A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Stone Village Ancestral Hall.

Village Chief Zhao piled up all the medicinal herbs he could find and asked the old doctor to examine them.

Unfortunately, after removing the unusable and rotten parts, there was only enough left to boil a pot of medicinal soup.

This amount is barely enough to spill on a small path.

But last night the old doctor said that the whole village needs to be disinfected at least three times a day, and no corner of every household can be missed.

Nowadays, even basic disinfection cannot be guaranteed, let alone a large amount of preventive medicines or medicines for treating the epidemic. We have nothing we need.

Looking at the old doctor, Village Chief Zhao was fully aware of the desperate situation they were in.

But after the villagers were finally calmed down, Village Chief Zhao didn't know whether he should tell them what had happened.

If we don't tell them, how long can Stone Village survive without any medicine?

Half a day? A day?

Village Chief Zhao's face seemed to age several years in an instant.

The old doctor sensed his emotions and comforted him, saying, "The yamen runners outside the village have already gone back to deliver the message."

"Let's wait a little longer; the medicine allocated by the government will be delivered soon."

Village Chief Zhao said with distress, "Even if the government acts quickly, it will probably be tomorrow by then."

"How are we going to get through this today?!"

While the old doctor was talking to Village Chief Zhao, Gu Xixi paced around, looking at the interior of the ancestral hall.

This is a large, two-room suite that will be used as a temporary isolation facility to house a large number of patients.

Apart from the incense table, all other furnishings were moved away, and soft hay was laid out on the ground.

The haystack served as a bed.

Gu Xixi counted forty, and it was clear that Village Chief Zhao and the others had done their best to prepare them.

She walked to the west wall and suddenly took a deep sniff.

Then he ran his finger across the wall and brought it closer to smell it.

"Village Chief Zhao," Gu Xixi asked, her voice brimming with excitement, "what did you use to paint the walls?"

Village Chief Zhao was clearly not in the mood to answer this irrelevant question. "Oh, gray powder."

Gu Xixi pressed on, "Is it made by crushing and calcining a specific type of stone?"

Village Chief Zhao finally stirred and raised his head. "This is a craft passed down in our village. You even know about it, young lady?"

According to him, his ancestors discovered a type of stone that could be found everywhere in this place about a hundred years ago.

They accidentally broke it and burned it, and discovered that when this stuff was mixed with soil, the houses built from it were more sturdy.

They named this substance "gray powder," and later, because of its clear white and grayish color, and its fine texture after being mixed with water, it was found to be excellent for painting walls.

That's how the inner walls of the ancestral hall came to be.

Village Chief Zhao sighed, "Just as Village Chief Qian said, Miss Gu is remarkably insightful at such a young age. It's just a pity..."

It's a pity that he was implicated by Stone Village, and he might die young.

Village Chief Zhao felt deep regret. He had died a worthy death for Stone Village, but it had caused two of his benefactors to suffer unjustly.

He felt guilty and dared not look at Gu Xixi and the old doctor.

Gu Xixi then asked, "Can this gray powder still be made now?"

Village Chief Zhao nodded, "Using local materials will just require a few more strong laborers."

"That's great!" Gu Xixi clapped her hands and laughed.

Village Chief Zhao looked at her in surprise. What could be so good about this? How could she still be laughing?

Gu Xixi said, "Please take some people to make as much gray powder as possible."

"The resulting ash powder can replace the medicinal soup used last night, and it can be evenly sprinkled throughout the village."

The old doctor had already realized what was happening.

"Girl, do you think this can replace medicine to kill the plague?"

Gu Xixi nodded, "It's not just effective against the plague, but also against other epidemics. However, because it is extremely virulent, it cannot be used directly on humans."

Village Chief Zhao strode out, shouting, "I'll go find someone to burn ash powder!"

Although he didn't understand why gray powder could be used in this way.

But he unconditionally trusted Gu Xixi and the old doctor.

Next, I need to go to the same hospital as last night for treatment.

The old doctor made a new discovery and was still amazed as he walked: "The things used for painting walls and building houses cannot be eaten by people, but they can cleanse and remove impurities. They can be used as a substitute for medicine, but they are not medicine."

"In all my years in Stone Village, I have never discovered such a strange object!"

The gatekeepers let Gu Xixi and the old doctor in as soon as they saw them.

The patient had already taken the herbal decoction early in the morning.

Gu Xixi listened to his cough through the window, and whether it was psychological or not, it seemed to have lessened.

The old doctor still went in by himself.

Gu Xixi had no choice but to stay outside and chat casually with the woman who owned the house.

I was busy last night and didn't ask, but I found out that his family is related to the village chief, and they both have the surname Zhao.

Because the head of the household was the fourth son, people in the village would refer to his family as "Zhao Si's family".

After waiting for a long time, the old doctor finally came out, but he looked more relaxed than last night.

The elder sister-in-law had prepared clean water for the old doctor to wash his hands.

Gu Xixi then carried the steaming hot medicine around the old doctor, fumigating him from all sides before stopping.

The eldest sister-in-law asked worriedly, "I went to deliver the medicine this morning, why hasn't my second brother's fever gone down yet?"

The old doctor said, "He just told me that he ate a bowl of porridge this morning, which is a good sign."

"The course of plague is dangerous and extremely detrimental to the patient's health, so medication should not be used in a way that seeks quick results."

“I observed that his pulse did not continue to worsen, which indicates that the medicine was effective.”

The older sister-in-law didn't quite understand and pressed for more information, "When will he get better?"

"You're a miracle doctor, you can definitely cure him, right?"

The guards outside said that if someone had the plague, they would die, and they avoided the family like the plague.

The whole family has been living in fear since last night, and even meals have lost their flavor.

The old doctor became their only lifeline.

So the sister-in-law wanted to ask the old doctor a question, even if it was just empty words of comfort, it would at least put people at ease.

Old Lang never lied. "If you drink two more bowls of medicine today and the fever goes down before dawn, there will be hope."

In Huachidu Village, the teacher was not present, so the school was temporarily converted into a nursery.

Aunt Zhang and Sister-in-law Qin work together to look after all the children in the village.

Mu Nanzhao hurried home, relieved to avoid Aunt Zhang's questioning.

He went to Gu Xixi's room and took a small piece of oilcloth, a palm-sized wooden basin with a round hole at the bottom, and a small bottle containing powder, the third one from the left on the table.

Gu Xixi told him these things at the village entrance, urging him to go home and marry them.

Mu Nanzhao gritted his teeth as he searched for his belongings.

The woman didn't want a change of clothes (she said she could borrow someone else's) or food.

They insisted on making him take these things that seemed to have no purpose whatsoever!

Mu Nanzhao still managed to find all the items and carefully packed them into the bag.

Just before leaving, he suddenly wondered if Gu Xixi had taken a fancy to some old tree or weed at this critical moment.

If this is true...

Mu Nanzhao's forehead veins bulged.

As I approached the intersection, a beautiful figure ran over and blocked my way with outstretched arms.

"Brother Chen, please don't go!"

Gu Qingye looked earnestly at Mu Nanzhao, "I know where Sister Xixi went."

"People have died there, and the government guards it. If you go in, you'll never come back!"