Chapter 659: Chapter 225 Goodbye_2
"Doctors are here to save people," she said.
Cuicui looked at her, with tears gradually accumulating in her eyes.
"But I’m scared,"
she said, "The rash on Daddy’s elbow is getting darker, and just like that, before my mom passed away."
The little girl said timidly, holding back tears, "Recently, I’ve started to get them too."
She rolled up her sleeve, revealing large, red patches on her tender arm, like blooming peach blossoms.
Lu Tong was taken aback.
Cuicui lowered her head, and tears dripped down one after another.
She still remembered the days when her mother was close to death, how she lay on the ground tossing and turning every night, unable to sleep, desperately suppressing the groans of pain. In the pharmacies of Su Nan City, the medicinal herbs had been hoarded by the wealthy long ago, and the Plague Hospital’s thin soups couldn’t save anyone. At night, she would widen her eyes, watching her mother’s every move. But one day, when she couldn’t resist dozing off, she woke to find her mother covered with a rolled-up mat, only an arm sticking out with rashes as deep and red as purple.
Cuicui started to cry, not daring to sob loudly, she wept quietly.
"My mom died in the Plague Hospital, I’m scared of dying, and I don’t want Daddy to die either..."
The Plague Hospital was eerily quiet, occasionally interrupted by the rustling of sick people turning over in their sleep. It was not clear whether they heard her or not, or if they heard but chose not to interrupt; the crowded temple maintained a muffled silence.
"Don’t be afraid."
Suddenly, Cuicui felt someone take her hand.
The female Medical Officer’s hand was cold and soft, pulling her up from the mat, and said to her, "Look."
Cuicui followed the Medical Officer’s gaze to the altar, where the offered fruits had long been pilfered by the starving public, leaving only a candle flickering on the table.
The candlelight was dim, its weak yellow glow providing the only warmth in the chilly night, igniting the wick’s ashes, creating a small flame bloom.
"Lu Jia once said, ’When the candle blossom bursts, all is joyous.’ In ancient times, they had a method of divining by candle blossoms. Continuous candle blossoms that burst forth predicted great joy,"
she continued in her calm tone, Cuicui looked up, the female Doctor’s eyes shone like jewels under the candlelight, seemingly indifferent.
"There’s no need to worry, this is a sign of great joy," she said.
As if suddenly granted a beam of support, Cuicui’s anxious heart felt like it had found a pillar. She nodded vigorously, watching the candle on the altar, her tears falling along with the blossoms.
Daddy will be fine, everyone will be fine.
She looked up at the woman Medical Officer before her.
The Medical Officer stood below a clay statue, her face shrouded in shadows, giving her eyes a cool, compassionate gleam.
It was as if from a fairy tale, a compassionate goddess suddenly appeared to relieve suffering.
...
The atractylodes macrocephala in the Plague Hospital burned and dispersed, and dispersed and burned, for six or seven days, and the execution ground didn’t amass piles of bodies.
Lu Tong got up early to deliver medicine to the people in the Plague Hospital, Cuicui was very happy to see her, and presented her with a small grasshopper woven from dried grass.
"Daddy made it for me." The little girl sat on the bed, took the bowl of medicine from Lu Tong’s hand, and said to her, "I’m giving it to you, Doctor Lu. These past few days, Daddy and I have felt much better. Daddy said that it won’t be long before we can leave the Plague Hospital. By next spring, he’ll be able to take me to catch crabs by the river."
Lu Tong accepted the grasshopper, in winter there was no fresh green grass, the grasshopper woven from dry grass was limp.
"Doctor Lu."
Lu Tong looked up, Cuicui’s father—a dark-skinned man—looked at her, anxiously rubbing his hands together.
Cuicui’s father used to carry palanquins for rich merchants, and was called "Ding Yong" by those around him.
Ding Yong patted Cuicui’s head, "These days this child has been a lot of trouble for Doctor Lu."
"It is my duty," Lu Tong handed the soup medicine to him.
Perhaps because he had shared a secret that night of worshipping gods and had been seen by Lu Tong, secrets have a way of bringing people closer. After that night, Cuicui became very fond of Lu Tong. Every time Lu Tong visited the Plague Hospital, Cuicui would run around her, sometimes helping her carry medicines. She appeared no different than a healthy child, except when she felt cold and weak from her illness.
Ding Yong tilted his head to finish the soup medicine, still somewhat embarrassed: "Medical Officer, you’re busy every day. We will never forget this great kindness for as long as we live."
At first, although the people welcomed the Medical Officers from Shengjing with hope, there were doubts whether the officials from Shengjing could endure for long. Yet, day by day, the Medical Officers did not stop.
Those who came were older Medical Officers; the Plague Hospital received new patients every day, and every day people died. The Medical Officers busied themselves with caring for the sick, often burning the midnight oil, sometimes falling asleep in their chairs from exhaustion.
Human hearts are all made of flesh, and the patients in the Plague Hospital were deeply grateful.