Because of the plague, there was no celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the city, and under the background of gloomy clouds, people could only hope for an early winter.

According to the experience of plague outbreaks in the past, after the end of autumn and winter, the plague will gradually be brought under control because of the cold weather. But this time the plague seems to be different, although the county town of Ninghua has been prepared to prevent the plague, around August 20, there is still an epidemic in the south of the city.

At this time, Ninghua County completely exploded, and every household closed their doors to minimize going out, and the streets were depressed.

Shen Mingjun stayed in the Wang family and never came back every day, and the Zhou family burned incense and worshiped the Buddha all day long, and the most important thing was to pray for the manifestation of the wordless life and bless the family with peace and sound.

Shen Xi felt that the old lady's thinking was incomprehensible, thinking that the old Taoist priest knew everything and could even prevent and control the plague, which was too nonsense. However, the biggest possibility is that Zhou's illness is in a hurry, and he just finds a small temple and starts worshipping the Bodhisattva, regardless of whether this small temple is a dragon king temple or a land temple.

By the end of August, Shen Xi's entry and exit were limited to the small courtyard and Hui Niang's pharmacy.

Although the plague broke out in the city, Hui Niang was very responsible, opening the door of the pharmacy every day to allow people to come and grab medicine, which is also one of the few shops in the city that is still open.

Although Shen Xi was not allowed by Hui Niang to go to the lobby of the pharmacy in front of him, so as not to be infected, Shen Xi still had a rough idea of what this plague was from the mouths of those who came to grab the medicine.

To be precise, the plague was smallpox.

Until the discovery of symptomatic vaccines, smallpox was almost incurable, and the virus was so contagious that it could be transmitted through the air and had an incubation period of about seven to seventeen days, with the incubation period being the most contagious, with the largest amount of smallpox virus in the saliva of people carrying the virus.

Smallpox can still be transmitted to others through the patient until the patient has scarred and peeled off, and the smallpox virus has spread almost uncontrollably.

In the current era of lack of medical care and medicine, the resistance of ordinary people is generally low, once infected with smallpox, its mortality rate is as high as more than 50%. Even if you are lucky enough to survive, you will have rotten scars on your body and pockmarks on your face, which will not be eliminated for the rest of your life.

Shen Xi was born at a time when smallpox was a thing of the past, but he still knew enough about smallpox. The most important characteristic of smallpox is that people who have had smallpox will produce antibodies in their bodies, and then they will be immune to smallpox.

In history, it was China that first used pox to form antibodies to resist smallpox, but it was only in the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, nearly seventy or eighty years from now, and it was planted with "human pox".

The so-called "human pox" is the inoculation of people who have smallpox to inoculate people who do not have the disease, which is not only extremely susceptible to infection, but also ineffective.

After Shen Xi learned that it was a smallpox epidemic, he calmed down.

Reincarnated as a human, Shen Xi no longer has that much fear of death, but he wants to protect the people around him. He knew very well that there was no effective treatment for smallpox, and that the best way to prevent it was to prevent it, that is, to grow cowpox. This is because when cattle get smallpox, the virus in their bodies is mostly the same as the antigen of the smallpox virus, which can form antibodies to smallpox in the body, but it does not cause disease to humans.

Now that the plague has spread to Ninghua County, Shen Xi feels that what he needs to do most at present is to find a sick cow to plant cowpox for the people around him, so that even if the virus spreads, he can have enough resistance.

Shen Xi said to Zhou and Hui Niang that he saw in ancient books that the cowpox on the sick cow can have a certain preventive effect on smallpox, and wanted to look outside the city to see if he could find the sick cow, Hui Niang was thinking about Shen Xi's words, Zhou had already scolded: "You stinky boy, now everyone in the city is hiding at home, but you want to run out to find some sick cow, do you feel that your life is long and ready to throw away your little life?" ”

Shen Xi didn't want to lose his life for nothing, on the contrary, he wanted to save his life, not only to save himself, but also to protect the lives of his father Lin Dai and even Hui Niang's family. The smallpox virus had spread to the city, and more and more people were getting sick, and he had to find the sick cattle before the outbreak broke out completely.

After the previous temptation, Shen Xi knew that the Zhou family would not agree to him to conduct research and attempts in this area, so he could only do it behind his family's back. To find a cow with smallpox, you must be well prepared to go out...... Since there was an outbreak in the south of the city, he made up his mind to go to the south of the city.

Just after lunch at noon that day, Shen Xi slipped out, he used a silk scarf to make a simple mask to cover his mouth and nose, and only a pair of eyes were exposed on his whole face, not only that, but the clothes on his body were also tightly wrapped, trying to avoid direct contact between skin and air.

Shen Xi walked out of the city from the north gate, took a small clay pot, and walked around the city wall to the south of Ninghua City.

At this time, the village in the south of Ninghua County was in extremely miserable condition, and white silk was hanging at the door of the people's homes everywhere.

After the outbreak of the epidemic, first of all, children and the elderly with weak immunity were infected, and the frequent circulation of people in the surrounding areas of the county caused the disease to spread on a large scale.

At the beginning, the government also sent officials to set up checkpoints on various transportation arteries to prevent people from coming and going, but later the epidemic became more and more serious, and everyone in the government was in danger, and no one dared to go to the epidemic area on duty, and over time, the government let it go.

After looking for a few villages at random, Shen Xi didn't find any shadow of the ploughing cattle, and it is estimated that they were all locked in their homes. Shen Xi had the intention of finding someone to spy on him, but he was regarded as a thief several times and was chased away.

The sun was setting in the west, and Shen Xi had no choice but to return to the city.

At this time, the streets in the south of the city were depressed, but there were still people who set up stalls to sell things for their livelihood. Shen Xizheng was disheartened, and suddenly remembered that there was a mule and horse market by the city wall of the South Gate, so he decided to go and have a look.

This government-designated site, with an area of about 20 acres, is surrounded by a wooden fence, and before anyone arrives, Shenxi has seen people selling cattle in the distance.

It was illegal to kill cattle in the Ming Dynasty, but it did not prohibit the buying and selling of cattle.

Shen Xi entered the wooden fence and went directly to the cattle seller to take a closer look, and found that the cow had some small blisters on it, and he was overjoyed, this was the sick cow that he couldn't find.

But it's right to think about it, ploughing cattle is the hope of farmers, if they don't get sick, how can farmers be willing to sell their ploughing cattle?

A few people who were about to buy a ploughing cow surrounded the cow, and suddenly someone shouted: "No, no, this is a sick cow, and the whole family will suffer if you buy it." ”

As soon as these words came out, the onlookers immediately noticed the shocking pustule in the cow's ** part, and then thought about the plague that was currently rampant, and immediately dispersed in fright, and the rest of the mule and horse sellers in the mule and horse market hurriedly led their animals away.

The cattle seller was a man in his thirties who looked honest, and when he saw the chaos in the mule and horse market, he hurriedly waved his hand: "My child has just died of illness, I want to sell the cow to him for burial, please do well, buy this cow back!" ”

It's okay not to say this, but as soon as he said it, it caused an even bigger commotion, and there were crowds of people fleeing everywhere.

Shen Xi took advantage of the chaos, went to the belly of the sick cow, found the part with herpes on the milk root, made a little slurry from the bean blister skin inside, squeezed it into a crockpot, and then quickly left the mule and horse market and rushed to his home in the north of the city.

As soon as he returned to the alley, he saw a group of servants in front of the pharmacy, Shen Xi thought something had happened, and when he walked up to inquire, he learned that someone in the soap was infected with smallpox, and there was no place to ask for medicine in the city, only Hui Niang's medicine shop was open at the moment, and these people could only come here to grab medicine.

"It's really damn unlucky, after you go back, you have to wash the mildew on your body with grapefruit leaves...... Lao Li is sick, and it seems that our people are also in danger. ”

Shen Xi entered the pharmacy from the backyard, only to find that the patients who were brought by the servants to ask for medicine with the door panel were Li Dali, who had deducted his reward of two taels at the beginning.

After the outbreak of the epidemic, he relied on his youth and strength to resist strongly, so he ran to look for flowers and willows, and as a result, he would meet ghosts when he walked at night for a long time, and he didn't know when he was sick.

Hui Niang grabbed the medicine according to the prescription prescribed by the doctor and sent these servants away, she was a little apprehensive.

Although she is not a doctor, she also knows that contact with patients is very easy to get sick, and now that smallpox is beginning to spread on a large scale in the city, many people have died, even if they are not dead, the appearance of acne on their faces is very miserable, and she is afraid that she will get sick.

"Xiaolang, what are you doing? Didn't your mother tell you not to go out at home for the past two days? Hui Niang returned to the backyard from the pharmacy and found that Shen Xi was fiddling with a small crockpot in the yard.

Shen Xi said with a smile: "My mother prayed to God and Buddha at home to bless my father to be safe and sound, I was so bored that I came to play with Xi'er." ”

"Let's go back."

Sun Huiniang waved her hand, "Many people in the city are sick, and now the patients in the pharmacy come and go frequently, which is very dangerous...... Your children are the weakest and most susceptible to diseases. ”

Shen Xi didn't say anything.

He didn't dare to blatantly say that he was going to plant cowpox for Hui Niang, and now no one would listen to him. Shen Xi walked up and looked at Hui Niang, who was a little tired, and asked, "Aunt, I have heard that people who have this kind of plague will not get sick if a similar plague breaks out in the future, isn't it?" ”

Hui Niang came to wash her hands and face by the ancient well in the backyard, just turned her back to Shen Xi, and nodded when she heard the words: "The old man has such a saying, but those who have been sick have also ruined their appearance, but don't get sick, otherwise even if you are lucky enough not to die, your face will be full of pockmarks, and it will be ugly." ”

Shen Xi walked over with a smile, dipped the juice of cowpox with a thin needle, and gently stabbed into Hui Niang's arm.

Hui Niang was wiping her face with a washcloth, and suddenly felt a pain in her arm, and when she looked sideways, Shen Xi actually pricked her with a needle.

"Oh, Xiaolang, what are you doing?"

Hui Niang stood up and glared at Shen Xi, Shen Xi smiled slyly, grabbed his things and ran away, Hui Niang couldn't catch up if she wanted to.

Shen Xi first gave Hui Niang a pox because he knew that Hui Niang, as the shopkeeper of the pharmacy, had the greatest chance of contracting the disease.

************

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