Chapter 342 - Chapter 342: Chapter 338: Treating the Disease_1

Chapter 342: Chapter 338: Treating the Disease_1

Yingbao gently stroked Dahei’s ears and fed it a medicinal pill made from honeysuckle, atractylodes, astragalus, and ephedra.

Dahei wagged its tail even more happily and licked its young master’s hand affectionately.

Yingbao went to check on Zhang Yuying and Zhang Xiaolang, then went to inspect their well.

The water level in the well was nearly up to the brim, while the water clarity was far from ideal.

Yingbao asked her aunt to boil a pot of water and sanitize all the bowls, chopsticks, and containers in the house. After washing her hands, she finally picked some herbs from her medicine box to brew.

She did it quietly herself, replacing the boiling water with water from the Pupil Spring.

She prepared two doses of herbs in two separate pots, boiled down from five bowls of water to one. Yingbao then poured the medicinal liquid into another container for her aunt to feed to the two children.

The remaining residue was reused by Yingbao by adding some more water, boiling it slightly, then pouring it out for Hong Xiao and her aunt to drink.

Afterwards, she asked, “Aunt, how is my eldest cousin and his family?”

A couple of days ago, she had seen her eldest cousin and even brought them presents. His father-in-law family had also paid a visit to the Jiang family to congratulate Jiang Jie on his academic results as a scholar.

No one could have predicted that an epidemic would break out the very next day.

Jiang Yunniang downed a bowl of medicine in one gulp and said: “Dacheng’s family is okay. His father-in-law was alerted to something amiss and came to inform us. Who could have predicted that catching a few fish could lead to such a disaster for Yuying.”

After the rainfall, floodwaters had collected in many parts of the city. A lot of fish flowed into these areas from the rivers, mostly quite large in size, some as long as half a human’s arm. Many households rolled up their trousers and went out with wooden bowls to catch the fish, Yuying and Xiaolang had also caught two fish and brought them home. As a result, they had contracted the disease.

Yingbao continued to brew medicine, this time using three large pots. She set up three small stoves in the courtyard and put the pots on top.

She rushed to the kitchen and filled the three pots with water in an instant before carrying them out one by one.

Seeing this, Jiang Yunniang came over to lend a hand, “Let me cook the medicine.”

Yingbao added herbs into the pot, telling her aunt, “Once you’ve finished brewing the medicine, pour it into a bamboo tube. Remember to pour it into a bowl each time you feed Yuying and the others, half a bowl each time, and only three times a day.”

Jiang Yunniang nodded continuously: “I understand.”

“I’ll go to the pharmacy now to buy some more herbs.” Yingbao said and quickly went out of the courtyard.

Jiang Yunniang called out loudly: “Yingbao, let Hong Xiao accompany you.”

“No need.” Hong Xiao going with her would be inconvenient when it came to collecting items. Yingbao could easily disguise herself with a carrying basket on her back, managing to bring back any amount of items, it was very convenient.

Yingbao hurried off to several pharmacies, but could only buy a small amount of herbs, which worried her greatly.

Following that, she ventured to the medical bureau and found it absolutely packed with patients both inside and out.

Much of the staff and students were busy brewing medicine in the back yard.

Somebody sharp-eyed recognized Yingbao and immediately called her over, “Isn’t that a student from the Yin Yang Department? Hurry and come help.”

Left with no choice, Yingbao strolled over and asked, “Does the medical bureau still have any atractylodes left?”

Atractylodes, also known as xian jie, mainly treat gastrointestinal diseases. Her own estate had detoxifying herbs like honeysuckle and licorice, but they were sorely lacking in this particular herb.

Of course, they were also lacking in ephedra, but she had the Pupil Spring. As long as they had atractylodes, even without other herbs, everything should be fine.

The therapy for diseases was not about having more variety of herbs, sometimes only one type was needed to cure the illness.

This man put on a stern face and scolded, “What is a student from the Yin Yang Department doing asking for medicinal herbs? The medicine treating this epidemic must not be allowed to leave here.”

Yingbao, seeing his stubborn attitude, didn’t bother engaging with him and turned around to leave.

She still had important work to do, she couldn’t afford to waste her time here as a helper.

Seeing Yingbao disappear in a cloud of dust, the furious doctor whipped his sleeve and went to complain to the medical official.

The medical officer was also extremely busy and had no time to bother about such matters. He casually brushed it off with a few words and sent him away.

The kid was not even a formal student of the medical bureau, at best he was just a spiritual charlatan, and also a little disciple of Zhou Wuchang.

What could they do about it? Use some manpower to capture her and bring her back? Absurd!

Yingbao ran to several more medical halls and bought some medicinal herbs for treating the epidemic at high prices.

Seeing too many coming to buy medicines, these medical halls had collectively raised their prices.

These are heartless! Yingbao returned to her shop indignantly, then bumped into her eldest martial brother in the backyard. “Eh? Senior brother, you’ve come back.”

Zhou Hao nodded, he said: “Yingbao, the master is waiting for you at home.”

Hearing that her master was looking for her, Yingbao hurriedly asked, “What does he want?”

“Discussing the treatment of the epidemic.” Zhou Hao said. “Qinglong Taoist Temple has a lot of sick people there. If we don’t think of a solution soon, those people won’t be able to survive another two days and they’ll all die.”

Upon hearing this, Yingbao’s expression turned solemn.

That’s right, there was a great flood in her past life, and there was also an epidemic that had broke out then. A lot of people in the county died. The County Magistrate took extreme measures, gathering many sick people on Qinglong Mountain, and afterwards even dug a large pit on the mountain, throwing the dead bodies in to incinerate them.

So it’s starting again in this life?

“Okay, I will take care of the medicine and come back immediately.” Yingbao quickly ran into the kitchen, reached her hand into the large water vat when no one was around, instantly draining the water into a water vat in her storage space. Afterwards she filled it with water from the Pupil Spring, only then did she return to her father with Zhou Hao.

Master Zhou was indeed here, sitting in the hall, having a chat with old Mr. Wu.

Seeing Yingbao, he nodded: “Yingbao, come with me to the Qinglong Taoist Temple. Many sick refugees have gone to the temple to beg for medicine, but found themselves bedridden.”

The Temple Head was almost frantic, but he couldn’t just abandon those people down the mountain, and had no choice but to ask Zhou Wuchang for help.

Yingbao blinked, asked, “Master, do you have medicine?”

Zhou Wuchang: “The only thing your master managed to purchase was five kilos of thistle, and some licorice. Everything else was sold out.”

“Thistle and licorice will suffice.” Thistle can treat the intestines and stomach, and licorice is a detoxifier. Adding Lonicera japonica would be even better.

Yingbao looked at the wicker basket by master’s feet, which was filled with oil paper wrappings.

Zhou Wuchang stood up: “Let’s go now.”

Yingbao nodded, took out some pills for her father, told them to stay home, and assured them that she would be back soon.

But Jiang Sanlang was worried about his daughter and insisted on accompanying them.

Originally, Wei Zhan and Jiang Quan wanted to go too, but they were stopped by old Mr. Wu, who told them not to stir up trouble.

If more people went and fell ill, wouldn’t they be causing trouble for Yingbao?

Therefore, Yingbao secretly put some fruits and vegetables in her room, and went to Qinglong Taoist Temple with her father and Zhou Wuchang.

Qinglong Taoist Temple was the largest Taoist temple in the county, with dozens of Taoists inside. Now, there are a lot of refugees lying down inside and outside the temple.

The Temple Head had two outhouses dug outside beside the road, and even used mats to enclose them, making it convenient for these people.

“Taoist Zhou, you are finally back.” Seeing Zhou Wuchang returning again, bringing along his divine doctor apprentice, the Temple Head was overjoyed to tears. “You must be Yingbao, right? Come, join us in the temple.”

Seeing the fragile state of the people by the roadside, Yingbao did not waste time, saying, “Venerable one, no need for formalities. Please get two large pots ready, I am going to decoct medicine.”

“Alright, alright!” The Temple Head was hoping that the divine doctor could cure these people as soon as possible so he could ask them to leave the mountain.

With hundreds of people here, his temple’s rice and flour disappeared day by day. He was already heartbroken. Now, one after another people were falling sick, the Temple Head felt numb all over.