Early the next morning.
Lin Zhiya climbed out of bed, his face still glowing with health. Thinking of the scene from last night, when he had wandered with the immortal among rosy clouds, he felt as though he himself were shining with brilliance. Today, he felt he was no longer the man he had been.
But the moment he stepped out of the courtyard, he sensed something was wrong. Lin Manor was deathly silent. Not a single servant or gatekeeper, usually up so early, was anywhere to be seen.
As he pushed open door after door, he found everyone in the household collapsed on their beds, unconscious and unable to wake, their breaths weak as gossamer.
The few who remained conscious were all groaning and wailing. They could barely walk without supporting themselves against the walls.
When he reached the bedroom in the main courtyard, he saw that his parents' faces had turned bluish-black. It seemed they had only one breath left.
"Father!"
"Mother!"
With a mournful cry, Lin Zhiya dropped to his knees before the bed.
His father, who had still been full of vigor yesterday and had chased him with a broom, now looked as though his life were hanging by a thread, liable to breathe his last at any moment.
Before long, nearly every physician in the county arrived at Lin Manor with their apprentices. The sick people throughout the estate were moved into the main hall, where cries of pain filled the air.
Yunbi County was not large, and the Lin Family's misfortune immediately became known throughout the streets. An untold number of people gathered outside the vermilion gates.
"What happened?" Some people outside jumped up and down, trying to see what had occurred within.
"I heard everyone in the Lin Family fell ill last night.