"What is this medicine for?"
"Does the lady believe in strengthening her body and improving her health?"
"I believe it can prolong life, and its taste is intoxicating and refreshing."
There were no further questions about his abrupt departure, nor about his long journey. Their tacit understanding seemed to have been cultivated long ago.
Yan Shu blinked, looking innocent, and sat down on the edge of the bed. She took a cloth bag from beside the pillow and hung it around her neck.
Nie Qingyue looked down at the rope and cloth bag on her chest, recalling how she had seen some elderly people and children on the street with signs hanging around their necks with addresses or other information to prevent getting lost, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Yan Shu looked puzzled, but calmly instructed, "Don't leave this room unless necessary, and always keep the thing around your neck with you."
Nie Qingyue tore open the bag, revealing some round meatballs. The smell was similar to, or rather stronger than, the smell in the air. "Hmm, the head is here, the bag is here. Husband, how long have you been here?"
"Only two or three days earlier than you. Where did you learn first aid from, Madam?"
"Huh?" She had always felt that Yan Shu wouldn't ask this question, so she hadn't prepared an answer. After thinking for a few seconds, she pushed the question back: "What does my husband think?"
"I have heard that the Nie family has a library."
Nie Qingyue suddenly understood, but still asked knowingly, "So what?"
"Madam, do you know what the village doctors do most besides seeing patients?" Yan Shu curled the corners of his mouth, but he wasn't actually smiling.
Nie Qingyue remained silent.
When people lack confidence in their own abilities, they seek methods and paths offered by others for reliance, even if those paths are not entirely reliable. Besides seeing patients, doctors probably spend most of their time searching through ancient books and notes.
"Even your husband can't do anything?" Yan Shu would never have asked her such a question if the situation hadn't been extremely dire. He had always adhered to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs more thoroughly than she had.
"If one person contracts the disease, the whole family will be infected. If the whole family is infected, the whole village will die. This description may be exaggerated, but it is not an exaggeration." Yan Shu said in a calm tone, his expression somewhat silent and serene.
Nie Qingyue didn't know if someone who had brought countless lives back to life would feel powerless in the face of rapid, large-scale deaths. She only felt that she couldn't bear to see Yan Shu's expression. It wasn't sadness, but rather self-blame, and perhaps something else she couldn't understand.
"The first aid techniques were taught in class, not in medical books or ancient texts," Nie Qingyue replied truthfully after a moment's thought. "A doctor's duty is to treat; as for how to stop the spread, why not leave that to others?"
Yan Shu looked at her, wanting to say something, when the closed door was pushed open: "Young Master Nie?" It was Murong Luo, disguised as a man, but his voice was hoarse and low compared to the previous two days. When he saw Yan Shu sitting on the edge of her bed, a fleeting look of surprise flashed in his eyes.
"I'll come again tomorrow." Yan Shu nodded and left.
"Girl, do you know that guy?" Murong Luo closed the door and rushed over to get straight to the point.
“Little boy?” Nie Qingyue chuckled. “That’s my husband.”
Murong Luo stared wide-eyed at Nie Qingyue for a long time before laughing incredulously: "That kid really did get married. I didn't believe it when his third master told me."
Although Nie Qingyue really wanted to gossip a bit, Murong Luo had clearly already taken action: "How did you two meet? How long have you known each other? Who made the first move?"
The image of a strong woman in Nie Qingyue's mind was shattered into pieces.
Nie Qingyue stayed in a room specially set aside in the village for doctors from the city. Pushing open the door, one could see about a dozen doctors huddled together, frowning and discussing something. Ancient medical books were spread out on a table, and baskets of various medicines were scattered everywhere. It was probably the safest place in the village.
Yan Shu wasn't among the doctors. Nie Qingyue smiled with narrowed eyes. She had promised that the head and the bag would stay, but she hadn't promised not to go out.
The doctors didn't farm, but they still needed to eat. The meals they received in the village were a portion of the grain that the villagers contributed to the village's public grain quota each year. The village chief's original intention in doing this was clearly to save up for famine, but in recent years, the weather in Yingmo has been favorable and the farmers have lived a life of plenty. Over time, the rule was abolished, but that small amount of public grain was still stored in the village's granary.
It would be better not to come at all than to stay indoors and be taken care of. Nie Qingyue tiptoed out and followed Murong Luo to the granary to get rice.
Behind the barren mountains lies a village with fertile black soil and fertile fields. The terrain is flat and open, offering a wide and comfortable view. It was only early winter, otherwise, what one would see would surely be a vast expanse of beautiful greenery. Unlike the houses in Wuhuang or Mojing, which are separated by alleys and walls, the houses in the village are closely packed together, giving a sense of intimacy.
If it weren't for this strange infectious disease, it would probably be considered half a harmonious and peaceful paradise, Nie Qingyue thought with a touch of regret.
The granary had clearly been idle for a long time; apart from the recently replaced lock, the corners were covered in a thick layer of dust. Murong Luo unlocked the lock, and Nie Qingyue followed her inside. A musty smell filled the air; at the far end of the warehouse were piles of grain from many years ago. Nie Qingyue instinctively held her breath and exchanged a glance with Murong Luo, wanting to finish quickly and leave as soon as possible.
The dust in the corner was noticeably less than in other places, and several large earthenware jars were covered tightly with a white cloth. This must have been placed there in the last year when grain was delivered. Murong Luo lifted the cloth, but her face turned ashen and she let out a low cry. Nie Qingyue glanced up and then pulled the somewhat dazed Murong Luo out of the granary.
Several dead rats lay sprawled haphazardly in the rice jar, their gruesome forms emitting a foul stench. They had apparently crawled into the jar and been eating the rice until the rice dwindled, at which point they succumbed to starvation at the bottom. The mere thought of it made Nie Qingyue's stomach churn.
So, the old grain seemed cleaner and safer. Nie Qingyue covered her nose with a handkerchief and went inside. The old grain was indeed well-preserved, with the lids tightly sealed. Somewhat puzzled, Nie Qingyue filled a large bag with rice, closed the lid, and, with her thin arm around the bag, left without lingering for a moment.
"Don't people in the village keep cats?" Nie Qingyue muttered to herself.
"Cats?" Murong Luo looked at her with great surprise. "Why would you keep such wild and untamed animals?"
Nie Qingyue awkwardly chuckled and walked around. She had forgotten that in ancient times, dogs were the primary means of catching mice, while cats were still considered wild animals and were only domesticated as livestock during the Han Dynasty. Moreover, this inexplicable dynasty didn't use either dogs or cats; mouse control was usually done by heavy smoke and water.
On the way back, they didn't encounter many people, and all the houses remained tightly shut. Suddenly, one door opened, and a man with a sorrowful face staggered out. He was a handsome but thin young man, none other than Xiao An, Murong Luo's assistant.
Xiao An rushed towards the clinic, pulling the slow-witted old doctor along with her: "Dr. Li, Dr. Li, please save my grandma!" Nie Qingyue hesitated, wanting to follow, but Murong Luo grabbed her: "Leave it to the doctors, it's not good if one of them gets sick."
Nie Qingyue nodded and returned to the clinic. Feeling uncomfortable, she put down the rice and went back to her small room to change her clothes.
Just as I was in a daze, a heart-wrenching wail came from afar—no, it was more like an extreme cry of grief than a sob. It was uttered with all its might, and it was so powerful that it broke one's heart and soul.
Nie Qingyue's heart sank, and she clenched the clothes in her hand. It was as if Xiao An's tear-streaked face appeared in her mind's eye.
The door creaked open, and Yan Shu was there.
"What's wrong with Xiao An's grandma?" Nie Qingyue asked softly.
Yan Shu walked over and gently embraced her: "I didn't go to see." Nie Qingyue buried her head in his chest without speaking. She couldn't truly empathize with the grief of losing a loved one; her sorrow and sympathy outweighed her sadness. What truly shook her was fear.
"I've heard that the disease is really strange. As long as you come into contact with the sick person or anything from that village, a perfectly healthy young man will be half dead the next day."
"—Isn't there still half a piece left?"
"Then it'll be gone by the third day."
She dismissed the conversation in the teahouse as an exaggeration. With the advanced medical technology of the 21st century, even a domineering cancer patient has at least two or three months of lingering life. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like to die within a day or two from coughing up blood.
Last night, Murong Luo was gossiping and telling her that Xiao An's grandmother was doing well, finally putting Xiao An's mind at ease. Today, all she hears are heart-wrenching cries. It seems that only now does she realize the situation she's in, the problem she's facing. An epidemic affecting hundreds of people isn't something that can be solved with clever tricks or schemes. This is ancient times, without effective medicine, disinfectant, or scalpels; those invisible and intangible germs are more ferocious and merciless than floods or wild beasts.
"Husband, let's go see Xiao An." Nie Qingyue stood there for a long time before she could calm herself down.
Yan Shujing paused for a few seconds, then said, "We'll be burning the corpses later."
"……Um."
-->
If it's not possible to do it alone...
Nie Qingyue rolled up her sleeves and started cooking in the kitchen.
She didn't change into women's clothing, but the doctors automatically treated her like a woman, entrusting her with all the usual tasks like mending clothes, cooking, and preparing medicine. Yan Shu said this was because the traditional Chinese medicine practitioners had taken her pulse when she fainted, which made Nie Qingyue a little annoyed, because the TV series had fooled her again.
The scene on the day the body was disposed of wasn't as horrific as she had imagined. A white sheet and a fire; besides the blazing flames, Nie Qingyue only saw the figure of young Xiao An stubbornly standing guard by her side. That heart-wrenching cry seemed to have drained all of Xiao An's emotions; the innocent, childlike eyes of the teenage boy suddenly held many things Nie Qingyue couldn't understand, and he became increasingly taciturn from then on. Whether this counted as growth or not, Nie Qingyue felt a pang of heartache watching him, but only a pang.
He absentmindedly set out the bowls and chopsticks, inviting the doctors to come and eat, but no one came out for a long time. In the past, no matter how busy he was, he would only be short a few people, but today's situation was unprecedented.
She went outside to look at the house, which used to be packed with doctors, but it was empty. Nie Qingyue couldn't imagine how much worse the situation could be. Listless and unable to move, she sat in the empty house facing a table of food. Finally, when lunch turned into dinner, she learned the gist of the matter.
Some of the village's able-bodied men tried to escape before dawn, but were discovered by patrolling soldiers at the village entrance. The usually docile villagers suddenly became enraged and fought with the soldiers, attempting to force their way out. In the ensuing chaos, not many people died, but some soldiers who had entered the village during the conflict were unable to leave due to the situation, and their resentment naturally escalated into another fierce fight. The doctors, already busy seeing patients, were forced to split up and treat the wounded, both villagers and soldiers.
Nie Qingyue didn't need to think too much to know that the conflicts and contradictions involved were almost a tangled mess. After hearing Murong Luo's description of the situation, her heart grew colder. This village wasn't wealthy, but its favorable location meant it was well-off and its people were simple and honest. The fact that someone would be so heartless as to abandon their wives and children to fight against the soldiers, even though it only involved a small portion of the villagers, truly reflected the extent of their despair and helplessness regarding the future. If the able-bodied young people were like this, she dared not even think about what would happen to the defenseless orphans and widows.
“Madam has been lost in thought for a long time,” Yan Shu reminded her, pushing the medicine bowl toward her.
"Is that so?" He took the bowl and drank it down. The bitter, strong taste of the medicine rushed into his throat, but it seemed to taste much less than usual.
"Is the lady worried?"
Nie Qingyue paused for a moment, her hesitation more than worry. Yes, she was hesitant, ever since she had inadvertently caught a glimpse of Grandma Xiao An leaving yesterday.
Beneath the white sheet, his expression was relatively serene, though his skin was patched with purplish-black marks, which was somewhat alarming. Nie Qingyue remembered a high school English text about the Black Death. Young, intelligent European doctors, through meticulous experimental analysis, identified the source of the infection and informed the world, leading to the eradication of the epidemic within six months, after which people lived in peace and prosperity. Textbooks always emphasized positive moral education, stressing the importance of using scientific knowledge for field investigations, and the need for calm, rationality, and perseverance.
Unfortunately, she probably didn't learn half of these things, but she did remember the Black Death, which was named after the color black, a symbol of melancholy, despair, and fear. Its other name is the plague.
Nie Qingyue didn't have a strong savior complex, but she knew a little more about the disease than the villagers, and remaining silent always left her with a vague sense of guilt and unease. But what gave her the confidence to do these things? She couldn't remember a single thing about the pathology, prescriptions, incubation period, or symptoms of the plague.
She tapped the table in frustration: "Does my husband know anything about the first patient's condition?"
"The first person to fall ill?"
"Um."
Yan Shu looked at her with a bit of a puzzlement: "I was afraid it had already turned to ashes before I came." He put away the medicine bowl and looked directly into her eyes: "Madam said that concern leads to confusion. Who or what has caused Madam to concern herself?" His gentle and calm tone made people unconsciously feel at ease.
Nie Qingyue smiled bitterly. It was a question that could be answered with a little more thought, but when guilt and responsibility clashed with a lack of personal ability, that strange, boiling sense of powerlessness and anxiety made him lose his mind.
Why worry about anything? Perhaps what she fears isn't inability to do it, but rather doing it poorly. Medicine is not her forte, so she fears that her understanding of the plague might not be accurately expressed or applied.
“I’ve read about this plague before, but…”
"But you forgot?" Yan Shu finished her sentence for her.
Nie Qingyue shook her head, buried her face in her hands, and said in a muffled voice, "I don't understand and I can't explain it."
“…Then let’s pretend we never saw it,” Yan Shu moved her hand away. “A doctor’s duty is to treat, but as for how to stop the spread, why not leave that to others to consider? That’s what you told me back then, didn’t you?”
"Therefore, we should do what we can, and leave the treatment to the doctors."
Nie Qingyue was a little confused. Yan Shu's words played in her mind like background music. Suddenly, she had a flash of inspiration and after a long while, she slowly smiled and clenched the broad, warm hand beside her: "...Perhaps, I can be that other person."
The next morning, Yan Shu accompanied Nie Qingyue to visit several households, wearing a makeshift mask that Nie Qingyue had sewn on the spot. The purpose of the trip was twofold: to confirm the situation and to understand the current state of the village.
The village doctor didn't provide much information and wasn't very welcoming to her, an outsider. After impatiently answering the questions of the first patient, he muttered a complaint: "They won't let people live in peace, and they won't let them have a good time after they die."
Nie Qingyue hadn't paid attention, but Yan Shu casually asked, "What happened to him before he died?"
The village doctor's resentment seemed to have found an outlet, and he couldn't stop: "That scoundrel still owes me medical bills. He's a complete hooligan. He has perfectly good fields at home, but he doesn't cultivate them peacefully. He's always stealing melons from Wang's family today or chickens from Li's family tomorrow. Before I got sick, I even saw him stealing emergency grain from the granary. It's bad enough that he got this strange illness and is suffering retribution, but he also drags the village down with him, harming countless people. Sigh!..." Nie Qingyue understood. Seeing that he was about to ramble on, she thanked Yan Shu and left. That granary had been idle for a long time and was probably full of sick rats. If he went to steal grain, getting bitten by fleas wouldn't be a big deal.
The once peaceful and tranquil village was now shrouded in gloom and despair. Along the way, only a few families were completely spared from the disease. Those who were seriously ill lay in bed all day, seemingly on the verge of death, while their caregivers appeared pale and delirious. The fear of death brought by the unknown disease shrouded the village.
“Husband, remember to bring this when you go out to see patients,” Nie Qingyue pointed to the roughly made mask. “Try to avoid contact with patients’ saliva, blood, phlegm, etc. It’s best to cover your hair and hands when you see patients. Change your clothes and steam them in hot water every time you come back.” Nie Qingyue spoke seriously, as if facing a major crisis. As Yan Shu listened, a faint smile slowly appeared on his lips. “Wouldn’t it be best to only show your eyes?”
Nie Qingyue nodded: "If you can, quickly change your clothes so I can disinfect them." She wished she could make Yan Shu wear glasses, but unfortunately, they weren't available in this era.
Are there any other points to note?
Nie Qingyue thought for a moment and said, "Yes, keep a smile on your face and maintain a cheerful mood. Believe that your excellent medical knowledge will definitely be able to overcome the difficulties."
Yan Shu turned around to change his clothes, letting out a soft "hmm" to indicate that he understood.
After walking around, I got a general idea of what was going on. The concept of isolation in ancient times was vague, yet it certainly existed. Under the guidance of the doctors, the village had set aside a few rooms as wards, but this number was far from meeting the actual needs. In addition, patients feared that going there would be a death sentence, and their families were unwilling to be separated. For various reasons, the wards mostly housed lonely, destitute patients. Doctors took turns keeping watch in the wards, while the rest of the staff discussed matters or made visits.
The complete eradication of the plague depended not only on medical technology but also on the effective management and rule of the governing institutions. However...