A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

As winter arrived, the number of people seeking medical treatment in the western part of the city didn't decrease much.

Since curing Old Man Wei's disembowelment and then treating several other ailments that city doctors couldn't cure, Yang's reputation has reached its zenith in the west of the city. Every day as soon as he opens his doors, the front yard is packed with people waiting for his appointment.

That afternoon, a woman in a silk dress hurriedly pulled in a child who was about half a year old, followed by two servants.

The child looked to be about 10 years old. His cheeks were swollen so much that his face was round and his mouth could only open a small slit.

Yang Hu slapped the child's head, and it burned...

"Dr. Yang! Please save my little baby!" The woman was the wife of the manager of a rice shop in the west of the city. She had dark circles under her eyes. "He was fine this morning, but by noon he was swollen like this, delirious with fever, and can't even swallow his saliva!"

Yang Hu had a chair made for the child, and then gently pressed on the swollen area.

The child shuddered in pain and cried out loudly.

He then looked at the child's throat and the area below his ears.

I have a better understanding now.

It wasn't from being beaten, nor was it from smallpox or anything like that. It was mumps—the two lumps of flesh under the ears became hot and fused together, causing the fever and making the person feel weak all over. Could this disease be fatal? But being unable to swallow food or water, and dragging it out, was agonizing.

The old doctor was a skilled physician from the south of the city, invited by Manager Qian. He stood with his hands behind his back, a forced smile on his face.

"Young master, this is a case of heat toxin attacking your throat. It's dangerous. I've been practicing medicine for 30 years, and seeing this swelling, it's most likely a complication of smallpox. I'm afraid it's difficult to cure."

"What do you mean by smallpox?" Yang Hu said casually. "He just has mumps. The two lumps of flesh below his ears are swollen. How could he have such a high fever that he can't even swallow water?"

The old doctor scoffed, "Mumps? A little brat with puffed-out cheeks, can he get so feverish and unable to swallow water? You young man, you've never seen a case of smallpox. Don't risk the young master's life with your skills."

He did not argue with the other party.

Have Aji get some indigo naturalis, hibiscus leaves, and other heat-clearing and swelling-reducing herbs, and crush them.

The plaster felt cool when it was applied. The child initially resisted, but the coolness calmed him down, and he stopped resisting.

He then grabbed a prescription for clearing heat and detoxifying, mixed the medicine himself, and pried open the child's tightly clenched teeth, pouring the medicine in little by little.

The onlookers watched as he applied medicine to the shiny cheek, pried open the tooth, and poured soup down the child's throat, all of them holding their breath in suspense for the boy.

"Don't cover this swollen area, don't put anything hot on it," he instructed the woman as he rubbed it. "The more you cover it, the more it will go inward."

He paused for a moment, then added a crucial sentence:

"There's one more thing. This disease is contagious. These next few days, keep Xiaobao in a separate room, and don't let him get too close to the other children. Also, don't let them share the same bowls and chopsticks."

The woman was taken aback. "This successor?"

"It's a matter of skill." Yang Hu nodded. "If one of them gets swollen, the others around it will most likely get swollen too after a few days. Keeping them apart will prevent a commotion."

Everyone else found it amazing; how could someone with a swollen cheek disease survive?

The old doctor snorted, but ultimately dared not respond, and walked out with his hands behind his back.

Aji, who was picking up the medicine basin, couldn't help but ask, "Master, the old man in the south of the city said this is a symptom of smallpox, but you immediately identified it as mumps instead of smallpox?"

"Look at his swelling. It started on both sides of his face, a big patch on each side, symmetrically swollen, and it hurts when you pinch it." Yang Hujing touched him and said slowly, "When smallpox appears, it's a rash all over the body, starting with small spots. He doesn't have a single rash on his body, just these two swollen lumps of flesh. How can that be smallpox? You've misdiagnosed the root cause. Treating it as smallpox is deadly."

"So this illness... is it truly extraordinary?"

"That's absolutely true!" Yang Hu nodded. "This illness comes from the nose on the face. If you're close by, you can just talk and spit and it will pass through. If a family sits together, one person will swell up, and then the people next to them will swell up one after another. If you separate and eat your own food, the illness will have nowhere to go and it won't cause any more trouble."

Aji seemed to understand but not quite, but he remembered those words firmly.

After applying the medicine and drinking a soup, about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the fever on the child's head gradually subsided.

The shopkeeper's wife had been taking care of him the whole time, her heart pounding in her throat. Seeing that her son's fever had subsided considerably, she reached out to touch him, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"They really withdrew...they really withdrew!"

By dusk, the swelling had stopped growing upwards, and the child had eaten half a bowl of millet porridge.

After several days and several changes of medication, the two lumps of flesh gradually shrank. In less than five or six days, the fever subsided and the swelling disappeared, and the child was able to jump and skip outside again.

On the day the child recovered, Manager Qian personally brought Xiao Bao to thank him. Xiao Bao hid behind his father, timidly bowing to Yang Hu, having completely forgotten about not being able to open his teeth when being given medicine.

Manager Qian delivered a thick stack of medical fees.

Yang Hu accepted the money; Manager Qian came from a wealthy family in the west of the city and could afford it. Half of the money was used to buy more medicinal herbs, and the other half was used to help several families at the alley entrance who had no rice to cook.

This story spread throughout the west of the city, and people began to discuss it with some new insights:

"The shopkeeper's son's cheeks swelled up, and the old doctor in the south of the city said that smallpox was incurable, but Doctor Yang's medicine made it go away in a few doses."

"The most amazing thing is that Dr. Yang had warned that this disease was unusual and advised that the patient should live alone. Sure enough, the two boys from the Li family next door followed Xiao Bao and played with him for a long time. Within two days, their swelled up. Luckily, Dr. Yang was called in early, otherwise it would have been terrible."

The group of people were still observing the newly opened West City Medical Clinic when they heard what the servants said, and they remembered the name "Doctor Yang of West City" even more.

The swelling in the two boys from the Li family subsided after Yang Hu applied several doses of medicine. The Li family was an ordinary family, so Yang Hu only charged them a few copper coins based on the cost of the medicine.

He then gave the Li family a few more detailed instructions: these next few days, make sure the two children have their own room and don't let them hang out with the other children.

This disease is easier to treat if it affects only one family, but it becomes more difficult if all the children on a street develop swelling...

The Li family complied.

Sure enough, very few of the children in that area continued to commit the same offense.

The neighbors originally thought Dr. Yang could cure the disease, but this time, they're all repeating his words: "Keeping things separate will prevent trouble."

Lately, in the entire western part of the city, whenever a child has developed mumps, the first person they think of is Dr. Yang from the western part of the city.

It turns out that those respectable families who were originally arrogant and looked down on this outsider clinic have started to secretly send gifts to others.

They said that if anyone in the family has a headache or fever in the future, they hope they can call on Dr. Yang.

Evening, in the backyard.

Yang Hu had been busy all day and was resting in a chair in the corridor.

Lu Yan brought over a bowl of hot soup and placed it in his hands.

Lu Rou worked quickly on the abacus, writing down the money she had received that day.

Willow leaves returned from the outskirts of the city and, as usual, tossed them to the two amusing little wild creatures to eat at the door.

Qin Ying sat in the lamplight, glancing at her clothes as she began mending them.

This is something she rarely does.

Yang Hu looked at it and found it rather strange.

Qin Ying didn't look up: "Your clothes are torn at the cuffs. It's not proper for you to dress like this every day when you're seeing patients."

Qin Ying's stitches were far less skillful than Lu Yan's; it was obvious at a glance that she didn't do much needlework. But she sewed very carefully, stitch by stitch.

Yang Hu smiled.

The lamplight fell on her back. As she bent down to sew, that familiar domineering aura disappeared, replaced by a gentle and tender demeanor.

The safety of everyone in the courtyard was ensured by him gradually transforming himself from being unarmed to being this way in this chaotic world.

He would absolutely not allow anyone to disturb this.

He won't let anyone break everything.