Fang Yuan rolled her eyes at Da Mao and ignored him.
“Big Sis, I saved some bayberries for you. Hurry and eat them, or Big Brother’s going to finish them all.” Xiao Mao stood protectively in front of a porcelain bowl filled with the bayberries Li Dagen had brought that morning.
Fang Yuan broke into a delighted smile, cupped Xiao Mao’s big head in both hands, and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.
“Big Sis, h, how can you do that? I’m not a little kid anymore.” Xiao Mao’s face instantly turned bright red.
“Eww, that’s disgusting! Xiao Mao, you’d better hurry up and wash your face, or you’re going to bleed from all seven orifices and die from poisoning.” Da Mao jumped onto a stool and mocked him.
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Fang Yuan smacked Da Mao on the forehead. “Do you still want your pocket money or not?”
Da Mao immediately jumped down from the stool and obediently picked up the bowl of bayberries. “Big Sis, I’ll wash them again for you. You’re the cleanest person I know. Xiao Mao only washed them once. There might still be bugs hiding inside.”
Watching Da Mao quickly read the situation and change his attitude, Fang Yuan laughed so hard that she doubled over.
Fang Yuan helped prepare dinner that evening. While stir-frying the vegetables, she forgot to add soybean oil. As a result, the vegetables stuck to the bottom of the wok as soon as they went in, and the leaves turned black. She hurriedly poured in a ladle of water. In the end, the dish became a plate of oil-free boiled blackened greens that were so salty they tasted bitter.
“Big Sis, pay a little more attention, will you? You can’t even stir-fry vegetables. What can you do?” Da Mao naturally seized the chance to complain.
“Pocket money!” Fang Yuan threatened.
“This dish is still edible. I’ll give it a try.” Da Mao immediately changed his tune.
“Don’t eat it. The leaves are burnt black already. It’ll be even more troublesome if it upsets your stomach.” Fang Xiaoqin quickly moved the dish aside.
Fang Yuan pulled a long face. Next time she cooked, she would first write every step down in a notebook. She was certain she would eventually be able to make a proper meal.
When Fang Xiaoqin wanted to eat some bayberries with her meal, she discovered that only the small bowl Xiao Mao had saved for Fang Yuan remained. She glared angrily at Da Mao.
Stretching out his neck, Da Mao argued, “They were going to end up in our stomachs sooner or later anyway. Eating them earlier keeps them from going bad.”
“You certainly have an answer for everything,” Fang Xiaoqin scolded with a smile. Still, she said nothing more. She had always been generous when it came to food. She did her best to bring tasty things home for the children whenever she could, and whenever there was something good to eat, she never stopped them from eating their fill.
While washing up that evening, Fang Yuan suddenly remembered the two pieces of peanut candy wrapped in oiled paper. She took them out of her pocket. When she stepped out of her room, she only saw Xiao Mao squatting by the doorway playing marbles with Xiao Shengli.
Da Mao was nowhere to be seen, so she simply gave one piece of candy to each of them. Xiao Shengli ate his until saliva dribbled from the corners of his mouth, then happily ran around Fang Yuan in circles.
Seeing this, Aunt Liu could not help saying, “Ah Yuan, you’re always bringing delicious things from your family. Your Auntie doesn’t have anything good to give you in return.”
“They’re only little snacks,” Fang Yuan said with a smile.
“The next time Shengli’s father comes home, I’ll have him take all of you to the state-run restaurant for a proper meal.”
“Is Xiao Shengli’s father coming home on leave this year?” Fang Yuan asked. Xiao Shengli’s father, Liu Qizhi, served in the army and had already attained the rank of company commander. He was both the pillar of the Liu family and their greatest pride.
“He’ll be back at the end of the year. It’s been two years since he last came home. Shengli probably won’t even recognize him anymore.” Aunt Liu chuckled.
…
Two days later, Fang Yuan participated as Doctor Jiang’s assistant in Liang Youtian’s stomach cancer resection surgery. The operation went smoothly, and Liang Youtian recovered well afterward.
A few days after he was discharged from the hospital, the production team leader from Linguan Township arrived at the county hospital with Old Man Liang and several production team members, beating gongs and drums as they presented the hospital with an honorary banner bearing the words, “A Bethune-style People’s Hospital.”
The production team leader and Old Man Liang held Hospital Director Lin’s hands with tears streaming down their faces. They said he was like a second parent who had given Liang Youtian a new life, and that without his approval to provide treatment, Liang Youtian would have already lost his life. Hospital Director Lin repeatedly waved his hands and said this was the People’s Hospital, which had always been open to the people. He had only done what he ought to do and deserved none of the credit.
Old Man Liang also expressed his gratitude to Doctor Jiang and Fang Yuan. It was the first time Fang Yuan had received such a solemn expression of thanks from a patient, and she felt deeply moved.
Fang Yuan had now spent three months studying under Doctor Jiang. She was already capable of handling duty shifts independently. During that time, she had assisted Doctor Jiang in several operations and had also performed an appendectomy herself as the lead surgeon.
After October began, the atmosphere throughout society also started to change. Now, whenever people went out to handle official business, they first had to recite a quotation from Chairman Mao. If they could not quote one, things like conducting business or buying goods would not go smoothly. In some cases, it could even become a matter concerning one’s ideological awareness.
The county Xinhua Bookstore frequently sold out of Chairman Mao portrait badges and quotation booklets. Whenever a new batch of badges arrived, everyone rushed over to respectfully obtain one.
At Fang Yuan’s home, a portrait of Chairman Mao now hung on the wall, a plaster bust of Chairman Mao sat atop the cabinet, and every member of the family wore a Chairman Mao badge pinned to their chest. In the textile mill district, workers rarely gathered to chat in the evenings anymore. Instead, everyone held quotation booklets and memorized them, afraid that remembering too little would give others something to criticize.
All of this made Fang Yuan feel uneasy and uncomfortable.
Beneath this undercurrent, the first major crisis to erupt was a large-scale outbreak of schistosomiasis throughout the county. Within just a few days, the number of schistosomiasis patients admitted to the county hospital rose continuously. The hospital beds were soon filled, and patients even had to lie in the hallways and lobby.
In response, the Yuyang County government ordered all medical institutions throughout the county to cooperate with the epidemic prevention station in schistosomiasis prevention and control.
To eliminate schistosomiasis, they adopted the strategy of “two controls, one eradication, plus treatment.” The “two controls” referred to controlling water sources and human waste. People were required to take protective measures when coming into contact with infected water, and human waste had to be composted to kill schistosome eggs before being used as fertilizer. The “one eradication” referred to eliminating the Oncomelania snails that served as intermediate hosts. “Treatment” referred to treating both infected patients and cattle suffering from schistosomiasis.
The county hospital took on the primary treatment responsibilities. All doctors had their leave canceled. Fang Yuan worked overtime every day, becoming so busy that she was almost overwhelmed. Then one afternoon, when she saw a frail little girl of only four or five years old being carried into the hospital by her family, her heart tightened as she thought of Aili in the countryside and the Oncomelania snails growing in the irrigation ditches outside their home.
She asked Director Chen for leave so she could return home, but Director Chen, who was already overwhelmed himself, stopped her and sternly criticized her. He said that at a time like this, nothing was more important than saving patients’ lives, and refused to approve her leave.
Left with no alternative, Fang Yuan hurried home that evening and told Fang Xiaoqin to ask someone traveling to the countryside to pass along a message reminding the family there to pay attention to the preventive measures. She also suggested bringing Aili back if possible. Several workers at the textile mill had also contracted schistosomiasis. After hearing this, Fang Xiaoqin became anxious. She had previously kept delaying Fang Yuan’s request to bring Aili home, but now she could no longer ignore the matter. She requested leave from the factory and personally made a trip to the countryside.
Fang Yuan returned to the hospital and immersed herself once again in the demanding work.
At that time, the anti-schistosomiasis medication administered to patients was an antimony preparation with relatively high toxicity. A small number of patients experienced varying degrees of toxic side effects.
When Fang Yuan saw that the four-year-old girl receiving treatment had developed a fever after the injection, she could not bear to watch. She went back to the office, took the silver acupuncture needles from her bag, sterilized them, and inserted them into the girl’s Dazhui and Hegu acupoints. Soon afterward, the girl’s fever subsided.
When she saw other patients suffering from side effects such as vomiting, muscle and joint pain, and headaches, she no longer hesitated. One by one, she treated them with acupuncture, and the toxic reactions quickly disappeared afterward.
Her actions attracted the attention of many doctors and nurses. While she was inserting the needles for one patient, Hospital Director Lin quietly appeared beside her without her noticing. She only realized he was there when she stood up, startling her.
Hospital Director Lin asked where she had learned acupuncture. Fang Yuan replied that she had learned it from her maternal grandfather. Only then did everyone at the hospital realize that Fang Yuan’s maternal grandfather was the once-renowned Elder Fang, the famous traditional Chinese medicine physician of Yuyang County. He had previously operated his own traditional Chinese medicine clinic before later practicing at a provincial hospital. Most people at the county hospital had only heard stories about him, while very few had ever actually met him.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Fang Yuan explained that administering acupuncture before antimony injections could prevent the toxic side effects of the medication.
Hospital Director Lin agreed to let Fang Yuan carry out the treatment according to this method.
For the patients who were about to receive antimony injections, Fang Yuan inserted needles into the Hegu, Lieque, Neiguan, Zusanli, and Weizhong acupoints fifteen minutes before the injection and retained the needles for five to ten minutes. As expected, none of the patients experienced any further toxic reactions.
Hospital Director Lin took the lead in applauding, and the doctors and nurses working overtime in the ward all joined in, applauding Fang Yuan’s unexpectedly impressive acupuncture skills.
Standing outside the ward, Du Guoliang, the county hospital’s Party Secretary, witnessed the scene and nodded repeatedly in approval.
“Doctor Fang is quite impressive, isn’t she?” Doctor Zhang from the logistics department asked with a meaningful smile.
“Indeed. At such a young age, she’s already able to combine traditional Chinese and Western medicine in treatment. Her professional skills are excellent.” Party Secretary Du quietly walked away with his hands clasped behind his back, a satisfied smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth.
“Then what do you think about introducing her to Xue Wenqing?” Doctor Zhang followed behind him and asked enthusiastically.
Party Secretary Du smiled. “That’s something you women worry about. Don’t ask me. I wouldn’t know.”
“I knew asking you would be pointless anyway. In any case, I think this Doctor Fang is quite good. I’ve been paying attention to her over these past few months since she arrived. She isn’t talkative, has a gentle temperament, comes from a worker’s family, and she’s a perfect match for Xue Wenqing.”
Party Secretary Du frowned slightly. “Now I have to criticize you. As long as someone’s class background is acceptable, workers, peasants, and cadres are all the same. Revolutionary work has no distinction of status, and neither should marriage.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Doctor Zhang said awkwardly.
“If you really think the young lady is a good match, then go talk to her sooner rather than later. If the two of them are compatible, they can submit the necessary application. I’ve heard you’ve been asking around the hospital about unmarried young women. That’s having a very bad influence.”
“I understand.” Doctor Zhang hurriedly nodded.
…
Fang Yuan had no idea that someone was trying to play matchmaker for her. When she returned home the following day, Fang Xiaoqin had also just come back from the countryside. She was alone and, as soon as she arrived home, lay down on the bed in exhaustion.
Before Fang Yuan could ask anything, Fang Xiaoqin told her that everyone in the countryside was healthy. They had remembered all the hygiene and epidemic prevention knowledge Fang Yuan had taught them during her last visit. They did not drink untreated water or eat the Oncomelania snails from the irrigation ditches, so she did not need to worry.
Only then did Fang Yuan finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Fang Yuan poured her mother a cup of hot water and brought over a basin of water to help her wipe herself down.
As Fang Xiaoqin wiped her face with a towel, Fang Yuan noticed a small row of bite marks on her wrist. They looked like they had been left by a child.
She gently took her mother’s hand, touched the marks with concern, and asked, “Mom, was it Aili who bit you?”
Fang Xiaoqin gave a bitter smile. “She was afraid I was taking her back home.”
Seeing that Fang Xiaoqin did not want to say any more, Fang Yuan refrained from asking further. She was perceptive enough to realize that her mother was in a bad mood, and she could more or less guess the reason. Still, she could not help feeling disappointed that they had failed to bring Aili back.