A beam of light shone into the dimly lit main room, and a smell of paint mixed with mildew wafted towards everyone.
There were dozens of long, black wooden boxes neatly arranged on the floor of the main room.
It was a coffin!
The two houses across from each other had the same items stored, totaling more than twenty coffins.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew by, and everyone standing on the stone path felt a chill.
Seeing this, Lu Qiqi felt a mix of emotions.
With so many coffins stored here, the plague has caused countless villagers in Tianxin Village to lose their loved ones, and many more are about to die.
"Since there's no one here, let's go," said Doctor Huang.
Seeing so many coffins suddenly gave the doctors quite a sensory shock, and they all wanted to leave as soon as possible, echoing Dr. Huang's suggestion.
"Yes, let's hurry up and check out other places."
"Let's go, let's go. It's very shady here, let's hurry up and leave."
The group continued walking forward, and Li Changlong and Zhou Yi closed the door before leaving.
After walking inside for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the air was filled with the faint scent of herbs.
The smell of medicine indicated that someone was brewing it, so the group quickened their pace.
After walking about ten more meters, we reached the end of the alley.
The smell of medicine grew stronger and stronger. Lu Qiqi followed Doctor Huang around a corner and came to see a courtyard.
The courtyard is very large; it's no problem for a hundred or so people to sit and hold a meeting.
About fifty meters away from the courtyard, there is a large platform, which looks like a drying ground for villagers to dry their rice.
This courtyard must have been built by the villagers specifically to store the rice that had not yet been dried.
There were many winnowing baskets in the yard, and many herbs were drying on them.
Most importantly, Lu Qiqi and the others finally saw someone.
There were several villagers in the courtyard, each with a medicine pot in front of them, and they were concentrating on fanning themselves and decocting herbs.
"Who are you?" Finally, a man noticed Lu Qiqi and the others, looked them over, and asked.
The man who spoke was dressed in coarse gray clothes, and his voice was clearly weak, lacking the energy and spirit one would expect for someone his age.
Doctor Huang stepped forward and said, "I am a doctor from Luzhou Prefecture who came to treat the villagers. May I ask, young man, is this an epidemic area?"
The man gave a bitter laugh and said, "This is not an epidemic area; this is the burial ground for us abandoned people."
The man's sorrowful words left all the doctors speechless, unsure of what to say.
Lu Qiqi spoke first, "Since the government has gone to great lengths to send us here, it means they haven't given up on the villagers. In that case, you shouldn't give up on yourselves either."
"Brother, please take us to see a doctor for the villagers."
"Several groups of doctors have come here, some dead, some sick. You're just wasting your lives here," the man said, his face ashen, seemingly hopeless about life.
Finally, the man sighed and said, "Come with me."
After saying that, the man led the doctors to a gate in the courtyard.
After pushing open the door, the man said, "The smell is unpleasant, please bear with it."
Upon entering the house, Lu Qiqi glanced around. The house was exactly the same as the ancestral hall, with straw under the quilts, and the seriously ill villagers were lying on the quilts groaning in pain.
The smell in this room was more than just unpleasant; it was a mixture of sour, musty, foul, bitter medicine, and other indescribable odors.
When Lu Qiqi entered the room and smelled this odor, she almost fainted from the stench. Fortunately, her mask was thick and had been specially treated, so the smell was still tolerable.
The masks worn by the eight healers were only a thin layer, which made them quite uncomfortable, even though the man had kindly reminded them of this.
However, two doctors couldn't stand the smell and immediately pushed aside the people standing at the door and rushed out.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Qiqi heard a painful retching sound.
Well, even the corner of the wall outside the door has been tainted with an unpleasant smell.
As if setting an example, Dr. Huang went straight to a lying patient and took his pulse.
Remembering that Zhao Yinhu had asked her for help before they arrived here, Lu Qiqi asked, "Big brother, I want to ask where Zhao Yinhu's father is?"
The man seemed somewhat moved upon hearing the name Zhao Yinhu, and Lu Qiqi accurately captured the expression on his face.
Sure enough, the man exclaimed excitedly, "Tiger is my son! Is he alright? Is his mother alright?"
The man in front of her was Zhao Yinhu's father, so Lu Qiqi didn't need to bother looking for him anymore.
She said, "Hu Zi and Madam Ling are fine for now, but Hu Zi is being filial and said that your mother is seriously ill, so he asked me to treat you first."
Hearing Lu Qiqi's words, Zhao Zhide smiled and said, "It's good that you're alright. Thank you for informing me of the mother and child's condition."
Zhao Zhide led Lu Qiqi to where Grandma Zhao was lying. There, Grandma Zhao lay on the bed with her white hair disheveled, her body as thin as a withered tree, and she was breathing weakly.
Lu Qiqi whispered a few words, and Grandma Zhao, still conscious, slowly extended her bony hand to take Lu Qiqi's pulse.
The pulse of an elderly person is different from that of a young person; a weak pulse is the norm. After taking the pulse, Lu Qiqi carefully tucked the blanket around Grandma Zhao before standing up.
"How is my mother?" Zhao Zhide asked.
Lu Qiqi took a few steps back and said, "Let's talk outside."
The two went outside, and Lu Qiqi asked, "What were your mother's symptoms before?"
Zhao Zhide recalled for a moment and said, "I had a stomachache, I vomited everything I ate, I had diarrhea, and a high fever."
Upon hearing Zhao Zhide's words, Lu Qiqi pondered for a moment. The symptoms Zhao Zhide described were almost identical to those briefly described by Lu Da.
However, when she took Zhao's pulse just now, she found that although the symptoms of Grandma Zhao and her daughter-in-law seemed similar, there were still some differences. It was not a difference between severe and mild symptoms.
In a flash, an idea suddenly entered Lu Qiqi's mind.
Before she could think about it carefully, she suddenly noticed the herbs that the villagers were drying outside the door.
Lu Qiqi stepped forward and picked up the dried herbs from the winnowing basket.
It's patchouli!
So, doctors had already used patchouli to treat the villagers of Tianxin Village, but with little effect; otherwise, so many villagers wouldn't have died one after another.
Therefore, using patchouli to treat illness is not a good strategy.
Lu Qiqi suddenly remembered something, something they had all overlooked, but which was extremely important.
Lu Qiqi put the patchouli back into the winnowing basket and asked Zhao Zhide, "Brother Zhao, did the previous doctor leave a prescription?"
"Prescription?" This was the first time Zhao Zhide had ever heard a doctor ask for someone else's prescription. Seeing Lu Qiqi's seriousness, he didn't ask any more questions and said, "Yes, I have some prescriptions that the previous doctor wrote incorrectly. I've kept them all and was planning to use them to start a fire, but I haven't used them yet."
Lu Qiqi said, "Let me see it."
Zhao Zhide nodded and went into the house to get the prescription.
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