TGCFNM -Chapter 283 Looking for Firewood

Uncle Wu tugged at Chu Ling. “Are we going to burn them?”

Chu Ling nodded solemnly. “In weather like this, as the corpses continue to rot, the situation will only grow worse. On top of that, they were already infected with the plague. To prevent it from spreading to others, burning them is the best solution.”

Uncle Wu frowned and stepped forward. “Who is the most respected person here? Take me to him.”

Ma Liuzi froze for a moment, then pointed at someone. “Liu Kang.”

Uncle Wu walked over. “Take me to see him. I’ll try to persuade him. We can’t let an entire county die alongside those who are already dead.”

Liu Kang looked at Uncle Wu weakly. In the end, he did not dare resist and went ahead to lead the way.

Chu Ling immediately told Ma Liuzi to gather people, then turned to the others behind her. “Yan Sheng, Cao Tong, you two stay. Lead them in cleaning up, and make sure no one secretly hides any livestock. Also, any jars storing stagnant water that might attract flies and insects—get rid of them.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Chu Ling then looked at Wan Sanjin and Su He. “You two come with me to the yamen. Even though the county magistrate has fled, there may still be firewood and charcoal left. Let’s go look.”

With that, they split up.

Following the general layout, Chu Ling quickly found the county yamen. After climbing a few steps, she glanced at the half-closed main gate and kicked it open. “Advisor Wan, Coroner Su, let’s split up and search.”

“Yes, my lord.”

After the two left, Chu Ling searched while speaking, “Aunt Su, do you have any method to treat the plague?”

“No,” Bai Su replied bluntly. “Since ancient times, when situations like this occurred, people would simply cordon off the area and let them fend for themselves—then burn everything clean with one great fire.”

Cui Xi said sorrowfully, “No wonder they said they were just waiting to die.”

Ghost Scholar looked at Chu Ling. “Does my lord have a way to treat the plague?”

Chu Ling shook her head. “I only know the most basic method of handling it—first burn all the dead people and livestock. Clothes that were worn should be burned if possible, or boiled thoroughly in a large pot of hot water to disinfect them.”

“Additionally, the roads must be cleaned, and waste disposed of promptly. For such a large-scale outbreak, the water source is likely the problem. It may have been contaminated—we need to find the source of the contamination.”

Ghost Scholar frowned. “Handling each of these matters won’t be simple. And more importantly, this place feels lifeless. Who knows how many have already fallen.”

“Fortunately, we have medicine in our carriage—Uncle Wu prepared it just in case. But without a prescription, it’s useless,” Chu Ling said, unsure what to do next.

Bai Su was also at a loss. “If they were still in good health, I could let them try different medicines. But now they are already at death’s door. If the dosage is even slightly wrong, it could cost them their lives.”

“That won’t do,” Ghost Scholar said immediately. “Even if you eventually find a cure that saves people, the families of those who died after taking the earlier medicine would resent my lord. Human hearts are unpredictable—we cannot gamble on that.”

Chu Ling sighed softly. She casually pushed open a door, then stepped back out and looked at the wooden panels. “Isn’t this wood? We can just tear it down.”

“My lord, this is the county yamen,” Ghost Scholar reminded her.

Chu Ling replied naturally, “I know. When the time comes, we’ll just say the former magistrate dismantled it. We’ll say he was afraid the commoners would move into the yamen, so he tore down the doors for firewood before fleeing.”

Ghost Scholar thought it over and found the idea surprisingly workable.

After all, the magistrate had already run away, abandoning the entire county. A magistrate who fled like that might as well be dead. He certainly wouldn’t dare show his face again. Pushing the blame onto him seemed perfectly reasonable.

Now that they had found wood that could be burned, Chu Ling turned to look for Wan Sanjin and Su He. The three of them happened to run into each other on the road.

“There are books in the study. We can burn those,” Su He said.

Chu Ling shook her head. “There are probably scholars in this county. We can leave the books for them.”

“There’s quite a bit of firewood in the woodshed, and some in the kitchen too, but it’s still far from enough…” Wan Sanjin said. After all, they would likely need to burn quite a lot.

“No matter. When the time comes, we’ll dismantle the wooden doors and windows and use those as firewood,” Chu Ling said.

“Oh, right, Your Excellency.” Wan Sanjin spoke with some discomfort. “The meat and vegetables in the county office have all rotted—no one dared to come in to take them. But the three rice jars are full. There’s lard, too, and salt and honey.”

Chu Ling thought for a moment, then looked at Su He. “Coroner Su, stay behind and boil a pot of hot water. Let it cool a little, then add some salt. Their diarrhea is severe, and they’ve likely been drinking raw water.”

Su He nodded. “Understood.”

Chu Ling then turned to Wan Sanjin. “We’ll still need to bring Xiao Hua over to dismantle the doors. Teach her how to protect herself properly and keep a close watch on her.”

“Alright.” Wan Sanjin agreed and went out.

Su He looked at Chu Ling. “And you, Your Excellency?”

“I’m going door to door to examine the sick. I need to see just how serious this plague is. Then I’ll consider whether this place should be abandoned altogether—whether we should take those who can still walk and leave…” Chu Ling said softly.

The Ghost Scholar shook his head. “People are reluctant to leave their homeland. I’m afraid it won’t be easy.”

Chu Ling sighed helplessly. After giving Su He her instructions, she stepped out of the yamen, planning to have Yan Sheng and Cao Tong bring people to move the wood.

Halfway there, she happened to see Uncle Wu hurrying toward her. Before he even spoke, he let out a sigh. “Sigh, Your Excellency… you’d better go see for yourself.”

Without another word, Uncle Wu led Chu Ling through the main street, onto a side street, and all the way to the house at the very end.

Without knocking, he brought her straight inside. They passed through a small courtyard and entered the room.

Liu Kang was sitting weakly against the door panel. Inside were a woman and a man, both gaunt and skeletal, attending to someone lying on the bed.

As soon as Chu Ling and the others entered, the woman hurriedly said, “Quick, close the door! Don’t let the evil wind in!”

Chu Ling wrinkled her brow at the foul stench in the room. “If you keep it sealed up like this and don’t let the air circulate, the plague’s poison will never disperse… You—open all the doors and windows. Let the wind come in.”

Startled at being pointed out, Liu Kang instinctively shrank his neck, then trembled as he stood to push the door open.

“H-How can you open the door?” the woman cried in alarm.

The man was also shocked. “N-No, you can’t open it! If my father catches the evil wind, he’ll die! If my father dies, will you take responsibility?!”

“I’ll take responsibility for your head!” Chu Ling snapped. “I’m the county magistrate—and I’m a physician. Your ignorance has already left your father on the brink of death, and you dare say it’s my fault? What a ‘filial son’ you are!”

“You—Liu Kang—open the windows and doors!” she ordered sharply.

Propping up his frail body, Liu Kang hurried to obey.

Chu Ling stepped forward and glared at the two of them. “Move aside!”

The Ghost Scholar suddenly sighed in admiration. “It seems my earlier worries were unnecessary. Your Excellency is not like ordinary people.” The things he had feared were no trouble at all for Chu Ling.