Half blood

These people nervously followed the old man to his yard, divided each of them into a separate room, and opened and closed them all separately.

These people were so frightened that they didn't even make a fuss, and sat obediently on the small bed in the room.The old man came out and asked Li Xuan who was following him: "Take me to the place you mentioned." Then he turned back and said to Tiandong: "Now go to the town and see if you can buy a live fish."

The old man went to the river, and put a dead fish in a mesh basket. Li Xuan stood beside him holding his nose, and asked softly, "Bai, Doctor Bai, do you know what plague this is?"

The old man didn't look at him, but quietly covered the basket, and replied that he was not sure now.

Tiandong came back from town after half a day, carrying a live fish that was dying, and said that he had been looking for it in the town for a long time, but no one was still selling live fish, only one tavern raised a few fish in a tank, and he wanted to do it. After eating it, he spent all his money and finally bought one.

The old man yelled angrily: "You just carried it like this, and you killed the live fish after walking such a long distance!" After speaking, he hurriedly snatched the fish and put it in another water tank.Fortunately, the life of this fish was tenacious, so it survived a few splashes in the water and came back to life.

The old man breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the fish was no longer turning over, and put the dead fish in, and then said to himself: "Let's see tomorrow... Now let's see how those people are doing. "

The people locked up were the same as in the morning, the old man asked Tiandong to get a pen and paper to write down his daily reactions bit by bit.

After diagnosing one by one, the old man asked Gastrodia to bring the warming and tonic herbs that he had prepared in advance, and drank each of them in a bowl, and then took out the rest, so that the soldiers in the camp and the villagers in the village would also drink it. drank all.Although this medicine is useless against the plague, at least it can strengthen the body.

This is the third bowl of medicine that Li Xuan drank in a few days. He really felt bitter in his heart. He has grown so big, and he drank more today than he drank in his whole life. He licked his bitter lips, thinking It was Li Xiuqi who was more careful, he knew to add some licorice for seasoning, unlike the old man who only put coptis.He thought again, he didn't like to drink this potion as an adult, he didn't know if the little children of the Sun family would like to drink it, so he brought some sweet cakes to see them.

The other little dolls in the Sun family all fell asleep, only Wuwa stayed awake, lying on the bed alone, motionless, making Li Xuan think he was asleep too, and was about to back out when he heard Wuwa choked up and cried out. He asked, "Is it Brother Xuan?"

Li Xuan then turned around, walked over softly, patted his back with his hand, and asked, "Why aren't you asleep yet? Your older brothers, older siblings, younger siblings are all asleep."

Wu Wa hummed and said, "I can't sleep, I'm homesick."

homesick?Does Li Xuan want to go home?Only then did he realize that he had been in the south for a long time, and he had not received a letter from the capital for so many days, nor had he sent a letter back.He also wanted to write, but what else could he write, could he write: Damn, we are going to die here; or write: Damn, what should I do if I fall in love with a cousin who doesn't love me?He can only keep these things in his heart silently by himself. In the dead of night, he can't even cry when he thinks about them, so he can only sigh and go back to sleep.What else can we do?Life is always going to happen. It is impossible for everything in this world to go as you wish. Even the bright moon above the head will wax and wane. This has been the case since ancient times, and no one can force it.

Li Xuan sat beside Wu Wa, chuckled lightly, and said, "Homesick? Doctor Bai's yard is five steps away from your house, what do you want?"

Wuwa didn't make a sound at first, and then said in a muffled voice: "But there is neither my mother nor my father here... Everyone said that my father left, but he didn't. Didn't he lie outside properly? Why did you say he left? But he doesn’t talk now, and he doesn’t play with me anymore.”

Hearing Wu Wa's words, Li Xuan felt very uncomfortable. He forced a smile and said, "If you leave, you will be in the sky. Look up and see if there are stars all over your head? Your father is one of the stars here now." The twinkle, twinkle, is looking at you."

Wu Wa asked: "But there are so many in the sky, how do I know which one is my father?"

"It's the brightest one..."

"Don't lie," Wuwa said angrily, "The brightest star is Beichen, which points to the direction. My father told me that we are inland now, so I don't think so, but going out to sea The fisherman Beichenxing is life-saving. If you lose your way at sea, you can come back by looking at this star. If you leave, you will die. If you die, you will die. If you can’t eat, you can’t talk, or you are gone. You lied to me, I'm not a three-year-old kid."

Li Xuan murmured: "Don't you know..."

"But I don't want to know at all. I think I'm only three years old. I want to believe your lies..." After finishing speaking, Wu Wa lay on the bed facing the pillow, not sure if she was crying.

Li Xuan sat by the bed, not even daring to move. He didn't know what to say, so he could only stay with him in this dark and silent room.He suddenly missed his parents a little, and now he realized how ignorant he was, and reckless light would cause trouble.But he also felt that the reason why he dared to be so reckless was because he knew that his father was powerful, no matter how big a mess he made, his father would have a way to solve it, because his father was a great emperor, and he could calm down The rebellion of the Four Kings was ended, and the country was peaceful and the people were safe.And he will never be able to become a person like his father in this life, he is a coward.

"Just sleep well, and see what Doctor Bai has to say tomorrow, maybe I'll let you go home." After Li Xuan finished speaking, he patted Wuwa's small and thin back lightly, got up and went out, covering his face lightly. Go to the door and look up to see a first-quarter moon hanging like this. The seventh day of the sixth lunar month is said to be the day when "the gate of heaven opens". This day is the day when the Jade Emperor becomes enlightened and proclaims himself emperor. Congratulations to the emperor.Li Xuan also bowed in his heart, and made a wish for eternal peace.

Li Xuan walked into his room and saw that the door of the white-haired old man was open, and there was Li Xiuqi's voice inside. He walked over, and as soon as he got closer, he heard Li Xiuqi say: "I know about this, I'm now Just go and make arrangements." Then Li Xiuqi came out of the room and bumped into Li Xuan, seeing him, Li Xiuqi bowed first and said, "Your Highness, why don't you go to rest so late?"

Li Xuandao: "I can't sleep, what's wrong? What happened again?"

Li Xiuqi looked back at the white-haired old man, and replied in a low voice: "The fish Tiandong bought died within an hour..."

Li Xuan was surprised when he heard this, and said: "Then can you be sure that the plague is caused by the dead fish in the river?"

Li Xiuqi nodded and said: "So now I'm going to discuss with General Wei, and immediately order to burn all the dead fish in the river, and then no fishing is allowed, and the water in the river is not allowed to be used."

"Then have you found a prescription for the plague?"

Li Xiuqi did not give an affirmative answer, but said that he would try again now.Li Xuan didn't think about it, and he didn't ask what he wanted to try.

On the second day, Wei Zhong led his soldiers to catch all the dead fish in the river with fishing nets, piled them on the bank and lit a fire to burn the dead fish covered in the ground.The fish was burning, but the more it roasted, the more fragrant it became, so that the mouth of the person who ignited it was almost salivating. One soldier said: "Damn, it's so delicious, I'm hungry..." Another soldier said Said: "If you are not afraid of death, you can eat one," the soldier laughed.

Not all the fish were burnt to death, the old man told him to keep a few for him, and then asked Li Xuan to catch some wild cats or something.Li Xuan didn't think much about it, so he got the things for him.

The old man locked up the stray cats, picked one that looked fiercer from inside, and pestered one with a bamboo stick to give it to the stray cats to eat.Li Xuan was startled when he saw it, he hurriedly pushed the bamboo stick, and said: "Doctor Bai, what are you doing, you clearly know that this fish is not edible."

The old man rolled his eyes and said, "I won't let him get sick from eating it, how can we try to find out whether this prescription is effective or not."

Li Xuan was taken aback for a moment, it turned out that what Li Xiuqi said yesterday was to give it a try.He looked down at the wild cat, the wild cat was pitiful, with shaggy hair on its face, something scratched a big hole in the corner of its eye, those amber eyes didn't know what was going to happen, and looked around vigilantly.

Li Xuan softened his heart again, and said, "Is there no other way?"

The white-haired old man went to pick up the wooden stick that Li Xuan had put aside, and said displeasedly: "Little brother, if you don't like it, don't look at it here. You think this cat is pitiful, why don't you think so?" Think if you don’t try out the medicine now, and the sick person will die by then, how pitiful will that person be?”

Li Xuan was at a loss for words for a while, so he didn't speak any more, watching the white-haired old man put the fish near the wild cat's mouth.A wild cat has a much sharper sense of smell than a human, and the wild cat didn't even have to get close to smell it, it just jumped away from the dead fish.

The white-haired old man laughed at himself, and said: "This cat is smarter than humans," and then he called into the house, calling out Gastrodia and Tiandong, and together they pinned down the wild cat and forced the cat out of the house. The fish was stuffed into the cat's mouth.

The cat swallowed some of it no matter how reluctant it was, and the fish was smashed, but the meat just fell on the ground, and the cat didn't eat much.The ground was covered with blood from the fish, and the white-haired old man said: "Don't touch a fish, and don't touch any blood. I'll burn it all later."

Then he turned around and saw that Li Xuan's expression was not very good, so he sneered and said, "Gentleman is far away from the cook, you also eat fish and meat on weekdays, why don't you see you feel sorry for chicken, duck and fish? It's just that you haven't seen this cruel side." , but you haven’t seen it, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.”

Li Xuan didn't speak, but just looked at the sobbing cat. When he first got it, the wild cat looked like a victorious general, but now it was lying on the ground, curled up, as if bearing a huge burden. pain.

The cat didn't show the symptoms of a human, it just lay down on the ground and whimpered dejectedly.The white-haired old man brought him a bowl of concoction that he didn't know what it was, and poured it into it.Li Xuan asked: "So it can survive?"

The white-haired old man shook his head, and said, "How can it be so easy? At least you have to try this seven or eight times before you know." Li Xuan was stunned, and looked sideways at the seven or eight wild cats in the cage. They all looked at him with those amber eyes, and he couldn't tell what kind of emotion that look was.He felt a little guilty, even the excuse of seeking medical treatment and saving lives could not relieve him of his conscience.

It was not so quiet tonight, the wild cat that was fed fish and drugged died.The locked cats seemed to understand what they were about to face that night, and they meowed one by one. The southern camp was full of these desolate screams.The meowing of the cat sounded like a baby crying to Chad, and the cry echoed in the silent night, mixed with hoarse coughing one after another.