Chapter 86: Chapter 60 Reading Person_2
Wu Youcai choked out, "Doctor Lu, this is my mother. Please save her!"
Lu Tong reached out to feel the woman’s pulse and his heart sank.
This woman was already at the end of her tether.
"Doctor Lu, my mother..."
Lu Tong set down his dical chest, "Don’t talk, open the window, bring the oil lamp closer, and you step back."
Wu Youcai remained silent, placed the oil lamp beside the bed, and stood far away in a corner.
Lu Tong called Yin Zheng over, helped the woman pry open her teeth, and poured so hot water into her mouth. After swallowing a small half-bowl of water, the woman coughed twice, showing signs of coming around, and Wu Youcai’s face brightened with joy.
Lu Tong opened his dical chest and took out a golden needle from the velvet cloth, sitting before the couch and ticulously applying acupuncture to the elderly woman.
Ti passed inexorably, yet to Wu Youcai, Lu Tong’s movents seed extraordinarily slow.
The scholar stood at a distance, hands clenched tightly, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Lu Tong’s every move, sweat rolling down his forehead.
It was hard to tell how much ti had passed, not until the sunlight from the outer courtyard crept from the front to the back of the house and the cicadas’ song deepened among the trees did Lu Tong finally withdraw his hands, removing the last golden needle.
The complexion of the woman on the couch looked sowhat improved, her eyelids fluttering as if she were about to awaken.
"Mother—"
A mixture of sorrow and joy crossed Wu Youcai’s face as he rushed to the couch, wiping away tears while calling out to his mother.
His heart had gone through countless twists and turns, having thought his mother would surely be more ill-fated than not today, yet unexpectedly, she had found reprieve in a hopeless situation. Of all the things in the world, nothing is more delightful than a narrow escape from misfortune, a false alarm.
Behind him was the groaning of the woman and the low weeping of Wu Youcai; Doctor Lu stood up, leaving this tear-inducing scene to the mother and son behind him.
Yin Zheng’s anxiety had been hanging by a thread, and only now did she finally relax, exhaling deeply, while smiling as she helped Lu Tong pack up the dical chest on the table, "It was really alarming today, but fortunately, your dical skills are impeccable, you brought the person back to life. Otherwise, the scene would’ve been quite heartbreaking to witness."
The clinging to life and the struggle for survival of this mother and son evoked sympathy in onlookers.
Lu Tong too was sowhat moved. As she finished packing up the dical chest and was about to turn around, her gaze swept over a spot and she suddenly paused.
In the corner, there were many books.
The dwelling was extrely simple, nearly to the point of emptiness, except for a couch, a cracked table, and two wobbly wooden stools, leaving only a pile of pots and pans and other miscellaneous items. These items were also worn and either rusty or chipped; if Du Changqing had seen them, he would have surely deed them trash and thrown them out.
However, in such a bare and broken hut, all the corners were filled with books. Stack upon stack, they piled up like a steep, astonishing mountain, awe-inspiring to behold.
A scholar...
Lu Tong stared at the mountains of books in the corner with a peculiar expression.
This was a scholar’s house.
She was so engrossed in gazing at them that she didn’t notice Wu Youcai approaching until his voice roused her, "Doctor Lu?"
Lu Tong looked up; Wu Youcai stood before her with a sowhat anxious expression.
Lu Tong turned around to see the old woman had fully awakened but still looked dazed and weak, with Yin Zheng helping her moisten her mouth with water.
She shifted her gaze back to Wu Youcai, "Let’s talk outside."
The house was very small, so once they stepped outside, the world seed much brighter. The reed chickens seed blissfully unaware that the hoowner had just fought off death’s grasp, contentedly nesting in the hay to bask in the sun.
Wu Youcai looked at Lu Tong, half grateful, half hesitant, "Doctor Lu..."
"You want to ask about your mother’s condition?"
"Yes."
Lu Tong was silent for a mont before speaking, "Your mother’s illness is severe, her pulse is thin and weak. You’ve had other doctors look at her before, and you must already know, she’s just biding ti."
She didn’t deceive Wu Youcai; empty comfort would only deepen his suffering in the end.
Lies, after all, cannot change reality.
Wu Youcai, having just felt a flicker of joy, imdiately felt tears welling up again, "Doctor Lu, is there really nothing you can do?"
Lu Tong shook her head.
She was but a doctor, not a deity. Besides, saving lives was sothing she wasn’t particularly good at.
"She has at most three months left," Lu Tong said, "Take good care of her."
Wu Youcai stood in place for a long while before wiping away his tears and giving a quiet acknowledgnt.
Lu Tong returned to the house, wrote several prescriptions for Wu Youcai to fetch the dicine to comfort the woman in her remaining months. Although these dicines couldn’t cure her, they would make her last months more comfortable.
When leaving, Lu Tong instructed Yin Zheng to secretly leave the consultation fee Wu Youcai had paid on the table.
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