The Little Lucky Girl

Chapter 218 Peacock is Sick

"No." Magistrate Tao smiled and said, "The Jinshui River area has steep peaks and dangerous roads. It has been called a natural barrier since ancient times. Your grandfather was right not to take you there. I'll ask someone to invite the old man over later. Do you want to come with us?"

The clerk suddenly remembered something and interrupted, "Does Mr. Yang know the dialect of the Golden Tooth Tribe?"

He smiled apologetically at the county magistrate and explained, "The guide who usually leads the way to the county government office is not familiar with the area, so I'm afraid he won't be of any use this time."

The two of them looked at Ming Youyou at the same time.

Ming Youyou scratched his head. "My grandpa is from outside, and he still can't even speak Yuqing dialect well. But he always carries a medicine box with him when he goes out. Everyone knows that he is a doctor, so they don't make things difficult for him even if they don't speak the same language."

This seems a bit difficult to deal with. The Golden Tooth Tribe discovered that their peacock was missing, and now they are fully alert to the outside world. If they go there rashly and fail to explain themselves, they will probably get into a lot of trouble.

Ming Youyou thought for a moment and said, "I do know such a person. He might be able to communicate with the Golden Tooth Clan."

"Oh, who is it?" asked Magistrate Tao.

Ming Youyou didn't say anything, she just looked up at him with her eyes wide open.

Magistrate Tao stroked his forehead and said, "Alright, I'll take you if you want to go, but we have an agreement in advance that you can't act on your own when the time comes. Everything must be arranged as arranged."

Ming Youyou happily agreed, "We have a peddler here. He is very smart and can speak a few words about the local language. He said there is no place in our county that he has not been to. But his whereabouts are not fixed, so it is hard to say where he is now."

It is indeed hard to say for ordinary people, but within the jurisdiction of Magistrate Tao, it is not difficult to find a peddler who shouts loudly and attracts attention wherever he goes.

Two days later, the bailiffs brought the peddler back.

The peddler's surname was Sun, and he was a burly young man in his twenties. When he first entered the county government, he was very nervous, thinking that he was being sued, and he almost revealed the fact that he had flirted with young wives from several villages.

Later, when he learned that it was the county government who wanted his help, he straightened his chest and said loudly, "Don't worry, sir. Although I don't know much of the Jinchi tribe's dialect, I can still explain the matter clearly. Moreover, I have been to the village several times and have some friendship with them. I will make sure that you can meet the person smoothly."

Magistrate Tao nodded. This man was quite tactful. He asked the clerk to test him with several dialects. The peddler was indeed gifted in languages. Originally, his Mandarin was average, but after a few words with him, he had already learned the Beijing accent that was unconsciously mixed in his Mandarin.

Now that a guide had been found, Magistrate Tao decided not to delay and sent the peacock back the next day.

But who could have imagined that early the next morning, the peacock, which always liked to walk around in front of them, lay listlessly on the ground, with even the feathers on its head drooping.

"Why does it look like it has chicken plague?" Ming Youyou said in surprise.

"Don't talk nonsense." Mrs. Tao patted her lightly and looked at the veterinarian anxiously. She was responsible for taking care of the peacock these days. If anything went wrong, her husband's meeting with the Golden Tooth Tribe might be in trouble.

The veterinarian wiped the sweat off his head and said with a bitter face: "This is the first time I have seen this big bird. I really don't know what happened to it."

Although he was a veterinarian, he only knew a few prescriptions left by his ancestors. When someone came to him, he would prescribe medicine according to the prescriptions. As for whether it worked or not, it didn't cost much anyway, so most people didn't care much. But now that this big bird was precious, he didn't dare to fool around anymore.

Seeing Kong Que's depressed look, Mrs. Tao became even more anxious, so she simply invited several famous doctors in the county to come over.

The doctors were very happy at first when they heard that the county magistrate's wife had invited them. But when they saw that they were going to treat a bird, they couldn't help but want to say "nonsense". However, when they remembered that this was in the county government office, they swallowed their words back.

The doctor naturally didn't understand, so they guessed:

"Maybe he was frightened."

"It may also be due to acclimatization."

"Maybe he was already injured."

Some wanted to try prescribing one or two prescriptions, but were afraid of taking responsibility, so they just said some half-hearted sentences and left.

Only Doctor Meng, who often cooperated with the county government, stayed behind and said to Madam Tao with some worry, "I have seen similar cases in a medical book, but unfortunately it does not mention a cure. It just says in the book that if one poultry gets sick and other poultry also show similar symptoms, it is best to kill them all, otherwise it will spread to the surrounding areas and even infect all the poultry in a village or a county."

Mrs. Tao was shocked. The shadow of the grassland epidemic some time ago was still there. Although the old doctor said that the cause might not be the same, she was still very nervous.

While sending someone to call Magistrate Tao, he asked, "If it is really that kind of contagious disease, what should we do?"

"Madam, don't panic too much," the old doctor consoled. "There are no residents around the county government office, so the virus won't spread. The inside of the county government office can be fully disinfected as before, but it's best to kill the poultry just in case. If you can't bear to do that, I can prescribe a medicine for them to take a bath to disinfect it."

"What about this peacock?" Magistrate Tao, who already knew the whole story, asked.

"The book says that we can bury it in a deep pit and sprinkle it with lime. In fact, there is a better way," the old doctor paused and said, "which is to burn it."

Everyone fell silent. The yard was so quiet that only the sound of the wind and the occasional "cooing" of the peacock could be heard.

Magistrate Tao sighed and said, "Kill all the poultry in the county government office. As for the peacock, if it doesn't get better tomorrow, do as Doctor Meng says."

"But as for the Golden Tooth Clan..." Mrs. Tao hesitated to speak.

Magistrate Tao shook his head. If the peacocks really carried the disease, then even the county government office would not be allowed to leave. Not to mention the possibility of infection on the way to Jinshui River, even if they were really sent there, if the birds of the Jinchi tribe got sick again, wouldn't that deepen the misunderstanding?

Magistrate Tao frowned. Master He had already found out that it was the Gu family who gave the idea to Magistrate Mu. So did the Gu family just want him to leave, or did they already know that Peacock might get sick?

All the lively chickens in the county government office suffered the disaster. After being examined by the old doctor, they were confirmed to be fine, and all the meat was eaten by everyone.

At night, everyone came over and took another look at the peacock. They saw that it had closed its eyes and curled up into a ball. Even its breathing had become much lighter. They couldn't help but sigh and leave.

Ming Youyou quietly asked the system, "Do you have——"

"Yes." The system knew what she meant and answered straightforwardly.

"Then can I——"

"can."

The system pulled up the medicines in the mall for her to see.

Ming Youyou's eyes widened instantly, "Why is it so expensive? It costs 5,000 points? I remember that the one Zheng Huan and the others drank only cost 1,000 points."