Chapter 44

The Next Morning, Fei Ling Sets Out with Lan Xin to Investigate

The next morning, Fei Ling woke up and immediately set out with Lan Xin to investigate.

To summarize the results: they could not identify the source of the poison.

As expected, quartz had accumulated at the bottom of the irrigation channels leading into the fields. Not just gravel, but also clean crystals were found. When Lan Xin suggested, “If we take these back, we could sell them to the palace consorts,” Fei Ling firmly warned, “It’s poison.”

However, tracing the channels upstream, they found that the watercourse disappeared underground. Following the markers indicating where the channel flowed beneath the surface, they arrived at the spring that served as the water source—but there was no quartz there. Chan had assured them that the channel didn’t branch underground, but… could that really be true? It was clear that Chan was hiding something.

If they didn’t identify the source of the poison soon, they wouldn’t be able to administer the antidote to the patients in time.

(If we act now, we could save them…)

While preparing dinner for both the villagers and herself, Fei Ling bit her lip in frustration.

Waiting for them to start talking was getting them nowhere. Tonight, she resolved to shake things up and confront them.

But no serious conversation could begin on an empty stomach.

Dinner with the Villagers

Dinner that night was pheasant hotpot made with game hunted in the forest. The villagers of Wangqi, who had lived solely off agriculture, had no knowledge of hunting. Hunting and fishing were essential for surviving the winter. Fei Ling had first taught the men how to hunt and the women how to butcher and cook the game.

Initially, everyone seemed reluctant to kill a pheasant, but Fei Ling explained, “Harvesting rice and catching pheasants to eat are not so different. Both are lives.”

“Life consumes life to sustain itself. That is the cycle.”

In the imperial palace, they also ate chicken. But the consorts never thought about the fact that the chicken had been killed to appear on their table. Being aware of that truth was a good thing.

Unlike chicken, pheasant meat was lean, yet flavorful and firm, making it satisfying to eat. Pheasants also lacked any unpleasant odor, so ginger and other seasonings were unnecessary. At first, the villagers hesitated, picking at the mushrooms cooked with the pheasant. But drawn by the rich flavor that had seeped into the mushrooms, they eventually bit into the bone-in pheasant meat.

“…I never knew something could taste this good.”

Overwhelmed, some villagers began to cry. Seeing this, the others followed suit, eating eagerly. The dining table soon filled with cheers and laughter.

“Oh, to think we could eat so much! It’s all thanks to our little doctor lady!”

Chan said this as he patted his now-full belly with a grin.

“If you’re grateful, give thanks to the bounty of this rich land,” Fei Ling replied.

The water was pure, the soil fertile, and the plants and animals thriving. This land was undoubtedly bountiful, promising good harvests year after year.

Fei Ling Shares Her Past

“You’re so young, yet you’ve been through so much,” one villager remarked, half smiling.

Fei Ling responded with a touch of irony, “Before becoming a palace physician, I traveled the continent with my mother, who was a doctor. We once visited a village struck by famine… it was a living hell.”

“How bad was it?”

“It was so severe that not just crops, but even grass roots withered under the unrelenting drought. Trees stood bare like skeletal remains, and lakes dried up, leaving only a thin layer of murky water. Even the fish had turned to desiccated husks. People fought over even those scraps. But the worst thing—what was truly horrific—”

Fei Ling’s face tightened at the memory.

“—was that people turned to eating other people.”

Everyone fell silent, their faces pale.

“What?”
“No… that can’t be…”

“If you find it unbelievable, consider yourselves fortunate. It means this place is not yet hell. That alone is truly a blessing.”

Fei Ling sighed deeply, relieved from the bottom of her heart.

When she first saw the emaciated villagers here, she had braced herself, remembering that horrific time.

“Those who consume human flesh are afflicted with a specific illness.

Symptoms include tremors, motor dysfunction, speech impairment, difficulty swallowing, and most terrifyingly, an inability to sleep. Not a single moment of rest. They remain awake but dream constantly, until their minds break. It could be called a curse.”

Someone whispered the word curse, and murmurs spread through the group.

“But it is not a curse,” Fei Ling declared firmly, her voice cutting through like a splash of water.

“With medicine, these patients can be saved. Every single one of them recovered. So, what do you think doctors fear the most?”

No one could answer. Only the faint sound of the hairpin in Fei Ling’s hair swayed in the silence.

“Death.”

The answer was simple.

“No matter how miraculous the medicine, a deceased patient cannot be saved.

If you want to save someone, you must do it while they are still alive.”

“To prepare an antidote, we must first understand the nature of the poison. Where did the crystals in the fields come from? If you know anything, please tell me.”

Chan remained silent, his brows furrowed deeply.

Regret and guilt were not concepts that came to mind without reason. The villagers, despite being questioned so persistently, kept their mouths shut. Their silence was like the murky bottom of a pond—reaching into it only stirred up sludge, never revealing the truth. But if stirred hard enough, something was bound to surface.

Indeed, the villagers were clearly shaken, even if they refused to speak.

Whatever secret they were harboring, it couldn’t be more important than the lives of their families.

(At least, I want to believe that.)