"who?"
A man with his head wrapped in sackcloth shouted at this side, the child in front of Mo Li shuddered with fright, immediately hugged the cloth bag tightly, and got into a narrow alley next to him without turning his head.
The originally empty street suddenly appeared many people.
Some of them wore sackcloth and filial piety, and some had their faces covered with incense ashes, which looked very strange.
"Come on, outsiders are not allowed to enter Qinghu Town."
The townspeople shouted loudly, their eyes full of hostility, as if they wanted to surround Mo Li and Meng Qi.
When someone else saw this situation, they naturally turned around and ran out of town in a panic. Although there are no warm houses or shops selling hot food outside the town, it is better than losing your life.
The townspeople also seemed to be used to intimidating others. When they found out that Mo Li and Mo Li had no intention of escaping, they became annoyed. come over.
"Go away! This is not where you came from!"
Mo Li was wearing heavy windproof clothes, which is a common attire for far-travelers, but Meng Qi beside him was very eye-catching. In winter, a brown single robe with very long sleeves and hem was not an ordinary person at all. Dress up.
This made the townspeople hesitate, and they whispered about the two men in heavily accented dialects.
Mo Li could only understand a general idea, and one of them was talking about Meng Qi's appearance.
"... With such a handsome appearance, he must be the gentleman of a rich family, maybe a man from the government."
When it comes to the government, these townspeople immediately get angry, and they can't help but push and shove: "Qinghu Town has no government lackeys, get out!"
As a result, the pusher did not push, but instead stumbled into a ball.
In the midst of the chaos, a tambourine sounded suddenly.
A group of people in white clothes walked towards this side very ostentatiously. The first was a fairly handsome man, but there was a mole on his forehead that could not be covered, which destroyed the appearance of a jade tree that he tried so hard to pretend to be in the wind.
"It's the incense master!"
"The incense master is here!"
The townspeople looked happy, and quickly spread out to give way, then bowed their heads and put their palms together reverently towards the man and his group, chanting words.
"Holy Lotus Altar?"
Mo Li has only ever seen such a gang that pretends to be a ghost. Seeing the group of people led by the incense master, holding gongs and drums, ringing the bell, grabbing the incense ashes and throwing them as they go, they are fully set up, it is very similar to what he saw in Zhushan County. The pilgrims who visited the Holy Lotus Altar.
"It should be, I haven't dealt with them, and I'm not familiar with them."
Meng Qi said indifferently that his appearance of an expert outside the world was completely different from when he was outside the town just now.
Sometimes, such a gesture is obviously necessary. The incense master of the holy lotus altar looked at Meng Qi suspiciously. Instead of acting rashly, he took the strategy of bowing his hands before the soldiers, and asked aloud: "The two of you. Where are you from, and what are you doing in Qinghu Town?"
Mo Li turned his head subconsciously, and found that Meng Qi had no intention of speaking. He didn't know when he took a step back and stood behind him, as if he was headed by him.
The incense master was very surprised. He used Mo Li as a follower and ignored the past. Now he has to look again. It's a pity that Mo Li is not like Meng Qi. The thick outer robe has a collar that can be used as a hood, and it can block most of the face when erected. The incense owner can't see the appearance of Mo Li at all.
"We got lost here and just wanted to find a place to rest temporarily and leave the next day."
Mo Li said, but his eyes fell on the townspeople.
These people seem to be strong, full of energy, without any pain, what happened to the kid who ran away saying that many people in the town were sick
The holy lotus altar is so flamboyant, and the people here are probably already bewitched by them. Although Mo Li doesn't understand why some people believe the words of the holy lotus altar, Master Li said that many people can't even eat, who can let them As long as they live, they will naturally follow whomever they want. Such believers are the most troublesome.
The incense master of the holy lotus altar stared at the ink carp for a while, and then said with a smile: "Recently, the town is doing a practice to expel evil, so outsiders should not stop, so as not to be contaminated with evil. People who are entangled by evil. , the light ones get sick, the heavy ones die. I don’t think the two of you want to die here for no reason, it’s better to leave as soon as possible.”
"I seem to have an ominous aura in my view of Qinghu Town. Are you doing this ritual to exorcise evil spirits or recruit ghosts?" Meng Qi sneered.
The incense master said sharply: "It's hard to persuade the damned ghost with good words. If you insist on staying here, there will be no shortage of two earthen pits in the burial mounds outside the town."
After he finished speaking, he led people away in the prayers of the townspeople.
When the incense master was far away, the townspeople turned their heads and glared at Mo Li and Meng Qi, and slowly dispersed.
Mo Li took out a small gourd from his rucksack, poured out two pills, and stuffed one into Meng Qi.
"This is?"
"Just in case." Mo Li swallowed a pill first, and then explained, "I suspect that there are epidemics in Qinghu Town, although the incense master's entourage kept throwing incense ash, I still smelled some medicinal herbs. "
Meng Qi rubbed his chin and said somewhat unexpectedly, "I see that the people in this town are full of energy, and they don't look like there is an epidemic."
"Go to the pharmacy in town first." Mo Li made a decision.
Qinghu Town is very big, and it is about to catch up with the county seat of Zhushan County. The long streets are connected with alleys, and the roads are intricate.
There are dilapidated brick houses everywhere, some with thick straw on the roof, some with yellow mud on the walls, and some with weeds in front of the door, making these crowded houses look very different. is desolate.
Mo Li was frowning all the way. He felt that Qinghu Town should have been a town with a lot of people, and it was very lively.
There are restaurants and teahouses in the town, but now the doors and windows are locked and the paint on the window lattices is peeling off.
Mo Li approached a cloth house next to the street without a signboard. There was a thick layer of ash on the threshold. The original door was gone, and it could be clearly seen that it was empty inside.
There were faint deep marks on the ground where heavy objects were dragged, and that position should have been the counter where the goods were placed.
The ink carp wiped away the ash on the wall with a calm face, and saw a dark brown spot.
"Blood."
Meng Qi, who was following behind him, walked up to the wall with great interest and gestured: "The blood splashed from this direction is probably from a man so tall, and his head was hit. The one who killed him should have used it. It's not a knife, even a knife is blunt, and the blood droplets didn't fly out of an obvious arc."
"… You've seen a lot?"
"I remember that on the day of the fall of the previous dynasty, blood was everywhere in the magnificent palace city of Taijing, and everyone was running for their lives. Those fierce soldiers under Lu Zhang's men would kill anyone they saw. There are traces left, countless traces." Meng Qi seemed to be recalling and sighing, Mo Li found that he was actually normal, not the appearance of the disease.
"Where are you? Are you running for your life?"
"Me?" Meng Qi looked dazed, he murmured, "I seem to be just watching, that kind of feeling is very strange, doctor. I watched the fall of a dynasty with my own eyes, and saw the hussar general Lu Zhang Huangpao added to his body, But no one can see me... The palace burned by flames, the smoke is swirling, I am like that smoke, no form, no joy and no sorrow..."
Mo Li stared at him closely, and a ridiculous idea suddenly appeared in his heart.
Before he could continue to guess, Meng Qi was shocked, as if he suddenly woke up.
"Doctor, what did I just say?" Meng Qi asked suspiciously.
"...Nothing. The shops on this street are gone. Something must have happened in Qinghu Town. There should be a lot of people living in the town."
Mo Li went out of the cloth house and found the same abandoned medicine store at the end of the street.
"Half the town is empty."
Going around this barren street, you can see a building with a high foundation in the distance, like a temple, and the wind brings a stronger smell of incense, which is a bit choking.
"That's probably where the holy lotus altar is pretending to be a ghost."
Although the townspeople were full of malice towards them, the two martial arts masters wanted to spy on the temple, and they didn't need to show up at all.
Climb over the wall, on the beam.
There is no plaque in front of the temple gate, and the statue is dedicated to Ziwei Xingjun, who believes in the holy lotus altar. The statue is very rough. It can be said that it is the god of other temples. They all have faces like a full moon and two long eyebrows. Trailer.
"Why is this statue holding a pig?" Meng Qi asked in confusion.
Mo Li recognized the statue of Ziwei Xingjun, and then found that this thing with a face as big as a pot with an arched nose might not be a pig, because pigs do not have beards around their mouths.
"No, that's a dragon..."
Meng Qi fell into silence when he heard the sound, and after a while, he said with difficulty: "I have never seen such an ugly dragon."
The congregation at the Holy Lotus Altar was busy adding fire to the incense burner in the temple. It seemed that the townspeople could not enter the temple, but could only worship in the open space outside the door. They chanted obsessively, and there was no one else in the temple, let alone the incense master.
"Go find the child we met." Mo Li made a decisive decision. It is impossible to find out the situation from the townspeople. Only the people here know what happened in Qinghu Town.
"How to find it?"
"The child's cloth bag contains herbs, which are all taken from this temple... Maybe they were stolen. There is no medicine shop in the town, no doctors, and no patients. What do you think this child is stealing medicine? "
"Medicine can only be used to cure diseases." Meng Qi snapped his fingers and said with certainty, "Whether it's running away when you see people or stealing medicine, you may be hiding your disease and want to secretly cure it, can't you be Saint Lotus Altar knows that there are patients at home?"
Mo Li shook his head and said, "I don't know about this, but I know that he doesn't have enough medicine, so he must find a way to steal it. Let's go to the place where we met the child and wait."
In the narrow alley, a child stuck out his head. He looked around, and then crept into the shadow of the eaves.
He had just walked a few steps when suddenly a hand picked him up.
The child was so frightened that he wanted to scream, but he covered his mouth in time and looked at the person in front of him with a pale face.
"The response is very fast." Meng Qi raised his eyebrows, looked at the thin child, and said somewhat unexpectedly, "Yes, it saves me a little time for dumb holes."
The child's eyes lit up, he looked at Meng Qi stubbornly, and asked in a low voice, "You, you both know martial arts? Are you very powerful? Are they the heroes in the book?"
"Don't worry about a hero, what you need now is a doctor." Meng Qi grabbed the child's thin arm and stuffed it into Mo Li.
Mo Li gave the child a pulse naturally and touched his head again.
"It's okay, I don't have a fever."
The child twisted uncomfortably, looked at Mo Li and whispered, "You are a doctor, can you help Uncle Lin heal?"
"Where is Uncle Lin you said?" Mo Li realized that this person might be more ill, otherwise he wouldn't let a child steal the herbs.
The child points out of town.
"Why don't you live in town?"
"...If you are found, you will die." The child said cautiously, "The incense master said that being sick is due to evil spirits, so you must bow down sincerely. If it doesn't work out, you should ask Ziwei Xingjun to send fire from the sky to exorcise the evil spirits."
The author has something to say:
Epidemic is an epidemic that breaks out in a place in a period of time
It's a name, not a disease's name. There are many diseases that can be called epidemics.
The seasonal flu we are talking about today was also an epidemic in ancient times. Because it was not treated in time, it was basically no cure for pneumonia.
This kind of disease breaks out in one place, but not everyone gets sick, the elderly and the infirm will get sick, and young adults rarely get sick.