Peasant Girl Bookseller

Chapter 181 Lucky Star
Early the next morning, as soon as Mai Xiang's family woke up, Yong En sent someone to pick them up. Mai Xiang had to bid farewell to her parents, and got into the carriage with Huaici first, and the carriage went straight out of the city. Only then did he tell Huai Ci the mission of this trip.

When Huai Ci heard that he was going to the pox-affected area, he immediately got out of the car to look for Yong En, saying that he wanted to send Mai Xiang back.

"Brother, don't go looking for brother-in-law. I'm going by myself. I don't worry about you two. In order to take care of us, brother-in-law specially equipped us with a carriage. Let's just go out for a trip, okay? "Mai Xiang took the initiative to hold Huai Ci's hand.

"No, what's there to do in the winter in the ice and snow, you want to go out and have a look, I will have time to accompany you in the future." Huai Ci listened to the strong wind outside the carriage, how could he let Mai Xiang eat this with him bitter?
"It's already out, so let's not trouble brother-in-law. Besides, I want to be with you. You were so dangerous last time when you were vaccinated with me. Why can't I be with you?"

What Mai Xiang said was also true, if Huai Ci hadn't been on this trip, she certainly wouldn't have come out so impulsively.It was not easy for the two of them to go all the way to today. From the initial dodge, temptation, struggle, hesitation, entanglement, and rejection, both of them shed countless tears. It was not until after the marriage was bestowed that the two truly opened their hearts to accept each other, and their relationship grew day by day. sweet.

Therefore, under such circumstances, Mai Xiang was really unwilling to let Huaici take risks in the epidemic area alone. Although she was not a doctor, at least she came from modern times and had some modern common sense.

"That's different. I'm a man, so I should stay with my sister, but my sister is a woman. My brother will feel bad when he sees you suffering." Huai Ci stretched out both hands, and held Mai Xiang's little hand instead.

"With you by my side, I won't feel bitter." After Mai Xiang finished speaking, she smiled flatteringly at Huai Ci.

She is also reluctantly pretending to be optimistic, she is not afraid of smallpox, she is afraid of typhoid fever, in this ancient times where there is a lack of medical care and medicine, one mistake can end the game.

After hearing what Mai Xiang said, Huai Ci didn't say that he wanted to push Mai Xiang back, but just hugged Mai Xiang tightly, wanting to give Mai Xiang some real warmth.

Mai Xiang didn't know until noon that she was going to Datong, Shanxi Province. In order not to delay the time, all the post stations along the way were ready to change people and horses at any time. Finally bumped all the way into Datong Mansion.

After Yongen arrived, he was busy understanding the situation with the local officials, and at the same time followed Mai Xiang's suggestion to gather all the doctors in Datong Prefecture to learn vaccination, so busy that he didn't even have time to eat.

Mai Xiang had been riding in the carriage for two days, her bones ached all over her body, she picked up some food at random, and then lay down on the kang, anyway, it wasn't the first time she and Huai Ci were alone in a room.

Early the next morning, Mai Xiang was still asleep, and Huai Ci woke her up, because they were going to the epidemic area. It is said that there are ten villages and two county towns in the pox outbreak area, and all of them have been blocked. No matter whether the people inside are infected or not, they are not allowed to come out.

Mai Xiang understood as soon as she heard it, no wonder hundreds of people died, not to mention those who lacked medical care and medicine, I am afraid that these people may not be able to maintain basic food and clothing if they are trapped for a long time, but if the martial law is not so strict, the pox will spread If it is opened, the number of dead is probably far more than this number.

Both Mai Xiang and Huaici pretended to be Yong En's servants, and followed Yong En into Xinrong County, where the epidemic was the worst. It is said that dozens of people die in this county every day, and no one from the government dares to go in. Send someone to put rice and grain at the gate of the city.

"My lord, here, you are the body of a thousand gold, it's better not to go in." The magistrate of Datong followed Yongen behind, tremblingly said.

If Yong En wanted to go in, he would definitely go in with him, but he really didn't dare to take the risk, because he didn't have any pox, it was the cow pox that Yong En forced to inoculate last night.

Of course, there were quite a few of his government servants who were temporarily inoculated with cowpox last night. These are people who are waiting for the pimples to go to different places to take turns on duty. .

After hearing what the magistrate said, Yong En took a look at Mai Xiang, and saw that Mai Xiang was looking at the city wall with a worried expression on his face. He remembered why he came here. Big risks are coming to accompany him, so what reason does he have to back down?

Yong En asked Mai Xiang and Huai Ci to distribute a mask to each of the accompanying people, Mai Xiang demonstrated wearing it, and Yong En led these doctors and followers to drive dozens of cows into the county town.

Both sides of the street were deserted and deserted, and there were hardly any people there. Yongen and his party advanced the county government, and the county government was also empty.

Yongen led people around the city, and finally saw a healthy person coming out to carry water. Mai Xiang hurriedly asked him about the number of households in this county, and where there were places that were spacious and could accommodate a lot of people. people.

"Back to the lord, I have already found out that there are only two largest places in this county, one is the county government office and the other is the county school. Both of these places are vacant now."

Yongen understood Mai Xiang's meaning as soon as he heard it, and wanted to separate these people to these two places so that they could be managed and treated in a centralized manner.

Yongen thought for a while, and asked the magistrate to bring people to notify those who have not been infected with pox to gather in the county government office for vaccination, and those who have already been infected should go to the county school to receive treatment, and inform them that there is a special Nursing, but also food.

Most of the people in the county thought that they could only stay and wait to die. Unexpectedly, the people who came to the court suddenly said that they came here specially to treat them. When they heard the news, they all came out of their homes and walked to where you should go.

There are also some old, weak, sick and disabled who can't go out, and the magistrate's yamen servants searched from house to house, and carried them to the county school. Of course, they were also responsible for burying the corpses.

Mai Xiang, Huai Ci, and the men who had been vaccinated all stayed at the county school to help, helping to cook medicine, cook porridge, and take care of the sick.

Mai Xiang made a rough count. There were 500 people who were infected this time, and about 300 of them were children under the age of ten. Slightly divided into different categories, children and those with serious illnesses slept on big kangs, while those who were older were left in the classrooms of the school, which were temporarily built with wooden boards and covered with thick rugs. In addition, there are two large pots in the middle of the classroom, one for cooking medicine and the other for cooking porridge. In this way, the temperature in the room will not be too low, and it can survive.

Mai Xiang and the others have been busy for five days in a row. In these five days, hundreds of people have been carried out. It is the first time for Mai Xiang to experience the cruelty of the epidemic. No wonder people are talking about acne. The death rate is too high. Taller.

Fortunately, the progress of the county government is quite smooth. After being planted with vaccinia, these people basically have no discomfort, and the pimples are similar to normal people. Come to help, because there are their relatives and children here.

This afternoon, Mai Xiang and Huai Ci were making tangerine peel water and hawthorn water for the patient.The weather has been extremely cold these past few days, and the imperial physicians have been making soups for typhoid fever for everyone, but the soups are far from enough.

Mai Xiang suddenly remembered that in her previous life, she had a cold and cough, and she drank lemonade or grapefruit peel water to relieve her. I couldn’t find lemons and grapefruits in this place, but I found a lot of hawthorn and tangerine peel in the drugstore, which are rich in Mai Xiang discussed with Yong En, set up a big pot, and kept boiling hawthorn water and tangerine peel water for everyone to drink.

"Mai Xiang, the prince is in the carriage. He has something urgent to see you." Sui Ping hurriedly found Mai Xiang and said.

When Mai Xiang heard this, she hurriedly dropped her things and got into the carriage, only to see Yong En's tired and sad face.

"My lord, is there something wrong with you?" Mai Xiang was taken aback. If something happened to him, Mai Xiang would not be able to explain it to Uladomin.

"It's okay, but I'm a little tired. Now we have encountered a big problem. The cowpox is not enough. This problem exists in several other places. What should we do?"

"My lord, the cowpox is not enough. We will use the pimples on the people who have just been inoculated with cowpox, treat it like cowpox, and try to plant it like this. At present, we have no other way." Mai Xiang said, at the critical moment, there is no time of doubt.

"The imperial physicians have also thought of this, but they are not sure whether to inoculate it like cowpox or like human pox."

"Brother-in-law, it's all pus, it's like being vaccinated. After all, the scar looks better on the arm than on the face. Let's try it first and see the effect before deciding. By the way, my lord, After the people who have been vaccinated go home, let them cook every place in the house with vinegar and smoke it." Mai Xiang only thought of so much.

"Boiled with vinegar and smoked?"

"This can prevent typhoid fever and avoid infection. It is best to fumigate every corner of the city with vinegar and sprinkle with quicklime." Mai Xiang also has a half-knowledge.

"Okay, listen to my sister, your sister said that you have always been a lucky star." Yong En twitched the corners of his mouth, at this moment, he really couldn't laugh.

Facts once again proved that Mai Xiang is indeed a lucky star. The pus taken from the pimples of people who have been inoculated with cowpox and planted on others is better than the pus taken directly from cows. There is almost nothing There are no adverse reactions, and there is no discomfort. Of course, there will be no re-infection with pox rash.At the same time, with the method of Maixiang, the number of typhoid fever patients has also been greatly reduced.

Twenty days later, the county where Mai Xiang is located, after a thorough burning, burial, and disinfection with quicklime and vinegar, the gates of the city that had been closed for more than a month finally opened. People who have had pox and have not been vaccinated all go to the gate of the local county government to receive vaccinia planting.

The epidemic situation in the other ten villages and county towns has also been brought under control. Yongen took everyone to inspect and inspect, and after confirming that there was nothing missing, he took everyone on the road back to Beijing.

(End of this chapter)