Lu Qiqi sneered, "What if I could cure it?"
Sun Qing sized her up. The peasant girl in front of him, dressed in patched hemp clothes, dared to speak so arrogantly at such a young age.
You should know that several doctors who were well-known in Heshun Prefecture had been sent in before, but they were unable to cure Yi'an Village's illness and instead lost their own lives.
Nowadays, it's impossible to find a doctor in the city willing to treat patients!
Sun Qing scoffed, "If it could be cured, you could kick my head like a football! Get out of here and stop getting in the way. Not a single person from this village can be released!"
Lu Qiqi had long anticipated Sun Qing's attitude. He was a corrupt official; if he were easy to talk to, he wouldn't have been scolded. She said, "We fled from Qingyuan Prefecture, and there are tens of thousands of refugees behind us. These villagers have all escaped death. They lacked food and clothing along the way. If they all contract the plague, I don't know if you can still hold this checkpoint!"
Sun Qing's expression changed, and he burst into curses, "Are you trying to incite a riot?!"
Lu Qiqi said, "Sir, please don't make baseless accusations. I'm just stating the facts."
Sun Qing also knew that the north had been suffering from drought for several years, and most of the refugees this time came from the north. If tens of thousands of refugees were to contract the plague, the consequences would be beyond his ability to bear!
Sun Qing said skeptically, "You really can cure it? If you dare to lie to me, I'll beat you to death!"
Lu Qiqi raised her chin and made a solemn pledge, "I can! If I can't cure it, you can do whatever you want with me!"
When Li Changlong saw Lu Qiqi say that she would let him do whatever he wanted, he tugged at Lu Qiqi's sleeve. After all, Yi'an Village was suffering from a plague. If she couldn't be cured and her life was lost, how could he go back and explain to his father?
Lu Qiqi felt her sleeve being tugged, gave Li Changlong a reassuring look, and continued, "Prepare pen and ink. I'll write down a prescription, and I'll trouble you, sir, to prepare the medicine. Also, I need some food and water."
Seeing Lu Qiqi's confident expression, Sun Qing hesitated. If this peasant girl could be cured, he wouldn't have to lead his brothers to stand guard in front of this dilapidated village every day, exposed to the wind and sun.
Even if he can't be cured, he won't suffer much loss. At worst, he'll spend some money, and he might even make a great contribution.
Sun Qing gritted his teeth and said, "Medicine and water are fine, but food is out of the question."
A few days ago, the imperial court took away a lot of disaster relief grain. Now, grain in the city is more expensive than medicine. Besides, if the people in Yi'an Village starve to death without food, it will be fine, as they can save on medicine.
Then set the village on fire, and all plagues will be burned away.
Upon reaching their destination, Lu Qiqi didn't press the matter. "Okay, we'll come back to pick it up first thing tomorrow morning."
Soon, Sun Qing had someone bring over a pen and paper. Lu Qiqi recalled the characters her mother, Chen, had taught her and began to write.
After listing the prescription and the required dosage, Lu Qiqi handed it to the soldier next to her, who then ran back to deliver it to Sun Qing.
Sun Qing took the prescription and glanced at Lu Qiqi's handwriting, which was neat, elegant and strong.
Sun Qing was surprised that this peasant girl could write so well. He thought to himself that she might actually be able to cure diseases and save lives, so he quickly ordered people to prepare medicine.
Lu Qiqi and her group returned to Zhou Sanjia's house, but did not meet up with the villagers of Lijia Village. They had come into contact with patients in Yi'an Village and were afraid of infecting the people of Lijia Village.
Fortunately, Lu Qiqi and her group brought three or four days' worth of water and dry rations when they entered the village. Now, all they can do is wait until tomorrow when they get the medicinal herbs to treat the villagers of Yi'an Village.
As evening approached, all six Zhou brothers returned. Lu Qiqi was astonished to see them. The eldest, Zhou Yi, was the same age as her, fifteen years old this year, followed by a group of little kids. After asking Zhou San, she learned that the youngest brother was only ten years old.
Lu Qiqi couldn't help but marvel at the remarkable productivity of the ancient people, having one child a year, perfectly aligning with the population policy of having many children.
However, Lu Qiqi could understand that in the long history of ancient times, most dynasties encouraged more births. After all, in ancient times, people relied on manpower. Having more male offspring could not only reduce taxes and provide immunity, but also prevent the population from being sparse and being bullied by outsiders.
On Wednesday, he explained to his older brother on Monday that Lu Qiqi and her group would be staying at their house for a few days. On Monday, he glanced at them, nodded knowingly, and went inside to visit Grandma Zhou without saying much.
The other children looked at Lu Qiqi and the others with some curiosity, but since they weren't familiar with them, they didn't dare to bother them too much, and soon dispersed.
The next morning, Lu Qiqi and Song Yanqing waited at the entrance of Yi'an Village.
Sun Qing arranged for three soldiers to deliver water and medicine to them. Lu Qiqi had Li Changlong and the others push the cart into the village, and then they began to prepare the medicine.
Lu Qiqi checked the medicinal herbs and found that one was missing.
purslane.
Lu Qiqi guessed that the doctors in the city might not know the uses of purslane, so they didn't have any in stock. But it didn't matter, the villagers of Lijia Village should still have quite a lot.
Ever since she heard that purslane was edible, the villagers have been picking it all along the way. If they can't finish it, they dry it. Even Lu Yao has a bag of dried purslane!
Lu Qiqi asked Li Changlong and the others to boil water to prepare the medicine, while she and Song Yanqing went to find purslane from the villagers of Lijia Village.
Wearing masks, Lu Qiqi and Song Yanqing stood five meters away from the villagers. Lu Qiqi stepped forward and shouted, "Folks, I've found a cure!"
Upon hearing that a cure had been found, the villagers' faces, which had been grim, immediately brightened, and smiles appeared on their faces, instantly lightening the atmosphere.
Upon hearing Lu Qiqi's voice, the village chief, supported by a young man, stepped forward and asked, "Little Lu, have you really found a cure?"
Upon seeing that it was the village chief, Lu Qiqi immediately stated the purpose of her return, "Yes, village chief. I'm still missing one ingredient, which is the wild vegetable the villagers picked a few days ago, purslane. Village chief, please tell the villagers that I can buy it from them, and we can pool our resources to see how much we can get."
The village chief quickly replied, "Yes, yes, I'll go find it for you!"
The villagers heard that Lu Qiqi wanted to buy some non-bitter wild vegetables from them to treat the illnesses of the villagers in Yi'an Village.
They were momentarily stunned; they never imagined that the purslane Lu Qiqi mentioned was both a wild vegetable and a medicinal herb.
Realizing what had happened, they immediately searched for dried purslane and rushed over to hand it over to the village chief.
Aunt Fang was the first to offer purslane. She said, "I don't need the money. We've been so grateful for Lu's help all the way here. Without her, we would have been dead in the bandit's den. We must never forget our roots."
"Yes, yes, I don't want it anymore. Without her, we would have starved to death long ago. Would we still be human if we took money from her?"
“She did it for our village. If we can’t cure the people of Yi’an Village, we won’t be able to reach Heshun Prefecture. I can’t accept this money.”
In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the village chief had gathered all the purslane in the village and given it to Lu Qiqi. He said, "Girl, do you think this is enough?"
After checking the quantity, Lu Qiqi smiled and said, "That's enough. Thank you, village chief and fellow villagers. Please keep track of the price for me, village chief, and I'll settle the accounts with everyone later."
The village chief quickly waved his hand and said, "No money, everyone remembers your kindness and refuses to accept it!"
Lu Qiqi was suddenly moved by the villagers' unity and their ability to overcome difficulties together.
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