After hearing Junzi's words, Li Ying finally managed to figure out the ins and outs of the matter.
Yunjia Village was remote, and originally, the villagers there were simple, honest, warm, and hospitable.
But somehow, since three years ago, all the babies born in the village had been stupid and dull, and most of them would die of illness at a young age, failing to live for more than a few years.
Junzi's father was the village head of Yunjia Village. He frowned with worry every day. Finally, he managed to invite a wandering Taoist priest. After some elaborate rituals, the priest seriously declared that the disaster that had befallen Yunjia Village was because the villagers had offended the mountain god. If they wanted to appease the mountain god's anger, they had to offer a young and beautiful girl of marriageable age.
Once the ceremony of the mountain god's wedding was completed, the curse of the early death of newborns would be lifted immediately.
However, which family would be willing to push a well - behaved young girl to her death at the bottom of a cliff?
After much thought and with no other choice, the village head decided to set an example. He dressed Junzi up and locked her in the ancestral hall as an offering to the mountain god.
Junzi's elder brother, Sunzi, couldn't bear to see his younger sister suffer such a disaster. That night, he secretly smashed the copper lock of the ancestral hall and sent Junzi out of the village to escape.
But Junzi had never left Yunjia Village in the past ten years. With the vast world before her, she didn't know where to go at all. She could only wander furtively outside the village like a lost soul.
Li Ying secretly cursed the village head's stupidity.
There was no such thing as a mountain god or river god in this world!
Seeing Junzi blushing and getting extremely excited, Li Ying had a sudden thought and vaguely guessed something.
"Junzi, don't panic. Since we managed to find our way to Yunjia Village, we naturally don't take such superstitious nonsense seriously."
Li Ying gave her a gentle smile and comforted her softly, "You sneaked away. The village must be in a complete mess by now, and your elder brother will surely be held accountable. How can you bear to leave him like this? Junzi, the people in your village just have a strange disease. It's not incurable. Take us into the village quickly. I'm sure I can help you turn the situation around."
Junzi was still a bit skeptical at first, but seeing Li Ying's determined look and worrying about her elder brother, she finally nodded as if she had made up her mind.
The old people chatting at the village entrance saw Li Ying and her group return. They all frowned.
"Good advice is useless for those who are determined to die!"
Li Ying knew that since the "bride of the mountain god", Junzi, had disappeared, the villagers would surely look for another girl to replace her.
Since they were reluctant to sacrifice their own daughters, she and A Man, as outsiders, would naturally be the best candidates.
The old people were eager to send them away, probably because they couldn't bear to see them suffer such a disaster.
Li Ying felt a bit grateful to these tough - talking but kind - hearted people. She even more firmly pulled Junzi forward a few steps.
"Grandmas, Miss Junzi has told us everything about the village. In my opinion, the early death of the babies in the village has nothing to do with any supernatural forces!"
"I have a way to cure the disease in the village. Please take us into the village. If I'm lying, I'm willing to replace Miss Junzi and marry the mountain god as punishment!"
She spoke with conviction. Hearing this, Lu Xunguang subconsciously frowned tightly.
Li Ying held his hand and gave him a confident smile.
After they got everything ready, some gossips had already spread the news back.
The village head of Yunjia Village was a thin and shriveled old man. He was standing in the ancestral hall, waiting for them warily.
In the corner beside him, there was a young man tied up with ropes, bare - chested, with blue and purple bruises all over his body. He was surely Sunzi, Junzi's elder brother. Having let his sister escape, he must have suffered a lot of beatings.
The ancestral hall was cold and gloomy. The villagers of Yunjia Village were all sallow - faced and thin, but their necks were abnormally swollen, and they only had a few sparse, straw - like yellow hairs on their heads. They really looked a bit strange.
Granny Sun was afraid that Mianmian would be frightened, so she quickly tightened her hold on the baby in her arms.
The village head of Yunjia cleared his throat and asked with feigned dignity, "Who are you? Is it you who colluded with Sunzi to let Junzi escape?"
Li Ying replied calmly and politely, "We are just passing travelers. We accidentally heard about Miss Junzi's misfortune. We didn't want to watch the people in your precious land be deceived by that wandering charlatan, so we kindly came to help."
Without waiting for the village head's reaction, she looked around at the villagers on high alert and asked on her own, "Do you feel weak and listless all over?"
"Or do you have a hoarse voice, a swollen throat, and often cough and have difficulty breathing?"
"Also, do you suffer from chills, hair loss, loss of appetite, and irregular menstruation for women, but the doctors can't diagnose any illness?"
Her gaze swept across the face of each villager. With just a few words, she hit the nail on the head. The villagers looked at each other in surprise and were all stunned.
"How... How do you know all these?"
This young - looking and ordinary - looking girl had only glanced at them and accurately described the villagers' long - standing and incurable ailments. It was really astonishing!
Seeing this, Li Ying knew that she had guessed correctly. She calmly cleared her throat and said loudly, "You couldn't diagnose the root cause of the illness. Coincidentally, the early death of newborns happened in the village, so you panicked and blindly believed the one - sided words of that quack. You thought that the village had offended some evil spirits. In fact, this is just a disease caused by iodine deficiency!"
"Yunjia Village is located deep in the mountains and has very little contact with the outside world. The villagers' diet is monotonous. A long - term lack of iodine will lead to goiter and symptoms such as hair loss and fatigue. Newborns will also suffer from cretinism and die stupidly at a young age. To cure this disease, you just need to consume more seafood to supplement iodine on a daily basis. The so - called wedding of the mountain god is just nonsense!"
She spoke confidently, but the villagers had never heard of diseases like "iodine deficiency" or "cretinism" before. They looked at each other doubtfully.
"You're talking so plausibly. Regardless of whether what you said is true or false, our Yunjia villagers have never been able to get out of the mountains for generations. Where can we get any seafood to eat? Little girl, don't make fun of us!"
Li Ying seemed to have anticipated this question from the villagers. She calmly smiled. First, she took out the dried shrimps she had made herself from her luggage and distributed them to everyone. Then she told Lu Xunguang to take out the large pieces of salted kelp.
These things were originally prepared by her to make cold - dressed dishes from time to time to prevent iodine deficiency. She didn't expect that they would come in handy in Yunjia Village.
"If you don't believe me, you can taste these seaweed dishes. I can't guarantee that they will cure the disease immediately, but as long as you keep supplementing iodine through food, in as few as a few days or as many as a month, the symptoms of iodine deficiency will surely improve!"