A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 357 Plague, Pestilence

Plague is not caused by wind, cold, heat or humidity, but by a different kind of air between heaven and earth. Typhoid fever and heatstroke are caused by the normal air of heaven and earth, while epidemic is caused by the pestilential air of heaven and earth, which varies in amount in a year, in density in a certain place, and in strength and weakness in the four seasons.

The symptoms that Mu Liang contracted included fever without sweating, a slippery and rapid pulse, a red tongue, and persistent coughing and wheezing, which was even severe enough to cause coma and delirium. These were probably caused by the invasion of heat toxins into the body.

Si Yao immediately used needles to drain blood and relieve heat from his Dazhui, Taodao, Shangyang and Shaoshang acupuncture points, then wrote down a prescription and gave it to Xiaolu. He then pointed to the last two herbs on the prescription and said, "We already have most of the herbs, but we have to find these two locally."

"Fortunately, Sister Si Yao, you have the foresight to prepare a lot of medicinal herbs along the way." Seeing that only two herbs needed to be found temporarily, Xiaolu Chang breathed a sigh of relief and said as he looked at the bamboo basket full of medicinal herbs at his feet.

"Are there any medicinal herbs left in the pharmacy in this town?" Si Yao turned to ask Old Zhou who was standing beside her.

"Yes, but I don't know if there is anything you need. Before he left, that bastard village chief had the doctor in the pharmacy and those important medicinal materials taken away." Old Zhou thought for a moment and sighed helplessly.

Speaking of the mayor who cruelly abandoned the people in the town, Lao Zhou couldn't help but feel angry again. It was natural for people to be afraid of death, so he naturally wouldn't hate him so much, but this bastard secretly took away the only doctor in the town when he escaped. If he hadn't realized it later, how could he let them leave so easily?

Although the doctor was powerless against the plague, he could at least cook some medicine to relieve the mild symptoms and comfort the local people. After the village head and the doctor left, the town was in a panic. With this chaos, the number of people infected and dying naturally increased day by day. However, Lao Zhou, a foreigner and weak, could only watch and worry.

"The two medicines I want are betel nut and cardamom, which should be common medicines here in the south." After hearing what Lao Zhou said, Si Yao, as a doctor, was naturally heartbroken, but she couldn't say anything since things had come to this point. The most important thing was to save lives, so she continued.

"Miss, forgive my stupidity, but my friend is unconscious due to the burning sensation all over his body. Amomum villosum is a spicy food. If you give it to him, wouldn't it just add to the heat?" When Old Zhou heard this, his face changed slightly. He glanced at Mu Liang who was unconscious on the haystack and asked hurriedly in confusion.

He was a martial artist, and in his early years, he was young and energetic, so he inevitably injured himself. Over time, he became familiar with some medicinal herbs. However, although he was smart, he was content with the status quo and lazy, so he only had a superficial understanding of medical theory.

"Plague is caused by evil pestilence. Although cardamom is a pungent medicine, its strong pungent taste can clear turbidity and filth, and expel hidden evil. It will be harmless if used appropriately." Si Yao also explained immediately.

"Don't just look at one or two medicines. The medicines in a prescription are all complementary to each other. Aren't there medicines for clearing away heat?" Xiaolu also pointed to the prescription in his hand and said to Lao Zhou.

After listening to the two people's explanation, Lao Zhou's half-understanding naturally became clear, so he hurried out of the Taoist temple and went to the pharmacy in the town to look for the two medicines, betel nut and cardamom.

Seeing Xiaolu preparing medicine with a scale, Si Yao turned back to the main hall to diagnose the other infected people one by one, and recorded which ones were cold poison and which ones were hot poison.

When Lao Zhou came back from looking for medicine, Xiaolu was already decocting the medicine and was waiting for the two medicines in his hand.

"Where are you coming from?" Lao Zhou asked curiously while the medicine was being decocted.

He went out to check two days ago. Although half a month had passed, the plague was not over yet and there were still soldiers guarding various passages. Those who were allowed in must be doctors who were saving lives and healing the wounded.

"The land of Lanwu." Faced with the inquiries of this mysterious man whom he had only known for less than half an hour, Xiaolu was naturally on guard and only replied indifferently.

"Northeast direction, why are you here?" Old Zhou thought about it and asked in confusion.

According to the normal route, they should go straight to Guicheng, so why did they end up in this remote town?

"This is my first time in Lianzhou, I'm not familiar with it." Xiao Lu's face stiffened a little, then he cleared his throat and smiled.

In order not to reveal his identity, he could only pretend that he could not ride a horse, so Si Yao, who naturally became a person with poor sense of direction, brought him here in a daze.

After Mu Liang was fed two bowls of medicine soup in succession, the heat in his body began to gradually subside in less than half an incense stick of time, and his breathing became much more stable. Seeing this, Old Zhou was very grateful and admired Si Yao. He didn't expect that a young girl like her could have such high medical skills.

Si Yao didn't say much to thank Lao Zhou. After giving a few instructions, she went back to the main hall to look after other patients, while Xiaolu was still busy decocting medicine outside.

As night fell, Si Yao and Xiao Lu breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the patients sleeping peacefully in the main hall.

"Thank you for your hard work, both of you. I cooked some porridge outside, let's eat together." At this time, Lao Zhou also appeared outside the main hall and whispered to the two of them.

Under the starry night sky, the dead silence of the town was usually more eerie than during the day. The three of them had porridge and dry food for dinner in the deserted courtyard of the Taoist temple. Although the Taoist temple was a little far from the town, the night wind still brought a hint of the smell of rotting corpses. The three of them were so sleepy and hungry that they didn't care.

"Are all the remaining patients in the town brought to this Taoist temple by Senior Zhou?" After a long silence, Si Yao asked Old Zhou.

"Yes, no one cared about them, and I couldn't bear to see them struggling among the dead outside. But I'm not a doctor after all, and I couldn't do anything as I saw their condition getting worse. Fortunately, Miss Si Yao came." Old Zhou finished the porridge in his bowl, looked at the town outside the Taoist temple, and sighed.

“I guess it was you who cleaned up the dead bodies near the Taoist temple?” Si Yao couldn’t help but admire Senior Zhou’s righteousness, so he continued to ask.

"If these dead bodies are not cleaned up in time, other diseases may spread. But there are too many dead bodies and most of them have already rotted. I can only do my best." Old Zhou sighed again and replied.

"No wonder we saw thick smoke behind the town today. But it's strange that you have come into contact with so many sick people and walk among the piles of dead bodies outside every day, but you didn't get the plague." Xiaolu looked at Lao Zhou and couldn't help but become curious.

"I, Old Zhou, am full of righteousness and immune to all evil!" Old Zhou smiled and joked to Xiaolu.

Xiaolu naturally didn't believe what the drunk uncle in front of him said, so he turned to Si Yao to seek the doctor's advice, but Si Yao didn't answer him.

Although Lao Zhou was joking, he was not without reason. Usually, people with sufficient positive energy are not easily invaded by evil energy. Mortals are prone to illness because of insufficient positive energy, and evil energy takes advantage of the opportunity to enter, causing imbalance of yin and yang in the body. But Si Yao could see that Lao Zhou was a wine lover. A person who was always greedy for alcohol naturally could not be said to have sufficient positive energy, so she didn't know how to explain it to Xiaolu.

"This pill can prevent plague. Just in case, you should take one." After dinner, Si Yao handed a pill to Lao Zhou and said.

"Thank you very much." Old Zhou was convinced by Si Yao's medical skills, so he took the pill without hesitation and put it into his mouth. Then he smiled and asked, "Miss Si Yao, can you give me three more pills so that my companions can take precautions when they wake up tomorrow."

"Don't worry, senior. They still need to take other medicine for the symptoms. This pill is not suitable." Si Yao smiled faintly after hearing this.

"Thank you very much. It turns out I was too impatient." After listening to Si Yao's explanation, Lao Zhou suddenly smiled and bowed repeatedly.

Si Yao said nothing, returned the greeting and turned around to go on.