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The village was a scene of desolation.

Villagers lay dying in corners, their children, covered in dirt, sat beside them with vacant, hopeless eyes.

Cries of grief occasionally emanated from houses, some of which had coffins at their doorsteps, enveloping the surroundings in an aura of death.

Some impoverished villagers wrapped bodies in mats, setting them on fire next to makeshift pyres, filling the air with a strange odor.

Many villagers congregated around the ancestral hall, some already dead but unable to be moved from the village, were laid aside, emitting the stench of decay.

Despite the presence of many people, an eerie silence pervaded, the air thick with the presence of death.

“Save me, save me…” A man, leaning against a wall corner, weakly reached out to Chu Qingzhi. His voice was feeble, his eyes losing focus, his body covered in pox…

Approaching, Chu Qingzhi checked his pulse, then administered a pill and made him drink lots of water, “Rest well.”

Tears of gratitude filled the man’s eyes, “Thank you, miss, thank you.”

Continuing her way, Chu Qingzhi arrived at the ancestral hall.

The sight inside was even more despairing, with many lying on the ground, covered in pox. The scene, especially of children huddled in corners without adults, was heart-wrenching.

Groans came from those resigned to death, sitting against walls, enveloped in silence.

Chu Qingzhi’s arrival, like a beacon in the darkness, instantly drew everyone’s attention. Those who could move gathered around her, pleading on their knees, “Please, miss, save us…”

Dressed in a white gown and wearing a mask, only her clear and calm eyes visible, Chu Qingzhi seemed like a divine figure bathed in the sunset glow, bringing hope to the hopeless.

“Listen to me, I can cure all of you. Now, I need some volunteers. Who’s willing to help?”

Eyes shining with hope, many volunteered, “Me, me, me…”

Chu Qingzhi selected twenty men, “Go back to the village and set up ten stoves for brewing medicine. If you follow my instructions, I guarantee everyone will be cured within ten days.”

Her calm assurance made everyone instinctively believe her. A man took the lead in rallying the others, “We will follow the miss’s orders.”

The twenty men, invigorated, hurried back to execute her instructions.

Chu Qingzhi walked towards the village entrance to write a list of needed herbs, handing it to a leading soldier, “Inform the County Magistrate to send these herbs immediately, and bring some rice for porridge…”

The soldier wasted no time in carrying out her orders.

Chu Qingzhi asked another soldier, “Find ten people who have been cattle farmers for over five years, regardless of gender, and bring them to me.”

“Yes, Miss Chu.”

After making more arrangements, Chu Qingzhi approached her two disciples, handing them pills, “Come with me.”

Then, she addressed the physicians who had come with her, “I have a way to cure this disease. You don’t need to worry. Those who trust me, come with me. Those who don’t, you can go back.”

Faced with a choice, three physicians decided to leave, but the rest expressed their willingness to trust Chu Qingzhi, “Miss Chu, as physicians, it’s our duty to save lives. We will follow your lead.”

Relieved by the majority’s decision to stay, Chu Qingzhi felt reassured, “Let’s go.”

Leading the group back into the village, she instructed them to use handkerchiefs as masks and began assessing the villagers’ conditions, planning to administer specific treatments based on their symptoms.

The needed personnel and materials arrived swiftly.

Chu Qingzhi directed some to fumigate the village with mugwort and vinegar to cleanse it thoroughly.

“Yes.”

“The rest, come help me prepare the medicine and start boiling it.”

“Yes.”

With her guidance, order was restored in the village, replacing the despair and death with hope and life.

After ensuring everyone was engaged, Chu Qingzhi approached the village chief, “Where’s the first person who fell ill?”

The chief, resentment in his eyes, pointed to a house at the village’s edge, “It’s their family. Their child suddenly got a high fever, causing this calamity…”

Chu Qingzhi made her way there.

The house was silent, appearing uninhabited.

Knocking on the door, she called out, “I have some questions for you. Could you open the door?”

The homeowner, after a struggle, replied. It was a man covered in pox, his gaze averted, “What do you want?”

“You encountered something before falling ill?” Knowing smallpox is a viral disease and never having occurred in the village before, it must have been introduced from outside.

The man, realizing Chu Qingzhi wasn’t there to accuse, relaxed slightly, “Before getting sick, we ate a squirrel.”

“Where was the squirrel caught?”

“I can’t describe it, but I can take you there.” The man, overwhelmed with guilt for causing the village’s plight, was eager to atone and thus cooperative.

“Lead the way.”

He led Chu Qingzhi to a forest filled with pine trees, where they found dead squirrels on the ground and others appearing sick in the trees, gasping for breath…

Chu Qingzhi examined a squirrel and confirmed it had smallpox.

Extending her spiritual sense, she followed a direction where the condition of the squirrels worsened, suggesting the true source of the disease lay that way.

The man, fearful of deep forests, tried to stop her, “Miss, there are dangerous beasts deeper in. We shouldn’t go further.”

Ignoring him, Chu Qingzhi pressed on.

He reluctantly followed.

After some time, they stumbled upon a corpse.