Natural disasters always hit the poor the hardest.
The thatched cottages of the poor in the west street all collapsed overnight.
Many people died.
Corpses were cleared out one by one and laid out in the street plaza.
When an earthquake strikes a place, wealthy families with means hurriedly leave the city, fearing aftershocks and the plague that usually follows earthquakes.
This earthquake in Jingzhou was extremely severe.
Many died, many were injured, and medical resources were overwhelmed. Being summertime, it was easy for an epidemic to break out, as countless historical records have shown.
Heaven shows no favoritism.
It won't spare your house from shaking just because you're poor.
It won't prevent you from getting hurt just because you're already sick.
Most people are expendable, mere NPCs.
It was said that the Jiang Family also suffered heavy losses. Besides the earthquake, huge stones fell from the sky, which couldn't be explained by science and could only be discussed in terms of theology.
At this time, rumors spread throughout the streets that it was because Inspector Jiang had destroyed the Shangqiu Convent. Heaven values all life, and retribution had come.
How could humans oppose Buddha? The masters of Shangqiu Convent were all disciples of Buddha and shouldn't be offended.
These rumors, originating from who knows where, quickly spread through every street and alley.
The Jiang Family managed things well internally.
With Great-aunt in charge, these rumors wouldn't reach the ears of Mianmian and Sister Yu.
Actually, on the night of the earthquake, Jiang Yu was startled and immediately got up to carry Meng Shaoxia.
Meng Shaoxia, with his feet dangling as he was princess-carried: ...
He thought he was ascending to heaven.
He was so scared he almost wet himself.
He quickly asked little Yu to put him down, reminding her that she was pregnant and shouldn't be startled.
Jiang Yu suddenly remembered she was pregnant and shouldn't lift heavy things, so she quickly put Meng down.
Perhaps due to the shock, she forgot about her morning sickness and didn't keep vomiting.
This was a considerate baby.
Jiang Yu touched her plump belly, which didn't look pregnant, just as if she had eaten too much and gained some weight.
Meng Shaoxia was truly frightened.
They had finally married and gotten pregnant, and he worried about any accidents.
If news of the Jingzhou earthquake reached the capital, his parents would surely worry.
He hurriedly wrote a letter to report their safety.
Outsiders felt the Jiang Family had suffered heavy losses, but in reality, only the back courtyard was hit. The only room damaged was Inspector He's guest room, possibly because it was close to the back courtyard.
The financial losses were manageable. Qin Luoxia, having come from humble origins, wasn't fond of porcelain and such, preferring gold and silver - durable things that could be dug out even if flattened.
However, Inspector He was a bit unnerved by the size of the craters in the Jiang Family's back courtyard. Even if meteorites had fallen, they couldn't have created such large holes. Were there originally so many underground tunnels?
It was like a maze of intertwining roots.
After the earthquake, the government offices were bustling, organizing rescue efforts, settling the injured, post-disaster reconstruction, and so on. Otherwise, there would be an epidemic or a rebellion.
Father, Elder Brother, and Brother-in-law all became busy.
School was suspended.
Jiang Mianmian thought she could have a few days off.
To lie flat at home.
But instead, she was told to go study with a new teacher.
At the dog-despised age of seven or eight, Jiang Mianmian wore a small robe, her hair tied in a round bun, wearing small boots, with a small ornament hanging at her waist. It wasn't a jade pendant, but a small sachet bag where she kept her little tree.
Inspector He helplessly looked at his little shadow. He felt that Jiang the Second was treating him too much like family.
It was one thing to let him hear those unspeakable, treasonous secrets, but to even entrust the child to him when going to the office?
Did they think he was very free?
Well, to be fair, compared to the local officials, he was slightly less busy.
Inspector He's main job was actually to assess officials, so wandering around was his work.
Inspector He asked Jiang Mianmian, "What do you want to do today?"
Jiang Mianmian thought for a moment and said, "Let's distribute medicinal soup. I heard that after a major disaster like an earthquake, especially in summer, it's easy for epidemics to break out. We can brew some medicinal soup to prevent diseases."
Mainly because if everyone else got the epidemic, her family couldn't escape it either.
Person-to-person transmission is quite fast.
Inspector He thought.
Very good.
So he took his student assistant Jizi, while Jiang Mianmian brought Pangya and some servants. They went to a square near their home, set up a large pot, lit a fire, and started brewing medicine.
Father had worked in the Medicine Preparation Department, so the family habitually kept various herbs at home.
They put the herbs in to boil, then added rice. What they made was actually more of a medicinal porridge. Although it was thin porridge, it could still fill stomachs.
Jiang Mianmian remembered that when she was young, her family was very poor, and having enough to eat was a problem.
Most people were in the same situation.
Once the big pot was ready, without any announcement that porridge was being distributed, people started lining up. Then more and more people came.
The student Jizi distributed the porridge, while Pangya maintained order in the queue.
Jiang Mianmian thought for a moment, then had the servants send a bucket to the government office for her father and his colleagues to drink as well.
There were so many people in line that one pot wasn't enough, so they set up another.
Mianmian stood in front of the newly set up pot, adding herbs and rice, while the servants added water and tended the fire.
Gradually, the fragrance of herbs wafted through the air.
More and more people lined up, until the end of the queue was out of sight.
Inspector He sighed inwardly. This was Jingzhou, where people's lives were relatively good. In other places, it might be even worse.
Jiang Mianmian also set up a stall on the side.
It displayed a sign saying "Treating Illnesses, Saving Lives".
She thought that after the earthquake, many people must be injured, so she could treat them.
Usually, people were reluctant to accept treatment from a young girl, always feeling that older doctors were more reliable. But after the earthquake, medical resources would surely be tight, so patients might come to her, giving her a chance to practice.
Jiang Mianmian wasn't acting out of a savior complex; her family's medicine and food didn't come from thin air.
Distributing medicinal porridge was to attract people.
She had a small pot on the side where she was boiling her medical instruments.
After tinkering for several years, she had barely put together a set of usable tools. But in the absence of antibiotics, proper sterilization was crucial.
The current tools were still a bit crude. She wondered if the meteorite iron from the back courtyard could be forged into a more delicate set.
Even though she had put up her sign,
She was too young.
Although grateful, those coming for porridge didn't approach her position to seek treatment.
She wasn't in a hurry.
She spread a clean white cloth and had a wooden box, carefully boiling her instruments, preparing.
Inspector He sat nearby, looking more like an old doctor, with people occasionally coming to ask about illnesses.
In the end, Inspector He had to stand up. He really couldn't diagnose illnesses.
As for his student, he felt she probably couldn't either.
But seeing her so earnestly come out to distribute porridge, Inspector He felt he shouldn't dampen her enthusiasm.
Her behavior was good and deserved affirmation.
Jiang Mianmian sat at her position, waiting for a long time, but no one came.
There were many people getting medicinal porridge, and among them was an exceptionally strong man whom Jiang Mianmian saw coming for the third time.
She didn't expose him though, because with his build, he surely needed to eat a lot to be full. Even three bowls of medicinal porridge wouldn't be enough.
The whole morning passed like this.
By noon, Father Jiang Changtian came to check on his daughter, bringing along a man with a bloody finger.
It was a yamen runner whose finger had been cut off. Jiang Changtian remembered that Mianmian was good at stopping bleeding, so he personally brought the man.
Jiang Mianmian was excited. Finally, a patient had come.
Although it looked like Father had personally cut off the finger and brought it...
