BDSMST -Chapter 85 A Physician’s Doubt and Recognition

While Woniu Village was bustling with the construction of the quarantine zone, the most renowned medical hall in Yong’an County—Huichun Hall—was in complete turmoil.

Physician Wang Jimin, the hall’s resident doctor, stood facing a room full of trembling patients, so distressed that he nearly pulled out his beard.

Wang Jimin had practiced medicine for over thirty years and enjoyed considerable prestige in Yong’an County. Yet this “plague” had left him utterly helpless.

He had followed the ancient texts for treating “cold damage” and “seasonal epidemics,” prescribing various decoctions to induce sweating, clear heat, and detoxify the body. But instead of improving, his patients began vomiting and suffering severe diarrhea, rapidly dehydrating and collapsing.

“Doctor Wang, please, save my son!” a woman cried, kneeling before him, sobbing uncontrollably.

Looking at the child in her arms—face flushed with fever, lips cracked and dry—Wang Jimin could only sigh helplessly. “We do what we can and leave the rest to Heaven.”

Just as fear gripped the entire county and everyone believed catastrophe was imminent, a piece of news began circulating quietly among the expelled refugees.

“Have you heard? The Marquis of Yongning’s wife from Woniu Village has set up a porridge station at the foot of Qingping Mountain—and she’s giving out free medicine!”

“The medicine’s called ‘Peaceful Brew.’ They say it can prevent the plague!”

“Is that true? The authorities drove us out—would a marquis’s wife really be so kind?”

“My neighbor Ergou was delirious with fever yesterday. Today he went to get the medicine. By afternoon, his fever broke! He can even drink porridge now!”

One rumor stirred a thousand ripples.

For refugees struggling at death’s door, this was nothing less than a lifeline.

More and more people, dragging their sick bodies, began streaming toward Qingping Mountain.

Gu Yan and Wei Ziqian were among them.

After delivering the first batch of medicine as Jiang Suisui had instructed, they did not leave. Instead, they blended into the refugees, secretly observing the effects of the Peaceful Brew and identifying the most critically ill.

The quarantine zone at the foot of Qingping Mountain had been meticulously planned by Jiang Suisui.

The entire area was divided by simple fences into three sections: a buffer zone, a mild-case zone, and a severe-case zone.

All arriving refugees had to wash themselves thoroughly with soap and clean water in the buffer zone, change into fresh clothing, and then undergo a preliminary diagnosis conducted by Xie Zi’an and several brave young men.

Those without symptoms or with only mild ones were assigned to the mild-case zone. They drank Peaceful Brew three times daily and received meals delivered by the women from the estate.

Those with persistent high fever, vomiting, and diarrhea were sent to the innermost severe-case zone, where Gu Yan and Wei Ziqian personally cared for them.

Jiang Suisui did not stand on the front lines, but each day she climbed the hillside with her telescope to observe the quarantine zone. Through carrier pigeons, she remained in constant contact with Gu Yan, adjusting prescriptions and strategies as needed.

The effectiveness of the Peaceful Brew exceeded even her expectations.

Patients in the early stages of infection showed noticeable improvement by the second day after taking the decoction. By the third day, most had nearly recovered.

As for those in the severe-case zone, once Gu Yan administered a “special supply” version of the medicine containing a higher proportion of spirit spring water, their recoveries were more arduous—but one by one, they were pulled back from death’s gate.

In just five days, the once-agonized cries filling the quarantine zone vanished. In their place came relief at surviving and boundless gratitude toward Woniu Village.

When the news reached Yong’an County, Wang Jimin was the first to disbelieve it.

“Nonsense! Utter nonsense!” he thundered in his medical hall. “A mere woman, untrained in medicine, dares to claim she can cure a plague with some random broth? If people die from it, who will take responsibility?”

His apprentice whispered, “Master, but the rumors are everywhere. They say the Peaceful Brew from Woniu Village is a miracle medicine—it has already saved hundreds.”

“Rumors! All rumors!” Wang Jimin snapped, glaring. “A quack can kill without a blade! I must see for myself what trick this marquis’s wife is using to deceive the people!”

With that, he angrily grabbed his medicine box and headed straight for Qingping Mountain.

When Wang Jimin arrived at the quarantine zone, he was stunned by what he saw.

There was none of the chaos and filth he had imagined.

Instead, the place was clean, orderly, and well managed.

Although the refugees looked sallow and thin, their spirits were surprisingly good. Children chased one another across the open ground, while the adults gathered in small groups, basking in the sun and discussing where they might seek work once spring arrived.

The air was filled with a faint fragrance of medicinal herbs and cooked food. There was none of the lifeless gloom one would expect from a place stricken by plague.

A youth dressed in coarse cloth and wearing a face covering stepped forward to block his path.
“Sir, this is a quarantine zone. Outsiders are not permitted to enter freely.”

“I am Wang Jimin of Huichun Hall!” Wang Jimin announced his name, expecting immediate respect.

To his surprise, the youth merely said, “Oh. Physician Wang, is it? Our lady gave instructions—if you came, please wait in that tent over there. Someone she sent will arrive shortly.”

The lukewarm response left Wang Jimin momentarily speechless. He could only follow the youth to a separate tent.

Soon after, a middle-aged man wearing a face covering and carrying himself with refined composure entered.

“I am Shen Qinghe, the steward here. I have long heard of Physician Wang’s great reputation.”
The man was in fact Xie Zi’an.

Wang Jimin sized him up and asked bluntly, “Let me ask you directly—what exactly is in your so-called ‘Peaceful Safety Decoction’?”

Xie Zi’an smiled faintly and took out a copied prescription from his robe, handing it over. “Please take a look, Physician Wang.”

Wang Jimin snatched it and glanced at it once. His brows immediately furrowed.

The prescription listed only very common heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs—honeysuckle, forsythia, isatis root… Although the combinations showed some ingenuity, to claim such an ordinary formula could cure such a fierce epidemic seemed utterly absurd.

“Just this?” Wang Jimin slapped the prescription onto the table. “You’re using these commonplace herbs to deceive ignorant commoners?”

Xie Zi’an remained calm. “The prescription is indeed this one. But the water used to brew it is particular.”

“Water?”

“Our lady said that according to ancient texts, this epidemic requires ‘rootless water’ as a medicinal guide to be effective. We used snow water collected during the snowfall a few days ago.”

“Utter nonsense!” Wang Jimin laughed in anger. “In thirty years of practice, I have never heard of snow water curing an epidemic! Absurd—utterly absurd!”

Just as he was shouting, a commotion arose outside the tent.

Gu Yan entered, supporting a pale but clear-eyed young man.

“Master Shen, A-Niu can walk on his own now,” Gu Yan said, his voice muffled through the face covering.

Wang Jimin recognized the young man named A-Niu. Three days earlier, A-Niu’s father had carried him to Huichun Hall seeking treatment. At the time, A-Niu had been delirious with high fever, covered in red rashes, and on the brink of death. Wang Jimin had declared he would not survive the night and advised his father to prepare for the worst.

Yet now, the man he had effectively sentenced to death was standing before him, alive and breathing.

“You… you…” Wang Jimin pointed at A-Niu, too shocked to speak.

A-Niu, however, showed him no friendliness. Instead, he turned to Xie Zi’an and Gu Yan, knelt down firmly, and knocked his head to the ground three times.

“Thank you to the Marquis and Madam for saving my life! Thank you, Master Shen! This life of mine is yours. I will brave blades and flames without hesitation to repay you!”

Gu Yan helped him up. “Now that you’re well, rest properly. No need for such words.”

Wang Jimin stood frozen, his mind blank. He looked at the living miracle before him, then at the unremarkable prescription in his hand. The medical principles he had built over a lifetime seemed to collapse in that instant.

Suddenly, he understood.

Perhaps the prescription was only the surface. The true secret lay in that so-called “rootless water.”

This marquis’s wife held in her hands a secret powerful enough to overturn the common understanding of medicine.

With trembling hands, he picked up the prescription again. This time, there was no disdain or doubt in his gaze—only reverence and a thirst to learn.

He bowed deeply to Xie Zi’an. “This old man… has been enlightened. Might I… remain here to observe and learn?”

He knew that a storm in the world of medicine was about to quietly rise in the small county of Yong’an—and he did not wish to miss this historic moment.