Heaven-Sent Farm Girl Builds Her Fortune And Captures His Heart-Chapter 531 - 530: Source of the Illness

Mu Jian said, "Tell me the general symptoms of the patients once more."

The County Magistrate said, "From what I understand from the Imperial Physician, most of the people who fall ill exhibit symptoms such as fever initially, followed by dizziness, headaches, sore throat, muscle aches, and so on. Some even succumb within two days."

Shen Qinglan furrowed her brow. Aren’t these symptoms of avian flu? Could it be that these people have contracted avian flu?

"Are you only looking for the disease source in the mountains?" Shen Qinglan suddenly interjected.

Everyone looked at her, and the County Magistrate said, "According to the villagers’ descriptions, those few people only fell ill after returning from the mountain."

"Did they fall ill on the first day after returning from the mountain?"

"Not exactly," the County Magistrate said. "It’s just that those who fell ill did so after they returned from the mountains, so that’s why we suspect the disease source might be up there."

Shen Qinglan pondered, "Did they eat anything after coming back from the mountains?"

Upon hearing this, the County Magistrate mused, "I heard they gathered and drank some wine."

Shen Qinglan asked, "Were there others present when they drank?"

The County Magistrate nodded, "Yes, there were five or six others, but those people also died."

Shen Qinglan said, "Then how can you be sure that the disease source is in the mountains? Perhaps those five or six people contracted the disease from somewhere else?"

"Impossible!" the County Magistrate firmly stated. "The villagers who had contact with those individuals showed no issues, so it’s impossible that they contracted the disease first."

Shen Qinglan gave a slight nod, "Does anyone remember what they ate at that time?"

"Actually, yes!" the County Magistrate said. "I heard they slaughtered chickens to stew with snakes, they killed three or four chickens, and the aroma filled half the village, so many people noticed it."

Shen Qinglan furrowed her brow, "Have you checked the poultry?"

"Poultry?" The County Magistrate frowned, "Actually, no, but because we were afraid the poultry might be infected too, no one dared to eat them, so they were all penned up."

Mu Jian’s eyes darkened, "Can you take me to see the penned-up poultry?"

The County Magistrate nodded, "Of course, please follow me!"

Shen Qinglan looked at the tents not far away, hearing the groans of pain, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Mu Jian handed a pill to the County Magistrate, "This can prevent the epidemic, you should take one."

The County Magistrate thanked him and swallowed the pill without a second thought. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

By the time they arrived, the chickens, ducks, and geese were all lethargically lying on the ground, some even feet up.

"How could this happen!" the County Magistrate exclaimed, "They were perfectly fine just a couple of days ago!"

Shen Qinglan bitterly smiled in response, unsure whether it was animal-to-human transmission or vice versa.

Mu Jian said gravely, "Gather the villagers who keep poultry and ask if there have been any inexplicable poultry deaths before."

Hearing this, the County Magistrate immediately sent someone to summon the villagers, and when they received answers, everyone fell silent.

A villager said, "Not many of our chickens died, just two or three, we thought they were bitten by something, so we didn’t eat them and threw them at the foot of the mountain."

"What?" the County Magistrate asked, "When did this happen?"

The villager answered nervously, "The day of the outbreak!"

Everyone’s hearts sank. Did the villager throw the dead chickens at the foot of the mountain, and is it possible those people, descending the mountain, saw the three dead chickens and brought them back to stew with snake?