Just two months after the dysentery outbreak in Guanzhong subsided, Qingniu Medical Hall was once again as bustling as Huwa's candy workshop on boiling day—though this time it wasn't an epidemic, but Huwa's self-styled "Dysentery Prevention Achievement Exhibition." In the medical hall's courtyard, a glowing "sweet-defense rainbow arch" was erected. From the mouth of the bronze green ox sculpture on top of the arch, speech bubbles containing golden quotes from the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold floated out, while its tail whipped back and forth, scattering disinfectant-scented, garlic-shaped sweet biscuits.
"Look sharp, everyone!" Huwa shouted through a megaphone as he walked on stilts. "Today we're showcasing our eighteen martial arts of sweet-defense!" The moment his voice trailed off, the youngest apprentices rushed onto the stage holding "medicine gourds that could recite herbal property verses." As the gourds were shaken, they gurgled out mint-flavored medicinal candies, accompanied by a jingle Huwa had made up: "Astragalus boosts Qi, Codonopsis strengthens the spleen, eat them up and kick dysentery bacteria right out of the scene!" The townspeople in the audience laughed so hard they slapped their thighs, and one elderly woman muttered between chews: "This is more thrilling than the storytelling I heard when I was young!"
For the master-level sweet-defense display, Shopkeeper Qian from Yangzhou rolled out the "Tongue Manifestation Predictor 2.0." When th…
Chapter 494