The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"Oh?" Brother Luo made a gesture as if he wanted to hear more details.

Zhang Ping'an continued in a deep voice, "My family has been mainly engaged in the medicinal materials business in recent years, and my father often travels back and forth between the town, the county, and the prefectural capital for work. Half a month ago, when I went back to the county for work, I found that many people had caught colds. In addition, cinnamon twigs and ephedra, two medicines for treating colds, are in short supply now. Many clinics have no access to them. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but in the past two weeks, whether in the prefectural school or the surrounding areas, more and more people have been coughing, so I wanted to come and remind Uncle Luo to make sure to stock up on rice and medicinal materials. You can wear a mask when going out. If you cover your mouth and nose, the risk of infection will be much smaller."

Brother Luo, the eldest and second brothers were frowning and thinking at the top.

Zhang Pingan paused and smiled, "Of course, I'm not saying that I'll definitely be infected in the end. I just think it's better to be prepared than not. There's no harm in preparing in advance."

Brother Luo pondered for a moment before speaking, "Ping'an, you're so thoughtful. Our two families have a deep bond, and I won't hide anything from you. Actually, the prefectural medical department discovered this more than half a month ago, but the cold isn't a fatal disease, so they didn't take any specific measures at the time. But it's been getting worse lately, so I suspect they'll find a solution soon. Don't worry too much."

"I know that Brother Luo, you must have deeper roots in the capital city than me, and you are more informed than me. Just be prepared, and I will feel at ease," Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

Luo Erge finally spoke up, "But we still need to be careful. I have a classmate who works at the Medical Department, and I heard him say that if this cold gets out of control and becomes as contagious as leprosy, the sick will most likely be isolated and left to fend for themselves. This shouldn't be underestimated."

Brother Luo scolded him in a low voice, "Second brother, be careful with your words! The Medical Bureau hasn't made a final decision on this matter yet."

Luo Erge smiled and said, "Since Ping An is willing to come and remind us, there is no need for us to hide some things. I believe Ping An knows what can and cannot be said."

Brother Luo Er said his last words while looking at Zhang Ping'an.

Zhang Pingan bowed solemnly and said, "Thank you for your advice, second brother. I know what I'm doing now."

After leaving Luo's house, Zhang Ping'an called a cart to go home.

It now seems that the government is aware of this matter, but has not yet taken it seriously, and the prevention and control measures are very rough. However, this is based on the premise that the number of people is controllable. If there is a large-scale infection in the end and the number of people is uncontrollable, isolation will not be of any effect, and it is impossible to isolate so many people.

It was already late when they got home. Zhang Laoer had just taken some time to go to the south city and brought back a lot of vegetables and meat. Xiaohu was helping him. Since coming to the Zhang family, he had good food and warm clothes, and there was not much hard work to do. Xiaohu had gained a lot of weight visibly.

"Brother Ping'an, you're back," Xiaohu greeted Zhang Ping'an warmly when he saw him come in.

"Well, you guys took the time to bring back so many vegetables. Now our family doesn't have to worry about buying groceries for most of half a month," Zhang Pingan said with a smile.

Xiao Hu scratched his head and chuckled, "Second Uncle said it's always right to prepare in advance. We need to eat anyway. It's a little cheaper to buy food in the south of the city than in the east, but it's still much more expensive than back home."

"The capital city is prosperous, and everything is more expensive than at home," Xu said from the side, busy arranging the dishes.

Seeing that there was rice, vegetables and medicine at home, Zhang Ping'an felt much more at ease and asked his family to go out as little as possible.

On the second day, when Zhang Ping'an went to the provincial school, he put on a mask. Old Li, the gatekeeper of the school, almost didn't let him in. Zhang Ping'an was allowed to enter after explaining. Before he walked far after entering the door, he heard Old Li muttering behind him, "It's not that easy to be infected. This scholar is too afraid of death!"

When she entered the classroom, she attracted everyone's attention. After she sat down, Yuan Ziang was the first to burst into laughter: "Hahahaha, what are you doing? It's like you have an infectious disease. You're not a grown-up girl, why are you covering yourself up so tightly?"

Tan Yaoqi also sneered at the side: "It's weird!"

Regardless of what others said, Zhang Pingan simply explained, "A lot of people have been catching colds lately, so it's better to be careful. Many clinics are no longer able to buy cinnamon twigs and ephedra, two herbs used to treat colds. If your body collapses, you'll have nothing left."

Du Zhong came over to smooth things over and said, "What Mr. Zhang said makes some sense, but will just wearing a handkerchief really do the trick?"

"Among the seven orifices, the mouth and nose are most susceptible to invasion by external evil. Wearing is better than not wearing," Zhang Pingan looked up and replied. There is no such thing as disinfected masks now. It can only be said that it is better than nothing. Wearing is better than not wearing.

Du Zhong smiled and replied, "That's right," and said nothing more.

"You'd better make one and wear it. It doesn't matter if it's ugly or not. Others will just laugh it off. Have you forgotten that when we took the provincial exam in April, there was a question about the epidemic in Jin?" Zhang Pingan whispered to Yuan Ziang.

Yuan Ziang thought for a moment and replied: "There was a major epidemic in Jin, and tens of thousands of people were infected. Now that you mention it, even the symptoms are somewhat similar!"

Zhang Pingan didn't say anything else, but gave Yuan Ziang a look that let him figure it out himself.

Yuan Ziang exclaimed, "No way, no way! Our Ezhou Prefecture is a land of fish and rice, and a major source of tax revenue for the imperial court. If tens of thousands of people died, the imperial court would suffer a huge loss."

As soon as he finished speaking, Professor Han came in to class. Seeing Zhang Pingan wearing a mask, he looked over curiously, but didn't say anything.

After class, Yuan Ziang quickly instructed his servant to go back and ask his family to make a mask and bring it over.

Zhang Ping'an went to Professor Han's study.

Professor Han was quite surprised to see Zhang Pingan coming alone: ​​"But what's the matter?"

Zhang Pingan bowed and said, "I do have something I want to report to you, Master."

Professor Han is actually a relatively gentle person in private. Hearing this, he sat down and said, "You should sit down too. If you have anything to say, please sit down and talk."

Zhang Pingan sat down before saying, "Professor Han, I'm not here today for homework. I've noticed recently that more and more students at the prefectural academy are catching the flu, not just here, but outside as well. My family happens to be in the medicinal herb business, so I'm more aware of this. Many clinics' cold medicines are no longer available, and Ezhou Prefecture doesn't produce them locally. They need to be shipped from Yangcheng and other places in the south. I'm worried that if this situation gets worse, the losses will be significant. I'm thinking about whether I should take preventive measures early. I'm young, and there are still many things I haven't considered, so I want to report this to you for your decision."

Professor Han nodded and said, "I've noticed this recently as well." Then he smiled and said, "So how do you think we can prevent and treat it?"