The number of patients who suddenly contracted typhoid fever was far greater than expected. Just the patients with high fevers were enough to fill a cave about 20 square zhang.
Dividing them up like this not only prevented the disease from spreading further but also made treatment much more convenient.
Most of the patients had the same symptoms, so the medicine used was largely the same. This also saved the effort of boiling the medicine and the cost of medicinal materials.
Jiang Zhiqing was covered with Li Zhao's outer robe and placed on a dry and flat open space. The familiar smell made her fall into a deep sleep, completely unaffected by the harsh weather.
On the other side of the cave, three stoves were built with gravel. A large pot was placed on each stove, boiling medicine and porridge for the patients.
Qi Wen and Li Zhao were watching the fire beside them. The pots made gurgling sounds, and the strong smell of medicine and the aroma of rice soup wafted out from the pots.
Li Zhao looked through the rain curtain at Jiang Mian, who was busy treating the patients with acupuncture with other doctors in a nearby cave. He smiled contentedly.
His and Yingniang's child was indeed as tenacious and resilient as a hibiscus tree in the wind.
Then he looked at Mo Zhizhang on the other side.
This unpredictable man was also saving the common people at the moment. Although he still didn't understand what this man's purpose was in approaching them, at least for now, it seemed that he meant no harm to the hibiscus.
The dim sky gradually brightened, and the light around them became clearer. The pheasants hiding in the mountains let out a few crows, and the dull bell of a temple came from afar.
It was dawn.
Inside the cave where the patients were housed, the patients were passing around a shiny golden bowl.
This bowl was the one that Xiao Jingcheng had pestered Jiang Mian to buy in the market. And now, it was filled with the freshly boiled typhoid medicine.
Due to the hasty evacuation, most people only had time to pack their money and clothes. No one had the time to take care of bowls and dishes.
This shiny little golden bowl, as a "valuable" item, was stuffed into Jiang Mian's burden when packing and now came in handy. And because the medicinal materials were limited, the patients cherished the hard - won medicine very much. The first patient who got the bowl only took two sips and then voluntarily passed the bowl to the next person -
So, this was the scene before them.
The last patient drank up the medicine in the bowl and returned it to Jiang Mian.
Jiang Mian held the still - warm golden bowl and gently rubbed her fingers on it. She couldn't help but wonder if Xiao Jingcheng knew that the golden bowl he had bought with a debt of 3,000 taels of silver was now being used by her to give medicine to the patients, would he get angry with her?
Looking outside, she frowned slightly.
It was already dawn, but where was Xiao Jingcheng?
Although it was dawn, the clouds in the sky were still very thick. Looking from afar, it made one's heart feel heavy.
More than an hour ago, the carriage carrying those who refused to leave had arrived at the mountainside. Logically speaking, since everyone in Dongli Town had evacuated, Xiao Jingcheng should have returned by now. Why was there still no sign of him?
Seeing Jiang Mian standing at the cave entrance looking out, as if searching for something, and still holding the golden bowl in her hand.
On an impulse, Mo Zhizhang walked up to her, followed her gaze, and asked, "Apprentice niece, are you worried about Brother Gou Dan?"
Jiang Mian came back to her senses, looked down at the golden bowl in her hand, and denied, "No, I just want to know how Dongli Town is now."
Mo Zhizhang laughed and said, "I heard that apprentice niece was wrongly taken by the Ye family in the capital back then and grew up in the Ye family. She was once a young lady of the Ye family."
"More than two years ago, apprentice niece was misunderstood by the crown prince of the Sheng Kingdom and lost all her face. The Ye family had no choice but to hastily marry apprentice niece off to avoid being misunderstood as trying to curry favor with the crown prince."
"Apprentice niece fled from Xuanzhou to Dongli Town. She must have suffered a lot in these two years. The crown prince of the Sheng Kingdom treated apprentice niece so badly. Why did apprentice niece still save him? Why not just let him die?"
Jiang Mian was a little surprised that he knew these things. She guessed that Qi Wen must have accidentally let it slip. She pursed her lips and asked, "But Uncle, just because you hate someone, do you have to let that person die?"
Mo Zhizhang said, "Of course."
This answer surprised Jiang Mian but also didn't surprise her.
She was surprised because Mo Zhizhang answered so matter - of - factly, and not surprised because she found that this uncle's personality was really unpredictable.
"If someone harms me a little, they should pay back ten times more," Mo Zhizhang laughed. "Apprentice niece with such a personality will surely suffer a big loss."
"The Ye family treated you like this. When you return to the capital in the future, will you really let them go?"
Jiang Mian frowned. She thought for a while and replied, "It's different."
"Although I was hurt in that incident back then, the harm was not directly inflicted on me by him."
"Xiao Jingcheng received a love letter imitating my handwriting, so he misunderstood that I was trying to curry favor with him. The Ye family was very close to Concubine Feng. At that time, I could call the King of Xuan my 'cousin'. If it weren't for Ye Wanxing - the real legitimate daughter of the Ye family, I think my ending would have been to marry the King of Xuan, and the Ye family and the Feng family would have been even closer."
"The Ye family was on the side of the King of Xuan. Naturally, this love letter would arouse his suspicion. At that time, he also sent someone to investigate, but I don't know who was trying to frame me. All the evidence pointed to me. Since he wasn't familiar with me, he naturally believed it to be true."
"The real reason I ended up in that situation was the Ye family."
When she decided to forgive Xiao Jingcheng, she had already sorted out the importance of things. Maybe she had already sorted it out in her heart, which was why she took the initiative to get involved in Xiao Jingcheng's affairs and dug him out of the grave with Qi Wen regardless of the consequences.
Mo Zhizhang sighed softly. "Apprentice niece is really understanding. I'm really jealous of Brother Gou Dan."
Jealous of him?
What was there to be jealous of?
Jiang Mian was completely confused.
Suddenly, there came a series of gong sounds from below. A soldier rushed up the mountain in a hurry, his face full of fear. "Your Highness, the Prince of Ning, Your Highness, the Prince of Ning. Something terrible has happened!"
Jiang Mian's heart skipped a beat. Without thinking, she immediately rushed out.
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
Jiang Mian and Xiao Wuchen asked the hurried soldier at the same time.
Mo Zhizhang looked at their backs, raised his hand to catch a drop of water dripping from the rock cave, and murmured, "Brother Gou Dan, you're really lucky. You were forgiven so easily."
Many common people gathered at each cave entrance. Li Zhao also walked to Jiang Mian's side. Looking at the messenger soldier who was kneeling on one knee, gasping for breath, his expression was extremely solemn.
The soldier quickly wiped the water off his face and pointed down the mountain, stuttering, "I, I heard that the water channel upstream of the Caisang River suddenly collapsed last night at the Yin hour. The flood, the flood rushed down. All the villages and towns along the Caisang River, all, all..."
"All were flooded by the flood and completely turned into a vast expanse of water!"