In the mid-afternoon, Xia Wenjin returned from the dical hall. Hearing the sound of horse hooves, Huangfu Jingchen went out to et her. Noticing her tired face and heavy expression, his heart sank as he asked, "Did you check it out? What’s the situation? Were many people affected by the miasma?"
Without entering the house, Xia Wenjin lowered her voice and said gravely to Huangfu Jingchen, "I have a bad feeling. It’s not due to the miasma, but because the symptoms are sowhat similar, it has been overlooked."
Huangfu Jingchen was taken aback, "It’s not the miasma? Then what’s the cause?"
"We haven’t found the cause yet!" Xia Wenjin lowered her voice, looking at Huangfu Jingchen, and said, "I suspect this disease is contagious!"
Hearing the word "contagious," Huangfu Jingchen’s face also turned grave.
"Is it highly contagious?"
Xia Wenjin said, "Today, I spent most of the day at Doctor Zhang’s clinic. Most of the patients admitted there have symptoms similar to Zhuzi’s mother. One or two, or four or five would have been manageable, but just this morning, there were forty-three cases. Moreover, many of the patients know each other. They all share a common characteristic of frailty. So are frail due to old age, so due to frequent illnesses, and so due to youth. Only very few of these people had gone up the mountain; most stayed ho without going out."
Huangfu Jingchen understood, "If it were due to the miasma, it would be concentrated in a location where the miasma is thickest, or those who went up the mountain would be affected. Although young adults are stronger and more resistant, they go out to work more often and are more likely to inhale the miasma, yet they are unaffected. This indeed indicates a problem."
Xia Wenjin turned to look at Huangfu Jingchen and said, "So, I’m worried it’s a seasonal epidemic!"
The words "seasonal epidemic" changed Huangfu Jingchen’s expression. An epidemic is like the spring plague, sumr epidemic, autumn epidemic, and winter plague. A seasonal epidemic is the sumr plague. According to dical books, "Symptoms arise from adverse energy, possibly causing headache, fever, or swelling neck, a plague originating from the heavens. If one person falls ill, it infects the household, the household infects the village, and the village infects the town!"
Huangfu Jingchen said seriously, "Are you sure?"
Xia Wenjin said, "Not completely certain, just suspicious. After all, every year in this area, similar symptoms appear due to the miasma. If it’s nothing, that’s best; if not, I’m afraid they still won’t believe it. Now that there are not many who are sick, if more people get infected, it will be out of control!"
"What should we do next?"
Xia Wenjin smiled slightly, appearing relaxed, "The best way, of course, is to concern ourselves with nothing and continue our journey, waiting for ti to reveal whether it’s truly a seasonal epidemic or just ordinary miasma poisoning!"
She looked at Huangfu Jingchen, "Even if it is a seasonal epidemic, since it’s still early, leaving soon ans avoiding infection. After all, a major outbreak could leave no chicken or dog alive within a hundred miles!"
Huangfu Jingchen asked, "Can it be treated?"
Xia Wenjin shook her head and said, "For a seasonal epidemic, there’s no trace to follow, no idea where the infection ca from, so it’s impossible to prescribe the right dicine. It requires continuous developnt of redies. It’s possible the redy won’t be found before everyone is dead."
Her expression turned more helpless as she added, "And as you can see, this entire town, with seven or eight villages, has only one doctor, who is both incompetent and greedy. The situation is dire due to a lack of dicines and doctors. Hopefully, it’s not a seasonal epidemic and just miasma poisoning; perhaps after four or five days, the situation will improve!"
"So, you plan to stay here?"
"Yes, we need to figure out what exactly is happening!"
"If it really is a seasonal epidemic, you won’t be able to leave."
Xia Wenjin thought for a mont and said, "That’s right, if it truly is a seasonal epidemic, the entire town must be sealed off, and no one will be able to leave."
Huangfu Jingchen suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand, saying, "Wenjin, let’s leave quickly!"
Xia Wenjin glanced at him and said, "Hmm?"
Huangfu Jingchen said, "This is not a task for an individual. It should be reported to the Governnt, and they should send doctors and supplies."
Xia Wenjin nodded and said, "You’re right, you should go!"
"You’re not leaving?"
Xia Wenjin said indifferently, "I am a doctor!"
"Do you intend to risk your life?" Huangfu Jingchen’s expression turned grave.
Xia Wenjin brushed away his hand and said, "I can’t leave!" With the situation unclear, if she were to leave now, she would never be at peace if it truly were a seasonal epidemic.
She pressed her temples, feeling as if sothing was on the tip of her mind, but she couldn’t recall it at the mont. Her intuition told her it was sothing important. Since she couldn’t rember, she decided to set it aside for now. She turned to Huangfu Jingchen and said, "I won’t leave, but you have to. You’re not a doctor; staying here won’t help, and you might end up in danger. Tomorrow morning, leave as soon as you can!"
"If you don’t leave, why should I? Do you think I’m afraid of dying?" Huangfu Jingchen’s eyes showed anger.
Xia Wenjin sighed and said, "This is not a ti for stubbornness. If this becos real, it will be very serious. You ca here because of and the Jade Pendant. This is unexpected for you, and you shouldn’t have to bear this burden. So, why be stubborn? Besides, what help can you provide by staying? You don’t know dicine!"
Huangfu Jingchen’s face turned cold, "If you stay, I’ll stay! If you leave, I’ll leave!"
Xia Wenjin was annoyed, "Why won’t you listen? I said if this is real, it involves life-and-death matters. To you, I’m just a stranger, a passing acquaintance. We’ve only traveled together for a short while. We’re not friends, and we have no relationship. I don’t want to know about your past, present, or future. You don’t know mine either. Why are you so insistent on staying?"
Not friends? No relationship?
These two sentences were like daggers, piercing straight into Huangfu Jingchen’s heart. The pain enveloped him like a web, suffusing him, subrging his entire being. He let out a faint smile, though it was sowhat bleak, stubbornly saying, "Since there’s no relationship, why does it matter to you whether I stay or leave?"
Xia Wenjin: "..."
Indeed, it seems it truly has nothing to do with her. If she didn’t know why he stayed, if she didn’t know his feelings.
She decided to try to persuade him one more ti, "Huang Zheng, you haven’t experienced anything like this before. Let tell you, if this is real, maybe even reporting it to the Governnt won’t help. The only outco might be that everyone is trapped here, left to their fate. The despair of having no way to survive and no outside aid is not sothing you want to experience!"
Huangfu Jingchen looked at her, "And you?"
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