"As far as I know, all the herbs in Feng County are owned by the Chang family."
Xiang Yunling pointed to the medicinal materials behind her. "This is all we have left. Did the maiden's herbs come from the sky?"
Song Qingchao shook her head, clutching her handkerchief. "No, we bought them legitimately."
She pulled out a piece of paper from her embrace and then unfurled it with a "swish."
"A contract in black and white, two copies, and I have paid the money."
She had indeed given quite a lot.
A silver ingot was enough for the Chang family to eat for several days.
She just didn't know if Old Man Chang could find it in the pigsty. However, she had stuffed the contract into Old Man Chang's embrace.
Paper was fragile, and it wouldn't be good if it were eaten by a little pig.
Xiang Yunling's brows furrowed even deeper as she looked at the words on the paper, but she truly couldn't find any fault with it.
"Do you truly wish to stay and help?"
Several people nodded with great certainty.
"Except for him, my siblings and I are quite skilled at decocting medicine and taking care of people."
Song Qingchao put an arm around Liu Zhe'er. "We will trouble Young Master Xiang to take care of us from now on."
Xiang Yunling considered for a moment and finally nodded. "Fate is predestined. I cannot guarantee everyone's safety."
Song Qingchao smiled instead. "It's alright, we will take good care of ourselves."
After the others stayed, Song Qingmu and Liu Zhe'er were assigned to the small shed for decocting medicine.
This place was completely isolated from the outside world and was relatively safe.
As Song Qingchao had some understanding of medical principles, she stayed by Bai You'an's side.
Xiang Yunling returned to the counter and handed some pulse diagnoses and prescriptions to Bai You'an.
Bai You'an took them and looked at them one by one.
Seeing Bai You'an frowning, Song Qingchao spoke softly, "Are there still any points of confusion?"
"The symptoms are all similar." Bai You'an then turned to the ledger of the deceased next to him. After flipping through a few pages, his already furrowed brow tightened even more.
Song Qingchao looked up at him, "What is it?"
Bai You'an smiled. "It's nothing."
He lowered his hands and rubbed his brow. "Outside the city, most people died from overwork. Illness was the primary reason, but not the cause of death. It's the same here; most deaths are caused by complications."
"Young Master Bai is correct, which is why everyone here has a different prescription each day."
Xiang Yunling replied.
Bai You'an also nodded. "Outside the city, I made no progress because I wasn't sure which medicine specifically treated the epidemic. I mostly prescribed different formulas based on individual conditions. It seems it's the same here."
Song Qingchao also fell into thought.
She looked at the stack of pulse diagnoses on the table.
One sheet contained the pulse diagnoses for ten people. A stack of ten sheets meant one hundred people were handled by a single young apprentice.
Each person was numbered, so there was no room for error.
Song Qingchao suddenly had an idea. She tugged at Bai You'an's sleeve. "Let's categorize them and find the young and middle-aged adults who only have the epidemic."
Bai You'an held the papers in his hand. "That's a good idea. We can single out this group as a test population. If it's effective, then this will be the prescription."
Xiang Yunling nodded, agreeing as well.
Song Qingchao acted immediately. She first picked out similar pulse diagnoses from her hand and then compared them with Bai You'an's.
The other young apprentices also found this method to be excellent and followed suit in picking them out.
If not for the pulse diagnoses of thousands of people, they wouldn't be able to determine the actual cause of people's illnesses when prescribing medicine daily.
In the end, a hundred experimental subjects were selected.
With the experimental subjects determined, Song Qingchao began to worry again. This was, after all, testing medicine, and medicine had its toxicity. She was unsure if these people would help her.
What if it was like it was outside the city…
After exchanging a look with Bai You'an, she voiced her concerns.
"There's no need to worry about that."
Xiang Yunling's reaction exceeded their expectations.
He took the organized list. "I will go back and persuade them. You two just need to focus your energy on the prescriptions."
He pondered for a moment. "There isn't much time left."
Song Qingchao also fell silent.
The most crucial task at this stage was to overcome this difficult period.
If the epidemic were allowed to spread unchecked, they would all die in this small town.
And the first snow was still a month away.
After a month, the epidemic would disappear. She didn't understand how.
One possibility was that the person in front of her had developed the prescription in her previous life and saved these people.
Then, in this life, with Bai You'an's assistance, Xiang Yunling's prescription should be developed faster, resulting in fewer deaths from this epidemic.
She would also survive.
The second possibility was that they would be left to fend for themselves, and the imperial court would eventually resolve everything.
No treatment, using death to cut off the spread of this cholera.
Song Qingchao had a strong feeling that the previous life was definitely the second scenario.
Otherwise, how could they have all suddenly recovered overnight?
Was there some miraculous medicine that could achieve this?
Compared to medicine, she believed more in violent solutions.
Bai You'an, standing beside her, also fell silent.
He knew the outcome of this epidemic in his previous life.
A month later, the imperial city would order Feng County to be burned.
Fortunately, there was hope now.
Xiang Yunling was likely the person he was looking for.
When he left, he detoured to the neighboring county and arranged for grain and herbs.
Once the four carts were used, the items he arranged would likely arrive.
"May I ask abruptly, did you, Young Master Xiang, develop these protective measures, especially the masks?"
Speaking of this, Bai You'an's attention was also drawn to Song Qingchao.
This woman always reminded him in unexpected ways.
"No." Xiang Yunling's hand holding the list tightened, creasing the paper. "It was the Medical Ghost."
This answer truly surprised Bai You'an.
Song Qingchao also became curious. "Medical Ghost? Why is she called that, and where is she now?"
Xiang Yunling pursed his lips; he seemed to have something on his mind. "The Medical Ghost's whereabouts are unpredictable."
He put down the list in his hand and picked up his tea, swirling the foam.
"No one knows who this Medical Ghost is. She appeared about ten years ago, and her treatment methods are different from ours."
"How are they different?" Song Qingchao couldn't help but ask.
Xiang Yunling looked up, staring directly at Song Qingchao, and uttered two words: "Bloody."
Song Qingchao's grip on her handkerchief tightened.
"She gouges out hearts, plucks lungs, opens intestines, and splits bellies. She only intervenes to save people when they are on the verge of death."
Song Qingchao was stunned.
Was this saving people or killing them?
But Bai You'an was very interested. "Has anyone seen this Medical Ghost?"
"No one has ever seen her while awake," Xiang Yunling shook his head. "Some say the Medical Ghost is a child of a few years old, some say an old person who never grows up, and even more say the Medical Ghost is not human but a god descended to bring hope to the world.
However, the common description is that this person is thin and not tall."
He put down his teacup. "Are you two interested in this person?"
Bai You'an nodded. "I think she might be able to help us."
"You won't be able to find her."
Bai You'an was somewhat disappointed. He felt that perhaps this Medical Ghost was the person he was looking for.
However, Song Qingchao's thoughts were different from the current state of mind of the two men.
She had examined the stolen herbs; they were all ordinary.
Leaving aside their efficacy, whether these herbs could withstand the trial period was a question.
However, she had three carts of herbs in her spatial dimension, plus the precious herbs stolen from Bai Cao Tang, and she needed to find a reason to bring them out.
Such a legendary, unpredictable, and mysterious person was now an object she could use.
Song Qingchao directly broke the silence.
"I can find her."