The clinic in the west of the city was bustling with activity. Although the saying goes, "If only the medicines on the shelves could gather dust, and there would be no more illness in the world," there are always so many people suffering from illness in this world.

Regardless of the dynasty, wealthy families could drink medicine at will, while those in the slums couldn't even afford a doctor's consultation fee, let alone the medicinal herbs in those clinics. Most poor people relied on their own luck and the blessings of God to survive.

The opening of a clinic in the west of the city that doesn't charge consultation fees or medicine fees is undoubtedly great news. People who can't afford medical treatment and medicine have all rushed over, and those who can afford medical treatment and medicine have also rushed over to save money.

A long line of people formed outside the clinic. When Wang Lao Er lifted the curtain and looked into the front hall, he saw that the medicine-collecting assistants were extremely busy, and the doctors hired by the proprietress were lined up in a row, wearing veils, and sitting at the front, also very busy.

Feeling guilty, he strode to the back room and whispered to the proprietress on the recliner, "Why don't I go help out at the front? Everyone's so busy."

The recliner swayed back and forth, but the proprietress ignored him.

The landlady went away for a while a few days ago, and she came back like this. Before, she would at least respond to him when he spoke, but now that she's back, she ignores everyone.

Old Wang and his companion were both burly men who had been hired by the landlady as doormen and bodyguards. However, Old Wang had a thirst for knowledge and wanted to learn how to be a doctor so he could practice medicine and treat patients.

“Then I’ll go,” Wang Lao Er carefully observed the landlady’s face, noticing it was deathly pale. He wondered if she disapproved of his stealing the techniques, so he repeated, “I’ll go…I…”

It seemed he was going to keep standing there nagging unless he got her consent.

Shu Yun was kept awake from her afternoon nap by his noise. She opened her eyes and looked at him, "Can you recognize those medicinal herbs? Can you understand the scribbles those old doctors wrote? Huh? Go and help them."

Wang Lao Er's expression was completely at odds with his tall, strong, and imposing figure. He was extremely aggrieved after being scolded by the landlady. "Those guys are all very busy and don't have time to teach me. I should just go and take a look more often so I can remember a little bit."

Seeing his injured expression, Shu Yun's anger, which had been aroused by the noise, suddenly had nowhere to go, and she punched a piece of cotton.

She said sullenly, "Did I show you the medical books?"

"I saw it."

"Did you write it down?"

"The medicinal herbs didn't look like the ones in the book... I didn't write them down..."

Shu Yun sighed, resignedly got up, and walked towards the medicine rack in the backyard where herbs were drying. "Come here, I'll teach you."

Wang Lao Er was overjoyed and followed closely behind her, glancing every now and then at his boss's pale face. "Boss, have you been sick lately? You look pale and are very sleepy. Do you want to take some medicine?"

Shu Yun glanced at him sideways, thinking that the chances of him becoming a doctor were extremely low. "I have naturally fair skin, which has nothing to do with the pale complexion you mentioned."

In the words of the balsam, these flowers and plants have transformed into celestial beings, each more beautiful than the last; it is a beauty bestowed upon them by the heavens.

Wang Lao Er looked at her with concern, "But the person who had malaria a couple of days ago had the same pale complexion as you, boss lady."

Shu Yun stood by the medicine shelf, knowing his honest and straightforward nature and that he meant well, and couldn't help but laugh and cry, "Are you cursing me?"

Wang Lao Er looked worried. "In the last two days, more and more people are turning pale. I heard from the doctors in the front hall that there might be an epidemic in the city."

Shu Yun was stunned. "What did you say?"

The southern border of Xiliang: If Xiliang is the inland border, then this is the border of Xiliang, the boundary between Xiliang and the Southern Barbarians.

When the conflict with the Southern Barbarians occurred, this was the first city to be engulfed in war. What should have been a place of constant fighting was now shrouded in dark clouds and filled with deathly atmosphere, with no trace of the Southern Manchus in sight.

The soldiers who patrolled and kept watch on the city walls had also disappeared without a trace. The city was quiet, as if the Southern Barbarians and the Western Liang had reached some kind of agreement overnight. The two countries silently stopped fighting and tacitly left the city.

If any outsiders dare to venture inside, they will find that there are still people living here. In other words, there are still people struggling to survive, but no one can hear their pleas, and no one can lend them a helping hand.

The entire city is filled with dying people infected with the disease; who can help him?

The people of the Southern Barbarians did not expect the plague to be so fierce. The doctor accompanying the group asserted that this disaster was difficult to deal with and that they were temporarily helpless against the plague. Before a clear treatment plan was available, anyone who contracted the disease would die.

The Southern Barbarian Khan made a decisive decision: he abandoned the Southern Barbarian soldiers who had attacked the city and those Southern Barbarians who had been in contact with him, and only quietly brought back a group of generals, who were then treated by a shaman.

The Xiliang and Nanman people inside the city, and the Nanman soldiers abandoned in the wilderness outside the city, seem to have been forgotten by the world.

The medicine shops and clinics in the city had long been deserted, and the medicines that could not be taken away were looted by the refugees who poured in.

To the south lay an endless wilderness, where the southern barbarians could not survive without enough food to return to their homeland. To the north lay the heavily guarded city of Xiliang, where deep trenches had been dug in front of the city gates, closing off their only means of survival.

They frantically stuffed any visible medicinal herbs into their mouths, praying for a miracle.

The people, who were struggling to make ends meet, huddled painfully in a corner, no longer able to complain about the past, and only thinking about getting better as soon as possible.

Between life and death, everything else is trivial.

Shu Yun, who had hastily put on a veil in the capital of Xiliang, didn't have time to teach Wang Er to identify medicinal herbs. She rushed to the front hall and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the doctors already wearing veils. Then she instructed the shop assistants who were picking up herbs in the hall to put on veils as well.

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