Cui Shiqi laughed out loud after hearing what Chen Xia said.
"How can you, a foreigner, find these stones in Ruili? You have to go to Jiegao Commune on the other side of the river. That's where you can find raw jadeite. Some villages process jadeite. But it's not safe for you to go alone. It's right next to the border, and there are frequent armed incidents."
Chen Xia thought that this was indeed the case. How could a foreigner, without Amap and Baidu, possibly find the correct way to open it?
After all, the current Ruili is not like the Ruili of later times. At that time, the whole city was a huge jade trading market, and you could buy and sell jade everywhere. However, only God knows how much of the jade is real and how much is fake.
"President Cui, I have another question. What do you think the farmers here lack the most right now?"
Cui Shiqi was puzzled by this question:
"What do we lack the most? Everything. Food, clothes, medicine, especially in Jiegao Commune. It's on the border, and even farming there is difficult. That's why it's always been very poor. It seems like there's no wealthy place in Ruili."
After saying this, Cui Shiqi smiled self-deprecatingly.
Chen Xia now had a clear idea in mind. They lacked everything, which meant they would be very eager for daily necessities. Only by bartering could he succeed, right?
Chen Xia asked embarrassedly: "Dean Cui, can you introduce me to some businessmen who have jade people on hand?"
Cui Shiqi thought for a moment. "You're right. I don't usually know any jade merchants, but I do know there's a village in Jiegao Commune that's full of people working with jade. So, I'll take you to the director of the Jiegao Health Center and have him, this local tycoon, take you there. What do you think?"
"Thank you so much, President Cui," Chen Xia said, and took out two large front-door shoes from her bag and put them on his desk.
The old man glared at him and said, "What are you doing? Do we really need to be so polite to one another?"
But the twirling of his fingers betrayed how happy this old smoker was. In Ruili, people basically smoked tobacco, and this kind of high-quality cigarette with a filter was simply too tempting.
Jiegao Commune is actually an enclave, located alone on the opposite bank of the Ruili River, surrounded by Laos and Myanmar on three sides. It covers an area of less than 2 square kilometers and has a port facing Myanmar.
The big development would not come until 20 years later. With the development of the domestic economy, the jade industry also flourished, and the Jiegao Port became a hot spot. The daily turnover generated by jade transactions was hundreds of millions or even billions.
But now, Jiegao is still a standard rural village with only a dilapidated road extending to the border.
Cui Shiqi and Chen Xia both rode bicycles and arrived at the Jiegao Health Center in less than half an hour. Although it was called a health center, it was actually not much different from a village health center. There were only four people in total, two doctors, a nurse, and a cashier who also ran a pharmacy.
The director of the health center was a skinny old man, a Dai named Yuwan. He complained before even offering a warm welcome to the higher-level hospital staff.
"Director Cui, you finally remembered us. Let me tell you, I don't even have a single tablet of oxytetracycline left. If this continues, this clinic will be closed."
Cui Shiqi parked his bicycle, wiped his sweat, and said dissatisfiedly:
"Alright, alright, stop complaining. Not to mention your commune clinic, even our county hospital is short of medicine. Look at my hair, how many strands are left? It's all because of the lack of medicine."
The three of them entered the health center. There was only a large bamboo building where the pharmacy, clinic, and office were all squeezed together. The area was no more than 90 square meters, which was really tiny.
Yu Wan asked curiously, "President Cui, who is this..."
"Oh, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Chen Xia, the head of the General Affairs Section of the Yuezhou Fourth Hospital in Zhijiang Province. He's also a talent trained by our military hospital. This time, he wants to buy some jade. Do you have any connections?"
Yu Wan carefully looked at the young man in front of him. He looked to be in his twenties, but he was actually the section chief of a large hospital. It seemed that he was either a second-generation rich man or had someone behind him.
So he quickly stood up and shook Chen Xia's hand tightly: "Chief Chen, nice to meet you."
Chen Xia quickly stood up and said politely, "Dean Yuwan, please forgive me for interrupting your work."
After both parties sat down, Chen Xia lit cigarettes for the two deans respectively. After Yu Wan took a puff of the high-end cigarette, he said with great enjoyment:
"Chief Chen, it's not difficult to buy jadeite. Our sister didn't say goodbye to me, so there are quite a few jadeite. I'll take you there when the time comes."
Chen Xia was delighted when he heard this: "Dean Yuwan, I want to buy the best jadeite. Is there a lot here? How much is the price?"
"Oh, there should be quite a few of the best jadeite. They're definitely selling it, but I can't tell you the price. The state-owned jade factories buy it based on the quality, so the prices range from a few yuan to dozens of yuan. I heard the most expensive ones are hundreds of yuan. It's a pity that money is useless in our poor place. It would be even better if you could exchange it for supplies."
Chen Xia thought, I am already prepared.
When the three were discussing jadeite, a few Dai people suddenly rushed in from outside. One of them was a woman holding a little boy and crying all the way in. When she arrived at the clinic, she kept shouting anxiously:
"Doctor, please save my child. He's had a fever for five days and is now unconscious. He's dying."
The women were crying hysterically, their words barely coherent. The young men leading the group were, on the other hand, more rational:
"Doctor Yuwan, my son has had a fever for several days and is now in a coma. Even the Apu gods in our village can't save him. Please, please."
When Yu Wan heard there was an emergency patient, he immediately ran over, asked everyone to lay the child flat on the ground, and took out a mercury thermometer to test the child. "Wow, it's a high fever of 40 degrees Celsius."
Out of professional sensitivity, Chen Xia and Dean Cui also rushed over to help. A doctor's duty is to save lives and heal the wounded, especially when encountering an emergency pediatric patient. If you don't help, you will be struck by lightning.
Unlike Doctor Yu Wan's flustered behavior, Chen Xia's observation was much more careful.
The child, about 5 years old, was already drowsy. He was somewhat responsive when shaken, but not far from coma. His eyeballs were sunken and his skin had poor elasticity. When asked, he only urinated twice a day, and the amount was very small each time.
It seems that the dehydration is caused by high fever, and it seems that the condition is between moderate and severe. If this little baby is not treated in time, he will eventually die of multiple organ failure due to acid-base imbalance and electrolyte disorder in the body caused by dehydration.
It can be said that the child's life is hanging by a thread.
I don't know what's wrong with these parents. When they are sick, they don't see a doctor but go to see some kind of oracle? They waited so long to send their child to the hospital. How foolish and ignorant.
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