Chapter 97

Chapter 97

As the old saying goes, after a great disaster, there is sure to be an epidemic.

Over the past few days of seeing patients, Chen Jue had noticed that most were presenting with diarrhea and vomiting, coming on without any warning, and quickly progressing to severe dehydration.

This was still Wanchun Hall. Rich folks are especially careful about their health and seek treatment early. What about Jishi Hall then?

At noon, Chen Jue walked over to Jishi Hall. Sure enough, the number of patients there had suddenly increased. Old Doctor Tang saw him come in but was too busy to even say a word to him. Chen Jue listened in on the consultations, and when he saw that the symptoms were all the same, his heart sank a little.

After Old Doctor Tang finished with one patient, he said to Chen Jue, "Doctor Chen, are you here to see patients or to check on the medicine supply? These past few days, we've suddenly seen a surge in intestinal colic cases. We need to make more of the Huoxiang Zhengqi formula. After the flood, this kind of illness has increased a lot..."

He trailed off a bit at the end. Chen Jue looked at him: "Old Tang, do you really think this is just a post-flood illness?"

After a flood, contaminated drinking water is a real concern, and it's normal to see people with symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea. But for dehydration to get this bad this fast, and for cases to multiply this quickly, there might be something else going on.

Old Doctor Tang had been feeling uneasy about it all along. Hearing this, his brow furrowed deeply, and he asked in a grave voice, "What does Imperial Physician He say?"

Chen Jue shook his head. Old Doctor Tang decided on the spot: "Tonight, let's discuss the illness together and compile all the case records from the past few days. Also," Old Doctor Tang looked at Chen Jue, "please ask Regional Commander Huo to join us too."

Huo Jilin picked Chen Jue up every evening to walk home together. Old Doctor Tang wanted to ask him to stay and discuss what to do. Chen Jue agreed.

That evening, after seeing a few patients at Jishi Hall, the group sat down at the table, their faces heavy with worry.

The room was thick with the smell of alcohol, mixed with the smell of Huoxiang. Under the current circumstances, Chen Jue had these people disinfected and isolated first.

Imperial Physician He was the first to speak: "Old Tang, you speak first. Is this dysentery or just regular diarrhea?"

Old Doctor Tang turned to Chen Jue instead: "Let Doctor Chen speak. He has a different take on it."

"This is cholera."

Chen Jue said it outright. He was sure of it.

This was the infamous cholera that had wiped out half of Europe in the previous century.

The people in the room didn't understand, but Huo Jilin was from the modern era and understood immediately. His expression shifted, and he repeated the words: "Cholera?"

The two words seemed to be squeezed out through gritted teeth.

"Chol...era?" Old Doctor Tang also asked in shock.

He had never heard of this illness before. Based on his experience, this was a plague.

A plague was a disease that broke out widely among the people and caused mass deaths. Judging by the severely ill patients brought in over just these past three days, it was already showing signs of becoming a plague.

Chen Jue's heart sank when he realized Old Doctor Tang didn't know this disease. This disease had never occurred in this dynasty, which meant people had no immunity.

He corrected himself on the name: "Cholera—a severe illness marked by abdominal pain, intestinal colic, watery diarrhea, vomiting, and low fever. In severe cases, patients can dehydrate rapidly and even die. It's highly contagious and can spread quickly. It can also be classified as a plague."

Cholera was one type of plague.

Old Doctor Tang drew in a heavy breath. It was exactly what they'd feared most.

The flood had only passed half a month ago, and the people still hadn't recovered. The sun had just started to shine, and they'd thought they were in for clear skies and sunshine—only to have a plague strike instead.

But the saying that a great disaster is always followed by a plague had been passed down through the ages.

"But during the flood, we clearly took precautions," Doctor He couldn't help blurting out. The people who'd been moved into the Taoist temples had been boiling ginger soup and Poria decoction every day, and burning all kinds of mugwort to ward off exactly this kind of thing. How did they still get hit?

Where's the source?

Chen Jue wanted to know the same thing. Earlier, to prevent post-flood diseases, he'd specifically had Huo Jilin spread a lot of medical knowledge, including things like not drinking untreated water. But they'd still gotten hit anyway.

Cholera is a virus that spreads on a large scale through contaminated drinking water.

Or if it was deliberate, then the source would be even harder to guess.

Imperial Physician He turned to Old Doctor Tang: "Old Tang, do you also think this is... this kind of plague?"

Old Doctor Tang nodded gravely: "What Chen Jue said matches the symptoms of these patients exactly—both mild and severe cases match up. We already have over seventy people. Our Dongling County has a population of barely ten thousand, and in such a short time it's grown to this many people. This is a plague."

When he heard it was a type of plague, Imperial Physician He drew in a deep breath and looked at Old Doctor Tang. If it's a plague, we have to act fast and decisively—we can't drag our feet.

He looked at Old Doctor Tang: "Old Doctor Tang, although I'm old too, I've spent all these years in the palace. I've had too little experience with cases among ordinary folks, and I didn't take part in the plague treatments back then. You're the most experienced person we've got. You call the shots. The longer we wait, the more patients there'll be."

Chen Jue glanced at Huo Jilin, and both of them had a heavy look in their eyes.

Cholera is a large-scale viral infection. Now that it's been discovered, how many people were infected in the days before we caught it?

The only saving grace was that the big market fair wasn't for another three days, so there hadn't been any large gatherings.

Old Doctor Tang turned to Chen Jue instead: "Let your student speak. Chen Jue, tell us what we should do."

Over the past half year, he'd exchanged medical knowledge with Chen Jue many times, and they'd swapped a lot of medical notes.

What Imperial Physician He taught Chen Jue, Old Doctor Tang had also been teaching him.

As it stood now, Chen Jue wasn't just skilled in medicine—his insight was even greater than his own.

In the face of a disaster like this, there's no room for mistakes. It wasn't about who had the most seniority calling the shots.

Saving people and containing the outbreak was what mattered most.

Since Chen Jue could identify this disease, he must know how to handle it. This old master would fully support his student.

Chen Jue didn't bother with modesty and said directly:

"First, we need to treat all patients with symptoms in one place so the infection doesn't spread any further. We also need to quickly tell everyone not to drink dirty or untreated water, and to wash their hands before and after eating."

"Second, we need to find the source of the outbreak. Whether it's from nature or man-made, we have to find the cause to wipe it out at the source."

"Third," Chen Jue looked at Huo Jilin, "if we can, we need to lock down various areas."

He suspected the source came from outside the area.

In his past life, he'd been through two outbreaks—SARS in '03 and COVID in '20.

Maybe the environment really had gotten worse, and outbreaks were happening more often.

He'd been through outbreaks before, so he knew how to respond. Even though he'd never dealt with cholera specifically, cholera was a disease that had already been treated successfully before.

Cholera was a disease that had come from abroad in the 1880s.

If he wasn't mistaken, the time they were in now probably lined up with the 1980s of that other world.

This was a virus that came from overseas.

After Chen Jue finished speaking, Huo Jilin nodded to him: "Alright, leave these matters to me."

The way he agreed so firmly put the old doctors at ease a little, but just thinking about it was rough.

Locking down a city was no small thing, and this wasn't just about one city—if this was a plague, it wouldn't stay in just one.

Their Dongling County could pull it off, but what about the other cities?

Old Doctor Tang was worried about Huo Jilin.

Over the past six months or so, he'd come to see Huo Jilin as family.

But now, with things the way they were, he was putting his hopes on him again, because he was the only one who could handle it.

He trusted him and knew what he was capable of—this was a plague, a critical moment for the whole city, and somebody had to take charge.

Huo Jilin had already worked it out and told them: "I'll go talk it over with the magistrate in a bit. Starting tomorrow morning, we lock down the city, cancel all gatherings for now, and send out orders to lock down the city and the villages;

Within three days, we'll set up medical tents at the foot of the west mountain, and all the sick will be brought there for treatment.

I'll also need to ask all you doctors to give it your all in treating them."

That spot was perfect for the medical tents—not near any villages, so it wouldn't spread to other folks, and not too far up the mountain, so it was easy to get patients there.

Seeing how fast he'd come up with a plan, even picking the spot for the tents, Old Doctor Tang took a deep breath—this was exactly why he wanted to keep Huo Jilin around.

Imperial Physician He nodded: "Don't worry, I'll have Xiao He go with you all."

After leaving Jishi Hall, Huo Jilin handed his horse to Chen Jue—he wouldn't be able to make it back tonight.

He might not be able to come back for a good while.

"Tell Huo Yu when you get back, and let him know I'll come see him once everything's handled. Tell him he's a nine-month-old little man now, and he can't keep bawling all the time."

Chen Jue smiled at him from on the horse: "Alright, I'll tell him. Go on, and be careful. I'll head back to pack some extra clothes and see you tomorrow."

Xiao He the physician brought Huo Jilin another horse, and without another word, he mounted up and rode straight to the county office. Tonight was going to be a sleepless night—at least nobody at the county office would be getting any rest.

As for Magistrate Liu, the second he heard the word 'plague,' his body swayed and he dropped straight into his chair;

The yamen runners all wanted to head home—Chen Jue didn't know any of this, and even if he could've guessed, he didn't dwell on it.

He was trying to reason with Huo Yu.

Huo Yu was already nine months old, more capable now, sleeping less, and could stay up until Chen Jue got home, playing until past nine before bed.

This time, when he didn't see Huo Jilin show up, he pointed outside and babbled: "Da... da... da..."

He could put together a few words now.

Chen Jue told him: "He'll come back to see you in a few days. He's busy right now, real busy."

Huo Yu blinked, and Chen Jue sat him on his lap, going on: "I have to go help tomorrow too, and I'll be gone for a lot of days. I'll come back to see you about every half month. You'll play with Grandpa Liu, Aunt Zhang, and Sister Nannan, okay?"

Huo Yu didn't understand, but he could tell Chen Jue didn't want to leave. He reached out to touch his face and called him: "Dad... dad..."

He opened his mouth, showing his four little teeth, and smiled at Chen Jue—trying to cheer him up.

Chen Jue kissed his cheek, then bumped foreheads with him a few times, which made him giggle.

He hated to leave him—this time he really understood what it meant to not want to let go.

From outside, Zhou Qingzhu's voice came: "Brother Chen, I've got everyone here."

Uncle Liu came in too, reaching out to take Huo Yu: "Let me hold him."

Calling everyone for a meeting this late meant something must've happened, and Dalin hadn't come back either. Uncle Liu was worried inside but knew to wait for Chen Jue to talk.

Chen Jue looked down and said to Huo Yu: "You'll sleep with Grandpa Liu, okay?" Huo Yu wouldn't sleep, snuggling into Chen Jue's arms, so Chen Jue had to hold him while going to meet with everyone.