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

"Pah, pah, pah!" Gu Xixi spat downwards, "What do you mean by 'die'?"

Why do you curse me whenever you get the chance?

Mu Nanzhao looked over Gu Xixi's head and said to the old doctor, "Old Jiang, if I may be so bold, how confident are you in your prescription this time?"

The old doctor smiled calmly, "Less than 50%."

Gu Xixi was somewhat surprised. She had thought that the old doctor was at least 60% sure of success after seeing him risk his life.

Mu Nanzhao wasn't particularly surprised.

Unlike other diseases, epidemics are highly variable. Even the same disease, plague, can present with different symptoms in different years and regions, and therefore require vastly different treatments.

This is why, despite mobilizing so many doctors, they still couldn't come up with a single prescription.

Mu Nanzhao said calmly, "Elder Jiang, please go ahead and do it. No matter what the outcome, I will ensure your safe return."

Gu Xixi glanced sideways, thinking that Mu Nanzhao was currently relying entirely on the old doctor to keep him alive, and that was probably the reason.

Mu Nanzhao saw through Gu Xixi's thoughts at a glance.

He sneered, "Don't worry, you're not entirely useless. If I have the strength, I'll consider taking you with me when I leave."

Gu Xixi grinned at him, "I feel much more at ease knowing you say I'm useful."

Back at the mountain cabin, Mu Nanzhao and the old doctor found a spot in the outer room and took a nap.

Before dawn, Gu Xixi heard a noise outside. When she went out to see what was going on, the old doctor was already up.

"Master," Gu Xixi whispered, "Are you worried about that patient and haven't slept a wink all night?"

The old doctor turned around. "You've come at the right time. Can you check the top shelf for me? Is there a brocade box there?"

Gu Xixi couldn't see in the dark, so she lit an oil lamp and stood on tiptoe to shine the light upwards.

"There was a brocade box, it looked like... red?"

The old doctor nodded. "That's it. Bring it down for me."

The brocade box was covered in a thick layer of dust. Gu Xixi carefully took it down, but still choked on the dust and sneezed.

The old doctor took the brocade box, stroked it, and said, "It hasn't been moved since I moved here. It's no wonder it's accumulated dust."

Gu Xixi sneezed twice more, rubbing her nose and asking curiously, "What kind of treasure is it that you cherish so much?"

"Medical classics and secret manuals? Miraculous remedies from the sea?"

The old doctor chuckled and said, "The thing is right here, what are you guessing? Just open it and you'll see."

He opened the box, and inside was only a dark, dull...stone?

The stone was cool to the touch and about the size of an adult male's fist.

Gu Xixi looked at it closely from left to right, but she really couldn't see anything special about it.

"Could this be a mysterious stone?" Mu Nanzhao's voice came from behind the desk.

He woke up when Gu Xixi came out, and now he lay there with his eyes open, staring intently at the contents of the brocade box.

The old doctor smiled and said, "That's right."

Xuan Shi is a naturally formed stone and also an extremely rare and precious medicinal material.

The old doctor pondered the matter at night, and found that this prescription for treating the plague had only one shortcoming.

The heat-clearing and blood-cooling properties of the herbs are relatively weak compared to the overall medicinal properties.

The same prescription may be less effective in treating young and strong men, but it may be less effective in treating women, children, the elderly, and those with insufficient Yang energy.

The old doctor then thought of the mysterious stone.

Xuan Shi has the effect of clearing heat and cooling blood, but because of its strong medicinal properties, it should not be used without authorization.

It also needs to be ground into powder and used together with other medicinal materials to make a primer.

Upon hearing this, Gu Xixi understood the old doctor's intention.

"The young man from Zhao Si's family may not need this medicine, but Master is thinking about those in other villages who are also infected."

"That's right," the old doctor said with relief. "This epidemic must be completely eradicated, otherwise it will resurface and the consequences will be even more unimaginable."

The amount of pyrite needed is extremely small; just a tiny bit scraped off with a piece of wood is enough to make a hundred servings of medicine.

Mu Nanzhao gazed at the black stone thoughtfully.

The Imperial Hospital only had one of these in stock, and it wasn't even as big as this one.

The old doctor was indeed someone of extraordinary background.

Since they couldn't sleep anyway, and it was almost dawn, Gu Xixi and the old doctor decided to leave early and head to Zhao Si's house.

The two gatekeepers had returned and were leaning against the doorframe, snoring softly.

Gu Xixi had no choice but to wake them up, saying, "Please open the door."

As soon as the door was unlocked, the guard covered his nose and quickly stepped back several paces.

However, before the old doctor could even enter the house, Zhao Si's elderly couple, elder brother and sister-in-law, and three children rushed out of the house and headed straight for the door.

The gatekeeper was terrified. "Don't come any closer! Go back! Go back!"

The children danced and shouted, "The fever's gone down! My second uncle's fever's gone down!"

Looking at the adults, they all had smiles on their faces.

The eldest sister-in-law smiled through her tears and said repeatedly, "Miss Gu, my second brother's fever broke before midnight last night."

"He also said he was hungry. I listened to the old doctor and didn't dare to give him too much to eat, so I only gave him half a bowl of thin porridge with salt!"

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "That's great."

The old doctor smiled and nodded, "I'll go in and take a look now. If the most dangerous moment has passed, as long as you continue to take the medicine to consolidate the treatment, you will definitely get better in a few days."

The whole family was so moved they almost cried, and they thanked the old doctor profusely as they welcomed him inside.

The two guards outside the door looked at each other in bewilderment.

Has the fever subsided?

good thing?

It will definitely get better in a few days!

Their expressions gradually became excited and out of control.

Wouldn't that save everyone?

Gu Xixi stood inside the door and said, "I'm sure everyone was worried and couldn't sleep well last night. You should go and deliver the message. I'll stay here and keep watch."

The two thanked him and immediately ran off.

Soon, their shouts echoed throughout Stone Village: "Good news! Good news! The fever has gone down!!"

"Zhao Si's second son's fever broke in the middle of the night!"

"The old doctor's medicine worked!!"

As the first rays of dawn shone down, Stone Village was already bustling with activity.

Village Chief Zhao rushed to Zhao Si's house without even bothering to put on his clothes properly.

This time, he was finally not disappointed.

The old doctor came out of the house and nodded with a smile to Village Chief Zhao.

Village Chief Zhao was overjoyed, "I knew it!! I knew everything would be alright! Thank you so much, miracle doctor, thank you so much, miracle doctor!"

As he spoke, tears streamed down his face—tears of joy at surviving a calamity.

Half an hour later, Mu Nanzhao delivered a stack of prescriptions to the village entrance.

In addition to the plague prescription, there were also medicinal teas for prevention, decoctions for disinfection, and poisons for killing rats. The methods and uses were all dictated by Gu Xixi and written down by Mu Nanzhao.

Meng Chengping took it as if it were a treasure, looked down and flipped through it, his happy smile almost reaching his ears.

"That's great! I never expected the medicine for treating the plague to be so effective."

"With the addition of rodent control efforts, the disease will be completely eradicated in no time!"

Meng Chengping dismissed those around him and addressed Mu Nanzhao by his real surname, "Hey, Brother Mu, I've never heard of this divine doctor before. He's so unassuming. Could he be one of your men?"