Li shuddered, and her face looked miserable under the firelight.

"If it was a plague, it wouldn't spread so slowly." Gongsun Li said carefully, "Also, if a man is infected with the plague, the first to get sick will definitely be the patient's wife and daughter."

This made sense, Hua Yuanzhao breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slowly: "Yes, it should just be a coincidence."

"What a pity." Princess Changle shook her head regretfully: "If we had passed by earlier, perhaps we could have avoided this disaster."

"Are there any other patients in the village?" Hua Yuanzhao thought for a moment and asked Li.

When she passed through the village just now, she smelled the scent of mugwort all the way, and thought that there were still many sick people in the village.

She does have some ready-made medicines on her that might come in handy!

"That's right." Rong Xiu laughed, suddenly patted Gongsun Li's shoulder and pushed him out.

Rong Xiu said nonchalantly: "We have a doctor with us! Where are the patients? We will provide free medical treatment at their homes!"

Li stood there awkwardly for a long while before slowly saying, "The water on the stove is boiling... I'll go get some water for you all."

Having said that, she turned and walked out, still holding her little daughter in one hand.

Fuling and Hongying hurried forward to help. There were so many people, but if Li was the only one carrying the water, how long would it take?

Li was startled and said awkwardly, "No, no, no, the two gentlemen just need to rest."

"Let's go ahead and let the child rest for a while." Fuling was quick to say, "What if such a young child gets scalded by the hot water?"

Keep this little girl here for you to check her pulse! If she is sick or not, you can tell right away.

Seeing that the two men were determined to go along, Li agreed reluctantly. After leaving the house, she asked them to go and wash some bamboo tubes.

The makeshift kitchen was drafty on all sides, and the stove was crooked. The woman lifted the lid of the pot, sighed, and sprinkled a handful of washed moxa leaves into the pot.

"You're quite attentive." The man's voice suddenly rang out, scaring Li so much that she almost knocked over the bamboo basket containing the mugwort.

“You, you, you…” Li looked at the man in horror.

The man took out a paper bag from his arms, opened it, and was about to pour the powder inside into the pot.

"Don't!" Li hurriedly grabbed the man's wrist and begged, "Let them go!"

The man's face suddenly darkened, and he looked at the woman sinisterly: "Why, do you want to plead for them?"

"Even if we capture them and offer them to the mountain god, we can't bring back the dead villagers!" Li's eyes were bulging, and she was about to cry anxiously: "They have doctors in their group who can treat the villagers! Let them go!"

The man sneered, "Doctor? How many barefoot doctors have come to the village? Which one of them has effective medicine? Even the old doctor from the county couldn't cure it, so how can a few young people cure it?"

The doctor said that the patients in their village were just suffering from common typhoid fever, but there was no medicine to cure it!

"If it weren't for your family of jinxes, our village wouldn't have become a dead village!" The man pointed at the woman's nose and cursed viciously: "Now our village is still letting you and your mother live, just to let you atone for your sins!"

He pushed the woman away and put all the powder into the mugwort water. He then took the spatula beside him and stirred it vigorously before smashing the spatula into the pot.

The woman stood there in panic, almost splashed by the scalding hot water, but was so frightened that she didn't even dare to move.

In the room, Hua Yuanzhao slowly removed his hand from the little girl's wrist, frowned and gave Gongsun Li a questioning look.

The girl Daya held the newly earned copper coin in her hand and looked timidly at this group of strange people, her eyes dim and lifeless under her sunken eye sockets.

Rong Xiu, who was standing at the door, walked back slowly, rubbed his ears and looked at Daya thoughtfully.

"What's the matter, you two miracle doctors, can't you even tell what disease this little girl has?" Rong Xiu teased, stepping forward and exchanging glances with Hua Yuanzhao.

"She doesn't have any disease..." Hua Yuanzhao said hesitantly: "She's just not getting enough nutrition..."

Looking at such a thin child, you can tell at a glance that he doesn’t have enough to eat or wear warm clothes, so it’s normal for him to be malnourished.

As for other symptoms, there are none.

Gongsun Li nodded in agreement: "I agree with Doctor Hua."

"So it's not the plague." Princess Changle breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't the plague, it would be a big trouble!

While they were talking, Li, Fuling and others came over with bamboo tubes filled with mugwort water.

Hua Yuanzhao thanked him before taking the bamboo tube. However, he paused before he brought it to his mouth.

Li looked at everyone eagerly, her hands nervously twisting together, her eyes full of panic.

Princess Lin'an looked at the bamboo tube with disdain. This shabby place didn't even have a teacup. How was she supposed to drink the water?

"Auntie, please go and have a rest first. The water is too hot. Let's wait for it to cool down before drinking it." Shihu said casually.

Li uttered an awkward "ah" and hesitated for a long time before retreating hesitantly.

When she turned around, she saw Hua Yuanzhao holding up the bamboo tube again, as if he was drinking water with his head tilted back, and she felt relieved.

After eating some of the dry food they had with them, they each found a place to sleep in their clothes.

Insects were chirping outside and snoring was heard in the house.

Li sat by the wall, listening to the noise inside. After enduring for nearly an hour, she stood up quietly, holding on to the wall.

She found the hemp rope for tying up animals from the stove and went into the house in tears.

"I'm sorry..." Li cried as she wrapped the hemp rope around Shihu who was near the door, sobbing and admitting her mistake as she tied him up.

"I was forced to do this, I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."