The villagers drank the improved prescription for three consecutive days, but it still had little effect.
Even more difficult was that a doctor from Luzhou Prefecture suddenly felt cold yesterday, and his forehead showed a high fever.
Upon hearing that a doctor had fallen ill, Lu Qiqi rushed to the room where the doctors were staying.
The doctor who fell ill was surnamed Wu. He looked to be no more than forty years old. At this moment, he was lying in bed, covered with a thin blanket, being looked at and scrutinized by several other doctors who were surrounding him like he was a monkey.
"How is it?" Dr. Qin asked.
Doctor Huang released Doctor Wu's hand and said, "Judging from the pulse, it is the early stage of the disease."
Upon hearing this, several doctors gasped in shock.
One of the doctors who came with us has already contracted the disease. How far are we from them getting sick too!
Dr. Huang is a senior doctor, and everyone trusts his diagnoses.
However, Lu Qiqi did not intend to let go of such a good opportunity. She knew that the villagers in Tianxin Village were already in the middle and late stages of the disease. There were no records of the symptoms in the early stages of the disease, so there was no way to start.
After taking the pulse, Lu Qiqi's diagnosis was identical to that of Doctor Huang.
She turned around and looked at the doctors who were talking about what to do, and said, "Patients in the early stages of the disease are rare. Don't you doctors want to take their pulses and make a diagnosis yourselves?"
Lu Qiqi interrupted the conversation of several doctors, who only thought for two seconds before crowding over to take Dr. Wu's pulse.
Although it's not a very kind thing to do, as Lu Qiqi said, it is indeed a rare opportunity. If you miss this chance to come to this village, you don't know if you'll be lying in bed being treated by someone else next time.
The doctors lined up to take his pulse, and amidst their sighs, Dr. Wu even wondered if he was about to die any second.
But he had no other choice; he had fallen ill and could only place his hopes on others.
"Get out of the way." A sharp voice rang out, and everyone in the room turned their gaze toward the source of the sound.
Lu Qiqi also turned her gaze toward the doorway.
During the day, the old doctor, who was rarely seen except during mealtimes, stood solemnly at the door.
The doctors, intimidated by the old doctor's imposing presence, involuntarily took a few steps back to make way for him.
The senior doctor stepped forward to take Dr. Wu's pulse, and after a moment, asked in a tone as if interrogating a student, "What is your diagnosis?"
Dr. Huang had great respect for the older doctors, and he said, "Dr. Wu was in the early stages of the epidemic."
The old doctor then asked, "How is your pulse different from that of the villagers?"
different?
The doctors looked at each other, none of them able to answer for a moment.
The old doctor waited a moment, then said with a fierce look, "Incorrigible! If you were to treat the illnesses, the entire village would be wiped out!"
After saying that, the old doctor left with a stern face, leaving several bewildered doctors behind.
The doctors who were suddenly scolded all looked unpleasant.
Among them, Dr. Qin, who was second only to Dr. Huang in age, had a face that turned red and then black, with anger clearly visible on his forehead.
He yelled at the door, "Old man, you're never around all day, but you eat on time like everyone else. Do you really think you're the Divine Physician Luo, saving all living beings?"
After Dr. Qin finished scolding, Lu Qiqi's eyes flashed. If she remembered correctly, this old doctor really was surnamed Luo.
"Doctor, doctor."
Zhao Zhide burst through the door, and Lu Qiqi quickly went to greet him, asking, "When did this happen?"
Zhao Zhide said urgently, "My mother couldn't eat this morning, and she just coughed up blood. Now she's constantly trembling. Please, doctors, save my mother."
Upon hearing this, Lu Qiqi said, "Lead the way quickly."
The situation was urgent and there was no time to lose. Lu Qiqi followed Zhao Zhide and ran all the way, afraid that something might happen to Grandma Zhao if they were late.
When Lu Qiqi and Zhao Zhide arrived, Grandma Zhao had stopped trembling and was lying quietly on the bedding, surrounded by several villagers.
Lu Qiqi stopped three steps away from Grandma Zhao, her expression grave.
"Mother, Mother, I've brought the doctor," Zhao Zhide stepped forward and tried to wake Grandma Zhao, but Grandma Zhao's eyes were tightly closed and she showed no sign of opening them.
Lu Qiqi also stepped forward, squatted down and examined Grandma Zhao's eyelids; her pupils were unfocused.
She grabbed Grandma Zhao's hand; there was no pulse at all.
The body was still warm, but the person was gone.
Zhao Zhide was still shaking Grandma Zhao; the eyes of this grown man were red and gradually became moist.
Lu Qiqi pursed her lips and said softly, "Please accept my condolences."
Zhao Zhide's face was full of grief. He knew that so many people had died in the village one after another, and sooner or later it would be their turn. However, the arrival of this day still caught him off guard.
At this moment, a middle-aged man said, "Zhi De, your mother has already passed away. There are still so many villagers here. It's not good for her to stay here for too long. You should quickly find your wife and son to pay their respects and then arrange for her burial."
The middle-aged man made a good point: the infectious virus in the bodies of people who die from the epidemic does not necessarily mean that they are gone.
Therefore, the right thing to do is to arrange the funeral as quickly as possible.
For those who die from the disease, the best course of action is cremation, as the virus can be largely eliminated under the influence of high temperatures.
Just as Lu Qiqi was about to step forward to tell him, she heard the middle-aged man say, "Most young people nowadays have contracted the disease, but the situation is not that serious. It is impossible to bury them in a coffin. Just bury them wrapped in the quilt under your mother's body."
“But…” Zhao Zhide did not want to simply bury his mother, as that would be too disrespectful to filial piety.
The middle-aged man continued, "In the current situation, there's no time to worry about filial piety. You've been so devoted to taking care of your mother as she passes away; if she knew this in the afterlife, she would understand."
The middle-aged man seemed to have some authority. Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhide looked down at the pale, silent face for a moment, then nodded heavily.
Seeing Zhao Zhide nod, the middle-aged man sent someone to fetch Zhao Yinhu and his mother.
Then they called a few more people to wrap Grandma Zhao in bedding and carry her out of the yard.
Zhao Zhide went home to get incense, paper money, and white candles.
Lu Qiqi followed the villagers to Grandma Zhao's burial site.
In the past, villagers who died were buried on the mountain. Now, Tianxin Village has long been under the jurisdiction of the government, and villagers who died of illness are all buried in the fields at the foot of the mountain.
When they finally arrived at their destination, Lu Qiqi saw endless mounds of earth, large and small, where villagers who had died of illness were buried. The sight was shocking.
"These beasts, they really are beasts, aren't they afraid of being struck by lightning?"
Before Lu Qiqi could even feel down, her attention was suddenly drawn to a curse.
In front of them were several small mounds of earth, which had been dug up and were now in ruins, with straw mats carelessly discarded beside them.
The contents wrapped inside the straw mat had long since disappeared.
Lu Qiqi recalled the villagers' insults before, and seeing this situation today, she couldn't help but start to suspect something.
What on earth is this thing that keeps digging up the ground, trying to dig out a rotting, stinking corpse?
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