The Coincidental Plague

Lu Yuan's eyelid twitched.

No, who were you?

You barged into my home without even saying hello. I don't know who you are, and now you're covered in blood and asking me to save you?

The man managed to spit out two words before weakly tipping backward.

Lu Yuan lunged forward and grabbed his clothes.

The man was one step from death. If he hit the ground hard, he'd probably die on the spot.

Lu Yuan gently lowered him to the ground and propped him up. Giving him a quick look, he saw that the man's face was so pale he looked like a corpse, and his lips had not the slightest hint of color.

More than a dozen wounds covered his body, each cut deep enough to expose bone. His clothes had been hacked to shreds, turning them into beggar's rags.

"Don't worry... I won't drag you into this. I've already lost the people chasing me..."

The man panted rapidly.

Lu Yuan laughed in exasperation. "Who are you, anyway? Who's hunting you? You say you've lost them, but what if the people after you are someone I can't afford to offend? If my whole family gets dragged into this, where am I supposed to go for justice?"

"Hsss~~~"

He trembled with pain. "Little brother, there's a porcelain bottle against my chest. Help me pour out a pill and feed it to me."

Lu Yuan took out the bottle and was surprised to find that the pill inside was a Trauma Healing Pill. Could this man, like Xu Ziyi, be an agent of the imperial court?

After taking the pill, the man's breathing finally grew less labored, and he was able to speak in full sentences.

"Little brother, could I ask you for a favor?"

"Don't even ask."

Lu Yuan refused without hesitation.

"I'm not a bad person. I'm a Baihu of the Imperial Guards."

"Then I really can't help you. I'm not part of the imperial court, and I'm just a nobody. I wouldn't dare get involved in the affairs of the Imperial Guards."

"This matter is of great importance. Little brother, I'm begging you. You only need to deliver something and pass along a message."

His face took on a pleading expression. Then he pulled a box from his waist.

"There's a pill in this box, but you must never, ever take it. Please deliver it to Youjian Inn in the eastern part of Taikang City. Just tell the innkeeper it's from Shen Luo, and tell him the box contains a Yin Yang Pill... Little brother, you have to make sure the message gets through. It concerns the lives of tens of thousands of people!"

Lu Yuan asked, "What exactly is a Yin Yang Pill? And who was chasing you?"

"The Yin Yang Pill is made from..."

Thump!

Before he could finish speaking, his head drooped.

Lu Yuan's brows shot up.

Were you kidding me? Finish what you're saying! You cut off halfway through and left me in such a bind.

He hated people who stopped in the middle of a sentence more than anything.

Now his curiosity was gnawing at him like a cat's claws. He opened the wooden box and found a pill he recognized lying inside.

It was one of the pills he'd snatched from the secret chamber at a Taiping Sect hideout.

Since he'd never figured out what those pills did, he'd kept them all safely stashed away.

"This pill is called a Yin Yang Pill?"

Lu Yuan frowned at the corpse, speculating, Could this Yin Yang Pill have something to do with the Taiping Sect? Were the people hunting him also from the Taiping Sect? Damn, how is that sect everywhere? Somehow, everything ends up connected to them.

"Should I deliver it or not?"

Lu Yuan was caught between two choices.

Although he loathed the Taiping Sect, it seemed to be an enormous power. Fighting such a colossal beast would be like a mantis trying to stop a cart.

If he got caught up in a struggle between the imperial court and the Taiping Sect, he'd die without even knowing how.

"I'd better take care of the body first."

To be safe, Lu Yuan dug a hole in the backyard and buried the corpse.

"Second brother... Second brother, are you there?"

"Coming."

Lu Yuan dropped the shovel, stamped the dirt down, dusted off his hands, and left.

"Big brother, what is it? By the way, have you finished the True Essence Blood Refining Pills?"

"How could I have finished them so quickly? It takes me seven or eight days to purge the pill toxins after taking one. Unlike you—you were done in two days."

Lu Cheng rolled his eyes and complained.

"Come with me today to deliver the Medicinal Soup."

"Deliver the Medicinal Soup? Who's it for?"

Lu Cheng sighed. "There's been a plague spreading through Lingbao County lately. In just half a month, more than a hundred people have died. Father had people prepare Medicinal Soup to help prevent the plague, and he's giving it out for free. I'm worried too many people will come, so I need your help."

"Sure."

Lu Yuan didn't mind doing good where he could.

He was grateful that Lu Longjing wasn't the kind of wealthy merchant who grew rich by exploiting others.

Once they were out the door and had left Lingbao County's wealthy district, Lu Yuan caught sight of a corpse lying in a foul-smelling ditch. Nearby, a man was hauling a handcart with three corpses laid on it.

"Daniu, taking them outside the city?"

"Yeah. See? Three more people died. They all died of the disease. The authorities said that to prevent it from spreading, they're hauling all the bodies outside the city to burn them."

Lu Cheng glanced over. "Don't look. Remember, you must avoid contact with anyone who's sick. Keep at least one zhang away from them. The closer you get, the more likely you are to catch it."

He sighed. "I wonder how many people this plague will kill in Lingbao County. From the looks of things, it could easily be hundreds. The death toll keeps climbing."

"Holy Master above, please protect my poor son and let him wake up! As long as my son wakes, this old woman is willing to give up twenty years of her life!"

Inside a house, an old woman knelt before a statue, praying and bowing again and again.

"My old man is dead, and my daughter died of the disease too. Son, please don't leave your mother all alone."

The old woman sobbed softly.

Through the half-open door, Lu Yuan saw her bow three times before carefully lifting a bowl.

"Son, this is Talisman Water I begged from the Taiping Sect. Once you drink it, you'll get better."

Seeing Lu Yuan standing still, Lu Cheng patted him on the shoulder. "Why have you stopped?"

"Wait."

Less than ten seconds after the Talisman Water went down, the old woman's son woke up. Overjoyed, she didn't even bother with him. She turned and bowed deeply to the statue, her face alight with fervor.

"This old woman kneels before you, Holy Master! Thank you for saving my son! I'm willing to worship you for the rest of my life!"

Lu Yuan's thoughts stirred. Could the Talisman Water really be that miraculous? Could it cure a contagious plague?

Or was it specifically meant to treat this particular disease?

Having witnessed the Taiping Sect slaughter an entire village, he didn't hesitate to assume the worst of them.

What if the Taiping Sect was behind this plague?

In ancient times, plague was something that struck terror into people's hearts.

Compared to natural disasters and human calamities, plague was even more terrifying.

In ancient times, with medical care and sanitation both limited, anyone who caught a plague could only leave it to fate: if they survived the ordeal, they lived; if they didn't, they died.

Lu Yuan remembered an infectious disease called smallpox. Smallpox was also known as pockmarks. Its main symptoms were blisters all over the body, which gradually dried and formed thick scabs. Once the scabs fell off, they left scars commonly known as "pockmarks."

The Qing dynasty's nobles were more likely to contract this strange disease. The Shunzhi Emperor, for instance, died of smallpox. The entire Qing court was thrown into a panic. By coincidence, among Shunzhi's six sons, Kangxi was the only one who had contracted smallpox at the age of two and survived—though it left him pockmarked.

And so the fortunate Kangxi was chosen to inherit the throne.

If even princes barely escaped death when faced with an infectious disease, what chance did ordinary people have?