The Qianjin Hall outside the city was already overcrowded with people, and deaths continued to occur. This time, no matter how much the families resisted, the government ordered all the deceased to be burned before allowing burial.

Watching the people running back and forth who were clearly not physician apprentices, the Prefectural Judge was so anxious he stamped his feet.

“Where did Lady Qi go? Where is she? Where did everyone else go?” he asked.

“Lady Qi went to investigate the source of infection. Some disciples are making medicine, while others are doing epidemic prevention work,” Zhang Tong, who was responsible for reception, hurriedly explained.

“At a time like this, let others do those things. Lady Qi’s medical treatment is what’s urgent,” the Prefectural Judge said. “How is she not here at this moment?”

This was exactly what others wanted to say in their hearts, but at this time—no, not just at this time, probably at any time in the future—they wouldn’t dare say such things in front of Qianjin Hall.

“Lady Qi says prevention is better than treatment,” Zhang Tong explained again as the current spokesperson.

Their penicillin simply couldn’t supply such a large demand. The critically ill needed penicillin for treatment, because without large doses they would die, while those with mild symptoms also needed penicillin for treatment, because without treatment they would become increasingly severe and turn critical, making them untreatable. But there was only so little penicillin—who should get it? Who shouldn’t?

To put it harshly, more than half of those who fell ill now had to rely on luck.

This was a cruel yet unavoidable reality.

They had already done their utmost in treatment. Now they could only find ways to prevent more patients from appearing. Until the source of infection was eliminated, more sick people would continue to emerge each day.

The Prefectural Judge understood this meaning, his expression shocked and complex.

It seemed that this time, Yongqing Prefecture would lose a large number of people…

However, for that woman, facing such reality was even more painful.

He made a sound of acknowledgment.

“You’re right, it should be exactly so,” he said, asking no further questions.

Currently, the most important thing was to fight for the chance of life for more people.

“Then where did she go?” Huang Ziqiao didn’t care what they meant, only concerned about this, asking.

Since confirming the epidemic, the Prefect hadn’t appeared in public. Fortunately, his son had taken his place.

“She said she was investigating the source of infection, something about a pig problem. She took people and left yesterday,” Zhang Tong said.

“Yesterday? She didn’t come back last night?” Huang Ziqiao raised his voice and stepped forward.

Zhang Tong had already been numbed by all kinds of shouting in just this short day, but hearing this suddenly elevated voice still made him pause, nodding dumbly.

“Is the source of infection very dangerous?” Huang Ziqiao asked.

That was natural… something that could make so many people sick…

Zhang Tong nodded.

“Which direction did she go?” Huang Ziqiao asked.

Zhang Tong pointed in a direction.

“There are pig farms over there…” he said.

Before he finished speaking, Huang Ziqiao had already rushed out, leaving Zhang Tong and the Prefectural Judge looking at each other.

“Lady Qi didn’t save his life in vain,” the Prefectural Judge said with some sentiment, smiling and gesturing to a nearby officer. “Quickly follow the young master, don’t let him get into trouble.”

The officer was about to leave with his men when Zhang Tong stopped them again, taking out several isolation suits.

“Officers, thank you for your hard work. Protect yourselves so you can save more people,” he said.

The officers looked at the isolation suits handed over, somewhat excited.

You should know that Qianjin Hall’s isolation suits had already been driven to extremely high prices in the market and were extremely hard to get.

“Take them,” the Prefectural Judge said.

Only then did the officers accept them, a group of people happily putting them on, each face sweeping away the previous unease, replaced by confidence.

How could they not be afraid? Watching patients continuously arriving from all directions, their duty meant they couldn’t hide at home. They also had to patrol everywhere, and even had to go wherever there were patients.

Now it was good. With Qianjin Hall’s clothing, it seemed like they had a layer of iron protection on their bodies.

“Now all the physicians in the city have already joined in treatment. This official has already reported to the Governor of Zhejiang, and more manpower will arrive soon,” the Prefectural Judge said. “Those epidemic prevention inspections and such can be handled by them.”

Zhang Tong breathed a sigh of relief.

As they spoke, there was a commotion outside, and Hu San entered.

“My lord, you’ve finally returned. If you hadn’t come back, we couldn’t have managed,” Zhang Tong hurriedly went over, forgetting about the Prefectural Judge, both urgent and happy and complaining.

Hu San was covered in sweat from head to face.

“Lime, higher purity alcohol have all been delivered,” he said breathlessly, and behind him came the rumbling of carts and horses, with twenty or thirty people pushing and driving more than ten carts in.

“Didn’t you say there weren’t enough people? So quickly done,” Zhang Tong said with great joy, taking over.

But the people driving the carts here seemed somewhat panicked.

“Brother! Government officials!” a man wearing rough cloth couldn’t help but whisper, “Let’s run…”

Before he finished speaking, he was kicked by someone behind him.

“Shut up.”

Zhang Tong had already come over.

“Are you all laborers?” he asked, looking at these people’s dress and appearance—they were all common people, but their looks were somewhat… fierce.

“Yes, yes”

“No, no”

The leaders gave different answers.

Zhang Tong was stunned, and the Prefectural Judge also slowly approached, but he wasn’t looking at the people, rather at the things on the carts.

But this was enough to make the twenty or thirty people stir and retreat.

“What’s wrong?” Hu San also came over, seeing them seeming very nervous, hurriedly patting the arm of someone nearby, “Come, come, let me introduce you, this is my senior brother.”

This person forced out a smile.

“Speaking of which, I was really lucky. I was just worried these lime couldn’t be transported, when they came. They were also buying lime, and hearing that I had bought it all up, they were disappointed. Seeing I had no manpower to transport it, they offered to help us transport the goods so they could at least earn some money…” Hu San said with a chuckle, remembering how anxious he had been then, burning all over, when these burly men with their own donkey carts and horse carts appeared like timely rain. Speaking of this, he leaned close to Zhang Tong, lowering his voice, “…and the labor price is very cheap…”

This was probably the main reason for his joy. Zhang Tong glared at him and politely thanked these men who looked very nervous.

Here, the Prefectural Judge had also finished looking at the goods on the carts.

“These things should have been done by the government, but we let you do them,” he said, turning to look at Zhang Tong and Hu San, patting the cart. “Since you’ve put in the effort, you shouldn’t have to pay the money as well. All the expenses you’ve spent on epidemic prevention this time will be covered by the government.”

Upon hearing this, Hu San was overjoyed.

“Thank you, Your Honor, thank you, Your Honor,” he hurriedly bowed and said.

Zhang Tong hadn’t expected the Prefectural Judge to give such a guarantee at this time, and also thanked him.

“When the time comes, organize a list of expenses and report it…” the Prefectural Judge said.

Before he finished speaking, Hu San happily pulled out a slip of paper from his body and handed it over with both hands.

“Your Honor, this is all the expenses up to today…” he said.

The Prefectural Judge didn’t react immediately.

Zhang Tong somewhat embarrassedly glared at Hu San. That look clearly said, “Is this how you behave?”

The Prefectural Judge laughed heartily and reached out to take it.

“Good, I’ll have this money allocated to you as soon as possible,” he said.

Hu San was overjoyed, hesitating for a long time but still couldn’t bring himself to say “no rush.”

The officials were very busy during this great epidemic in Yongqing Prefecture. After the Prefectural Judge’s inspection, he hurriedly left. After seeing off the official, both Zhang Tong and Hu San breathed a sigh of relief, and those men still by the carts also breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh my, scared me to death, this was my first time standing so close to an official…” one man couldn’t help but beam with joy, “I’ll go back and show off…”

“Show off your head,” the person next to him hit him. “Shut up.”

Here, Zhang Tong also gave Hu San a hit.

“Would it kill you to say ‘no rush’?” he said.

“But it really is urgent… Master’s money is about to run out… Do you know how much we’ve spent during this period? Just that penicillin alone equals the cost of our entire Qianjin Hall!” Hu San said.

Zhang Tong’s eyes widened.

In fact, they had no idea about Qianjin Hall’s expenses.

“That much?” he asked somewhat stuttering, “Those rotten oranges, melon rinds, wooden frames and such…”

Hu San snorted.

“Oranges and melons aren’t expensive, but do you know how those culture media that Master and the others use are boiled? Seaweed, do you know seaweed? Cart after cart is needed, and cart after cart is wasted. Do you know what those test tubes Master wanted are made of? White crystal! Such large white crystals were ground to make just those two small test tubes… And those pots, jars, wooden frames, how much extra money I paid to rush them. If anything didn’t fit, it couldn’t be used and had to be redone… All that money flowed like water… and it was all wasted…” he said, getting sadder as he spoke. He couldn’t help but lift his sleeve to wipe his tears. “What does Master eat every day, what does she wear, what are other women her age doing, and look at her…”

Speaking of this, Hu San could no longer hold back and actually began crying loudly.

Everyone in the courtyard was startled and looked over.

Seeing a grown man standing in the courtyard crying with his head back…

What was going on?

Zhang Tong felt both heartbroken and embarrassed. He wanted to scold him but couldn’t bear to. Looking at Hu San, travel-worn, face and body covered in lime, the injuries on his beaten face still not healed…

Hu San had been under a lot of pressure recently.

They worried about the disease situation, while Hu San worried about all the logistics and supplies. They just focused on treating patients and saving lives, just reaching out their hands, and as long as they reached out, Hu San had to provide what they needed, no matter how large the quantity or how urgent…

He finally sighed and reached out to pat Hu San.

“At least now there’s some progress, we know what disease it is, and you should get some good rest too,” he said.

Hu San felt much better after crying and shook his head while wiping his tears.

“I’ll put the things in storage first…” he said chokingly, going to direct those people, “Come to the back courtyard.”

Those cart drivers were all dumbfounded. Seeing the man sobbing like a little wife while talking to them, some couldn’t help but chuckle, but quickly covered their mouths, hurriedly driving their carts toward the back.

The courtyard finally returned to normal and began bustling about again.

Liu Pucheng, standing outside the patient room, sighed.

“Everyone’s under a lot of pressure,” he said in a low voice.

“Lady Qi’s is probably even greater,” Physician Zhu said behind him in a low voice.

After saying this, they both sighed again.

“Alright, grit our teeth, we’re about to get through this,” Liu Pucheng said.

Physician Zhu also nodded, and the two turned and went in to get busy.