Chapter 253: Ru’er
Bai Zhi said with a smile, “You don’t have to repay us. Just take good care of your wife and daughter. As long as you all can live a good life, then helping you today will have been worthwhile.”
A Wu’s eyes were red as he nodded, and he kept nodding emphatically. He couldn’t bring himself to speak, afraid that the moment he did, his tears would fall. He was a grown man; ‘how could I cry in front of a young lady?’
A Wu’s wife poked her head out of the carriage, her face fraught with anxiety. “Ru’er is getting worse! She’s started talking nonsense. What are we going to do? Oh, what are we going to do?”
Hearing this, Bai Zhi quickly climbed into the carriage and felt the girl’s forehead. It was abnormally hot. ‘Based on my experience, her temperature is at least forty degrees Celsius. Delirium and convulsions are common symptoms once a fever gets this high.’
“How long has she had a fever?” she asked in a serious tone.
A Wu’s wife hastily replied, “Three days. It wasn’t this bad for the first two, but we don’t have money for a doctor, so we just let it drag on, and now…” Tears streamed down her face as she spoke.
Bai Zhi quickly comforted her. “Don’t cry. She’ll be alright, I’m here now.” With that, Bai Zhi took her needle bag out of her pouch and told A Wu’s wife to lay Ru’er flat and hold her hands down.
“Miss, what are you doing?” A Wu’s wife asked anxiously.
Bai Zhi said, “She has a persistent high fever and is in a very dangerous state. We need to bring it down as quickly as possible, but I don’t have any medicine on me. I’ll use acupuncture first to stabilize her condition.”
“You’re a doctor, Miss?” A Wu’s wife’s eyes lit up, and a look of joy finally spread across her face.
Bai Zhi nodded. ‘I suppose you could say that. I know a little about medicine.’ As she spoke, her hands moved deftly, inserting one silver needle after another into Ru’er’s body.
This acupuncture technique left A Wu’s wife dumbstruck. ‘She’d seen doctors in clinics perform acupuncture before. Didn’t every single one of them have to first locate and confirm the acupressure points before inserting a silver needle? How could she be like this, not even needing to find the points and just sticking the needles right into the child’s body?’
‘She… she couldn’t be a fake doctor, could she?’
Once the needles were in place, Bai Zhi put her needle bag away and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her brow.
“Is… is that it?” A Wu’s wife asked.
Bai Zhi shook her head. “She’s not better yet. This has only temporarily stabilized her condition to keep the high fever from damaging her brain.” ‘From the looks of it, this child has a severe case of influenza. The fastest way to get it under control would be with Western medicine, but I hid it all at home. I didn’t bring any with me.’
Bai Zhi climbed out of the carriage and said to A Wu, who was standing below, “Brother Wu, you don’t have a place to stay right now, and your child is sick. Why don’t you come back with us to Huangtuo Village? I have medicine at my house that can treat Ru’er’s illness.”
A Wu had just been agonizing over where they could possibly go. ‘If it were just me, I could get by somehow, but what about my wife and daughter? What am I supposed to do with a child who’s this sick?’
Worried he might be too proud to accept her help, Bai Zhi added, “Here’s the thing, my family has a plot of land, and it’s harvest time, so we really need an extra hand. I can see you’re strong, Brother Wu. Why don’t you come help out at my place? I’ll pay you a wage and provide food and lodging. What do you think?” ‘As for lodging, A Wu could squeeze in with the workers building the house. A Wu’s wife and Ru’er can stay with my mother and me. It’ll be a little cramped, but it’s far better than letting them wander the streets.’
A Wu hastily waved his hands. “I can work! I’m strong! Just providing food and a place for my family to stay is more than enough. I don’t need a wage, I really don’t.”