Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Wuchang
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Wuchang County was vast.
Among all the cities Wi Sowol had visited in this lifetime, Xi'an was by far the largest, but Wuchang seemed even more prosperous than Xi'an.
The earthquake had utterly demolished Xi'an, and the city that rose from its ruins had lost the vibrant energy of countless people. That vitality thrived here in Wuchang.
Wuchang had once served as a kingdom's capital, but in the current dynasty, it had grown explosively.
The turning point came when Emperor Taizu Hongwu enfeoffed his sixth son, Zhu Ju, as the Prince of Chu and granted him Wuchang as his fief.
The Chu Prince's Mansion was built in Wuchang.
A new citadel within the city walls—a royal palace.
Splendid palaces, halls, pavilions, and gardens sprang up everywhere, with no fewer than eight hundred chambers in the palace alone.
It was a colossal complex that swallowed nearly the entire central district of the capital.
Wuchang County—no, Wuchang Prefecture, and even all of Hubei Province—seemed to fall under the Chu Prince's Mansion.
But the glory of the Chu Prince's Mansion ended there.
"When the Rebellion of Prince of Yan Zhu Di failed, the Chu Prince's Mansion was abolished as well."
The Prince of Yan had dared to violate the sacred emperor, so the other regional princes had to share the punishment.
If they hadn't wanted that, they should have mobilized their armies from the start to guard the emperor and support the young sovereign.
Yet when the Prince of Yan marched on the capital to assault the imperial palace, it wasn't another prince who aided the boy emperor—it was a martial artist of the jianghu.
"That's when the Nangong Clan received the title of Sword King, right?"
Hwangboyun chimed in with his own knowledge of jianghu history.
To honor that feat, the head of the Nangong Clan had borne the moniker Sword King through every generation since.
Jindamsun confirmed it matter-of-factly and continued.
"Correct. The Nangong patriarch of that era crossed blades directly with the Prince of Yan to rescue Emperor Hyejong, the Geonmun Emperor. The royal title was little more than a non-hereditary honor, but to this day, the Nangong Clan enjoys privileges from the throne nearly equal to an Iron Voucher Exempting from Execution."
But it wasn't all smooth sailing for the Nangong Clan either.
The imperial house, having felt the full might of the jianghu, began subtly curbing the clan situated so near the capital. After Emperor Hyejong's passing, they forced the Nangong Clan to relocate from Hefei to Nanchang County.
It wasn't a bad deal for the Nangong Clan, though.
Compared to Hefei, where they couldn't escape the throne's watchful eye, securing a stake in Nanchang County—one of Jiangnan's key trade hubs—suited their ambitions far better.
The emperor and the Nangong Clan had each gained a mutually satisfying outcome aligned with their interests.
Even now, the Nangong Clan proudly displayed the throne-granted plaque reading "Sword King House" and kept friendly ties with the imperial family.
That irked the nearby Hegemonic Sect to no end.
The Yangtze trade routes rivaled—or surpassed—the northern Silk Road in value, ripe for monopoly. But with the Nangong Clan's move to Nanchang, they'd have to share the spoils.
The Hegemonic Sect walked the same pro-imperial line, after all.
"The story veered off a bit, but once the Chu Prince's Mansion was abolished, its palace buildings were torn down or sold off. The Hegemonic Sect snapped up most of them."
"So all those palace compounds belong to the Hegemonic Sect?"
"Indeed."
Hwangboyun let out a low whistle.
Honestly, the Hwangbo Clan was impressive in his eyes, but it paled next to the Hegemonic Sect's splendor.
The Hwangbo Clan's coffers overflowed from lavishly skimming Silk Road profits.
Yet the Hegemonic Sect, printing money off the Yangtze trade, outdid them.
"Truly the foremost of the unorthodox sects."
"You'll see even more later."
Wi Sowol, who had listened silently until then, finally spoke.
"Why?"
"Because it spans beyond Wuchang to Hanyang County and Hankou Town."
No retort of "What's that supposed to mean?" followed.
Instead, a transmission message tickled Wi Sowol's eardrum.
Wi Sowol considered sending one back but held off, figuring Jindamsun would explain anyway.
"Just as the physician says. Lately, with Hankou Town's development, Wuchang's people are flocking there. The same goes for Hanyang County across the river. And since Hankou Town falls under Hanyang County, it's even busier than Wuchang."
Hanyang County lay across the Yangtze, facing Wuchang.
Hankou Town lay across the Han River, facing Hanyang.
Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou felt like neighboring towns, just a river crossing apart.
The brief history and geography lesson for Hwangboyun wrapped up there.
Wi Sowol recalled their purpose in coming to Wuchang County.
Left unchecked, the history might stretch all the way back to Sun Quan's era, when the county first earned its Wuchang name.
"Slums first."
"You sure? We just got off the boat..."
"Right. You get seasick too, Sowol."
"I don't."
What nonsense.
Wi Sowol nipped Hwangboyun's baseless rumor in the bud and shoved Jindamsun's back.
"Lead on. I don't know Wuchang's layout."
"Understood. Still, if you tire, say the word anytime."
A Hegemonic Sect disciple, yet so well-mannered.
She almost wanted to meet his parents.
Harboring that thought, Wi Sowol glanced back at the fool who'd run off to "try some snacks."
His coltish frame—how could he be less mature than a younger boy?
Maybe the Hwangbo Clan's education lagged behind the Hegemonic Sect's.
"You're thinking something rude, aren't you?"
"Nah. Just checking you're keeping up."
"Hmph..."
His instincts were annoyingly sharp.
Wi Sowol turned back to Jindamsun.
"Anyway, treating slum patients means we'll need herbs."
Like any wandering physician, Wi Sowol carried a decent stock.
Neither she nor Hwangboyun cared for clothes or jewelry like other girls their age, so seventy percent of their packs held herbs and surgical tools.
Still, far too little to treat a metropolis's slums.
Jindamsun assured her not to worry.
"No need. Prescribe, and I'll handle procurement."
"Don't the Medical Bureau monopolize Wuchang's pharmacies?"
"They can't control the Huimin Pharmacy too."
The Huimin Pharmacy was a state institution.
Founded for indigent care, it fell under the Imperial Medical Academy's oversight for physicians and medicines.
Even the Hegemonic Sect couldn't meddle openly there.
Not overtly, directly anyway.
Naturally, the Hegemonic Sect had its hooks in the Huimin Pharmacy.
Essential for monopolizing medicine.
But that constraint didn't bind Jindamsun personally.
A bit burdensome, sure.
But expected from the start.
[Young master, word of this will rile the Medical Bureau. We can't afford to antagonize them yet...]
Baek Pa sent an urgent transmission, startled by Jindamsun's words, but he didn't flinch.
"Plus, Wuchang's Huimin Pharmacy originated from the Liangyi Office set up during the Chu Prince's Mansion era, so their herbs are top quality."
The Liangyi Offices served princes dispatched to distant fiefs with sub-fiefs.
With the mansion abolished, so too the office—in name only. They'd just swapped the sign for Huimin Pharmacy and carried on.
But did Wi Sowol not suspect as much?
'No way the Hegemonic Sect monopolized medicine without pulling strings at the Huimin Pharmacy.'
Jindamsun brimmed with confidence that he could mobilize it.
Young as he was, it didn't ring like boyish bravado.
Hwangboyun sensed it too.
[Sowol, you sure? Doesn't seem Hegemonic Sect. More like a scholar-official's son.]
[Escorts, remember?]
[Scholar young masters hire ronin or sellswords for tours too. Our Hwangbo Clan makes a killing that way.]
Martial artists had endless money-making paths.
In this era of booming tourism.
Escort firms and caravans exploded, swelling the jianghu alongside.
Guards against man-eaters, bandits stripping purse and life, and rogue martial artists akin to disasters—the escort trade enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, shattering records daily.
"Got it for now."
Some doubts lingered, but she'd trust the man who'd brought him.
Wuchang's slums hugged the eastern outskirts.
The Yangtze lay west.
The farther from waterways, the less tied to upstream shipping and trade.
'Easy to slip away if trouble brews.'
A fine spot for Wi Sowol.
"Ugh... this place is rough."
Hwangboyun wrinkled his nose at the slums.
The stench was brutal.
Not mere beggar reek.
"What're the Beggars' Sect doing?"
"You think any're here?"
Beggars aplenty, Beggars' Sect disciples? None.
That was Wuchang.
"Dam Seon bro, you good? We're here—job done. Sowol and I'll jot prescriptions later and send 'em. Just point the spot and head back to rest."
Hwangboyun bore a Heavenly Physique as a peak expert; Wi Sowol had endured far worse in training.
The slums' foul miasma, drawn into her Nine Yin Absolute Meridian, grated fiercely but was tolerable.
The smell? She'd donned her beak mask earlier.
"No. I escorted you both—proper to see it through."
"Fine. Contact point, then go."
Wi Sowol said.
The mask's beak herbs were losing potency, the scent fading.
"Poison miasma. Tough to take."
"I..."
"I'm not here to humor your stubbornness."
*Go whine to your parents.* The retort nearly escaped, but she bit it back.
Her past life sometimes roughed her tongue.
"My apologies. I'll head to the Huimin Pharmacy first. Reach me there."
"Huimin Pharmacy? Roger."
Hwangboyun answered for Wi Sowol—he knew the drill anyway.
"Then, good fortune."
"Yeah. Rest up, Dam Seon bro. We'll link later."
Hwangboyun waved Jindamsun off, then scurried to Wi Sowol's side and prodded her ribs.
"Why so prickly? We stuck together fine on the boat. Miasma hitting that hard?"
"...Who knows. Round up patients anyway."
Wi Sowol calling folks one by one was inefficient, so Hwangboyun drummed up crowds while she sat for pulses.
The Weird Physician's method—their routine during clinic stops from Gansu here.
She claimed a clearing and beckoned the nearest patient.
Show her physician's skill, offer a pulse read—he tottered over.
Wi Sowol's eyes flicked over him fast.
Advanced age.
Faint cough, flushed complexion.
Feverish.
The pulse confirmed it.
"Floating-rapid pulse, wind-heat assaulting the lungs. It'll turn to lung fire at this rate. How bad's the cough?"
"Y-yes?"
The elder blinked, uncomprehending.
Wi Sowol simplified.
"Cough and phlegm—how're they?"
"Ah... cough a lot. Phlegm keeps clogging—chest... stays stuffy here."
A few more questions, then Hwangboyun returned piggybacking a patient.
Unfazed by contagion.
Even a mongrel recites verse after three years in a schoolyard.
Hwangboyun had heard and seen all sorts beside Wi Sowol.
He knew contagion well.
Not mere cockiness in his skills and build.
Even risking infection, his chivalrous resolve to aid the weak shone bright in his clear eyes.
"Breaths too quick—rushed her in."
"Good call."
Wi Sowol unleashed Dazed Haze Hand swift.
Emergency hold on breathing, but the woman drifted in haze.
Wi Sowol pulsed and probed her frame.
"No rush surgery. Bo Yun, crowd right size? Watch her close. Airway if she chokes again."
"Gotcha."
She pulsed on through the arrivals.
First the elder, then the middle-aged woman.
Two or three more lung cases after, tension gripped Wi Sowol.
'Warm epidemic?'
Contagion maybe.
No word of Shaanxi's plague reaching Jiangnan, but merchants plied here—spread wouldn't shock.
And plagues aside, warm epidemics swept Jiangnan now and then.
But more patients shifted her view.
'Odd.'
Symptoms this varied clustering? Hitting diverse folks at once?
Not simple ailments either.
Pulses all over the map.
Constitutions vary, sure—even same illness tweaks pulses.
This was extreme.
Then, probing one patient, Wi Sowol's head snapped up, scanning the gathered crowd.
Men, women, elders, youths.
All ages.
Chills crawled her skin.
No mistake.
This was...
'Someone deliberately spreading sickness.'
Wi Sowol grasped the sticky unease amid the miasma.
Pure, venomous malice.