The light rain was drizzling, and Bo Ruoyou stood under the eaves, his eyes fell on the white mountain mist in the distance. The place is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Although it is remote, there is a special kind of tranquility away from the bustling, with insects singing and birds singing. The smell of the earth and grass in the prime of spring will give people a feeling of being out of the world. Bo Ruoyou took a deep breath and looked at the gate of the courtyard.
Granny Zhang hasn't come back yet, Wu Xiang is gone forever, Zhang Yu hid in the inner room to avoid scaring him, and she didn't try to coax and question him anymore, she always has a little compassion for children.
Zhou Liang came out of the house, and said worriedly: "I don't know if the mountain road can still be walked. When I came here yesterday, the villain saw that the mud on the mountain road was yellowish mud, and it was very slippery when it rained. It rained non-stop today. Let’s talk about carriages, even horses can’t move.”
Bo Ruoyou reassured: "It's okay, it's okay to have Butou Wu and so many government servants around."
Zhou Liang was still a little worried. Bo Ruoyou had only encountered a disaster last time, and he didn't want another crisis here.
After waiting for another quarter of an hour, Granny Zhang came back from the outside. When she went out, she was carrying a bundle on her back, but when she came back, the burden was gone. Bo Ruoyou smiled and asked, "What did Grandma do?"
Granny Zhang said, "I sent some things to the people in the east of the village." She closed her umbrella and patted the mud stains on the hem of her robe.
Bo Ruoyou looked at her somewhat inconvenient legs and asked, "Is mother-in-law's leg injured or sick?"
Granny Zhang patted her muddy hands, then straightened up and smiled, "I have been suffering from wind pain for many years, and I am used to it. Now that I am getting older, the disease is getting worse."
Granny Zhang also glanced at the far side of the mountain, "Are you going to leave today? If you want to go, you have to go early. It has been raining on this mountain for a long time, and the mounds on the mountain wall will go down, maybe When will the road be completely blocked?"
Bo Ruoyou smiled, "It's not in a hurry."
Granny Zhang glanced at the wing room, saw that Wu Xiang and the others were gone, she didn't ask any more questions, she went to the bedroom to find Zhang Yu, and took Zhang Yu into the kitchen after a while.
The mother-in-law and the grandson were cooking breakfast. Bo Ruoyou walked back and forth a few steps under the eaves, and then went to the kitchen door. Standing at the kitchen door, she saw that the kitchen utensils were ready and a big stove had been lit. Granny Zhang was Boil the brown rice in the pot, and seeing Bo Ruoyou approaching, Granny Zhang asked, "Miss, do you want the old lady to prepare the meals?"
Bo Ruoyou shook her head, didn't notice anything unusual for a while, and went back to the wing room.
After waiting like this for another half an hour, Wu Xiang just came back with the yamen servants. The rain has not stopped. Although it is light rain, but there are so many of them, Zhang's family doesn't have enough umbrellas, and they are wet after going out like this. After sitting down, Wu Xiang said, "There are no pregnant women in the whole village. Not only that, except for this mother-in-law who has a grandson, there are no other children in this village."
Bo Ruoyou was a little strange, "Didn't you say there are several families?"
Wu Xiang nodded, "Except for Granny Wu whom I met on the hillside yesterday, we went to everyone in the village. The two people I met yesterday are brothers. They seem to be in their thirties. The brothers live together and neither has a wife. , and naturally they don’t have any children, but they seem to be honest people, and the slopes to the south belong to their brothers, and they have to do farm work when it’s raining.”
"The family that Granny Zhang went to in the morning in the east is a couple surnamed Zhang. They are living a difficult life. Both of them are almost fifty years old. The old man has one arm, and the wife has been bedridden for many years. Problem, when I went, I asked Granny Zhang, and the old man said that Granny Zhang was kind and often gave them food."
Bo Ruoyou asked: "Do they have no children?"
Wu Xiang nodded, "I don't have any children, it seems that I got sick, both of them are locals, the old man has no money to take concubines, and this is not popular in the village, so they came here without children for so many years."
Bo Ruoyou sighed a little. In this deserted village, there was only an old couple with no children and no daughters. Life would only become more and more difficult.
Wu Xiang said again: "There are two other families in the southeast. A brother and sister surnamed Wu live in one family. They are about thirty years old. The younger sister said that she was sick and didn't come out to meet people. The older brother is also an honest man. I got a wife and came back, but I didn’t run away with him for a long time, saying that I disliked them for being too poor here.”
"There is another family where a middle-aged man with handicapped legs and feet lived. He only opened a crack in the door. It was obvious that his legs were deformed. Seeing that we were from the capital, he closed the door without saying anything."
Wu Xiang sighed, "This village is really weird, and life is very miserable. Either there are old couples without children, or old women living alone, middle-aged men with handicapped legs, and those brothers, Look at those who are good at hands and feet, but don’t marry a wife and have children, and the brother and sister are the same, the younger sister is sick, and the older brother married a daughter-in-law but ran away.”
Bo Ruoyou was thoughtful, and Wu Xiang said: "If this goes on like this, these families will be wiped out. We also went to see the empty houses on the northwest side that Granny Zhang mentioned, and they were indeed vacant. The furniture inside It has been moved a lot, and now it is too old to live in. The weeds in the yard are as high as the calf, the doors and windows are rotten, and the terrain of those few houses is low-lying. pour water into it."
Bo Ruoyou asked suspiciously: "It just so happens that those houses in the northwest are empty?"
Wu Xiang nodded, showing hesitation, "I also found it strange when I looked at it. I'm afraid that when building the house, I chose a place with bad terrain, so I just moved away later. The place is really remote. It's better to move to the other side of the mountain than here."
Bo Ruoyou felt an inexplicable strange feeling welling up in her heart. At this time, the rain outside finally stopped, and Wu Xiang came out with a refreshed expression. Seeing a gleam of light behind the stratus clouds, her heart was even more relaxed. "It shouldn't be raining for a while now." After speaking, he raised his eyes and glanced at the roof of Granny Zhang's house, "Fix the roof for them first."
Granny Zhang didn't expect Wu Xiang to repair the roof for her, but she really wanted to repair it, she hesitated and said: "It's not a problem, we don't need to sleep in that house, now the rain has stopped, you just go out of the mountain."
Wu Xiang also said: "Don't rush to leave, it's not the time to leave."
Granny Zhang couldn't evade it for a while, so she had to find a ladder to come out, and moved out a stack of gray tiles from the back of the house. Wu Xiang quickly built the ladder and climbed up. He climbed to the roof, and everyone else watched from below. The owner of the ladder held the ladder, and the hand of the tiles, the courtyard became lively for a while, but suddenly, Wu Xiang let out a light sigh on the roof.
"There are people outside the yard, go and have a look."
Wu Xiang was on the roof, looking far away, and glanced to the west, and saw a figure sneaking outside the courtyard wall, a government official stepped out quickly, opened the courtyard door, and saw the person Zhang Yu said yesterday standing outside the courtyard. The second uncle of the Zhang family.
Seeing the yamen messenger appearing, the man showed a bit of panic on his face, and then said: "I'm here to find Granny Zhang."
Inside, Granny Zhang heard it and came out in a hurry. The Yacha looked at the two suspiciously and returned to the courtyard for a while. Granny Zhang didn't know what she said to Uncle Zhang, and she returned to the courtyard after half a stick of incense.
Repairing the roof was not difficult. Wu Xiang quickly repaired the house. The roof was quite slippery after it rained just now. He walked carefully while looking behind the house. When he looked, he saw the gap between the wall of the backyard and the wall of the house. Outside, a small pine forest was neatly planted.
It is common for farmers in the mountains to plant trees in front of and behind their houses, but what surprised Wu Xiang was that there were obviously four or five newly planted pine trees in the pine forest, which not only contrasted sharply with the surrounding towering pine trees, but also Even the soil under the tree roots was new and flat, without any weeds. Wu Xiang shouted from the roof, "Grandma Zhang, when was the pine forest behind your house planted?"
Granny Zhang looked up at the roof from the bottom, and said, "It has been planted for twenty or thirty years."
Wu Xiang frowned, and asked in a relaxed tone: "Why did you plant some new ones these two days?"
Granny Zhang said without changing her face: "I want to plant all the plants in the back. It's just that the old woman has no strength. I will talk about it when my son comes back. It is difficult for a farmer to rely on the sky. Planting some wood for a few years will be a good harvest."
Bo Ruoyou didn't take it seriously when she stood under the eaves, but when Wu Xiang got off the roof, she saw that Wu Xiang's expression was different. He was thoughtful, but didn't say much in front of Granny Zhang.
Granny Zhang thanked her, and then asked Wu Xiang, "It's almost noon now, are you going to leave today?"
Wu Xiang pondered for a while, and ordered two yamen servants, "Ride your horses to see if you can still walk."
The two came out in response, and Granny Zhang put away the ladder, then limped and dragged Zhang Yu into the bedroom. Bo Ruoyou looked at her legs and feet covered under the robe, and frowned slightly. Ask Wu Xiang, "Why did the head catcher ask about the pine forest behind?"
Wu Xiang said: "The pine forest has not been around for twenty or thirty years, in my opinion, at most ten years."
Bo Ruoyou frowned, "The pine forest is irrelevant, there is no reason to lie, why didn't she even say that directly?" After a pause, Bo Ruoyou asked again: "The arrester said that there is a family of brothers and sisters, and the younger sister is sick. , do you know what's wrong with her sister?"
Wu Xiang shook her head, "I don't know, his sister never showed up."
Bo Ruoyou's face was solemn, and Wu Xiang hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? Did you think of something unusual?"
Bo Ruoyou pursed her lips tightly and said, "I saw Granny Zhang's legs last night, and I kept thinking about what kind of disease it was. Just now, Granny Zhang said that she had wind pain, but wind pain is definitely not With that kind of symptoms, you said that several families in this village are sick, so I want to find out what diseases other people have."
Wu Xiang narrowed her eyes, "Okay, let's go and see before we go."
Bo Ruoyou then asked, "Then why do you plan to leave here to arrest the head?"
"First let me go to the Yamen of Qinshui County to see what happened to the plague in Guzhang Village, and then go to Guzhang Village. Granny Zhang said that it is fifty miles away, but I want to take people there directly. Take a look at Guzhang Village, but you have to go back first. Then, on the way back, you will come here to check, although there is no real evidence now, but the few families here are quite strange."
This trip is far away, if you rush to Guzhang Village, you must hurry up, Bo Ruoyou also felt that it would be inconvenient for him to follow Wu Xiang, so he nodded, "That's good, I really didn't expect that there was a plague in Guzhang Village, just to arrest the head The long-term worker who found him didn’t know about the plague, he just heard about this village and knew that they believed in the god of water and river.”
Wu Xiang sighed, "Who would have thought that this place is only a day's journey away from the capital, but it is so closed. Later, I will take you to a few homes of people who have been ill. Go back to the capital first."
Bo Ruoyou came here for the autopsy. If you don't do the autopsy and just do the investigation, you won't need her. However, Wu Xiang has a good plan, but he can't help but God doesn't give him face. After a while, the yamen who scouted the way came back and said with a bitter face: "Captain, before we had traveled a mile, we saw a lot of rocks collapsed on the road. The road was already muddy, but now it is still blocked. Miss Bo's carriage will definitely not be able to pass."
This order made Wu Xiang a little bit troubled, "How much collapsed, if we go to dig, how long will it take to get through?"
The yamen servant said bitterly: "I'm afraid it will take a whole day to dig."
Wu Xiang was quite helpless, so Bo Ruoyou had no choice but to say: "Then let's stay one more day, just in time to catch the head and take me to see those sick people. There are so many sick people in a village, if there are so many They all have the same disease, so there must be something weird in this village."
Wu Xiang had no choice but to agree, and went to Granny Zhang to ask for farm tools. Granny Zhang was taken aback when she heard that the road had really collapsed, and then she was helpless and anxious, as if she also felt that the mountain road was blocked. He found out all the hoes and other things in the house and handed them to the yamen, and when he learned that they would stay for another night, his expressions were no longer as happy as they were yesterday.
Wu Xiang put some more silver, and then divided into two groups, one went to the road, and the other took Bo Ruoyou to the Wu family's brother and sister's house. The elder brother quickly opened the door, seeing Wu Xiang returning with a girl beside him, he was very surprised at the moment.
Wu Xiang said: "This girl has some medical skills. Didn't you say that your sister is seriously ill? Do you want to save her life? If you want to, you can ask this girl to show your sister."
The eldest brother of the Wu family had a very honest face, and he said a little awkwardly when he heard the words: "Why is this so embarrassing, my sister has been ill for many years, if she can recover sooner, and she doesn't like to see strangers, thank you very much Kindly."
Wu Xiang smiled wryly, "Don't be afraid, I really want to help you. There is no doctor in your village. Have you ever seen your sister's illness seriously? I'm afraid you haven't. Now it's so easy to have a doctor. You How do you know if it won’t work if you don’t try it?”
In this way, the eldest brother of the Wu family showed some hesitation, he pursed his lips, and there was a two-point test on his dark face, "No... no fee for consultation, right?"
Wu Xiang laughed, "Of course not."
The eldest brother of the Wu family nodded, "Then you come in first, I will ask my sister, if she is willing to read, I will let you show her, if not, forget it, okay?"
Wu Xiang didn't seem to be in a hurry either, so he nodded in response.
The courtyard of the Wu family is not as broad as that of the Zhang family, but it is still fairly tidy. They stood in the courtyard and waited for a while, then the eldest brother of the Wu family came out from the main room, "Please come in, my sister is willing, but she has been ill for many years The face is not pretty, so I just want to let the girl take her pulse through the curtain, okay?"
Bo Ruoyou and Wu Xiang agreed, and they followed into the inner room.
The farmhouse was cramped and simple, and the bedroom of Wu's younger sister was quite dark and damp, and she had probably been bedridden for many years, and the room had an unpleasant smell of decay. A gray bed curtain was hung on the simple wooden bed. , vaguely reflected a slender figure inside, Wu Jia's younger sister was leaning against the head of the bed, she stretched out her hand only when she heard the voice of the elder brother of the Wu family.
As soon as this hand was stretched out, Bo Ruoyou felt a chill down her spine.
This is the hand of a thin and slender woman, with only a layer of dry flesh left on the wrist bone caused by years of serious illness, but what makes Bo Ruoyou's back feel cold is the blood veins that protrude like worms under the skin. This scene is very similar to the abnormality on Granny Zhang's ankle.
The blood burst into a purple-red color, extending all the way from the forearm to the back of the hand. Her hand movements were slow, as if she lacked strength, but as long as she moved slightly, the subcutaneous blood veins would also move, as if the purple insects were alive in an instant.
Bo Ruoyou endured the chills in her heart to ask her pulse. She had read many medical books, but she had never seen such a strange disease. A person with qi and blood deficiency who is lingering on the bed, his pulse is weak, and he is almost hanging on his breath, but apart from the abnormality in his hands, other symptoms are hard to see. If I open the prescription right now, there must be some omissions."
Hearing her question, the eldest brother of the Wu family showed apology, "I'm sorry girl, my sister really doesn't want to meet people, so I'm sorry, if you don't feel comfortable prescribing a prescription, you don't have to."
While speaking, the younger sister of the Wu family retracted her hand.
Bo Ruoyou pondered for a while, "Looking at the pulse condition, Lingmei's body is extremely weak. I'll give you a prescription for recuperating, using only some simple herbs to strengthen the body."
The eldest brother of the Wu family gratefully agreed, and hurriedly went to get paper and pens. His family was poor, and paper and pens were also rare things. Bo Ruoyou wrote a prescription and handed it to him. Asked: "I can't recognize this disease for a while, when did it start?"
The eldest brother of the Wu family sighed, "It was brought in the mother's womb. It doesn't show up at birth, but it comes out when you are two or three years old."
Bo Ruoyou took a closer look at the calm and honest farmer in front of him, nodded and didn't say anything more. They had to go to the next house, so naturally they wouldn't stay here any longer. The eldest brother of the Wu family sent them to the door respectfully, waiting to see They got into the carriage and drove away. He had just returned to the inner room.
Fang Zi was randomly kicked in his sleeve by him, he first raised the curtain worriedly, and when the curtain was lifted, a deformed face covered with sarcomas was revealed, the deeply sunken eyes of the sister of the Wu family Looking at the eldest brother of the Wu family in some panic, he held his sister's hand and silently comforted her.
On the carriage, Bo Ruoyou opened the curtain and talked to Wu Xiang, "It's similar to Granny Zhang's illness, it's because of a mutation in the blood, it shouldn't be a disease brought from the mother's womb, they all hide their illness, I guess, whether their illness is related to the plague—”
Wu Xiang frowned, "You mean, they might have been infected with the plague back then?"
Bo Ruoyou shook her head, "It's just a guess. I don't know what kind of disease this plague is, but their attitude makes me feel weird."
Wu Xiang didn't say much, and took her to the home of the old couple.
This couple is half a hundred years old, the old man has only one arm, and he also said that his wife has been seriously ill for many years, just now Wu Xiang has not seen the old woman of this family, but when they explained their intention, the old man's complexion changed, and he called the door with a vicious voice closed.
Wu Xiang had no choice but to take Bo Ruoyou to the home of the middle-aged man with handicapped legs. Wu Xiang failed to enter the door the first time. After he called the door this time, the man still only opened the door a little.
Seeing that there was an extra girl outside, the man became even more wary, "What are you doing here again?"
Wu Xiang said: "Brother, I think your legs and feet are inconvenient. We happen to have a doctor with us, so let the doctor help you—"
With a "snap", before Wu Xiang finished speaking, the door was closed, and the man said from behind the door: "Are you foreigners? You'd better leave early, we don't welcome foreigners here!" After saying this, the footsteps went away, but they entered the house again.
Wu Xiang frowned, and Bo Ruoyou also felt that it was difficult. The mountains were already shrouded in mist, but after walking around, Bo Ruoyou felt that the whole village seemed to be shrouded in some kind of mist.
In the capital, Huo Weilou spent half a day to find the official document in the internal treasury of the Jingzhao government office. After reading the official document, Huo Weilou's expression became serious, "Five years ago, there was a quarrel between the two lakes. Then came the plague. At that time, the local magistrate asked the imperial court for help. The imperial court found all the records and files related to the plague in the past 20 years. .”
Huo Weilou suddenly came to the Yamen of Jingzhao Mansion in person, and Sun Zhao naturally accompanied him. Hearing Huo Weilou talk about this matter, Sun Zhao also had a slight impression, "At that time, Lord Hou had just been named a Marquis. For this matter, Lord Hou seemed to have ordered Jiangnan once?"
Huo Weilou nodded, "At that time, the file recording the plague in Guzhang Village was sent to Benhou's desk, but this plague was not caused by floods, so Benhou didn't take a closer look, but only had a little impression of this village."
When this incident happened, Sun Zhao had not yet served as Jing Zhaoyin, so he didn't know about it, and the file was kept dusty for many years. If it wasn't for Huo Weilou's good memory, it would be hard for him to recall this matter, so Sun Zhao took the file Come over, I also read it carefully, and then I was surprised, "So... after the plague happened, this village was sealed off?"
Huo Weilou nodded with deep eyes, "It happened more than ten years ago. At that time, there was no other way. Only in this way can the future troubles be eliminated forever. After more than half a year of closure, dozens of families in the entire village have almost no survivors."
Sun Zhao sighed, "It doesn't record what kind of plague it is or what it's called. It can be seen that we don't know the cause of the disease in the end. This place is so close to the capital, so it can only be so."
"But if there were no survivors in Guzhang Village back then, then who is the one who used Guzhang Village's sacrificial method?" Huo Weilou's phoenix eyes narrowed, and suddenly thought of a shocking possibility.