The sky was just beginning to brighten.
The door of the clinic was pushed open from the inside.
“Little Physician Lin, you must go and rest.” Two physicians dragged and pulled Lin Xun out of the pharmacy.
“Hey, don't do this...”
Lin Xun had been toiling in the pharmacy for two or three days. The dark circles under his eyes were even darker than they had been the night before, his bloodshot eyes slightly unfocused and struggling to find their center.
Yet he stubbornly insisted, “I'm fine. I can really hold out for a few more days.”
Another physician advised him, “Little Physician Lin, the Divine Lady passed down the celestial book to you because she surely wants you to save more people. If you ruin your own health, how will you save anyone else?”
Lin Xun said helplessly, “I'll go back and rest now. Please put me down first. It would be embarrassing if someone saw us.”
The two did as he asked and let him go.
But they did not leave, instead keeping their eyes fixed on Lin Xun.
Lin Xun had no other choice.
He could only walk out of the clinic with them.
As soon as they stepped over the threshold, the three of them saw a crowd of figures standing on the stone steps in front of the clinic.
Lin Xun stared blankly for a moment.
Soon after, he recognized that these people were the physicians of Yecheng.
There were twenty to thirty of them, young and old.
Some carried medicine chests on their backs while others held cloth bags, standing quietly outside the clinic doors. Their clothes were mostly damp from the morning mist, and there was no telling how long they had been waiting.
Leading them was a middle-aged man in his forties with a short beard, wearing a somewhat worn green cotton robe.
Lin Xun recognized him.
This was Yecheng's medical director, Medical Official Hua, whom he had met once at the Governor's estate the day before.
“Medical Official Hua?”
Lin Xun's voice was hoarse. “What are you all doing here?”
A flush of embarrassment rose on Medical Official Hua's face, and the physicians behind him lowered their heads one after another.
“Physician Lin.” Medical Official Hua hesitated for a moment before finally bracing himself to step forward. He cupped his hands to Lin Xun, his eyes filled with deep respect and an unconscious yearning. “We... we have shamelessly come here to ask you, Physician Lin, if we might... if we might take a look at the medicine that can cure the plague?”
He spoke haltingly, “I... I know this medicine is exceptionally precious and should rightfully be kept secret.”
“Physician Lin, I... I do not dare to beg you to teach us. I merely wish to take a single look to see what kind of medicine it is...”
At this point, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, as if he were swallowing a mouthful of unspeakable bitterness.
Lin Xun seeing their embarrassed yet earnest expressions, felt a sudden prickle of warmth in his nose.
“Medical Official Hua,” he said, “and fellow physicians.”
He stepped aside slightly, clearing the path to the entrance, and extended his hand to the crowd outside. “Please, come in.”
Medical Official Hua was slightly taken aback and asked uncertainly, “Can we really... can we really go in?”
“Of course you can.”
Lin Xun answered without the slightest hesitation.
Right after that, he looked at the physicians behind Medical Official Hua. “We are severely short-handed. If you have the time, why don't you stay and prepare the medicine with us?”
“This way, the people of Yecheng can receive their medicine a day earlier and be freed from the torment of the plague.”
The physicians outside stared at one another as if they had been struck by lightning, unable to react for a long time.
Medical Official Hua's eyes widened even further. His lips trembled for a good while before he finally asked in a shaking voice, “Physician Lin, what did you say? You want to teach us the formula? That... that is a life-saving secret formula that could be passed down as an heirloom for generations!”
“Medical Official Hua, I must admit I am quite ashamed,” Lin Xun said. “In truth, I only managed to make the medicine to cure the plague by following the celestial book of medicine bestowed by the Divine Lady, copying it step-by-step.”
“Over the past few days, I've taken some time to copy down several of the medical formulas recorded in the celestial book. They are currently with Physician Zou. If you wish to read them, you can look for her.”
Medical Official Hua was utterly astonished, his heart thrown into a fierce struggle.
Formulas from a celestial book of medicine!
He certainly wanted to see them.
But he could not bring himself to take advantage of his benefactor.
“Since it is a blessing bestowed by the Divine Lady, the formulas recorded in that celestial book must be peerless, life-saving prescriptions. How can you simply give them away to others?”
Lin Xun shook his head at him. “Precisely because they are peerless, life-saving prescriptions, they should be shared with the world, so that more physicians can learn how to treat illnesses and save lives.”
Medical Official Hua wiped away a tear. “I have lived for decades, yet I am not even as open-minded as you, Physician Lin.”
Lin Xun told him honestly, “I was merely fortunate enough to become a follower of the Divine Lady and receive her teachings. Unfortunately, my natural talent is dull, and I have only learned a fraction of it.”
The physicians of Yecheng could not help but feel endless envy.
How wonderful it must be to be a follower of the Divine Lady.
With the help of the Yecheng physicians, the speed of medicine preparation increased significantly, and the number of sick people in the city decreased day by day.
The plague in Yecheng was finally brought under control.
However, before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, a new problem appeared on the desk of the Governor's estate.
Inside the discussion hall of the Governor's estate, the atmosphere was solemn.
An old official in charge of provisions sighed, saying, “This plague has completely drained Yecheng's resources.”
He pushed the grain ledger on the table forward. “The remaining provisions in the storehouse can only last for two more days at most.”
Cheng Ji closed his eyes and said in a low voice, “Even if the plague is cured, we cannot save the lives of the common people without grain...”
The plague was deadly, but famine was just as fatal.
“We went to such lengths to snatch these people back from the jaws of the plague. Are we now to watch them starve to death?”
Lin Xun and the other physicians could not accept this reality.
Shen Yu sat to one side, his brow furrowed. “Chaoyang City is not far from Yecheng, but with the plague here, I fear no one would dare deliver grain to us. Xindu City, on the other hand, is too far away. Distant water cannot quench a nearby thirst.”
For a moment, he too was at a loss.
Even with everyone in the Governor's estate tightening their belts, they could only scrape together enough for another day of thin porridge—the grains of rice so few they could be counted, the broth as clear as water.
In the streets and alleys, anyone who could still stand and walk was searching everywhere for anything edible.
Tree bark was stripped completely bare, and even the grass roots along the bases of walls were dug up, chewed, and swallowed.
Most heartbreaking of all were those whose illnesses had only just begun to improve; though the plague had passed and they had regained a bit of strength, they grew thinner day by day because they had nothing to eat.
Auntie Zhao's family of six had contracted the plague. Before the physicians from Xindu arrived in Yecheng, three of them had already died. The remaining three had finally survived the illness, only to be so weakened by hunger that they could not even get out of bed.
Yesterday, holding a bowl without a single grain of rice, she sat on her threshold and wept for a full hour.
Her neighbor, Old Man Li, heard her.
Trembling, he brought over half a bowl of wild herb gruel.
Auntie Zhao refused to accept it, saying that everyone was struggling to put food on the table, so how could she take his wild herb gruel?
Old Man Li forced it into her hands, saying something that brought tears to the eyes of everyone on the street: “Take it. I'm already so old, I don't have many years left to live anyway.”
Watching this from afar, Shen Yu's eyes also grew moist. He did not step forward, but instead ordered Shen Da, who was accompanying him, to deliver all their remaining dry rations to them.
Those dry rations were what he had saved for himself.
Despite how difficult things had become, no one mentioned going to beg the Divine Lady, who was still recovering from her injuries. They only thought about holding out for one more day, waiting until the messenger sent to Xindu returned.
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