Within Ten Steps

The next morning, before Mr. Mengfei was fully awake, he heard howling outside.

Both Zhenze and Mr. Mengfei slept fully clothed, so at the slightest noise, they jumped out of bed in a flash.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"One family's child is in critical condition, and they might have to call for help!"

The clan chief shouted urgently, and upon hearing this, Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze rushed towards the house mentioned.

Upon entering the room, the child was foaming at the mouth and seemed to be having convulsions.

"Quickly, quick, a needle! A sewing needle!"

The clan chief has also arrived. Everyone in this family listens to the clan chief. He instructed this group to cooperate with Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze yesterday.

So when Mr. Mengfei called for a needle, the child's mother immediately handed him one.

Mr. Mengfei grabbed the child's hand and quickly pierced the tips of all ten of the child's fingers, causing black blood to flow from them.

However, the child's convulsions did not lessen; instead, they became more intense. Actually, bloodletting due to high fever seems to be common practice, and the child's family had tried it, but it didn't work.

When Mr. Mengfei saw that this wouldn't work, he held down the child's arm and slapped the Chize acupoint in the elbow crease twice, causing dark blood to gush out.

After dark blood flowed from the Chize acupoint, the child's convulsions immediately subsided.

"Mint, mint. Do you have any?!"

Mr. Mengfei held the child down and called out again.

Yes, yes, yes!

Someone called out from behind, and within three minutes, they brought over a large bunch of fresh mint.

"Pound the juice and rinse it with cold water."

Everyone quickly fetched water, then rinsed the bowl, and a bowl of water with a minty aroma was brought to Mr. Mengfei's side.

Mr. Mengfei dipped his thumb in water and applied it to the child's nostrils, the area between his eyebrows, and his temples.

After Mr. Mengfei's treatment, the child's seizures stopped. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the child was out of danger.

"Damn it! I was terrified!"

Mr. Mengfei was also a little scared at the time. After he finished, he found that the child had stopped convulsing and the fever had subsided, and he realized how frightened he had been.

"I need to prescribe a medicine for this child!"

When Mr. Mengfei examined the child's pulse, it was still a strong and forceful pulse. He then prepared some fragrant and purifying medicines and instructed the parents to place them by the child's bedside.

At the same time, apply peppermint water to the forehead and temples every half hour.

The child's parents thanked Mr. Mengfei profusely, but Mr. Mengfei and Zhenze were not happy at all.

The two entered the courtyard. Zhenze grabbed Mr. Mengfei's arm, his tone somewhat agitated and his words slightly incoherent. "What happened? The pulse! You know medicine, can you resolve this?!"

"He's out of danger for now. I checked his pulse, and it doesn't sound like he's sick; his internal organs are fine. So we need to hurry up the mountain!"

"Walk!"

Zhenze shouldered his sword, and Mr. Mengfei took his vajra pestle. The two headed straight for the dilapidated temple from yesterday.

Unlike yesterday's accidental discovery, this time the two had made thorough preparations.

Mr. Mengfei brought some medicinal powder to ward off evil spirits, while Zhenze brought a stick of incense.

After the two entered the dilapidated temple, Zhenze stopped Mr. Mengfei, because what followed was his area of expertise.

Everyone has their own expertise, Mr. Mengfei stood aside, holding a vajra to protect Zhenze.

Zhenze walked to the temple entrance, casually gathered a pile of soil, lit the incense in his hand, muttered some incantations, and then stuck the incense stick into the ground.

Then he sat cross-legged on the ground, his eyes fixed on the incense.

Mr. Mengfei quietly watched Zhenze, while paying close attention to the changes around him.

The surrounding atmosphere remained unchanged. Mr. Mengfei stood there for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, while Zhenze sat there, staring at the incense stick without moving.

As the incense stick was burning out, Mr. Mengfei noticed that Zhenze suddenly nodded, a movement that resembled someone dozing off while sitting.

After nodding, Zhenze sat up abruptly and shouted to Mr. Mengfei, "I know! He's here!"

Mr. Mengfei, unaware of Zhenze's excitement, urged Zhenze to speak quickly, "The god enshrined in this temple just gave me a prophecy. He said there will be a cure for this disease within ten steps."

"That's amazing!"

Mr. Mengfei had some doubts about the veracity of Zhenze's words, but he had no choice but to give it a try.

The two left the temple and searched for some unusual-looking herbs within a ten-step radius of the small temple.

The two of them each took half and were searching carefully.

Mr. Mengfei discovered there were so many herbs here that he couldn't tell which one was special and which one was the antidote. Just as Mr. Mengfei was pondering this, he heard Zhenze shout from the side, "Come and see! Come and see!"

After Mr. Mengfei ran over, he found that Zhenze was staring intently at the grass, studying it closely.

Dandelion!

Mr. Mengfei took a look, squatted down, and realized that it didn't seem to be a dandelion. Because the seed heads of dandelions are all white.

The dandelion bulb was surprisingly red, standing out starkly against the backdrop of green grass.

"It's him!" Zhenze pointed to the dandelions on the ground, as if seeking Mengfei's opinion.

Mr. Mengfei nodded. "Indeed, I've never seen a red dandelion before. Let's pick it up, roots and all, and boil the whole plant in water to try it out!"

Zhenze thought it made sense, so he took out a small knife from his pocket and dug the red dandelion back into its place.

Because the children in the village get sick one after another, when they do get sick, only one of them is actually sick. The others are perfectly healthy.

So after Mr. Mengfei personally prepared the medicine, he gave it to the child to drink.

Everyone held their breath and stayed by the hospital bedside.

About half an hour later, beads of sweat began to appear on the child's forehead, and Mr. Mengfei was the first to breathe a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, the fever subsided and the problem was solved.

As long as the child is prevented from speaking, there won't be another patient.

If he recovers, does that mean the infectious disease has come to an end?

Indeed, the child was able to get out of bed again the next day, and the fear was over.

The clan chief expressed his deepest gratitude to Zhenze and Mr. Mengfei.

Zhenze and Mr. Mengfei did not accept the people's thanks. Instead, they bought some meat and went up the mountain to see the owl.

The owl seemed to know the two would arrive early, and was already waiting on a branch in the tree.

The two placed some meat under the tree, thanked the owl, and the owl actually let out a snickering laugh.

"Fine. You can laugh it off now! Until we meet again!"

Unable to bear the laughter any longer, the two bowed to the owl and quickly descended the mountain!