Chapter 64 The Bad News Leaked
It took the three of them almost double the time to return to Tongxi Town from Qingshan Village.
The town was obviously different from the mountain roads. Someone had cleaned the streets early on, so the damage didn't seem that serious.
Wu Dongmei glanced at the mark on her calf where the snow had spread to the opening of her shoe, and couldn't help but sigh:
"It's better to stay in town. Otherwise, if you have urgent business in this weather and come up from the village, your legs will probably be frozen if you go to a distant village."
"It's good that someone in the town is in charge. All other roads are public." Wu Qiufeng couldn't help but complain in his heart.
Then, he subconsciously glanced at the roofs of the houses in the town and found that the snow seemed to be thinner than that in Qingshan Village.
"There seems to be a little less snow in town."
"Yeah?"
Hearing this, Wu Dongmei and Chen Yin followed Wu Qiufeng's gaze and looked at the houses around them, and came to the same answer.
The three of them simultaneously put their minds at ease, thinking that the clinic should be fine.
He continued walking forward and was soon discovered by the townspeople.
"Doctor Chen! You're back from your hometown for the New Year—"
A shout cut through the silence of the snow, attracting the attention of the people around, who all came out to check.
When they saw clearly that it was really Chen Yin, everyone showed an expression of surprise at the same time, with a hint of imperceptible sympathy in their eyes.
"Doctor Chen, you're finally back! The health center is almost overwhelmed by the snowstorm during the Lunar New Year holiday."
"I heard from the health center that many people were crushed by the snow and were all sent to the health center for emergency treatment. All the doctors were dug out from their homes to help."
"Doctor Chen, you should go back to the clinic as soon as possible."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone echoed them.
"Yes! Doctor Chen, please go back to the clinic and take a look."
"Let's take a look."
Chen Yin and the other two thought that the health center was short-staffed and had limited medical skills, so they couldn't provide rescue efforts. They knew there were people waiting in the clinic, so they immediately quickened their pace.
But when the three of them arrived near the clinic, they were immediately swept by worried gazes.
Chen Yin followed everyone's gaze and looked towards the clinic.
The eaves of the clinic's attic were so heavy with snow that their original appearance could no longer be seen. In some places, one could even see black, concave shadows.
Alarm bells rang in my head instantly. Could it be...
The next second, Chen Yin ran on the snow-covered street with her almost stiff legs.
Wu Dongmei and Wu Qiufeng noticed Chen Yin's movements and quickly followed.
The swift figures of the three people were seen by the people around them. They stopped what they were doing and followed to help.
At this moment, Chen Yin's mind was filled with the scene she had just seen. She opened the back door neatly and walked directly towards the attic of the clinic.
Wu Dongmei and the other person were left behind, so their eyes were not focused on the clinic at first.
As soon as she stepped into the yard, Wu Dongmei's attention was immediately attracted by a white object in the distance.
"My kitchen—"
A long cry sounded in the yard, waking up the birds that were wandering around in search of food.
The neighbors following behind heard the sound, looked at each other, and quickened their pace.
They lived nearby and had long noticed something strange in the backyard of the clinic.
But they thought that everyone in the clinic had gone back to their hometowns for the New Year and there was no one on duty. In addition, the clinic was surrounded by high walls, so it seemed difficult for them to come in and perform an emergency rescue.
After a moment of hesitation, the day when Wu Dongmei and the others came back arrived.
Wu Qiufeng was brought back to his senses by his younger sister's voice and quickly spoke to comfort her.
"It's okay, it's just a kitchen. With the help of the villagers, we can rebuild it in a day."
At this time, the neighbors who had chased after him heard Wu Qiufeng's words and began to comfort him.
"That's right, it's best if everyone is fine."
"It just so happened that Dongmei and you and your daughter returned to your hometown. Fortunately, no one was hurt."
"If we all work together, we can clean it up quickly."
Li Chunli, who had caught up, also tried to comfort him, "It's just the kitchen. If you're worried about food, just come to my house and have a meal with me."
At this time, Wu Dongmei had recovered from her shock and sadness.
Hearing this, he couldn't help but show a puzzled look and asked, "Hasn't your family's Xiangnan come back yet?"
Li Chunli waved her hand nonchalantly. "The young couple said they have a big client coming to do business, so they won't be going home for the time being. They'll find time to come back after this time."
Having said this, she showed a relieved expression.
"Luckily they didn't come back. If they had caught this snow, it would have been difficult for them to get back to Guangzhou."
"Forget it, what's the point of blaming me? Everyone should help clean up the kitchen as soon as possible."
Hearing this, Wu Dongmei looked at the neighbors across the street with gratitude and said, "Thank you, everyone! Thank you, everyone!"
While they were busy cleaning the kitchen, Chen Yin was also not idle.
She hurried through the back door and ran to the attic.
When she saw the current state of the attic, her uneasy heart sank to the bottom.
The shadow of the roof seen on the street was actually the scene after the roof was crushed.
Chen Yin looked up at the sky. The cold wind blew into the attic through the collapsed hole, making the temperature inside the house the same as outside. Under her feet was snow that had not melted for several days.
But at this moment, the coldness of the body is not as great as the coldness of the heart.
Chen Yin didn't care about so many things. At this moment, there was only one thought in her mind: to save the books in the attic.
She used both hands and quickly stuffed the books in the attic into her arms.
Once his arms were full, he quickly moved to the dry environment downstairs.
After going back and forth more than ten times, even Chen Yin's well-trained body couldn't bear it. When she appeared downstairs with the last stack of books, her breathing was obviously much heavier.
While holding the collection of books tightly in her arms, she turned her head to look at the medicine cabinet beside her.
I will need to check the medicine cabinet later to see if there are any medicinal herbs in it that have changed due to the unusual weather.
As for the medicine stored in the attic, Chen Yin no longer had any hope.
Then, Chen Yin opened the medical book with the most damp surface. The cover was already stained with a circle of water vapor, and the handwriting inside was not much better.
Especially near the spine, many characters show signs of blurring, and only the original font can be vaguely recognized.
Looking at such a terrible scene, Chen Yin frowned and looked like a "川" character.
Obviously, the medical book in front of him needs to be copied and transferred to other paper as soon as possible, otherwise the font inside will be difficult to recognize after a long time.
Soon, Chen Yin listed each medical book according to the degree of moisture they had suffered, for compilation and sorting.
The backyard and kitchen were quickly cleared out with the help of neighbors.
Although the simple shed was crushed by the snow, the stove built with cement and bricks underneath would not be easily damaged.
Wu Dongmei looked at the iron pot with a hole in it and the medicine pot that was empty with regret, and couldn't help but sigh.
"Alas~"
Wu Qiufeng knew what his sister was regretting, so he comforted her softly:
"It's okay. It's just two iron pots and a few medicine jars. Compared to the other damage, it's already pretty good."
"I just feel sorry for those medicine jars. They were kept when her father was still alive. I didn't expect them to become like this not long after they were taken out and used."
Wu Dongmei moved her eyes away from the hole, put down the iron pot, and said something in confusion.
"Where's Yinyin?"
"Yes! Where's Yinyin?"
The two stood in the cold wind and looked around, but they didn't see Chen Yin.
When they glanced at the open door leading to the clinic in the backyard, the two remembered that when they just entered the door, Chen Yin's first reaction was to run towards the clinic. Could something have happened to the clinic?
Thinking of this, the two of them ignored everything else and ran towards the clinic at full speed.
The image of Chen Yin sitting among a pile of books instantly caught their sight.
Wu Dongmei knew that these books were left by her husband, and she felt extremely distressed. Compared with iron pots, medicine jars and other things, the collection of books left by her lover was naturally more distressing.
She hurriedly approached her daughter and asked worriedly:
"Yinyin, are the books your father left behind okay?"
"If we had known earlier, we shouldn't have gone back for the New Year this year. Otherwise, these books wouldn't have been exposed to the wind and snow for so long, getting soaked."
"Mom, now is not the time to talk about these things."
Chen Yin interrupted her mother's sorrowful words and pointed at the damp books she had already separated. "Mom, the books closest to you now all have their spines swept by the snow, and many of the words are smudged."
"What!" Wu Dongmei panicked and picked up a book beside her to check what was inside.
Just as my daughter said, the innermost part showed signs of unclear handwriting.
"No! Your father's hard work can't be wasted. We need to rewrite and copy it."
After saying this, Wu Dongmei thought of her own poor handwriting and could only look expectantly at her daughter.
Chen Yin met her mother's gaze and nodded heavily, "Mom, I won't watch Dad's hard work go to waste. After the consultation every day, I will take the time to recopy all the dirty books."
"Thank you for your hard work. Mom will make you something to warm you up."
"Come, let me help you. Where should we put these books temporarily?" Wu Qiufeng squatted down and hugged the stacked books in his arms.
"Uncle, please put them all in my room for now." This would also make it convenient for Chen Yin to copy them every day.
The two of them each held an arm full of books and walked towards Chen Yin's room.
As soon as they stepped onto the second floor, the two discovered something wrong with their house.
Wu Qiufeng subconsciously looked along the brightest area on the floor, and raised his head along the light, and the gray sky came into view.
"How come the roof of the house has collapsed too!"
When entering, Chen Yin was only paying attention to the clinic, while Wu Dongmei and Wu Qiufeng were attracted by the collapsed kitchen and did not notice that there was a problem with the room where they usually rested.
The biting cold wind kept blowing down through the gap in the roof, making a whistling sound.
"No! The roof of the house must be repaired as soon as possible."
Wu Qiufeng quickly put away the books in his hands, found a plastic bag at random, and began to clean the snow and broken tiles on the floor.
Chen Yin put all the books in order, opened the door of the clinic, and prepared to open for business.
Before the door was fully opened, she saw a group of people waiting outside, who had obviously heard about their return a long time ago.
"Come in quickly."
Chen Yin quickened the process of removing the door panel and invited the patient in.
Everyone saw Chen Yin's excited eyes, and some were even moved to tears.
Because everyone knew about the collapse of the clinic, no one expected that at this time, Chen Yin would still be willing to open the clinic first and then deal with her own affairs.
"Everyone, don't worry. I'm the only one here today, so the consultation process might be a little slow. There's no queueing for now. Please enter the clinic in the order you line up."
As she spoke, Chen Yin looked at the first couple she saw when she opened the clinic, nodded, and motioned for them to follow her.
Seeing this, Huang Qiang and his wife smiled at each other and quickly followed Chen Yin's steps.
After entering the clinic, the indoor temperature was only slightly higher than outside, and there was no cold wind.
“Cough cough cough!”
The child was held tightly in his father's arms. The itchiness in his throat that he had been suppressing could no longer be controlled, and he coughed loudly.
Chen Yin knew that the other party was here to see a doctor for the child, and immediately instructed:
"Come, put the child down. I'll take a look at him. Tell me about the child's condition."
As the child's mother, Li Lianrong knew the child's condition best. Seeing the child with a high fever that wouldn't go away, her part-time job was like cutting into her flesh.
She suppressed her inner grief and choked up as she told the story of her child.
"We discovered something was wrong with the child on the first day of the Lunar New Year. We took his temperature and it was only 38 degrees Celsius, not too high, so we just gave him some cold medicine we have at home. Unexpectedly, after taking a few pills, the child didn't get any better, and his temperature even kept rising."
"We immediately took the child to the health center, but the center was overcrowded, with blood everywhere and people coughing."
"The doctor at the health center couldn't take care of so many things. He just gave us some medicine and went home. But you see, Doctor Chen, the child hasn't gotten any better. If you hadn't come back, our whole family wouldn't know what to do."
In the following time, Li Lianrong told Chen Yin every detail about the child's condition after he fell ill.
While listening, Chen Yin examined the child's body. The child's tongue was bright red, his throat was red and swollen, and there was still traces of dried blood on his nose.
On this snowy day, it is obviously a symptom of wind-heat.
The patient's pulse condition after taking her pulse: floating and rapid, further confirmed her suspicion.
Immediately, Chen Yin informed the two of her diagnosis results.
"The child is suffering from wind-heat and toxicity, and needs to clear away heat and detoxify. I'll prescribe a heat-clearing and detoxifying prescription for you. Come, help me get the medicine."
When the couple saw Chen Yin's actions, they were a little unresponsive for a moment.
After realizing that Chen Yin was the one who would get the medicine herself today, he immediately followed Chen Yin's steps to the medicine cabinet.
Chen Yin handed the recipe to the couple, picked up the kraft paper, pulled out the drawer, stretched out her hand, and immediately grabbed the required amount and placed it on the kraft paper.
The couple was so awed by the smooth movements that they could only exclaim in amazement in their hearts.
Afterwards, they packed the medicine, paid the bill, and left with their child.
Chen Yin looked at the people queuing in the waiting area and called out, "The next one to see the doctor, please come in."
Just when Chen Yin was treating the second patient, she suddenly heard the sound of a door being pushed open. She looked up and saw her mother.
Wu Dongmei looked at the patient embarrassedly and explained, "Sorry, the room is too cold. I'll light a stove for everyone."
"Thank you, Aunt Wu!"
The patients are so grateful that they don't even feel disturbed.
After a while, the temperature in the clinic gradually rose, and everyone inside felt very comfortable.
After Wu Dongmei put the stove in place, she immediately brought out the hot noodle soup she had prepared for her daughter from the leaky kitchen.
After being in the cold all the way, it’s just right to eat something hot.
Chen Yin put the hot soup noodles aside for the time being and met her mother's warm gaze with gratitude.
As usual, after she finished seeing the patient, she quickly ate a bite before the next patient entered the room.
Despite being so busy, Wu Dongmei stopped her chores and helped her daughter get medicine.
Due to the invasion of ice and snow, there are a lot of people catching colds in the town, and almost all the people who come to the clinic are suffering from colds.
And until the evening, the busyness of Huimin Hall did not end.
The bright lights were particularly eye-catching in the snowy night. After seeing off the previous patient, Chen Yin stood up and stretched her body.
As soon as I stretched my back, I heard the sound of someone pushing the door.
She quickly retracted her action and prepared to see the patient, but the person who pushed open the door made her eyes widen involuntarily.
"Why are you two back today?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Mengxi and Qi Wenzhong smiled at each other and said, "Of course you came back so quickly because you missed the clinic."
"But it's snowing heavily this year. It might be inconvenient to travel all the way, right?"
"Yes, a little bit, but at least there are other means of transportation." Liu Mengxi rubbed his chin in pretended annoyance, wanting to give Chen Yin a riddle.
Qi Wenzhong didn't understand what was going on and blurted out, "Doctor Liu drove here himself today."
"Car?" Chen Yin asked in surprise.
Liu Mengxi glared at Qi Wenzhong with dissatisfaction, and said with a relaxed and happy expression:
"This is a New Year's gift from my dad. Tongxi Town is remote and it's not convenient to go anywhere. Now that we have a car, we can go wherever we want."
She took out her car keys and waved them back and forth in front of Chen Yin, her eyes full of satisfaction.
"Come to think of it, Yinyin also deserves credit for this."
When these words were spoken, not only Chen Yin but also Qi Wenzhong did not understand.
Liu Mengxi smiled proudly, "Hehe! When my dad heard that I was now working with the Dongyu City Health Bureau, he no longer cared about my previous job at the affiliated hospital. Yinyin, you saved me from a lot of nagging. Isn't that a credit?"
When Chen Yin heard this, she didn't know how to respond. She smiled helplessly.
"Judging from your appearance, you must have driven carefully for several hours from the city. You two go to the back and get something to eat. There are only three patients left. I'll be done soon."
Liu Mengxi and Qi Wenzhong touched their stomachs and really felt a little hungry.
Although there were two people preparing food in the car, it tasted bland compared to the hot food.
"Okay! Yinyin, you just take care of yourself for a while, we'll come and help you right away."
Turning around, Liu Mengxi asked Wu Dongmei sweetly to help her make a bowl of hot noodles to fill her stomach.
Wu Dongmei naturally agreed with a smile and invited the two to go to the backyard.
The two of them subconsciously looked towards the kitchen and were immediately attracted by the dark mass of air.
Liu Mengxi blinked in disbelief and pointed in the direction of the kitchen in her memory.
"Auntie, where is the kitchen?"
"Oh~" Wu Dongmei couldn't help but sigh when talking about the kitchen.
"The heavy snow these past few days has crushed the kitchen, so for now we're cooking inside."
"What!" Liu Mengxi and Qi Wenzhong couldn't believe that such a big thing happened in the clinic.
The two of them ran quickly towards the kitchen, confirming its location again and again, and comparing it with the house in their memory in the dim night.
The cold wind blew, and Liu Mengxi's heart was also chilled.
The kitchen was the only place where she could relax her body and mind after her head was filled with medical knowledge every day. How could it just collapse like that?
Wu Dongmei didn't know Liu Mengxi's true thoughts and mistakenly thought that he was unwilling to believe her, so she told him all the other parts of the house that were damaged by the heavy snow.
At this time, Liu Mengxi and Qi Wenzhong didn't care about the collapsed kitchen. They were all attracted by the soaked medical books.
Without a kitchen, the two of them just made a few bites and hurried to help Chen Yin.
Late at night, the light in Chen Yin's room was still on.
Inside the house, Chen Yin, Liu Mengxi and Qi Wenzhong were still busy sorting out damaged medical books.
After seeing the handwriting of Chen Yin and Qi Wenzhong, Liu Mengxi felt ashamed and took the initiative to undertake more detailed classification work.
After all, these books were originally divided into volumes according to date. Now they have been soaked, and new volumes have been copied, so they need to be sorted again.
As he watched, Liu Mengxi couldn't help but immerse himself in it, and felt that the Chen family had a profound medical background.
Especially when I saw the records of Chen Yin's father, I couldn't help but sigh.
"Yinyin, your dad is truly amazing. These books clearly describe the treatment methods and diagnosis process, whether it's internal medicine or surgery, common diseases, or rare and complicated diseases. If they could be compiled into a book, there would definitely be a lot of people who would buy it."
“Will anyone buy private medical books?”
It’s not that Chen Yin doesn’t believe in her father’s medical skills, but she feels that her father has almost no reputation. If this kind of book is published, it will probably just become a dusty item on the shelf.
Instead of doing this, it is better to spread it in the hands of people who can understand it.
Hearing the doubtful voice, Liu Mengxi immediately became unhappy.
"Of course not! Aren't the textbooks we used in school written by industry experts?"
"Your Chen family has such a profound heritage. If you write a book, there will definitely be people who like it."
"Besides, don't you still have you at home?"
Liu Mengxi winked at Chen Yin, obviously thinking that Chen Yin's current name was most suitable to add luster to Chen's doctrine.
I have to say, Chen Yin was really moved.
In this era when cultural knowledge has been widely disseminated and professional knowledge in all walks of life is no longer an appendage circulated among a specific class, being able to spread the medical theories of the Chen family may really allow people to know that Huimin Hall still exists and is still practicing its own principles.
Can this better achieve the goal of revitalizing Huimin Hall?
Chen Yin glanced at the yellowed page in her hand and pondered for a moment, "Let's talk about it after I finish these."
Liu Mengxi did not continue the topic and continued with the work at hand.
The three of them worked together until late at night, but still couldn't copy a complete book.
I woke up the next day and it was another busy day.
But today, with the help of Liu Mengxi and Qi Wenzhong, Chen Yin's burden was obviously much lighter.
Some simple illnesses were all handled by Liu Mengxi, allowing her to handle them independently.
Chen Yin took Qi Wenzhong with her to deal with some more complicated illnesses that required acupuncture and bone setting.
Those who had been crushed under the snow and houses were subconsciously sent to the health center and county hospital.
But when he realized that there were too many people affected and the two hospitals were simply unable to cope, he felt devastated.
Some people came to Huimin Hall with the last glimmer of hope, hoping to get help to treat their fractures.
Chen Yin did not disappoint their expectations. She stayed in the acupuncture room almost the entire day, treating the injured patients who were sent there.
However, in this case, patients who are temporarily unable to move must stay in the clinic and continue their treatment.
As time went by, the already narrow space of the clinic became even more crowded.
In addition, the leaky roof and collapsed kitchen needed to be dealt with, and Huimin Hall was more crowded than the busiest vegetable market. People almost had to shout to respond to each other.
Three days passed and finally there were no new patients coming. Chen Yin couldn't help but wipe her sweaty forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Mengxi and Qi Wenzhong collapsed on their chairs to relieve their fatigue.
Liu Mengxi even sighed, "I hope there won't be another snowstorm from now on! I'm really busy as hell."
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