The two young men carried the old woman into the lobby and put it in the middle, Zuo Guile came over and squatted down and asked, "Old man, how do you feel?" ”

The old woman crooked her mouth and said vaguely: "It's a good ......, it's much better...... thank you...... Zuo Langzhong, thank you for saving ...... My last name ......"

Zuo Gui stroked his gray beard and smiled: "You're welcome, we practice medicine in the medical hall, this is our duty." What is wrong with you right now? ”

"...... speak, it's not clear, this tongue is ......, and he is not fluent, he can't ............ his legs and feet, and he can't stand up......

"It's already very good, you've only been taking medicine for a day, don't worry, take your time."

"Well...... I'm just grateful to ...... that they won't let ...... I just want to thank you...... Boom, I'm ready to die......" The old woman said vaguely, two lines of cloudy tears rolled down, and she struggled to raise her hand to salute, but the stroke had just improved, and her hand was only raised a little half, and then it hung down weakly, and that was it, it was enough to make people happy.

"Hehe, you're welcome. I'll check your pulse again. Zuo Gui raised his wrist to check the pulse and looked at the tongue, and he was very proud, although this case was taught by his son Zuo Shaoyang, and he got Zuo Shaoyang's guidance beforehand, but after all, it was the first case of his own reading and prescription treatment, and his condition had improved significantly, and people were always very excited for the first time.

After checking the pulse and looking at the tongue, Zuo Gui stroked his beard and said, "Well, the recovery is very good, faster than expected." That's good. If the effect is not better, continue to take the remaining medicine, and then come back for a follow-up visit. ”

The two young men agreed in unison, and the old woman nodded with vague tears in her eyes.

Not daring to let the old man bother too much, after the two young men said goodbye, they carried the bamboo chair and went out in a flicker.

Old Lady Qu, Mrs. Qu and Aunt Long were full of envy in their eyes, and when they left, they looked down at Old Lady Qu who was still unconscious and breathing, and couldn't help but shed tears.

Bai Zhihan sat there without saying a word, with her head down, not knowing what she was thinking.

After closing the door and eating, Miao Peilan rushed to wash the dishes and clean up the house, she acted so quickly that the Liang family couldn't intervene. By this time it was already dark, and it was time to change. There was a knock at the door. Zuo Shaoyang hurriedly ran to open the door. Outside the door is my brother-in-law Houp.

It began to rain and snow again, fluttering and dripping. Hope slapped a broken oil-paper umbrella and looked a little panicked.

After collecting the umbrella and entering the house, Hou Pu stood the umbrella in the corner of the house, beckoned Zuo Gui and Zuo Shaoyang to the concoction room, closed the door, and said in a low voice: "Have you heard?" The water from the wells has been poisoned by the rebels! ”

Zuo Shaoyang said with a smile: "My brother-in-law is a soldier, these must be rumors." Because I went to fetch water this morning, I heard people say so, but I saw that there was still a small living water in the well water, and the water was not poisonous at all, so I picked it up, and today our family drinks the water from the well. If we had been poisoned, we would have been poisoned. ”

Hou Pu glared and said, "That's your fate!" Your wells haven't been poisoned yet! Today, it has been found that dozens of people have been poisoned by drinking water from the well, and they are being rescued in Huimin Hall and Huichun Hall Pharmacy, and three of them have died! ”

Zuo Shaoyang was taken aback: "Really poisoned?" ”

"Not really!" Hou Pu said, "The yamen has sent arrests to seal all the poisoned wells, and sent soldiers to guard those wells that have been confirmed to have not been poisoned. If we have a lot of wells in the city, and more than half of them have not been poisoned, it is a blessing in misfortune. Otherwise, there is no food, and the water is poisonous, so it is strange that tens of thousands of people in the city, as well as tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, would not starve to death. ”

Zuo Gui smiled reluctantly: "The rebels shouldn't be able to achieve any climate, it's just a small fight." ”

"Uncle Yue, it's not that simple this time!" Hou Pu shook his head, lowered his voice and said, "I'm here to tell you about this!" -- I just received an urgent military intelligence that the rebels have captured Suizhou! Moreover, our Taihe County and Shuanghuai County in Hezhou have all fallen into the hands of the rebels! ”

Zuo Gui was shocked, Suizhou is next to Hezhou, two or three hundred miles apart, Shijing County is surrounded by high mountains and dense forests, there are cliffs everywhere, two roads leading to the outside world, one passes through Taihe County, and the other passes through Shuanghuai County. These are the two major arteries of Shijing County, once occupied by the rebels, it means that Shijing County's connection with the outside world has been cut off! The grain passage that tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were eager to penetrate was cut off because of this. There is no food, no rebels to fight, but I am afraid that there will be chaos in the city!

Zuo Shaoyang didn't know much about the geographical location of Shijing County, but when he saw his father's face like earth, he knew that the situation was not good, and when he asked, he was also panicked, no wonder the rebels did not attack Hezhou, it was rumored that the rebels were coming to Shijing County in the past two days, but it was just a smoke bomb of the rebels, making a move to attack the east and west, and hyped that they wanted to attack Shijing County, Hezhou, but the army attacked and captured Taihe County and Shuanghuai County on both sides, forming an encirclement of Hezhou.

It seems that these rebels entrenched in the mountains and forests are not fuel-efficient lamps.

Zuo Shaoyang hurriedly said: "The officers and soldiers should quickly take back the two county seats." ”

"Yes, it is estimated that the officers and soldiers will be recaptured, and after getting the battle report, Ouyang Tingshi has already urgently sent someone to inform the officers and soldiers of the Soushan expedition, and asked them to withdraw immediately. It's just that our own family, to be honest, Shuanghuai County and Taihe County are both in dangerous terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The imperial court was afraid that it would not be able to draw a large army to reinforce for a while, especially if it could not raise so much food for disaster relief. Although there were slightly more officers and soldiers than the rebels, most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled, and their combat effectiveness was not very good, and the main force of the rebels turned out to be the elite of officers and soldiers. ”

Hou Pu saw that his father-in-law was a little panicked, and hurriedly said a few words of comfort, and then held the oil-paper umbrella and left.

The sleet outside the door gradually grew heavier.

Zuo Gui shuddered a little and closed the door by himself, and entered the house with his neck bent. Mother Liang looked at Zuo Shaoyang with questioning eyes, Zuo Shaoyang only smiled reluctantly, and didn't say anything, he was afraid that they would be worried if they listened, but from Hou Pu's panicked expression, the three of them were already hiding in the house and muttering, and the people in the house had already guessed a little, and they were also a little flustered.

After washing, go back to the house and sleep.

Zuo Shaoyang was about to feed Old Lady Qu another decoction, conduct a re-examination, and then go back to the concoction room to sleep, but at this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of horses neighing outside, and there were noisy voices.

He hurriedly opened the door and looked out, and saw a big horse, pulling a shelf cart, several men were loading things on the shelves from the oil and salt store next door, Zhao Sanniang was wearing a narrow sleeved short jacket, a purple pleated long skirt, and a purple curtain on her shoulders, around her arm, holding an oil-paper umbrella in her hand, standing by the store, silently looking at them, an indescribable desolation.

Zuo Shaoyang was originally a little resentful of Zhao Sanniang and other creditors forcing debts last time, but when he saw her expression, he felt a little pitiful, so he opened the door and went out, walked to Zhao Sanniang's side, and whispered hello: "Third aunt!" ”

Zhao Sanniang was distracted, coldly heard someone talking behind her, startled, turned her head to look, saw that it was Zuo Shaoyang, covered her heart with her hand, and said angrily: "Da Lang, you want to scare your third aunt to death!" ”

"Oh, I'm sorry, - what are they doing here?"

"Move things. The old guy at the grocery store was afraid of death, so he returned the store and sold them all the goods and fled from the city himself. - By the way, you're not going to run for your life, are you? ”

"We? Hehe, poor people, rotten life, what is there to run, is it a blessing or a curse, it is a disaster that cannot be avoided! Sanniang, what about you? Not ready to escape? ”

"I'm running?" Zhao Sanniang sighed faintly, "I can't leave this belongings, and my parents-in-law and mother-in-law have to be taken care of." Besides, with two children, there is chaos outside, and our orphans and widows dare not leave, in case we meet ......, alas! Like you said, you can't avoid it, let it be fate! ”

Zuo Shaoyang saw that the men were carrying a small bag of salt to the car, his heart moved, and he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Big brother, can you sell me this bag of salt?" ”

The man said, "Okay, thirty wen." ”

"Okay, you wait, I'll go get the money." Zuo Shaoyang ran back to the pharmacy and told Liang, Liang's didn't ask much, anyway, salt is a necessity, and it has a long storage time, so it's always good to buy more and prepare. So he took thirty pennies out of the house and gave him thirty pennies.

Zuo Shaoyang went out and gave the money to the man. He took the small bag of salt and placed it in the corner.

The goods of the oil and salt shop were loaded onto the car, and those that could be dismantled were dismantled, and then several men drove the carriage away.

Zhao Sanniang held an oil-paper umbrella, walked into the oil and salt shop with a lonely expression, stood at the door and looked at the empty room, and sighed.

Zuo Shaoyang has never entered this oil and salt shop, and when he went in at this moment, maybe because everything was empty, he found that it was very large, bigger than his own pharmacy.

The sleet was heavier, Zuo Shaoyang felt cold on his body, and hurriedly came out of the store.

Zhao Sanniang slowly checked all the windows of the oil and salt shop one by one to check whether they were tied properly, then pulled the door shut, took out a copper lock, locked it with a click, picked up the oil paper umbrella, smiled bitterly at Zuo Shaoyang, walked into the rain and snow with the umbrella, and slowly walked along the bluestone street to the alley, the back was full of loneliness.

The neighbors fled, which made Zuo Shaoyang feel even more that the war was approaching. Hurriedly carried the small bag of salt back to the pharmacy.

Zuo Shaoyang put the salt away, and poured medicine into the old lady Qu with a crane-beak pot, and after a re-examination, he saw that the condition still showed no signs of improvement, and he couldn't help but feel even heavier in his heart.

Originally, this night was the vigil of Mrs. Qu and Mrs. Qu, but Bai Zhihan didn't know what to think, she had to keep watch for another night, Aunt Long naturally wouldn't go back to sleep by herself, so she also stayed, and the four of them discussed, Mrs. Qu and Mrs. Qu kept watch for the first half of the night, and Bai Zhihan and Aunt Long kept watch for the second half of the night.

Zuo Shaoyang didn't care how they kept vigil, returned to the concoction room, didn't bother to wash, climbed up to the attic and lay down to sleep.

(To be continued)