Chapter 246 - 246: Cowpox

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Li Yu thought for a long time and picked up a pen to write on the booklet. She recorded the limited methods she knew.

Two hours later, Xiaoyu, who had received the news, returned to the county office with Seven Pounds. Li Yu came out of the house and stood under the eaves of the porch. She saw Xiaoyu walk in with a panicked expression.

When Xiaoyu saw Li Yu, she asked worriedly, “Madam, what should we do?

Seven Pounds and Young Master are so young.”

Seven Jin saw Li Yu calling out to his little brother and reached out to hug him.

Li Yu held Seven Pounds and said to Xiaoyu, “Go and clean up your house first. Yangyang is still asleep.”

Seeing Li Yu’s calm expression, Xiaoyu smiled in shame. “Madam, I’m really useless.”

“Go!” Li Yu waved her hand and asked her to clean up the house. Li Yu looked at Seven Jin’s dark eyes and teased him. “Brother is sleeping. Seven Pounds can also sleep for a while, okay?”

Seven pounds pointed into the house and shouted, “Little brother, little brother. ”

“Little thing, you only know how to call brother. Let’s go sleep with brother.” Li Yu carried Seven Pounds into the house and placed him on Yangyang’s small bed. She shook the small bed gently and Seven Pounds grabbed the toy at the head of the bed. He played for a while and muttered to himself before falling asleep.

Xiaoyu tidied up the house and came to look for Seven Pounds. Li Yu asked her to watch the two children in the house before going to Mr. Wen’s study to look for him. When she reached the study door, she saw a few old manuscripts on the table. Li Yu guessed that they might be recorded cases.

Unable to find Mr. Wen, Li Yu returned to the house and guarded the two children with Xiaoyu. Thinking that Zhou Jia and Mr. Wen still had to go out to handle official business, she found some gauze and started sewing masks.

When Zhou Jia received the news and rushed back from the countryside, he realized that the families living in the east of the city had already fallen into panic. Every family on the street had their doors closed, and even the hardworking merchants had closed their shops.

When Zhou Jia returned to the county office, Mr. Qian reported to Zhou Jia, “Sir, Scribe Tu has already locked the family of eight in the house and is waiting for you to come back to deal with them.”

Zhou Jia sighed. “How should I deal with them? Should I capture them and kill them? I wonder if anyone else is sick? After one problem is resolved, another appears.”

Zhou Jia felt a little tired. He rubbed the space between his eyebrows and said to Mr. Qian, “Lock them up at home first and find someone who has suffered from smallpox in the past to send them medicine and food on time. The surrounding families are not allowed to go out without permission.”

Mr. Qian said, “Sir, Scribe Tu has suffered from smallpox before. Mr. Wen has already sent the medicine into the house. I’ll get someone to control the surrounding families.”

Zhou Jia nodded and said, “Go! I’ll go back to the back office to take a look first.” Zhou Jia looked at Mr. Qian’s back and rubbed his face with his hands. He perked up and walked to the backyard.

Li Yu heard heavy footsteps in the courtyard and felt that Zhou Jia might be back. She put down the needle and thread in her hand and walked to the door. She saw Zhou Jia, who had just walked under the eaves of the corridor, and said to him, “Xiao Xi, Sir said that you haven’t had smallpox before. He asked you to be careful.”

Zhou Jia nodded and instructed, “You and our son must not go out these days. I

wonder how many people have contracted the disease?”

“Got it!” Li Yu glanced at Zhou Jia. She wanted to tell him the method of vaccination, but she felt that it was too far-fetched to use her master as an excuse.

Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu’s hesitant expression and held her hand. He smiled and said gently, “Yu’er, don’t worry. I’ll be careful outside.”

Seeing his forced smile and comforting her, Li Yu thought to herself, Li Yu, why are you still hesitating? The sooner you save lives, the better.

Li Yu made up her mind and held Zhou Jia’s hand. “Xiao Xi, come with me. We’ll go find Sir. I have something to tell him.”

Zhou Jia nodded and said, “Alright, I also want to discuss with Sir about keeping smallpox at bay.”

The two of them went to Mr. Wen’s study. Seeing that Mr. Wen had already returned to the study and was rummaging through the medical books, Zhou Jia bowed and said, “Sir, I’m back.”

Mr. Wen nodded and said, “It’s good that you’re back. I’m looking for the pulse plan left behind from treating smallpox in the past and the prescriptions that have been used to see if I can draw up a more effective prescription.”

Li Yu said to Mr. Wen, “Sir, there’s something I want to tell you.”

Mr. Wen thought that Li Yu was worried about Yangyang and comforted her. “Xiaoyu, don’t worry. Scribe Tu has already brought people to seal up that family. As long as it doesn’t spread and we don’t interact with the patients, we’ll be fine.”

Li Yu shook her head and said, “Sir, I’m not worried about smallpox. I just want to ask if you’ve tried to plant the virus in people who haven’t suffered from smallpox before so that they can resist it.”

Mr. Wen sighed when he heard this. He smiled bitterly. “In the past, when we found out that people who had smallpox wouldn’t suffer from it again, my master tried to squeeze out the pus from the patients and apply it to the nostrils of those who didn’t have it. One of them survived, and the other died after getting smallpox. Master has felt guilty ever since. Until his deathbed, he still wondered why. What was wrong?”

Li Yu looked at Mr. Wen, who was immersed in his memories, and said, “Sir, I know what caused that person to die. It has nothing to do with Grandmaster…” Zhou Jia looked at her in surprise.

Mr. Wen shook his head and interrupted Li Yu. “Xiaoyu, don’t comfort me. I’ve been running around all these years partly to save more people, and partly to see if there are any famous doctors in various places who have found a way to treat smallpox. Sigh! I’m afraid I won’t be able to find a way to treat smallpox in my lifetime.”

Li Yu saw that Mr. Wen seemed to have aged more than ten years in just half a day. Her heart ached as she walked up to Mr. Wen and squatted down. She looked at Mr. Wen and said, “Sir, Grandmaster’s idea is right but he used the wrong method. He shouldn’t have used the pus from humans. It has to be taken from cows with the smallpox disease.

“I don’t know what it’s like when cows have smallpox. I’m also not sure how the virus is removed from their bodies, but you’ll probably know about that.”

“Also, instead of applying the pus to the nostrils, make a cross-shaped incision on the arm. Dip it with a cotton swab and apply the virus from the cows to the incision. The incision will scab over in about half a month. Those who have gone through the procedure won’t get smallpox in the future.”

When Zhou Jia and Mr. Wen heard Li Yu’s words, they looked at her in shock. For a moment, the room was so quiet that only their shocked gasps could be heard. A moment later, Zhou Jia squatted down and looked at Li Yu excitedly.

“Yu’er, you’re really magical.”

Seeing that Li Yu had made it so clear, Mr. Wen felt that Li Yu was definitely not the one who had thought of this method. She must have seen it before to know it so clearly..