nucmednet Chapter 224 Western Suburbs Village
Chapter 224 Western Suburbs Village
"Thank you, thank you..." The boss smiled and clasped his hands in a fist salute in response, "Well, since you are my cousin's friend, this meal is on me today. I wonder if you have eaten enough? I'll go and make some more wontons for you." With that, he walked quickly towards the stove.
"No need," they all replied in unison.
“Mr. Huang, there’s no need to trouble yourself. We’ve almost finished eating.” Qing Tong said to Zhao Niang, who was standing next to him, “Go and tell him that he doesn’t need to bother with us.”
Zhao Niang smiled and said, "Don't be shy, eat as much as you like."
Just then, a boy of about eight or nine years old ran in and went straight to the boss by the stove.
"Uncle Dajun, please lend me a little money." He tugged at the shopkeeper's sleeve and pleaded, "I want to find another doctor to take a look at my father."
The wonton shop owner frowned slightly. He covered the steaming pot of soup with the lid, wiped his hands on his apron, and sighed helplessly.
"Dongzi, it's not that I don't want to help you, but the three doctors I found for your father all said they couldn't treat him. It's just a waste of money!"
“But, but now my grandmother is also worried about my father’s illness and has fallen ill in bed.”
He slowly lowered his eyes, clutching the patched hem of his clothes tightly with both hands, his voice growing softer and softer, tinged with a sob: "I don't know what to do."
"Brother Jun." Seeing the boy's uneasy appearance, Zhao Niang said, "How about we find another doctor to take a look at the uncle?"
Upon hearing Zhao Niang's reply, Dongzi's eyes lit up instantly, and he quickly thanked her. "Thank you, Auntie, thank you, Auntie."
At this moment, the old man sitting at the next table spoke up and advised, "Mr. Huang, I advise you not to call a doctor. You should save that money for the child's living expenses!"
He paused with his chopsticks, then sighed softly, "My neighbor Lao Luo has the same symptoms as his father."
"His family owns a shop, so they're quite well-off. But so far, they've hired five or six doctors, and none of them have been able to find anything wrong. They might as well have saved that money to buy some food!"
After hearing the old man's words, the boy's mouth immediately pursed and drooped uncontrollably.
Tears welled up in her eyes, as if she were about to burst into tears, her face filled with unease and fear.
Xiao Han and the others looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the boy was somewhat thin and was wearing an ill-fitting, oversized cotton-padded jacket with patches sewn on it.
The cloth shoes on his feet were torn, revealing a toe, and his face, which was chapped from running all the way, was also purple from the wind.
Long Chuqing and Xiao Han exchanged a glance. Xiao Han then turned to look at the old man sitting at the next table who had just spoken.
"Fellow villager, I just heard you mention that several people are unconscious." Xiao Han asked, "What exactly happened? Could you tell us in detail?"
"Judging from your attire, you don't seem to be residents of our western suburbs, so it's no wonder you don't know."
The old man recalled for a moment, and then began to tell Xiao Han and the others what he knew.
According to the descriptions from the families of those who were unconscious, the incident should have started about two weeks ago.
In the first few days, they only felt a little tired when they woke up in the morning, thinking it was because they hadn't slept well, so they didn't pay much attention to it.
A few days later, he became increasingly tired, his eye sockets became noticeably dark, and he felt like he could never get enough sleep. He looked particularly listless, as if he had lost his soul.
In the last two or three days, people in the neighborhood have started falling asleep and then not being able to get up, which is very strange.
This has caused widespread anxiety among the neighbors, who are all afraid that something like this will happen to them.
"Thank you for informing me, fellow villager," Xiao Han said, expressing his gratitude.
The old man shook his head and waved his hand, took out his purse, counted out a few copper coins, put them down, and then walked out of the wonton shop with his hands behind his back.
"Uncle Dajun, please lend me some money! I'll pay you back as soon as my father gets better and I earn money."
Long Chuqing looked towards the stove, and Xiao Han seemed to see through her thoughts: "Chuqing, do you want to go to that boy's house to take a look?"
“Hmm.” Long Chuqing nodded. “They’re making such a strange claim that I really want to investigate and see if it’s a strange illness or something else.”
"Then let's go and see." Xiao Han looked at Qing Tong beside him.
After understanding, Qing Tong stood up and walked towards the boy, giving him a brief explanation.
When the boy learned that a doctor was willing to treat his father for free, hope immediately rose in his heart.
He wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes with his wide sleeves, and a smile spread across his face.
After paying for the wontons, the group prepared to leave with the boy.
The boss hurriedly chased after them, saying, "I just said this meal was on me, and now you've gone to help Dongzi's father get medical treatment. I absolutely cannot accept this money!"
As he spoke, he stuffed the copper coin back into the bronze hand.
Qing Tong repeatedly refused: "Boss, please accept it! Don't refuse."
Watching the group walk quickly away, the owner went back to the wonton shop and took off his apron: "Zhao Niang, I'm going with them to Dongzi's house. I'll leave the shop in your care."
Zhao Niang took the apron from the boss: "Okay, go ahead!"
The group followed Dongzi across the bluestone street and then turned into a narrow alley that could only accommodate one person at a time.
"This is a shortcut," Dongzi's voice came from ahead. "It's shorter this way."
After passing through the narrow alley, the outline of a village came into view. Walking along the path, cattle and sheep dung was everywhere along the dirt road.
The rammed earth houses are scattered throughout the village, and through the fenced courtyards, you can see strings of corn hanging under the eaves.
Under a large tree at the village entrance, several villagers, wrapped in thick coats, were drawing water into wooden buckets at the well.
The sound of chopping wood came from the courtyards along the way. He stopped chopping wood when he saw the group of people.
He slowly stood up and called out in a rough voice towards the roadside, "Dongzi, have you returned from fetching a doctor in the city?"
“Yes…” Dongzi replied loudly.
After hearing the noise, the old lady next door leaned out of the door frame and squinted as she looked carefully at the roadside.
With his missing tooth, he mumbled incoherently, "What a mess! Poor thing."
She slowly closed her eyes, clasped her hands together in front of her, and kept murmuring, "May the Bodhisattva protect me, may the Bodhisattva protect me..."
Dongzi turned to Xiao Han and the others and said, "Brothers and sisters, my home is not far ahead." He pointed to the houses not far ahead.
Pushing open the fence gate and walking inside, the two mud houses looked more dilapidated than the others.
There were two sheds on the side, one of which looked like a kitchen, and the other should have been a shed for raising cattle and sheep, but there were no livestock inside at the moment.
One side of the fence is leaning, probably because it collapsed under the weight of the snow and hasn't been repaired yet.