Chapter 19: Strange Epidemic
As soon as Mo Juren came in, he was targeted by the unknown Sihaitang Master Zhao. Although he was angry, he appeared to be calm and did not respond to his words to explain anything.

The atmosphere suddenly became solid.

Seeing this, Elder Ma, who had a goatee, interrupted with a smile and gave a false advice:

"Haha, Master Zhao, you don't understand. As the saying goes, a doctor is like a parent. Doctor Han cares about your patients, so why do you care so much? Since Doctor Han has received Doctor Mo's true teachings and recommendation, he must have come prepared. With the arrival of 'Divine Doctor Han', he will definitely be able to cure your Sihaitang's illnesses."

Elder Ma was in charge of the Worship Hall and was nominally Han Li's direct superior. However, he was also sarcastic when he spoke, and he labeled the patient "Divine Doctor Han" before he even treated the patient. It was obvious that he had some ill intentions.

When Hall Master Zhao saw Elder Ma calling Han Li a miracle doctor out of thin air, he replied gloomily,
"You are so young. Even if you have been practicing medicine since your mother's womb, it has only been a dozen years. Do you really say that your medical talent is better than Doctor Mo? I don't believe it."

It is not known whether Master Zhao is dull-witted or doing it on purpose, but with just a few words he offended "Doctor Han" in front of him.

Fortunately, Mo Juren did not bother to pay attention to these verbal battles and just sneered in his heart, otherwise he would have held a grudge against him a long time ago.

Seeing that Hall Master Zhao had made the atmosphere tense, Doctor Han began to respond coldly, but Elder Ma was happy to comfort him.

"Master Zhao, don't worry too much. The Sect Master has always highly respected Doctor Mo. Since Divine Doctor Han is a disciple of Doctor Mo, his medical skills must be superb. We should trust him."

Elder Ma's words sounded like both persuasion and fanning the flames, as if he was trying to sow discord.

Seeing that "Doctor Han" still remained silent, and not knowing what he was thinking, another elder, Elder Li, hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

"You two, stop chatting. Guardian Feng, you should take Doctor Han in and take a look at the patient first."

In the inner hall, there were several mats on the ground, and four patients were lying on the ground, with two servants busy serving them.

On a hot day, two people were wrapped in thick quilts and complaining about the cold, with a brazier in front of them to keep warm; the other two were so hot that their bodies turned red, and they kept fanning themselves and shouting that they couldn't stand the heat.

The only common symptom is that they are all sweating profusely, shivering, looking weak and having dull eyes.

Mo Juren stepped forward and began to feel the pulse of each patient one by one, while Protector Feng beside him began to describe the patient's condition very consciously.

"Since the day before yesterday, people in Sihaitang have been suffering from this inexplicable disease one after another. The symptoms of the patients are the same, with alternating hot and cold, and they become weak after a day."

"Both Doctor Zhang and Doctor Guan from the Outer Sect have come here. Apart from prescribing some Qi-boosting and deficiency-tonifying medicines to provide temporary relief, they are both helpless and unable to find out the real symptom."

"The first doctor, Dr. Zhang, also got the disease the next day after he returned, and is still lying at home."

"Doctor Han, you should know that our Sihaitang recruits martial arts masters with a good background. They are not all strong, but they all have martial arts energy. It is unlikely that they will suffer from such minor illnesses as cold or heat."

"The four people in front of us are the most seriously ill. Those with mild symptoms are all resting at home. In the past few days, everyone has seen people coming to the hall fall ill one after another, and they couldn't find the cause of the illness. So they are scared and dare not come. They have asked for leave and refused to show up. It seems that Sihaitang is about to close down."

Guardian Feng then lowered his voice and said,

"Doctor Han, please don't blame me. Our Hall Master Zhao was also very angry and was overwhelmed by this matter, so he said something unkind. There are rumors outside that there are evil things causing trouble in Sihai Hall. The rumors are half true and half false, and it is impossible to suppress them."

Mo Juren felt the pulse of all four people while listening, then fell into deep thought. He habitually tried to touch his beard, but found nothing, so he touched his nose instead without leaving any trace.

The three people, who were drinking tea in the outer hall, came to the inner hall at some point, seemingly to observe how "Doctor Han" treated patients. Mo Juren deliberately ignored them and only said to Feng Hufa,

"The pulses of these four people are similar. Their qi and pulses are weak and floating, their lungs are hot and their blood is cold. This is a symptom of cold and heat manifesting as malaria. The symptoms of this disease may be different for people with different body types, but it is certain that the disease has the same origin."

Upon hearing this, Hall Master Zhao turned to Elder Ma and the others and said with a smile,

"Tsk. I thought you had some unique insights, but this is exactly what my outer sect doctor said."

Elder Ma continued,

"Hey, this is what they call great minds think alike. The disease is just this, what new tricks can you come up with? The key is to see how Dr. Han cures the patient."

These words were apparently addressed to Hall Master Zhao, but his eyes were always glancing at "Doctor Han".

In fact, Mo Juren had already diagnosed that this chill and shivering disease was highly contagious and had already become an epidemic.

When he was practicing medicine in his early years, he had come across many such cases. Most of them occurred in damp mountains and areas infested with insects and miasma. Very few of them occurred in places like Qixuanmen that were well ventilated, dry and livable.

It is not difficult to treat the symptoms of this disease, but the source of the epidemic must be found to stop the continuous influx of patients.

Mo Juren already had a plan for how to treat it, but on the surface he still pretended to be silent for a long time. Only when he felt that the effect of pretending was achieved did he reach out and ask,

"Where's the prescription you wrote before? Let me have a look."

Guardian Feng hurriedly asked someone to deliver the prescription. After Mo Juren read it, he took out a pen and ink, quickly changed a few words, and slightly adjusted the dosage.
"The prescription is generally good. The dosage of these two ingredients needs to be reduced to avoid the deficiency later on."

Hall Master Zhao almost laughed out loud when he saw this. Doctor Han even copied the prescription from someone else, and yet he still had the audacity to talk about his superb medical skills?
Even Elder Li, who was taciturn, looked at Elder Ma in confusion.

Mo Juren remained unmoved by everyone's doubts and continued,

"I have a set of acupuncture techniques here that can relieve the symptoms of the face. After acupuncture, it can be combined with this prescription to eradicate the lesions."

When Protector Feng saw that "Doctor Han" was still confident despite everyone's doubts, he felt inexplicably relieved.

So according to Mo Juren's request, a high table was brought in, and a patient was asked to lie on it and start receiving treatment.

Mo Juren took out the silver needle, lit the lamp, burned the needle tip, estimated the acupuncture point, and began the acupuncture in an orderly manner.

This set of worry-free acupuncture techniques is a medical secret technique that Mo Juren explored and summarized after years of practicing medicine.

Since it was previously announced to the public that "Han Li" had received the true teachings of Doctor Mo, there was no need to hide it now. So, in front of everyone, Mo Juren used his medical skills with all his strength and skillfully found the acupuncture points and inserted the needles.

This smooth and flowing movement drew a lot of praise.

(End of this chapter)