Chapter 28 Testing Drugs on Oneself

Not enough still?

What's not enough? These people used it and died, and now we're supposed to go capture others?

My God, how is this any different from the initial efforts to avoid smallpox by murdering those who hadn't contracted the disease?

This is murder, this is murder.

The doctors' expressions had already turned to chaos.

Miss Jun was also very surprised.

She had never thought that the Jinyiwei would be kept in the dark about what was happening here, nor had she planned to hide it from them.

There was nothing here that needed to be hidden.

But she really hadn't expected Lu Yunqi to act in such a manner.

He listened to her words, heard the doctors' accusations, and then simply brought a group of people over.

Whether this pox virus was useful or could cause death was inconclusive; wasn't it clear after a trial?

Miss Jun looked at Lu Yunqi, her expression complex.

This matter really did need to be resolved this way.

But...

Seeing her finally look his way, Lu Yunqi's mouth curved slightly in a smile.

Miss Jun felt a surge of blood and breath.

She didn't want to see him, didn't want to see his smile, and didn't want to see that kind of smile ever again.

She averted her gaze and took a step forward.

"Miss Jun," Doctor Feng called out immediately when he saw her.

Miss Jun stopped in her tracks and looked at him.

"Miss Jun, we can't do this," Doctor Feng said, his voice filled with emotion, "we absolutely can't do this. They are the family members of patients, coming to us seeking medical help; how can we treat them this way, how can we use them to test poison?"

Doctor Feng had spoken, and the other doctors no longer hesitated. At this point, they were committed, willing to face the consequences.

"Yes, how can we do this?"

"This is simply too horrifying."

"They are human beings."

The doctors shouted one after another.

Human beings? To these Jinyiwei, people were no different from livestock.

Miss Jun looked at the people bound on the floor. They might not have known what was going on initially, suddenly seized and tied up in the middle of the night, each with a look of terror. Now, suddenly hearing the words 'test the poison,' some fainted from sheer fright.

"Doctor Feng, my pox virus hasn't..." she turned to Doctor Feng and whispered.

Doctor Feng interrupted her.

"No matter how confident you are in your pox virus, this isn't the way to proceed," he said sternly. "This isn't a matter of whether there's an issue with the virus; this is a violation of the principles of heaven, earth, and humanity."

"Right, Miss Jun, how can you simply capture people to test drugs?" the other doctors also spoke up one after another.

"Such matters should be voluntary. In ancient times, Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs for the people, and Hua Tuo tested anesthesia on himself. Today, let me try this pox virus," Doctor Feng said, then turned and walked toward the table in front of the Buddhist statue.

The doctors were immediately dismayed, exchanging looks of shock and resolve, and a few clenched their teeth.

"I'll do it too," they said, and followed Doctor Feng to the table.

Under the bright lamplight, the thin copper pipe gleamed dully.

Doctor Feng looked toward Miss Jun, who was still standing at the doorway.

"Come, Miss Jun, try it on me first," he said.

The other few doctors also spoke up in turn.

"Try it on me first."

"Let me, I haven't been much help on a regular basis, and the patients here can't do without you all."

This scene encouraged even more doctors to step forward.

"I'll do it."

"I'll do it."

"Everyone, don't argue, we can't all be tested at once; we still need to care for the patients."

"Listen to me, we'll draw lots."

The atmosphere of panic and fear in the Buddhist Temple instantly vanished, replaced by excitement and determination.

Seeing the doctors vying to test the poison on themselves, even Chen, who was still being held down by the Jinyiwei, couldn't help feeling his nose sting.

"People say that an imperial physician has a compassionate heart; today I truly understood what that compassion means," he turned to the person beside him and said with a choke, "Don't you think so, big brother?"

The adjacent Jinyiwei had a wooden expression, as if made of clay—he heard nothing and said nothing.

Talking about compassion with these heartless people would be like playing the lute to a cow, thought Chen, and stopped talking.

Miss Jun watched the doctors who were competing to be the first to test the drug and bowed to them once more.

"Alright, then I'll administer it to myself as well..." she said.

Her words had not been finished when the doctors interrupted her.

"Miss Jun, you can stop now," everyone spoke one after another.

"Even if you don't need to look after the patients, if we fall ill, you'll have to vaccinate the next batch," another person added.

This made everyone laugh.

Miss Jun smiled too, and without any more hesitation, she went straight over and picked up a thin copper pipe.

"Doctor Feng, you first," she said.

Doctor Feng did not hesitate in the least.

"That would be me then," he said with a smile.

"Please take a seat," Miss Jun said, gesturing to the chair beside her.

Doctor Feng sat down as he was told, watching Miss Jun approach with the copper pipe.

"Lift your head," she said as she raised the copper pipe.

Although everyone was prepared, as the thin copper pipe neared their mouths and noses, not just those around but Doctor Feng himself tensed up.

Miss Jun was not nervous at all and didn't even give them time to react before she removed the stoppers from both ends and inserted the copper pipe into one of Doctor Feng's nostrils, blowing a breath through the other end.

When the foreign object entered his nose, Doctor Feng instinctively closed his eyes and tried to pull away, but Miss Jun had already removed the copper pipe and straightened up.

"Done," said Miss Jun.

The other doctors looked at Doctor Feng anxiously.

"How does it feel?" they couldn't help but ask.

Doctor Feng pressed his nose with his hand.

"It smells a bit," he said after a moment's thought.

The doctors couldn't help but laugh.

"You won't react that quickly. It will probably take until the seventh day, when Doctor Feng will develop a fever, but it will just be a fever, and once it passes, he'll be fine," Miss Jun said.

The doctors nodded, each with a different expression, but said nothing.

"I'll go next," one doctor said and settled himself on another chair with a certain decisiveness.

As he did so, several other doctors pulled over chairs and sat down as well.

"If we are going to test this, let's test it with a few more," they said.

Miss Jun did not stop them, picking up copper pipes one by one and blowing cowpox into their nostrils. Not everything went smoothly, however. One of the doctors sneezed right away, blowing out the pox virus powder that had been inserted. Two others managed to have the powder blown in but then couldn't stop their runny noses, and the powder was washed out as well.

"This won't do," Miss Jun said.

"Then let's make the powder into cotton plugs," suggested a doctor.

This was a good idea, and Miss Jun nodded. Immediately, the doctors got busy, finding cotton pieces, fetching water, and watching as Miss Jun poured out the pox virus powder and spread it onto the moistened cotton before rolling it up.

"Yes, yes, that's it. Just shove it in like this," a doctor took the date pit-sized cotton wrapped in pox virus powder and stuffed it into another doctor's nostril, leaving only a thread hanging out.

The doctor's nose twitched for a moment, but he did not sneeze.

"This is much better than before," he said, nodding.

The doctors were all very pleased and relieved, as if they had solved some complicated medical issue, but in reality, they were infecting themselves with smallpox, a terrible thing that had them reacting strangely.

Seventh Chen stood speechless outside the door.

These doctors had truly let go, and what more could they do? With no way to retreat, the only way was forward, and if they managed to develop a method that prevented people from contracting smallpox, that would be a game-changer.

Hundred-man commander Jiang glanced at Lu Yunqi.

Aside from those two sentences, he hadn't spoken again but just watched the girl's movements in the Buddhist Temple.

Hundred-man commander Jiang also looked at the dozen or so men and women who still lay tossed on the ground.

"Sir," he stepped forward and spoke up.

Lu Yunqi turned and gestured with his hand, walking away first.

Hundred-man commander Jiang breathed a sigh of relief, figuring that if these doctors were willing to sacrifice themselves, why stop them? After all, it made no difference whether it was the doctors or those people—they were all the same.

He too waved off the Jinyiwei, who then picked up the men and women from the ground and left in unison.

The darkness of night was fading, and the east was gradually lightening. Lu Yunqi stood outside the mountain temple watching the horizon.

"Sir," a Jinyiwei appeared at his side like a shadow and spoke in a low voice, "the Duke of Chengguo's heir was also there."

With such commotion happening here, it would be odd for him not to be present, and Lu Yunqi remained expressionless.

"He left now, heading into the city," the Jinyiwei continued in a low tone, then bowed his head. "The children... we couldn't stop them."

Lu Yunqi's gaze shifted slightly, looking toward the long stairs outside the temple.

"You can't stop him," he said.

That implied an order not to chase or capture, and the Jinyiwei bent his body again and disappeared into the shadows.

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