The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 2079 - 2054: Persuasion

The elderly woman and the young woman beside them also looked at them warily, but when Manbao moved to lift the quilt, they hesitated for a moment and did not stop her.

The quilt was lifted, revealing a shivering little girl, her head and face covered in pox marks.

Daji and the others were startled and collectively stepped back two paces.

Manbao was also taken aback. She put down the quilt, took a mask from her pocket and put it on. Only then did she lift the quilt again to check the little girl’s condition.

She was still feverish, and not only was her face covered with pox, but her hands, feet, chest, and abdomen as well. Manbao had never seen so many pox marks on one person.

After carefully examining her, Manbao stood up and said to the young man, "It’s getting dark. Will you be camping out in the open?"

The young man replied cautiously, "We will light a fire to keep warm."

Manbao then said to Daji, "Let’s stay here for the night, too. Wear masks and keep your distance. I’ll check her symptoms."

Daji and the others agreed and went to arrange a place to camp.

The young man and his family, half suspicious and half hopeful, also stayed.

Manbao opened her bundle, as she had brought some medicinal herbs with her. She carefully selected some herbs and gave them to the woman to brew a remedy.

Bai Shan went with the young man from their family to gather firewood, and by the time they brought back two bundles of wood, the young man had opened his heart to Bai Shan, telling him everything he knew.

According to him, his name was Wu Xiang, and his family lived in a nearby village, not far from Xiazhou City.

"Half a month ago, Xiazhou City suddenly shut down, claiming there was an epidemic in the city. Supplies could be sent in from outside, but nothing and no one could be sent out," Wu Xiang said, wiping away tears. "Our home is in a village not far from the urban area. We heard the city was short of vegetables, so we sold our stored cabbage, passing it through the city gate where someone would receive it. We thought just selling some vegetables wouldn’t cause any problems, but five days ago, our child suddenly developed a fever and then broke out in pox."

"An announcement in the city states that if someone outside the city also contracts smallpox, the entire village will be quarantined if there are many cases. If there are not many, the person has to be moved into the city. Our child is so young; how could we bear to leave her alone in the city? But the village can’t accommodate us anymore, so we had to leave."

Bai Shan asked, "Where can you go?"

Wu Xiang looked at his wife and then replied, "We want to go to Dejing County. My father-in-law’s family is there, and the city hasn’t closed yet. We want to take the child to see a doctor, hoping it can save her."

Bai Shan asked blandly, "Smallpox is a highly contagious epidemic. If your village and clan couldn’t take you in, can your father-in-law’s family? Plus, once you go, the smallpox epidemic will spread."

On hearing this, Wu Xiang looked at him guardedly. "Are you planning to arrest us?"

Bai Shan shook his head, looking at him with a face full of empathy, and said, "We just came from Dejing County. You probably don’t know this, but imperial troops have been dispatched. Not only is Dejing County sealed off, but all counties to the south and west are locked down, too. People going south either hide in the mountains or return to Xiazhou. It’s just that they’re on foot, so they’re slower."

Wu Xiang exclaimed, "That’s impossible!"

"What’s impossible?" Bai Shan said. "Chang’an is full of dignitaries, and there are over a million people living there. Do you know how many people a million is?"

Wu Xiang’s eyes widened.

Bai Shan continued, "The population of ten Xiazhou Cities combined doesn’t compare to Chang’an. If even one smallpox patient enters, over a million people could become infected. That’s why the court is taking it very seriously and has sealed off the roads."

Faced with Bai Shan’s calm gaze, Wu Xiang had no choice but to believe him. He couldn’t help but cry out, "The court is just letting us die."

The elderly woman and young woman also became grief-stricken and began to weep aloud.

Manbao and Bai Erlang were speechless: It sounded almost too convincing.

Bai Shan said solemnly, "That’s why we’re here."

Wu Xiang looked at them, a group of 16 or 17-year-old youths—what could they achieve?

Bai Shan said, "We’re all from the Imperial Hospital, and imperial troops and a convoy from the hospital are following us."

Wu Xiang, his mother, and wife couldn’t help but turn to look at the main road.

Bai Shan sighed and said, "Don’t bother looking. We’re young, so we rode ahead on horseback. It only took us five days to get here from the capital. The imperial doctors trailing us are old and are bringing several carts of medicinal herbs. Even with a large army escort, they’re moving slowly. It will take them another three or four days to arrive."

He softened his tone and said, "County Magistrate Yang of Xiazhou petitioned for aid. His Majesty is concerned about the epidemic-afflicted people and instructed the Ministry of Revenue to purchase a large amount of medicinal herbs. What’s coming with the imperial doctors is the first batch of these herbs; more are on the way."

Lowering his voice, he said, "I only tell you this because I trust my brother here. These herbs are for the people suffering from the epidemic. If you stay in Xiazhou City, not only can you receive free medicine, but you’ll also see the imperial doctors. However, if you continue south, let alone seeing a doctor, you won’t even be allowed into the towns. Without a local household registration, no county will accept you. Do you plan to rough it in the wild instead?"

The fire was already burning, so it wasn’t so cold. Manbao had someone push the cart close to the fire and then took a needle to prick the girl a few times, helping reduce her fever a bit so it wasn’t too uncomfortable.

But she dared not give her fever-reducing medicine because smallpox needed to surface to be treatable. Suppressing it could be fatal.

Not bothering with Bai Shan, who was still fooling them, she rolled up the girl’s sleeve to examine her pox more closely.

After a while, she found a blister that had been rubbed open, likely because the girl couldn’t resist scratching. Her wrists had been tied earlier, probably to prevent her from scratching.

Finding the opened blister, Manbao took a piece of white paper and carefully extracted the blister with a needle...

The elderly woman and the young woman to the side watched in confusion, completely unsure of what she was doing.

Manbao left with the paper, using the excuse of needing to study the pox, instructing others not to get too close, and then sent the paper to the teaching room, directly uploading it as a teaching material, urging Keke to urgently contact Teacher Mo.

Receiving seven alert messages on the line, Teacher Mo silently raised his head from a pile of books. After receiving her pathogen, he went offline to study it.

Such things didn’t need another research institute; he could sequence it in his small laboratory.

During the night, the little girl couldn’t help but cry. It was unbearably itchy, and she simply couldn’t stand it.

The elderly woman and the young woman could only hold her hands, constantly comforting her. Seeing her in so much discomfort, they couldn’t help but shed tears.

Manbao searched through her bundle, finally concocting a remedy. After brewing it, she let it cool and then instructed them to soak gauze in the liquid to give the girl a wipe down.

"It can only barely relieve the itch and has an effect on easing the pox. I’m not sure how effective it will be, but give it a try."

Looking at the two women, she frowned, took out two masks and handed them over. "It’s better than nothing. You haven’t had pox before, right?"

The two were immensely grateful as they took them and wore them like the others, although they didn’t know what purpose they served. However, seeing that dignitaries and the imperial doctors did this, they believed it must have some use.