After leaving the Marquis’s mansion, Xiao Jingduo headed straight for the south of the city.
Yesterday, with servants by his side, he couldn’t investigate thoroughly. Now, without irrelevant people around, Xiao Jingduo could finally work freely.
He first went to Old Man Yu’s home. Old Man Yu was the elderly person he had saved yesterday. As a doctor, Xiao Jingduo naturally needed to check on the patient’s condition. Old Man Yu’s condition remained the same, but fortunately, it hadn’t worsened. Xiao Jingduo was very worried, but the other members of the Yu family were overjoyed and kept thanking him.
After taking the pulse, Xiao Jingduo asked Madam Yu, “Has Old Man Yu’s behavior been unusual these past few days?”
Miss Yu frowned, thought for a moment, and then shook her head, “I don’t know. Grandfather has been the same as usual these past few days. I don’t know why he fell ill.”
“The same as usual,” Xiao Jingduo pressed, “What does he normally do?”
“Grandfather gets up at dawn, first goes out to fetch water. When he returns, I start cooking. After breakfast, my father and the others go out to work. Grandfather stays at home, either going out to chat with people or doing some chores at home. When it gets dark, we eat dinner, talk a bit, and then go to sleep. Grandfather has been like this for the past few days. I haven’t noticed anything different.”
“At his age, Old Man Yu still goes out to fetch water every day?”
“We’ve told him to let my younger brother do it from now on, but he insists on doing it himself. You see, sir, many families here share one well. Early in the morning, you can meet many familiar faces at the well. People always stop to chat, and it’s one of the most important pastimes of the day. We thought Grandfather couldn’t bear to part with these old acquaintances, so we let him have his way.”
Xiao Jingduo asked many more questions, and Madam Yu answered them all. Old Man Yu’s daily routine was extremely ordinary, with nothing particularly special about it. Xiao Jingduo couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the problem might have occurred, so he had to set this matter aside for now and continue investigating other households.
He stayed in the south of the city for a day, returning to the mansion just before curfew. As soon as he got back to Qingze Court, he locked himself in his study to carefully sort through the information he had gathered today.
In the past few days, many people had fallen ill, with symptoms generally including sudden high fever and weakness in the limbs. Those with stronger bodies could last about ten days, but most people couldn’t even make it past seven days. Even more strangely, after death, some people would develop black spots on their bodies that looked like handprints from a distance, which was extremely eerie. This epidemic came on fiercely, but fortunately, it had only occurred in the south of the city so far. This strange disease hadn’t been seen in other parts of Chang’an yet. But things couldn’t go on like this indefinitely; sooner or later, the whole of Chang’an would be affected.
A sudden flash of insight struck Xiao Jingduo. He vaguely felt that he had grasped something, but couldn’t quite figure it out. Knowing that rushing would only make things worse, he simply closed his eyes and carefully recalled his journey today.
Xiao Jingduo’s train of thought became clearer and clearer. He opened his eyes, picked up a brush, and drew the route through the south of the city on paper. Finally, struck by inspiration, he marked the households with sick people with black dots on the map.
After finishing the drawing, Xiao Jingduo looked at the map he had casually sketched and keenly noticed that the black dots were very concentrated, surrounding a central point in a square formation. Xiao Jingduo’s gaze fixed tightly on that center, and he suddenly realized.
That was a well. No wonder – it turned out that this plague was spreading through the well.
Xiao Jingduo stood up abruptly and hurried to get his medical books. Now that he knew the disease was spreading through the well, things would be much easier to handle.
Xiao Jingduo quickly flipped through several volumes of medical books, only to find, to his dismay, that many common water-borne plagues did not cause black spots to appear after death. In other words, he still couldn’t figure out exactly what this disease was.
Xiao Jingduo rarely felt such a headache, but Old Man Yu couldn’t wait any longer. Old Man Yu was already old and weak, and after contracting this strange disease, he had become even more frail. Xiao Jingduo had previously written him a prescription for recuperation, which, although unable to cure him, at least prevented his condition from worsening. But this was only a temporary measure, and Old Man Yu was already at his limit.
Xiao Jingduo sighed helplessly. He had no choice but to take out the formula for the Red Heat Powder. After carefully studying it, he decided to try his luck with Old Man Yu tomorrow.
Early the next morning, the Yu family’s door was knocked. Miss Yu hurriedly ran to open it. Seeing who it was, she exclaimed joyfully, “Young Master Xiao, you’ve come so early!”
Xiao Jingduo greeted Miss Yu and said, “I’ve come to see Old Man Yu.”
“Please, come in,” Miss Yu quickly made way, then shouted loudly, “Father, Grandfather, Young Master Xiao is here!”
All the Yu family members came out to greet Xiao Jingduo. He smiled slightly, nodded in acknowledgment, and then quickly walked to Old Man Yu’s room, asking, “How is Old Man Yu’s condition?”
“We’ve been giving him medicine as you instructed. He was fine, but last night he suddenly developed a fever, which hasn’t broken yet. Young Master Xiao, what should we do?”
Xiao Jingduo took Old Man Yu’s pulse, his brow furrowing more and more. As he stood up and turned around, he found all the Yu family members crowded in the room, looking at him expectantly.
The Yu family was just an ordinary household. Their situation was naturally better than the villagers, but in Chang’an, they were barely getting by. Without natural disasters or human calamities, the Yu family had some modest savings, but once they contracted an epidemic, especially a strange disease that even the imperial physicians couldn’t solve, they would exhaust all their resources and still not be able to save their loved one’s life.
So this mysteriously appearing Young Master Xiao was the Yu family’s only hope. They eagerly stared at Xiao Jingduo, and when they saw him stand up with a troubled expression, they immediately understood, their hearts sinking.
Someone gathered the courage to ask Xiao Jingduo, “Young Master, can Grandfather still be saved?”
Xiao Jingduo was also struggling internally. As a doctor, he really couldn’t use a medicine he wasn’t sure about to delay the patient’s treatment, but besides this, he had no other options. Xiao Jingduo could only tell the truth: “To be honest with you all, yesterday I found an unconventional prescription passed down from my ancestors. I’ve made some modifications, and it might be able to control this plague. But I have no confidence in this prescription, and I shouldn’t use it on Old Man Yu. However, I have no other option. Do you agree to try it?”
The Yu family members looked at each other. A person who seemed to be the head of the family gritted his teeth and said, “Young Master Xiao, please go ahead and prescribe the medicine. Life and death are predetermined by heaven. You’ve done so much for my father, and we’re already extremely grateful. Even if Father ultimately doesn’t make it, we can only say that heaven didn’t give him a chance. We won’t blame you.”
“Alright,” Xiao Jingduo nodded. With a grave expression, he wrote down a prescription and handed it to the Yu family. “Buy the medicine as I’ve instructed. At this point, we can only take a risk.”
After taking the medicine, Old Man Yu immediately fell into a deep sleep. Xiao Jingduo stayed by his bedside, checking his pulse at regular intervals. The Yu family members also kept watch with him. As darkness fell, Xiao Jingduo finally sighed with relief: “The most dangerous period has passed. As long as he doesn’t develop a fever tonight, it should be fine. I’ll come back tomorrow. If there are no major problems tomorrow, it should be successful.”
“Really?” Miss Yu burst into tears of joy and was about to kneel before Xiao Jingduo. “Thank you, Young Master!”
“Please don’t,” Xiao Jingduo was startled and hurried to help her up. “Miss Yu, please stand up.”
But Miss Yu wouldn’t move. Seeing this, other family members also wanted to bow to Xiao Jingduo. Overwhelmed, Xiao Jingduo quickly gave a few instructions and hastily left.
Heaven was merciful. Xiao Jingduo’s efforts over the past few days hadn’t been in vain. After Old Man Yu passed through the most dangerous period of the illness, his condition gradually improved. Eventually, he was able to walk a few steps with Miss Yu’s support. After checking his pulse, Xiao Jingduo finally smiled:
“Old Man Yu has basically recovered. From now on, pay attention to rest and avoid overexertion. In ten days, he will be able to move freely.”
“Thank you, Young Master Xiao,” Miss Yu said with a smile, her voice crisp and cheerful.
With Old Man Yu’s condition greatly improved, Xiao Jingduo had no reason to stay longer, so he stood up to take his leave. Seeing Xiao Jingduo rise, Miss Yu quickly ran over and said, “Young Master Xiao, are you leaving already? Why don’t you stay for a meal? I’ve already prepared it.”
“There’s no need to trouble yourself, Miss. I have other urgent matters to attend to. I’ll take my leave now.”
“Oh, Young Master!” Miss Yu called out several times to no avail. She dejectedly lowered her head, muttering almost inaudibly, “I didn’t even get to ask where he lives or how to visit him. How can he just leave like this?”
The Yu family’s madam, seeing through her daughter’s thoughts, sighed and walked over to say, “Child, this Young Master Xiao is clearly no ordinary person. Don’t be fooled by his plain dress; his clothes are all made of silk, far beyond what commoners can afford. Our family already owes him a great debt of gratitude that we can’t repay. As for anything else, don’t entertain such thoughts.”
“I know,” Miss Yu replied glumly.
Xiao Jingduo left the Yu household with a light step, quickly walking away. He had finally solved this thorny plague problem. Although he still had no clue about the ghost handprints, solving one issue at a time was progress.
Xiao Jingduo gradually slowed his pace and looked back towards the south of the city. To get to the bottom of the ghost handprints mystery, he might need to make a trip to the forbidden area of the imperial court.
Guarding the mortuary was not a pleasant job, especially with many bodies of those who died from supernatural causes inside. The guard spat in disgust, once again lamenting his bad luck.
As he was quietly complaining about his superiors, a voice suddenly came from beside him, startling the guard.
“Excuse me, officer, could I ask you to do something for me?”
The guard looked up to see a young man in plain white clothes standing before him, smiling slightly.
Realizing it was a person, the guard’s pounding heart finally settled. He secretly sighed in relief but outwardly maintained a stern facade as he reprimanded, “Who are you? This mortuary is restricted. Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to approach!”
Xiao Jingduo shook his head helplessly and asked with a smile, “Officer, do you really not recognize me?”
The guard was stunned. Before he could figure it out, he heard the impossibly handsome young man say, “I have urgent business with your superior. Please inform the Princess that Xiao Jingduo requests an audience.”
The guard finally remembered that this was the person the Princess had brought along that day. He was shocked for a moment before reacting, quickly shouting, “How dare you!”
“I’m not joking. This concerns the plague and cannot be delayed,” Xiao Jingduo said, staring steadily at the guard. Under such a gaze, the guard yielded, muttering, “I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
As it turned out, the efficiency of the Eastern Palace was extremely high. Before long, Xiao Jingduo was led away by two guards. After several turns, they soon arrived at a secluded courtyard.
The guards brought him to the door but refused to go further. A nearby eunuch saw him and asked in a shrill voice, “Are you Xiao Jingduo?”
“Yes.”
The eunuch looked him up and down and said, “Follow me.”
Xiao Jingduo had wondered why Rong Ke was making such a big fuss this time, but when he entered the room and looked up, he saw a young man in casual red clothes sitting at the table, browsing through official reports. Beside him sat a girl in purple clothes, her delicate profile visible as she concentrated on playing with a nine-linked rings puzzle in her hands.
Xiao Jingduo was stunned for a moment, then immediately bowed deeply, “Xiao Jingduo pays respects to His Highness the Crown Prince and to Princess Yangxin.”
Xiao Jingduo was shocked beyond measure. He had only intended to pass a message through the guard to Rong Ke and discuss something, but he never imagined that this message would be delivered directly to the Crown Prince.
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