At this moment, Tian Guoqiang was lying weakly curled up in his blanket, his entire body hunched like a shrimp. Despite being wrapped in three thick layers of quilts, he still shivered uncontrollably. Yet, looking at his normally resolute face, beads of sweat—dense and the size of soybeans, slightly dark in color—oozed from his open pores. Although his body was drenched in sweat, he kept unconsciously muttering, “Cold… so cold…”
Village Chief Tian walked in closely behind and cast a glance at Liu Dashao, his expression clearly saying, “See? I told you so, kid!”
“Uncle Tian, what exactly happened to Guoqiang?” Liu Dashao squatted down, finally managing to pull out Tian Guoqiang’s arm to feel his pulse with two fingers.
Knowing that Liu Dashao, though somewhat carefree, actually understood traditional Chinese medicine, Village Chief Tian didn’t stop him. He simply frowned and replied, “I don’t know either. Yesterday he was fine. Suddenly last night, around midnight, he screamed out loud, waking me and his mother up in fright. When we checked, he was already like this.”
“Damn, his pulse is so weak—it’s barely beating inside, you can’t even feel it on the surface. And… it’s so erratic!” Liu Dashao’s face changed, and he smacked his thigh in frustration. “Uncle Tian, you really messed up—why didn’t you call a doctor!”
“Who says I didn’t!” the village chief cried out, as if wronged like Dou E. “Last night I dragged the village clinic doctor out of his wife’s bed, but he said it was just a chill, nothing serious, and gave us a small packet of medicine before leaving with a yawn. At first, after giving Guoqiang two pills, his fever did subside a bit. But it didn’t last long—just a few hours later, the symptoms came back even worse. The medicine stopped working, and he just kept shouting ‘cold.’ We were too scared to do anything else.”
“This is definitely not just a chill,” Liu Dashao shook his head firmly. “The Western medicine at the clinic works fast. If it were just a chill, he’d have been fine by now.”
“Then what illness is it?”
“I don’t know either. I’ve never seen such a condition in my grandfather’s medical texts.”
“Well then, for now, we can at least confirm it’s internal heat with external cold. I’ll prescribe a formula to suppress the symptoms first, and then think of a solution. If we leave it like this, the consequences will be unimaginable.” He paused, then said, “Uncle Tian, go get two liang of Chuanxiong, one qian of safflower, and a few old ginger roots—the spicier, the better. Boil them into a bowl of soup and make Guoqiang drink it with his nose pinched.”
“Alright!” Village Chief Tian trusted Liu Dashao completely, agreeing without hesitation and rushing into the inner room to tell his wife to prepare the herbs.
“Young nephew, just wait a moment. Guoqiang’s mother has gone to get the herbs and will be back soon. We don’t know how to do this ourselves, so we’ll need your help with Guoqiang.” Holding onto this lifeline, the village chief gave Liu Dashao a warm, almost fawning expression, even calling him “young nephew” in an attempt to be more familiar.
“Sure, no rush. I’ll stay with Guoqiang today. If things don’t improve, we’ll head to a big hospital,” Liu Dashao said generously, patting his chest.
“That would be great, thank you on behalf of Guoqiang,” said the village chief.
“No need to thank me. Me and Guoqiang—what kind of relationship do we have? We’ve shared a chicken’s head, burned yellow paper, and sworn brotherhood at the City God Temple,” Liu Dashao said proudly. But halfway through, his tone suddenly changed, his face darkening with a mix of emotions.
Being a village leader, Village Chief Tian naturally had a knack for reading people. Seeing Liu Dashao’s expression, he immediately sensed something. He quickly asked, “Young nephew, what’s wrong? Did you think of something?”
“Well…” Liu Dashao hesitated, finally asking cautiously, “Uncle Tian, did anything strange happen at your house last night?”
“Strange things?” The village chief’s smile froze. “What kind of things do you mean?”
“Like, someone suddenly shouting outside your door and burning ominous yellow paper,” Liu Dashao whispered.
“What!” The village chief’s face turned pale with shock and fear. He pointed a trembling finger at Liu Dashao and asked sharply, “How do you know that?”
“Ah?!” Hearing the chief’s words, Liu Dashao’s face also changed, as if struck by a sudden storm. His shock rivaled, if not surpassed, the village chief’s.
“You… you also had it?” He gritted his teeth and forced the words out one by one.
“Yes. Since you asked, I won’t hide it. Just before dawn last night, I heard someone shouting outside, like a ghost. When I opened the door, I saw yellow paper burning at the doorstep. I kicked it angrily, used a shovel to put out the fire with dirt, and buried the ashes together,” the village chief explained. Then he suddenly realized something and asked, “Young nephew… did your house…”
Liu Dashao’s face turned even grimmer. “Yes. Mine too.”
“Whoever did this prank—I’ll make sure they’re punished severely if I catch them!” the village chief declared indignantly.
“No, Uncle Tian. I think things are more complicated than that,” Liu Dashao shook his head, already having a suspicion.
“Do you know something? Tell me.”
“Not yet. I need to confirm a few things first.” Saying that, Liu Dashao took off his jade pendant, which was still on a red string. It looked plain and yellow, but the carved pixiu seemed alive, its claws and fangs ready to leap out. He placed the pendant on Tian Guoqiang’s chest and waited beside him, as if expecting something. According to his dream, if the pendant changed, it would mean Guoqiang had encountered an evil spirit. But after waiting several minutes, the pendant remained still, not glowing with the expected white light to ward off evil.
Disappointed, Liu Dashao muttered to himself, “Could it just be a coincidence?”
At that moment, Tian Guoqiang’s mother returned with the herbs. Liu Dashao stopped thinking and wrapped the herbs in white cloth, placing them in the pot. He simmered them for half an hour and carefully fed the soup to Guoqiang. The effect was noticeable—after drinking the entire bowl, Guoqiang began sweating even more profusely. Since the herbs promoted blood circulation, the coldness in his body gradually lessened, and his cries of cold became less frequent. Naturally, the couple expressed their gratitude repeatedly.
“No problem, Uncle. It’s my duty. I’ll go check on Goudan and Xiao Mazi now,” Liu Dashao said.
“Already? Didn’t you say you’d stay with Guoqiang all day?” the village chief was stunned, thinking, “This kid can’t even sit still for a moment!”
“Uncle Tian, you misunderstood. I need to confirm something, so I must go see them. Don’t worry, I’ll come right back,” Liu Dashao explained.
“Then I’ll leave it to you,” the village chief replied reasonably. After all, he had no reason to force Liu Dashao to stay and take care of his son like a servant—was he some kind of capitalist?
All the way, Liu Dashao practically ran. He hoped it was just a prank or that the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother were playing a joke on him. But often, things go the worst way possible when you least want them to.
Without exception, both Goudan and Xiao Mazi were bedridden with illness. After persistent questioning, their parents admitted that on the night before the illness, mysterious yellow paper had been burned at their doorsteps. The symptoms were almost identical to Tian Guoqiang’s, even making Liu Dashao suspect for a moment that it might be some kind of infectious disease.
Compared to Village Chief Tian, the parents of Goudan and Xiao Mazi were more perceptive. After all, among the four boys who always hung out together in the village, three—excluding Liu Dashao—were now seriously ill. Even a fool could sense something was wrong. Liu Dashao’s anxious and uneasy glances only deepened their suspicions.
So, when the three families gathered together, they all looked at Liu Dashao with a quiet, subtle hostility, as if an invisible wall had formed between them.
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