In the front courtyard of Qingniu Medical Hall, a huge canvas awning was propped up. Huwa was standing on a ladder hanging a banner, and almost wrote "Epidemic Prevention Drama Grand Opening" as "Dysentery Big Chicken Grand Opening". He jumped down, patted his chest, and shouted, "Today we're not boiling medicine, we're putting on a grand show! Whoever performs the epidemic prevention knowledge the best gets a reward of garlic-flavored meat-stuffed candied haws from Xiaotao Eatery!"
As his voice trailed off, the apprentices rushed onto the makeshift earthen stage carrying props. Dawa, the apprentice from Tibet, climbed into a yak plush costume, topped with a prayer wheel headpiece that could scatter disinfectant powder. Kim, the apprentice from Silla, held up a glowing bamboo slip prop of *The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art*, looking for all the world like a time-traveling mathematical immortal. Huwa was the most outrageous of all: he wore a "battle armor" made of strings of garlic and a bubbling Qingniu helmet. As soon as he stood on the stage, the townsfolk below laughed so hard they clutched their stomachs.
The play was full of comedic blunders right from the start. The scene was supposed to be "Miraculous Hands Eliminate Dysentery from Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold", but the medical immortal played by Huwa pulled out a bamboo tube that played an epidemic prevention disco, and dragged the dysentery spirit into a yangge twist. The dysentery spirit w…
Chapter 518