598 Receiving the Praise with Shame

"Well, a sheep died before that person. There might be other animals involved," Wang Yao calmly said.

"Really?" Professor Wu was surprised. He didn't expect animals were involved. "What do you mean?"

"The first person who died of this disease was Chen Jiagui. He was a notorious old bachelor in our village. Before he got sick, he ate the meat of that crazy sheep," Wang Yao said.

"Crazy sheep?" Professor Wu asked.

"Yes, the crazy sheep had been to a few places before it went crazy," Wang Yao said.

"Those so-called places of death?" Professor Wu asked. He had learned about those places in a report.

"Yes," Wang Yao said.

"Well..." Professor Wu really wanted to remind Wang Yao of the relevance of what he was talking about.

"By the way, this is the decoction's formula," Wang Yao said as he took out a piece of paper.

"Look, I promise I won't tell anyone about this formula," Professor Wu said before taking the formula.

"Never mind, take a look," Wang Yao said.

The formula contained scutellaria barbata, sophora, gentiana scabra, golden-and-silver honeysuckle, licorice, dandelion, and bristle grass.

Professor Wu's background was Western medicine, but he had some knowledge of Chinese traditional medicine. These herbs were quite common. He didn't understand why these common herbs could control such a horrible bacteria.

"These herbs are quite common," Professor Wu said.

"You are right," Wang Yao said. "But, the last two herbs are not common."

"You mean dandelion and bristle grass?" Professor Wu asked.

He knew some practitioners used dandelion as a herb, but he had never heard anyone using bristle grass as a herb.

"Those two herbs are from the deadly places," Wang Yao said.

"What?" Professor Wu asked with surprise. "Inside those deadly places?"

"Not really. They were more around those places. Maybe within than 3 feet. There were only a few of them," Wang Yao said.

"You are fantastic," Professor Wu said after keeping silent for a long while.

He knew a lot of medical staff had been to those places to clean the bacteria. They must have seen the dandelion and bristle grass. However, none of them thought about using them to treat the disease.

Wang Yao saw it, thought about it, and did it. He was extraordinary.

"Can you show me those places?" Professor Wu asked.

"Sure," Wang Yao said.

He took professor Wu to the largest deadly place on the hill at west. The pit was covered by a large amount of lime powder. It looked very different from its surroundings.

"I almost took all the dandelion and bristle grass around here," Wang Yao said.

"There are more," Professor Wu said. He squatted down to look at a small grass. The grass was very close to the pit. "I heard there was nothing alive in the pit."

"Yes, apart from those deadly bacteria," Wang Yao said.

"Nature is so amazing! Even in a deadly place there was still a silver lining," Professor Wu said. "Nature has already provided us with a solution."

"Yeah, anyway, let's get out of here. It's not good to stay here for long," Wang Yao said.

He was fine, but professor Wu was just an ordinary person with ordinary fitness. Plus, he was nearly 60 years old. Wang Yao couldn't guarantee Professor Wu would not be affected if he stayed around the deadly place for too long.

"OK," Professor Wu said.

The two of them left the hill for Wang Yao's clinic.

"Do you have any more dandelion and bristle grass?" Professor Wu asked.

"Yes, wait a minute," Wang Yao said. He gave Professor Wu a bag of dandelion and bristle grass.

"Thank you. I really appreciate your assistance." Professor Wu could cultivate a large amount of dandelion and bristle grass using a special method based on the ones given to him by Wang Yao. With further assistance from Wang Yao's formula, he and his team could effectively control the spread of the bacteria.

"You are welcome," Wang Yao said after a moment of silence.

He also wanted this to be over as soon as possible. After all, this village was his hometown.

"The common dandelion and bristle grass won't work?" Professor Wu asked.

"No, I've tested it," Wang Yao said. "I think the ones I took from the deadly places have a certain resistance to the bacteria since they survived in such a harsh environment."

Professor Wu didn't linger for too long. He took the two herbal grasses and a formula, as well as two decoctions brewed by Wang Yao, and headed back to the hospital.

Upon returning to the hospital, he immediately contacted the relevant personnel from the province and asked them to grow a large amount of dandelion and bristle grass as soon as they could.

"By the way, Professor Wu, can I ask why you want us to cultivate the two plants?" one personnel asked.

"These two plants are major components of the decoction treating those infected villagers," Professor Wu said.

"I see, and the formula was created by you?" the person asked.

"No, someone else did," Professor Wu said.

"May I ask who?" the person asked.

"Sorry, I can't tell you at this stage," Professor Wu said.

Although the person had queries, he arranged people to start cultivating the two herbs immediately.

The patient in the isolated room remained stable. The bacteria inside his body had been controlled and was decreasing.

"His body started to have immunity against the bacteria," one of Professor Wu's assistants said.

"Good," Professor Wu said.

They were almost successful in curing the disease. Everyone felt relieved. They could eventually relax a bit.

As time went by, the cultivation of the dandelion and bristle grass was rapid.

During the days when the village was at a state of siege, a lot of people came to the village to see Wang Yao. However, they were blocked by armed and unarmed police force, so they had to leave. They had also heard about the disease in the village. Wang Yao presumed he wouldn't have many patients.

"Have you heard one of the villages in our county got isolated due to plague? A number of people had died," a man from one of the villages in Lianshan said.

"What plague? It's a contagious disease," his fellow villager said.

"Have you ever been to school? A contagious disease is a plague, same thing," the man said.

"Get to the point, man, which village are you talking about?" his friend asked.

"The Wang family's village," the man said.

"I see," his friend said.

Without clarification, rumors like this were out of control. People were spreading the rumors faster than the Internet.

Two villagers escaped from the village through the paths on the hill. They were found missing the next day.

This is not good! Everyone who got the news had the same feeling.

No one knew if they had got infected or not. If they had been infected, no one knew when they would start to get sick or how many more people would be infected.

A special arrest warrant had been released. The people wanted were not criminals. They were two ordinary citizens who had escaped from the village.

"To some extent, their threat was bigger than most criminals," said the senior officer who made the order.

From then on, the police officer had roll call every day in the morning and in the evening. The armed officers started to patrol on the hills.

Hmm!

Wang Yao didn't like it at all. The armed officers could access anywhere, including Nanshan Hill. He didn't want his secret to be discovered. It could bring him a lot of trouble.

This is gonna be tricky.

He thought for a while before making a phone call. The person at the other side of the phone acted immediately.

The patrolling policemen didn't go anywhere near Nanshan Hill. They kept good distance from the hill or made a detour around it.

"Why are we not allowed to get close to that hill?" a police officer asked.

"Don't ask questions. That hill could be dangerous," another police officer said.

"I heard the bacteria possibly originated from Nanshan Hill," the other police officer said.

"Really? I thought the bacteria was from the hill on the west," the first police officer said.

"Who knows? Anyway, don't go anywhere near it for your own good," the other officer said.

A made-up excuse would eventually become fact as long as everyone believed in it.

Nanshan Hill remained peaceful and mysterious during the turmoil.

Finally, the first cured patient appeared in the hospital.

With tremendous effort, a large number of dandelion and bristle grass were ready to use. Numerous decoctions were in production based on the formula provided by Professor Wu. Up until now, nine people had died of the disease.

"We will be cured!" The patients in the isolated room cheered.

"Thank you so much, Professor Wu!" The leader of the county was really appreciative of Professor Wu, a specialist from Beijing. He believed it was Professor Wu who found a way to resolve the crisis.

The leaders from Qi province also called Professor Wu to express their gratitude.

"I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this," Professor Wu said.