klisemfg Chapter 173 Old Man
Chapter 173 Old Man
Xie Zhichan was sitting in the bathtub taking a bath, when she suddenly seemed to hear someone calling her nickname, but when she listened carefully, there was no sound.
She thought that she might have heard it wrong. With her alertness, she should have noticed that there were people around and even heard voices.
What's more, Danfeng and Yueyan's martial arts are top-notch in Dajin, so she feels more at ease with them guarding her.
After taking a shower, Xie Zhichan lay down on the bed and went to sleep. Tomorrow would definitely be a very busy day, so he must get enough rest tonight.
The strange thing is that according to Pei Yi's personality, he would definitely climb into her room through the window at night when everyone was asleep.
But in fact, everyone seemed to sleep very soundly all night.
On the second day, what surprised her very much was that the ugly mother-in-law's attitude towards her became much warmer.
Not only did he give her some water to wash her face, he also offered to help her comb her hair.
It was as if she regarded herself as her slave, but her attitude while doing these things was neither humble nor arrogant. She did not act like a slave, but rather like an elder taking care of the younger.
Speaking of which, this ugly old woman's hair-combing skill was quite good. She combed her hair into a very delicate bun. This kind of bun was rarely seen in the Central Plains, but it suited her face shape very well.
Not only Pei Yi, but even Yue Yan said that she looked very beautiful with this hairstyle, like a fairy descending to earth.
But the ugly mother-in-law's attitude towards Pei Yi became even more cold and arrogant.
Such a huge contrast in treatment left Xie Zhichan and Pei Yi very confused.
The two men rested for a night, and during the day, under the leadership of the village chief, they went door to door to provide free medical treatment to the villagers.
Xie Zhichan took some snake scales from the villagers and put them into the medical space. After returning to the bamboo house, he entered the space and checked them with a pathology detector.
But the detector showed infection with unknown pathogens.
This means that even with the big data storage in the medical space, there are currently no case reports and no appropriate medicines available.
Xie Zhichan and Pei Yi were both somewhat disappointed with this result.
The time and financial costs required to solve unknown epidemics are immeasurable.
Not to mention that during the time it takes to study how to treat and eliminate this disease, many people will die from the disease, which may cause panic among the people, and all kinds of evil spirits will easily take the opportunity to cause trouble.
What comforts them a little is that the medical field has provided some drugs that can curb the spread of this unknown pathogen in the human body, which can at least delay the progression of the disease.
Xie Zhichan left some targeted medicines and added some immunity-enhancing drugs in the village.
She and Pei Yi explained to everyone that they were appointed by the court to deal with the epidemic, and now they had to report to Lingnan Prefecture and the prefectural government.
According to the information they received, it was not just their village that was infected with the disease.
Once communication with the prefectural government is completed, they will naturally send doctors and medicinal materials back to the village to treat everyone.
After receiving the medicines distributed by Xie Zhichan, the conditions of many villagers improved a little. They all worshipped Xie Zhichan like a female Bodhisattva. They did not make things difficult for them or force them to stay. They even prepared fruits and vegetables to see them off.
When they walked out of the village, they suddenly heard someone calling Xie Zhichan: "Crown Princess!"
When Xie Zhichan looked back, he saw that it was the ugly old woman with a bag on her shoulders.
Xie Zhichan and Pei Yi looked at each other, somewhat confused as to what the ugly old woman meant.
Xie Zhichan asked: "Mother-in-law, are you going out too?"
The ugly woman hesitated for a moment and asked Xie Zhichan, "Can I go with you? I am afraid of being burned if you leave me here alone."
"I can cook delicious food and comb hair, so please keep me by your side as a personal nanny."
Xie Zhichan glanced at Pei Yi, and Pei Yi thought to himself, if this mother-in-law doesn't want to be burned, no sparks can touch her body.
Thinking about what the ugly old woman had done to A Yuan in recent days, it seemed that there was no threat to A Yuan. If there was really danger, it would be more reassuring to keep the person under his nose, so he nodded to Xie Zhichan.
Xie Zhichan said to the ugly old lady, "In that case, you can come with us."
The ugly old woman responded happily with "Hey", then moved closer to Xie Zhichan, broke off a banana leaf from the side of the road, and fanned Xie Zhichan.
Pei Yi choked. This old woman seemed to take care of A Yuan more attentively than he did. It seemed that he needed to learn more from this old woman?
When they entered Lingnan City, they saw that the streets were deserted and many shops were closed. Even those that were open were deserted and it was likely that they could not even earn enough to buy a day's worth of tea.
The beggars who beg for food have an even harder life. The beggars that can occasionally be seen on the roadside are almost all skinny and pale from hunger.
Many of them were leaning against the wall with their eyes closed, looking as if they had fainted from hunger.
If it weren't for the fact that his belly, which was so thin that the shape of his ribs could be seen, was still rising and falling, people would probably have thought he had starved to death.
Xie Zhichan and Pei Yi asked Dan Feng Yueyan to find a teahouse to have tea and rest. The two of them went out to find a carriage and hired two carriages. They quietly moved the medicinal herbs they brought from the space to the carriages, and then went back to meet up with the ugly mother-in-law, Dan Feng Yueyan and the other two, and told them that the medicinal herbs were delivered by the escort agency in Tuojing.
Then they arrived at the gate of the government office, only to find that it was closed.
Dan Feng went up and knocked on the door.
After a long time, an old gatekeeper came to open the door.
Seeing that Xie Zhichan and Pei Yi had full faces and were full of energy, and did not look like people from the city, he was stunned for a moment.
Pei Yi asked the old man guarding the gate, "Old man, where is the prefect of your Lingnan government office?"
But the old man guarding the gate immediately turned his head and said, "What kind of prefect is this? He ran away! He ran away on the first day he found out there was a strange disease in the city, taking the people's hard-earned money with him and disappeared!"
Pei Yi couldn't help but frown after hearing this. It seemed that the emergency document from Lingnan was not issued by the Lingnan prefect, so he asked the old gatekeeper, "Who is in charge of the government office now?"
The old man guarding the gate had a flickering look in his eyes and replied, "No one is in charge, and the people are left to fend for themselves."
Xie Zhichan saw that the old man also had snake scales on his body, so he asked him, "Old man, you also have a strange disease, why don't you run away?"
The old man said, "Where can we go? Doctor Hang is a well-known doctor in the whole Lingnan area. If even he can't cure the disease, where else can we go to cure it? If we stay in this Lingnan city, at least we can go to the Bodhisattva Temple every day to get a bowl of soup to drink. We can only live one day at a time. Oh!"
Xie Zhichan asked the old man again, "Where is the Bodhisattva temple you mentioned in the city? Could you please lead us there?"
The old man looked at a few people warily, and his stubborn temper instantly came out. He shook his head and said, "No! No!" Then he was about to go in and close the door.
Xie Zhichan didn't know why the old man was so resistant to leading them to the Bodhisattva Temple, and hurriedly said to him: "Uncle, we heard that there was a strange disease in Lingnan and urgently needed medicinal materials, so we brought the medicinal materials here. If you can take us there, these medicinal materials will definitely help Lingnan Prefecture."
The old man looked at them suspiciously and confirmed again: "Are you really here to deliver medicinal herbs?"
Xie Zhichan and Pei Yi both nodded.
The old man saw that there were indeed two carriages following them with a lot of bags on them. He smelled it carefully and it was indeed the bitter smell of medicinal herbs.
The old man instantly became enthusiastic, closed the door of the government office, and said to the few people: "Come with me quickly, the medicinal materials in the city have run out in the past few days, and Doctor Hang is in a very anxious time. If you really bring medicinal materials, it will definitely help Doctor Hang's urgent need."
Xie Zhichan intuitively felt that the Doctor Hang the old man was referring to was most likely her adoptive grandfather, the former chief physician of the Imperial Medical Service.
I couldn't help but ask one more question: "Who is this Doctor Hang? It sounds like the old man admires him very much."
The old man walked in front and led the way, turning back from time to time and saying, "I heard you are from the capital and have lived in Lingnan for many years. You have been practicing medicine in Lingnan Prefecture. A strange disease broke out in the city, and the prefect ran away. These days, Doctor Hang's son has been helping to take charge of the matter. He has gathered all the sick people in the Bodhisattva Temple and Doctor Hang has been treating them. At first, I thought you were from the capital and wanted to punish Doctor Hang for his usurpation of power."
Xie Zhichan is now certain that Doctor Hang is indeed her adoptive grandfather. She did not expect that her grandfather is such a kind-hearted man. Even when the prefect of the government office ran away, he insisted on staying and treating these people for free.
Then Doctor Xiaohang should be her cousin.
Her uncle died of illness a few years ago after following her to Lingnan. The Hangzhou family did not like taking concubines, and her aunt injured her body during the exile, and she never had any more children. She died of illness a few years after arriving in Lingnan.
Therefore, the Hang family now has only one grandchild, her cousin.
Several people followed the old man along a long main street, turned into several alleys, and finally arrived in front of a Bodhisattva temple.
There was a sculpture of a flying fairy on each side of the door, with a compassionate look on their face. I wondered if it could really protect the patients in the temple from disasters.
When we entered the Bodhisattva Temple, it didn't look like the human world at all. Everywhere we looked, we saw sick and haggard people sitting against the beams or lying on the ground. Some of them were already terminally ill and dying. It was almost like hell on earth.