On the way to escape famine, my parents divorced

Chapter 44: Cure? How? What to cure? I think we should just leave him to fend for himself.

Li Shiyue's words made both of them frown. Li Youfu was really at a loss at the moment. He raised his head and looked at Li Shiyang, wanting him to come up with some advice.

Li Shiyang pursed his lips and said nothing. After Li Shiyue looked at Li Youfu, she also went to see Li Shiyang. She continued, "We still have to go to the county town. It would be best if we could ask a doctor to take a look. It is possible that we can run fast and the epidemic in the prefecture city will not catch up with us.

If it is indeed an epidemic, we have to discuss whether to stop treating the disease and saving lives? Or..."

Li Shiyang and Li Youfu understood what Li Shiyue had not said yet, which was to leave those sick people behind. Those who were not sick could run faster and hurry to Dengzhou.

But how can we really abandon this?
Even if the bones are broken, the tendons are still connected. Those who have escaped along the way are all our closest relatives. Now, most of the way has been gone, and only the last small part is left. How can we bear to abandon our loved ones?
Even though Li Wangren called his third uncle and the others over later and told them about the situation, they were still at a loss as to what to do and they all went to see Li Shiyang.

“If he didn’t get sick in the city, then something must have happened to the water source near the city.

The water we drink these days all comes from the Zi River outside the city. If there is any disease, it is only a matter of time for people like us to get sick.

Tomorrow we will go to the county town to get some information, and then invite a doctor to come out to treat any illnesses and keep you safe."

This was the only choice left now. After Li Shiyue returned to the Li family's place, he secretly told Li's mother and others about this, keeping it a secret only from Li's grandmother.

"Father looks like he is really ill. Brother Shiyang and I will go to the city tomorrow to have a look. If we can invite a doctor to come back to see him, that would be the best.
If not, we can only leave it to fate and see if we can get through this.

"Don't tell grandma about this," Li Shiyue looked up at Li Wangming, "she is old and has been hurt by what dad did. If you tell her about it, I'm afraid she won't be able to bear it."

Li Wangming naturally nodded in response to Li Shiyue's words. Now, in Li Wangming's opinion, Li's father, as the eldest brother, did not behave like a son. It was right not to tell Li's grandmother that Li's father might be infected with the disease. It would also be good to let Li's grandmother worry less.

Besides, even if I told Grandma Li, what could she do?

Grandmother Li is not a doctor and cannot cure diseases. She is also old and cannot take care of people. It would be better to keep it a secret from her and not tell her.

The next day was a cloudy day without the sun.

Li Shiyue, Li Wangming, Ma Zi and Mole drove a donkey cart and followed Li Shiyang to the county town.

The number of people entering and leaving the county town is not large, but it is not small either.

There were two soldiers with swords standing at the low city gate. When it was Li Shiyue and his group's turn, they lined up and paid the copper coins to enter the city. They didn't even need a household registration sticker or a pass. They just drove their donkey carts into the city.

Ma Zi was a lively man. He sat at the front of the cart and used a thin branch to urge the donkey's butt from time to time. He looked at Li Shiyang who was walking beside the donkey cart without a smile on his face and asked, "Why is Shiyang unhappy?
Didn't we enter the city safely?"

Ma Zi's words attracted everyone who followed to look at Li Shiyang. Li Shiyue, who was walking beside Li Shiyang, also had a heavy expression on his face.

"Why are you like this in October?"

"Just now when we entered the city, the soldiers standing there only needed to pay us money, and they didn't even check our household registration stickers. This shows that the county government only wants money and doesn't care who enters the city. In this kind of world, aren't they afraid of banditry?
This is not right.

Moreover," Li Shiyue shook the basket on his back and said to Ma Zi, "We have been walking for nearly a quarter of an hour, and among the people who passed by us, no less than five had red faces, and they looked sick."

Li Shiyue's words made Mazi and the others suddenly worried.

When I arrived at the clinic, I saw the scene inside. There were at least a dozen people with red faces, bloodshot eyes, and hoarse voices waiting to see a doctor, and the boy who was dispensing medicine from the medicine cabinet was busy non-stop.

Finally, Li Shiyang spent a lot of money to hire a doctor and a little medicine boy to go out of the city with them to see patients.

Li Shiyang originally wanted to look for the imperial gazette in the bookstore in the county town to see if he could get some news about the court, so that they could have a clear idea of what to do in the future. But the only two bookstores in the county town were closed!
I asked a nearby shop and was told that it had closed three days ago because the owner of the bookstore had an emergency at home.

But you have to know that if the boss has something going on, there must be a manager in the bookstore, and the manager can't have something going on at home, right?
The doctor had also seen a lot of things in the world. He was not afraid at all when he saw seventy or eighty people in the wild. He even asked Li Shiyang for a table to sit and see the patients.

In more than an hour, the doctor and the little medicine boy examined more than ten sick people in Lijia Village, including Li's father.

"The symptoms are similar to those of the people who have been sick in the county recently, but the symptoms of two of you are more severe. I'll prescribe a prescription, drink it first. If you can get through it, then you can live. If not, there's nothing we can do."

The family the doctor was talking about were also two elderly people from the Li family. As for the rest of the people, the doctor said, "Take medicine first. You have been traveling for too long and your bodies are weak, so this disease has come to you.

If you can rest for a few days, eat more, and let your body recuperate, you should be able to succeed."

Li Shiyue watched the doctor instruct the little medicine boy to take the medicine bag from the backpack. She stepped forward and bowed, then asked, "Doctor Chen, aren't you afraid? Is this an epidemic?"
Doctor Chen, aren't you afraid of being infected with the disease from us?"

When Li Shiyue mentioned the word "epidemic", Doctor Chen was stunned for a moment, but after a moment, he resumed his actions, as if he was not shocked by Li Shiyue's words at all.

Doctor Chen was distributing medicine with the little medicine boy while he lowered his head and replied to Li Shiyue: "Alas, the young lady must have seen it in the city. This kind of disease has already appeared in the county town.

Why would I dare to go out of the city to treat you?

Well, it’s just for a few pieces of silver. The family has to eat.

Besides, I have been in the city for a long time. Since I have not been infected, then I should not be infected if I come out to treat your illnesses.

Why don't you check the household registration at the city gates?"

Doctor Chen took the time to look up at Li Shiyue, then lowered his head to continue dispensing medicine: "The county magistrate ran away with his family a few days ago, and the person in charge of the county government now is the county lieutenant.

The county magistrate can escape, but I am a registered doctor and my family is all here, where can I escape to?"

After paying for the medicine and some extra consultation fees, Li Shiyang asked Mazi and Li Wangshui to take good care to send Doctor Chen and the little pharmacist back to the county town.

As for the medicine packets left by Doctor Chen, they were distributed to the sick people in Lijia Village one by one according to what Doctor Chen said, asking them to quickly boil the medicine and take it.

So, in the evening, the field where the people of Lijia Village lived was filled with a strong smell of medicine.

Qin Tao was squatting on the ground, decocting medicine for Li's father. She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, so she suddenly poured something into the pot. She quickly took chopsticks and stirred it so that the things she threw in would mix with the original medicinal materials.

At this moment, Li's father was lying on the donkey cart where Li Chunli and Li Shigui were originally lying. He had a white cloth tied on his head, his face was abnormally flushed, and his eyes were closed.

Father Li, who was about to fall asleep, heard vaguely the sound of quarreling. He had to resist the sleepiness and opened his eyes, half sitting up and looking in the direction where the quarreling came from.

"Treat him? How? What to treat? I think we should just leave him to fend for himself."

　Thanks to book friend 20230412152829483 for casting 3 recommendation votes.

(End of this chapter)