As the "Sweet Epidemic Prevention Expansion Conference" at the Qingniu Medical Hall kicked off, it churned the city of Chang'an into a roiling pot of sweet porridge. In the public square, Huwa set up a "Preventive Epidemic Rainbow Tower" that spat out witty slogans. Atop the tower, a bronze ox sculpture stepped on an abacus based on *The Nine Chapters on Mathematical Art*, and its mouth "puffed" out a disinfecting mist carrying mnemonic formulas from the *Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold*, mixed with the aroma of garlic-flavored popcorn freshly developed by the Xiaotao Eatery.
"Listen up, everyone!" Huwa hoisted a lion-patterned sweet banner and leaped onto the high platform. "Today we're spreading the art of sweet prevention to the ends of the earth! Whoever comes up with the craziest trick first... gets my 'Exploding Cream Patent Candy' as a reward!" No sooner had his voice fallen than Dawa, an apprentice from Tibet, led over a yak that could spit out epidemic prevention chants in the Tibetan script, its horns hung with a thangka depicting "spit into the spittoon." Meanwhile, Jin, an apprentice from Silla, rolled out a "preventive top." The moment the top spun, it flung out mint-flavored disinfecting powder, decorated with a cartoon of Huwa riding an ox to fight dysentery bacteria.
In a masterstroke of sweet epidemic prevention, Huwa upgraded the "garlic steamed bun" into a "flying fortress"—stuffed to the brim with antibacterial bursting fillings and fitted …
Chapter 495