Everything in Dongzhi Qixiang is still the same, as if Zhao Gui had patrolled it yesterday. As for changes, the road on the ground is smoother than before, and there is no garbage.
"Agui, look over there!" Shopkeeper Xie patted Zhao Gui on the shoulder and pointed to a pile of things covered with reed mats in front of him. Huo Junming suddenly felt an ominous premonition in his heart.
"It looks like a corpse!" Zhao Gui's expression was not good, "Go over and take a look."
Shopkeeper Xie stood far away, while Huo Junming and Zhao Gui had no choice but to come closer and use a stick to open a corner of the covered reed mat: it was indeed a corpse.
"MD, what's the number?" Huo Junming cursed and used a stick to pull away the reed mat garbage covering the body, and shouted to Zhao Gui, "Acridine? Go to Biandu! Do you know this person?"
"It looks unfamiliar - to be honest, it would be strange if it looks familiar. It looks like he died of illness, and the symptoms are consistent. Anyone who throws sick corpses at this time will throw them in their own area, and they will secretly throw them elsewhere." Zhao Gui With a look of disgust on his face, he beckoned shopkeeper Xie over.
"Are they from your street?"
Shopkeeper Xie shook his head and said he didn't know him. Judging from the clothes of the corpse, he should be a poor man.
"I'll pull up the cordon. You hurry up and call someone." Huo Junming took over the cordon and said, "Since he died of illness, it's my life."
Although the Senate took in all the homeless and beggars in the city not long ago, the number of people on the streets has been significantly reduced compared to previous years, and most of the dead were acute patients. After the police issue a notice to find the body, the body will be collected by family members within three to five days. However, after the plague emerged, the number of unclaimed dead bodies on the road began to increase due to fear of contagion.
Then, a new situation emerged that Lin Motian had not expected. After the issuance of quarantine regulations for those infected and exposed to plague, the number of unknown corpses on the roadside increased further. Later, after a report from a grassroots quarantine officer, he realized that regulations required that once a plague patient or person who died of the disease was found, people who were in close contact with the patient or the person who died of the disease must be quarantined forcibly. This often means that no one in the family, old or young, can escape - they have to be sent collectively to Cheung Chau Island for isolation and quarantine.
After all, this quarantine is almost the same as being in prison. The quarantine camp on Cheung Chau Island is not a sanatorium. The whole family lives in a thatched hut. Rich or poor, high or low, they eat porridge to get by. The sun is shining, the river wind is blowing, and the heavy rain is pouring. It is said that even for wealthy families, even ordinary small households cannot afford it. The elderly and children were too weak to support themselves. Some fell ill within three or four days, and some died just like that.
The bad situation on Cheung Chau Island spread throughout the city with the return of the first few batches of people who had expired their quarantine period. As a result, the people who were originally afraid of the quarantine were even less willing to go - it was impossible for the people in the late Ming Dynasty With such a deep understanding of "quarantine", they will simply think that they have been put on a separate list, regarded as the source of infectious diseases, and put under "house arrest". Even if they go out in the future, they will be discriminated against, not to mention that they still face Death threats: They simply don’t believe that anyone can deliver food and medicine after being quarantined. They only think that quarantine means being locked up and waiting to die silently.
Under this trend of thought, a large number of family members privately abandoned the corpses of patients and deceased patients. Therefore, they could "pick up" corpses in a sitting position from time to time. At a glance, they knew that they had been sent out by their families before they died. In order to prevent the body from being recognized, these people often choose to quietly dump the body far away from home.
In the past, it was very difficult to do this. No matter whether you were carrying a living person or a corpse, you couldn't run around in broad daylight. When the street gate closed at night, no one could get through. However, since the Guandi Temple personnel were banned, the "street watchers" who originally guarded the street gates have all gone to Cheung Chau Island for "training". The police cannot send so many people to manage the street gates, and the security organization in the city is not strict enough. In many places, the street gates are left unmanaged and open to the public. This gives an opportunity to dump the body. Night patrol officers have repeatedly caught people dumping bodies at night.
This is great! Lin Motian was furious and issued strict punishment regulations. He also stipulated that if anyone in the household was missing, they would be regarded as missing persons and died of illness, and they would follow the isolation procedures. Only then did the chaos subside. At the same time, each baojia was ordered to take turns sending people to guard the street gates. Unfortunately, there are not enough manpower, and not all of the quarantine officers who rush to the battlefield can strictly control the situation. Although the phenomenon of privately dumping corpses has been greatly reduced, it is still not extinct. Unknown corpses will appear every three days. The household registration management in Guangzhou can only barely guarantee the permanent population, and there is no time to take care of the unregistered population. Finding the source of these corpses is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Comrade Huo, what do you think we should do?" Zhao Gui brought someone back and asked.
"After patrolling as usual, let's see who has missing people. I guess I can't find the source..." Huo Junming said helplessly, "According to regulations, after 24 hours, the body must be burned regardless of whether it is claimed or not - hum, really It's a ghost thing if someone claims it... They are processing it here, let's continue patrolling, and leave this to the processing station first, and we will handle it together after today's patrol."
The so-called processing center is the so-called "corpse processing center" - in fact, it was the humanization factory that originally specialized in processing unknown corpses by Liuhua Bridge. In the past, unknown corpses from Guo County and Guangzhou Prefecture were burned here. Originally, there was a group of widowers under the jurisdiction of the Guandi Temple. The Luze Garden in one prefecture and two counties of Guangzhou is also located here, specializing in the management of "death" in "birth, old age, illness and death". Those who have no money or land for burial after death can go here to find a piece of righteousness where countless corpses are buried in layers. The body is buried in the graveyard. If you are lucky, you will find a coffin donated by a wealthy family for charity, and you can also get a thin-skinned coffin for burial.
If there is no one to claim the deceased or the deceased has no family or friends, the only option is to burn it and put it away in an earthen pot.
Lin Motian took over this place because of the needs of epidemic prevention work. The bodies of those who died of illness found during quarantine patrols, whether they were fallen on the road or identified by residents, were all gathered here for incineration.
The corpse collection team arrived soon. Like Huo Junming, they belonged to the epidemic prevention brigade and took turns to collect corpses. Although some people suggested that Lin Motian use the former Guandi Temple personnel who had completed quarantine, Lin Motian still rejected it. The reason is that these beggars and slave laborers have long had the habit of stripping corpses of their clothes and belongings. This is a moral issue in ordinary times, but it is fatal during the epidemic. Therefore, before they have completed their "training and transformation", He decided to only use the epidemic prevention brigade for the time being - at least they had been trained for several months.
The corpse collection team all wore full-body isolation gowns, large masks and oilcloth gloves. Using hooks, ropes and stretchers, the corpses were uniformly put into oilcloth body bags before being transported to reduce secondary infection during transportation.
The reed mats and rags used to cover the body were also put into rattan baskets, sealed, and sent to a designated place to be burned. After the corpse is cleaned, the epidemic prevention team will spray disinfectant.
Watching the body collection team busy, Huo Junming recorded in his notebook, "An abandoned corpse suspected of being infected with No. 1 was found", followed by the time and place, the person who found it and the results of the treatment. "These unruly people..." He closed his notebook and muttered a few words, put his hands behind his back and followed Zhao Gui into the next alley.
"Master...! You two masters! Help!" After walking a few steps, they heard a crying voice shouting and saw a young man staggering towards them.
"Isn't this Laifu?" Zhao Gui was stunned. "Isn't your family already quarantined? How did you escape?"
Yesterday, it was announced that a neighbor of Laifu's family had died of the No. 1 disease. The neighbor's family was not included in the quarantine because it was found that people from Laifu's family had been in and out of the deceased's house while he was infected, so his family was also quarantined. This afternoon we will be transferred to the isolation camp on Cheung Chau Island.
In order to prevent the quarantined persons from escaping, once they are declared as "persons awaiting quarantine", police or national troops will be posted at the door of their homes to keep them under house arrest and will not allow them to enter or exit until they are sent to the ship.
"It was the deputy who was standing guard at the door who let me out. Something happened at home!" Laifu cried and said, "My grandpa hanged himself..."
"Ah?!" Huo Junming and Zhao Gui were both shocked when they heard this, "What's going on?"
"Grandpa has seen a lot of dead people in the neighborhood recently. The bodies were all burned without leaving any tombs. He was unhappy and didn't speak for several days. After the home was quarantined the day before yesterday, he always muttered to himself, saying something like 'bury them in the ground' For peace of mind' and the like, just now...just..."
"Take us first!" Huo Junming and Lao Zhao followed Laifu and hurriedly ran into the alley.
There was nothing special about the scene - at least Zhao Gui didn't see any special problems. The deceased had a certain level of education and left a suicide note. The meaning was very clear. The old man believed that being quarantined meant that the plague had come to his family, and he was an old man who was half-buried. It is impossible to escape such a disaster. Anyway, even if you are lucky enough to escape the plague, you will only have a limited time. Instead of being burned to ashes after you die, it is better to give yourself a good time and kill yourself while you are not sick, and still be safe. The corpse is buried in peace...
"This..." Zhao Gui found it unbelievable, "Because you are afraid of illness and cremation, you want to commit suicide? Could it be a disguise?"
For the pure proletarian Zhao Gui, without the arrival of the Australians, his future would be nothing more than hard work and part-time labor. It would be impossible for him to marry a wife and leave children. In the end, he would either become old and frail or contract "" "Epidemic", he died. Baojia came forward to send Liuhuaqiao for cremation.
"Agui, do you think this family is isolated, no one comes in or out, and there is no shortage of food and medicine, so who has nothing to do to kill an old man?" Although Huo Junming's face covered with a large mask could not be seen, Zhao Gui could feel it. He seemed to be smiling bitterly, "I think this matter is basically certain, it is suicide. These people... you have lived a good life under the hands of the Senate for too long. I don't know what they think. ”
