Zhang Ping and Wumei were brought to the Medicine King Temple with their hands tied behind their backs. Commander Yu was in the hall, planning troop movements with the aid of a sand table. The headman and Medical Officials Gao and Li were with him.

Commander Yu looked up, his face murderous.

“You dare pester us at a critical time like this? Get them out of here, give them thirty strikes!”

As Wumei’s vision darkened, Medical Official Li spoke: “These two were present during the examination of the bodies. Perhaps they made some useful observations. It won’t hurt you to listen, sir.”

Commander Yu gazed coldly at Wumei and Zhang Ping for a moment, then dismissed the soldiers attending on him.

The hall’s doors were shut. Zhang Ping bowed slightly. “Commander, the three merchants in Bridgehead Village may have been murdered.”

The air in the hall grew frigid. Commander Yu’s eyes narrowed. “What did you say?”

Zhang Ping looked up. “There is no such thing as a corpse that can kill. Those bodies were deliberately positioned. The scene was staged.”

The headman and the two medical officials all had different reactions to this. Commander Yu, meanwhile, stared at Zhang Ping as if he beheld a lunatic, rotating in his hand the wooden dowel he had been about to plant in the sand table. “The three traveling merchants who died a few days ago had absolutely no connection to Stonybend or Bridgehead Village. The county yamen has investigated, and neither the deceased Old Xiao, nor his family, nor anyone at the inn where they spent the night, had had any previous contact with the three dead men. There were no merchants passing through or staying at the inn apart from the three of them. The deceased merchants’ possessions were all present and accounted for. It wasn’t revenge, and it wasn’t burglary. During their time in town, the three of them started no quarrels and caused no feuds, did not gamble, did not visit prostitutes or have any liaisons. Murder? To what end?”

Zhang Ping said, “Sir, please investigate what those three people did in the area when the plague happened years ago. The positioning of the bodies and everything that has followed has been done first to ascribe these events to evil spirits, and second to draw an obvious association with rabies.”

Commander Yu snorted coldly. “Utter nonsense! Do you think that the youngster who died the next day and the two today were also murdered? Who can force a person to kill chickens with their teeth then leave their corpse stretched out at the edge of the village?! Are you going to tell me it wasn’t a living person but a ghost?!”

“The dead chickens and the position of the corpse could have been staged,” said Zhang Ping.

Commander Yu crossed his arms. “How? And why? Wouldn’t the killer need to be able to perform some kind of hypnosis to get a dead man to bite a chicken and drink its blood?”

“The very fact that the deceased killed so many chickens without the villagers noticing, and that they only discovered the body the next day, is extremely suspicious in itself,” said Zhang Ping.

Commander Yu tossed aside the wooden dowel. 

Medical Official Li said, “At present, of the seven dead, apart from Qiao Xiaozhao, whose body was discovered the morning of the eleventh, none of the bodies have shown signs of illness. There does seem to be more here than meets the eye.”

Commander Yu fixed his gaze on him. “I seem to recall you not believing in ghosts.”

Medical Official Li cast down his eyes. “I only think that it is too early to determine that this is another plague like rabies. It is enough to instruct the villagers to steer clear of the river, and not to drink well water, either. Large gatherings in this grueling heat will breed illness where there wasn’t any to begin with.”

The headman mopped his sweaty brow. “The two who died today both drank well water, you heard that already, Medical Official Li. The underground reservoirs are connected. If two families’ wells have been contaminated, it must extend to the whole village.”

Medical Official Li’s expression was blank. “The ashes of those who died during the plague were buried far away from the water source. Even if there was some lingering sickness in the ashes that seeped into the soil through years of exposure to rain, it still couldn’t have contaminated the well water. Someone poisoning the water, or a diseased corpse falling into it, are other matters.”

“If the well water has been contaminated,” the headman said in a quavering voice, “will you take responsibility, Medical Official Li?!”

Medical Official Gao intervened. “It’s true that, just in case, we should institute precautions before any illness has a chance to spread. That will make everyone feel safer.”

In a level tone, Medical Official Li said, “In my humble opinion, there is no need to seal the wells yet. We should have the villagers dredge their wells and put cloth coverings over them, and boil water before drinking it. If anything happens, I’m prepared to answer for it with my life.”

The headman’s face became suffused with red. “Medical Official Li, pardon me for being direct, but how many villagers will your one life protect?”

“Enough!” cried Commander Yu. He picked up another wooden dowel and stuck it in the sand table. “It’s scorching hot, and there’s hundreds of people in this village. The water they require for drinking and other purposes is no small matter. It will take at least a day or two for a delivery of water from the yamen to come through. Suddenly sealing the wells will spark a panic. For now, we’ll do as Medical Official Li says. We’ll institute a strict patrol on all residences, especially the houses of the deceased. If we notice anyone acting strangely, we’ll quarantine them. Those are my orders, and I, Yu Mingche, will bear the responsibility!” 

The headman heaved a lengthy sigh. “If those are your orders, Commander, the villagers and I must abide by them.” He bowed and left.

“Sir, this is a murder case,” Zhang Ping reiterated. “If the culprit is not found at once, they will kill again!”

Commander Yu’s eyes narrowed. “You mysticism-peddling fraud, interfering at a time like this! Execution’s the only way to deal with you. Guards! Take them away!”

Medical Official Li stepped in front of Zhang Ping. “Commander, everyone is petrified. These two are the only ones who believe this isn’t a disease. They can stand the night watch with the bodies. We’ve yet to locate the coroner, and they know something about medicine. Can’t you spare them so they can help me for the time being?”

Commander Yu looked fixedly at Medical Official Li. “Is that truly what you want?”

Medical Official Li looked at the ground. “I do not mean to oppose you, Commander. It’s just that, as a physician, I cannot rashly pronounce this to be an illness. Also, I wish to perform autopsies on the bodies of the two men who died today. Please permit it, sir.”

Commander Yu let out a long breath. “Those two men’s families already want to rip you to shreds right now. Let’s come back to this question once we’ve found the coroner.”

Medical Official Li joined his hands in a salute. “Then we won’t burn the bodies today. Thank you, Commander.”

Commander Yu’s face was ashen. 

Zhang Ping spoke again: “Commander, please protect the others who carried the bodies.”

Commander Yu’s expression turned wrathful. “Begone at once!” 

“The other six who carried the corpses have been isolated and put under guard by Commander Yu.” This was Medical Official Li’s brief account to Zhang Ping and Wumei as they left the Medicine King Temple.

Wumei, wiping a mixture of hot and cold sweat from his brow, smiled ingratiatingly. “The commander is wise.”

“Purely in connection with an illness, those people ought to be put under heavy surveillance, anyway,” Medical Official Li said tepidly. “I don’t think you two are really priests.”

Zhang Ping agreed with this statement. Still watching Medical Official Li, he said, “You said earlier that one of the people who died previously had symptoms of illness. Could you explain in more detail?”

Briefly again, Medical Official Li said, “His lungs had festered. That is why I want to perform autopsies on the two who died later.”

Zhang Ping paused a moment. “What about his family?”

“He had no family,” said Medical Official Li.

Another crowd of villagers rushed at Medical Official Li, who told Zhang Ping and Wumei to go back to the shed before turning to meet the crowd.

Wumei hauled Zhang Ping away at a trot. Suddenly, a voice from beside him said, “Please wait, Daozhangs.”

Wumei followed the sound and saw that it was the headman who had waylaid them.

“Earlier, in the temple, I spoke rudely to Medical Official Li out of frustration. I didn’t mean anything by it. I also made trouble for the two of you. I hope you can forgive me.”

Wumei was deeply flattered. “Think nothing of it, sir. We were the ones adding to the village’s troubles and giving you extra work.”

“We aren’t as well-acquainted with Medical Official Li as you, sir,” said Zhang Ping. “You can speak directly to him.”

Wumei gave him a pinch, while the headman paused for a moment, then said peaceably, “I saw the two of you arrive with Commander Yu, then work with Medical Official Li, and I know that Commander Yu and Medical Official Li are friends, so…I misunderstood.”

Wumei let out a laugh. “We were just passing by and got pulled in.” As soon as the laughter left his mouth, he realized it was inappropriate for the current situation and cast a furtive look around. He was startled to find a few soldiers standing not far away, pikes in hand, looking in his direction.

The headman said, “I have urgent business with the village people, so I’ll have to leave you. If there’s anything you two need, just tell me or have someone pass on a message to me.”

Wumei prodded Zhang Ping into thanking the headman along with him, then watched the headman retreat into the distance. He sighed. “What a nice place this is. How can such a catastrophe happen here? I believe Medical Official Li when he says this isn’t a plague. I’m sure these are all good people who have only good things coming to them.”

“Indeed, it is no plague,” said Zhang Ping.

Wumei quickly gestured to indicate that they were being watched and said in a low voice, “You nearly scared me to death just now. It’s a good thing Medical Official Li is such a nice person, or we’d never make it out of this village alive. Why did you have to say all that?”

Zhang Ping’s brow furrowed. “Those people really were murdered, and the killer will do it again.”

As Wumei drew in a hissing breath, the nearby crowd suddenly erupted into chaos.

“Again, it’s happened again!”

“Another one dead! And it’s that place!!”

The man who had died by the river wasn’t a villager, but the missing coroner.

By the time the body was brought, it was late afternoon. Figures circulated through the empty field where the ashes of the dead were buried, sprinkling offerings of jellied soup as they went.

“Father, Mother, it’s nearly dark—the sun is going down—the heat has passed—come out and have some soup—it’s time for the festival—your son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren are here to bring you soup—Father, Mother, come out and have some—”

These figures staggered in the light of the setting sun with their long shadows stretched behind them, their cries dissipating in the twilight as they waded through the tall grass.

Since the plague many years ago, the people of Stonybend and Bridgehead Villages only visited graves near sunset.

Watched by soldiers, Wumei and Zhang Ping stood beneath the tree at the highest point of the hill, silently observing.

The scene below them resembled the bank of the Wangchuan River in the underworld, while elsewhere a dense, dark crowd trailed in a slow procession after the stretcher carrying the coroner’s body.

Commander Yu himself stood in front of the shed. The soldiers drew their weapons, and the villagers drew back to form a half-circle.

“What is this sickness? Is there medicine to treat it? Tell us something!”

“Even one of the government’s people is dead! Do something already!”

The headman stepped between the soldiers and the villagers and asked the villagers to settle down for now, there would certainly be answers for everyone. The villagers refused to buy this, and their shouts only became more earthshaking.

The soldiers did their best to hold them back while Medical Officials Li and Gao hastened into the shed along with the stretcher.

Zhang Ping very much wanted to go in as well, but he was blocked by the soldiers keeping an eye on him.

“The two of you are dressed in Daoist robes. It will only make things worse if the people see you. My apologies.”

The elderly constable who had spoken to them during the day ambled over and sighed. “If it weren’t for Medical Official Li’s being here, things would probably have gotten out of hand already.”

Wumei scratched the back of his head. “Medical Official Li’s medical skills are profound. He’s said all along that this isn’t an illness.”

One of the soldiers put in, “Medical Official Li is the only one who can say such a thing, under the circumstances. Anyone else would have been torn to pieces by the villagers by now.”

Wumei didn’t understand this, and Zhang Ping asked, “Is there some connection between Medical Official Li and this village?”

The soldier was taken aback. “Hasn’t anyone told you yet? Back during the plague years ago, Medical Official Li’s father died to save the people here.”

Wumei let out an exclamation.

The old constable sighed at length. “At first, no one could find the source of that plague, and more and more people were falling sick and biting others like ghouls, and those they bit became ghouls as well. Everyone was saying that the people here had committed some sin, and these evil spirits were making them answer for it.”

Another soldier said, “Even our commander’s older brother was infected and died then.”

“Is Commander Yu from this village, then?” asked Wumei, surprised.

“No,” said the soldier. “You two really do have minds above the material world, huh? Our commander’s family is the county seat’s first family. Didn’t you hear about them when you came through town?”

Wumei was embarrassed. “You’ll have to excuse us. My shidi and I have no money for expenses, so we didn’t stop in town.”

The old constable said, “The commander’s father, Squire Yu, is generous with his wealth, one of the greatest philanthropists in the whole province. What a pity that heaven can be so callous! The commander’s older brother was studying at a villa nearby and was unluckily infected with the plague. Later, the squire gave the villa to the county, and it was converted into an academy.”

Zhang Ping looked thoughtfully down the slope as the old constable continued: “There were more horrors here then than in the eighteen levels of hell, truly. Many people petitioned the government to torch the whole area. It was a lucky thing that Medical Official Li’s father was passing through town. He discovered that the source of the disease was a sick dog who had died by the shore and polluted the river.”

Wild animals ate the sick dog’s corpse or drank the water and became infected themselves, then bit people or domestic animals; the sickness passed to those who were bitten, and so it spread and became a plague.

There was no cure for rabies; infection could only end in death. But the government did what Medical Official Li’s father advised—isolated the infected, dealt appropriately with the bodies, cleansed the water source and the earth, and moved those who hadn’t been infected elsewhere. Finally, the disease subsided.

“You might say that everyone still living in Stonybend and Bridgehead Village owes their lives to old Medical Official Li.”

Zhang Ping said, “Is the statue in the Medicine King Temple of him? What happened to him?”

The old constable glanced at him and didn’t answer; the soldiers also fell silent.

Meanwhile another commotion had started up in front of the shed. Wumei leaned forward to look and saw that Medical Officials Gao and Li had emerged. Commander Yu pushed Medical Official Li back, said a few words to Medical Official Gao, then turned and yelled to the crowd, “To prevent the spread of disease, please return to your homes! Anyone who approached the bodies must avoid direct contact with their family members and find a place where they can be alone! Before daybreak, medicine will be delivered to each family. If anyone shows signs of illness, do not conceal it, report it at once!”

The headman and Medical Official Gao delivered some shouted remarks as well; the crowd gradually thinned.

At last Wumei and Zhang Ping could leave the hilltop. The soldiers who had been keeping an eye on them went to rejoin their regiment and the old constable to stand the night watch. When the two of them reached the shed, they saw the headman and Commander Yu conferring on an empty patch of ground. 

Their voices, low but still clearly audible, drifted on the night breeze to Wumei and Zhang Ping’s ears.

“Sir, why not send Medical Official Li back to town to get medicine?”

“You aren’t saying what you mean.”

“Commander, forgive me for being direct, but if Medical Official Li stays here any longer, I truly don’t know…”

A figure suddenly appeared from the direction of the shed. The headman froze. “Medical Official Li.”

Medical Official Li didn’t make a sound as he passed by the two of them.

Commander Yu called out, “Li Liang!”

Still Medical Official Li did not stop. Wumei and Zhang Ping stood awkwardly above the others on the slope. Medical Official Li seemed not to see them as he passed by on his way to the crest of the hill.

Zhang Ping turned and followed him up.

“Sir, what conclusion did you reach during the examination?”

Medical Official Li glanced coolly at him. “That is official business, not suitable for you to inquire into. If you want to make up supernatural nonsense, I assure you it’ll be no joke when the commander orders your execution!”

“I am no priest, you know that, sir,” said Zhang Ping. “And you also know that there are no such things as ghosts. Furthermore, you know that these people were not killed by ghosts, and neither were they killed by disease.”

“You’re courting disaster!” said Medical Official Li. “When the illness has become so dangerous, how dare you say this is not a disease?!”

“It isn’t what I say,” said Zhang Ping, “it’s the truth that you yourself observed from the body.”

“Scoundrel!” yelled Medical Official Li. 

Wumei grabbed hold of Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping’s gaze remained fixed on Medical Official Li, who continued in large strides to the top of the hill. Zhang Ping again went in pursuit.

“Your Honor.”

Medical Official Li stopped under the tree. “I am a criminal. Do not call me ‘Your Honor.’”

Zhang Ping stood beside him while Wumei cautiously stopped a small distance away.

Medical Official Li gazed towards the other side of the hill, where the people making offerings of soup had left and on the horizon the last pale sliver was fading.

“The court ordered my father’s arrest after his misdiagnosis resulted in a death. I escaped here with him and thus was an accessory to his crime. I have served out my sentence by working for the county yamen. Bearing my shackles, I do not merit your respect.”

Zhang Ping was silent, and Wumei sighed to himself.

Just before they had gone down the slope, one of the soldiers had whispered to them that Medical Official Li’s father had been an imperial physician whose inaccurate prescription had led to the death of one of the emperor’s concubines; he had taken his family and fled, heading for the border.

But passing through this area and seeing the plague, Imperial Physician Li could not overcome a physician’s benevolent nature. He stepped in to help and thereby exposed his location.

In order to keep blame from falling on his family, once the plague was under control, he wrote a letter acknowledging his guilt and committed suicide by poison.

The people grateful for Imperial Physician Li’s aid were unable to make offerings to him openly, so they had built the Medicine King Temple and made the Medicine King’s statue in his image.

The court in its mercy had imposed no punishment on the women of the Li family and only pursued Medical Official Li’s guilt as an accessory, ordering him to atone for his crime by practicing medicine here. Due to merit accumulated by treating the sick, the charges against him had been reduced, and today he held a minor official rank and had the right to be addressed by the respectful title of medical official.

As soon as disease had appeared this time, the county yamen had dispatched Medical Official Li, in hopes that, like his late father, he would be able to get it under control quickly. Yet contrary to their expectations, since his arrival, Medical Official Li had done nothing but deny that there was any illness.

Medical Official Li took another two steps towards the empty fields.

“My medical skills scarcely make up a thousandth of what my father’s were. There’s nothing remarkable about me making a mistake.”

“It doesn’t matter that others doubt you, or that you doubt yourself,” said Zhang Ping. “The only way to save people is to find the truth.”

Medical Official Li turned. “The measures currently being implemented are the most correct.”

“If you really believed that, Medical Official Li, you wouldn’t be acting the way you are now,” said Zhang Ping.

Wumei hastily said, “What he means is that with your profound medical knowledge, you’re not likely to make an inaccurate diagnosis. Maybe…maybe…”

Zhang Ping stared hard at Medical Official Li. “I believe that if you are uncertain, you must seek evidence. A firm conclusion is the only thing that will let you save people.”

Medical Official Li gave him a cold look, then turned suddenly and strode towards the shed.

Zhang Ping and Wumei followed again. Medical Official Li charted a perfectly straight course; outside the shed, Commander Yu, Medical Official Gao, and the headman, still in conference, paused their conversation when they saw him.

Medical Official Li walked right up to Commander Yu. “I want to perform autopsies at once on the bodies of the two who died earlier, as well as the coroner.”

The headman’s beard trembled. “Medical Official Li…”

Medical Official Li interrupted him: “This is the only way to judge accurately the nature of the illness and decide on a course of treatment. In this heat, the bodies can’t be kept long. As soon as the autopsies are over, they’ll be burned. I will perform them alone, and I ask that once I have finished the commander place me in quarantine. Future treatment of the villagers will depend entirely on Medical Official Gao.”

Commander Yu met his gaze and nodded. “Very well.”

“The most important thing now is medicine!” the headman said fervently. “Please go to town to fetch materials, Medical Official Li!”

Medical Official Gao chimed in with his agreement.

Commander Yu waved a hand. “The nature of the illness has yet to be determined, and using the wrong medicine will cause delays in treatment. The autopsies come first!”

Sizhao’er’s family consented to an autopsy with unexpected promptness.

Sizhao’er’s father, leaning on his cane, screamed at Sizhao’er’s mother, who had collapsed crying on the ground. “I'm his father, it’s my decision to make! I want to know how my son died! I can’t let it happen to other people’s sons, or my own remaining sons!”

Sizhao’er’s oldest brother said to Medical Official Li, “Mister Li, many years ago, your father saved the lives of this whole village. Now, all our lives depend on you. The day after tomorrow is the Zhongyuan Festival. My little brother’s spirit must still be around, and I’m sure he wants you to do the autopsy. Just please give us an answer.”

“I swear it on my life,” Medical Official said with emphasis.

Da-Shuan’s wife had started out with an emphatic refusal, but seeing this, she too agreed.

Zhang Ping tried to follow Medical Official Li into the shed but was stopped by two soldiers.

“It will be hard for Medical Official Li to examine three bodies on his own,” said Zhang Ping. “He’ll need help.”

Commander Yu crossed his arms. “He can do one at a time.”

The soldiers pulled Zhang Ping aside, and the oilcloth curtain fell.

Commander Yu called over another soldier. “Ask Da-Shuan and Sizhao’er’s families to wait in a tent. Treat them well, don’t let them panic.”

The soldier went to obey.

The headman and Medical Official Gao were astonished.

“What’s the meaning of this, Commander?”

“They were in close contact with the deceased,” Commander Yu said calmly. “It’s proper for them to be isolated.” He instructed another soldier, “For everyone else under suspicion, no need to be so polite. Snatch them up and tie them tight.”

Wumei was stunned. He looked at Zhang Ping, seized by a sudden sense of uncertainty.

Zhang Ping’s gaze was fixed on the curtain.

A long while later, the curtain at last lifted, and Medical Official Li’s figure appeared at the door. A number of soldiers stepped forward to surround and seize him.

The headman and Medical Official Gao were about to step forward but found their paths blocked by pikes, leaving them no choice but to watch Medical Official Li disappear into the night, encircled by a group of soldiers.

“Commander, Medical Official Li has yet to deliver the results of the autopsies.”

Calm as before, Commander Yu said, “Oh, I’ll ask him in a little while. After examining three bodies, he must be isolated at once.”

“But I examined some of the bodies with Medical Official Li earlier,” said Medical Official Gao.

“Naturally there’s no comparison between an external examination and an autopsy,” said Commander Yu.

“The families of the deceased are still waiting for the outcome.”

“I’ll speak to them soon. There is no need for you to concern yourself.”

Medical Official Gao and the headman were about to raise further objections when Commander Yu turned away. “Men, burn the bodies at once. Destroy all the deceaseds’ possessions!”

The soldiers quickly split into three teams, one of which entered the shed while the other two headed into the village.

Wumei was dumbfounded, and he also wasn’t spared; the soldiers seized him and threw him along with Zhang Ping into a small newly erected tent.

Wumei stared at the shadows cast on the tent by the circle of soldiers and mumbled, “Did Medical Official Li find the worst form of rabies?”

Or was it something even worse than rabies?

Zhang Ping sat up. “No. Medical Official Li found no sign of illness.”

Wumei’s eyes opened wide. “How do you know?”

Zhang Ping said, “Before the soldiers took Medical Official Li away, he tapped three times behind his ear. It was a sign. It meant that there were no symptoms of illness in the three men’s lungs.”

Couldn’t it just be that Medical Official Li had an itch because he hadn’t washed his hair for several days?

Wumei was even more perplexed. “Whose benefit was Medical Official Li’s sign for? If there were no symptoms of sickness in the bodies, why were we and Medical Official Li locked up?”

Zhang Ping said nothing.

“A-Ping,” Wumei mumbled, “it’s not that I blame you, but it’s better to avoid trouble when traveling. The easiest way is to stay out of other people’s business. Why did you have to butt in? It’s the Zhongyuan Festival, evil spirits are about. What if Commander Yu makes us targets for them?”

Zhang Ping cast down his eyes. “Mei-ge, I’m sorry. But I want to find the truth. It was flood and disease that made us orphans. Whether what’s happening here is a plague or not, no one else should die.”

Wumei’s eyes suddenly stung a little. It was a long time before he said, looking at the tent flap, “I don’t even know whether we’ll be able to get out of this in one piece. How are you planning to help others?”

Outside, the flames climbed higher.

The shadows of the soldiers, cast on the material of the tent, seemed to have a life of their own as they danced in the quivering firelight.