Chapter Sixty-Five: Thorough Preparation

“Doctor Xie, it’s already too late for you to reach the train station. Why don’t you stay at our house tonight and leave early in the morning?” suggested Aben’s father.

Night had fallen, and the lights in the valley were gradually coming on. Although this was a remote mountain region, electricity had reached even here, bringing a touch of warmth to the pitch-black night.

“That’s right, Doctor Xie. Even if you go to the train station now, you’d have to wait until morning for a ride. Would you really rather spend the night on a cold bench at the station? Please stay. My mother has already prepared a sumptuous dinner in your honor,” Axian said with a smile.

Seeing their genuine hospitality, Xie Qingtang no longer refused. After all, she truly did not want to spend the night on a frigid bench, so she decided to accept their invitation.

Over dinner that evening, Aben recounted to his family the entire process of how Xie Qingtang entered the forbidden area. The whole family gazed at her in astonishment, as though looking at a living legend.

“There’s no need to look at me like that,” Xie Qingtang said with a gentle smile. “Before I came to the forbidden area, I had already suspected that the barrier was a poisonous miasma formed over many years. So I prepared various powders and potions ahead of time, hoping to see which might counteract the poison. I had no idea my guess would prove correct.”

During her years of apprenticeship, she had often encountered poisonous mists when gathering herbs in the mountains. This was simply a matter of basic procedure—though she had to admit the miasma she’d faced this time was far more potent than anything she’d encountered before.

“So that’s what it is. It seems there really isn’t any curse on the mountain, just a layer of poisonous miasma,” Aben’s father said with a sigh. “We locals don’t know any medicine and simply can’t enter.”

At that, Xie Qingtang continued, “It’s precisely because none of you ever entered that place. Plants have flourished unchecked inside, and many poisonous weeds have likely proliferated. The gases they emit have accumulated over time, forming the poisonous barrier.”

“That makes sense. I remember the village saying that no one knows how long the forbidden area has existed—no one has ever gone in. Maybe that’s why the environment inside was never disturbed, allowing the poisonous weeds to flourish and the miasma to become so thick. I suppose this is what scholars call cause and effect,” said Aben’s father, who, though unlettered, had seen enough of the world during his younger days working away from home to understand a thing or two.

“You’re exactly right,” Xie Qingtang said playfully. “If villagers had occasionally gone in and weeded the place, perhaps the miasma would never have formed in the first place.” At this, everyone burst into laughter.

After dinner, Xie Qingtang retired to the room the family had prepared for her. Exhausted from the day’s events, she soon fell into a deep, peaceful sleep, the chorus of cicadas and frogs outside her window blending in perfect harmony.

At dawn the next day, mist filled the entire valley. Dewdrops on the flowers beneath the courtyard wall sparkled with life and freshness.

“Doctor Xie, why don’t you stay in our village a few more days? Many villagers would like to seek your medical help,” Aben’s mother said, holding Xie Qingtang’s hand, reluctant to let her go.

Xie Qingtang smiled and replied, “As a doctor, I would never give up a good medicinal herb so easily. Rest assured, I’ll go back, make full preparations, and return. I must get that four-leaf ghost needle grass from the forbidden area.”

At her words, everyone laughed with delight. Soon after, Aben, as always, drove the ox cart and took her out of the village, the villagers seeing them off with lingering gazes.

At the train station, after bidding farewell to Aben, Xie Qingtang boarded her train and quickly returned to the city. Her plan was to first return to Charity Hall to prepare more medicinal powders to counteract the miasma before setting out again for the forbidden area.

What she hadn’t expected was this: the moment she arrived at Charity Hall, she found a crowd gathered at its entrance, their tempers flaring, though she had no idea what had happened.

“For everyone’s safety, we must drive out the person infected with schistosomiasis! We can’t let him stay in the city. What if we’re all infected?”

“That’s right! Charity Hall hid the existence of a schistosomiasis patient from us for so long. I even got medicine here before—who knows if I was infected by that patient?”

“Charity Hall owes us an explanation!” As she drew closer, Xie Qingtang began to catch the gist of their complaints. Her expression froze, her brows furrowing tightly—how had the matter of the schistosomiasis patient at Charity Hall become public knowledge?

When schistosomiasis first sparked panic in the city, Xie Qingtang had foreseen this very situation. She’d intentionally kept the news under wraps and warned Zhou Jinfan not to breathe a word of it.

Yet she’d only been gone a day, and now the secret was out. Face dark as iron, Xie Qingtang strode into Charity Hall, and those gathered outside immediately recognized her.

“Look, that’s the head of Charity Hall! She finally dares to show herself!”

At this, the crowd surged toward Xie Qingtang, each demanding an explanation, furious that Charity Hall had concealed the presence of a schistosomiasis patient.

Turning to face the angry crowd, Xie Qingtang said, “Charity Hall is a medical clinic. We accept all patients. Besides, schistosomiasis is not so easily transmitted. Charity Hall sells preventative medicinal powder—if you are so worried, you can buy some to protect yourselves.”

But no sooner had she finished speaking than someone shouted back, cursing her, “You heartless, rotten-doctor! You just want us to buy your powder, don’t you? How despicable!”

“Don’t mistake good intentions for malice!” Zhou Jinfan could no longer remain silent. “Our director has poured her heart into developing that powder. Besides, the schistosomiasis patient’s condition has greatly improved under her care and is no longer contagious. Who told you the disease spread from Charity Hall?”

If not for the reputation of Charity Hall, Zhou Jinfan would have started arguing with these troublemakers long ago.