Chapter 697 Free Clinic (I)
Zhou Silang was preparing to return to Qili Village the next day. He had already signed a contract with County Magistrate Tang. He needed a lot of wheat seeds, so he had to go back early and buy them from door to door. Otherwise, people would sell all the wheat seeds or eat them. Where would he find so many wheat seeds?
So he got out of bed early in the morning, put a leg of lamb that he had wrapped last night in the car, packed some steamed buns and snacks from the kitchen and was ready to leave.
Manbao and the others also got up. Seeing this, they were used to it and waved goodbye to Zhou Silang, "Fourth brother, have a safe journey."
Zhou Silang also waved to them.
As soon as Zhou Silang left, Zhou Lijun was free, and Manbao invited her enthusiastically, "Lijun, come with me to see a doctor outside the city."
Zhou Lijun thought about it and she had nothing to do today, so she nodded and agreed, "Okay, I'll help my aunt."
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang still had to go to school, so Mr. Zhuang and his nephew Manbao went out of the city together.
When they arrived at the place, County Magistrate Tang was already there, directing people to lead the refugees who were crowded together to line up in front of various medical tents.
Seeing Mr. Zhuang coming, he hurriedly went to greet him and saluted, "Thank you so much for your help yesterday, sir. I should have come yesterday, but something delayed me."
Mr. Zhuang said he was fine.
Yesterday he heard the clerk complain that there were some problems with the medicinal materials donated by various families. County Magistrate Tang was very angry and rushed to deal with it.
Seeing that County Magistrate Tang looked fine today, the matter should have been handled. Mr. Zhuang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "If Lord Tang has any instructions, just follow my orders."
"How dare I? How dare I? This is the medicinal materials department. Please take charge, sir," said County Magistrate Tang. "Just watch from the sidelines. I'll leave the rest to Chief Clerk Ding."
He continued, "In addition to you, sir, this county has also invited two other highly respected elders to supervise. There are many people coming to see the doctor and get medicine today, but there are always some who want to take advantage of the situation. This requires the sharp eyes of you gentlemen."
Mr. Zhuang said he understood.
After arranging Mr. Zhuang and the others, County Magistrate Tang looked at Manbao and his nephew and said with a smile, "You're here early. I've had some women selected from the refugees. Would you like to go and take a look?"
Manbao nodded.
There were not many women among the refugees queuing up to see a doctor, and the few women who were there were mostly children and the elderly. There were almost no young women or girls.
When County Magistrate Tang saw this early in the morning, he sent two strong maids to find the women in the queue and line them up in front of Manbao's medical tent. He then transferred all the men in the queue to other queues.
He decided that during this free clinic, Manbao would treat all the women.
In order to prevent people from thinking that she was young and could be bullied, County Magistrate Tang also placed two strong maids in front of her medical tent, who were transferred from his own family.
Manbao walked around his medical tent, feeling very satisfied, and then glanced at the long line in front of the tent.
At the front of the team stood an old woman with disheveled hair and a cold face. It was still cold in the early morning, and perhaps she was too cold. She was looking at Manbao with her cloudy eyes.
Manbao glanced at her face and hands, then turned to the maid and said, "Go get some hot water."
"yes."
What this wilderness lacks the least now is people waiting to take orders. All of them are recruited from refugees, and their reward is three meals a day.
County Magistrate Tang didn't know whether they would be of any use, and looked at the busy and somewhat chaotic crowd with some worry.
Ding Zhubu couldn't help but say, "Sir, these refugees are not only clumsy, but also always disobey orders. Some simply don't understand. It would be better to recruit some people from the county."
County Magistrate Tang said worriedly, "I have no money."
Ding Zhubu: "...Sir, didn't the county just collect a tax?"
County Magistrate Tang glanced at him and said, "This county has other uses for that money."
He paused and said, "The governor's mansion is nearby. Do you dare to embezzle these funds?"
Ding Zhubu responded and bowed and left.
County Magistrate Tang sighed.
It was Yang Heshu who taught him this method of using refugees as laborers, but there were far more refugees in Yizhou City than in Luojiang County. If they were not used properly, chaos would occur.
The other doctors who were offering free clinics hadn't arrived yet, so Manbao didn't wait for them. She washed her hands and took out the writing brush, inkstone, and pulse pillow from her backpack. Zhou Lijun ground some ink for her, and then Manbao sat down at her seat. She waved to the old woman who was at the front and said with a smile, "Come up."
The old woman opened her mouth wide, and after a while she came to her senses and asked, "Where's the doctor?"
Zhou Lijun said: "My aunt is the doctor."
Not only the old woman, but also the people queuing up behind her looked at Manbao with suspicion. Even the refugees queuing in the medical tent next door stared over here with wide eyes, their faces full of disbelief.
Manbao coughed lightly and said seriously, "Come up quickly, I'm in a hurry."
Zhou Lijun immediately said with a stern face, "My aunt is from Jishidiang. Even Doctor Ji praised her for her greatness. Do you want to see her? If not, try another one. Don't waste time."
After hearing what the aunt and nephew said, the old woman didn't want to leave anymore. She glanced at the people standing in front of other medical tents, and there was no end in sight.
She has to queue up again, and it might take another two days before it's her turn.
The reason why she was able to stand at the front was because she was the first one found by the two maids, and they put her at the front because she was older.
The old woman gritted her teeth and walked forward with her own book.
This is a household registration document temporarily issued by the county government to record identity.
What are refugees?
These are the unregistered people who have given up their household registration and moved around to avoid paying taxes. Once they are registered, they will have to pay taxes and perform labor service every year.
There have always been many refugees in Yizhou City. This was originally their hometown, but because of the flood, they fled to other places. After the flood ended, they returned one after another.
But when they returned, their homes and fields were gone. Even if they took their household registration to the government office to get their previous fields back, they would be told that the fields had long been treated as wasteland.
They would also be registered and required to pay taxes and perform labor service every year.
Without land, they had difficulty even feeding themselves, let alone paying taxes and performing labor service.
Therefore, most of those who escaped back would not go to the yamen to register for citizenship, and would even hide from the village head and yamen runners who were checking. They would rather be refugees than become citizens.
This time, it was the County Magistrate Tang who announced that the registered refugees would be given two acres of land and exempted from taxes for two years. Only then did they register.
This registration book is temporary. It will be replaced with a formal one after they have settled down, received land and determined their residence. Now this temporary registration book is used for medical treatment.
Every registered refugee has two opportunities to see a doctor during these five days.
After looking at the medicine and confirming that it is acceptable to prescribe it, each doctor will sign his or her name on it, which means he or she has used one chance.
Manbao took her hand and carefully felt her pulse. He then asked some detailed questions, looked at her tongue and complexion, and stood up and said, "Come inside. I'll take a look at your stomach."
The next update will be around 4:00 PM
(End of this chapter)
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