As Village Chief Liu and the villagers were speaking, the sounds of footsteps and crying grew closer and closer.
Those villagers had seen the firelight on this side of the valley, and they all walked towards Village Chief Liu's direction.
Before long, in the blurred vision obscured by the dark night and heavy rain, a group of figures appeared. Looking closely, the one leading them was none other than Village Chief Liu.
Peng Wang shouted loudly, "Village Chief Liu, how are things at the foot of the mountain?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Village Chief Liu quickened his pace in an instant. Without even standing firmly, he said in a crying tone:
"It's all because I didn't listen to your advice. Now the village has been completely submerged by the flood waters. Less than 30 percent of the people escaped."
Speaking to here, Village Chief Liu unexpectedly burst into tears, looking extremely miserable.
The villagers behind him also cried louder and louder.
All the villagers gathered in front of the cave, estimated to be about forty to fifty people.
Moreover, most of them were young people, with the elderly, weak, women and children only accounting for an extremely small portion.
Without even thinking, it was certain that those who had not been able to climb the mountain together must have perished.
Thinking of so many people dying in the flood waters, Peng Wang and Mo Jiuying felt a wave of grief.
It really fulfilled that saying - flood waters are merciless!
Now was not the time to feel regret. Peng Wang swept his eyes around and immediately made a decision.
All the women would go to the Mo family’s mountain cave. He would stay in the biggest mountain cave with the yamen runners and those male convicted criminals. They would give up their current mountain cave shelter to those villagers.
Although it would be more crowded this way, they couldn’t just watch those villagers have nowhere to stay.
After arranging everything, Mo Jiuying and He Zhiran brought some charcoal to the villagers for them to dry their clothes first.
As for food, they had not yet thought of a solution.
Mo Jiuying and He Zhiran had just handed the charcoal to Village Chief Liu when they suddenly heard someone cry out from among the villagers.
"Village Chief Liu, my family’s Li Tiezhu has fainted. What should I do? Our village’s medical practitioner was washed away by the flood waters. Who can treat my Tiezhu...?"
Upon hearing this, He Zhiran rushed forward without hesitation.
"I know some medical skills. Why don't you let me take a look?"
Seeing that the one volunteering so enthusiastically was a woman who looked very young, Village Chief Liu felt somewhat suspicious in his heart.
He did not believe at all that such a young girl would understand medical skills.
Peng Wang could discern his hesitation with one glance.
"Village Chief Liu, the young Madam Mo is no ordinary doctor. It would not be an exaggeration to call her a divine doctor."
Hearing Peng Wang crown her with the title of divine doctor, He Zhiran had no time to be modest.
She urged Village Chief Liu, "The situation is urgent. Do not delay any further." Now still not knowing the patient's specific condition, if the treatment time was delayed, it could cost a life.
Village Chief Liu still believed Peng Wang's words very much. He quickly cleared a space to facilitate He Zhiran in examining Li Tiezhu's condition.
Under the firelight, He Zhiran observed the patient. Before long, she sucked in a breath of cold air.
Unilateral submandibular lymphadenopathy with swelling had appeared on Li Tiezhu.
The first thing that came to her mind was bubonic plague.
He Zhiran looked towards the villagers and asked, "Is his family here?"
"I'm Li Tiezhu's wife." The one speaking was precisely the woman who had discovered Li Tiezhu fainting and cried for help earlier.
Seeing the woman was a little nervous, He Zhiran said solemnly, "Don't panic. Answer my questions carefully."
"Alright."
"Before he lost consciousness, did he have symptoms like chills, high fever, severe headache, intermittent vomiting coupled with breathing difficulties?"
Listening to the symptoms listed out by He Zhiran, Li Tiezhu's wife kept nodding.
"What you said is all correct. My Tiezhu did indeed show such symptoms these last two days."
As she spoke, Li Tiezhu's wife had already grabbed He Zhiran's sleeve tightly, anxiously asking, "Doctor, is my Tiezhu suffering from some serious illness?"
Based on Li Tiezhu's symptoms, it matched the manifestations of bubonic plague almost perfectly.
To further confirm her diagnosis, He Zhiran turned to find Village Chief Liu. She called him to the side.
"Village Chief Liu, have there been a lot of rats in your village recently?"
Hearing her mention rats, Village Chief Liu heaved a deep sigh.
"Don't even mention it. In previous years there were rats in the village, but the numbers were not very high. I don't know why, but recently the number of rats has increased tremendously, and their sizes have become much bigger. Just yesterday, I discovered several dead rats in my storeroom at home."
Listening to Village Chief Liu's reply, He Zhiran's expression became even more grave.
"Village Chief Liu, what Li Tiezhu has should be bubonic plague."
"Bubonic plague?" Village Chief Liu was instantly stunned.
He was not unfamiliar with this term.
Twenty some years ago, he had heard of such an illness occurring in a county town several hundred li from here.
Initially, the imperial court dispatched many imperial doctors to provide treatment, but in the end even the imperial doctors could not escape being infected by the bubonic plague. Afterwards, in order to prevent the further spread of the plague, the imperial court could only order for that county town to be sealed off.
Those poor commoners in that city either died painfully from illness or starved to death. In short, not a single one survived.
Just thinking about this, Village Chief Liu's legs turned soft.
"Doctor, no, Divine Doctor, I beg you to save us!"
As he spoke, Village Chief Liu had already knelt on the ground before He Zhiran, kneeling repeatedly.
Standing at the cave entrance, Mo Jiuying realized something was wrong and rushed over.
At this time, He Zhiran had just helped Village Chief Liu stand up.
Mo Jiuying asked solemnly, "What has happened?"
In order not to cause panic among the villagers, He Zhiran mouthed two words silently to Mo Jiuying: "Bubonic plague."
Even someone like Mo Jiuying who frequently saw life and death could not help his face from turning pale dramatically upon hearing these two words.
"How could this be?" His lips moved as he spoke softly at the same time as he drew closer towards He Zhiran's direction.
He Zhiran quickly stopped him, "Don't come over."
Naturally, Mo Jiuying understood her intentions. She was worried that if he got too close to those villagers, he would be infected with the plague.
As a stalwart man, how could he allow He Zhiran to face life and death alone as a woman?
Although he knew that there was no escaping being infected, he still rushed forward without hesitation.
In fact, He Zhiran was not actually afraid of the bubonic plague.
In her previous life, she had formulated Chinese medicine that had a special effect against the bubonic plague. As long as the condition of infected persons had not yet progressed to late stage organ damage, she could achieve eradication of the pathogen.
Unfortunately she had transmigrated before she could make this good news public.
What was unexpected was that soon after transmigrating here, the special effect treatment for bubonic plague had a use.
Although she did not have medicinal materials for treating the plague stored in her space, everything could be bought on Taobao Treasure Mall. The only issue was how these medicinal materials could see the light under this mountain cave.
Next, she saw Mo Jiuying had already come to her side, silently holding her small hand.
The expression in Mo Jiuying's eyes was very sincere.
"We advance and retreat together."
Seeing that she could not stop Mo Jiuying's participation with her words, He Zhiran readily accepted his company.
At the same time, she also subconsciously squeezed Mo Jiuying's hand in return, signalling him to be at ease.
