Chapter 68: Chapter 68 A Busy Night
Wu Bian Town’s diet mainly consists of pancakes, rich in at and scarce in vegetables, with greens being more expensive than at.
Su ixi had been in the car for quite so ti today, and she had just been busy amongst a bunch of patients’ vomit. She really couldn’t eat much, so she just asked the restaurant owner for a bowl of mutton soup and a pancake.
The restaurant owner’s wife had the appearance of soone from the Western Regions, in her thirties, wearing a little hat with her hair in several braids, looking very charming.
She spoke very good Mandarin and, seeing that Su ixi was alone, asked, “Are you by yourself? Are you here to travel?”
“I’m not, I’m the new doctor,” Su ixi said.
“Oh, we occasionally have doctors from outside coming to support us, but most of them are n; there aren’t many won. They don’t stay long before leaving, saying it’s too tough for them here,” the owner’s wife said.
...
Su ixi smiled. She thought that she would at least finish the year and a half stint.
Soon, the mutton soup arrived with a few slices of at floating in it. The pancake from the owner’s wife’s restaurant was huge, larger than Su ixi’s head. She asked the owner’s wife, “May I have half a pancake?”
“Of course,” the owner’s wife brought over a knife and cut it in half for her, then added, “You girls from the outside always have such small appetites; you can’t even finish half a pancake.”
While eating her pancake, Su ixi asked, “Have there been many outsiders coming around recently?”
“Yes, our place is on the border. Two years ago, our border soldiers had a conflict with a neighboring country, and it made big news at the ti. Since then, many internet celebrities have co to check in here, almost every day.”
“Is there a military presence nearby?”
“There’s a unit, but it’s a bit of a distance from here, and ordinary people can’t enter. The places internet celebrities go are old outposts, which were once garrisoned by the Qing Army. During the Republic, it beca the National Army, and later it was abandoned, but the outpost wasn’t demolished, and many things were preserved. We locals don’t think there’s anything interesting to see, but netizens like it.”
Su ixi asked again, “Besides the outpost, is there anything else to see?”
“Yes, there’s the Martyr Cetery, and there’s Shi Tou City. Further out, there’s the Gobi Desert where you can treasure hunt.”
“Treasure hunting?”
“There are jade stones in the Gobi Desert, and so are quite valuable, but it’s rare for anyone to actually find anything of great value. It’s mostly for fun.”
Su ixi asked again, “With many people coming to travel, your restaurant business must be good.”
The owner’s wife laughed, “That’s true, but so people don’t eat properly. The group that ca yesterday stayed overnight in the mountains and picked mushrooms to eat, and today, everybody had to co back.”
Su ixi just smiled, finished her soup, and couldn’t manage the pancake, so she said, “Speaking of those patients, I have to be on duty tonight to watch over them. I’ll keep this pancake for a late-night snack.”
“A pancake for a snack? If you get really hungry, you can knock on my door, and I’ll heat up sothing for you,” the owner’s wife offered warmly.
“Wouldn’t that be too much trouble?”
“Not at all, aside from looking after this store, I’ve got nothing else to do. It’s like making a new friend.”
Su ixi couldn’t help but smile.
Though she said that, she’d rather just eat a pancake than trouble soone.
…
Back at the clinic, Dr. Ma led Su ixi to the backyard.
There were several rooms in the backyard: one for storing dical equipnt, one for miscellaneous items, and two for the on-duty doctors.
Dr. Ma opened one of the rooms, turned on the light, and then said to Su ixi, “You’ll be living here from now on. The doctors who’ve co to support in the past left quite a lot of things behind, including blankets, pillows, cups, and a kettle. If you’re missing anything, you can buy it at the shops on the street.”
Su ixi nodded, “Okay.”
Dr. Ma continued, “You’ll take the first half of the night shift, then wake for the second half. I’m staying next door.”
“Sure!” Su ixi agreed cheerfully.
Dr. Ma had been busy all day, and with his advanced age, he really couldn’t stay up any longer. After giving these instructions, he headed to the next room to sleep.
Su ixi looked around the room at its contents.
Neat it was, and she had all the essentials like blankets.
Since this was a highland area, though the blankets were old, they were not musty. Su ixi planned to make do for the night and buy new ones tomorrow.
After arranging her luggage, she boiled a kettle of water, charged her phone, and then went to her shift.
…
Sarah, the nurse at the health center, stayed with Su ixi until 2 a.m. Sarah, in her thirties, said she had children at ho and couldn’t stay any longer.
So then Su ixi was the only staff mber left.
Fortunately, the patients’ conditions had stabilized, so her workload wasn’t heavy.
In the latter part of the night, so patients whose conditions had improved went to a hotel to get rooms. Su ixi took out so old blankets from her room and laid them on the ground for the remaining few to lie down and sleep.
These patients were naturally very grateful to her, blaming themselves for indiscriminate eating, which had caused her so much work that she even had to bring out her blankets for them to use.
The night temperatures in Wu Bian Town were very low, but luckily Su ixi had brought a thick down jacket. She put it on and continued with her tasks,
Including changing patients’ dressings, cleaning up the dirty stuff in the clinic, mopping the floor, and so on.
She kept busy until dawn, when Dr. Ma woke up.
Dr. Ma ca out, yawning, saw that the patients were all doing better, the health station was spotlessly clean, and saw Su ixi dozing off in her chair—he couldn’t help but take a few extra glances at her.
His eyes were filled with considerable appreciation.
He did not wake her up but went on to prepare for other work.
Su ixi slept for about two hours, then opened her eyes to see daylight and Dr. Ma taking the patients’ temperatures and blood pressures. She couldn’t help but say, “Good morning, Dr. Ma.”
Dr. Ma, busy with his tasks, asked her, “Why didn’t you call last night?”
Su ixi replied, “I saw that I could manage on my own, so I didn’t think it was necessary to wake you up.”
“You child,” Dr. Ma said in a reproachful tone that an elder might use.
Su ixi just smiled.
Several patients had already improved and were now chatting and laughing.
One young man said, “Actually, we didn’t want to camp out there the night before last either. It’s just that there seed to be a military presence nearby, and we felt safe being in a place where there were soldier brothers.”
Dr. Ma asked, “Then why did you eat recklessly?”
“The place is grassland, full of mushrooms. An older mber of our group thumped his chest and guaranteed they were edible, so we ate them.”
“You’re so daring. Luckily, the liberation army sent you here; otherwise, your chances wouldn’t have been good!”
Su ixi asked, “Is the liberation army’s encampnt far from here?”
Dr. Ma replied, “Not far, about 15 kiloters or so. I heard that there’s a platoon stationed around here, the exact number I don’t know. Occasionally, so soldiers co to town to shop and eat, and so co here for dical treatnt. If you see so tall and well-built people, those are them.”
Su ixi inquired, “Do they co often?”
“They co often but not the sa ones, only when they’re on leave.” Dr. Ma asked Su ixi, “You seem quite interested in soldiers.”
Su ixi quickly shook her head, “Not really interested, just a bit curious.”
The young man who had been poisoned said, “Girls all like soldier brothers, you know.”
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