Chapter 100: The free clinic is about to start by ordering a hot pot of tripe, and then you can get...

"Free clinic?"

Yao Xiaoyu sat down in the chair opposite Dr. Maria and checked it again. She knew the meaning of the word, but given the current social environment and situation…

Just the two of us?

If Maria agrees, she won't go; there's a difference between doing a good deed and delivering vegetables.

"Of course not, my little lily, we gathered more than ten people to travel together."

Maria shook her head, glanced at Tao Xiaoxiao discreetly, and began to explain to Yao Xiaoyu.

The concept of free clinics was no different from what Yao Xiaoyu knew. The full name is "free diagnosis and prescription with partial medication distribution." There are large-scale joint events as well as privately funded ones. Maria Hospital is the latter. It has been carrying out this activity for five years, once a year, for half a month each time. Participants can receive subsidies from the hospital, which is a standard way to spend money to gain reputation.

"Then I don't meet the requirements either."

Yao Xiaoyu was very interested in seeing the real countryside of this era, but she was well aware of her own limitations—she only had some basic knowledge of medicine and couldn't handle any of the steps, from bandaging to dispensing medicine. She was also afraid of hardship, dirt, heat, and fatigue, and was of no use except for consuming food.

"Of course, it's my little lily, so the money will come from my private account."

The two chatted quite often. Even after leaving the hospital, Yao Xiaoyu would occasionally come to Maria's office to talk to her. Maria was well aware of Yao Xiaoyu's abilities, and her target was not this little lily.

"...So you want to borrow my bodyguards to enhance the sense of security for female doctors, including you?"

Yao Xiaoyu interrupted Maria's rambling with a blank expression. The blonde, blue-eyed woman smiled awkwardly but did not shake her head.

When she saw Tao Xiaoxiao pick up Wenrou with one hand at the hospital, she had the idea of ​​recruiting her, but Yao Xiaoyu was faster and less likely to attract attention, so she could only leave with regret.

"Little lily, I guarantee you'll get a good price."

Maria spoke with confidence. Putting aside her powerful position as hospital director, a single foot-unbinding surgery would be enough for her to make a fortune. However, female bodyguards were extremely hard to find, and in places far from big cities, men were often associated with danger, even the most reputable gentlemen.

The old saying, "The countryside is a man's odyssey, and escape is an epic etched into a woman's body," applies to all times and cultures.

“My bodyguards haven’t received professional training and don’t know how to control their strength. What if they break an arm or leg, or even snap a neck…”

Maria sensed Yao Xiaoyu's change of heart and immediately followed up:

"I'll take responsibility. I've prepared a lot of medical expenses. To use your old Chinese saying, it's better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free!"

Dr. Maria felt nauseous at the thought of the ever-present gaze she had received last year. She admitted that the gratitude of the patients' families warmed her heart, and she was also pleased by the slightly dirty candy handed to her by a child. But she really didn't want to live a life where she had to be on edge every time she took a bath or went to bed, fearing that there might be a peephole in the door.

Hit them, hit them hard. She doesn't advocate the use of violence, but sometimes only absolute force can create a safe environment!

"Speaking of which, I've been planning to take a trip to the countryside recently, but it's not very convenient to do it alone..."

Having received a satisfactory answer, Yao Xiaoyu pretended to continue, and Maria, understanding the implied meaning, quickly extended an invitation:

"Little Lily, I think you could come along as... um... a tourist, so you don't have to worry about coming and going."

Maria didn't care whether Tao Xiaoxiao was always in their sight. As long as she made an example of her, those people would naturally know their place. Even if they didn't, it didn't matter. She was prepared to pay for their medical expenses to teach them a lesson.

And so it was settled—Tao Xiaoxiao would go on official business with Maria's medical mission, with round-trip travel expenses and meals provided, and she would receive the same subsidies as the doctors. The money would come from Maria's personal account, and she would only be responsible for protecting everyone's safety and would not be responsible for any miscellaneous tasks.

Yao Xiaoyu received no subsidies and did not need to do any work; her treatment was the same as Tao Xiaoxiao's.

"Little Lily, you and your guards get ready. We'll be setting off around next week. I'll send you a message the day before we leave."

With a highly skilled fighter as her protector, Maria's expression visibly relaxed, and she even had the mood to let Yao Xiaoyu taste the macarons on her table—these were her personal custom-made flavors, and she wouldn't have been willing to offer them out if Yao Xiaoyu hadn't been on good terms with her.

The rainbow-colored macarons were about the size of silver coins. Yao Xiaoyu symbolically took a pink one and put it in her mouth. As soon as she bit down, she put on a mask of pain.

...So sweet!

Humans cannot, or at least should not...

Yao Xiaoyu didn't know how she managed to swallow that piece of food. In any case, after she regained consciousness, she had already drunk three large bowls of tea on the street, but there was still a piece on her tongue that she couldn't taste. Tao Xiaoxiao looked at her worriedly, and Yao Xiaoyu could only smile wryly and tell Tao Xiaoxiao not to eat anything from Dr. Maria in the future.

"She's a foreigner, and her tastes are quite different from ours."

Yao Xiaoyu recalled a comment online that foreigners are particularly good at eating sweets. She hadn't taken it seriously at the time, but now she regretted it terribly—the taste of something that turns a fly into a bee and causes hypoglycemia to kick from Guangdong to Lhasa is no joke!

She wasn't sure if this level of sweetness tolerance was an isolated or widespread phenomenon, but Yao Xiaoyu decided that if she ever made any more foreign friends in the future, she would definitely decline their invitations to dine out, unless they weren't cooking for themselves.

One lesson like this is enough!

Tao Xiaoxiao nodded solemnly, engraving these words in bold red ink into her heart—Yao Xiaoyu's performance was truly terrifying, and what was most frightening was that she had no acting skills whatsoever!

Yao Xiaoyu finished her tea and stood up, the water in her stomach churning. She chose a sturdy driver and got into the car, unusually not letting him pick up a random place.

"Find a big restaurant that sells spicy food."

She's not usually picky about food, but for the next three days, no, for a week, she doesn't want to eat anything sweet.

The driver stopped in front of a two-story restaurant. Yao Xiaoyu paid extra for a private room and ordered a few dishes at random. The taste was not bad, but the quality of the dishes was just average and did not give people any surprises. However, the tripe that was added at the end was very satisfying.

"Maodu Kaitang" is a term used in the Sichuan trade, and it's unclear when it became popular. It's essentially a tripe hot pot, but it includes not only tripe but also all parts of the cow, similar to modern offal hot pot, except that it mainly uses tripe.

This restaurant throws in Sichuan peppercorns and ginger for free when serving tripe hotpot. It's hot and fresh with chili peppers. The person cutting the tripe is also very skilled. The tripe is cut into pieces with a few strokes, leaving it slightly crisp. Even after eating several bites, your jaw won't feel sore. Although Yao Xiaoyu didn't dare to drink the soup on its own at the end, she ordered a bowl of thin noodles. She cooked them, took them out, and stuffed them into her mouth.

tasty!

Yao Xiaoyu left the restaurant satisfied. She was too full to go back, so she and Tao Xiaoxiao took a walk in the sunshine to digest their food. They had only walked half a block when they suddenly heard shouts from behind.

"Miss, Miss..."

Realizing that she was being called, Yao Xiaoyu stopped and looked at the petite girl in front of her with some confusion.

"Miss, which store did you buy your lip rouge from? Our young lady said it looks very red and pretty, and she wants to buy some too."

The girl lowered her voice when she said the second half of the sentence. Yao Xiaoyu looked in the direction she was quietly pointing and saw a girl surrounded by people. She was wearing a gold hairpin and was obviously not from an ordinary family.

"...The lipstick on my lips is not lip rouge."

Yao Xiaoyu hesitated for a while, but finally decided to tell the truth.

“Walk along this street for a while, and you’ll see a restaurant with a banner that says ‘Shu Xian Ju’ hanging by the roadside. Ask the waiter for a serving of tripe to open the restaurant, and after you finish eating, ask for a bowl of noodles. When you come out, your mouth will look like this.”

The little girl stood there, and Yao Xiaoyu took the opportunity to grab Tao Xiaoxiao and walk away quickly. They went to a secluded place, hired a rickshaw, and got in. As they passed the restaurant where they had just come from, they happened to see the girl wearing a gold hairpin walk in.

Yao Xiaoyu hopes she has a stomach that can handle spicy food.

...

The saying goes, "A poor family can travel richly." In modern travel, you can buy whatever you need anytime, but that's not the case now. The more Yao Xiaoyu packed, the more she felt she was missing everything. Finally, she grabbed a piece of white paper and made a list, numbering it according to importance. Then she took a rickshaw and bought the necessary items that the Yao family didn't have.

The lack wasn't much; it mainly consisted of rain boots, umbrellas, and some miscellaneous items, as well as food that could be stored for a longer period. Staple foods were fine, but the key issue was that Yao Xiaoyu and Tao Xiaoxiao were both meat lovers. Shanghai has a large population and high consumption, and can slaughter pigs and sheep every day, while the village doesn't have that many diners.

After thinking it over, Yao Xiaoyu bought some sausages to take with her: they were made in Jiangxi style, with pork only seasoned with salt and a little white wine, then dried in the sun. She would slice them thinly and steam them with rice, so they only had the aroma of meat and no saltiness. If you were feeling lazy, you could just throw the whole sausage in to steam, or stir-fry it with vegetables. The taste was just as good.

Besides sausages, Yao Xiaoyu also bought some beef jerky. The shopkeeper patted his chest and said it was dried beef from cattle in the Tibetan area. Yao Xiaoyu pinched and smelled it, confirming that it wouldn't spoil for a month, so she didn't call the shopkeeper out on it.

They didn't buy chickens or ducks; even the poorest villages can buy these two kinds of livestock as long as they're willing to pay. The same goes for vegetables. Yao Xiaoyu did buy a lot of seasonings, just in case they had to add salt all the time.

Then there's dried cheese. Yao Xiaoyu didn't wait to collect the little bit that the cheese shop displayed every day; she placed an order directly with her money. Dried cheese is fragrant, sweet, and high in energy. It can be stored at room temperature for a month or two, making it a perfect energy supplement. At least Yao Xiaoyu felt that if modern chocolate were placed next to it, she would choose dried cheese.

Finally, there's sugar—Yao Xiaoyu had previously seen medieval doctors' treatment methods, the most common of which was to give a cup of sugar water/honey water, and patients would often feel much better after drinking it.

This is certainly ironic, but it also illustrates the nutritional deficiencies of ordinary people. Poor people are not uncommon in Shanghai, and sugar is a very precious thing for them. And this is a big city where even beggars can get meat soup and preserved meat. Life in the villages outside... Yao Xiaoyu does not deny that there may be wealthy utopias, but such lucky people are definitely not many.

A cup of hot sugar water might just be a lifesaver.

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Author's note: A little detail: Yao Xiaoyu bought a lot of sugar, preparing to stir it with oil and pour it out when she encountered a wicked force that even Tao Xiaoxiao couldn't handle.

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