"Old Madam, this illness of yours is a bit troublesome. Don't talk too much for now, we'll talk when we get to the clinic."
Afraid she would exhaust too much of her strength, Xiao Weiguo stopped the old woman.
Although it was only a distance of three or four li, because he had run so fast and was carrying someone on his back, Xiao Weiguo was already out of breath and drenched in sweat by the time he reached the health station.
"Is anyone here? Is anyone here? Come out and help."
He shouted all the way as he rushed inside.
A young doctor walked out of the examination room, looking to be in his early twenties, and at a glance he was clearly new to medicine.
"What are you shouting for? What are you shouting for, and look at what kind of place this is? Carry the person inside and let me take a look."
Xiao Weiguo, however, stood unmoving and shouted at the young doctor, "This old madam has an infectious disease. Immediately clear out an isolation area and then examine her."
Although hemorrhagic fever was not transmitted from person to person, transmission via mosquito and insect bites was still very common, so anyone with a bit of common sense knew to have the patient stay in an isolation zone.
The young doctor frowned, looking quite displeased as he reached out to touch the old madam's forehead, then pulled back her eyelids to take a look, and scolded Xiao Weiguo, "What infectious disease? Complete nonsense. This is just a cold and a fever. Manufacturing panic like this, can you bear the responsibility?"
The early symptoms of hemorrhagic fever were almost identical to those of a common cold, and this young doctor had never encountered such patients before. In his view, the old madam simply had a cold and a fever. Some medicine or an injection would make her right as rain immediately.
"Asshole, are you even a doctor? I told you to set up an isolation area right now, did you hear me or not?"
Xiao Weiguo was also furious. He had an incomparable understanding of this disease, and coupled with the fact that he knew this exact time in his previous life was when hemorrhagic fever broke out, his heart was completely certain—there was simply no second possibility.
"What is wrong with you, comrade? Am I the doctor or are you the doctor? Who will take responsibility if your elder's illness is delayed? If you want treatment, behave and take it; if you don't want treatment, get lost."
The young doctor was full of youthful vigor and would not take any of Xiao Weiguo's attitude. In this era, where wasn't a doctor a figure looked up to with reverence?
Just as the two of them were arguing fiercely, the door to an office was pushed open.
An old man wearing presbyopic glasses and a white lab coat walked out from the office.
"Xiao Wang, what's going on?"
The young doctor who had been called Xiao Wang turned and saw the old man, then hurriedly said respectfully, "President Zhang, this person claims the old madam has an infectious disease and insists that we set up an isolation area."
"Oh?"
The old man acknowledged the report with a hum and walked hesitantly toward Xiao Weiguo.
Xiao Weiguo seized this opportunity to set the old madam down on the connected benches in the corridor.
Having run so far, even though he was young and strong, he was already reaching his limit.
"Young man, tell me, what infectious disease does the old lady have?"
Xiao Weiguo wiped the sweat from his face and answered very straightforwardly, "Hemorrhagic fever."
Hearing this, the old man was startled and hurriedly pulled out his stethoscope, wanting to step forward to examine the old madam.
"No need to check, I've already asked. Classic symptoms of hemorrhagic fever. If you don't believe me, look at the tip of her tongue and her armpits to see if bleeding spots have already appeared."
The senior doctor followed suit, having the old madam open her mouth to check the tip of her tongue, and then had her roll up her sleeves to examine her armpits.
As Xiao Weiguo had expected, small patches of red spots had appeared in both places—these were precisely the early bleeding spots of hemorrhagic fever.
"Quick, swiftly isolate a room and have the old lady moved in."
The senior doctor put away his stethoscope and gave tense instructions to the young man named Xiao Wang.
"Ah? It really is an infectious disease?"
The young doctor still found it a bit hard to believe how an ordinary person could be so certain about such an uncommon pathology.
As he spoke, he quickly called over two nurses to clear out a ward and helped the old madam inside.
The senior doctor followed them in, wrote a prescription for a nurse to fetch the medicine, and soon had the old madam hooked up to an intravenous drip.
Seeing that the senior doctor looked very professional, Xiao Weiguo also eased his mind a little.
Once everything was arranged, the senior doctor walked over to Xiao Weiguo.
"Young man, how are you related to the old madam?"
Xiao Weiguo shook his head.
"I don't know her. Just now on the road, I saw the old madam sitting alone by the roadside. After asking her, I suspected she had contracted hemorrhagic fever, so I brought her here."
The old man nodded, looking at Xiao Weiguo with considerable admiration.
"My name is Zhang Tongsheng, and I am the director of our township health station. Thank you for your righteous act. If it's convenient, I must ask you to pay the old lady's hospitalization fees for now; once we contact her family members, we'll have them reimburse you. This is the regulation, please understand."
Having brought a few hundred yuan with him when he left home that morning, Xiao Weiguo said nothing, stood up, and went to the admissions office to pay one hundred yuan for the hospitalization fee.
In this era, defaulting on payments was unheard of, and he wasn't worried that they wouldn't return this little bit of money to him.
He turned back and went to the director's office to find Zhang Tongsheng.
"President Zhang, my bicycle is still abandoned on the road, and there's quite a bit of cargo on it. I can't stay here too long. Please take good care of the old madam and get in touch with her family as soon as possible. At her age, it won't do to have no one around to look after her."
"Alright!"
Zhang Tongsheng handed over a piece of paper and a pen.
"Please write down your name and home address so that when we contact her family, we can return the money to you."
Xiao Weiguo took it, wrote down his name and address, and placed it on the desk.
Before leaving, he said to Zhang Tongsheng, "President Zhang, I can tell you're an experienced and good doctor, but I still have a few things to say. Please don't take offense."
Zhang Tongsheng put away Xiao Weiguo's address, looked up at him, and smiled as he said, "Please go ahead."
Xiao Weiguo lowered his head to collect his thoughts, then slowly spoke, "Doctor Zhang, hemorrhagic fever is no minor illness. The early symptoms are not obvious and it's extremely easy to misdiagnose. In this regard, you must all heighten your awareness. Based on my judgment, because of the bumper harvests in recent years, farmers have too much grain stored in their homes, which is extremely favorable for the survival of rats. Therefore, the possibility of a large-scale outbreak of hemorrhagic fever is extremely high."
"Furthermore, this disease won't just occur in a single township of ours; the possibility of an outbreak across the entire county, the entire city, and even the entire province exists. Therefore, I hope President Zhang will quickly check whether there are any other patients with similar symptoms in this hospital and report the epidemic upward in a timely manner. If you need my cooperation, I will do my best to help. To be honest with you, President, my parents died of this disease in their early years, so I have made a professional study of it and understand it very well. I don't want any more families to follow in my family's footsteps."
These words forced Zhang Tongsheng to look at him in a whole new light.
This young man was truly wonderful. Not only was he a righteous young man, but he was also so compassionate, instantly filling the old director with a sense of fondness toward him.
"Alright, if there is a need, we will contact you. Young man, thank you!"
Zhang Tongsheng expressed his sincere gratitude to Xiao Weiguo.
Xiao Weiguo nodded and walked out of the health station with a heavy heart.
A massive epidemic sweeping across Lubei was about to arrive!