Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 103: Poisonous Gum

Returning at dusk, Gu Ying was taken aback to find the site she left the children in now deserted.

"Over here!" she heard Anji call before she saw the little girl popping out from thin air. "I set up a spell array with brother Mingshen in case you needed more time. It’s good, isn’t it?"

Sighing with relief, the Manchurian bodyguard smiled. It was a good spell array without flaws. If Anji had not called out to her, she would have believed they were kidnapped.

Apologised profusely for failing to find the fake doctor, Gu Ying noticed the crumbs on the side of Anji’s mouth. The children must have eaten some snacks while she was gone. However, she had no heart to berate them for eating snacks so close to dinnertime.

Stepping into the array, she soon realised that Anji and Mingshen were in the middle of playing Chinese chess. Anji wasn’t a horrible chess player. However, she had a horrible poker face. It was probably why Mingshen was winning this round.

"Did you find out anything else?" Mingshen asked, putting away the snacks now that Gu Ying returned.

Shaking her head, the Manchurian bodyguard only reported where the trial ended. The physician was a cultivator in disguise, but Gu Ying did not know which sect he was from. It was not a martial art from any of the mainstream orthodox sects in the Rainbow Alliance. However, she could not confirm if he was acting alone either. Everything about this incident seemed suspicious. Yet, they could not stop too long for further investigation. With only slightly more than two weeks to reach the Mystical Qilin Sect, it was unwise to stall for too long at one place.

If it hadn’t been for the threat it posed to Anji, Gu Ying and Mingshen would have spent more energy chasing the fake doctor. It was unfortunate that they had to let a crook loose in their territory. With the threat far away, they relaxed a little. With the immediate crisis over, Anji wondered if her guardians would allow her to help the doctorless village now. Those children required immediate medical attention.

"Can I see some of the patients?" Anji begged her brother. "If the disease is contagious for children, maybe I could see the less severe adults first?"

Concerned for Anji’s safety, Mingshen denied her request. However, Gu Ying, who had been following Anji for a few years now, agreed. Unlike her older brother, the female bodyguard knew Anji understood the unspoken code of a doctor on the battlefield. Doctor He pounded the philosophy of protecting herself first in any situation as a doctor. When a doctor dies, so will the army. Anji lived and breathed this mantra for a better part of her life, unknown to Mingshen.

"It’s ok, young master. Doctor He has taught our young lady well. She will not do anything reckless," Gu Ying reassured.

Nodding vigorously, Anji pulled her best puppy-eyed look on Mingshen, who caved in very quickly with a blush on his face. When his sister was young, she was adorable. Even after losing some of her baby fats, she was still adorable.

"A-alright," he stammered. "You must finish and return here before dinner. Gu Ying will accompany you."

Rejoicing at the permission, Anji reached out to Gu Ying, who helped the little lady climb down from the carriage. They promised to be back before the sun went down, leaving Mingshen to set up the camp and prepare dinner. The horses were also finally able to leave the protection array for some food and water while the scholarly teen hunted.

Leaving the carriage hand in hand, Gu Ying and Anji arrived at the village entrance. There was nobody around to greet them, but Gu Ying was already somewhat familiar with the village. She walked to the third house on the left row and knocked on that door. Anji examined the well at the centre of the village. The water supply area was kept clean, so it was unlikely that the water was the source of contamination.

"Good afternoon," Gu Ying greeted an old lady who opened the door. "I’m back with my young mistress whom I mentioned earlier. The village doctor fled the moment we invited him for questions. I’m afraid it’s our fault. However, my young mistress studied medicine with a skilled doctor as an apprentice for the past three years. Would you allow us to have a look at your husband, who is also suffering the same symptoms as the children?"

Looking down at the small child partially hidden behind the lady warrior, the old woman wondered what a small, rich young lady could do. However, she was not in any position to decline their kindness. Opening the door wider, the old woman welcomed them in and offered Anji a clean scarf to tie across her nose and mouth.

"Be careful not to get too close," she cautioned, wearing a similar scarf and handing a yellow one to Gu Ying. "You must wash your hands in alcohol after visiting my husband. Try not to touch anything else in the room. Although I sterilise everything in hot water daily, you might still get infected."

Surprised that the uneducated villagers knew about sterilisation, Anji asked if the previous village doctor who ran away had taught them that. Chuckling, the old woman shook her head.

"That quack constantly charges us expensive fees, selling us useless pills and slimming products. Not all of us older folks believe in those so-called miracle pills. However, many hopeful and foolish younger villagers fell for his scam. It was the old doctor who passed away that taught us the importance of hygiene to prevent common illnesses."

It was a shame the old doctor had already passed. He sounded like a great man who helped many villagers without asking for anything in return.

Entering the bedroom, Anji frowned. Judging from the man’s complexion, he appeared to be in pain. If it truly were cholera, there should not be any symptoms of abdominal cramps or fever. The old man on the bed was flushed and groaning while clutching his mid-section. At the same time, the elderly couple’s grandchild was retching into the chamber pot in the corner of the small room.

Glancing back at the elderly lady, Anji did not see any signs of a similar illness manifesting in her despite the close contact. Her suspicions grew. This might not be an epidemic capable of spreading from person to person. The source was something else.

While ushering the grandchild elsewhere, the old lady allowed Anji to take her husband’s pulse. According to Gu Ying, this was the village elder. He was one of the few people who opposed the new doctor, discouraging the young housewives from buying his beauty products and health supplements. The old doctor and this village elder were long-time friends. However, not everyone heeded his advice.

"How is he?" Gu Ying asked, checking on the old lady and her tired grandchild.

Frowning, Anji noticed the lack of low blood pressure that normally appeared in patients with cholera. The old man was suffering from a low-grade figure, and Anji confirmed his stomach was hurting. Instead of diarrhoea, the villagers were suffering from frequent vomiting.

Getting up from the bed, Anji returned to the room with the sick grandchild and kept her distance.

"When your husband and grandchild use the lavatory, are their stools watery and dark coloured or thin and white?"

Without hesitation, the old lady confirmed nobody in the village recalled thin and white watery stools.

"Many of them are vomiting anything they eat. My child cannot even stomach gruel. He would throw up as soon as he ate or drank anything. It is quite worrying because he often claims he feels thirsty."

Worry etched on her wrinkled face when she said that. Anji noted the new information and requested to take the child’s pulse. Uncertain, the old lady hesitated, but Anji told Gu Ying to prepare a flask of warm alcohol afterwards to sanitise. That assured the old lady enough to let Anji approach her sick grandson.

...

It was a misdiagnosis. After confirming the pulse with another patient, Anji knew for certain this was a severe case of food poisoning and not cholera. The remedy was so simple and right before everyone’s noses. However, the fake doctor made them purchase expensive herbs that did not work.

After Anji washed her hands in warm alcohol, she interrogated the villagers, using the old granny to gather everyone around. All the villagers claimed similar things about the infected patients. Eating was a problem, and anything the patients ate would be thrown up right away. Some had fever and pain in their stomachs or heads, in addition to watery stools that did not appear white.

"When did it start happening?" Anji asked the final and most important question.

Almost immediately, the villagers claimed that the symptoms happened on the same night, with some showing symptoms one day after eating the candied haw from the merchant who stopped by the village.

"My husband did not eat the candied haw," a young wife claimed with tears. "He hated sweets. However, he bought teeth-cleaning gum from the doctor when he gave it out to everyone who bought candied haws to eat. He said that the gum would help prevent tooth decay so the children could eat as many as they wanted."

Gum? Even after studying with Doctor He for so long, this was the first time Anji had heard of such a product.

"Could I see the gum?" Anji requested.

Thankfully, the woman’s husband still had a few pieces of gum and quickly retrieved it for Anji to examine. Although nobody doubted Anji’s medical knowledge, they could not help but wonder why a small rich young mistress with medical knowledge would stop by their village and help them. It was an incredible sight.

The gum was ordinary, made with resin and some herbs, including ashes. The villagers should have known better than to eat it. However, something in it was causing mass food poisoning.

"Is anybody still using this?" she asked. Several hands shot into the air.

"Throw it away," she instructed at once. "Burn it all. This is the source of contamination. Although some wood resin can be eaten, many health risks come with it, including toxic poisoning when not processed properly. The ash included in this gum does not remove the toxins that the resin contains."

If the fake doctor had not run away, some of the villagers might still hold onto their reservations and keep the gum. It was an expensive purchase, and Anji was a little girl who had only studied medicine. Trusting a doctor who had been with them for a few years or a young child from a rich family, the choice would have been obvious. However, they no longer had any grounds to believe anything the fake doctor sold them after he ran away. Hence, Anji watched them create a bonfire and tossed every product they ever bought from the fake doctor.

While that was happening, Anji told a few men from the village to gather all the charcoal they had in the village. She did not have her grinding stone here to create smaller pills for easier digestion. It would be difficult for sick children to eat raw charcoal, so she had to crush them and mix them into porridge as part of the medicine.

"Is this really all we have to do?" asked a woman with six children in disbelief.

Anji nodded. "After eating this for two days, they should stop vomiting. Charcoal has poison detoxification properties and porridge is easy on the stomach. Once they stop vomiting, you can introduce more soupy food and stomach-strengthening herbs."

Scribbling down her prescription, Anji made three variations for the old, young and adults. The dosage was different, something not every physician would do. However, Doctor He often told Anji that no two patients or conditions were the same. If she had the time and luxury, she would attend to every villager individually and customise their prescription. However, with a pressing deadline to be at her shifu’s sect in three weeks, this was the best she could do.

"I’m sorry I cannot do more for you," Anji explained. "We only stopped by for the night because it was along the way. There is still a long journey ahead. However, if you require any other assistance, you can send someone to Silver Water Town and request medicine or assistance from the Celestial Dragon Sect. My name is Zhao Anji. When they hear that I’ve been by here, they will definitely help you."

Although nobody in the village knew her identity, they quickly bowed in gratitude after learning she was an important person from a prestigious righteous sect known for its benevolence.

Receiving the villagers’ thanks, Anji waved urgently and left. The sky was already the colour of salmon. She promised her brother she would be back before dusk!