Chapter 41: No Place for Dr. Du to Show His Skills
The county hospital had just opened, and there weren't many patients, mostly those with acute illnesses or pain. If people in the mountains caught a cold and had a cough, they would usually drink a bowl of hot soup and get into bed to sweat it out. Except for the elderly and children who were delirious with fever, no one would easily go to the hospital.
Two patients came in this morning: a child with a high fever and a man who had broken his leg. Both came to see the head doctor.
Du Ruoxia listened to the anxious or painful cries from next door from behind the curtain, engrossed in her medical book. Her fingers lightly touched the slightly yellowed pages and the slightly faded ink annotations, and she felt something sprouting at her fingertips.
"Dr. Du, I have a fountain pen here, would you like to use it first?"
Du Ruoxia was interrupted and could no longer feel that mysterious state. She could only open her eyes with regret. Xu Aihua stood in front of the table holding a fountain pen and pouted, "Who still uses a calligraphy brush these days!"
Jiang Xiaoli quickly added, "The paper at the county hospital absorbs ink too easily, Xiaohua is worried that you won't be able to prescribe the medicine."
"It's alright, thank you," Du Ruoxia said to Xu Aihua. Although she said she was impatient, she didn't complain when the child with a fever vomited all over her. Instead, she took care of the patient and his family in every way.
After the children fell asleep, she took out oranges and peanuts and roasted them on the stove, saving the air in the room, and generously shared them with everyone.
Xu Aihua was clearly a kind-hearted person, but she always loved to talk big. Seeing that she didn't appreciate it, she turned around and put the pen back in her pocket. "Fine, anyway, you might not have a chance to prescribe a medicine."
Back when they were at Jiangcheng Department Store, Yang Zeyan bought her a Hero fountain pen, but today was her first day at work, so he hadn't prepared everything.
Du Ruoxia sighed. It wasn't that she was being pretentious and refusing Xu Aihua's kindness, but rather that the pen looked brand new, and she didn't want to take advantage of her.
Du Ruoxia was quite relaxed, wandering around for a while. When she returned, she saw Jiang Xiaoli, who was obviously waiting for her. Du Ruoxia went up to her, meeting her bright eyes, and before she could even ask a question, she heard Jiang Xiaoli excitedly say, "Dr. Du, you're amazing! All the rats and bugs in the warehouse have run away!"
Du Ruoxia nodded without surprise. She had bought Clematis chinensis and camphor at the market, which reminded her of the exorcising powder in the book from later generations. She tried it at home last night and the effect was quite good. This morning, she sprinkled it along the base of the warehouse wall.
She wasn't showing off her skills; she was just worried that the county hospital's limited medicines would be ruined by rats and insects. She had originally planned to use the more potent Extinguishing Spirit Powder, but considering that people were coming and going from the warehouse, she decided to just drive them away.
"Dr. Du, you're amazing! You don't know, the bed sheets we kept in the warehouse were all torn up by mice and used as nests. Now, you've got them all taken care of!"
Jiang Xiaoli looked at Du Ruoxia with admiration, then suddenly realized, "That's why I didn't get bitten by any mosquitoes while running around the yard today. It must be your medicine, right?"
Yuyang County is hot and humid, and these mosquitoes are extremely large. They chase after people and bite them, leaving a big red welt that is both painful and itchy. People can only occasionally burn mugwort to drive them away, but they come back as soon as the smell dissipates.
"The exorcising powder will last for five or six days. I'll do some more research and see if I can make some sachets to hang around so they can last until autumn."
"Okay, okay, Dr. Du, I'm counting on you. I didn't expect you to be so good at surgery, and you also have a good understanding of Chinese medicinal herbs!"
“Medical skills are never separate. As doctors, we always recommend whichever treatment plan is suitable for the patient. We surgeons don’t necessarily operate and suture every patient who comes in,” Du Ruoxia said.
Jiang Xiaoli then realized that her thinking was too narrow and she had never thought of this aspect.
Although Du Ruoxia is a cardiothoracic surgeon, she was born into a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, so she is naturally better at traditional Chinese medicine than many ordinary doctors.
"Dr. Du, why didn't you tell me you were putting medicine in the warehouse?" Xu Aihua poked her head out of the door with a look of resentment and tears in her eyes as she accused, "Do you know how I felt when I opened the door and saw a swarm of insects and rats rushing out?! I was so scared I almost jumped onto the roof!"
"Du Ruoxia then remembered that she had sprinkled pesticide powder along all the walls of the warehouse. Unlike a new house, the warehouse was empty with few windows and doors. The insects and rats were stimulated by the pesticide powder and ran around in all directions. When they had nowhere else to go, they would escape through the only door that had not been sprayed with pesticide. Who knew that Xu Aihua would see them?"
"Feel sorry."
Du Ruoxia hadn't expected this to happen, but Xu Aihua asked somewhat awkwardly, "Dr. Du, is there any left over with this powder? I... I'd like to sprinkle some in my room too..."
“This…” Du Ruoxia considered for a moment, “The exorcising powder is still poisonous. If it is sprinkled in the house, we may not be able to live there for several days.”
"It's alright, it's alright." Xu Aihua waved her hand and then took Jiang Xiaoli's arm. "Xiaoli, clean up my room first, and I'll stay at your place for a few days. Then I'll clean up your room too, okay?"
It turned out that Xu Aihua usually lived in Jiang Xiaoli's house and would only go to the city once every few months of vacation. Du Ruoxia carefully asked about the size of the house and told them about the precautions.
"Dr. Du, how much does this medicine powder cost?"
Du Ruoxia waved her hand, "This is for my own use, it's free."
"How could I possibly accept that?" Xu Aihua stubbornly insisted on taking out her wallet, but Jiang Xiaoli stopped her.
Jiang Xiaoli pressed down on Xu Aihua's arm and said quickly, "Then Dr. Du, I'll make you two pairs of sleeves. Your clothes look quite new, and they'll be hard to wash if they get stained with ink."
Xu Aihua then realized what was going on. She opened her mouth, but couldn't think of anything special about herself, so she could only say, "I'll bring you a box of lobster pastries tomorrow, they're so delicious!"
Du Ruoxia smiled and nodded, deciding to bring some candy for the two lovely girls tomorrow as well.
The county hospital was still quiet in the afternoon. Du Ruoxia read for a while longer before getting up to stretch.
At this moment, Gao Yuyang, who had gone to the village for a free clinic, returned. He spotted Du Ruoxia immediately. He had heard that Du Ruoxia was coming to take up her post today, but unfortunately, he had been sent to the village for a free clinic early in the morning. Fortunately, he managed to rush back before Du Ruoxia finished get off work.
Du Ruoxia stretched and saw Gao Yuyang, who was an old friend.
"Dr. Gao, how have you been?"
"I should call you Dr. Du now. How was your first day at work?" Gao Yuyang walked towards the consultation room.
"I'm so bored, I have no opportunity to use my talents."
Gao Yuyang laughed, "The fact that we didn't need you just proves that the people are free from illness and disaster."
Du Ruoxia shook her head and pointed towards the traditional Chinese medicine clinic, saying, "Look, everyone's gone to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor."
"People in Yuyang County, including the villages under its jurisdiction, have more faith in traditional Chinese medicine. Minor ailments can heal on their own, and for more serious ones, they go to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. They only come to our Western medicine clinic for particularly serious or urgent cases."
Gao Yuyang said quietly, "Moreover, after being here for so long, I've discovered that this hospital is relatively short of Western medicines, but has a much larger stock of Chinese herbal medicines. Even when patients come here, there are many medicines that we can't prescribe, and medicines that even county hospitals can't prescribe unless they go to the city."
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