CHAPTER 107: 107 SOBER AND HUNGRY

Zhonghu Town wasn’t large, and its Health Clinic was even smaller.

What had happened that day wasn’t much of a secret; everyone likely had a good idea of the situation. They all understood that Old Song might become the dean with the shortest tenure in the limited history of the Zhonghu Town Health Clinic. Especially after witnessing the state of the leaders earlier, people couldn’t help but have their own thoughts.

And with thoughts came actions. It was just that some people acted quickly, while others were slow. Some were subtle and reserved, while others were bold and direct.

Once the leaders had departed, everyone returned to their own business. Those who needed to go home did so. Those who didn’t, and had nothing else to do, went back to their dormitories to watch TV or use their computers. Those who had matters to attend to continued with their work.

As evening fell, Wang Shuqiu returned, her arms laden with purchases. Du Xuejing cheerfully showed Du Heng the gift her aunt had bought for her. However, the girl still had a small complaint, "Little Uncle, I saw a pair of earrings, only 40 yuan, but my aunt wouldn’t buy them for me."

"It’s good that she didn’t buy them; I completely agree." Du Heng was completely immune to Du Xuejing’s attempts at being cute. More importantly, this girl simply wasn’t suited for it.

"Your college entrance examination is in about a month. What do you need earrings for? Your main task now is to study hard and try to get good scores. After you finish your exams, your uncle will buy you a laptop as a gift for starting university. How does that sound?"

"It’s a deal!" Du Xuejing instantly dropped her cute act.

Did I just fall into her trap? Du Heng wondered.

"Hehe, Little Uncle is so good to me."

Wang Shuqiu chuckled as she watched her nephew and niece playfully interact. She liked this kind of atmosphere. "Are you done with work?" she asked Du Heng. "We can go home together."

"No, you two go ahead. I’m on duty tonight."

"Alright then, we’ll head off first."

"Okay. Be careful on the way. Tingting has to go to school tomorrow. If you have time, you should take her."

"You don’t even need to say it; we already discussed it on the way here."

Wang Shuqiu smiled sweetly. "I brought you some food. You should eat it before it gets cold." After saying this, she took Du Xuejing’s hand, and they left.

Li Qiuhua’s medicine was rather troublesome to prepare. It needed to be boiled over a strong fire, with the decoction being administered as it was prepared. It couldn’t be decocted all at once and set aside to be drunk slowly, as that would seriously impact its efficacy and absorption. Therefore, someone needed to stay in the decoction room to oversee the process, delivering a fresh dose of medicine to the hospital room every half hour.

During the day, Wang Lili and Li Nating took turns. But that wasn’t feasible at night. The decoction room was in an old, somewhat remote courtyard of the Health Clinic. Moreover, with only Li Nating available, it seemed a little inhumane to ask her to go alone.

Wu Buwei offered to go, but Du Heng thought for a moment and stopped him, telling him to go and rest instead.

Li Qiuhua’s condition had shown improvement, and her yang qi was gradually rising, but one could never be certain with medical conditions. He knew the likelihood of a relapse was slim, but it was always better to be careful. So this was not the time to relax. Du Heng decided he had to personally monitor the situation throughout the night, until the patient was fully awake and clearly out of danger.

At eleven at night, the second dose of medicine had been administered.

Li Qiuhua was no longer in a dazed, half-asleep, half-awake state, but had peacefully drifted off to sleep. Listening to her steady breathing, Du Heng finally felt completely at ease.

The follow-up treatment he had prepared could finally be put to use.

Around one in the morning, Li Qiuhua woke up. Her eyes were clear, her consciousness had sharpened, she could speak distinctly, and the phlegmy sound in her throat was gone. Most importantly, she was aware enough to feel hungry.

Only three family members were there with her that night: her two sons and her daughter. At this moment, they were so overcome with emotion that tears streamed down their faces. If not for the fear of startling Li Qiuhua, they would have jumped for joy.

However, getting her something to eat at this hour posed a problem. They certainly couldn’t just give her instant noodles. There were no restaurants open in Zhonghu Town after one in the morning, so their only option was to look in the city.

Relatives had already driven the family’s car back. If they were to walk to the city and back, it would likely be dawn by the time they returned.

Fortunately, Wu Buwei had come by car. Du Heng woke him up and asked him to make a trip to the city to buy a bowl of noodle soup.

After all this commotion, it was nearly three in the morning.

Having made the trip, Wu Buwei was now wide awake and surprisingly energetic. "Senior Brother," he said to Du Heng, "you go get some sleep. I’ll watch over the medicine decoction."

After speaking to Du Heng, he didn’t forget to offer some comforting words to Li Nating as well, a perfect display of a thoughtful young man.

Du Heng now felt reassured and was indeed starting to feel sleepy. "Alright then, I’ll leave it to you," he said. "A dose of medicine every half hour, don’t stop. We still need to continue strengthening her yang qi."

"I understand, Senior Brother."

Du Heng returned to his dormitory, intending to lock the door and go to sleep. But then he thought, What if there’s an emergency and I’m so groggy they can’t wake me?

So he left the door slightly ajar, took off his coat, and collapsed onto the bed.

He had been busy the entire day, an especially mentally taxing one, and within two minutes of lying down, he was fast asleep, snoring softly.