A Western Doctor’s Happy Farming Life[1] 156

Probably the farmer realized that he might be just gloating over those villagers’ misfortune which was not that proper. So he cleared his throat, and took a glance at the ingot on the table. Seeing that Luo Haiyun waving his hands indifferently, he grabbed over the ingot happily, and then walked outward while taking a bit on that ingot.

Seeing that Song Qinghan was deep in thought, Luo Haiyun thought that Song Qinghan did put the farmer’s words in his mind seriously, so he rushed to advise, “It makes more sense to say that it is a human disaster. After all, according to his statement, the people in the Qingyin Village have offended many villagers around them. Yet I am not going to believe him with every single word about the so-called celestial beings thing. If there is really some mighty gods out there, and they can punish any ordinary people if they’re happy,”

“If that is the case, so should we say that the small pox from the Moshang Town is also a ‘good-will punishment’? Well, you must be a God of Mercy to succeed rescuing them, right?”

Noticing that he was the only one at present laughing, Luo Haiyun suddenly felt a bit embarrassed there, he coughed dryly and when he was about to say something to ease the atmosphere, Song Qinghan uttered, “We did not hear any chickens cluck after we got off the carriage, right?”

Yuan Wenxuan thought about it and nodded decisively, “Master, you’re right.”

Song Qinghan nodded, and he seemingly had figured out something himself. He turned his head and looked at Yuan Wenxuan who got a serious expression on face either, and calmly said, “I might have figured out the reason, I’m going to verify the speculation later. Are you coming with me, or you go with Doctor Luo to make your own investigation, and to see if you can find the answer yourself?”

“I will go with you!” Yuan Wenxuan almost blurted out but he still swallowed them himself at the second thought realizing that it was his ‘main duty’ today, so he answered decisively, “I will go check with Doctor Luo!”

Luo Haiyun’s smile was a little stiff. In fact, he really wanted to verify the ‘speculation’ with Song Qinghan, but not to find an unknown answer bitterly.

However, Song Qinghan completely ignored Luo Haiyun’s expression and said in a low voice, “Alright, I hope you won’t let me down, and hopefully you can at least give me a general answer before nightfall. Otherwise I will tell the residents about the treatment directly.”

Yuan Wenxuan nodded seriously with determination in his eyes.

After parting with Yuan Wenxuan and Luo Haiyun, Song Qinghan walked directly to the end of the village where Old Chen lived.

In fact, Old Chen wasn’t that old at all. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have conceived of an idea to raise chicken while giving up his fields.

However, his current look was just pale and weak. If Song Qinghan didn’t know that he was only a few years older than him in advance, he would have thought that the man was right now at his sixties or seventies.

When the man noticed the appearance of Song Qinghan, he was utterly stunned while struggling to get up and asked in despair, “Doctor, have you found out the treatment yet?”

Song Qinghan waved his hand, motioning the man not to move, and then he glanced around, frowning and asking, “The chicken you raised, where are they now?”

Seemingly, the words provoked the deepest sorrow in Old Chen’s mind. He sighed in resignation heavily, and then answered slowly and weakly, “Most of them died before I got ill. If not, I should have sold them all out now for getting the best doctor.”

Song Qinghan had long expected such a result, so he asked directly, “So the rest of the residents are the same situation with you, right? The chickens died, and then people got ill?”

Lao Chen nodded. Noticing that Song Qinghan was being stubborn to this question, he seemed to have realized something and was shocked, saying, “Doctor, do you mean someone drugged us? I know that the people outside are jealous of us raising the chickens, it was such a profitable job which cost less strength. We admit that it might be a bit annoying for them since the chickens clucked so loud, but we did deliver some coins for them to ease their mind. We weren’t that bad to them, right? How come… How come they…”

He suddenly choked with sobs while complaining.

“No, I don’t mean that. I mean, it’s not the man-made matter, I am sure that the chicken did that.”

Old Chen was utterly stunned there. His expression changed from the sorrow one into an queer one after realizing what Song Qinghan really meant, he scratched himself on the head, asking, “Doctor, how come the chickens were able to get us poisoned? I mean they are just some animals. Please, are there any possibilities you can think of?”

Song Qinghan didn’t explain much because there was no precise equipment here which allowed him to make a further examination for that, so he urged to ask decisively, “Where are the rest chickens? Where did you lock them?”

Noticing that Song Qinghan change the topic, Old Chen put on an even queerer expression on his face. He pointed at the direction behind him and said slowly, “There. I had roasted all dead one, and I intend to bury the rest ones alive after I recover.”

“Roasting Done”? Song Qinghan delivered a wry smile to the man, and then he responded coldly, “You’re such a brave man that you roasted them, you don’t even know what happened to them. Aren’t you afraid that you might get murdered by that? Or, are you going to sell the meat instead of having them for yourself?”

Old Chen blushed suddenly while the redness was not that visible on his tanned face. Even though he was a bit hesitant, he still denied it, answering, “I’m not that kind of evil, I made them all for myself, it… it tastes rather good. See? I am still all fine.”

Song Qinghan sneered as a cold light flashed in his eyes. He said calmly, “Yeah, it’s true that you’re still alive now. But you can’t make it real after few days, probably you will become ashes  and vanish together with your ‘divine’ roasted chicken meat.”

Seeing that Song Qinghan making such impertinent remarks, Old Chen patted on the bed board wrathfully and shouted, “I respect you because you’re a doctor, but you dares to curse me in front of me! Get out of here! I don’t need your treatment, get out of here!”

Song Qinghan raised his eyebrows and indeed, he actually walked away. Yet the direction he was heading was the backyard of Old Chen.

A myriad of roasted chicken meat were hung on dozens of wooden branches, under the branches several living chickens were pecking their food on the ground. Witnessing that, Song Qinghan suddenly felt quite speechless towards everything he saw.

After a careful check on those living chickens, Song Qinghan straightened up directly and left and closed the door, he refused to linger one more second in this place full of viruses.

After succeeding verifying his speculation, he walked directly to the huge tree which was located at the gate of this village, sat cross-legged and closed his eyes trying to conceiving of any fine ideas.

It was not easy to treat the bird flu because it was urgently necessary to use antibiotic. Well, here in this place he definitely couldn’t make that real.

Instead, he might give it a shot on Chinese traditional medicine. But about the detailed operation, he couldn’t think of any further strategies himself alone here, what he could do now was to wait for Yuan Wenxuan and Luo Haiyun and discussed with them.

He waited until the clouds in the sky were dyed red. And finally, Yuan Wenxuan and Luo Haiyun emerged from the almost-dark-away village gate.

Yuan Wenxuan looked fine, but Luo Haiyun seemed to be quite tired. He was panting heavily as if he had just finished a lasting marathon.

Yuan Wenxuan showed his extreme excitement when he caught the sight of Song Qinghan under the tree. Yet he still tried his best to remain his calmness.

“Master, we have already found the reason. Before the villagers got sick, their chickens in their families got ill and died. And even after they got ill, they still keep the dead chickens in their yards. As for those who didn’t get ill, we found that one of the reasons is that they do not always live here in this village, and most importantly, they don’t raise any chickens at all. So we guess, the chickens might be the main cause.”

Song Qinghan nodded and whispered, “Continue.”

Yuan Wenxuan was stunned, while a tangled expression appeared on his face. He racked his brain and said, “Though the fact might be of queerness, we think they might be infected by the chickens. But as for what the disease is, I have already discussed with Doctor Luo about that. There’s no any relevant records about it, so I’m afraid it should be the first case throughout the country.”

Seeing that Song Qinghan was still staring at him after he said so, Yuan Wenxuan touched the back of his head and whispered, “Master, what did I say something wrong?”

Song Qinghan shook his head and calmly said, “No, you didn’t say anything wrong. But you’re a doctor, not a yammen runner, you got no follow-up results after the investigation?

Yuan Wenxuan opened his mouth slightly and looked at Luo Haiyun, seemingly not expecting this.

Luo Haiyun coughed lightly and interrupted, “We just came out after we found out the possible reason, we planned to negotiate with you first and then go back to the villagers…”

Song Qinghan stood up, patted his clothes, and responded straightforwardly, “Alright, I got two ideas here now temporarily, one of which is to ask the villagers to burn all the chickens, dead or alive, or those which had already been served as food, and the other is to ask them continue taking the prescribed medicine. What do you think?”

Yuan Wenxuan got his expression more serious while his current brain was running fast, he frowned and then said, “Probably we should get some ingredients of the prescribed medicine changed because they indeed did not get a real cold at all. We can’t just treat them that simply.”

Seeing that Yuan Wenxuan had got an idea himself, Song Qinghan nodded with satisfaction. He waved his hand and decisively said, “Well now, let’s move on. It’s fall to both of you now.”

Then, he walked onto the carriage directly and reacted like he was not going to take part in such an event himself.

Luo Haiyun saw that Yuan Wenxuan rushed into the village again with enthusiasm, he sighed with resignation and followed up reluctantly.

In fact, the reason why they came to this conclusion was because of Song Qinghan’s inquiry at noon.

Song Qinghan had a guess after asking that question. As long as he was not a fool, he could have conceived of any relevant speculation related to his words. Therefore, after thinking for a while without a specific result, they thought about the words Song Qinghan asked and finally determined the cause of the villagers ‘illness.

The sun slowly dipped down hiding itself behind the remote mountains, yet the candle lights in the Qingyin Village still refused to light up. It wasn’t beyond expectation when Song Qinghan saw that Yuan Wenxuan and Luo Haiyun came back with disappointment. He then patted the seat on the carriage, saying calmly, “Let’s come back here tomorrow, and we can negotiate about the resolution during the night.”

Luo Haiyun was not angry, but his expression was still a little strange. He asked curiously, “You already knew that we can’t persuade the villagers?”

Song Qinghan shrugged and said with a smile, “Think about it yourself. If someone asks you to burn something you long rely on to make a living, do you think you’re willing to accept it?”

Luo Haiyun paused and thought of something. He said decisively, “Of course NO!”

After that, he started to worry again and frowned. “So what are you going to do? Should we ask the Emperor to give orders and decree?”