Auntie Chen glanced around the room. When her gaze fell on the woman sitting nearby watching over her child, her face reddened slightly and her expression became visibly uncomfortable.
Lin Xiaxia immediately understood.
“Let’s go into the back room. We can talk privately.”
She lifted the curtain leading to the inner room. The furnishings inside were simple, with only a small table and two chairs placed against the wall.
Auntie Chen hesitated before slowly following her inside.
“Have a seat, Auntie.”
Lin Xiaxia pulled out a chair for her.
“Don’t be nervous. Just tell me where you’re feeling uncomfortable, and I’ll take a look.”
Auntie Chen sat down, nervously twisting the corner of her clothes between her fingers. She remained silent for a long time.
Finally, as though she had gathered every last bit of courage she possessed, she spoke in a voice barely louder than a mosquito’s buzz.
“I… I just wanted to ask… Do you treat women’s illnesses here?”
“I do.”
Lin Xiaxia’s tone remained calm as she took out a notebook and pen.
“You can tell me your symptoms first, or I can check your pulse.”
Auntie Chen’s face grew even redder, and she lowered her head.
“It’s… down there. Something doesn’t feel right. I’m fifty-four this year, and I’ve given birth to three children. After I had my youngest, something started feeling wrong. It always felt like something was falling downward.”
She paused awkwardly before continuing.
“I could tolerate it at first, but these past two years, as I’ve gotten older, it’s gotten worse. That thing keeps protruding outside. It feels heavy and swollen… It’s terribly uncomfortable…”
Her voice grew quieter and quieter until Lin Xiaxia could barely hear her.
“I didn’t dare go to the hospital in the city because I was afraid people would laugh at me, so I’ve just endured it all these years. Do… do you have any medicine that could make it stop hurting so much?”
As Lin Xiaxia wrote down the symptoms, she gently asked, “Does it become worse whenever you do heavy work? And does your lower back often ache?”
Auntie Chen nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, yes! It gets much worse whenever I work. My lower back aches so badly that sometimes I can barely straighten up.”
“It’s most likely uterine prolapse caused by weakened pelvic floor muscles,” Lin Xiaxia explained. “Your body probably didn’t recover properly after childbirth, and the condition gradually became worse as you grew older.”
She kept her voice as calm and professional as possible.
“Would you be comfortable removing your pants so I can examine you?”
“Ah!”
Auntie Chen shot to her feet as though she had been pricked by a needle. Her entire face instantly turned bright red as she frantically waved her hands.
“How… how could I do that?”
Seeing how frightened she was, Lin Xiaxia hurriedly reassured her.
“Auntie, don’t panic. I need to see exactly how serious the condition is before I can prescribe the right treatment. I can’t treat you blindly, can I? You’ve already endured this illness for so many years. The longer you delay, the more troublesome it could become. It’s better to understand the problem now so we can treat it properly.”
But Auntie Chen looked so embarrassed that she turned around and headed for the door.
“Then I won’t get it checked. Forget it…”
“Auntie!”
Lin Xiaxia stopped her.
“From what you’ve described, your condition already sounds quite serious. If you continue delaying treatment, you may suffer even more. I’m a woman too. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ll only take a quick look. It’ll be over very soon.”
Auntie Chen stopped walking.
She hesitated before mumbling, “In my entire life, other than my husband… no one else has ever seen me there…”
“Didn’t the midwife have to see you when you gave birth?” Lin Xiaxia gently asked.
That question stopped Auntie Chen in her tracks.
She thought about it for a moment.
That did make sense.
“The sooner we examine it, the sooner we can treat it,” Lin Xiaxia continued patiently. “You’ve already suffered for so long. Once I’ve examined you, I’ll know what medicine to use and how to make you feel better.”
Auntie Chen struggled with herself for quite a while before finally gritting her teeth.
“Then… could you close the front door first?”
“Of course.”
Lin Xiaxia lifted the curtain and called out to Gao Xiulan.
“Xiulan, close the front door and don’t let anyone come in for now.”
Although Gao Xiulan had no idea what they were doing inside, she obediently closed the door and stood guard near the courtyard entrance.
Lin Xiaxia returned to the inner room. She spread a dark-colored cloth along the edge of the kang bed, then took out disinfectant and a pair of disposable rubber gloves.
“Auntie, just lie down here. Don’t be nervous.”
“Doctor, what are those…?”
Auntie Chen looked uneasily at the gloves.
“They’re for hygiene. Everything needs to be clean and disinfected during an examination,” Lin Xiaxia explained as she put them on. “It’ll be over quickly.”
Her face still burning with embarrassment, Auntie Chen slowly loosened her waistband and lay down on the kang.
Lin Xiaxia performed a quick examination and immediately told her to get dressed again.
She removed her gloves, tossed them into a nearby waste bag, and disinfected her hands.
After fastening her clothes, Auntie Chen hurried over anxiously.
“Doctor Lin, how is it? Can… can my illness still be treated?”
“It can.”
Lin Xiaxia answered with certainty.
“I’ll prescribe some medicine for you first, both oral and topical. Use them for a week. We’ll reduce the inflammation first and ease the heaviness and discomfort. After that, we can do a minor corrective procedure, and with time, you should gradually recover.”
“Really?”
Hope immediately appeared in Auntie Chen’s eyes, but she quickly asked another question.
“Then… is it expensive? My family isn’t very well-off…”
“Don’t worry. I’ll only charge you close to the cost of the medicine and keep it as inexpensive as possible.”
Lin Xiaxia smiled.
“Take the medicine home and start using it. If you feel uncomfortable or notice anything unusual, come see me anytime.”
Only then did Auntie Chen completely relax.
A long-absent smile appeared on her face as she repeatedly thanked Lin Xiaxia.
“Thank you, Doctor Lin. You really are a good person…”
They returned to the front room, where Lin Xiaxia prepared the medicine while Gao Xiulan recorded the details.
Lin Xiaxia carefully explained how Auntie Chen should use each medicine. She charged her only three yuan before sending her home.
Among the illnesses suffered by women in the countryside were countless hardships they were too ashamed or afraid to speak about.
Perhaps helping them finally put down those burdens was exactly why this village clinic needed to exist.
The older woman who had been watching over the child looked at Lin Xiaxia with admiration.
“I never expected such a young girl like you to be so capable. You can treat all kinds of illnesses! With someone as talented as you, how could the city bear to send you down here?”
Lin Xiaxia smiled.
“There are plenty of talented people in the city. They won’t miss one person like me. People in the countryside need doctors even more. If I can help people here, isn’t that a good thing?”
“That’s certainly true.”
The woman sighed.
“We live deep in the mountains, and it’s such a long journey just to see a doctor in town. The old doctor there can handle ordinary headaches and fevers, but when it comes to certain illnesses women suffer from… it’s really difficult to talk about them.”
“And because people are too embarrassed to talk about them, many minor illnesses are left untreated until they become chronic problems that torment them for the rest of their lives.”
Lin Xiaxia nodded.
“As a woman myself, I understand how difficult it can be.”
The woman seemed to suddenly remember something.
She moved closer to Lin Xiaxia and lowered her voice.
“Little sister, since you’re so capable… can you treat other strange illnesses too?”
“I’d have to examine the patient before I could say,” Lin Xiaxia replied. “I’d need to check their pulse and symptoms. It’s difficult to make a judgment based only on someone else’s description.”
“Then let me tell you about it first. You can tell me whether you think it’s an illness.”
The woman hesitated, then lowered her voice even further.
“There’s a family surnamed Zhao in our village. Their youngest son has been married for three years. His wife became pregnant twice, but both babies were born yellow… yellow like bronze statues. Neither survived more than a few days.”
She swallowed nervously.
“Everyone in the village says their family must have been cursed by something unclean. What do you think? Is it some kind of illness… or could they really be cursed?”
Her voice became almost inaudible when she said the final words. There was a trace of fear in her eyes, as though merely speaking about such things might invite disaster.
Gao Xiulan, who had been listening nearby, leaned closer as well.
“I’ve heard about that too. The older people all say the Zhao family offended a weasel spirit and got cursed. They say that’s why they can’t raise a child— even if a baby is born, it won’t survive.”