However, the prefect quickly calmed down. He was well aware of the feud between Wang Qingchun and Qi woman, and Huang Lingshan would never be foolish enough to be used as someone’s weapon.

“If that’s the case, why don’t you just take the patients away for treatment? Why must you let her treat these people? If you don’t let her treat them, naturally she can’t interfere, and the rumors will collapse on their own,” he asked.

Wang Qingchun was struck speechless by this question.

Asking such a question was quite embarrassing, wasn’t it?

“Because this disease can only be cured by Qi woman,” Huang Ziqiao very thoughtfully answered this awkward question, helping Wang Qingchun out of his predicament while sneering disdainfully. “A disease you can’t even cure, and you understand shit! Yet you keep insisting you’re right – do you think everyone is as stupid as you!”

The prefect had been an official for many years and wasn’t someone who believed every rumor. He had his own judgment about Qi woman’s affairs and would never be influenced by Wang Qingchun and Huang Ziqiao, two people with opposing grudges.

The prefect immediately requested several physicians from neighboring prefectures through official channels to make a joint assessment, and during this period confined Huang Ziqiao to the house.

“Father, just wait to lose your position when the plague spreads!” Huang Ziqiao stamped his feet in anger.

“Little Qiao, if Qi woman continues making such a fuss, even if it’s not plague, your father will still lose his position,” the prefect consoled. “Be good, stay home properly, let father handle this kind of thing.”

Speaking of this, he grew angry again.

“That woman is too much, actually bewitching you!” he said with raised eyebrows and angry shouts.

“Father, can’t you be a bit more clear-headed? When has Qi woman ever bewitched anyone!” Huang Ziqiao shouted. “Does she need to bewitch me? She can even get a divorce decree from the Emperor – what do you count as in her eyes! I’m only doing this for you! When those merchants wouldn’t comply, Qi woman tried persuading them a few times then gave up. I was only afraid that plague deaths would ultimately harm you!”

What a filial son. The prefect’s eyes filled with tears – look, look! Those who always mocked him for treating his son like a father, look how much his son cared for him! A father’s feelings for his son were no more than this…

Uh… it seemed he was still treating his son like a father…

The prefect shook his head, quite embarrassed. But moved as he was, he still gave a few instructions about not leaving the house before hurrying away.

Walking on the street, the prefect finally felt the atmosphere was indeed wrong – there were obviously fewer people, and the expressions of those on the street showed anxiety and unease.

“This is too much! How can such things be announced without reporting first!” the prefect said angrily.

“Sir,” his attendant quietly approached and said, “It was reported – the young master received it…”

The prefect immediately stopped talking.

If his son received it, it was the same as if he had received it himself. No problem there.

“Didn’t the medical judge know either?” the visiting physicians looked curiously at Wang Qingchun, who was walking alongside with a dark expression.

Wang Qingchun’s face grew even darker.

“In this Yongqing Prefecture, I’m only the medical judge in name. The real medical judge is Qi woman from Qianjin Hall,” he said coldly. “Forget about reporting to me – if I find out myself and rush over to ask questions, getting any acknowledgment would already be tremendous face.”

The physicians hadn’t expected Wang Qingchun to be so resentful and were quite embarrassed.

“Sir, you jest,” they all said.

“Whether I jest or not, you’ll know once you see for yourselves,” Wang Qingchun said flatly.

Overall, Qi Yue felt things were progressing smoothly. When Liu Pucheng went to contact the city’s medical halls, he received ready responses. Even those who wouldn’t help with statistics agreed that once they had diarrhea patients, they would immediately send them to Qianjin Hall.

Of course, this wasn’t because they had changed their opinion of Qi Yue – they simply had no choice.

They couldn’t cure the diarrhea patients brought to them, and with Qianjin Hall able to cure them as comparison, if they didn’t send patients over, wouldn’t they be asking for trouble waiting for patients to smash their shops?

So they were happy to be idle. Push all such patients to Qianjin Hall – if you can cure them, we get some goodwill. If you can’t cure them, heh heh heh… it has nothing to do with us.

The manor outside the city was also found quickly. That very day Hu San had a reply and hurriedly began arrangements with his people.

But the difficulties, aside from insufficient penicillin, came when trying to persuade patients to go to the isolation facility.

Hearing they would be confined to a manor outside the city with no family members allowed to accompany them, everyone refused.

Moreover, after Qi Yue and others went door to door asking if there were any diarrhea patients, no sooner had she left than Huang Ziqiao would arrive with government officials to take people away, causing even more panic.

At this time, two of the diarrhea patients brought in died despite treatment, and Qi Yue advised their families to cremate the deceased before burial.

The families finally erupted.

“You said you could cure them! You tricked us into coming! Then the person died! And now you want to burn him! You want us to scatter his bones and ashes!” the family members cried.

The prefect and others arrived at this moment, seeing Qianjin Hall surrounded by crowds again, giving them headaches.

“What now, Qi woman, killed another patient?” Wang Qingchun asked coldly. “So this time was it also powerful people pressuring you that caused delayed treatment?”

“Exactly!” Qi Yue looked at him and shouted, pointing at him with her thickly gloved hand. “It’s you! You’re the medical judge but don’t fulfill your duties – that would be one thing – but instead you incite obstruction from behind. If not for you, how could these two patients have been brought in so late!”

The physicians from other places exchanged glances – so it really wasn’t a joke.

This beautiful young woman launched into furious scolding the moment she met them, not giving each other even a bit of face.

“Qi Yueniang, do you think whatever you say is right? Don’t give me such absurd arguments!” Wang Qingchun shouted.

“Exactly,” Qi Yue didn’t back down at all. “Whatever I say is right!”

Though Wang Qingchun was used to being choked by her words, he still trembled with anger.

“You say whatever you want is right, you say you can cure diarrhea – then how did these two people die?” he said, pointing at the corpses still lying on the ground covered with white cloth.

Because Qi Yue’s side demanded cremation and ash burial while the families absolutely refused to agree, both sides were in a standoff, so the deceased hadn’t been carried away yet.

“How did they die? They sought their own death!” Qi Yue shouted with raised eyebrows.

No one had expected this woman to say such words – this was unprecedented. Liu Pucheng and others were also greatly surprised.

Master must be furious…

Qi Yue stepped forward, looking at the family members.

“It was you who sent him to his death. I repeatedly said to bring anyone with diarrhea immediately, but what did you do?” she shouted.

The family members were suddenly startled and trembled at this shout.

“I sent people to check on your households but you wouldn’t let them in. After discovering the patient, you sent him to other medical halls. All the other medical halls advised you to come to me, but you still hesitated and refused. If you had listened to me from the beginning, could this patient have died? You delayed the time, then want to blame me for not curing your person – no way!” Qi Yue shouted.

The family members were again startled and trembled at the raised voice.

Wang Qingchun laughed bitterly with anger.

“Qi woman, you mean to say that anyone who doesn’t listen to you is seeking their own death?” he asked.

Hearing his words, everyone present understood this was a trap…

Any person wouldn’t be foolish enough to jump into it.

Qi Yue looked at him, then at the people standing around.

She didn’t know if it was indeed as Wang Qingchun had investigated – that eating at Qingfeng Restaurant had caused this collective food poisoning incident – but judging from the diarrhea patients currently being treated, perhaps because such high-end restaurant food wasn’t affordable for ordinary people, most were from well-off families. These were just the ones brought in; according to their investigations, there were still more hidden in wealthy households that they couldn’t access.

If last time she had offended poor common people, this time she would have to offend the city’s wealthy families.

Qi Yue’s gaze swept over these people.

“Exactly,” she said loudly. “Those who don’t listen to me are seeking their own death.”

These words caused an uproar throughout the venue.

Liu Pucheng and others were also startled, obviously not expecting her to say this.

Even if you really thought this way, you couldn’t say it out loud!

“I used to always speak nicely to you, explain things to you. But I discovered you all don’t understand – you don’t understand kind words. So I can only speak more harshly,” Qi Yue ignored the uproar and continued raising her voice. “I’m telling you now, if there’s acute abdominal syndrome in your household and you don’t come with me to the isolation hospital outside, you’re all seeking your own death.”

How arrogant!

Everyone present was so shocked they couldn’t speak, and instead fell silent.

“Qi woman, as a physician, are you now practicing witchcraft?” an aged, authoritative voice rang out from the crowd.

Witchcraft! That meant curses! If physicians were respected and loved, then witch doctors were feared and avoided. Though they seemed to possess more supernatural powers, they were associated with evil and darkness.

This Qi woman speaking like this – wasn’t she cursing people?

Some remembered that recently someone had said this Qi woman claimed anyone she wasn’t allowed to treat would definitely die, and indeed, that physician had died…

With this seemingly casual remark, everyone present instinctively showed fearful expressions and unconsciously stepped back, looking at Qi woman with wariness.

Looking again at the street, at some unknown time many more people had gathered, dressed luxuriously with arrogant bearing – these were the prominent families and gentry of the city.

The speaker was a great scholar from a literary family with distinguished status in Yongqing Prefecture.

As soon as he finished speaking, someone else spoke.

“Master Tong, that’s too harsh. Qi woman has a physician’s parental heart and is just anxious about the acute syndrome, speaking without choosing her words carefully. Don’t say such things,” Wang Tongye said. Without waiting for Master Tong to speak again, he quickly looked at Qi Yue. “Yueniang, quickly apologize to everyone. This is because you care deeply and are strict out of love, which is why you spoke this way.”

Qi Yue looked at him, not expecting Wang Tongye to come. Scanning around, she saw Wang Qian and Wang Qiao’er behind Wang Tongye, looking like they had just returned from outside.

Their faces showed worry and subtle head-shaking signals.

“No, this is exactly what I mean. This isn’t me cursing you – this is you cutting off your own lifeline,” she said word by word, raising her head.

This woman… Wang Tongye’s eyes showed anxiety.

Master Tong smiled upon hearing this.

“Qi woman, if you cure this disease it’s your achievement, but if you don’t cure it, it’s everyone else’s fault – isn’t that a bit unreasonable?” he said slowly.

With his words, others present chimed in, and the family members who had just been scolded came to their senses.

“You clearly can’t cure it! Making big boasts! Unable to handle the situation, you actually say it’s our fault! How absurd, how detestable!”

“I saw it – she didn’t treat him properly at all. She was even injecting urine into people!”

Several family members shouted.

Urine?

At these words, the entire venue was even more shocked.

This was because the low-effectiveness penicillin required large doses, but the amount extracted wasn’t nearly enough, so as a last resort they had to filter and extract from the urine of patients who had been injected.

“Is your husband dead?” Qi Yue looked at that family member and asked.

The family member was stunned, glancing at their relative still lying on the stretcher. Because they had earlier resisted removal and snatched the person back, looking now at this patient who though still weak, had regained consciousness and whose complexion had lost its initial gray pallor and gained some life.

“If I can cure them, then I can cure them. What method I use to cure them – what business is it of yours?” Qi Yue looked at him and asked. “You want life but pick and choose treatment methods? Are you lacking conscience?”

The family member’s face alternated between red and white.

Standing behind, Wang Qiao’er was so excited her eyes shone – too thrilling! Surrounded and accused by so many people, that woman was still so domineering, really… too thrilling!

She tugged at her father’s sleeve.

“Qiao’er, don’t cause trouble,” Wang Qian said quietly.

“Father, quickly step forward and speak for Qi woman!” Wang Qiao’er said, pushing him. “Quick, quick, you’re so eloquent, one mouth worth ten others. If you help Qi woman, you’ll surely out-argue these people!”

Wang Qian covered her mouth.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” he said quietly with a stern voice.

“Father,” Wang Qiao’er broke free, stamping her feet and glaring. “If you don’t speak up for her now, who will? Don’t you want to marry her to be my stepmother?”

Wang Qiao’er’s voice was shrill, and though the scene was chaotic, it still drew glances from those around.

Wang Qian picked her up and covered her mouth again.

“Qiao’er, you must not speak recklessly in public,” he said quietly with a serious expression.

Seeing his expression, Wang Qiao’er indeed stopped talking.

Wang Qian’s manner softened as he glanced at the scene.

“Nothing should be done rashly – one must think comprehensively, especially regarding public opinion. Public opinion can only be followed first before it can be controlled. Didn’t your teacher tell you this? Preventing the people from speaking is more dangerous than preventing floods. Yu the Great’s water control wasn’t about blocking but channeling…” he said quietly.

Before he could finish, urgent hoofbeats came from the street corner, rapidly approaching, while a male voice rang out from the crowd.

“Exactly! Conscienceless people like you are indeed destined to die!”

With this voice, everyone turned to see the travel-worn Chang Yuncheng dismounting and striding over.

“What’s this? Are you bullying people by relying on numbers?” Chang Yuncheng walked over while looking at the surrounding people, his sword clanging against his leg with each step, making dull sounds.