Manager Yu looked shocked.
"How...how did you know that someone else gave me Seju?"
"You don't need to worry about that," Xiao Qingyin said calmly. "Just tell me what you know."
Manager Yu sensed something was off about her tone and quickly replied, "It was given to me by the abbot of Lingyun Temple."
Where is Lingyun Temple?
“Lingyun Temple is located outside the city. It is the only temple in our Bei’an City. I am a Buddhist and I go to burn incense on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month. I also often donate to the temple and have a good personal relationship with the abbot.”
“After my wife fell ill, I sought medical help everywhere, but she didn’t get better. When the abbot found out, he told me that she had encountered a life-or-death crisis and that only a divine doctor could help her overcome it.”
“I asked him how to find the divine doctor, and he gave me this Serpent Bead, telling me to use it to attract the divine doctor, and that the divine doctor would appear after the New Year.”
“I did as he said, spread the word, and waited quietly at home. After the New Year, I received a letter from the manager of Zhenbaozhai. In the letter, he introduced you. I immediately knew that you were the miracle doctor.”
“I replied to him, and you know what happened next.”
After listening, Xiao Qingyin asked him, "Did you only receive the letter from the manager of Zhenbaozhai after the New Year?"
"Yes," Manager Yu replied, "I received it on the eighth day of the new year. I immediately sent someone to send a reply by carrier pigeon, and you arrived two days later."
Xiao Qingyin frowned.
She went to Zhenbaozhai before the Lunar New Year, and the manager should have sent a letter that day. Even if he sent it by errand, it shouldn't have taken until the eighth day of the Lunar New Year to arrive.
Did he delay?
Or is Manager Yu lying?
Or is someone sabotaging this?
Xiao Qingyin stared intently at Manager Yu, trying to find any trace of lying on his face.
But his expression was very calm, without any attempt to hide anything.
Xiao Qingyin temporarily set aside her doubts about him and said to Yi Shuihan, "Let's go to Lingyun Temple to take a look."
Yi Shuihan nodded: "Okay."
Just as the two were about to leave the Yu residence, a maid rushed over and knelt down in front of Xiao Qingyin: "Divine Doctor, please save my mother."
This maid was the one who served Wu in her room.
Xiao Qingyin asked her, "What happened to your mother?"
“My mother also got cat scratch disease,” the maid replied. “She got it a few days ago. I prepared the medicine for her according to the prescription you gave me, but she not only didn’t get better, she started coughing up blood.”
Xiao Qingyin frowned: "Take me to see."
The maid looked at Manager Yu with pleading eyes.
Shopkeeper Yu nodded: "Since the divine doctor has agreed, then take her there."
The maidservant quickly kowtowed in thanks, and then led Xiao Qingyin to the back room. Yi Shuihan and Manager Yu also followed.
This is the living quarters for the servants of the Yu family. The maid and her mother lived in one of the rooms.
As soon as the door opened, Xiao Qingyin was about to step inside when her gaze swept over the hand hanging down from the edge of the bed, and she immediately turned back.
Yi Shuihan: "What's wrong?"
Xiao Qingyin didn't say anything, but took out homemade masks from the medical kit, gave one to each person, and gestured for them to wear them.
She also wore a pair of gloves.
"I'll go in by myself," she said to Yi Shuihan. "You all wait outside."
Yi Shuihan's heart sank.
Is there any danger?
“Hmm,” Xiao Qingyin replied, “She might not have cat scratch disease, but some kind of epidemic.”
Manager Yu's expression changed drastically.
Xiao Qingyin pushed the door open and went in, but didn't dare to get too close. She stopped a meter away from the bed.
The five fingers of the drooping hand looked like charcoal, and the person on the bed was extremely weak.
She didn't linger and quickly left.
After closing the door again, she asked her maid to take her pulse.
After taking her pulse, she said to the maid, "Your mother has contracted the Black Death, but you are not infected for the time being."
The maid looked completely bewildered.
"The Black Death is plague, a highly contagious disease that is usually spread through the bites of fleas. After it invades the lungs, it can also be spread through saliva."
Manager Yu's face turned ashen, and he immediately retreated several meters.
He felt somewhat ashamed after he stopped.
"I...I..."
“You’re doing the right thing,” Xiao Qingyin replied. “The closer you are to the patient, the easier it is to get infected.”
Manager Yu stammered, "Then... what should I do now?"
"The most urgent task is to move people out and have them live alone, not with other people."
Manager Yu nodded.
"I'll have someone send her away immediately."
"We also need to check if there are any other patients in the mansion. If so, they will be transferred together. Suspected patients should also be isolated separately."
Xiao Qingyin continued.
"The fleas in the mansion must be completely eradicated, and the items used by the patients must be burned..."
After telling Manager Yu the key points of protection, she added, "This is not just a matter for your household. This epidemic can destroy the entire continent. You must report it to the authorities immediately."
Manager Yu's forehead was sweating.
"Do we...do we still need to report to the authorities?"
"Of course," Xiao Qingyin said seriously. "Otherwise, if the epidemic spreads due to your negligence, can you bear the responsibility?"
Manager Yu certainly couldn't bear that responsibility.
He immediately sent someone to report it to the authorities.
And they began preparations to transfer the sick servant.
He planned to place the man on a hilltop in a village on the outskirts of the city. There was a small hut on that hilltop, which was usually used by passing hunters to rest.
It's perfect for placing now.
However, before he could give the order, the servant who went to report to the county government brought back bad news.
"The magistrate said he already knows. The imperial court has just dispatched heavy troops to guard the city, and the city gates are closed. No one is allowed to enter or leave."
Manager Yu was dumbfounded.
"They've only discovered one case, and they're already sealing off Bei'an City and deploying heavy troops to guard it?"
How terrible is this disease?!
No, how could the imperial court have received the news so quickly?
Did the Black Death have already spread everywhere without his knowledge?
The moment Xiao Qingyin learned that the city gates were closed, she knew the purpose of the person behind the scenes who had used the Ser pearl to lure her to Beian City.
The other party must know that a plague has broken out here and wants her to die in this plague.
Who could have done it?
The Imperial Concubine? Princess Xilin? The Bai family member who faked her death? Or someone else...?
Was this epidemic man-made or accidental?
Regardless of the possibility, the other side knew about the existence of the epidemic from the beginning and allowed it to spread silently, completely disregarding the lives of tens of thousands of people.
That's absolutely outrageous.
Yi Shuihan sent someone to the county government office to find out some information.
"The first death occurred a week ago."
He told Xiao Qingyin.
"It was the third day after we arrived."
The deceased was a hunter who made a living by hunting snow boars and selling their pelts.
The day we entered the city, there weren't many people on the streets, were they? That day was the day when snow boars ended their hibernation and came out of their burrows. On this day, the people of Bei'an City would go to the grasslands to hunt snow boars or watch others hunt.
The hunter went that day too, and he caught three snow boars.
Xiao Qingyin asked blankly, "What is a snow pig?"
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