Chapter 31 Dizziness
As soon as the lid of the honeycomb briquette stove was opened, the fire inside the stove flared up instantly.
The iron wok was heating up and emitting blue smoke. The lean meat was cut into thin slices, and then slid into the hot wok, instantly releasing a fragrant aroma of oil with a hint of raw meat.
When the edges of the meat slices start to curl slightly, quickly add the lettuce slices.
Amidst the popping sounds of oil, the aroma gradually wafted into the back windows of each house in this row.
Then the fragrance was carried by the wind and spread in all directions.
"Mom, whose family is stir-frying meat?"
The aroma of food filled the air at Chen Yun's house, and the four people who arrived at the same time as Ruan Qiu were still sitting at the door.
Seeing the fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl sniffle and hear her belly rumbling, she was glared at sternly by her mother and immediately blushed and lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Mother, why haven't my elder brother and sister-in-law returned yet?"
The woman who had almost fainted earlier looked a little better after resting; her cheeks were flushed and her forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, making her look very hot.
"They should be back soon." The old woman with a face full of wrinkles looked up at the bridge, her eyes filled with deep sorrow. "There are some biscuits in your bag, you sisters can share them to tide you over."
"The first month he wrote a letter saying he wanted to take Cuifen to the county town for medical treatment, the eldest son's..."
"Don't talk nonsense!" The old woman gritted her teeth and glared at the old man: "If you didn't agree to let us take Cuifen to see a doctor, why would the eldest son's family let us bring her to the factory?"
Despite her confident demeanor, the old lady was actually quite anxious inside.
They were the Ma family from Dongfanghong Commune. The elderly couple had four children. The eldest son and his wife worked in a machinery factory, the second son and his wife farmed in the production team, and their two daughters were just over seventeen and fifteen respectively.
Since last month, the third daughter has been complaining of dizziness and nausea. When it flares up, she vomits and has diarrhea and can't even stand up straight. She went to the health center to see a doctor who said there was something wrong with her head and she needed to go to the county town for treatment.
The elderly couple, who had never left the production team before, dared not take their daughter to the county town. So they sent a telegram to their eldest son, who replied and told them to come to the factory to meet them first.
The family of four couldn't bear to spend money on public transportation, and it took them a whole day and night to finally reach the machinery factory.
I never expected to be turned away as soon as I arrived. The eldest son's door was locked, and I had no idea where he was.
No wonder Old Ma was having doubts...
"Big brother is back!"
Two people walked towards them from afar across the bridge. Their familiar figures immediately made Ma Cuixia so happy that she spit out crumbs of noodles.
"Old lady."
The man also noticed the group of people sitting at his door, and quickly quickened his pace.
Where did you go?
"My colleague's family is having a wedding banquet today, and we're going to eat there..."
The man hurriedly opened his door and helped the old man, whose legs were trembling, into the house.
The lights came on.
Yang Juhua, who lived diagonally across the street, watched as people gradually entered their houses before carrying her large bowl into the next room.
"Today, Brother Hu is unusually generous and willing to buy pig's feet. I've also stewed some kelp for you to try."
Chen Yun was setting the table with dishes when she hurriedly called out, "Sister-in-law, I was just about to call you. Let Yue'e and Xiangyang come to my house for dinner tonight."
"It's not like there's no food at home, so let them eat at home."
After spending a month or so together, Chen Yun discovered that although Yang Juhua was a loose tongue, she was actually quite generous and righteous in her dealings with others.
Although there was more seaweed than pig's trotters, the person had only bought one pig's trotter, so it was already quite generous of them to give so much to their neighbor.
"Sister-in-law, bring the dishes over so we can share them," Gao Ming's voice drifted from afar.
"How can that be! You have plenty of meat and vegetables today, wouldn't we be getting a good deal?"
"If you're going to be so calculating, why bother sharing a meal? Just hide at home and eat secretly." Chen Yun pushed Yang Juhua out the door: "Xiangyang, bring your bowl to my house for dinner."
"Aunt Chen, my dad has hidden a bottle of sorghum liquor, I know where it is!" Hu Xiangyang jumped three feet high in the room, but before he could be happy for more than a few seconds, he was slapped on the head and started whimpering softly again.
"You little brat, you sure know how to use your dad's stuff to curry favor," Hu Gangtie cursed.
Despite the cursing, a few seconds later Hu Gangtie was the first to come out carrying a bottle of wine, but nothing else.
"They don't even know to serve a bowl of vegetables."
"I'll chat with Xiao Gao for a bit first, then you and your kids can take your time dealing with this."
Hu Gangtie has dark skin and an ordinary appearance. In life, he is a typical male chauvinist. He is responsible for earning money to support the family, while his wife does all the housework. He wouldn't even glance at an oil bottle if it fell over.
He smiled at Chen Yun as a greeting, then walked unsteadily into Chen Yun's house with his hands behind his back.
Another typical example of male chauvinism is his behavior style, believing that all women are short-sighted and never talk much to Chen Yun.
Aside from that... he's a good person.
"All he cares about is a couple of ounces of cat pee; he has absolutely no skills."
Having lived together for decades, no matter how harsh Yang Juhua's insults were, Hu Gangtie would just let them go in one ear and out the other, acting as if nothing had happened afterward.
Chen Yun couldn't very well chime in about what happened between the couple, so she had to steer the conversation in a different direction.
"Sister-in-law, is the family across the street surnamed Ma?"
"You saw him too?" Yang Juhua immediately perked up, and before she could even pull one foot back off the threshold, she began to speak: "The man's name is Ma Zhigang, he works in the factory workshop, and his wife Zhang Guixiang collects tickets at the bathhouse..."
Yang Juhua knew exactly how many households lived in this apartment building, what each person's name was and what they did, and she could even tell you the details of their children's academic performance.
"Those people who just came in must be Ma Zhigang's mother and two younger sisters. I heard the eldest sister isn't married yet... They didn't come to the factory specifically to find a husband, did they..."
There are many unmarried men in the technical positions at the machinery factory, and the imbalance between men and women means that many of them can only find partners in the nearby communes.
So a very common scene appeared in the factory: you could often see young women of marriageable age coming to stay with their relatives in the factory for a period of time. If they met someone suitable, they would get married immediately; if not, they would pack their bags and go home.
"I think Zhang Guixiang is probably pregnant, isn't she?"
Although the work clothes were loose, Ma Zhigang's wife, Zhang Guixiang, was still very pregnant, at least five or six months along.
Yang Juhua simply brought out the wooden steamer she used to steam rice, and upon hearing this, she glanced at the Ma family: "Speaking of which, Zhang Guixiang is also a pitiful person. She lost both of her previous pregnancies, but this one is finally stable."
Chen Yun nodded and listened.
"I estimate it's been about four months... God, please bless this baby so that it can be delivered smoothly."
"Four months?"
"Perhaps I misremembered, so it was five months?"
Even though Yang Juhua knew a lot about her neighbors, she couldn't ask them in detail when they got pregnant. She could only ask them a few questions to get a general idea of what was going on.
"Five months is normal, but four months would be a bit too big!"
Chen Yun took the plate of food from Yang Juhua without giving it much thought, and simply replied with a couple of words.
"It must be my bad memory." Yang Juhua clearly didn't want to talk about this anymore: "You take the dishes over first, I'll go back and call that little bastard Hu Xiangyang."
Hu Gangtie must have encountered something happy today, because dinner not only included pig's trotters but also two stir-fried vegetable dishes, all glistening with oil, indicating that a lot of oil had been used.
Just as Chen Yun put the dishes down, Hu Xiangyang, clutching his backside, darted behind Chen Yun.
"Aunt Chen, it smells so good!"
The chicken soup, with a layer of golden fat floating on top, was incredibly fragrant. Gao Ming even added a few red dates and goji berries, making the color quite striking.
Hu Xiangyang remembered that the last time he played PUBG was on New Year's Eve, and it's been almost a year in the blink of an eye.
"Eat more meat later." Chen Yun unfolded the folding stools piled in the corner and counted them: "Xiangyang, go to your house and bring two stools."
"Okay!"
Hu Xiangyang jumped up and leaped over the threshold. A moment later, he brought back a stool, set it up, and then ran impatiently to Chen Yun.
"Aunt Chen, I heard someone crying at that house across the street." She insisted on pointing it out to Chen Yun: "That house...is someone being beaten?"
Hu Xiangyang was pointing in the direction of Zheng Wen's house.
At first, Chen Yun really thought Zheng Wen was hitting Song Shiwei, so he hurriedly stepped out of the door to find out what was going on.
After a while, Chen Yun turned around and went back into the house with an embarrassed look on her face, then turned on the radio.
“We don’t get involved in other people’s arguments.” Saying this, she pushed Hu Xiangyang in front of the radio: “Don’t you love listening to model operas the most? ...It’s been going on for a while now.”
Hu Xiangyang was immediately distracted and eagerly pulled up a chair to sit in front of the cabinet and started singing along.
It seems the soundproofing in this house isn't very good... Chen Yun decided she had to bring up this issue with Gao Ming that night.
"Shameless! It's not even dark yet!"
Yang Juhua walked in, cursing and swearing. She put the bowl on the table, both angry and ashamed, and was about to close the door.
Where is Yue'e?
"I'll go call her."
Hu Yue'e had been reading at home, and in such a quiet environment, she probably heard the embarrassing sounds from across the street. Thinking of this, Yang Juhua wished she could rush to Zheng Wen's window and bang on it twice.
"Aunt Chen, who is my mom saying is shameless?"
"Why are you talking so much while listening to your play?" Yang Juhua turned around and scolded her son.
Two minutes later, Hu Yue'e was pushed into the house.
When Yang Juhua saw her daughter's face turn red, she could no longer suppress her anger. She grabbed the broom by the door, rushed to the other side, and banged hard on the window twice.
"Have you no shame! Have you no shame!"
"It's not even dark yet and you're already starting. If you really can't hold it in, go find a grove of trees outside. Don't lead the kids astray here!"
"Why didn't you yell louder? You even have the nerve to close the door..."
He poked at the window several times, calling out to the neighbors who were suffering the same fate.
"It's not just once or twice; this couple keeps making a fuss every day, and we're getting tired of listening to them."
"That's right, they don't care about anything except those things in the brothel."
"The day before yesterday, my grandson asked me why the neighbors beat people every day. How am I supposed to answer that? ... The whole family was eating at the time."
The room fell silent.
Seeing that the neighbors seemed to be getting more and more explicit, Chen Yun put his arm around Hu Yue'e's shoulder and turned to go to the kitchen.
"The last dish."
"Then I'll call myself Xiangyang, the one who serves the dishes."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Yang Juhua suddenly rushed into the house, grabbed Chen Yun, and dragged her out the door.
"Go quickly and see, Ma Zhigang's sister has a terrible headache!"
Startled, Chen Yun broke free from Yang Juhua's hand and ran upstairs, saying, "I'm going to get the medicine."
There was a small bottle of quick-acting heart medicine in the bag, a precious gift that Xu Gaoyuan gave to Chen Yun before he left. Whenever she heard about a headache, she immediately thought of a stroke.
While it may not be effective for cerebral infarction, the 50% chance is worth a try.
At the entrance of the Ma family's house.
Ma Zhigang's mother sat crookedly by the door, slapping her thighs loudly, cursing and cursing, her face covered in tears and snot.
Anyone who didn't know better would think she had suffered some terrible injustice.
Ma Cuifen, who was truly in trouble, lay half-reclined in Ma Zhigang's arms, rolling her eyes and vomiting.
There was nothing in his stomach to begin with, and what he vomited was mostly yellow bile, which kept spraying out of his mouth.
From afar, Chen Yun's heart skipped a beat when she saw the projectile vomiting.
"Chen Yun is a doctor, Ma Zhigang, please have her take a look."
This was the first time Ma Zhigang had ever seen his sister fall ill. He was so frightened that he forgot what to do and just kept patting Ma Cuifen's back based on his reflexes.
Yang Juhua was even more anxious than him. Seeing that the person wasn't moving, she simply grabbed him and pulled him away.
"Stop howling!" Chen Yun couldn't help but say a few words to Old Ma: "If yelling could save someone, what's the use of a doctor!"
This family is completely useless when something happens.
"Have her lie flat." Chen Yun placed his hand on Ma Cuifen's neck, silently counting her pulse beats.
His heartbeat and pulse were normal, and his pulse did not resemble a cerebral infarction.
"Where is the headache mainly located?" Chen Yun pressed Ma Cuifen's temples with both hands, then slowly touched the back of her head.
“My head doesn’t hurt, it’s just…” Ma Cuifen gagged as soon as she opened her mouth, and finally finished the second half of the sentence weakly: “I’m dizzy, I’m really dizzy.”
Chen Yun wanted to ask what kind of dizziness it was, but when she looked at Ma Cuifen's face, she suddenly noticed that her eyes were tightly closed and her eyelids were trembling violently.
Why aren't you opening your eyes?
"I dare not... I dare not open my eyes, I feel dizzy."
With her clear speech and sharp mind, Chen Yun became even more certain that Ma Cuifen's condition was not an acute cerebral infarction, but rather resembled another kind of tormenting but not fatal illness.
Chen Yun handed the nitroglycerin pills to Yang Juhua, then bent down and pried open Ma Cuifen's eyelids.
The left eyeball vibrated noticeably and seemed quite sensitive to light; it took a lot of effort to pry open the eyelid.
"Bring that stool over here." Chen Yun didn't look up, but simply changed his posture and stopped in front of Ma Cuifen.
A long wooden bench was placed in front of the Ma family's house, long enough for the already petite Ma Cuifen to lie on.
"Doctor, what's wrong with my daughter?" Old Ma asked anxiously as he approached.
Grandma Ma didn't have time to wail anymore. She scrambled over and grabbed Chen Yun's leg without saying a word: "Doctor, please save my daughter. I'll give you anything you want... I'll even give you my life."
"What's wrong with you, old lady? Doctor Chen is saving your daughter... Aren't you delaying his efforts to save her?" Yang Juhua couldn't help but scold this old woman.
Chen Yun broke free of her legs and waved to Ma Zhigang.
"Don't waste time."
Ma Zhigang said "Oh," finally realizing what was most important at the moment, and walked over to drag his mother to the door.
"The doctor is here, so don't go up and cause trouble."
"Mom, Dr. Chen is even better than the doctors at the county hospital, so don't worry."
Zhang Guixiang slowly walked out of the house, supporting her back and bending over to help Old Ma. Her clumsy and laborious movements were alarming to behold.
Grandma Ma was also terrified when she saw this. She quickly got up from the ground, wiped her face, and said, "Don't come out and get involved. What if you scare the baby in your belly?"
"Mother, don't worry, Cuifen will be alright," Zhang Guixiang gently reassured her.
Old Mrs. Ma is not usually a troublemaker, but she was so frightened by Ma Cuifen's sudden illness that she lost her composure.
In just a few words, Chen Yun had completed the examination.
“It shouldn’t be a big problem, relax first.” Chen Yun patted Ma Cuifen’s shoulder first, then turned to the Ma family and said, “It’s not a life-threatening illness, I think it’s like benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).”
"..."
During the examination, I asked Ma Cuifen some questions and learned that after she had experienced several episodes last year, cerebral infarction can be basically ruled out.
In addition to the nystagmus and the fact that there is no discomfort when there is no onset, the possibility of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is relatively high.
"What's 'correct' for 'ear'?" Old Ma didn't even know how to write the character for "symptom" in Chinese, and thought it meant "correct" for "front" or "back." He pointed to his ear and said, "Your ear is backwards?"
"I'll explain in detail after I reset myself." Chen Yun helped Ma Cuifen sit up, supporting her shoulder with one hand and pressing her chest with the other. "When I say lie back, just lie down, lie down as far as you can."
Ma Cuifen dared not open her eyes; when she lifted her eyelids, her eyeballs darted around everywhere.
When I first had this symptom last year, it only took a few seconds to clear up on its own, but it has been taking longer and longer since then. This time, I still felt dizzy for quite a while.
“Okay! Lie down…” Chen Yun pressed the person down.
In her previous life, she had rotated through the neurology department, but was transferred to the obstetrics department after only three months. In fact, she had only seen the repositioning method for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in books.
But she now performs it with incredible skill, as if she has done each movement hundreds or thousands of times.
A strange feeling flashed through Chen Yun's mind, but she didn't have time to think about it further and continued to guide Ma Cuifen to turn her head left and right to reset the position.
After repeating the entire set of movements twice, Chen Yun patted Ma Cuifen's face: "Open your eyes and take a look again."
"I dare not." Ma Cuifen shook her head desperately.
She didn't dare let Chen Yun personally pry open her eyelids, and then asked her with a smile, "Are you still dizzy?"
Ma Cuifen: "..."
The first thing you see is a smiling face, with eyes as bright as the moon in the sky.
"Are you feeling better now?" Chen Yun helped her up. Ma Cuifen turned her head left and right and nodded, "I'm not dizzy anymore, but I still feel a little nauseous."
"I'll be fine after a short rest," Chen Yun said.
"Cuifen." Old Ma rushed over and hugged her daughter, tears streaming down her face again: "It's good that you're alright, you scared me to death."
"Dr. Chen, what illness does my sister have?"
Witnessing Ma Cuifen's recovery firsthand, Ma Zhigang looked at Chen Yun with a different gaze, feeling fortunate to have listened to his wife's decision.
“Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), it’s right here…” Chen Yun pointed to the back of her ear: “There’s a small stone that’s responsible for balance that’s fallen out. Every time it falls out, she feels dizzy and can’t open her eyes. Once the stone goes back into place, she’s fine.”
"There are still stones in your ears?"
"It's just a small bone. The human body is so amazing; it can't function without even something as small as a sesame seed."
"Is this illness life-threatening?" Old Ma was worried about his daughter's health, and then another concern arose: "Will it affect her future marriage and childbirth?"
Chen Yun shook her head.
There are many causes of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), but none of them will affect lifespan or fertility.
"It's good that it won't kill you." Old Ma finally felt relieved when he heard that it wouldn't be fatal. He reached into his belt, took out some tobacco, and started filling the mouthpiece. "How did I end up with such a frightening disease?"
"There are many reasons, and it's probably impossible to explain them all."
Even though medicine was quite advanced in the previous life, there were still many diseases that could not be cured and could only be managed.
Chen Yun believes that benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is more likely caused by psychological factors, and that reasons such as hormonal changes during menopause are unlikely to occur at Ma Cuifen's age.
"Has she been having trouble sleeping lately?" Chen Yun asked. Ma Zhigang then looked at his mother: "Mom! What happened to Cuifen?"
“Zhou Liuzi from the brigade wanted to be with Third Sister, but my parents and Third Sister disagreed, so he threatened to report our family’s secret chicken-raising to the Revolutionary Committee.”
The adults were worried that others would overhear about raising chickens, but Ma Cuixia was too young to understand, so she blurted it all out from the doorway.
“Raising a few chickens is nothing.” Yang Juhua scoffed. “These days aren’t the first two years. Try asking him to report one.”
“It’s all my fault.” As the eldest son in the family, Ma Zhigang usually starts by reflecting on his own actions: “Such a big thing happened in the family and you didn’t even write to me.”
“Mother just wants Third Sister to come and hide with you, Eldest Brother,” Ma Cuixia said again.
“Let’s talk about those things later.” Zhang Guixiang pulled her husband’s hand, which was still wiping away tears, and said, “Let’s hear what Dr. Chen has to say first. We should keep him from having dinner.”
Gao Ming was standing to the side with a spatula in his hand, clearly cooking.
"Get some sun more often. Judging from Ma Cuifen's complexion, she must have been staying indoors for quite a few days."
Compared to Ma Cuixia, Ma Cuifen's skin was as thick as the black and white impermanence; Chen Yun guessed that she must not have worked in the fields for a long time.
“I hide in the house every day, and I only dare to go out when my parents come back from working in the fields.” This time, Ma Cuifen answered in person: “Even the brigade secretary can’t do anything about Zhou Liuzi. The letters of introduction we received to come and seek refuge with my elder brother were all issued secretly.”
To avoid that thug, Ma Cuifen hadn't worked in the fields for half a year. The family's meager work points weren't enough to live on, so they relied entirely on the money and coupons Ma Zhigang sent back home.
"Zhou Liuzi," Ma Zhigang gritted his teeth as he uttered the name.
As for how Ma Zhigang would retaliate against Zhou Liuzi, that was not Chen Yun's concern. She continued talking about her illness.
"Relax. As long as it's not a life-threatening illness, it's not a serious one. Next time it flares up, just use the method I just mentioned to reset it yourself."
Ma Cuifen nodded.
"Then you should rest for a while, and eat some porridge when your stomach feels better."
"Thank you, Dr. Chen." Aunt Ma suddenly let go of Ma Cuifen, nimbly rushed to Chen Yun and tightly grasped her hands: "Thanks to you, we didn't even know what was wrong with us when we went all the way to the provincial capital."
In her reply, the daughter-in-law said that there was a doctor in the staff hospital with excellent medical skills, but Ma's mother didn't believe it. She always thought that her daughter-in-law was just unwilling to spend money.
If it weren't for Ma Cuifen's sudden illness today, she would have stubbornly insisted on heading to the county town.
"Don't be so polite, Auntie." Chen Yun smiled. "If there's nothing else, I'll head back now. You can rest assured and get some rest."
The old lady had smeared all the mud she'd gotten on her bottom onto Chen Yun's hand, and the force of the smear turned the entire back of his hand a different color.
"You eat first, and my husband and I will come after you finish eating."
The old woman chuckled and wiped her mouth again, her face covered in graffiti as she watched Chen Yun leave.
"Chen Yun, how do you know about all kinds of illnesses?!"
Having witnessed the whole thing, Ruanqiu felt nothing but admiration. If Chen Yun's hands hadn't been covered in mud, she would definitely have held it and shaken it vigorously.
She would lie down for a while and tilt her head back, and in just a few moments, Ma Cuifen was fine.
What's the difference between this and not feeling hungry after drinking a couple of sips of wind?
Chen Yun: The difference is quite significant...
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