Xu Qing sighed, "However, the governor found them, and he commanded his men to chase the victims heading for Jing City. Now that you are here in Jiandu, they must have reached Jing City."

"So the person they said is you, sir." Yang Zijin said.

Xu Qing asked, "You've heard of this, didn't you?"

"It’s more than just hearing. The victims reached Jing City, but they were blocked outside the gate and were labeled as 'rioters'. Later, I got to know about this and ordered subordinates to help them. Then I told His Majesty about the victims. This matter finally got investigated, and we were sent here." Yang Zijin was still angry when she recalled previous experience.

Xu Qing knelt down again, "It's you who told His Majesty! On behalf of the people in Jiandu, I would like to thank you, Your Highness. We really appreciate your help."

"Please get up, Community Head Xu. As for what you said, I'll let those people receive the punishment they deserve and give justice back to the people of Jiandu." Yang Zijin pulled Xu Qing up from the ground.

Then she put away the account book. Shuo Ling was not here, she had to tell this to him when he returned.

Yang Zijin said to Xu Qing, "That is Dean Shen of the imperial hospital. He is in charge of the clinic work this time. Just then he has conducted an examination and made a prescription. He is decocting medicine for you. Later, you can bring medicine to these people."

Xu Qing nodded and turned around to speak to some people, "After a while, let's help to feed medicine to every patient."

"Yes, sir." They answered.

Yang Zijin found they looked sallow with hunger but were still energetic, so she asked, "May I ask who are they?"

"Your Highness, they are my followers. Their families have died in the plague. Now they are helping me with taking care of the other patients here." Xu Qing answered.

They came up to salute Yang Zijin, "Your Highness."

Yang Zijin nodded at them.

Qiao Shu poured the finished medicine into the bowl. Yang Zijin said, "Medicine is done. Go for it."

"Wait a minute." Yang Zijin stopped Xu Qing as she saw Mo Li passing by.

She went to Mo Li.

"What can I do for you, Your Highness?" Mo Li asked.

Yang Zijin asked, "Do you have any gauze masks left?"

"I have some on me. How many do you need?" Mo Li asked.

Yang Zijin said, "Five. Do you have enough of them?"

Mo Li nodded and took them out of his clothes.

"Thank you." Yang Zijin took over the masks and went to Xu Qing.

They had a few helpers but lots of patients. If some people could help those who were infected with the plague, that would be good.

She hoped these people wouldn't be infected when they aided.

"Wear this on the face." Yang Zijin gave the masks to Xu Qing and the other four people.

Xu Qing asked, "Your Highness, what's this?"

Xu Qing had already seen the masks on their face, but he didn't know what it was. Now the chance came as Yang Zijin handed the masks to them.

"This is called the gauze mask. It can reduce the risk of infection. Put it on." Yang Zijin smiled and explained to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing immediately said, "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Xu Qing put on the mask and asked his followers to queue for medicine.

Yang Zijin also came over to help.

She sent the medicine to each patient and let the patients who had mild symptom take the medicine by them. As for the severe patients who had lost consciousness, Yang Zijin supported them up and fed them with the medicine like what others did.

Half a day had quickly passed. Shen Yang went over and checked their condition one by one.

The medicine had a good effect. Some people's fever had been brought down. The frequency of vomit was also reduced, so was the slight cough.

Shen Yang revealed a smile as he found his effort was not in vain.

When the plague attacked other places before, he was not the dean of the imperial hospital. He had to watch patients die in pain, but he and his colleagues couldn't do anything useful.

Later on, when he became the dean of the imperial hospital, he devoted himself to study ancient medicine books. He summed up all the plague types and found that they had a lot in common.

Symptoms of the plague included cough, fever, rash, vomiting, etc... So he asked doctors to identify the herbs that could cure these symptoms.

The doctors all succeeded. As a doctor who was crazy about medical skills, Shen Yang was overjoyed.

Yang Zijin was also pleased to see this.

Shuo Ling was riding to the Witchcraft City at top speed.

He finally reached the Witchcraft City at nightfall, but the gate had closed.

Shuo Ling left the horse outside the city and jumped into the city with the flying skill. Then he directly went to Hou Shi's residence.

Hou Shi just lay down on the bed when he heard a sound inside the room, "Who is it? It's late for a visit."

"You have a good hearing, the king of witchcraft." Shuo Ling answered and stepped out.

Hou Shi got up and came over, speaking, "It's Marquis Shuo of Beiling. What can I do for you at this late hour? Is that something serious?"

"You are right. I do have something urgent to discuss with you." Shuo Ling said.

Hou Shi slightly frowned, "What was so important as to pay a late-night visit to me, Marquis Shuo?"

"To be honest, I'm here because of Zhan You." Shuo Ling came to the point.

Hou Shi immediately asked, "Zhan You? Do you find him?"

"He has been healing his wounds in Xiling's Palace after he was injured last time. Recently we found he was developing witchcraft of the nightmare and intended to apply it to war." Shuo Ling added.

Hou Shi frowned and scolded, "This unfilial disciple had already forgotten his master's teaching!"

"You don't want to see people being plunged into an abyss of calamity, right? If the calamity happens, I hope you can help to solve it." Shuo Ling said.

Hou Shi nodded, "Don't worry, Marquis Shuo. If Zhan You keeps doing evil, I won't spare him!"

"I'm relieved to have your word, the king of witchcraft. It's late tonight. I won't bother you again. Let me take leave."

"Good-bye, Marquis Shuo." Hou Shi nodded.

Shuo Ling quickly disappeared in the dark night.

What he wanted was the king of witchcraft's promise. Zhan You was the king of witchcraft's junior fellow apprentice as well as his master's son.

If Shuo Ling and others couldn't stop Zhan You, the king of witchcraft needed to show up.

After a tiring journey, Shuo Ling found an inn to stay in and decided to back to Jiandu tomorrow.

...

Some of the patients showed signs of improvement after taking Shen Yang's medicine. However, gradually they found that, somehow, the plague was under control, but there seemed to be no sign of recovery.

Although they didn't vomit, they still coughed and sometimes had a fever.

When they stopped taking the medicine, the condition would immediately grow worse. Shen Yang had a headache for it.

Although he had changed several ingredients in the prescription, the effect of the medicine didn't change.

If they could not find the problem and kept using this prescription, they would soon run out of herbs they had brought here.

For a time, Shen Yang did not know what to do.

Yang Zijin also knew about this. By rights, people took the medicine and they would become better, but why was this happening?

Yang Zijin bent over the desk and thought about it. She suddenly sat straight.

She remembered a television series set in the Qing dynasty she had seen. One of the episodes was some people in the Palace caught the plague for no reason, and finally they found out it was someone throwing dead animals into the drain that led to the Palace.

Yang Zijin thought, could the cause of the plague in Jiandu be something polluting the water.

Yang Zijin asked Mo Li to get some buckets of water on the mountain and took the water to Qianxi Village.

And she asked him to decocted medicine with this water for certain people.

Mo Li was confused, but he did as she said.

As she had expected, the certain people who took the medicine decocted with the water on the mountain got better, and the patients with mild symptoms regained their health.

Shen Yang felt their pulses and became excited. The problem lay not in his medicine, but water.

Now that they had known where the problem lay, but they met another difficulty. There were too many patients here. They didn't have enough people to carry water down from the mountain, and the way was too long.

Yang Zijin saw Shen Yang's anxious face and said, "Don't worry, Dean Shen. We have known where the problem is and I can solve it."

"Do you have a solution, Your Highness?" Shen Yang immediately asked.

Yang Zijin said, "Have a try."

Yang Zijin came up to Xu Qing, who was helping the patients.

"What can I do for you, Your Highness?" Xu Qing put down the bowl and took off the mask as he saw Yang Zijin coming over.

Yang Zijin asked, "Do you know where the origin of the well is?"

"What do you do to find the source of the well?" Xu Qing was confused.

Yang Zijin told him what she thought, "I suspect that there is something wrong with the water source, so I want to have a check. If you know where it is, can you go with me?"

"I know where it is, Your Highness. But it's hard to reach because the road is rugged at ordinary times, and the flood has made it more difficult to walk. As noble as you, Your Highness..." Xu Qing persuaded.

Yang Zijin interrupted him, "As long as the road is passable, and I can save these people from the plague, it doesn't matter to me."

"Fine. As you have made up your mind, come with me." Xu Qing went forward to lead the way for Yang Zijin.

He didn't expect she put people in the first place, which made Xu Qing sit up and take notice.

Following Xu Qing, Yang Zijin went round Qianxi Village. The road was getting harder to walk as Xu Qing had said.

"Be careful, Your Highness. We're almost there." Xu Qing turned to Yang Zijin and said.

Yang Zijin nodded.