. Tianxin Village is counting on you."

After saying this, the young man bowed to the doctors, who returned the bow.

The young man completed his task and left without lingering.

Eight unlucky doctors with their hands on the back, plus Li Changlong and Zhou Yi, a total of ten people, had no choice but to resign themselves to going to the epidemic area.

It's called an epidemic area, but it's actually just a cluster of houses that have been isolated by villagers.

However, the houses here are closely connected, with only a meter or so between them when you look up, and the light is very dim, as if it has never seen the light of day.

There was a faint odor, a musty smell, and a slight musty smell in the air.

Lu Qiqi brushed her hand against the tip of her nose; the mixed smells were quite difficult to detect.

The group stood on the stone path between the two houses. Li Changlong and Zhou Yi each walked to the door of one of the houses and pushed it open.

The dark, grimy door creaked as if it had been neglected for years.

The door opened.

The sunlight from outside shone into the house, casting dappled patterns on the floor.

However, the scene inside the room left all the doctors speechless.