When the officials sent to negotiate peace returned safely to the eastern region, it was already April.
A fine drizzle nourished the tender crops, and the fields were a stretch of emerald green. An old farmer stood with his hands behind his back, gazing up at the sky. This year, the weather seemed to be improving somewhat.
Song Fengsui had gone into the city with Duan Yan to visit an apothecary and pick up some herbs to replenish the medicine stores at home. The transition between seasons had come gradually this year. Spring finally felt like spring, but ailments such as colds and seasonal chills were also more severe than in previous years.
After leaving their homes, one could hear coughing and hacking everywhere.
Moreover, an allergy that had not troubled him for several years seemed to be returning this spring. While bathing at night, he had noticed a patch of redness near his collarbone. He had assumed Duan Yan had been a little too rough with him and paid it no mind. But when he awoke the next morning, the area felt itchy. Duan Yan took a look and said that his allergies had indeed flared up again.
They had moved residences several times, and Song Fengsui had no idea which house his old allergy ointment had been stored in. He spent the entire morning turning the household upside down but could not find it. Fortunately, he took some medicinal soup first, then went out to buy herbs and prepare a new batch when he returned.
When he emerged from the apothecary, he realized that it had begun to rain again. The bluestone-paved street was already glistening with moisture.
His attendant said he would return with the carriage. Song Fengsui was hesitating between waiting inside the apothecary for it or buying an umbrella and walking home when a familiar figure appeared before him.
Duan Yan held up a large umbrella and lowered his head as he walked beneath the eaves.
“Why did things end so early? Were you about to head to the drill grounds?”
The peace negotiators had returned to the city, and as the person in charge of the eastern region, Duan Yan would surely have had many important matters to discuss. It was not even noon yet, so there was no reason for everything to have ended so early.
Duan Yan took Song Fengsui’s hand. Finding it neither cold nor clammy, he finally relaxed.
The two of them had left home together that morning—one on horseback, the other on foot. After leaving the government office and seeing that it had begun to rain, Duan Yan guessed that Young Master Song had probably not gone home yet. He went straight to the apothecary with an umbrella to fetch him.
“Lord Tang, who went to negotiate peace, wasn’t feeling well, so we didn’t discuss any important matters.”
As he spoke, he drew Song Fengsui beneath the umbrella. The two of them walked home under it, perfectly in step.
Song Fengsui looked up. “Did he suffer some sort of hardship in the prefectural city? After traveling all the way back in such a hurry, could his body simply not endure it?”
Duan Yan said, “He said that although he was detained in the prefectural city, he wasn’t beaten. He was locked up in the prison for several days, though, and it’s true that he suffered.”
“I imagine it was much as you said. He hurried the entire way back, and the cold spring rain allowed evil influences to invade his body. He couldn’t withstand it. A physician has already been sent to treat him properly. In any case, the prefectural city has accepted the peace agreement, and the outcome is settled. There’s no need for Lord Tang to force himself to discuss matters while ill. It won’t hurt to let them rest properly for a few days.”
Song Fengsui nodded, then added, “If the physician can’t determine what’s wrong, I’ll go and take a look as well.”
Duan Yan acknowledged this.
“There are many seasonal ailments in spring, and quite a few people are falling ill. You’re constantly out and about, so if you encounter anyone coughing or sick, keep your distance and avoid them. Don’t take it lightly just because you’re in good health.”
Hearing Young Master Song’s instructions, Duan Yan knew he would have been careful even if Song Fengsui had not reminded him.
Once spring arrived, many people caught colds and other illnesses. Whenever he returned home, he would diligently wash his hands and face. There were frail children in the household; even if he did not care about himself, he still had to consider them.
As they talked, they reached the residence without realizing it.
When they entered, it was strangely quiet. They did not hear Little Ji’s usual mischievous racket. The servants said that he had already spent quite some time running and laughing wildly through the corridors. Perhaps the rainy weather had made him tired and chilled, because he had climbed into Mu Linghui’s arms and fallen asleep.
The couple went to take a look. Today, Little Ji was sleeping in a crib. He had grown quite a bit; once he climbed inside and stretched out his arms and legs, he filled the entire crib.
He was sleeping peacefully for the moment, occasionally wrinkling his nose or kicking his legs. No one knew what he was dreaming about.
After taking a look, the two of them left him undisturbed.
On a drizzly, damp day when it was inconvenient to go anywhere, there was nothing better than staying indoors. Song Fengsui went straight to the medicine room, put away the herbs he had bought that day in the storage cabinet, and began preparing ointment for his allergies.
Duan Yan followed behind him and helped light the small stove to boil the medicine. He had originally intended to go to the drill grounds, but since he was able to stay with Young Master Song and busy himself with the herbs, he no longer thought about leaving.
However, they did not even have a full hour of peace before someone hurriedly arrived at the residence.
Duan Yan assumed it was someone from the drill grounds coming to look for him. Those muddleheaded fellows, he thought irritably. Could they really not manage even two hours without him?
He strode outside, his mood sour.
Once he reached the entrance, however, he discovered that the visitor was Doctor Zhang. The man wore an anxious expression and quickly bowed to Duan Yan, saying that he had come to ask for Song Fengsui.
Song Fengsui was puzzled as well. By his reckoning, the free medical consultations for the soldiers’ families had only taken place ten days ago. It was not yet time for the next one.
Doctor Zhang did not beat around the bush. He went straight to the point. “Lord Tang’s illness appears to be rather unusual. I’ve already asked several of the city’s most experienced physicians to examine his pulse and make a diagnosis together. Please, Doctor Song, come with me.”
Upon hearing this, Song Fengsui and Duan Yan exchanged a glance.
They asked no further questions. Instead, they immediately packed their medical cases and hurried to Lord Tang’s residence.
By the time Duan Yan and Song Fengsui arrived at the Tang residence, two physicians were already there. They came forward and bowed when they saw the two men.
Song Fengsui was in such a hurry to enter the room that Doctor Huang stopped him.
“Young Doctor Song, take proper precautions first.”
Doctor Huang took two cotton masks from his medical case and handed one each to Duan Yan and Song Fengsui.
The sight of the masks made both men’s hearts tighten. Certain memories surged naturally to the surface, making them even more uneasy.
Song Fengsui put on his mask and entered the room. Another physician had just finished examining the pulse of Lord Tang, who lay on the sickbed. The physician’s expression was deeply troubled. Yet, mindful of the patient, he did not dare reveal too much.
As a fellow physician, Song Fengsui understood those unspoken implications perfectly.
Lord Tang was breathing rapidly, and his body was feverish. In truth, even if the physicians had said nothing and had not shown such grave expressions, the steady stream of doctors coming to examine him that day was enough for him to realize that the situation was far from simple.
He was about to ask the physicians what exactly was wrong with him when a fit of coughing seized him. As he lifted his eyes, he saw that Duan Yan and Song Fengsui had arrived as well.
He tried to sit up and salute them, but naturally, no one allowed him to exert himself further.
Song Fengsui sat down on the stool beside the bed. He felt Lord Tang’s pulse, then proceeded with the usual examination—observing, listening, questioning, and feeling the pulse—carefully asking about every one of his symptoms.
When he finished, he nearly stopped breathing. The last trace of hope in his heart sank to the bottom.
“Doctor Song, you don’t need to hide it from me. This is clearly not an ordinary cold. What exactly is wrong with me? Please, let me understand the truth.”
Lord Tang panted weakly, his entire body devoid of strength.
Song Fengsui’s brows drew tightly together. He gave voice to the conclusion that the physicians before him had suspected but ultimately dared not confirm without sufficient certainty.
“...It’s an epidemic.”
Lord Tang had likely been prepared for the possibility, but when he heard the result, his eyes still widened abruptly.
His lips trembled, yet he could not utter a single word.
The several physicians summoned by Magistrate Zhang stood in the room with solemn expressions. Not one of them spoke in disagreement, though all of them harbored some doubts.
But the matter was far too serious for anyone to make a reckless statement. In the end, it was Song Fengsui who voiced the diagnosis.
However, the reason Song Fengsui had reached his conclusion so quickly was not that his skill surpassed that of the elderly physicians present. Rather, he had encountered something similar in the past.
“Lord Tang, things have come to this, so please do not panic. Think carefully: who have you been in contact with? How did you contract the disease? It would not have appeared in you without cause.”
Lord Tang remained unable to recover from his shock for a long while. Who did not know how deadly a plague could be? Once infected, one had a ninety-percent chance of dying!
Moreover, the disease was highly contagious. Once it spread, countless people could die in its wake. Now that he had contracted the plague, he naturally regretted the possibility of his own death, but he was even more afraid that it might infect his family and harm many innocent people.
He gathered his wits and did his best to steady himself before saying, “After leaving the prefectural city, we traveled day and night. Along the way, we only stopped at postal stations to rest. Aside from the people traveling with me, I had almost no close contact with anyone in the eastern region. And I certainly never came into contact with anyone showing obvious symptoms.”
Song Fengsui frowned deeply. “The person carrying the plague may not have displayed any obvious symptoms at the time of contact. You may have been infected without either of you realizing it.”
After questioning him at length, they still could not determine where the source of the infection had come from.
Seeing that the patient was growing too weak to continue, Song Fengsui stopped asking questions and told Lord Tang to set his mind at ease and rest properly.
He turned and left the sickroom. The physicians who had remained composed inside, as though the plague were no great matter, immediately grew agitated.
“Duan Yan, what are we to do?”
“The city is densely populated. If Lord Tang’s illness spreads, it will pass from person to person. How can we possibly contain it?”
“It is already a troubled year. Spring plowing is upon us, and the weather has finally been favorable. If the plague harms the people, it will bring yet another disaster!”
The elderly physicians had lived long enough to witness the devastation caused by epidemics. Once such an illness broke out, it brought fever, vomiting, fainting, suffocation, and every manner of torment, often torturing a person to death while they were still alive.
“Do not panic and lose your heads. You are all experienced physicians of this city. Now that such a grave matter has arisen, your first priority is to work together to prepare medicine and treat Lord Tang. The authorities will handle matters of epidemic prevention.”
Duan Yan said, “The illness has been discovered early. We must suppress it before it spreads on a large scale!”
Once Duan Yan had spoken, the physicians felt they had someone to rely on. They agreed to return at once and prepare prescriptions according to the symptoms.
Duan Yan immediately went to make arrangements. First, he had the members of the Tang household who had come into contact with the patient isolated separately, so they would not come into contact with the rest of the family. He also instructed everyone caring for the patient to take strict protective measures.
In addition, the entire Tang residence was sealed off. The soldiers stationed outside would handle the household’s daily necessities, purchases, and supplies, and the Tang family was no longer permitted any contact with the outside world.
All the officials and attendants who had returned from the prefectural city were isolated as well.
Notices were posted throughout the city, while riders were sent galloping to announce the order in every county and village: anyone who developed symptoms such as fever or vomiting was required to report it and submit to isolation.
For a time, the people throughout the city were thrown into a state of unease. Though they had not wished to create unnecessary panic, the Song family had personally experienced the terror of an epidemic before. Faced with the first signs of another plague, they acted with extreme caution and severity.
It was far better to disturb the people than to be complacent and allow the entire city to be filled with the sick.
After Song Fengsui returned to the residence, he buried himself in the apothecary.
By the time Duan Yan had finished making his arrangements and returned to the residence, night had fallen completely. He went straight to the apothecary to find Song Fengsui.
Four or five medical texts lay scattered across the table. Medicinal herbs and ointments were spread everywhere. At that moment, the ger’s brows were tightly furrowed as he flipped through the books with one hand and tended to the herbs with the other. The entire room was filled with smoke, fire, and the sharp, pungent scent of medicinal plants.
“You came at just the right time. I’ve written out a prescription. Tomorrow, go and gather the medicine.”
Duan Yan’s brows twitched. “You’ve already come up with a prescription?”
“If only it were that simple. There are many methods for treating plagues recorded in medical texts. Do you know why there are so many?”
Duan Yan replied, “Plagues are dangerous and have broken out many times throughout history, so physicians have always been cautious about them. That is why so many treatments were recorded.”
Song Fengsui’s eyes remained fixed on the medical text, and he did not look up as he answered, “There are many records, and they do not entirely agree with one another, because a plague is a living thing. It is highly changeable. When it arrives, it does not necessarily follow the descriptions recorded in medical texts.
“In other words, once a plague breaks out, even if there are records of it in medical books, one must still adjust the prescriptions according to the patients’ current conditions, repeatedly modifying the medicines until finding the formula that is truly effective against the plague at hand.”
Some medicines took effect quickly, while others worked slowly. By the time each had been tried, a patient might already have died while waiting. And if the disease was not properly controlled, its contagious nature could allow it to spread wildly as physicians searched for a cure, turning it into a terrifying disaster.
“Treating those who are already ill is naturally important, but epidemic prevention is an equally crucial part of the process!”
Song Fengsui had some experience combating epidemics after all. While the other physicians devoted all their efforts to patients who had already developed symptoms, he changed his strategy slightly and focused on prevention first.
“This is a preventive prescription I prepared. Set up two large cauldrons at the city gates and boil the medicine into a decoction. Arrange for every resident of the city to drink it, then distribute it to the surrounding areas as well. Also burn mugwort and atractylodes to drive the miasma from people’s dwellings.”
Duan Yan immediately agreed.
The next day, the scent of mugwort drifted through every part of the city, while long lines formed at the city gates for people to receive the medicinal decoction.
At that very moment, one of the maids who had served Lord Tang collapsed with a fever. The physicians treating the plague were horrified at how quickly the infection seemed to be spreading.
Doctor Zhang hurried over to examine her. Unexpectedly, after taking her pulse and questioning her, he discovered that she had not fallen ill from the plague at all. She had learned the day before that Lord Tang was infected, and that the Tang residence had been sealed off. Terrified and anxious throughout the night, she had been overcome with fright and exposed to an evil chill, resulting in a common cold.
But before they had even caught their breath, another official who had traveled to the prefectural city with Lord Tang truly began displaying symptoms of the plague. He was discovered in the isolation area!
For several days, they continuously tried different medicines on Lord Tang. Meanwhile, every single person who had returned from the prefectural city fell ill without exception.
The situation was developing in the direction they had feared most, yet there was still no progress in finding a treatment for this epidemic.
Song Fengsui remained in the apothecary day and night without changing his clothes. Otherwise, he would hurry out to the medicine shops, or go to the medical clinic to discuss the matter with the other physicians.
“Come on, our Little Ji. Open wide and take a bite of this delicious steamed egg. Eat well and grow big and tall, all right?”
These days, everyone in the Song household was so busy that only Mu Linghui had the time to look after A-Ji.
The little boy stared at the steamed egg, pressed his lips tightly together, and turned his head away. “I don’t want it.”
No matter how Mu Linghui tried to feed him, the child refused to eat properly that morning. His small, round face drooped, and his eyes, usually bright and lively, were misty with tears.
She could not help reaching out to touch the little one's forehead and cheeks. His temperature was not high, and there was no sign of a fever.
With everyone outside now in a state of panic, she was terrified that the child might fall ill as well.
Little Ji grabbed hold of his maternal grandmother's hand and slid down from the stool. Then he tugged at her, insisting on going toward the courtyard where Song Fengsui was.
“Little Daddy! Want Little Daddy!”
Mu Linghui's brows drew tightly together. The little one was still so young that he spent his days gleefully playing with his cloth tiger and rattle, as though his heart and lungs had yet to fully develop. And yet, unexpectedly, he already knew to miss his little daddy.
There was nothing she could do. These past few days, Song Fengsui and Duan Yan had been rushing about in their efforts to deal with the plague. In truth, they could still squeeze out enough time to hold the child, but both of them had come into contact with Magistrate Tang, who had contracted the disease. How could they dare touch the child before the epidemic was brought under control?
Mu Linghui did not dare take the little one to see Song Fengsui. She merely bent down and picked him up. “How about Grandmother takes Little Ji to see the chicks? Cluck, cluck, cluck. Aren’t they the cutest?”
Little Ji did not quite understand, but when he heard “cluck, cluck, cluck” instead of Little Daddy, he began squirming wildly in Mu Linghui’s arms. “No clucks! No clucks!”
The little one burst into tears, his chubby body shuddering with each sob. “Little Daddy…”
Mu Linghui’s heart ached at the sight. She wanted to carry the child over and let him catch a glimpse of Song Fengsui from a distance, but the little one was already crying this hard without seeing him. If he saw him and was not allowed to be held, he would probably make an even greater fuss.
She sighed and could only harden her heart, holding the child and gently patting his back as she soothed him.
Meanwhile, Song Fengsui was feeling extremely restless in the apothecary. After repeated trials, none of the patients had shown any improvement. Several patients suffering from the epidemic had nearly developed edema from taking so much medicine.
He had also reformulated the prescriptions previously used to treat epidemics and administered them to the patients. Though their conditions had stabilized somewhat, the medicines were still treating only the symptoms and not the root cause. This dealt a heavy blow to everyone’s spirits.
After nearly half a month of working without rest, the skin beneath Song Fengsui’s eyes was dark with exhaustion. In truth, he was not the only one—the physicians treating this outbreak had all been worn down until their faces were sallow and waxen. None of them was in any better condition than the others.
He remained in the apothecary, watching the lamp as he read until his eyes grew blurred. The words in the medical texts seemed unable to enter his mind anymore; instead, layer upon layer of ghostly images obscured his vision.
Song Fengsui sensed that something was wrong. The world spun around him, and his body suddenly pitched forward beyond his control.
Through the overlapping shadows, he could vaguely make out his surroundings. Yet he was unable to control his body. He could only watch helplessly as he fell toward the corner of the desk, unable to steady himself.
But the sharp pain never came. A sturdy, powerful arm caught him first and pulled him firmly back.
Song Fengsui let out a breath of relief. Then, resting against that person’s embrace, he fainted peacefully.
