As the sun set, in the alley of Datong in the west of the city, several children passed through the alley, making a burst of laughter and play.

Someone leaned to the door and probed, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of disappointment and sat back in the house.

"Let's eat!" The man in the back room came over with a plate of cut watermelons, put down a chair and sat down, and said, "On the road, there are melon sellers on the outskirts of the city who have picked them up and sold them, and I have tasted them." ”

Chang'an City in July is a hot time, and melons and fruits are naturally indispensable.

The person sitting back in the house couldn't help but pick up a piece of watermelon and nibble on it, although the melon was a good melon, but he really didn't have much appetite at this time. He took a bite and put it down again, and couldn't help but ask the person opposite, "You...... You say, she'...... Can she understand? ”

"Didn't you say she's amazing?" The person who came out with the watermelon said while eating the melon, "I told her everything you said, and I don't know if she can understand it." ”

"I ...... I can't help it, now ...... Now in Chang'an City, I'm ...... I don't believe it, I just ...... Only new arrivals can be found. He held the watermelon he had nibbled on in his hand and frowned, "I...... I found someone before, and I was in danger...... Nearly killed. ”

"Then it's better to go directly to Lord Zhen." The person on the other side had already finished nibbling on a piece of watermelon, picked it up and put it to his mouth and took a bite.

"I ...... I handed over the note. The man put down the unfinished watermelon and rubbed his hands, "I didn't see any movement from Lord Zhen." ”

"Lord Zhen's movement?" The person on the other side who was immersed in eating melons raised his head, "It's not nothing, Lord Zhen has been busy eating baked cakes these days." ”

Sure enough, he ...... He can't, either. The person on the other side was even more worried when he heard this.

"He can't do that Miss Qiao...... No, just Master Joe? The man who gnawed on the melon shook his head as he spoke, "You don't want to say it clearly, it's strange that you can understand it when you say it so clearly!" ”

"I ......"

There was a sudden knock on the door, which really startled the two of them.

"What's the matter?" The man who nibbled on the melon put down the watermelon in his hand and went over to open the door.

There was silence outside the door, and the next moment, a female voice sounded: "I'm looking for Zhang Duo, a scribe of Dali Temple." ”

The voice...... Zhang Duo, who was named, suddenly changed his face, and before he had time to look back at his brother's expression, he strode over, and then stretched out his hand to open the door.

The girl standing outside the door looked up at them.

She was still wearing the official robe of Dali Temple, obviously on duty, and rushed over without even returning home.

Joe ...... Miss Joe! Zhang Duo was startled, and after panicking, he hurriedly dodged to make a way, "You...... Do you understand? ”

"Little Master Joe." Qiao Ran nodded and said, "You obviously wanted to call me Miss Qiao before, but you suddenly became alert and changed your voice to call the adult, and you became a strange little Lord Qiao. ”

Just because of this title? Zhang Duo felt that this was too incredible.

"That sentence just made me doubt who you should know, and this person recognized me before I entered Dali Temple, call me Miss Qiao, you heard too much and missed a word for a while." Qiao Ran said and looked at the people in the room who stood up excitedly, "You said that you have a younger brother, who is a stammer, and your surname is Zhang, but I have heard of such a person during this time, and the doctor who always said that the cold was smallpox at the post station outside the city stammered." So, did you call me here for the smallpox in the third street and nine lanes? ”

The girl's voice was crisp and crisp, and she didn't even pause when she said these inferences. Zhang Duo on the side was already dumbfounded: he actually guessed their intentions exactly based on these three words?

That's amazing! When he came back to his senses, Zhang Duo couldn't help but sigh secretly, and then felt a pity: such a powerful Lord Qiao was actually sent out to buy baked cakes by Lord Zhen every day, and Lord Zhen was too big to use!

The stammering man in the room was even more excited when he heard this: "Qiao...... Miss Joe, you ...... You did. ”

This matter can't be said to anyone, Zhang Duo came back to his senses and hurriedly closed the door and introduced Qiao Ran into the house.

"Lord Joe, please!"

"Yes...... There is a ...... "Although I know that my brother is stammering, but at this time, it is better not to stutter, Zhang Duo hurriedly interrupted him, and said it for him in a few words.

"Lord Qiao, smallpox is man-made." Zhang Duo said, "Five months ago, hundreds of people in a county in Lingnan were infected with smallpox, can Lord Qiao know? ”

Qiao Ran shook her head, but said, "I'll inquire about this matter later." ”

Zhang Duo nodded and said, "It's not the first time that smallpox has appeared, because even if the county order of Lingnan County didn't notice it at first, it still controlled smallpox in time. ”

At this time, although there is no particularly effective way to deal with smallpox, the prevention and control is known, and the infected people are controlled, and the things used by the sick are burned.

"Three months ago, my brother met a group of merchants from Lingnan by mistake at a post station outside the city......

He stammered and looked solemn, and he still remembered the situation clearly.

Because he drank a few more bowls of water before going to bed, he got up in the middle of the night and went to the thatched house.

On the way back from the thatched house, he saw that a few of the Lingnan merchants who stayed in the day were talking there, although they used the local dialect of Lingnan, but coincidentally they were Lingnan people, so he could understand the dialect of Lingnan.

"The contents of the box can be tied tightly, don't accidentally expose them."

"No, no, I look close! But what do you say, big brother, what do those people want of those who have smallpox to use? ”

"What do you do with so much? They gave the money, and we were responsible for bringing the goods. Although the Lingnan businessman who spoke blamed his younger brother for talking too much, his expression was not relaxed, "Let's leave after handing over the goods this time, go farther." ”

Why do you do so much with your mouth asking? But what can a person do with something that a smallpox patient has used? What else can you do but infect people?

The fool also guessed it, and the stammering Zhang naturally guessed it, and he broke out in a cold sweat at the moment.

But it was the first time he had encountered such a thing, and he was scared, and when he returned to the house in a daze, he got into the bed.

The next day, when he calmed down a little, he felt that something was wrong with this matter, only this Chang'an City was so big, how could he find it alone? It would be good to rashly go to the government to report to the official, without evidence and without evidence, and not to be sentenced to a false accusation.

Stammering Zhang searched in the city for a few days, and the Lingnan merchants didn't know if they had left the city or what, in short, they were never found.

Someone brought something that smallpox patients had used into the city, but they did not hear the news that someone had smallpox.

Zhang Duo patted his brother on the shoulder and sighed: "My brother can't help it, so he has to hang around near the post station." ”

"So he diagnosed people with either smallpox or a cold, and that's when it started?" Qiao Ran suddenly said, "This method is a bit stupid, but it is also a reminder." ”

Zhang Duo nodded, and then said with a straight face: "My brother thought that they were just trying to harm someone, but it wasn't until there were so many smallpox in the third street and nine alleys that he realized that something was wrong. ”

If it is an ordinary infection, it is not something that can be done by manpower, and it can only be left to fate, but some people deliberately use the things used by smallpox patients to harm people everywhere, and it is not something that can be prevented by prevention alone.