Chapter 23 Things to Do
Miss Jun leaned over to examine the cow's abdomen, and it seemed that another person had joined her side.
"You see, it's this one."
The man pointed to the pustule with a file, and then he suddenly pierced it, passing a bamboo reed to collect the fluid.
Pus slowly flowed into it.
"How does this work?" she asked, puzzled.
The man turned around and shook the reed in his hand.
"This, well, it can prevent someone from ever suffering from smallpox, and it should be safer than human smallpox," he explained.
"Really?" she asked skeptically, pinching her nose.
Oh, how the cowshed stank.
The man arched an eyebrow at her and handed over the reed.
"Real or not, why don't you give it a try and see for yourself?" he suggested.
She hastily stepped back to avoid it, glaring with a mix of annoyance and embarrassment.
"Why don't you try it?"
The man spread his hands with a tsk-tsk.
"I'm perfectly content being a divine doctor; I don't fancy being chased and beaten," he said.
As his words fell, shouts came from outside.
"What are you two doing?"
Three or four village men approached simultaneously.
The man hurriedly stood up with a smile.
"It's nothing, nothing, just passing by and stopping to rest at this precious place," he said.
Stopping to rest at this place?
"Resting in my cowshed?" the village men were taken aback.
Suddenly, one of the men pointed at the cow.
"Brother, look, the cow's belly is bleeding," he shouted.
The man quickly waved his hands.
"It's not bleeding, not bleeding," he said, "listen to me, this is…"
The village men held back their tempers, ready to listen to his explanation, but then they saw the man grab the girl who was pinching her nose and vault over the cowpen fence, running away as fast as lightning.
Running away...
"There's a cattle thief!"
"Someone come quick!"
"Catch him!"
The shouts and clamor behind him, the banging of gongs and drums, stirred the entire village into an uproar.
..........................
The sound of hurried footsteps came from behind.
"Miss Jun."
Miss Jun turned to see Doctor Feng and others.
The doctors were staring at the cattle filling the courtyard, their expressions amazed.
They had heard that De Sheng Chang brought over a dozen cows, and Miss Jun had Liu'er tell them to wait and see something good. This was utterly baffling—could there be something medicinal about these cows?
"Miss Jun, today's medical cases have all been sorted," Doctor Feng said.
Yet Miss Jun didn't immediately follow them to review the medical cases as she usually would.
"You guys go ahead and look at the cases," she said, and then she turned back to watch the cows.
Doctor Feng and the others exchanged glances, sharing a look of confusion before leaving.
Not until the next morning did Miss Jun appear.
"She's been watching the cows the whole time?"
"What's so interesting about cows?"
The doctors murmured among themselves; it was clear that these cows fascinated Miss Jun, as she hadn't come to administer medicine or see patients all day.
"Where is Miss Jun? Is Miss Jun not going to tend to us anymore?" The already anxious families of the patients kept asking.
The doctors each offered their reassurances, yet resentment was growing in their hearts.
Shouldn't she be appearing before everyone more at this time?
Could it be that she knows there's no hope and has simply stopped caring?
Maybe one day she'll just disappear, leaving them behind? Some doctors even started to harbor this suspicion.
Fortunately, Miss Jun did not vanish for another day. In the evening, the doctors were invited to the Buddhist Temple, and before they entered, they saw Miss Jun standing inside.
The temple was brightly lit, and against the backdrop of the night sky outside, the Buddha statue seemed to glimmer with a divine presence, making Miss Jun, standing in front of it, appear even more slender.
Hearing everyone come in, she turned away from the Buddha statue.
"Gentlemen, you've arrived," she said.
The doctors nodded and were about to set down their medical records when they stepped forward and saw a multitude of thin copper pipes, easily a hundred or more, laid out on the table where the records were to be placed.
What is this?
A question flashed in everyone's minds as Miss Jun's voice followed.
"Today, I want to discuss with you all the work we are here to do."
The work we are here to do? Isn't it to treat smallpox? What else is there to talk about?
The doctors looked towards Miss Jun, their expressions puzzled.
Miss Jun smiled at them.
"What we are truly here to do," she explained, "is not to treat smallpox."
The Buddhist Temple fell silent for a moment, then erupted into a buzz.
Having made a fuss here for ten days only to be told that treating smallpox isn't the task at hand?
What could it be, then?
Playing around?
The doctors' faces revealed complex emotions, and anger was scarcely hidden in their brows.
They had trusted her to take on this task, knowing well that smallpox is a disease doctors generally do not attend to. They witnessed the horrific condition of the children, watched them die in agony, endured the pleading and despair of the parents, and faced the uncertain fates of life or death. Wasn't it the notion of doing good that sustained them?
They didn't complain about her lack of a miraculous resurrection, knowing that indeed, smallpox was difficult to cure.
But it was she who said they would strive together, and now it was she who said they wouldn't do this task.
What exactly did she mean?
"I've said before that with smallpox, it's not about medication and treatment. Once you contract this disease, it is largely a matter of fate," Miss Jun stated.
She had indeed stated this, and they had accepted it.
The doctors watched her.
With her hand on the corner of the table, Miss Jun slowly took a few steps.
"Therefore, the key with smallpox is not curing, but preventing," she said.
Preventing?
The doctors frowned.
"How can one prevent a disease?" one doctor said. "The pox is invisible and colorless."
"The pox may be invisible and colorless, but we can fight poison with poison," Miss Jun replied. "Have any of you noticed, I've been reviewing past medical records and miscellaneous medical texts recorded..."
She pointed to the shelves loaded with books within the temple. Besides requesting medication from the Imperial Hospital, she had also requested many books.
The Imperial Hospital's collection was not accessible to just any doctor. Miss Jun placed these medical texts in the temple for the doctors to browse at their leisure, and she often did the same.
But everyone had thought that looking through these medical texts was to find a way to treat smallpox, and for that, the people from the Imperial Hospital had laughed at them for 'sharpening a sword on the battlefield.'
"One miscellaneous record recounts an event where, initially in Lingnan, smallpox was rampant, and eight or nine out of ten infected died," she continued.
The doctors nodded. They were all somewhat aware of how swiftly the smallpox spread in Lingnan, resulting in countless deaths, eventually forcing the stationed troops to resort to dumping those infected, a truly tragic measure.
"What I discovered among these records was that many villages suffered complete infection, yet there were some who were spared. These were people who had contracted smallpox as children and survived," Miss Jun said. "These individuals remained unharmed even in the face of a vicious smallpox outbreak that nearly wiped out entire villages."
The doctors were taken aback. Was this true? They hadn't paid attention. But what did it imply?
"It implies that those who have had smallpox will not be attacked by the pox again," Miss Jun said. "It shows that we can fight poison with poison."
The doctors murmured among themselves.
"Even if what you say is correct," Doctor Feng interjected, stopping everyone's discussions, and spoke to Miss Jun, "what does it matter? Are you suggesting we find people who have had smallpox to tend to those who are currently infected?"
Miss Jun smiled.
"No, it's about letting everyone contract smallpox once, so they will never be attacked by the pox again," she said.
At these words, the doctors were stunned, and once again there was a commotion.