Ch 25: My Multiverse Supermarket

Ever since Zhou Li had arrived in this world, people kneeling and kowtowing to her had become routine.

But this was the first time someone had begged her so directly to save a life. The woman’s words were in the local dialect, but Zhou Li had heard it enough lately to roughly understand.

She said, “Get up and speak.”

The woman, weeping bitterly, refused. “Please, goddess, save my son! I will build you a statue, live as a vegetarian, and worship you for the rest of my life!”

All eyes turned toward Zhou Li, full of hope and desperate faith.

Zhou Li felt as though she were being roasted alive over a fire.

Still, she didn’t let the pressure force her into a hasty promise. She needed to assess the situation first.

“What’s wrong with your child?”

“He… he—” The woman faltered when she saw the others present, hesitant to continue.

Zhao Changyan prompted her, “Even those who make wishes know to state them clearly. If you say nothing, how is the goddess to act?”

She deliberately said “act” instead of “save,” avoiding presumption.

The woman looked around, then shut her eyes in despair. “Two days ago he developed a fever. Yesterday he seemed a little better, but today he’s convulsing and vomiting…”

Someone gasped. “That’s from miasma!”

The crowd recoiled as though avoiding the plague itself.

In their understanding, malaria was a deadly contagious pestilence. Once infected, one’s fate was uncertain.

The uprising led by Wang Chao had once swept through Yue territory in an earlier dynasty. That year, during the humid spring-summer season, miasma filled the land—half the rebels died of disease before they even saw battle, forcing Wang Chao to retreat.

The locals of Yue, having lived here for generations, had built some resistance—but the risk of infection and death remained high.

Even though only the woman’s child was sick, who could say she hadn’t caught it too?

And what if she spread it to them?

The woman cried, “Please, goddess, drive away the evil spirits afflicting my son!”

Zhou Li: …

Right—people in this era still thought malaria came from miasma and malevolent spirits.

In regions steeped in witchcraft, illness was believed to be a curse to be exorcised by ritual. They didn’t yet know it was caused by Plasmodium parasites living in the blood.

Malaria was most commonly transmitted through mosquito bites.

Though Zhou Li had sold mosquito nets, coils, and insecticide to the villagers, the mountain mosquitoes were too many. Children with weaker immunity still fell ill.

Some infections might even have been dormant since earlier exposures.

While Zhou Li pondered, a commotion erupted outside.

A gaunt man entered, carrying a skeletal child in his arms.

The child’s limbs were stick-thin, his belly swollen, his face pale with malnutrition. He was unconscious, breathing shallowly, as if one more tremor could stop his life.

“Hey—why did you bring him here!?” the other villagers cried in alarm.

“We had no choice! Please, goddess, save him!” the couple begged.

Zhou Li turned to look at Gong Qiongxian.

Surely, as an imperial official of Great Yue, this should be her responsibility?

Feeling Zhou Li’s gaze, Gong Qiongxian stiffened, hesitated, then stepped forward.

“Please, goddess, show mercy and save this child of Great Yue.”

A convenient opportunity to test the goddess’s supposed powers.

Zhou Li: …

She almost laughed from exasperation.

You’re a court official, and your best idea is to pray to a witch?

Thankfully, Zhao Changyan intervened. “Take the child outside and place him in a tent.”

Isolation was the standard practice for anyone with a suspected infectious illness—to prevent spread.

Then she turned to the Yue soldiers. “Ride to Yizhang County and buy changshan, betel nut, anemarrhena, and licorice.”

“You know medicine?” Gong Qiongxian asked.

“I’ve seen this sickness before,” Zhao said. “The Synopsis of the Golden Chamber mentions that the White Tiger Decoction with cinnamon can help.”

Malaria-like fevers were common in Chu as well. Zhao Changyan’s mother’s family were Tujia people who lived in similar mountain mists—they had long used that formula to reduce malaria deaths.

Zhou Li didn’t interrupt.

The most effective treatment would be antimalarial drugs—but those were prescription-only, unavailable to her here.

Still…

Zhou Li said, “No need to go to Yizhang. I have those herbs.”

Her town’s pharmacies and herb shops sold common medicinal plants freely.

Before coming back this time, Zhou Li had researched the region’s most common illnesses and stocked accordingly.

Many medicinal plants were also classified as edible, so she didn’t need a pharmaceutical sales license.

She had even purchased Artemisia annua—sweet wormwood, the natural source of artemisinin—but hadn’t displayed it publicly.

Now she hauled out several boxes, each containing vacuum-sealed bags of herbs labeled with their names.

“This one—huanghuahao—you call it qinghao. It helps clear the miasma and detoxify the blood when used with changshan.”

Zhao Changyan’s eyes brightened. “So that’s the secret.”

Zhou Li: ?

What secret?

But Zhao Changyan said nothing more. She selected the required herbs and instructed the couple how to boil and dose them.

Gong Qiongxian went out to watch curiously, glancing back at Zhou Li, puzzled that she didn’t personally intervene.

Zhao Changyan explained, “The goddess cannot act directly—doing so would entangle her in mortal karma.”

Gong Qiongxian was silent. “But didn’t she already intervene by giving the herbs?”

Zhao Changyan shook her head. “No. Court Attendant Gong forgets—these herbs were purchased. The karma was resolved when payment was made.”

Gong Qiongxian murmured, “I have never seen a deity with such… unconventional doctrine.”

Zhao Changyan smiled. “Have you seen others before?”

“Of course,” Gong replied smoothly. “At Wanhua Palace. You’ve met her too, haven’t you?”

Naturally, she wouldn’t publicly discredit Fan Yuxian. Admitting she was false would expose their entire deception.

Zhao Changyan neither confirmed nor denied—best to keep her retreat open.

*

Inside the shop, Zhou Li watched people avoiding the sick family as if they were walking contagion.

When Zhao Changyan returned, Zhou Li said quietly, “You can’t contain malaria by shutting people indoors.”

Zhao Changyan immediately bowed her head. “Please, Little Boss, enlighten us.”

“Malaria spreads because mosquitoes carry the parasite—think of it as an invisible worm. When a mosquito bites someone, the parasite enters their body. So isolating the patient doesn’t prevent infection.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

No one had ever heard that mosquitoes could spread disease. Even Zhao Changyan and Gong Qiongxian, worldly as they were, were stunned.

So malaria came from mosquitoes—not from miasma?

Zhou Li continued, “The mists outside may look sinister, so it’s no wonder you think illness comes from them.

“But that mist is just fog from heat and humidity in a forested land during the rainy season.

“What truly causes sickness are the mosquitoes thriving in this damp environment—and the invisible parasites living in water that hasn’t been boiled.”

The refugees, shocked at first, accepted her words quickly—after all, the goddess had spoken.

No explanation could carry more authority.

“But there are so many mosquitoes,” someone said. “How can we avoid malaria?”

“Burn mugwort to repel them. Sleep under nets. Use coils or spray insecticide if you can. Also—there’s another disease called schistosomiasis.” Zhou Li paused. “The parasite lives in snails. If you eat them, it travels from your stomach to your organs. If you swim or bathe in infested rivers, it can enter through your eyes, nose, or ears, and hatch inside your body.”

“Ahhh!” shrieked several terrified listeners.

Many had bathed in rivers or drunk from mountain streams.

Now, hearing that unseen worms might be writhing inside them, they felt itchy all over.

“What do we do!? I was swimming in the river yesterday! Am I infected!?”

“My stomach hurts—are there worms in me!?”

That gave Zhou Li another thought. “Right. Whether it’s river water, well water, or even spring water—parasites may live in all of it. They lay eggs in your intestines and feed on your body’s nutrients.”

Crowd: QaQ

Zhao Changyan: …

“Goddess,” she whispered, “please stop. You’ll break their minds.”

[Author’s Note]

Refugees: Aaaaah! Now everything looks like it has worms!

Zhou Li: [dog emoji][dog emoji][dog emoji]

☢️☢️☢️