The physician examined the condition of those outside and attempted to apply herbal poultices to their wounds. Yet, the sores continued to fester and ooze with pus, cycling through stages of decay that were harrowing to behold.
Though Huang Xia was young, she was highly experienced. Having witnessed the fields of corpses during the Nancheng riots, she immediately suspected the source of a plague. Other physicians had tested a wide array of remedies based on that theory—from the cheap to the exotic—but all with little effect.
Zhen Wan sat nearby, leafing through ancient medical texts, when suddenly, she thought of houttuynia.
Chapter 70