Chapter 62 Two Patients

Village Chief Zhao apologized, "I can't help it. I used the method you taught me these past two days and killed too many rats."

"You have to be careful when walking on the road at night, otherwise you might step on it..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Xixi saw a bloody dead rat in the light of the torch.

Even though she had seen it more often recently, she still couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable and nauseous.

Village Chief Zhao said attentively, "Let's go to my house first. My wife has prepared food."

Gu Xixi asked back, "Village Chief Zhao, are you sure that we will come?"

Village Chief Zhao smiled sheepishly and said truthfully, "Because it is common sense for people to pursue profit. But you directly gave the prescription and method of killing rats without any reservation, and you didn't take any advantage at the critical moment."

"This alone is enough to make many people feel that they cannot even dream of it. I thought that you must be kind people with broad minds. As long as I beg you sincerely, you and the old man will agree."

"It turns out that we were the ones being plotted against." Gu Xixi said half-jokingly.

Village Chief Zhao smiled again, "Go this way, watch your step."

In the main hall of the village chief's house, Madam Zhao served the meal, including hot wheat rice, green tender spinach, oily and bright red sausages, meat, vegetables and dry rice. At this moment, it was already a very high-end meal.

But in the end, Madam Zhao brought out a black pottery stew pot. When she opened the lid, it turned out to be a pot of stewed chicken.

The old doctor wrinkled his nose and said, "The village chief and his wife are too expensive."

Madam Zhao spoke softly, "I just did a little work, it's nothing."

"You have done us a great favor by helping us get rid of rats."

"I've asked you to take the risk and come here again today. If you neglect even the food and drink, my husband and I will be ashamed."

Village Chief Zhao asked, "Are the eldest and second brothers still outside?"

Madam Zhao nodded. "There are dead rats everywhere. People have to go and pick them up. Before we go to bed at night, we have to replenish the honey bait everywhere."

She forced a smile on her worried face, "My husband, please have dinner with the guests. I still have to go and tidy up the granary."

"I just checked our granary and finally found no rats."

Gu Xixi thought that even the village chief’s children had to kill rats outside, which showed how serious the rat problem was in Shitou Village.

The old doctor pondered and said, "Village Chief Zhao, could you please inform the whole village immediately to avoid direct contact when picking up mice. You can use tools such as hooks, sticks, and shovels."

"In addition, you need to find a cloth to cover your face at home, and you must cover your mouth and nose at the same time."

He paused and said solemnly, "Even if it's not the plague, we should have taken precautions early."

Village Chief Zhao was stunned. "Okay, I'll go and inform everyone right away!"

He didn't even bother to eat and left in a hurry.

Gu Xixi and the old doctor quickly ate a few mouthfuls of food and asked Madam Zhao to lead the way to find the person with fever.

Madam Zhao said in panic, "But the chicken soup hasn't been touched yet."

The old doctor smiled and said, "Keep it. It will be the same when you come back."

There were two families, and the first family had an eight-year-old boy with a fever.

The old doctor asked Madam Zhao to stay outside, but Madam Zhao had already stepped into the yard.

"Of course I have to accompany my distinguished guests."

Gu Xixi felt that the woman who opened the door looked familiar.

When she walked into the bright light in the room and took a closer look, Gu Xixi suddenly remembered.

When she first came to Shitou Village to find the old doctor, she asked the woman for directions.

At that time, the woman cursed the old doctor, saying that the old doctor stopped her child and insisted that the child was sick.

Gu Xixi cast her eyes towards the kang. Could it be him?

The boy was lying flat on his back, his cheeks red and his eyes closed.

There were two little kids playing on the kang, a boy and a girl, and there was nothing unusual about them.

The woman wiped her tears and said, "I gave him two doses of medicine today, but his body is still burning hot."

"I guess he was confused due to the fever. He slept in the afternoon and hasn't woken up yet."

The old doctor sat on the edge of the kang and took the boy's pulse.

Madam Zhao held the woman's shoulders and signaled her not to speak.

After a moment, the old doctor loosened his fingers with a serious expression and said, "The child's illness has been delayed."

"Ah?" The woman's body softened and she was about to fall.

Madam Zhao supported her, her lips turning pale, "Could it really be a rat... a rat..."

She ultimately couldn't utter the word.

The room was as quiet as a cemetery at night, as if an invisible sword was hanging over everyone's head.

The old doctor lifted up the boy's eyelids and asked if it hurt and if things were blurry, to which he got a negative answer.

Then he ordered him to open his mouth.

"No doubt about it. I have seen this child in the village before."

The old doctor asked the child's mother, "Does this child have a thick white tongue coating, a worsening appetite, always complaining of bloating, and occasionally stomach pain? Does he smell bad when he opens his mouth to speak?"

"Have these symptoms lasted for at least three months and have they become more severe over time?"

Gu Xixi felt relieved after hearing this, and whispered to Madam Zhao, "Master said it's three months, so it's not plague."

Madam Zhao nodded, covered her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

The woman thought about it in a panic and said, "Yes, all of them!"

She asked again with tears in her eyes, "Is it a serious illness? The child's father is still outside catching mice. Do you want me to call him back?"

The old doctor said, "It's not a serious illness right now, but if you keep delaying it, it's hard to say for sure."

The woman heard the hope and knelt down with a plop. "Old immortal, help me! I was blind and didn't listen to you. I harmed the child. Please don't be so mean to me and save the child!"

Without needing her master to ask anything, Gu Xixi and Madam Zhao helped the woman up.

The old doctor explained the condition, "This child probably ate too many wild fruits in the summer, and at the wrong time, which caused them to become gastric stones in his stomach."

The woman cried out in disbelief, "You said there is a stone in my son's stomach?! How can we save him?"

The old doctor said, "Although this stone has been formed for a long time, it is not as easy to melt as when it was first discovered."

"I will write a prescription for you. Take it regularly for a while and adjust your diet, and you will get better."

When the woman heard that she would get better after taking the medicine, she burst into tears of joy and said, "Thank you, old immortal!"

After leaving the prescription, Gu Xixi and her group went to the second house.

Before knocking on the door, Madam Zhao clasped her hands together and looked up to the sky, "May God bless me so that I can escape unharmed this time."

"Don't let the disease break out in our village!"

The homeowner and his children also went out to exterminate rats, and the old couple and the eldest daughter-in-law opened the door.

The one with fever was the couple's youngest son, who had just turned nineteen and was not yet married.

His symptoms were also burning sensation all over the body, but he was conscious and was talking to his family just now.

Unlike the previous boy, he had a severe cough.

Before Gu Xixi and others entered the house, they heard bursts of coughing and wheezing.

The old doctor's expression suddenly changed. He stopped and asked Madam Zhao to take out the few towels she brought with her.

The three of them covered their mouths and noses.

The old doctor said to the family, "Open the window and come out. Don't leave anyone in the house."

The family looked at each other, not knowing what to do.