UCTOOT CH30

Shi Shu didn’t cooperate: “Why should I pray to you? Are you a medical student from Tsinghua?”

Xie Wuchi: “Some things can’t be explained in just a few words. Do you really think a physics Ph.D. who transmigrated here could transform the ancient world into an industrial empire?”

“…But many wish-fulfillment novels are written like that.”

“No. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many talented people who go unrecognized in the world. Even if a modern medical student came here, without medical equipment and medicine, it would be very difficult for them to display their talents. Even a clever housewife can’t cook a meal without rice.”

Shi Shu huffed: “Alright, then how are you going to help?”

Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes and said: “One, in this courtyard right now, the sick and the healthy are living together. Every household runs outside, queuing up for relief food every day. The bodies are not disposed of in a timely manner, and they rot and stink. The water source is contaminated with the poisonous gas from the rotting corpses, yet the common people are still drinking raw water. Although the court is trying to regulate it, it’s not strict. These are the reasons why the poisonous miasma ghost qi cannot be dispelled.”

“Two, the court has allocated disaster relief funds to purchase medicinal materials to be transported to Shukang Prefecture to relieve the common people. But some people have already smelled a business opportunity. Before the court procurement, they bought up all the realgar, bupleurum, mugwort, ginger, rhubarb, and other medicinal materials from the neighboring prefectures, hoarding them to sell at a high price to the court’s transport commissioner. For the same amount of money, fewer medicinal materials can be bought, and fewer medicinal materials are available for the patients.”

“Three, this patient is a soldier. The miasma poison has now appeared in the army, but the generals have not yet paid attention to it. If it is not dealt with in a timely manner, once it spreads and causes chaos in the army, do you know how many more people will die?”

Shi Shu’s scalp suddenly tingled: “So… what are you going to do?”

Xie Wuchi said calmly: “Those who are already infected cannot be saved. Those who are meant to die will die. I can only guarantee that those who are alive can continue to live.”

Shi Shu blinked, unable to help but admire: “As expected of you. How did you study? So amazing? Then when do you plan to start?”

“Solving so many problems is not a matter of a single sentence from me. It requires a price. Pies don’t fall from the sky.”

“What price?” Shi Shu didn’t understand.

Xie Wuchi smiled faintly: “Why do you think I would help these people for no reason? Right now, it’s still very difficult for me to move the heavens. It requires a lot of running around, being turned away, and toiling day and night.
I have to pay a price, so what is my reward?”

“…” Shi Shu understood at once. “No wonder you asked me to beg you? Then I’ll beg you. I don’t have much pride, I’m the best at begging. Xie Wuchi, I’m begging you.”

Shi Shu said it very naturally. It was just begging, easy to say. He was also quite clever and understood others’ jokes well.

The handsome and sunny young man, begging and begging, had no intention of being coquettish, but the ending tone of his voice made one’s heart itch.

Xie Wuchi’s voice was indifferent: “Not enough.”

“I’m begging you, I’m begging you, I’m begging you, bro, I’m begging you!”

“Not enough.”

“Brother, good brother, I’m begging you, I’m begging you.”

Shi Shu reached out and pulled at his sleeve, his low self-esteem begging fiercely. “I’m begging you, I’m begging you. A million times, is that enough?”

Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes and nodded slightly: “You don’t understand what I mean. I don’t want a small fight. I want your most precious thing.”

Xie Wuchi held the scabbard in his arms. The dim light of the night shone on his face, his eyebrows and eyes indistinct. The dark red reflected in his pupils was like a bewitching demon.

The words he spoke were also full of suggestive meaning.

“My most precious thing?”

Shi Shu thought seriously.

Xie Wuchi no longer leaned against the pillar and stepped back: “Think about it slowly. I’ll put it on your tab for now. After this is done, I will ask for my reward. The demon will naturally take the human heart.”

Xie Wuchi put on his bamboo hat. His palm was covered with layers of gauze. He turned around. In the dim light, his tall and slender figure was outlined by the shadows, like a ghost and a swordsman, as he retreated.

Shi Shu looked up. Xie Wuchi walked into the main hall and negotiated with Lin Yangchun. Lin Yangchun looked up, his eyes gaunt, and a flame seemed to burn in them. After speaking, Xie Wuchi walked straight out the door.

The night was like a thick blue-green fog. Xie Wuchi’s back was stained with the dust of travel. He’s so smart. What is his plan? What can he do for this city of sorrow?

Xie Wuchi, how much does he really know? How powerful is he?

The flame in Shi Shu’s heart flickered. He didn’t admire the strong, but he admitted that Xie Wuchi was truly capable.

To meet him after transmigrating to the ancient world, he was quite lucky. Of course, Shi Shu also had his own things to do.

For the next few days, the Medical Bureau first underwent a major change. After discussions among several doctors, they decided to implement a series of measures suggested by Xie Wuchi.

The number of corpses in the Medical Bureau decreased. Xie Wuchi argued with the prefectural officials. An urgent dispatch was sent to the Eastern Capital overnight, reporting that some officials and merchants had colluded to drive up the price of medicine. An order was immediately issued to sell the medicine at a fair price and to centrally procure it and send it to Shukang Prefecture.

In addition, the yamen and the army took over Shukang Prefecture, moving the corpses for unified cremation, and then organizing personnel to survey the water flow and dig new wells.

Xie Wuchi was so busy he couldn’t touch the ground. He had already made his suggestions. The next step was to negotiate among the officials to get them to accept his suggestions, which was actually very difficult.

Late at night, the courtyard was cool and breezy. The end of June was sultry. Shi Shu ran back in a hurry. Lin Yangchun shouted, “What are you running for? As soon as you hear about going home, you run faster than a rabbit.”

“There’s someone at home! I’m going back to boil water,” Shi Shu shouted.

“Your brother is back? He’s been working hard recently. Here’s a bottle of Yang Rong Pills. I’ve been reluctant to take them myself. Give them to him.”

Shi Shu giggled: “Thanks, Divine Doctor Lin!”

“Remember to let him rest more. He put in a lot of effort for the miasma ghost poison in Shukang Prefecture. I’ve seen him come back late at night several times. The space between his eyebrows is dark, and his face looks very bad. Take good care of your health.”

Shi Shu clutched the medicine bottle and ran back to the house in a flash. A pot of hot water was boiling on the stove. The gauze mask and other items were soaking in the boiling water for disinfection. Shi Shu entered the room. Xie Wuchi was supporting his chin with one hand, dozing off in a chair.

Shi Shu thought to himself: “Xie Wuchi?”

“You’re sleeping? Then I won’t disturb you… you’ve been so tired these past few days. I’ll take a bath first.”

The weather was muggy. Shi Shu took off all his clothes, his body wrapped in cloth strips. When he tore them off, his skin was pale and wrinkled from being soaked in sweat. He poured a bucket of water over his head.

Shi Shu wore only a pair of shorts, revealing a large portion of his fair back. The water flowed over his skin.

“A shower in hot weather is so refreshing. I can finally rest… wash my butt, privacy, can’t be seen.”

Shi Shu untied his pants and scooped water to wash himself, looking back from time to time, guarding against Xie Wuchi like a thief. The young man’s waist was lean and firm, his shoulder blades like butterfly wings on his back, his waist flexible and strong, glowing with a faint, luminous white in the moonlight.

“Shi Xiaoshu, you’re back?”

Shi Shu: “Huh? Xie Wuchi, you’re awake? Wait a minute, I’m taking a bath.”

“It’s fine, I’m just getting a drink of water.”

Footsteps approached the door. Shi Shu quickly covered his waist with a cloth: “Xie Wuchi!”

“You wash yours. I’ll leave after I finish drinking.”

Xie Wuchi dragged his feet to the stove under the eaves, picked up the kettle, poured a cup, and tilted his head back to drink. The water trickled down his jaw. He seemed very tired. The Adam’s apple on his throat bobbed up and down. Shi Shu glanced at it and quickly looked away.

So weird… why does he look so thirsty? It’s so weird.

Xie Wuchi’s lips were parched. He turned to leave. Unexpectedly, the next second, his figure suddenly swayed. He kicked the threshold and his knees buckled.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you—”

Shi Shu reached out to support him, shouting, “Xie Wuchi, stand properly—ahhh I’m not wearing any pants!”

“It should be fine…” Xie Wuchi closed his eyes, his expression weary. “I haven’t slept much these past few days. I’ve been busy outside. I suddenly felt dizzy just now.”

“Should I help you to bed? Can you stand?”

“You’re not wearing any pants?”

Shi Shu: “—I’m asking if you can stand!”

Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes. Shi Shu’s cold hand covered his eyes: “No looking!”

His forehead was very hot. When Shi Shu’s palm touched it, his breath brushed against his wrist. Xie Wuchi seemed to laugh.

“Let me see,” his voice was hoarse.

Shi Shu was caught off guard and thought of that dream. The back of his spine went numb: “What’s there to see? Don’t you have one yourself? No looking. You should just go to sleep, bro! You’re quite a handful.”

Shi Shu helped him to the bed. Xie Wuchi lay on his side and said, “I’ll only sleep for half an hour. I have something to do outside. The corpse pits are not enough. The wind has picked up recently, and the poisonous smoke is blowing into the city. The people from the mapping department and I have discussed finding a new place to dig. I have to go see it later.”

Shi Shu couldn’t help but ask: “Are you made of iron?”

Even on normal days, Shi Shu saw that Xie Wuchi was very hardworking, waking up early and sleeping late, diligent and encouraging, and his energy was very abundant, as if he never got tired. But the recent events had exceeded his limits. He had to deal with the tedious official business of the yamen, run around the entire city, and even had to dig wells himself when there weren’t enough people.

The scholarly fragrance of a strategist on Xie Wuchi’s body had weakened, replaced by a cold scent of smoke and blood.

“There’s a lot to do, and it has to be done.”

Shi Shu helped him lie down on the bed. His hand accidentally touched the back of his hand, which was scorching hot. Even though Xie Wuchi’s body temperature was usually on the high side, this heat was somewhat unusual.

Shi Shu reached out and touched his forehead: “Xie Wuchi, have you been too tired recently? I feel like something’s not right with you.”

Xie Wuchi closed his eyes, his voice hoarse: “You think something’s wrong too?”

Shi Shu’s heart skipped a beat: “Where do you feel uncomfortable?”

Xie Wuchi suddenly started to laugh. His handsome eyebrows and eyes laughed sinisterly, which was rare for him: “I feel uncomfortable everywhere.”

…So strange, so strange.

Something popped into Shi Shu’s mind, but he didn’t dare to think in that direction. He took a fan and fanned him: “Is it hot? I’ll fan you first. If you can sleep, then sleep.”

A light breeze blew gently. Xie Wuchi had just closed his eyelids for a short while when someone came and called Shi Shu away. Another half an hour passed. Xie Wuchi woke up. In an instant, his head was unbearably hot. The temperature connecting his ears to his mouth almost exploded. His entire head seemed to be surrounded by a hot fog.

…

…

There was a dead silence in his ears.

Xie Wuchi composed himself, his expression gloomy. He put a sharp, narrow knife in his sleeve, picked up the bamboo hat from the rack, wrapped his body and mouth tightly, and his figure disappeared into the thick night.

Shi Shu was urgently called away because a group of people had been sent from the army. They were now all separated. Anyone who coughed up blood or had a fever was immediately sent to the Medical Bureau.

This group of people was very lively. They sat together, and as Shi Shu boiled soup and medicine for them to drink, they chatted.

“We’re not going to die, are we?”

“This miasma ghost poison qi, it’s said that once you get it, you die. I don’t know if we’ll die.”

“We’re lucky. Fewer people are getting it now. There were more before.”

“Keep your voice down. I heard that they were planning to seal the gates of Shukang Prefecture and massacre the city! If they couldn’t stop the spread, they would kill everyone and then burn the bodies to prevent the ghost poison from spreading.”

“It’s good now. The spread has lessened, and people can still be treated.”

“Massacre the city? How cruel!”

Shi Shu’s scalp tingled as he listened. Someone recognized him: “Are you that flower boy?”

Shi Shu paused with the medicine pot: “What’s wrong? You know me?”

“The Nuo god is above, Zhong Kui is above! Praying is useful!”

It was like a doctor coming out of the operating room and hearing the patient’s family thank God.

Shi Shu didn’t argue. He thought to himself that if it weren’t for Xie Wuchi, Imperial Physician Lin, the yamen runners, and the soldiers, and the efforts of the Medical Bureau, the entire Shukang Prefecture probably couldn’t have been contained, and there would have been no way out but death.

At midnight, the doctor on the next shift came to take over. Shi Shu and Lin Yangchun left together.

The predecessor of the Medical Bureau was not the Medical Bureau, but the Dyeing Workshop Bureau. The previous Medical Bureau was too small. After Shukang Prefecture was attacked by the miasma qi this time, and the dyeing workshop was the first to be massacred by the rebelling popular army during the popular rebellion, they moved here temporarily.

Every night, there was not a single sound in the Dyeing Workshop Bureau. From time to time, a few owl cries would ring out, which was very creepy.

Lin Yangchun walked with his hands behind his back: “Xie Shishu, have you heard the rumors about the dyeing workshop?”

“Doctor Lin, besides your hobby of saving people, do you just love to gossip and talk nonsense?”

Lin Yangchun: “So, are you going to listen or not?”

“…Please.”

“This Dyeing Workshop Bureau usually dyes with the mud and fruit of the Yining flower. Red, you know? The water in this pond and the dyeing vats, the color of the waves is bright, deep red like blood.”

Shi Shu: “…Why would you plant such a weird flower?”

“They also forced those women to dye cloth here, not allowing them to leave, nor to meet their husbands. One of the bandits in this popular rebellion was one whose wife was beaten to death here. Out of hatred, he took to the hills as a bandit. When this bandit stormed into Shukang City, the first thing he did was to come to this dyeing workshop and kill all the supervising eunuchs and merchants.”

Shi Shu: “And then?”

“All the Yining flower water was drained. The blood of these eunuchs and officials, in comparison, was no different from the flowers, hahaha.”

Shi Shu: “…Tragic.”

Lin Yangchun said: “That’s not even the most tragic part. The miasma ghost poison qi, the hot poison lingers in the lungs. One of the cures is to cut open the human body’s acupuncture points and let out blood. Coincidentally, it was also released along this stream of water.”

“I think this dyeing workshop just can’t get away from blood,” Shi Shu said. “But fortunately, the ghost poison qi is about to disappear.”

Lin Yangchun said: “Yes, that brother of yours is really capable. Without him, who knows how many hundreds of thousands more people would have died. Actually, is he your husband? No need to deny it, I won’t tell anyone. Your relationship doesn’t seem like just friends.”

“Then you’re overthinking it. He and I are indeed good friends.”

It happened to be time to part ways. Shi Shu waved his hand: “Goodbye, Doctor Lin.”

Walking into the courtyard, someone was shouting: “Advisor Xie? Is Advisor Xie here?”

Shi Shu: “What are you looking for him for?”

“There’s a gambling den in the south of the city. Someone fell ill. They want him to take a look.”

“Is he back?”

“The yamen runner said he saw him come back from outside the city, but he shouted at the door for a long time and no one answered. He’s probably not back.”

“Then he’s not back. You can go first. When he comes back, I’ll tell him for you.”

“Okay, thank you!”

…Xie Wuchi still hadn’t come home.

Shi Shu yawned and pushed open the door. The light was very dim, and it was easy to trip over the furniture. Shi Shu was very familiar with the room. He groped his way to the lamp stand, took out a tinderbox, and “whoosh!” lit the oil lamp.

It was unbearably stuffy. Shi Shu tore off his rotten cloth clothes. When his hand fumbled for the head of the bed, he unexpectedly touched a pair of warm and elastic hands.

“Huh?”

Shi Shu took a sharp step back, instantly awake.

“Xie Wuchi, you’re here? Why didn’t you make a sound?”

Shi Shu’s palm touched a sticky liquid.

Following the candlelight, he saw a shadow sitting in the corner between the bed and the cabinet. Xie Wuchi was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his eyes half-closed, his lips pressed into a thin, cold line. His posture was still very upright and neat, but his head was tilted to the side, his nose casting a cool shadow in the candlelight.

One of his hands rested on his knee, the other holding a thin, narrow blade, which hung down to the floor, stained with blood.

A winding stream of blood seeped from his fingertips, already coagulated.

Shi Shu’s mind crashed. He quickly bent down: “Xie Wuchi?”

“Xie Wuchi? What’s wrong with you? Why did you cut your hand with a knife, you—”

Shi Shu suddenly understood. He pressed his face close to his. Xie Wuchi’s hot breath fanned his face, scorching hot. Shi Shu pressed his forehead against his. An indescribable heat assailed his skin.

Shi Shu’s back instantly went cold. He took a deep breath.

“Xie Wuchi, you, you… you actually also—”

Shi Shu held Xie Wuchi’s face in both hands. Xie Wuchi was awakened, turned his head and coughed, his dark eyes black, staring at Shi Shu without blinking, his expression as calm as a pool of water.

“You’re back? As expected, after running around all these days, I’ve caught the miasma.”

Shi Shu’s hands trembled inexplicably: “It’s okay, don’t worry. I’ll go get Imperial Physician Lin.”

Xie Wuchi: “I knew I would pay a price. I just didn’t expect it to be like this. Send me to the front yard. Stay with the patients, so I don’t infect you.”

Shi Shu’s throat constricted: “No, don’t go to the front yard. Don’t be afraid, Xie Wuchi, I’ll take care of you. There are too many people in the front yard, they can’t manage. Sometimes people are like animals. Don’t go to the front yard.”

Shi Shu’s mind was a mess: “I’m not going to the Medical Bureau anymore. I’ll stay here and be with you.”

Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes and smiled faintly: “Aren’t you afraid of dying with me?”

Shi Shu: “I’m not afraid.”

“Not afraid of death either…”

Xie Wuchi’s eyes darkened. He suddenly reached out and grabbed Shi Shu’s collar, pulling him closer, staring at his thin lips without blinking, his eyes filled with red blood vessels.

“Alright, remember this. You said you would take care of me.”

“Right now, I’m in a lot of pain.”

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