The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 710 - 699: Charity Diagnosis (Part 3)

Chapter 710: Chapter 699: Charity Diagnosis (Part 3)

Manbao finished her lunch, pulled out the needles of the patients whose treatment time had come, and then tossed them into boiling water. She left them to Lijun to pick up with tongs and hang to dry for further use.

Manbao continued to see patients. The patients at this time were still mostly elderly women, the youngest of whom had several children. They didn’t much care for the male gaze. When they noticed the male patients next door pointing and whispering about them, not only did they unabashedly let them look, they even turned around and started pointing back at the men, eliciting bouts of laughter.

Eventually, the male patients next door turned red with embarrassment and annoyance.

One of the formidable women spat at them, saying, "See if you dare to spout nonsense again, acting as if you’ve never seen a man before."

Manbao remained unfazed by this, her expression unchanged, while Lijun’s face turned a shade redder, and then she looked even more stern, looking as though she wished she could hang a ’Keep Out’ sign.

Some patients needed to take medicine immediately and have their condition observed. She then went to get the prescriptions filled, brew the medicine, and also helped Manbao sanitize the used needles, keeping incredibly busy.

The aunt-niece duo worked until the sun began to set, and a gong at the foot of the mountain sounded. Officers moved about loudly announcing that today’s free clinic session was over, asking everyone to disperse and return home, and come back to line up tomorrow.

But the majority of patients in line didn’t leave; evidently, they planned on standing their ground overnight.

There were also those who left, but before doing so, they pushed someone else into the queue, ensuring even if they left, it wasn’t for nothing.

The doctors finished up with their current patients—cough, I mean they finished their consultations, prescribed medicines, and then had the medicine boys pack up the medicine chests and leave.

This was Manbao’s first time independently seeing so many patients, and when she began to pack up the items on the table, she felt a bit dazed.

Doctor Ji, the eldest, still had energy to spare. He glanced at Manbao and smiled, saying, "Tired, aren’t you? Here’s a medicine packet. Go home and use it for a bath. Tomorrow will be even more exhausting."

The fatigue of today would manifest in both body and spirit tomorrow, so tomorrow and the day after would be the most difficult. Once the first three days passed, the following days would be less tough.

Manbao took the medicine packet and asked, "Doctor Ji, how come you’re alright?"

Doctor Ji laughed, "I’m not doing this for the first time. Okay, you should go home now. I’m old and can’t hold up much longer."

Shopkeeper Zheng fared worse than both of them, currently getting a rub down and assisted by a medicine boy toward the carriage, saying, "Haven’t had to see patients like this in a long while. It’s exhausted me terribly."

Daji was waiting with the horse-drawn cart, and after Manbao climbed aboard, he opened a food box in the corner, revealing steaming hot meat pies. Manbao exclaimed with a "wow" and grabbed one, asking, "Daji, how did you know we were hungry?"

Manbao handed one to Lijun, took another for herself to nibble on.

Daji smiled and said, "The young master told me to go back and get it, but thinking it would take too long, I bought a few at the city gate instead."

"Where’s Shanbao and the others?"

"They’re at the place where we get medicines."

Manbao stretched out and sat back with abandon, "Then they’re bound to take a long time to get here, Daji, do you have any water?"

Daji then passed in a water flask.

After eating their pies and drinking water, as they were almost ready to yawn, Bai Shan and Bai Erlang finally helped Mr. Zhuang down.

Manbao quickly helped the teacher onto the cart, and Mr. Zhuang sighed, "Haven’t been this tired in a long time."

Manbao hurriedly opened the food box for him to eat a meat pie.

Mr. Zhuang took one and looked at the four people, tired as could be, and smiled, "Not bad, not bad, you seem to have grown up a little."

The four people: ... In a single day’s work, how much could we possibly grow?

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang were so tired they could hardly lift their arms, having no desire to speak; Zhou Lijun was also tired, hence she did not wish to speak either.

On the contrary, Manbao seemed a bit more energetic and began chatting with Mr. Zhuang in low voices, telling him about the strange diseases and some amusing matters she had witnessed that day.

Mr. Zhuang quietly nibbled on his meat pie, glancing at his eldest disciple and then at the other two, sighing inwardly. Why on earth had he decided to speak?

Manbao talked the whole way home and only after arriving did her flow of words show signs of relenting. She then took out the medicine pack and handed it to Aunt Rong, saying, "Please put it in water and boil it, everyone should have a bath soak tonight."

Mr. Zhuang couldn’t help but say, "Finally, you have done something befitting a doctor."

Manbao: "Ah?"

Bai Erlang, with his head hanging, stumbled past her, unable to utter a word. Bai Shan floated past her, adding, "Talkative!"

Manbao’s eyebrows shot up, but before she could respond, Lijun passed by her side, "Little Miss, are you not tired at all?"

"Tired indeed!" Manbao replied, "Very tired, but being tired doesn’t stop me from talking."

The others demonstrated through their actions that being tired did, in fact, affect one’s desire to speak, as no one had the mood to chat. After their bath, they all climbed into bed and went to sleep, the night passing without conversation.

The next day when Manbao returned to the charity medical service, she found that the line of patients on her side seemed even longer than the day before, and among them were young wives and daughters, heads bowed, blending into the queue.

Some of them came up with their faces covered, and then were pulled into the queue by some elderly women, who left the queue themselves and went to stand at its end.

Manbao instructed someone to heat up some water while she looked on curiously.

Zhou Lijun put down her things and said, "Little Miss, I’ll go and find out what is happening."

Manbao nodded, "Don’t let anyone cut in line, but if someone has an urgent illness, they may come forward."

Zhou Lijun agreed and made her way down the line, returning later to report, "Little Miss, I’ve asked around. Those people are all acquainted, whether they’re someone’s daughters, daughters-in-law, nieces, or nieces-in-law, they’re all family."

She leaned close to Manbao’s ear and whispered, "Initially, they didn’t want to seek medical advice, but when they heard there was a female doctor and that her medical skills were not bad, they decided to come. Little Miss, they’re praising your medical expertise."

Proudly, Manbao lifted her chin and said, "Thank you, I will continue to work even harder."

Zhou Lijun: "...I’m glad you’re happy, Little Miss."

Today, the clinic saw an increase in patients of various age groups, and the illnesses became increasingly complex.

Manbao never felt that it was wrong to seek medical treatment for illnesses, but after seeing the third young girl, who covered her head with a sack and nearly buried her face in it, speaking so softly she needed to be careful of the men in the nearby medical tents, Manbao had to strain her ears just to hear.

She frowned slightly, stood up decisively, and gestured to two sturdy maids standing by, "Move the table and chairs into the medical tent, I will see patients inside. Go and fetch a large curtain to cover the entrance of the medical tent."

The maids hesitated for a moment, then seeing the girl hiding beneath the sack, they quickly curtsied and withdrew.

The other maid stepped forward to help move the table and chairs into the medical tent.

The girl shuffled uneasily. Manbao then sat back down and cheerfully motioned for her to come in, saying, "Come in and have a seat, we can talk inside."

The maid who went to fetch the curtains soon returned with two pieces, using stools to secure them at the top of the door. With a pull of the two curtains, not only the gaze of the men next door was blocked, but also the eyes of the female patients waiting in line were obscured.

The girl, who had been tense, visibly relaxed, speaking louder as she described her condition, and quietly wiped her eyes, saying, "...I don’t know what kind of insect it is, it’s as painful as being burned by fire, and the more I scratch, the more it spreads. Now my chest is all red, all blistered, I—I’m really scared."