A piece of Japanese incense

Doctor Wang stepped forward and first took out a very thin silk handkerchief. After seeing my hand, he took out another handkerchief from his sleeve, overlapped it, and gently covered my right wrist with it, with only his index and middle fingers resting on the pulse.

Doctor Wang's brows were curved into a "川" shape. After a moment, he asked me to change to my left hand and took my pulse again. He also checked my tongue coating and carefully observed the blisters on my hands.

After taking the patient's pulse, he simply placed the handkerchief on the table and took a step back. His furrowed brows did not relax, and the atmosphere was gloomy and heavy.

"Doctor Wang, what on earth is wrong with me? Ahem~ Ahem~"

Doctor Wang wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and asked tentatively, "Miss Zhi, do you have blurred vision or eyelid pain?"

"Yes, I can't see your face clearly now, and my eyes are sore from reading."

"Do you have a headache? How is it?"

"When I have a fever, I have a headache, I feel irritable, confused, and can't sleep at night."

Doctor Wang nodded and continued, "Does your nose feel dry or bleeding? Do you feel bitter, thirsty, or sticky in your mouth? Is there blood in your phlegm? Do you feel stuffy in your chest?"

"The imperial physician is truly a miracle doctor! I have all the symptoms you described! Cough cough! And I keep having a dry cough! Cough cough!"

Yuyi carefully brought me a cup of tea, and I took it impatiently and drank it all in one gulp.

Doctor Wang was still frightened and said hesitantly, "Miss Zhi's Yang is weak and her Yin is tight. Her face is loose and her complexion is dark. The pulse on her right hand is stronger than that on her left hand, neither floating nor sinking. She has had a fever for one or two days, and there is white matter on her tongue like accumulated powder. Although it is similar to other wind-cold syndromes, it does not develop in a regular way along the meridians like wind-cold, but it disperses and gathers again, and often recurs again and again..."

"The doctor said that I have an epidemic?"

"It's not confirmed yet... But judging from the color of Miss Zhi's rash, it's reddish purple or dark red. It's superficial and only on the surface of the skin, so the poison is not deep. Although there are bad symptoms, it's easy to treat. I'll first use Renshen Baidu Powder to attack the interior and strengthen the Qi. You should burn mugwort in the room to remove moisture, and then use Atractylodes lancea to fumigate to ward off evil spirits. I'll read the medical books and discuss with other imperial doctors before making a diagnosis."

"Well, OK, thank you for your hard work, Imperial Physician. Yuyi, send Imperial Physician Wang off."

"No! No! Just to be on the safe side, please don't move around..."

"Oh, I will follow the doctor's instructions. Doctor, please take your time."

Doctor Wang quickly packed up his medicine box and walked out.

"Oh! That really scared me!"

After the imperial physician left, Yu Tuan breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the couch. Yu Yi followed closely behind, closed the door, and sat down as well.

"Girl, is this considered a pass?"

I took out the silver needles from Taichong and Qimen points on my body, placed them on the table, tapped the edge of the table with my fingertips, and said leisurely, "Oh! That's right, this Doctor Wang, although a little timid, is very careful and attentive. He asked so many questions that I was afraid I would be exposed."

"The girl is really far-sighted. She put a piece of yam cake in her mouth in advance. Hahaha! I was afraid that the girl would choke on the powder when she spoke." Yutuan laughed.

I spanked Yu Tuan's butt and snorted righteously, "It has to be Yu Yi! I coughed so many times, and you didn't even bother to pour me a glass of water!"

"Then people will think you are acting, hahaha."

"Stop laughing! We are just lucky this time to have met an old doctor with poor eyesight. But what if they send a young doctor next time?" Yu Yi was worried.

"Then, we can only see what happens with Xiaohan."

The three of us looked at each other.

But within a quarter of an hour the hustle and bustle and noise around me made me feel like I was trapped in a giant blender.

Yuyi opened the window, and the air was filled with a thick smell of cigarette smoke, so pungent that people dared not breathe. I couldn't open my eyes because of the smoke, and Yutuan was choked to tears.

Yu Tuan ran out of the yard, shouting, "What's going on? Is it necessary to have such a big fuss?!"

No one responded to her. After a while, she ran back into the house, shouting in panic: "It's over! They have surrounded our yard! I can't even open the door!"

I sat down in a chair beside the bed in a casual manner and said, "Just turn it off."

"Ah! How come you're not afraid at all?"

Yuyi was tidying up the closet and said nonchalantly, "The girl must have predicted this a long time ago, so don't be surprised. Let's put our things away. The girl said we'll be back home in two days!"

"Really!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down. There are people outside the yard now."

At sunset, the afterglow of the setting sun penetrates the clouds and falls on the earth.

With sleepy eyes, he stretched himself lazily, stood up and looked out the window: "Yuyi, what time is it?"

"The girl is awake! It's the twilight hour now. Are you hungry?"

"A little bit... I don't know how the palace delivers food to the quarantined people."

"It's been delivered! Ta-da!" Yutuan came in with a food box in her hand.

"I just heard a 'bang' and the lunch box was placed at the door."

As they were talking, mugwort started burning outside again.

"No, it's endless. Don't you find it choking?" Yu Tuan ran to the yard and shouted at the top of his voice.

"Oh my god! Girl! Come out and see!"

I ran out of the yard, and the entire girls' school was filled with smoke, which was vague but lingering, floating over the school like a ribbon.

I covered my mouth and nose involuntarily, looked at Yutuan, and motioned her to ask the guards outside. Yuyi and I went back to the room and closed the door.

"I guess it's Miss Fang..."

"Let's wait for Yu Tuan to ask about the situation first."

Yu Tuan opened the door and came in, gloating, "I asked them, and someone named Mu Dong told me that Fang Juexia fell asleep as soon as she came back at noon, and someone called the imperial physician in the afternoon, saying that she and her personal maid had a rash all over their bodies, and their courtyard is now sealed off, hehe!"

Yu Yi clapped her hands and cheered: "It's done! Girl, what should we do next?"

"The next step is... crying!"

"Crying?" The two looked at me puzzledly again.

"According to the rules, if no new cases are found except for Fang Juexia and me, the Women's Academy should be closed, or everyone in our two courtyards should be concentrated in one place for quarantine."

"Then we still have no chance to go home?"

"But the silver pieces in Fang Juexia's pond are still there. If I were the master behind this, I would use this opportunity to try to clear Fang Juexia's yard so that I can send someone to fish them out without any worries~"

"Then... shouldn't we still..."

"So! Let's cry loudly! Cry for Daddy to come over! We want him! To send him home to us!"

"Consort?"

"Oh, with my father's status, it's no problem for him to say a few words in front of His Majesty. Besides, there's also my grandfather. I believe that my grandfather will also beg His Majesty for my sake. In this way, the people behind the silver piece will also go with the flow and advise His Majesty to let us go home and isolate ourselves! As long as we leave the palace, everything will be easy~"