Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 236 Penicillin

"The deceased was surnamed Liu, a bachelor in his early 40s who lived alone.

The villagers had gone to his house to check before, and he said he didn't see any Koreans.

No one has seen him come out these days, especially in the past few days, it seemed like there was no smoke coming out of his chimney.

Everyone thought it was strange and went to his house to take a look.

When they went in, they found that Lao Liu and a woman in Korean clothes were dead in the house. They were already stiff, and their bodies were black and purple, which was extremely scary.

Everyone didn't know what to do, so they sent me here to ask Mr. Qu and Doctor Chen what to do.

The person who came was a young man, his face was pale, perhaps from the cold or fear, he was trembling as he finally managed to explain what happened.

When Qu Shaoyang heard this, his face turned pale. "Tell me first, have you been to Old Liu's house?"

Damn, if he also came into contact with Lao Liu’s body and came to report the news, it would be really bad.

"No, no, I didn't go to his house." The young man shook his head like a rattle.

Qu Shaoyang was somewhat relieved. It was good that there wasn't any. It would be easy to deal with if there wasn't any.

“So, when you go back, tell the people in charge of your village that this disease can be transmitted even if someone dies.

And it is not afraid of severe cold, even if it is buried in the ground. The best solution is to burn it."

After listening to the other party's description, Qu Shaoyang felt that the disease was very similar to the Black Death, also known as the plague.

Plague is a disease caused by Yersinia pestis, which can survive at minus thirty degrees Celsius and can survive for almost a year if buried underground. The only way to deal with it is to burn it.

Qu Shaoyang was not sure whether plague had ever occurred in the area in real history.

However, the period between the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China was indeed a period of plague outbreak.

For example, the plague in Guangzhou during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the plague outbreak in Northeast China in the first year of the Xuantong reign both killed many people.

Perhaps, this time the area where it appeared was small, with only a few villages, and it did not attract enough attention, so it was not recorded.

Or perhaps, the Goryeo people should have stolen enough food from here to survive the winter, so they escaped and this disaster did not happen.

There's no point in worrying about these things right now.

Qu Shaoyang only knew one thing: if it was really the plague, there would be almost no solution given the current level of medical technology.

Not to mention now, even in another twenty years, the plague in Northeast China in 1910 killed countless people.

The final solution was to isolate and burn the bodies to cut off the source and route of infection.

The more effective treatment for plague is antibiotics such as streptomycin, but at the moment, let alone streptomycin, even penicillin has not been discovered, let alone produced.

Penicillin? It seems that penicillin also works, but not as well as streptomycin.

But he didn't have it in his hand.

Thanks to the information age in his previous life, Qu Shaoyang had heard of the traditional method of making penicillin.

But it is winter now, and it is not easy for food to produce mold.

Besides, that method would require countless experiments to succeed. How could there be a chance for Qu Shaoyang to slowly explore and produce it now?

"Shaoyang, what are you talking about? Green plums? We don't have any green plums here. Besides, what's the use of green plums?"

Doctor Chen happened to be next to Qu Shaoyang. When he heard what his brother-in-law was mumbling, he couldn't help but ask curiously.

Hearing his father-in-law's words, Qu Shaoyang suddenly came back to his senses.

Just now he was concentrating on thinking about what could cure the plague, and he was so engrossed in it that he even mentioned penicillin.

"Dad, that's not greengage, it's penicillin, a kind of bluish-gray hair that grows on food.

There are substances that can be extracted from that kind of hair, which may be useful for this crop of nest disease."

Qu Shaoyang didn't know how to describe Penicillium to Doctor Chen, so he could only say this: Most people would call food moldy "hairy", and in many cases, the hair growing on fruits and pasta is Penicillium.

Qu Shaoyang explained these things to his father-in-law without any other thoughts, he just said it casually.

Unexpectedly, Doctor Chen heard it and frowned slightly.

"Why does it sound to me like the hair you're talking about is quite similar to the hair that grows when I make mustard greens?"

When making aged mustard greens stew, the surface of the mustard greens should be covered with green hairs.

"Dad, can you make braised aged mustard greens?" Qu Shaoyang exclaimed.

No way? What a coincidence? Isn't it said that the old mustard greens stew has been lost?
It is said that when the Japanese invaded China, they searched all over the world for the secret recipe of pickled mustard greens, and thus brought disaster to many people.

If this were some aged mustard greens marinade, it might actually work.

"Yes, last fall, I made two large jars." Doctor Chen laughed when he heard this.

"You were busy collecting land at the time, so I don't know."

"Oh my God, Dad, you have such a good thing, why didn't you ever mention it?" Qu Shaoyang exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s medicine, it can only be used when there are patients.

Besides, that thing has to be buried in the ground for ten years before it can be used. Why should I talk about it before the time comes? "

Doctor Chen looked puzzled. What happened to his son-in-law?
When Qu Shaoyang heard this, his face fell. Ten years, ten years, was enough time for him to conduct a thousand, eight hundred experiments.

But where is the time now? "Well, it's as good as nothing."

Doctor Chen looked at the person standing next to him and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Only then did Qu Shaoyang realize that the young man who came to report the news was still standing there.

"Hey? Why are you standing here? Didn't I just tell you?
Go back and tell the person in charge of your village that it would be best to burn the bodies of the bachelor and the Korean woman to avoid any trouble.

Another thing is that all people who have been to the bachelor's house should be disinfected from head to toe, and then separated so that they can live alone and not come into contact with other people.

If they don’t get sick after seven days, then it’s fine.”

“If you run out of disinfectant packets, just get some more from here.

You should hurry back and don't waste too much time, or else something will go wrong." Qu Shaoyang waved his hand, signaling that the other party could leave.

"Master Qu, when I came here, Uncle Zhao from our village said that we must ask Doctor Chen and Master Qu to bring their people over."

The young man uttered these words in a choking voice.

"What the hell? Let us go?" Qu Shaoyang widened his eyes.

Is he crazy? Knowing that someone is dead over there, he still rushes over?

What a joke, it was most likely the plague, which basically means death if you get it. It's not like he wants to live longer, so why would he run away like that?

"Shaoyang, you stay home. I'll go with him and take a look."

Just when Qu Shaoyang was about to refuse, Doctor Chen suddenly spoke.

"Dad, this is not a joke, it involves human life.

Right now we don’t know what the disease is, if we go there rashly, once we are infected, it could kill people.”

When Qu Shaoyang heard this, he was outrageous and quickly stopped them.

"Shaoyang, listen to what dad says. I'm a doctor, and saving lives is my fundamental duty. Even if the disease is very serious, I can't be afraid to move forward."

Doctor Chen glanced at Qu Shaoyang and said seriously.

(End of this chapter)