"Mmm...delicious, these meat buns are so fragrant!" Uncle Lin mumbled, chewing on a bun.
Seeing that passersby were all looking at her uncle, Lin quietly moved a little distance away from him to avoid being bothered by his conspicuous bag.
Having devoured two large steamed buns, Lin Gensheng felt full of energy, his face glowing, and he strode towards the clinic.
Lin Momo had to jog a few steps every now and then to keep up with him. In the end, she just followed behind him, as long as she didn't lose him.
Anyway, it's still early, and most of the shops on both sides of the street are closed. By the time we get there, the clinic might not even be open.
Sure enough, from a distance, Lin Momo saw her uncle stop at the entrance of the clinic.
As expected of the county's premier medical clinic, it boasts a wide storefront with five rooms. Above the entrance hangs a large signboard with black background and green characters. The three large regular script characters "Huichuntang" are powerful and incisive, clearly the work of a renowned calligrapher.
Standing in front of the clinic, Lin Momo had a strange feeling that perhaps this trip was actually the right one.
Two quarters of an hour later, the shopkeeper finally got the shop assistants to take down the door panels and prepare to open for business.
Upon seeing the father and son at the door, the innkeeper, who was used to welcoming and seeing off guests, came over to greet them warmly: "Oh, you two have arrived quite early. You don't seem to have any urgent illnesses."
"No, it's, it's my second brother..." Upon seeing a stranger, Uncle Lin became a little nervous and stammered.
"You didn't bring the doctor? Is this... a house call? Our doctors are highly skilled; people from all around come to us for help with any difficult or complicated illness. If we're going to call someone else, the fees won't be low. Which doctor would you like to hire?"
The shopkeeper bombarded me with a barrage of questions.
Lin Gengsheng was really struggling to cope. His eyes kept glancing at his niece, and the meaning was all too clear: "Get a doctor for your father, and you make the decision."
Lin Momo didn't expect anything from him. The old man allowed her to come along not only to pay him, but also to prevent a situation like the one she was in, so that she could step in if her uncle became incompetent.
Having understood the old man's intention, Lin Momo naturally stepped forward without hesitation, "Uncle, it's like this. When my father was doing corvée labor, he was hit on the leg by a stone and has been unconscious ever since. The doctor in town said that there is a descendant of an imperial physician at Huichuntang in the county who is good at treating difficult and complicated diseases, and suggested that we invite him back to take a look, maybe he will wake up."
"A leg injury and unconscious? Oh, that's really hard to move. You mean Dr. Ma? He doesn't have any outpatients today, but in our clinic, Dr. Ma's consultation fees are the highest..." At this point, the shopkeeper glanced at the two men's clothes and fell silent.
The implication is quite clear: judging from your attire, you and your father seem to be able to afford medical consultations, so you should find someone else as soon as possible.
"How much does Dr. Ma charge for his house calls?" Lin asked tentatively.
But he was wondering to himself, surely the consultation fee couldn't be more expensive than the cost of medicine?
"This amount!" The middle-aged shopkeeper, dressed in silk, mysteriously held out a hand.
This could be a big deal or a small deal; how can anyone guess?
Lin Momo mentally complained, then guessed and asked, "Five qian of silver, or five taels of silver?"
"It's five taels of silver, of course. For someone with the title of a descendant of an imperial physician, this amount of silver is considered small. It's only because Doctor Ma is kind-hearted and can't bear to see poor people unable to afford medical treatment that he charges such a small amount."
Lin Momo smiled and agreed, "Indeed, indeed, this Doctor Ma didn't collect much."
It seems these wealthy people have a misunderstanding about the poor!
You can't blame them for that.
Besides, with the prestigious title of being a descendant of an imperial physician, people would be vying to hire him for anything, not just five taels, but fifty or even five hundred taels. And since Dr. Ma doesn't have three heads and six arms, he naturally needs to filter out some patients beforehand.
This also provides a way for lesser-known doctors to make money, preventing them from being "the tallest tree in the forest that will be felled by the wind."
Those who practice medicine have their own ways of protecting themselves. People have always believed that "doctors don't knock on doors," and they naturally understand that if they cut off someone's source of income, that person will come after them desperately.
Lin Momo's family was so poor that they had to borrow money for medical treatment, so she should naturally be among the patients filtered out by the descendants of the imperial physicians.
"Then, may I ask you another question, shopkeeper? How much does a dose of this Doctor Ma's medicine usually cost?"
Although she could afford the consultation fee, the bulk of the cost was yet to come. She needed to calculate how many doses of medicine she could afford with the remaining twenty-five taels of silver.
The shopkeeper pretended to think and said in a drawn-out voice, "Well... it's hard to say. It depends on the severity of the patient's condition. Also, it depends on whether you want to use good medicines like ginseng, lingzhi, and gastrodia, or common medicines like codonopsis and angelica."
"What if it's a good medicinal herb?" Lin Momo pressed for an answer.
"Some cost one or two taels of silver per dose, while others cost seven or eight taels. It's hard to say exactly what; it all depends on what Dr. Ma thinks the patient should take."
Lin Momo did the math and realized that her family definitely couldn't afford seven or eight taels. If it was two taels per serving, twenty-five taels would only be enough for twelve servings.
Before long, the four doctors on duty arrived one after another to start work.
Dr. Ma was the last one to arrive, much like the working class in Lin Momo's era who arrived at work right on time, as if arriving a minute early meant they were being taken advantage of by the company.
The shopkeeper brought the father and son to Doctor Ma and then went off to attend to his own business.
Given the doctor's reputation, Lin Momo thought she would see an old man in his sixties or seventies. She didn't expect him to be so young. Actually, it's not that he was young, but he was younger than she imagined. He looked to be in his forties, with a square face and a ruddy complexion.
Lin secretly guessed that this doctor was probably well-versed in the art of health preservation.
This person has a world-weary face, which makes him seem a bit old-fashioned and gives people the feeling that he is not someone to be trifled with.
However, people with real talent are generally of this type—arrogant and conceited.
Before the doctor could even sit down at the consultation table, Lin Momo, oblivious to the danger, squeezed in front of the table and said urgently, "Dr. Ma, my father is seriously injured and cannot be moved. Please come with us."
Seeing two people rush in through the door, wondering if they were also coming for the highly skilled Dr. Ma, how could she not be anxious?
I don't want to make a wasted trip.
After explaining her purpose, Lin Momo, without waiting for anyone to ask, proceeded to recount Lin Musheng's situation. She even took out a prescription from the town's doctor and handed it to Doctor Ma so that he could make a preliminary assessment of the patient's condition.
To everyone's surprise, Dr. Ma didn't answer at all. He was busy with his own things without any distraction. After placing the small rattan box he brought on the table, he opened the lid and took out the contents one by one, placing them in their proper places in a leisurely manner.
She's having a stroke but has encountered a slow doctor.
She didn't know if he had listened to her.
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