Chapter 36 - 3%, who cares?

 

After returning from Huangshan, Yu Ying goes directly to the palace. Getting there, he tries to find Bai Chongye, who sits on his throne. He enters the throne room, bowing to him:

-His majesty is wise!
-You are back. Tell me what have you gotten? Did Ding Qi cooperate or you had to use brute force?
-Your majesty, he told me that some envoy from Zhejiang was sent to investigate the disease and that this envoy knew a method to test it. He detected the disease in Huangshan, developed a test for it, and returned to his empire. 
-Officials from Zhejiang entering our territory without my permission? Who Ding Qi thinks he is??? Ding Qi probably stole the formulae, didn't he?
-No, because he said that two ingredients for the test are only made in Zhejiang, we would have to buy them. 
-This is preposterous! Ding Qi let officials from another empire enter my empire without my permission or acknowledgment!

Yu Ying bows:

-His majesty, this disease is not that difficult to treat. It is like the flu, so you can easily cure it using zinc and a combination of herbs we already use for other diseases.
-You have a point. I do not care if there is a cure available or not, I care about how many people it can kill. 
-He said the survival rate is 97 percent.
-What???!!! Trying to cure it is a complete non-starter, let the 3% die! 
-His majesty is wise! But, Ding Qi also told me that, among this 97%, not everyone will recover fully.
-I do not care, if they can work, that's enough. My empire will not be dismantled by a disease that has a mortality rate of 3%!
-Your Majesty is wise!

-Take your leave. You must instruct our soldiers to give away as much as possible of these medicines. We will test how good they are in the real world, no need for controlled tests.

Yu Ying leaves the room. At the same time, the health counselors queue up outside. Bai Chongye curses:

-What the hell are you all doing there?

They bow to him:

-Your Majesty is wise!

-Rise now! And tell me what do you want!

One of the counselors moves a step forward:

-Your Majesty, we have confirmed that the cases of the new disease are growing exponentially on a daily basis, as well as the deaths. We have community transmission and it cannot be stopped anymore without locking the city down. 

Bai Chongye raises an eyebrow, slowly getting up from his throne, moving towards them:

-Are you crazy? Yu Ying already told me that this disease only kills 3% of the infected! And you want me to close the city because of that?

-Your Majesty... we cannot predict exactly, but we observed a mortality rate close to 15%, not 3%. 

-Maybe because you don't know who is infected or not. Huangshan has a test that tells who is infected and who isn't, that's why they got the 3% mortality rate, and I bet that these figures are below 1%. 

-But Your majesty...

-Shut up! I already have the cure for it, Zinc, and a herbal compound we use for the flu. I'll deploy the military to distribute a kit for every citizen in the city, and they will be forced to take it, ill or not. 

-But we do not have enough evidence yet.

-Case closed, take your leave and do what I said!

Bai Chongye smashes the door on their face:

-Everyone seems to be getting crazy by such an insignificant threat! 

...

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