In the thirty-second year of Yuanshou, Qinghe County.
Dawn was just breaking, and the sky remained in a chaotic haze. The long street was buried tightly under a night of heavy snow. Fine snowflakes still swirled in the air, soaking the faded peach wood charms on the dilapidated wooden door at the alley entrance.
It was New Year's Eve, yet not a single sound of firecrackers could be heard in the county town. Every household kept their doors and windows tightly shut, the atmosphere heavy with death.
From the depths of a dim room came a few suppressed, intermittent coughs, followed immediately by the voice of a young child: "Mother, I'm going to the well to fetch some water."
A long while later, a weak woman's voice came from the inner room: "Don't go playing around. Come back soon."
"I know, Mother."
The rotting wooden door creaked open with a "squeak," and a girl of about eight or nine walked out. She was wrapped in an ill-fitting old cotton-padded jacket and wore on her feet a pair of cotton shoes with worn-through soles. She tightened the felt hat on her head, lifted a chipped wooden bucket, and headed into the street against the wind and snow.
Three months ago, Qinghe County was struck by the Black Death. The plague came with the ferocity of a tiger, felling households one after another. At first, it was just a high fever, followed by total body weakness, leaving one paralyzed in bed. Then red spots appeared on the skin. Within a few days, the body began to fester, and the victim died a miserable death on their bed. The corpses were all rolled up in straw mats by the yamen runners and hurriedly hauled outside the city to the mass graves for incineration.
The Lu family originally had five members; now only Lu Li could barely manage to get out of bed. Relying solely on her, a nine-year-old child, to care for her parents and older siblings lying in bed was truly difficult.
The well platform was in front of the old temple to the east, but Lu Li carried her bucket and walked in the opposite direction, toward the west of the city. The soles of her shoes were worn through, and icy snow water seeped bit by bit into her socks, freezing the little girl's face deathly pale.
Crossing more than half the county town, signs of life grew increasingly sparse, yet the surrounding residences became more and more grand. Turning into a deep alley, a three-courtyard-deep vermilion lacquer gate suddenly appeared before her eyes. Lu Li stopped her steps, walked to the stone lion beside the mansion gate, huddled her body, and sat down.
This was the residence of Qian Wanguan, the county magistrate.
Since the plague raged, nine out of ten houses in the county were empty, and living people were rarely seen on the streets. Occasionally, someone would pass by, but it was always runners hurriedly pulling handcarts full of corpses. The couplets at the Qian Mansion entrance were still from last year, the ink washed indistinct by rain and snow. However, beside the pillars under the porch, a brand new carriage was tied up.
The chestnut horse pulling the carriage lowered its head, glanced at her, then lowered its head again to lick the snow water in the stone trough. Lu Li shrank further behind the stone lion, hugged her knees, and stared blankly at the vermilion gate.
Dark clouds hung heavy overhead, and the cold wind howled past with large masses of snowflakes. Suddenly, a "creak" was heard, and the heavy gate opened. A person walked out from inside.
Beneath a snow-white skirt hem peeked a pair of pale green shoes embroidered with cloud patterns, with a round pearl embedded on the surface. The skirt sleeves fluttered lightly in the wind, the texture thin as clouds and mist. Looking up, it was a snow-white silk gauze.
The newcomer was a woman wearing a veil hat.
The woman stepped over the threshold and just as she was about to move forward, she suddenly felt the hem of her skirt being grabbed. She turned her head and saw the little girl by her feet clutching the corner of her clothes tightly, asking timidly: "Excuse me... are you the doctor who cured the Qian family's young master?"
The woman's figure paused. Only after a moment did she speak, her voice like jade striking stone, clear and cold with a hint of chill: "Why do you ask?"
Lu Li pursed her dry, cracked lips and said in a small voice: "I've been guarding here for a month. I haven't seen the Qian family young master's corpse carried out. These past few days, you are the only unfamiliar face coming in and out of the Qian Mansion." She raised her head, her gaze burning as she looked at the person before her. "You are the doctor who cured the Qian family young master, aren't you?"
Lu Li had been squatting guard at the county magistrate's residence for exactly a month. A month ago, she went to the medicine shop to gather herbs and happened to bump into the Qian family's carriage stopped outside the medical hall, with a servant supporting the coughing Eldest Young Master Qian as he went inside.
Eldest Young Master Qian had also contracted that Black Death.
In Qinghe County, the number of people falling ill every day was countless, and the medical hall simply couldn't admit them all, let alone having any medicine to cure them. Ordinary people who contracted the disease could only wait to die at home. But Magistrate Qian had only this one sole son; he would surely spend his entire family fortune to protect his son's life.
Lu Li guarded the Qian Mansion entrance day and night. She saw this strange woman enter the mansion gate, and vaguely, a strange medicinal fragrance drifted out from within the courtyard walls. One day, two days, three days... for a full twenty days, no white funeral banners were ever hung before the Qian Mansion.
That plague, from onset to death, took at most half a month. Now, a month had passed.
Eldest Young Master Qian did not die; he survived.
The woman lowered her eyes to look at Lu Li. The veil hat covered her face, so Lu Li couldn't see her expression clearly, but she could hear a hint of carelessness in her voice. "Correct. I cured him."
Lu Li's heart gave a sudden jump.
This plague had raged for three months. The doctors in the city had died in batches one after another, and no healer nearby dared to set foot in this place anymore. The people of Qinghe County were all waiting for death. Now that this woman could cure Eldest Young Master Qian, Qinghe County could be saved.
"Miss, can you cure this plague?" Lu Li asked tentatively and carefully.
The woman laughed softly. "I don't cure plagues; I only resolve strange poisons. Since it is a poison, there is an antidote."
Lu Li listened, understanding only half, and pleaded in a low voice: "Miss... can you save my family?"
The woman lowered her head. Lu Li could feel that gaze land upon herself, as if measuring something. Just as she was trembling with anxiety, she heard the person before her say: "Alright." Before she could be happy, the woman continued speaking. "However, my consultation fee is very expensive."
Lu Li froze. "...How much?"
"Magistrate Qian paid eight hundred taels of silver to buy his son's life. Little girl, how many people are in your family?"
Lu Li stared blankly at her.
Her father was just a poor scholar, and after falling ill, he had long been dismissed from the academy. Her mother usually relied on doing embroidery work for shops to supplement the family income; life was already tight, and now with no income coming in, money for medicine was spent like flowing water. Her older sister and older brother's illnesses were also getting heavier by the day... Let alone eight hundred taels of silver, even eight taels was something this family could not produce.
The woman laughed softly, bypassed Lu Li, and walked straight toward the carriage.
Lu Li looked at her back, and the scene of the bitter medicinal smell in that dim room, her mother's despairing tears, her father's heavy sighs, her older sister's gentle comfort, and her older brother's forced smile flashed through her mind... She suddenly chased after her: "Miss!"
The woman's steps paused, but she did not look back.
"Thud."
Lu Li knelt straight down and said urgently: "I... my family doesn't have that much silver. I can sell myself to you. I can do any kind of work. I can endure hardship!" As if afraid the other party wouldn't believe her, she hurriedly spread her hands, revealing those white, tender palms that still held a childish air. "All the housework at home is done by me. I know how to do everything! I beg Miss to save my family. I am willing to be an ox or a horse for Miss for the rest of my life!"
The felt hat on her head rolled onto the ground, and her forehead knocked heavily against the snowy ground. Icy snow water soaked the hem of her clothes. The sky was gloomy, and the north wind made the lanterns under the eaves sway wildly.
After a long time, a voice sounded faintly: "Sell yourself to me?"
"I know I'm not worth that much silver," Lu Li's voice carried a sobbing tone, "but I can do anything... really, I can do anything..."
A pair of hands reached out and pulled her up from the ground.
"Being my servant means enduring a lot of hardship. You won't regret it?"
Lu Li murmured.