Chapter 14-014 Who should we ask to inform our family?

The town hospital's building area is smaller than that of the town's primary school, consisting of only a two-story building. However, the large "garden" behind the building is considered part of the hospital's land, and any future expansion will only require applying for funding.

Song Xiaoli was not sick much when she was a child and rarely came to the hospital. This time, she was probably seeing the interior of the town hospital in the late 1970s for the first time.

"Doctor, this child has a fever, please take a look." Among the group, the male teacher was the only adult, and he went straight to the emergency room as soon as he entered the hospital.

Song Xiaoli and Song Shiyi followed closely behind, their little faces flushed and their breaths ragged as if they were on fire. They didn't suggest taking a break at all, which made the male teacher quicken his pace and get the patient to the hospital fifteen minutes later.

The doctor was quite relaxed at the moment. He casually checked the temperature with the back of his hand, but was shocked by the high fever. "Oh dear, how did the child get such a high fever? Did you make an appointment? If not, go and make one now. I'll take his temperature with a thermometer first, and then give him fever-reducing medicine immediately."

They arrived in a hurry and naturally didn't have time to register. The registration fee was ten cents, so Song Xiaoli pulled her cousin and ran out again, "Let's go register!"

"Can you do it?" The teacher asked, still holding the unconscious Song Shijia, while also worrying about the two younger children.

Song Xiaoli shouted back, "We'll ask the nurse!"

When the doctors and nurses weren't too busy, they were quite patient with well-behaved children. A passing nurse heard Song Xiaoli shouting like that, so she took the initiative to stop them and asked, "What do you want to ask?"

“Our brother has a fever, and the doctor told us to come and register again.” As she spoke, Song Xiaoli tugged at her cousin’s sleeve, “Brother, can you take out a dollar first?”

The nurse patted the two children's heads, led them to the registration desk, said a few words to the staff inside, then lowered her head to take the one yuan from Song Shiyi's hand, handed it over, and quickly received the nine mao change and the registration ticket.

"The registration fee is one cent. Please keep the rest of the money. If the doctor prescribes any medicine, you'll need to bring the doctor's note to the front to pay. This little note is your registration certificate; please give it to the doctor," the nurse explained gently.

Song Xiaoli reached into the young man's pocket and found two hard-boiled eggs. She took one out and handed it to the nurse, saying, "Thank you, nurse!"

After thanking her, before the nurse could even react, she pulled her cousin back to the emergency room and gave the registration ticket to the doctor.

The doctor glanced at it, nodded, and then pierced the ticket through a thin, nail-like post on the side, thus marking it as used. The doctor measured Song Shijia's temperature at 39 degrees Celsius; if left untreated, it could rise to 40 degrees Celsius. Such a high fever could potentially damage his brain or even threaten his life.

“His condition is quite serious. He's probably had a cold for quite a while now. He's probably had a poor appetite, a cough, and diarrhea lately. It wasn't a serious illness to begin with, but he didn't take his medicine in time or get enough rest, which led to a high fever and even mild pneumonia. If you had brought him here a few days later, the pneumonia would have worsened, and the child's health might have been ruined. I suggest he be hospitalized for observation. If he's admitted, I will arrange for him to have IV drips every day, and the medication will be adjusted according to his recovery.”

At this time, doctors usually prescribe small doses of medicine in paper bags. But if a cold develops into pneumonia, even mild pneumonia without other complications, it takes at least half a month to recover. Doctors are hesitant to prescribe the full course of medication without seeing the patient.

"Then let's go to the hospital," Song Xiaoli said, seeing that her teacher was hesitant and knew that as an outsider, he shouldn't make the decision.

The doctor looked at the adult and child with some confusion.

“Well,” the male teacher adjusted his glasses a little embarrassedly, “I’m a teacher at the town’s primary school. This sick person is my student. His parents aren’t here right now, and these two children are his younger siblings.”

"Can such young children make decisions?" the doctor questioned.

Before Song Xiaoli could speak, her cousin couldn't hold back any longer, "We can make the decision, please beg the doctor to treat my brother quickly, we have money!"

After a brief hesitation, the doctor decided to prioritize the patient's well-being and not delay any longer. He then wrote an admission slip and a note listing some medications, saying, "Please try to pay the fees between 8 and 9 a.m. each day. Only after you pay will a nurse come to administer the injections and medications. Pay 3.7 yuan today, which covers today and tomorrow's expenses."

Three yuan and seven jiao was within their current budget, so Song Xiaoli breathed a sigh of relief. She took two slips of paper from the doctor and went with her cousin to pay the fee at the registration desk.

“Brother, after we paid this fee, we only have seven yuan and two mao left. We don’t know how long my brother will be hospitalized, and our family doesn’t know we’ve come to town. We need to find a way to tell them.” Even though Song Xiaoli had lived a full life as an adult, she couldn’t handle her brother’s illness with the body of a three-year-old.

If it weren't for the kind male teacher they happened to meet today, how the two children would have gotten their older brother to the hospital and how they would have gotten the money for his treatment would have been a huge problem.

Song Shiyi wasn't blindly confident at this moment. He took the payment receipt, led his sister towards the doctor, and was thinking about how to contact his family.

Telephones weren't common then; only the commune office had a landline, but they didn't know the number. Meanwhile, Song Wanxia, ​​who usually worked in town, was on leave at home.

After much thought, they realized there was no one who could relay their message. Song Shiyi was frantic, tears welling in his eyes, repeatedly muttering, "What to do, what to do..."

His original plan was to bring his older brother some good food, then play at the town's primary school, have lunch, rest for a while, and then walk back with Song Xiaoli. The way back was quite far, but they could walk and stop as they pleased. If they were lucky, they could hitch a ride on an oxcart from one of the communes and make sure they got home before dark.

But now, the older brother is sick and hospitalized, and the teacher has classes in the afternoon. Since the teacher is not related to them, she certainly can't stay here and look after the older brother. The two of them can't go home as planned in the afternoon. Their family will be frantic if they don't see their child by evening. Even if they wanted to ask Uncle Hu, they couldn't, because Uncle Hu is spending the night at his son-in-law's house in Dahe Commune.

“Sigh…” Song Xiaoli sat on the empty hospital bed to the side, watching the medicine dripping steadily from the IV drip, trying her best to recall who in town could help pass on the message.

But since she lived at school with her mother in her previous life, she didn't have much contact with many relatives, and her childhood memories were not clear, so she just couldn't remember.

She could only ask her younger cousin, "Brother, is there anyone in town who can pass on a message to our family?"

“My cousin’s aunt next door works at the textile factory in town,” the younger cousin said hesitantly. This aunt is Song Dianbao’s wife, “but she doesn’t have a very good relationship with our family.”

It's probably hopeless. Song Xiaoli lowered her eyes. She thought that if Song Dianbao knew that her most beloved child was sick and hospitalized, he would probably be hoping that the child would get sick, and he would probably not let his wife be the messenger.

"Is there anyone else? Even if they're not from our commune, we can give them some money and ask them to make the trip for us."

If it weren't limited to the same commune, Song Shiyi thought about it seriously and actually thought of someone. "There's a teacher who teaches at the town's middle school. He seems to have just returned from out of town not long ago. He's from Dahe Commune. He should know Grandpa. He specially brought gifts to visit Grandpa last year. We can ask him to have someone from Dahe Commune call our commune after he gets off work."

Song Xiaoli's eyes lit up. "That works too. But, is he a good person? Would he agree to help?"

"He should be alright," Song Shiyi said. He wasn't familiar with the man, but he remembered that when the man came to their house last year, he brought a lot of nice things, and his grandfather liked him quite a bit, so he should be considered a decent person. "I roughly remember what he looks like. I'll go to the town's middle school to find him!"

"Okay! Then be careful when you walk, young man. I have to watch the IV drip and can't go with you. If you fall, there will be no one to help you up."

"It's okay, I used to run around everywhere every day when I was at home!" Song Shiyi could only vaguely remember that the person had dark skin and big eyes. Based on that impression, he dared to go find the person on his own. He was so young and carefree.

Song Xiaoli trusted her clever cousin too much and didn't ask him any questions. More than going to find someone, she was worried about him staying behind to watch the IV drip. Modern IV drips don't have automatic shut-off mechanisms; if no one is watching, either blood being drawn back or air entering the bloodstream could be fatal.

After her younger cousin left, Song Xiaoli didn't dare to leave, whether she was thirsty or needed to use the restroom. Whenever she felt sleepy, she would pinch her arm hard, leaving a bruise on her fair and tender arm. By doing this, she was able to ensure that her older cousin could safely finish the three IV drips.

At this moment, the nurse removed the needle and came to take my older cousin's temperature again.

"Nurse, is my older brother feeling better?"

The nurse took the thermometer out from under the patient's armpit, looked at the number, and smiled as she said to the young girl, "Much better, the temperature has dropped to just over 37 degrees Celsius, and the fever should be gone soon."

She still has a slight fever, but I estimate that once the medication continues to work, the fever should subside by tonight.

Song Xiaoli breathed a sigh of relief. She was finally able to ask the nurse to get her some water to drink, and then she went to the restroom.

She didn't have a watch, but judging from the sky outside, it was almost noon, and her little cousin still hadn't returned. She was a little hungry and very sleepy.

Now that she didn't have to watch the IV drip anymore, Song Xiaoli yawned, rubbed her eyes, dozed off for a while, and then climbed up to her older cousin and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

She's still only a three-year-old child. After experiencing so much in the morning, it was too much of a burden on her body. Once she fell asleep, no noise woke her up, and she didn't even know when her older cousin woke up.