When Song Fengsui woke again, he found the light in the room rather harsh. He narrowed his eyes slightly, then saw a figure sitting heavily beside the bed, head bowed as though he had been there for a long time.
He parted his lips and called softly, “A-Yan.”
Only then did he realize how hoarse his voice was.
Duan Yan hurriedly turned toward him. “You’re awake!”
Song Fengsui braced himself and tried to sit up. Duan Yan quickly supported his waist and tucked a pillow behind his lower back.
“How long was I asleep?”
“A little over two hours.”
Looking at the pale-faced man, Duan Yan’s brows drew tightly together. He wanted to make his expression gentler, but the worry in his heart made it impossible for his features to relax.
When he had returned earlier and found Song Fengsui suddenly collapsed in the room, it had felt as though his heart had stopped.
“Doctor Zhang came by earlier to examine you. Rest easy—you haven’t contracted the plague. You’ve had too much to deal with these past few days and haven’t been eating enough. You haven’t been sleeping well at night, and you’ve been worrying constantly. Your body simply grew too weak to bear it, which caused the dizziness and fainting.”
Duan Yan gently rubbed the top of his head, then turned to retrieve the sweet soup that had been reheated twice on the table. He brought a spoonful to Song Fengsui’s lips.
Song Fengsui did indeed feel completely drained, and his head was still somewhat dizzy. He obediently opened his mouth and drank the soup.
Watching him meekly swallow one spoonful of nourishing sweet soup after another, Duan Yan said softly, “Neither the older one nor the younger one has been eating properly. Little Ji’s mother said that the little fellow cried and fussed this morning, insisting on coming to find Papa. He refused even egg custard. After crying for a while, he was only calmed down when she took him to see the chicks. But he’s been listless all afternoon, letting Mother hold him the entire time instead of running and jumping around on the ground.”
Song Fengsui’s brows twitched, and a sour ache rose in his heart. “It has been several days since I’ve been able to spend time with Little Ji.”
Duan Yan picked up a handkerchief and wiped the corner of his mouth. “No matter how busy we are or how important the matter may be, taking care of our health must come first. Otherwise, before the problem is even resolved, we’ll have already worn ourselves down.”
“Little Ji is still so young. What would we do if your health gave out?”
Song Fengsui gave a slight nod. Although the improved medicine for the epidemic had temporarily stabilized the patients’ conditions, their health had begun deteriorating again as time passed. He had indeed grown somewhat anxious.
After hearing Duan Yan’s words, he obediently drank two more spoonfuls of sweet soup. “I’ll make sure to eat properly from now on.”
Duan Yan answered, “I’ll make time to prepare a couple of nourishing medicinal dishes for you.”
Song Fengsui clasped Duan Yan’s hand. “You’ve been even busier than I have these past few days. Your face has been tanned dark, so it’s not as easy to see that you’re exhausted at a glance, but up close, you clearly have dark circles under your eyes.”
“The cooks prepare perfectly edible food. You should get more rest as well. Don’t keep squeezing time out of your schedule to look after my meals.”
“I only look darker beside you. It’s actually a healthy wheat-colored complexion. Don’t worry. I’m strong and healthy. Missing a few nights of sleep won’t hurt me.”
Song Fengsui shot him a sideways glance. Duan Yan knew only how to argue stubbornly and show off his strength. Song Fengsui did not continue debating with him; otherwise, the man might start performing a set of punches right there to prove how capable he was.
He asked, “How are things at Magistrate Tang’s residence?”
At the question, Duan Yan’s brows immediately furrowed. He set the bowl down on the table and said, “It’s already dark. Go to sleep early tonight. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
Hearing this, Song Fengsui instantly knew that matters there were not going well.
“I’ll have to know sooner or later. I’ve already slept for half the day and eaten something, so I’m not going to be able to fall asleep now. Tell me.”
Duan Yan had no way to refuse him and could only say, “The servants who had been caring for Magistrate Tang and were separately isolated began showing symptoms this morning as well.”
“This time, are they truly symptoms of the plague?”
Duan Yan nodded. “There was a false alarm before, so we’ve been especially cautious. We won’t make a mistake this time.”
He had not wanted to tell Song Fengsui about the situation today, fearing it would only make him worry more. But if he kept it from him, Song Fengsui would likely remain anxious and be unable to sleep anyway.
Song Fengsui’s brows drew tightly together as he rapidly pieced something together.
“The symptoms appeared roughly half a month after Magistrate Tang first fell ill. And now the servants who have developed symptoms are precisely those who were isolated as soon as the illness was discovered…” His eyes sharpened. “So this epidemic manifests roughly half a month after infection!”
Duan Yan gave a hum of agreement. “Doctor Zhang and the others reached the same conclusion.”
Song Fengsui said, “Then doesn’t that mean Magistrate Tang must have contracted the plague in the prefectural city?”
Duan Yan’s heart stirred. Magistrate Tang had traveled for roughly ten days on his way back from the prefectural city to the eastern region. By this reckoning, it was indeed highly likely that he had contracted the illness there. As it happened, the first group to fall ill had all been people returning from the prefectural city.
Now that more than ten days had passed, those in the city who had come into contact with them without taking precautions were only beginning to develop symptoms.
“The source lies in the prefectural city?!”
Song Fengsui suddenly had an idea and hurriedly tried to get out of bed. Duan Yan immediately lunged forward and caught him in his arms.
“What are you doing now?”
“This year, the warm spring weather arrived as the seasons changed, and pernicious airs were running rampant. Many common folk had caught colds at the outset. Doctor Zhang and I initially thought it was simply seasonal, so most of our research focused on that possibility. But now it seems that the true culprit behind this epidemic is not the change in seasons. Otherwise, the improved medicine for the epidemic would not merely have stabilized the patients’ conditions without helping them recover.”
Song Fengsui continued, “Now that the problem has been traced to the prefectural city, and the seasonal theory has been ruled out, we can investigate from another direction.”
Duan Yan asked, “What direction?”
“Besides seasonal changes, droughts and snow disasters can both contaminate water sources and damage the environment. But I’m more inclined to suspect people. With the disasters that have struck year after year, various local factions have been scheming and struggling over food. Many people have frozen or starved to death.”
“The prefectural city only managed to obtain some root vegetables at the end of last year, which shows that conditions in the western regions had already been dire. Those victims who died were left exposed in the wilderness. If their bodies were not buried in time, then once spring arrived and the corpses began to decay, they would become a breeding ground for disease!”
Song Fengsui continued, “We already knew that corpses could cause such disasters if they were not dealt with promptly. That is why, whenever we reclaimed a city, we called on the militia and common people to bury the unfortunate dead. We also established charity burial grounds in many places, all to ensure that those who had died in the disasters could be laid to rest.
“In this regard, the eastern region has done a fairly good job. Precisely because the victims here were properly handled, before we confirmed that the epidemic had originated in the prefectural city, we never seriously considered the possibility that it had come from corpses. But thinking about it now, we took proper care of the victims here. The same may not be true in the prefectural city.”
Now that he had found a possible lead, he naturally could not lie back down. He immediately wanted to use this as the starting point for his investigation.
Duan Yan listened to his deductions. Though he knew nothing about medicine, even he felt that Song Fengsui’s reasoning made sense.
Knowing there was no way to persuade him to rest, Duan Yan simply accompanied him to the apothecary. Together, they searched through medical texts for treatments related to epidemics caused by corpses.
They searched for most of the night, copying, annotating, and recording everything relevant in the medical books.
By the time the sky began to lighten before dawn, Song Fengsui had organized a new prescription based on the symptoms displayed by Magistrate Tang and the others.
Duan Yan took the prescription and rode straight to the government office’s storehouse, where he gathered all the necessary ingredients before hurrying to Magistrate Tang’s residence.
Song Fengsui stayed up through yet another long night. His already frail body finally gave out after Duan Yan left.
He returned to his room and collapsed onto the bed without even taking off his shoes.
When he woke again, the sky that had been breaking dawn had somehow turned into a vast sea of sunset.
After several days of fragmented sleep with his days and nights completely reversed, his whole body felt boneless, like a slippery eel. He could barely move.
In a daze, he realized that the body he vaguely remembered hanging halfway off the bed was now lying properly beneath the covers.
As his consciousness cleared, the first thing he heard was a voice beside him, reassuring and full of delight.
“Sui Sui, it worked!”
“The prescription took effect?!”
Song Fengsui instantly became more alert. Though still weak, he forced himself upright.
A smile spread across Duan Yan’s face. “I gave Magistrate Tang the medicine this morning. By noon, he had begun to show signs of improvement. By late afternoon, his fever had gone down, and he no longer had any vomiting or diarrhea. He has been ill for quite some time, though, so the blood spots that appeared on his body haven’t faded yet.”
“As for the servants who only developed symptoms recently, whose bodies haven’t been ravaged too badly by the plague—they’re all able to get out of bed now!”
Song Fengsui let out a long breath, releasing the stale air from his lungs. He had spent the entire previous night poring over the prescription by lamplight. He had been certain that if he was heading in the right direction, the medicine would work; he simply hadn’t known whether his reasoning was correct.
Now, whether it was luck or because he had truly managed to sort everything out, it didn’t matter. As long as it worked—as long as it worked...
His strength immediately deserted him again, and he slumped back into the bedding.
“I’m hungry.”
Duan Yan hurried to the kitchen and brought back the black-boned chicken and ginseng soup he had stewed for him. After feeding it to Song Fengsui, the cleanliness-loving Young Master Song insisted on bathing and washing up before returning to bed, where he promptly fell asleep again.
That night, Duan Yan also retired early and stayed by his side.
Once the prescription was put into use, the infected patients took the medicine diligently for three days and gradually began to recover. Careful observation revealed no further complications.
After another seven days of monitoring, when the patients had fully recovered, everyone finally felt completely reassured.
“As expected of Doctor Song! With such broad knowledge and experience, you truly are a remarkable young physician!”
Doctor Zhang stroked his small tuft of beard, overjoyed that the plague had been brought under control.
He had not seen Song Fengsui for several days. Now that the young man had recovered enough to come and examine the patients, Doctor Zhang followed beside him and lavished him with praise.
It could hardly be called flattery. He was genuinely impressed that someone so young could possess such profound medical skill.
Song Fengsui smiled. “Doctor Zhang, you praise me too highly. The plague was brought under control today not through my efforts alone, but through the united efforts of every physician here.”
The doctors exchanged cheerful, modest remarks, and everyone was in high spirits.
Duan Yan returned from outside the city after inspecting the situation there. Because preventive measures had been put in place from the very beginning, no outbreaks had been reported in the surrounding areas.
He happened to meet up with Song Fengsui, lifted him onto his horse, and slowly led the animal back while the two of them discussed what had happened on either side.
A swift horse suddenly galloped past them. Duan Yan recognized the rider as a sentry from the city gates and immediately called out to ask what had happened.
“My lord, an urgent dispatch has arrived from the prefectural city!”
Song Fengsui frowned and turned slightly to look at Duan Yan. The horse began to move, and the two of them followed the sentry to the government office.
Only after they arrived did they learn that the plague had spread throughout the prefectural city. None of the physicians there had yet managed to formulate a remedy, and an urgent message had been sent requesting aid from the eastern region.
“The prefect was the first to fall ill, and he has already...”
Song Wushen stared deeply at the letter and shook his head, his brows drawn tight.
“The prefectural city is currently without a leader. We must send the prescription there as quickly as possible to help control the plague and prevent it from spreading even further.”
Both Duan Yan and Song Fengsui had already deduced that the problem originated in the prefectural city, so they were not especially surprised that an outbreak had occurred there.
They had sent people to investigate several days earlier, but unexpectedly, their messengers had yet to return while the prefectural city’s plea for help had arrived first.
The two of them immediately decided to make the journey together. Now that they had a prescription for the plague, they were familiar with how to deal with it.
Song Wushen, however, shook his head. “You two have already been so busy with the plague that you’ve both lost weight. How could I send you rushing around again?”
“Now that we have the prescription, there’s no need for concern. I’ll go there myself this time.”
Duan Yan and Song Fengsui spoke almost in unison.
“How can the eastern region do without you here to oversee it, Father?”
“The eastern region is peaceful and well organized now. It will be fine if I leave for a while. If anything happens, your second uncle and the other officials are here. Besides, Xiao Duan is capable enough. There’s no need to worry.”
Song Wushen knew that the children were mainly concerned for his safety, so he continued, “The western region has been thrown into turmoil by the plague. This is an opportunity.”
Duan Yan and Song Fengsui immediately understood what Song Wushen intended. After all, he was a man who had weathered the rise and fall of the official world for many years. How could he let an opportunity to reclaim the western region pass him by?
The two regions had previously agreed to coexist peacefully, but each still governed itself. After witnessing the eastern region’s resources and capabilities, the west had not dared to stir up trouble lightly. Now, however, the prefect who had been in charge of the situation had died of the disease. If the eastern region did not send someone decisive and capable, the west could easily descend into chaos.
After considering the matter from every angle, it was clear that Song Wushen was indeed the most suitable person to go.
Once that was settled, they promptly began making careful arrangements for the relief effort.
Toward the end of April, Song Wushen set out for the western region with an elite force and several trusted aides, accompanied by Doctors Zhang and Tang. Several carts loaded with medicinal herbs for treating the plague traveled with them.
