67: Chapter 67 Hiding Drugs

Gouzi led Yun Song out of the village entrance.

After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, a dilapidated Daoist temple appeared through the gaps in the trees.

Upon reaching the entrance, a pungent odor rushed to meet them.

He stopped in his tracks, raised his right hand to press on Gouzi's shoulder, and lowered his voice to a whisper: "Gouzi, once we go in later, stay away from me. It would be best to find a corner to wait in and don't wander around, understand?"

Gouzi's eyes were full of confusion; they were clearly here to get medicine, so why did he need to hide? But looking at Yun Song's tense face, he didn't dare ask more and just nodded obediently: "I understand."

As soon as the two stepped through the door, they saw over a dozen villagers crowded in the courtyard, surrounding a person wearing yellow Daoist robes.

Some clutched copper coins in one hand and reached out with the other for the paper packet handed over by the Daoist priest, their hands still trembling incessantly.

Others clutched their stomachs, squatting on the ground with cold sweat seeping from their foreheads.

There was also a Gouzis Mother holding a child; the child's eyes were closed, their small face flushed red, and they kept whimpering.

Yun Song quietly blended into the crowd, kicked the broken bricks at his feet with seeming casualness, and swept his gaze across every corner of the courtyard.

The door to the east wing was slightly ajar, the inside pitch-black and bottomless.

A few bundles of firewood were piled in the west corner, stained with some dark marks that were congealed and unmoving.

The door to the main room behind the Daoist priest was tightly shut, its door knocker covered in rust, evidently untouched for a long time.

He observed for a moment, figuring out the situation in the Daoist temple; apart from the villagers getting medicine, only the Daoist priest was there distributing it.

Taking advantage of the gap while the villagers were crowded around the Daoist priest getting medicine, he slipped into the backyard.

Just as he pushed the door open, a more pungent medicinal smell rushed into his nostrils, choking him and causing him to hold his breath instinctively.

Several chipped clay pots were placed on the stove, filled with brown medicinal dregs.

In the stone mortar nearby, some green powder remained, and the unburnt firewood in the stove was emitting faint smoke, staining the stove pitch-black.

He leaned over to the stone mortar, picked up a bit of the powder with his fingertips, and sniffed it; it was licorice, bupleurum, and a few other herbs for clearing heat and detoxifying, all common medicines for treating dysentery.

But just as he turned to leave, his peripheral vision caught a bundle of herbs hanging on the wall.

The leaves were lanceolate, with small light purple flowers, and the stems were covered in fine fuzz.

Yun Song whispered to himself: "It's Heartbreak Grass!"

This herb's toxicity isn't very strong; when ground into powder and mixed with water, it's colorless and tasteless. If ingested, it causes abdominal pain and diarrhea, symptoms identical to dysentery.

Thinking back to the villagers' pale faces, trembling hands, and the Daoist priest's expressionless demeanor, he suddenly realized the truth.

The illness in the village was not a natural disaster at all; it was poison deliberately administered by this Daoist priest!

He quietly exited the door, latched it behind him, and walked back to the front courtyard as if nothing had happened.

Passing the west corner, he gave Gouzi a subtle look. Gouzi was quick-witted and immediately crouched down, slipping behind the firewood pile to hide.

Half an hour passed; the villagers finished collecting their medicine and left, stumbling one by one, until only a few people were left in the courtyard.

The Daoist priest suddenly raised his head, his drooping eyelids snapping open, shooting two cold glares straight at him. His voice was hoarse, like metal scraping over stone: "Young man, are you here for medicine? I've watched you pacing around here for nearly an hour."

Yun Song was startled, but immediately plastered a smile on his face. He clutched his stomach with his right hand, furrowed his brow, and feigned an expression of extreme pain. He even stumbled intentionally, his trouser leg brushing against the medicinal dregs on the ground.

He took the opportunity to fish out a few copper coins from his pocket, clutched them in his hand, and held them out, muttering: "Daoist priest, I am here for medicine! Just now, seeing the fellow villagers in such pain, some couldn't even stand, I thought I'd let them go first. It's fine if I get mine later."

"This money is what I've saved for half a month, hoping that you, Daoist priest, would bestow medicine to save my life!"

"Oh?"

The Daoist priest squinted his eyes slightly: "You are quite well-versed in the rules. Since that's the case, come here, and I will give you medicine."