Chapter 1886 - Auntie Liu's Words
Huo Junming touched the manual in his satchel. This "Epidemic Prevention Manual," compiled by Lin Motian, was the standard for all epidemic prevention work. It detailed specific handling procedures for various situations. Members of the Epidemic Prevention Battalion all treated it as scripture. Lin Motian had repeatedly emphasized during training that everything must be done "by the book."
Zhao Gui was "reinforcement" dispatched from the main bureau a few days ago to assist at the grassroots level. This area had originally been his and Li Ziyu's jurisdiction, so he knew the local situation intimately. Thus he was assigned here again to accompany the quarantine inspector on patrols.
Foot patrols were routine for Zhao Gui, especially since this was his old territory—he knew it like the back of his hand.
The streets had been swept clean—the New Life Movement had cracked down hard on street sanitation. The garbage and excrement that used to be everywhere had vanished. Though due to funding constraints the road surfaces hadn't been paved and remained a mixture of dirt and broken stone, each baojia district now bore the obligation to maintain smooth road surfaces. Every three to five days, each household had to send someone to fill in potholes, so the streets weren't as uneven and muddy as before.
Walking down the street, Zhao Gui felt rather proud—quite a sense of returning home in glory. However, his current getup didn't feel "glorious" in the least. The white isolation suit looked like mourning clothes, and the thick mask covering his face was stifling.
Huo Junming kept an eye on the epidemic prevention posters and notices at each intersection, checking if any needed supplementing. The Propaganda Section had rush-printed several thousand epidemic prevention posters and plastered them everywhere throughout the urban area and suburbs, and had also painted hundreds of wall slogans. Walls were emblazoned with: "Kill rats, eliminate the four pests," "Bathe more, change clothes often, eliminate fleas," "Report fever promptly to quarantine inspectors!," "Private burial is strictly prohibited!"...
Passing a residence plastered with conspicuous red seals, Huo Junming carefully examined the seals, then looked at the densely packed bamboo splinters inserted along the wall tops—not to prevent theft, but to ensure that if anyone climbed over, it would be detected.
South Scissors Lane had already reported several suspected cases and had established sealed isolation zones. According to epidemic prevention regulations, once someone fell ill, both housemates and contacts were sent to Changzhou Island for isolation, and their residences and shops were sealed. Only after confirming no infection and lifting quarantine could the seals be removed.
After sealing, the relevant baojia, beat police, and epidemic prevention team members had to conduct key monitoring of these locations to prevent unauthorized entry—regardless of the intruder's motives, such behavior could easily cause secondary infection.
"South Scissors Lane No. 1 isolation zone, first morning patrol, situation normal," Huo Junming recorded in his logbook. This location required three daily patrols.
South Scissors Lane was mostly residential, originally not a busy area, so the market slowdown from epidemic prevention hadn't affected it much. But under epidemic prevention publicity, residents had noticeably reduced their outdoor activities. In the past, households here mostly kept their doors open during the day, but now every house had its doors tightly shut. The streets had grown much quieter. Even the formerly relatively bustling public wells and tea stalls had few people.
"Even the public wells barely have anyone," Huo Junming remarked. "This Disease No. 1 really is serious."
Walking to the public well, he spotted a woman doing laundry. Zhao Gui recognized her—this was Auntie Liu, a "resident activist" on this beat. During the recent baojia head adjustment, she had been recommended by the police station to become the paijia group leader here.
Auntie Liu saw them approaching and called out from a distance, greeting them.
"A-Gui! A-Gui!"
Zhao Gui was somewhat bashful, mumbling: "Auntie Liu."
"I'm not some unmarried maiden—what are you blushing at me for?" Auntie Liu teased him. She wiped her hands on her apron and stood up. "How come you're back? Where's A-Yu?"
"I was temporarily transferred here to help. A-Yu went to Lingao for training."
"He's the lucky one!" Auntie Liu clapped her hands. "Got himself out of the hard work!" Her expression darkened. "Who could have expected the city would have a major epidemic!"
Zhao Gui wanted to say something comforting to Auntie Liu, but being tongue-tied, he thought for a long while without knowing what to say. It was Huo Junming who spoke up: "An epidemic isn't that scary—as long as we do the epidemic prevention work well, there's nothing to fear."
"Easy to say, but the situation is just too frightening!" Auntie Liu sighed. "In broad daylight, not a soul on the streets, every household with doors locked tight, shops only open for a few hours! Alas, even during past epidemics it was never like this..."
"How's the situation today?" Huo Junming asked.
"Nothing wrong in this district," said Auntie Liu. "But I heard old Mr. Feng up ahead is very sick—probably won't make it..."
"Does he have a fever?" Huo Junming immediately became alert.
"No fever. I heard they called a doctor, who said it's just old age."
"If he passes away, don't forget to have them report to the police station," Zhao Gui reminded her. "Right now the authorities have rules—burial can only proceed after a death certificate is issued."
"I know," Auntie Liu nodded. "I understand the official procedures!" She suddenly lowered her voice. "There've been quite a few rumors on the streets lately..."
"What... what are people saying?" Zhao Gui's ears immediately perked up. An important part of police work was collecting street rumors, which were then compiled and forwarded to the Political Security Bureau for sniffing out any "*** conspiracies."
"All kinds of things." Auntie Liu looked around, then pulled Zhao Gui and the others to a wall corner, speaking softly. "Some say all the ditch-digging and sewer-cleaning the Australians did throughout Guangzhou disturbed the city's dragon vein, damaged the feng shui—that's why there's an epidemic..."
Zhao Gui shook his head: "Digging ditches and cleaning sewers is a good thing. Those ditches are so smelly, so filthy, and clogged up—every rain the dirty water backs up..."
Huo Junming, being somewhat educated, was also unconvinced: "Since ancient times, dragon veins have been great mountains or major rivers like the Yangtze. Who ever counted drainage ditches and sewers as dragon veins? Nonsense, nonsense."
"There's more!" Auntie Liu didn't bother arguing, but continued. "They also say it's because of the sorcery case exposed a few months ago—that sorcerer conjured a plague demon, and now the plague demon is out harming people."
Talk of plague demons and drought demons was popular at the time—such rumors circulating among common folk weren't surprising. Auntie Liu went on: "They also say..." She lowered her voice to barely a whisper. "The Baldy Bandits are acting against heaven's will, a sea serpent defying the true dragon, a heinous crime, so heaven sent this great epidemic to punish them. They say the Mandate of Heaven rests with the Great Ming, and the Baldy Bandits won't last long in Guangdong..."
Zhao Gui jumped in fright and quickly said: "You mustn't say such things!"
Huo Junming also said: "Auntie Liu, you can tell us, but don't go saying this outside..."
Auntie Liu said: "I know that! If I don't tell you, how will the Elders' Council know what's being said out there? There should be some countermeasure to deal with these rumormongers."
Huo Junming felt only disgust. He thought: you've been a paijia group leader for just a few days and you're already so eager to flatter the Australians. He mocked her: "Auntie Liu, I hadn't realized becoming group leader would make you so red-hearted and loyal!"
"I don't draw any pay from the Australians," Auntie Liu glanced at him. "What kind of red-hearted loyalty would that be?" She gathered up the clothes she had washed. "Whether the Australians are the true dragon or not, I'm just a simple woman—I don't understand and don't dare say. But since they came to Guangzhou, they've really let us common folk live some peaceful days. Saying a few good words about them—probably no one can find fault with that!"
Huo Junming gave a few dry laughs, knowing this woman wasn't to be trifled with, and said no more.
"Here's what you wanted," Auntie Liu said, taking a small paper bag from a basket beside her. "Twenty-five in total—you'd better count them!"
Inside the folded kraft paper bag were rat tails. Each paijia district had to submit a certain number of rat tails daily as proof of rat extermination.
Huo Junming accepted it somewhat distastefully and placed it in his specimen isolation box. These Australians really had nothing better to do—rat killing was one thing, but collecting rat tails too! That was fine—going to battle meant taking heads for credit—but the problem was, every week each district also had to submit one complete dead rat. Collecting and transporting dead rats was also the epidemic prevention team members' job. Last week, by the time he finished his rounds, he had collected a whole isolation box of dead rats. He had no idea what Chief Lin wanted the dead rats for. They all said Chief Lin cut open the rats' bellies and hearts, then examined them carefully through some kind of mirror. But what use that served, no one knew.
"These Australian rat traps are pretty handy, just too few!" said Auntie Liu. "Some people are just greedy—won't even spare a rat trap. They claim they lost it and insist on getting another one from the baojia. We don't even have enough for one per household! Isn't that infuriating?"
Zhao Gui already knew about this, but the higher-ups had no solution either. He could only say: "If they want to catch more rats, that's always good. I'll apply for a few more later."
Their chitchat with Auntie Liu wasn't finished when Shop Owner Xie came running over urgently. He was also a paijia group leader in South Scissors Lane, with jurisdiction up ahead.
"You two!" Spotting Zhao Gui and Huo Junming, he called out loudly. "There's a situation!"
Both men stiffened. When a group leader came running to say "there's a situation" at a time like this, it was certainly no small matter—either a suspected case or a discovered abandoned corpse.
When Shop Owner Xie, panting for breath, reached them and explained, it was exactly as expected: an unidentified corpse had been found in an alley in his district.
"Where exactly?"
"East Branch Alley Seven off Scissors Lane."
Zhao Gui was startled—he knew that name all too well. Wasn't this exactly where he and Li Ziyu had discovered the headless corpse?
Huo Junming said: "Let's go take a look!"
In the past, unidentified corpses found on the streets were sent to Shuangshan Temple to await identification. If unclaimed, they were then sent to the Liuhua Bridge Crematorium. But now, roadside corpses all had to be treated as possible plague deaths, with a whole set of procedures before being sent to the crematorium.
Author's Note: Monday's update will be Section 5 of Volume 7—Liangguang Campaign.
(End of Chapter)