She suddenly stood up, shouldered her dical kit, and headed for the door.
Lin Danqing grabbed hold of her, "Where are you going?"
"To the Plague Hospital." Lu Tong paused, then said, "I’m going to see Ding Yong."
...
Lu Tong went to the Plague Hospital.
Having rested these past two days, she had stayed in her lodging without going out. Cuicui, happy to see her, eagerly sought her out for conversation.
"Chief Physician Chang ntioned earlier that Sister Lu Tong, you were ill and couldn’t co. Have you fully recovered now?"
Lu Tong said, "It’s nothing."
"That’s good." Cuicui smiled, "I was worried for quite a while."
Lu Tong raised her eyes, scanning the Plague Hospital, and finally caught sight of Ding Yong. Ding Yong had just lifted a bowl and drunk a brown dicinal soup, wiped his mouth, and the bowl used for the dicine was not the usual white porcelain ones. Beside him sat Ji Xun, head lowered, taking notes on a piece of paper.
Lu Tong walked over to the two of them.
"Doctor Ji has co." Seeing her approach, Ding Yong hurriedly got up to greet Lu Tong.
Lu Tong nodded slightly and looked at Ji Xun, "Doctor Ji, I have sothing to discuss with you."
Ji Xun was startled, gave her a sowhat surprised look, didn’t say much, set down the empty bowl, and followed Lu Tong out to the thatched pavilion outside the Plague Hospital.
Under the pavilion lay baskets filled with dicine pouches; several guards stood at the entrance of the Plague Hospital. Ever since an assassin appeared in the Plague Hospital last ti, Pei Yunng ordered a few people to rotate on guard to prevent any sudden incidents.
Flakes of light snow drifted outside, this winter in Su Nan was especially cold, it seed the snow never stopped, each day piling higher than the last, far off into the distance, heaven and earth were one in whiteness.
"Why did you make Ding Yong a dicine Man so soon?" Lu Tong asked, cutting to the point.
"dicine Man?"
Ji Xun looked astonished for a mont, explaining, "He’s not a dicine Man..."
"What is it, if not a dicine Man, when you use new dicine untested on humans on a patient?"
The woman’s gaze was piercing, and under her scrutiny, Ji Xun stiffened for a long ti, eventually conceding defeat.
"That’s not incorrect," he said, "The peach blossom spots on Ding Yong’s body have started to turn purple. The previous soups were ineffective for him, and without switching to a new formula in ti, he certainly wouldn’t last seven days."
"The Chief Physician and I thought, rather than delaying with no hope, we should try another possibility." He looked at Lu Tong, "Besides, you’ve seen the dication plan used by Ding Yong."
New dication plans have to be reviewed by every epidemic-saving dical Officer. They’re used only after ensuring no more flaws can be found at the mont.
Ji Xun said, "Prior formulas were conservative, but now it seems the disease is transmitting inside and out, evil qi lurking within the mbranes. Half internal, half external, it’s ti to switch to a stronger prescription. Isn’t it you who once said, ’Tianxiong and Wuyao are the most toxic of dicines, yet a good physician uses them to save lives. Diseases change in myriad ways, and so must the dicines’?"
Those were words Lu Tong once said to Ji Xun at the dical Officer Institute. Back then, he hadn’t quite agreed, but now he had gradually co to accept the logic, yet she was unwilling.
"But for Ding Yong, everything is still uncertain."
Ji Xun replied, "The Chief Physician and I have inford him of all possible consequences. It was Ding Yong’s own choice; he is aware of what he is facing."
Lu Tong suddenly looked up, "He doesn’t know."
Ji Xun was taken aback.
"The things a dicine Man must endure, not to ntion the outco of the new dicine, perhaps he will suffer unbearable pain throughout the treatnt, maybe he’ll beco blind or disabled, maybe he’ll lose his sanity and beco a senseless lump of mud... No one can guarantee these outcos won’t occur, he knows nothing at all."
The wind blew, snow whirled in the boundless world, flake by flake settling onto people.
Ji Xun looked at her, "Doctor Lu..."
Suddenly, a voice ca from behind, "I know."
Lu Tong paused, turning around.
There stood Ding Yong behind her, hands nervously intertwined. He stepped forward and courageously said to Lu Tong, "Doctor Lu, I’m aware of everything."
"Doctor Ji told , with the new dicine, no one knows what the outco will be. But even without the new dicine, I wouldn’t live much longer." His hand reached out and rolled up his sleeve to reveal the rash on his arm. The lesions were deepening in color, far more intense than when Lu Tong last saw them, gradually turning purple.
"Either way, I’m going to die, so I might as well try the new dicine. I want to spend more days with Cuicui."
Ding Yong looked at the entrance of the Plague Hospital, where Cuicui was fiddling with the charcoal in the brazier. Seeing him look over, she waved at her father, and Ding Yong also waved back at his daughter with a smile, then turned to Lu Tong again.
"Even if it doesn’t work, at least it may give you more experience. Perhaps it will help in your future developnt of an antidote, and Cuicui could benefit from it too."
Ding Yong said cheerfully, "I’m not as thoughtful as Doctor Lu, to tell you the truth, I’m doing this just for Cuicui."
He spoke earnestly, bowing to Lu Tong, "Doctor Lu, I truly consent willingly."
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