Chapter 53: Tiger-Head Shoes Trampling the Infant's Memorial Hall (XIX) But now he dared not…

The plague in Sui'an County didn't actually start overnight. After entering the illusory realm, Ye Qingzhan and Wen Gu saw a record of the symptoms in Dongfang Yuanshan's medical journal.

The infected initially experienced abdominal distension, followed by vomiting and diarrhea after two or three days, weakness in the limbs after five days, loss of appetite after eight days, and death from a ruptured stomach after ten days.

Ye Qingzhan asked in a trembling voice, "What does this have to do with me… Madam Jiang?" Before she finished her words, she suddenly remembered what Hua Niang had said.

In the first illusory realm, Li Zexian, seeking to understand Xie Zhiyan's past, had tried to trick Hua Niang. A drunken Hua Niang recalled her own past and spoke of Jiang Xuejun, Ye Qingzhan's mother.

Jiang Xuejun and Hua Niang had known each other since childhood. Later, someone in their family suddenly fell ill with a protracted, incurable illness. The rest of the family was also affected, and her parents died one after another, leaving Jiang Xuejun alone.

The town's inhabitants, believing her parents' fate, cast her out. "I don't know who leaked Madam Jiang's past. Some people in the county are insisting the disease is linked to her. They say Madam..." Chuntao's usually cheerful voice trailed off. "These people believe everything they hear. They pin things on others, even when they don't exist, to find peace."

It's natural to ask for the cause of a family member's illness, but why did they have to bring up Madam Jiang's story? Ye Qingzhan asked, "Can't the doctors diagnose this?"

Chuntao nodded, saying, "That's exactly what's strange. Several doctors in the county can't diagnose it. Mr. Ye wants to ask Mr. Dongfang to take a look."

Wen Gu glanced at Ye Qingzhan and said, "Okay."

After a brief preparation, the others followed Mr. Ye out of the mansion.

Tang Yuan drove the carriage, and Ye Qingzhan lifted the curtains and looked out from inside. In just one night, the street scene had changed drastically. The former bustling and prosperous scene suddenly disappeared, and corpses wrapped in straw mats were everywhere.

The living relatives, with their faces covered by white cloth, knelt beside them and shed tears.

As the carriage passed by, someone recognized the coachman from the Ye Mansion and cursed him: "How dare you go out on the street? Jiang Xuejun is a disaster. She has killed everyone in her family! She has killed her family, and now she comes to harm the people in the county. What a vicious person! Bah!"

"That plague god, who knows where she has hidden herself. She relies on her husband's wealth and doesn't care about the lives of others. What a cruel heart!"

After the incident, Ye Yuanwai wrote a letter, saying that he was away on business and would not be back until the end of the year. He told Jiang Xuejun, who was praying at Baiyu Temple, to come back later, thus avoiding the abuse.

"Get out!"

Not knowing what Mr. Ye in the carriage in front would feel after hearing such harsh words, Ye Qingzhan clenched her hands tightly, her face full of anger. Wen Gu looked at her, stopped the carriage, took her hand and got out of the carriage, and walked to the man who had just cursed the most.

The short man felt guilty when he saw the gloomy man approaching, and took a step back.

Wen Gu stared at him with his dark eyes and asked, "Evidence?"

The man saw Wen Gu's face was pale, and thought that he was just a sickly person, there was nothing to be afraid of, so he said, "I used to work in Jiang Xuejun's house. After that incident in her family, most of the servants in the mansion were dismissed, and those who stayed died of illness. I was the last to leave, and I almost got infected with that damn disease and died. Fortunately, I met Dr. Fox and saved my life."

Ye Qingzhan listened to the man's words in silence, his eyes fixed on him - he had seen this square-faced, short man before, and he was the first one to rush out to refute Mr. Ye and incite the villagers last night.

Grandma A Tao in the sleeves pulled at her cuffs, listening quietly, the tiger-head shoes around her neck swaying slightly.

Ye Qingzhan asked: "So, because Madam Jiang is the only one who survived, you conclude that she is the source of the evil that caused the start of this epidemic?" The tone was no longer as sweet as before, but steady and powerful.

The man met Ye Qingzhan's gaze, without avoiding or dodging, and gritted his teeth and said: "If it wasn't her fault, why was she the only one who survived among the dozens of people in the mansion? What's more, this disease is exactly the same as what I saw at that time. Most of the time, it affects the middle-aged men in the family. At first, the abdomen is bloated and painful, and within ten days, the abdomen is swollen, as if there is a pillow stuffed in the stomach. Also, I heard it when I was working at the Jiang family. The fortune tellers said that Jiang Xuejun is a disaster. Not only does she bring disaster to her parents--" The man stretched out his tone and looked at Mr. Ye who came a step slower.

Mr. Ye looked fine, but his brows were full of fatigue. Before he got close, he heard the man say, "You are unlucky." He did not change his expression, pretending to hear nothing, walked towards the people on the street, and said loudly:

"I know that everyone has had a hard time recently. The medical expenses will be charged to me."

After he finished speaking, Chuntao, who was supporting him, tugged at his sleeve and hurriedly said: "Mr. Ye, doesn't this mean..."

Ye Shaolin signaled her not to say more, and continued: "I will definitely get to the bottom of the plague. If it is found that this matter has nothing to do with Xuejun, then please come to my house to apologize in person."

The man looked at him and grinned: "Mr. Ye, are you doing this out of kindness or because you are guilty? Are you so anxious to exonerate your wife? What if it is found out that it is really related to your wife?"

This expression overlapped with the man who argued with him last night. At the same time, Ye Shaolin also recognized him and said calmly, "Words are not enough. When the truth comes out, please don't forget the harsh words you

said today." Some of the people gathered wanted to speak up for the man, but were stopped by a young woman. She said, "The source of the disease has never been found. It's all been spread by rumors. The most important thing right now is not to find someone to blame for this epidemic, but to cure the disease and save lives! Mr. Dongfang's medical skills are famous far and wide. Today, we should ask him to see us, and we should listen to his words most."

Ye Qingzhan looked at the person who spoke for them and recognized her as the young woman who had laughed and chatted with her and Wen Gu on the street when they first entered the fantasy realm. Someone

in the family had fallen ill, and the woman's face had lost its radiance. Her eyes looked a little tired, but she nodded at her.

The crowd gradually dispersed, and the crowd fell silent. A moment later, someone cast an eager and expectant gaze on Wen Gu.

The man's cold gaze swept over the woman, and he snorted at Mr. Ye. "All right, we'll see," he said, turning and walking away.

Ye Shaolin glanced at him, then walked over to Wen Gu and said, "Sir, please take a look and see if you have any ideas for a treatment."

Wen Gu nodded slightly, knelt, and lifted the straw mat covering the body. Tears welled up in Ye Qingzhan's eyes, but she fought back and stepped forward. Back in Camellia Village, Li Ying, the doctor who had found her, had also been a doctor. She had learned some medical skills from Li Ying, thinking she might be able to help.

As soon as they lifted the straw mat, they were both startled—the deceased was the man whose wife had grabbed his ears on the street that day. When they first met, the man had seemed thin but strong. But now, lying on the mat, he was swollen, his face dark blue, and his stomach, just as the troublemaker had described, had bulged into a ball, as if it were about to explode.

Wen Gu placed his hand on the man's wrist and sent a ray of Yin Sha into his meridians.

Ye Qingzhan acupunctured the man's stomach.

He was already dead, and facing a corpse, she wasn't sure what she could find out.

Tears welled in his wife's eyes, but she tried to control herself and speak in a calm tone, "He complained of stomachaches ten days ago. I went with him to see a doctor, and the doctor said he had eaten something bad and prescribed a medicine. After he took it at home, the pain was relieved. Three days later, he started vomiting and having diarrhea, and after a few days, he couldn't move. Last night, his stomach suddenly swelled up, and he kept crying out in pain. The doctor said there was nothing he could do. At daybreak, he... died."

The lady's words matched Dongfang Yuanshan's notes. As she finished speaking, Ye Qingzhan put away the needles. As she'd expected, the acupuncture had no effect; she simply felt something strange. She

wondered if Wen Gu had gained anything.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Wen Gu frowned slightly, stood up, and addressed the group, "This isn't an illness, but a curse."

The surroundings suddenly fell silent, then commotion returned. Someone asked, "Is Jiang Xuejun's fate bad, so he's cursing us?"

Wen Gu looked at the person and said, "No."

"This is a curse inflicted by cultivators who have entered the realm of evil." Wen Gu's gaze swept over the assembled people.

He used to hate the gazes of mortals, because the very place that nurtured him constantly reminded him of the unbearableness and ugliness of "mortals."

Yet, now, facing these expectant gazes, he felt no resentment.

He simply felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.

He glanced at the person beside him and continued, "As far as I know, Madam Jiang isn't a sect cultivator, so she naturally wouldn't know these evil techniques. This is a frame-up by someone with ulterior motives."

His tone was calm and resolute. Ye Qingzhan felt a pang of unease, her mind still pounding on the look he'd just given her—gentle, soothing, and...

something she couldn't understand: some sadness, and perhaps a hint of determination, as if he'd made some kind of decision.

Suddenly, Ye Qingzhan felt a little frightened.

The man who had just walked away suddenly rushed out again, shouting, "You are just a doctor, how do you know about the affairs of immortal cultivators? I think you are just talking nonsense, colluding with Ye Shaolin to exonerate Jiang Xuejun!"

Before Wen Gu could say anything, and before Ye Yuanwai could explain, the woman who was wiping her tears pointed at him with a handkerchief and said angrily, "Shut up now. Mr. Dongfang used to be a traveling doctor. Haven't you heard of the story of him saving hundreds of people a day when he passed by the Baiyu Temple in Yuntai Mountain? Among them were the cultivators who were practicing in seclusion there. When I went to see the man for treatment, a cultivator sent him elixirs to express his gratitude. You bastard, you know nothing and just talk nonsense. Shut up now!"

As she said that, the woman picked up a stone at her feet and stuffed it into the man's mouth.

The short man with a square face: "..."

Someone nearby continued, "What Ayu said is right. I also met monks who used to be the medical officers of the Dongfang couple. It's not surprising that you heard about the curse from them."

As they talked one after another, they changed their previous views. Ye Qingzhan looked at them, and from the bottom of her heart she thanked the famous Dongfang couple and the woman who spoke for them, and...

She looked at the young man in the center of the crowd, listening to the noise around her.

Someone nodded and said, "It turns out that we really wronged Madam Jiang."

"Yes," an old lady looked at Wen Gu, "Sir, is there any way to eliminate the curse?"

There was a gentleness in Wen Gu's eyes that had never appeared before, but at this moment he did not dare to look at the people around him, but just said to the old woman, "Yes."

"I have a way."