Without any hesitation, Chen Huihong wrapped Hui Niang in a quilt, picked her up, and ran straight out, forgetting even to put on her cotton clothes.
At this ti, so people were already awake. Seeing Chen Huihong running on the street in thin clothes, holding a quilt, they quickly brought their family out to watch: "The crazy lady is going crazy!"
Chen Huihong rushed straight to the pharmacy. The pharmacy opened early, and the attendant was cleaning while the doctor was sorting out the dicine. Seeing Chen Huihong carrying a quilt and running straight in, the attendant instinctively reached out to stop her but withdrew his hand halfway.
"Crazy lady, why aren’t you wearing cotton clothes on such a cold day? Why are you running with a quilt?" The attendant stepped forward to try to persuade Chen Huihong to leave, but was stunned when he saw soone wrapped in the quilt, "You wouldn’t have picked up a fainted person on the road and expect us to cure them, would you? We can’t cure this."
"She ate sothing bad for her stomach," Chen Huihong carefully laid down the quilt.
Only then did the attendant see clearly: "Isn’t this Hui Niang? Doctor Wang, please co quickly and take a look."
After speaking, the attendant went to close the door to prevent the cold wind from blowing in.
With white hair, Doctor Wang hurried over to feel the pulse. Under Chen Huihong’s gaze, Doctor Wang calmly asked, "Crazy lady, what did your maid eat yesterday?"
Afraid that Chen Huihong might not understand, Doctor Wang even mid the action of eating.
"Moldy cornal, not properly stead," said Chen Huihong.
Doctor Wang’s face changed instantly. He turned and asked the attendant, "Did Hui Niang go to the grain store on the west side to buy cornal yesterday?"
The attendant was still thinking when Chen Huihong directly said, "Yes, Hui Niang said the cornal was damp and moldy, selling cheap. She picked out the moldy parts and discarded them."
Doctor Wang didn’t even have ti to ponder why the crazy lady was so sharp in her questions and responses. He sighed deeply and muttered, "It’s truly unconscionable, selling things that could kill people."
The attendant seed to rember sothing: "Doctor Wang, wasn’t Li Er’s family killed by eating cornal yesterday?"
"I heard they said Li Er’s old mother was distressed about wasting food, didn’t discard the moldy parts, mixed them with other grains, and cooked porridge. Except for Li Er’s wife, who ate just a little and was okay, the rest of them were all gone, passing away last night."
"And it seems it wasn’t just Li Er’s family affected. There were more incidents on the west side; the grain store boss fled overnight."
"What do you an by that? Does eating that cornal kill people?" asked Chen Huihong to the attendant.
The attendant hesitated and dared not speak.
Doctor Wang felt the pulse for a while, paused, and said, "Crazy lady, I trust you understand, so I’ll be frank."
"I’ll prescribe a dose of dicine first. Have the attendant brew it here and feed it to Hui Niang to induce vomiting. Then prescribe a fever-reducing dose. But I can’t guarantee survival. My dical skills are limited, and I’m only thirty percent confident with such a critical condition."
"You prescribe, I’ll find the money to pay you later," said Chen Huihong.
The doctor instructed the attendant to fetch the dicine, and after he finished, the attendant went to the backyard to boil the dicine.
Watching Hui Niang, still dazed and unresponsive, Chen Huihong asked, "If the dicine doesn’t work, will she die?"
Doctor Wang sighed: "We can only leave it to fate."
"I can only say if the fever-reducing dicine is administered, and the fever subsides before dark, there’s hope. If not, it might be hard to get through tonight..."
"Crazy lady, I know you’re kind-hearted. If you’re willing to spend, sending her to the Western Hospital in the inner city might save her. But the cost... is enough to buy ten new maids."
Chen Huihong was silent.
Twenty minutes later, the attendant had brewed the dicine and fed it to Hui Niang in batches.
The vomiting dicine worked, and after a few rounds of vomiting, Hui Niang gradually ca to her senses. Knowing that Chen Huihong wouldn’t brew the dicine herself, Doctor Wang told her to take Hui Niang ho to avoid catching cold and that he would send the brewed dicine over later.
Returning ho with Hui Niang, Chen Huihong imdiately started looking around for copper coins, even rummaging out unfinished candied fruits hidden in the cupboard.
"Sister, what are you looking for?" Hui Niang weakly asked from her half-lying position on the bed.
"Anything valuable, I’m taking you to that hospital," Chen Huihong answered.
"It’s very expensive; we can’t afford it," Hui Niang panted, "One visit there costs a lot of Da yang."
"I’ll borrow it."
"But if you borrow, everyone will know you’re not crazy, won’t they?"
At these words, Chen Huihong’s hands paused in her search.
"Then you won’t be able to visit the inner city every day, nor eat the things you like, and everyone will discover you’re not human at all."
Chen Huihong squatted on the ground, not reacting, quietly looking up at Hui Niang: "When did you know?"
Hui Niang smiled: "Sister, I’m not stupid. I knew from the first day."
"Tree bark is definitely not eaten that way."
"But you still ate it," Chen Huihong said.
"Because I was starving, Sister, you might not know, but I hadn’t eaten for many days at that ti. I didn’t dare eat dirt, afraid it’d be even more painful if it killed , but I was so hungry I couldn’t even stand, only crawl on the ground."
"I thought I was going to die, but after eating that piece of bark you gave , I suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore."
"Sister, you don’t look like soone fleeing from famine at all. Your complexion is so rosy, you’re so strong, you don’t search for food or drink water, and you don’t even have a water storage jar."
"And when I ntioned Lin County to you, you had no reaction at all. It was where we t; Lin County was ravaged by plague, everyone died, and the surrounding villages were deserted. People fleeing famine wouldn’t dare go there. I deliberately headed to empty places to avoid people."
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