"I never expected Lady Qi to still have the audacity to say such a thing," Wang Qingchun remarked with undisguised sarcasm. The crowd followed his lead and laughed.

"I dare say this at any time, especially when facing a good-for-nothing like you," Qi Yue retorted, her tone equally laced with mockery. This woman still dared to be so insolent even now!

"I think Yongqing Residence has become too small for you," Wang Qingchun stated coldly. The threat was clear without being explicitly stated.

Qi Yue burst into laughter. "Wang Qingchun, everything has momentum," she declared.

What did that mean? Wang Qingchun frowned, studying her expression.

"It means that the last time, I drove you out of Yongqing Residence," Qi Yue smiled faintly. "So, next time, I expect I'll be kicking you out again..." Woman!

Scoundrel! Wang Qingchun swept his sleeve in dismissal.

"Arrogant and conceited!" he sneered. "Oh, Lord Wang, please hurry up," the physician urged.

What time was it for bickering! A physician’s fight was one of medical skill!

What could arguing accomplish! Only then did Wang Qingchun lead his entourage inside, the door slamming shut, leaving the woman outside.

"For difficult and complicated diseases, seek out Qiānjīn Hall! For resuscitation, seek out Qiānjīn Hall!" Before Wang Qingchun could utter another sarcastic remark, he heard the woman shouting loudly from outside.

This damnable woman... she dared to shout like that!

"Who would believe that!" he scoffed toward the outside. The others in the room quickly chimed in their agreement.

"Yes, yes, who would believe her." "Does she really think she’s some divine healer..." Wang Qingchun felt a surge of relief and nodded in satisfaction. "Alright everyone, ignore that lunatic; let’s examine Physician Shen quickly," he instructed.

Two days later, Qi Yue saw another funeral procession passing by the entrance. This time, it was Physician Shen.

"He really died?" She looked genuinely surprised. "Oh Master, you really called it correctly!" Hu San couldn't help but exclaim.

Zhang Tong gave him a kick from behind. "Scram, if you can't speak properly, just keep quiet!" he hissed under his breath.

Hu San realized he had spoken out of turn and slipped away with an embarrassed expression. "This is not your fault," Liu Pucheng also walked over and said.

Qi Yue had recounted the event to him when she returned; telling him that if he didn't let her examine the patient, the man would surely die—it was merely an offhand remark, she truly hadn't meant to curse anyone to death... "Master, the man said it wasn't intestinal perforation, just dying from diarrhea, so cutting him open wouldn't have helped anyway," Zhang Tong said after quickly inquiring about the details.

Qi Yue looked at the two trying to comfort her and smiled again. "Yes, I won't blame myself.

If anyone's to blame, it's Wang Qingchun; he was the one who drove me away," she stated. Liu Pucheng and Zhang Tong laughed, breathing a sigh of relief.

"However, diarrhea leads to dehydration. If fluids were replenished in time, it probably would have been fine," Qi Yue added, frowning slightly.

The IV drip was the main problem. "The first time an IV was attempted, they used hollow reeds," she continued.

"Last time, in an emergency, I used a vine from a pumpkin plant, but that is truly dangerous." "What about this?" Hu San suddenly popped up from somewhere, holding an object aloft. Qi Yue's eyes lit up at the sight.

It was a length of brass tubing, similar in size and length to a drainage tube. "I was originally going to use this for Master as a drainage tube," he chuckled.

"Didn't Master use the same thing for both IVs and drainage before?" Qi Yue took it and turned it over and over in her hands. "Could we forge a needle that fine for my setup?" she asked.

"Let's try," Hu San replied. Qi Yue nodded, gesturing on the copper tube—how to connect it, how to position it.

"Good, let's give it a try," she said, looking up and smiling. No one in the room paid attention to the funeral procession outside anymore.

The street soon returned to its usual calm. But something still felt amiss.

"Someone else has died?" Qi Yue, continuing her street search for sources of the pathogen with her medical satchel, paused by the roadside as she watched another funeral procession approach. The chief mourner at the front was weeping inconsolably, needing two people to prop him up just to walk.

"Truly filial, grieving so deeply..." The bystanders murmured their appreciation. But was it grief...

or sickness? Qi Yue couldn't help but step forward, trying to get a clearer look.

Against the backdrop of the white mourning clothes, the man appeared even more unnaturally pale. It was a sickness!

"How did this person die?" she couldn't help but ask someone beside her. "Heard he died from diarrhea..." replied a passerby.

Diarrhea? Qi Yue frowned.

Could this be a peak season for severe diarrhea? It seemed she needed to disseminate more knowledge regarding diarrheal illnesses.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when a gasp erupted, and she saw the mourner being supported suddenly collapse to the ground, convulsing, vomiting repeatedly. The procession ground to a halt, and the relatives gathered around in terror.

"Make way," Qi Yue called out, raising her hand. "I am a physician." That single declaration—I am a physician—caused the crowd to part.

"Another acute abdominal case..." Qi Yue rapidly examined the patient while undoing the unconscious man's clothing. "Hey, what are you doing?" The family members watched the woman suddenly stripping the man in the street and couldn't help but be surprised.

"I am Physician Qi from Qiānjīn Hall..." Qi Yue looked up, allowing them to clearly see her face. Everyone knew of Qiānjīn Hall, and seeing who she was, they stopped obstructing her.

"Lady Qi, my husband, he..." a woman asked anxiously. "It's more serious than just diarrhea," Qi Yue stated, turning to look toward the nearby coffin.

"Did this person also die from diarrhea?" "Yes, diarrhea, bloody stools, and he was vomiting blood..." the woman rapidly explained. Vomiting blood...

Qi Yue had finished unfastening the man's clothes: high fever, abdominal distension... Yet there was no history of external injury.

How could such a severe acute abdominal condition develop? "Please take him to Qiānjīn Hall.

He is already showing signs of dehydration; if he isn't treated immediately, he could be in danger," she announced, looking up. The family members looked terrified.

"Yes, yes," they finally agreed. The men carrying the coffin forgot their duty and rushed to carry the man instead.

Qi Yue followed, but after two steps, she realized they were heading in the wrong direction. "Hey, Qiānjīn Hall is this way," she quickly called out.

"Lady Qi, our family also runs a medicine shop, so we were planning to take him back to our own shop," the accompanying woman replied. "Hey, hey, but can you handle it?" Qi Yue asked uncertainly.

The people didn't know how to answer that question, so they simply stopped responding, carrying the man away in a panic. "Hey, remember to replenish his fluids!" Qi Yue shouted after them.

It was unclear whether they heard her or not as they hurried away. Qi Yue stood rooted to the spot, looking helpless, then glanced down at her gloves, now soiled with the man's vomit and watery stool.

"Well, good stuff," she murmured, grinning as she carefully peeled off the gloves and slipped them into a small ceramic jar she carried, then happily sprinted toward the edge of the city. The man's arm hung limply by his side.

Inside the house, the sound of wailing immediately erupted. Wang Qingchun entered and saw the grim faces of everyone present.

"Another one died?" he inquired. "Yes, Lord Wang, this is the third one in a few days," a physician said, looking deeply worried.

"And all from diarrhea." Wang Qingchun reached up to stroke his beard. "How could it be such a coincidence?" he muttered.

"My Lord, speaking of which..." a physician couldn't help but mention, pressing a hand to his abdomen. "Speaking of which, after we ate at Qingfeng Tower that day, I haven't been feeling quite...

comfortable..." Hearing this, another physician spoke up. "Oh, right, now that you mention it..." Wang Qingchun realized, pointing at the first physician and then surveying the room where an altar for the deceased father was still set up, and now another would be needed for the son.

"Oh, right, that day, all of us... we all ate at Qingfeng Tower." The physician nodded, feeling increasingly uneasy in his gut.

Wang Qingchun’s face darkened. He snorted heavily.

"No need to say more, the food at Qingfeng Tower must be the problem!" he declared, turning to leave. "Such audacity!

I'm going to find them now!" Everyone nodded and followed him out. In the courtyard, an elderly woman was weeping and cursing another woman.

"...You damned wretch... Lady Qi told you to send the man over, why didn't you listen!

Your own father cured himself to death, and you still dragged Brother Dou to your own pharmacy! What on earth were you thinking!" The woman only cried, not daring to retort.

Lady Qi? Wang Qingchun frowned.

Why was this woman persistently haunting him! "Didn't Lady Qi say on the street when she examined that man that it was very serious and he needed to be sent to her place..." "Would he have been cured if he was sent to her place?" "Have you forgotten what Lady Qi said that day?

If she wasn't allowed to look, the man would surely die... Didn't Physician Shen die?" The people behind him were whispering.

Wang Qingchun let out a cold laugh. "What?

You actually believe what she said?" he challenged them. Everyone quickly stopped talking and laughing.

"We don't believe it, no." "How could we believe it? If she doesn't see him, he's done for?

What does that make her? The King of Hell?" They all laughed in agreement.

Wang Qingchun turned back with satisfaction and continued walking. But behind this group, one person’s laughter sounded slightly forced.

"Physician Zhu?" Someone patted his shoulder and called out, "What's wrong?" Physician Zhu snapped back to attention, said he was fine, and followed the others. The night deepened, and the afflicted man once again leaned over the edge of the bed, retching violently into the chamber pot beside it.

A woman, accompanied by two maids, rushed about in a frantic panic. "Husband, what is wrong with you?" she asked.

The man vomited for a spell, then collapsed back onto the bed, utterly exhausted, his face deathly pale. It was Physician Zhu from that afternoon.

"I... I..." he gasped, reaching out to clutch his stomach; as he pressed, his face contorted in pain.

It hurt so much... a cramping, aching pain...

He raised a hand to his chest, feeling as if his heart would burst through. "Oh dear, Husband, you're burning up..." the woman cried out in surprise, touching his forehead.

The man flinched as if startled and slapped her hand away. "Don't touch me...

stay away from me..." he choked out. The woman was startled, and her expression instantly turned aggrieved.

"You, you're thinking about that little vixen, and you won't even let me touch you!" she stamped her foot and wailed. The man was extremely agitated; the images of the three coffins kept flashing before his eyes...

"No, I might... have contracted a plague..." he managed to say.

The woman was terrified. "What?" she whispered, turning to rush out.

"I'll go call a physician..." "Don't go!" the man shouted, stopping her. This movement triggered another bout of retching.

The people in the room were seized with anxiety, but this time, no one dared to approach; they just stood aside, crying. If I don't look, the person is surely dead!

The man vomited until he was nearly unconscious, but the image of that woman kept appearing before his eyes. Do you believe it, or not?

Wang Qingchun's cold laughter echoed in his ears. He felt an agonizing twist in his abdomen, followed by two wet sounds; he knew, even without looking, that the diarrhea was like rushing water.

"I believe it, I believe it!" the man cried out hoarsely. "Quick, send me to Qiānjīn Hall!"