Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 925 924 Half-Face Acquaintance
The first thing Tang Zhitong did after leaving home was to go to the cafeteria to find Gao Lide and confirm whether the cafeteria had been serving potato leaves for the past few days.

Gao Lide was easy to find; he was sitting slumped at the entrance of the cafeteria, weeping bitterly.

"I didn't mean to harm anyone. I just saw that the potato leaves were about to wilt, and if we didn't eat them soon, they would all go blind..." Gao Lide was in a worse state than Xianglin's wife at this moment. Xianglin's wife would only talk to her neighbors when they asked her about it, but there was no one in front of him at this moment. He was just talking to himself with a blank stare.

"Master Gao, has the canteen been serving stewed potato leaves yesterday and today?" Several colleagues outside were vomiting and had diarrhea. This was not the time to comfort Gao Lide. Tang Zhitong went straight to the point after coming up.

Hearing Tang Zhitong's greeting, Gao Lide turned his head with difficulty, focused his gaze, and grabbed Tang Zhitong's hand as if it were a lifeline, urgently repeating what he had just said: "I didn't mean to harm everyone, I just saw that the potato leaves were about to wilt, and if we didn't eat them soon, we'd all go blind..."

"Master Gao, now is not the time to talk about this. Tell me if you've been serving stewed potato leaves for the past two days. I need to help everyone detoxify first!" As Tang Zhitong spoke, a series of crackling sounds came from under Gao Lide's buttocks, as if it were responding to him.

"Yes." Gao Lide's face remained expressionless at the sound of movement beneath his buttocks. He paused for about five seconds before nodding to Tang Zhitong.

"Master Gao, sit here for a while, I'll bring you some medicine later." Tang Zhitong said, pulling his hand out of Gao Lide's grasp and turning to coordinate the making of soapy water.

As for Gao Lide, he was probably numb with fear at this moment. His problem was more serious than Fang Yuan's, so serious that even Tang Zhitong felt it was very difficult to solve.

Tang Zhitong couldn't care less about anything else at the moment; he first called out to gather the employees whose illnesses were not serious or even asymptomatic.

"Section Chief Tang, is this poisoning? Should we give everyone some 'golden juice'?" Before Tang Zhitong could even speak, some employees were already offering helpful suggestions.

"..." This is really a close colleague. Jinzhi does have a strong emetic effect, but it also causes great psychological trauma to patients. Tang Zhitong doesn't want to use it.

"Soapy water works well and is easy to make. Shuqing, you women, each pair, fill a basin about halfway with water, rub the soap in it until it looks a little lighter in color than milk. Give two cups to each of the comrades with poisoning symptoms. Drink one cup and vomit once, then drink another cup and vomit once more, understand?"

Without having time to call out names one by one, Tang Zhitong simply used his hand to count the soldiers and generals.

There were quite a few people at the escort office, but some of them hadn't been poisoned. For example, Shu Qing, on Tang Zhitong's previous advice, had separated her rations from the canteen early on and usually cooked for herself at home, only occasionally going to the canteen to get a meal.

"You men, go and carry some soil and cover up the vomit in each office." With a wave of his hand, Tang Zhitong told the women to hurry up and get busy, and then assigned tasks to the men.

The guards in the escort department did not show obvious signs of poisoning. After all, apart from Zhang Jinbo, the others followed the railway train schedules and spent most of their time either on the train or resting at home. Those on duty at the moment became laborers.

"Go back and start the boiler, and fill the bathtub with water in advance so everyone can take a bath later." Tang Zhitong noticed that the boiler operator was also among those waiting to be assigned, so he directly appointed him.

Besides Fang Yuan and Gao Lide, Tang Zhitong felt that there must be other people who had soiled their pants. These employees all needed to wash themselves, otherwise they wouldn't be able to leave work.

It's hot now, so washing and wringing out the clothes, even if you don't dry them in the sun, is still better than going home with two pants full of poop.

Boiler operators earn a decent wage, but he has many children and is the only one working, so he usually brings his own meals from home. Luckily, this saved him from disaster.

"The rest of the women, go around to each office and help them out. The men, come with me to the edge of the field and dig a ditch. Everyone will vomit in the ditch later." After Tang Zhitong finished speaking, he waved his hand, and the crowd immediately dispersed and got busy with their assigned tasks.

Several men carried shovels and dug a row of holes along the roadside. Although the potato leaves that were spat out were not poisonous, the vomit smelled very strong. If everyone spat indiscriminately, the transport office would probably not be able to work indoors for the next few days.

The scene of poisoned employees vomiting in a row along the road after drinking soapy water was quite spectacular. Tang Zhitong, enduring the foul smell, would pat them on the back from time to time and remind them: "If you can't vomit, gag yourself. If you can vomit, drink another cup of soapy water and vomit again."

Once the soapy water was ready, it was brought over continuously, and the same enamel mug was used in rotation. No one complained during this time.

There are no better facilities available right now, so the soapy water is collected in the washbasins of each department. Some staff members may find it disgusting, but that's fine too. After drinking a cup of water, some people can feel nauseous and vomit without even having to gag themselves.

Soon, a new problem arose—there weren't enough toilet stalls!

The situation is particularly serious in women's restrooms.

The two main departments of the escort office are the escort department and the sorting department. The escort department is mainly staffed by men, but the escorts are mostly on duty or resting. The sorting department is different; except for those on rotating shifts or taking regular rest, they are basically always on duty.

"Let's go and ask the men in the restroom to go to the vegetable garden so we can make room for the women." Tang Zhitong made the decision immediately without much hesitation.

Gentlemen, whether married or single, can relieve themselves in any corner, and everyone can laugh it off. But women can't do that; the shame is enough to drive anyone mad. Besides, many of the women in the sorting department are still unmarried virgins, so asking them to relieve themselves in public is really asking too much trouble.

After resolving the toilet stall issue, Tang Zhitong returned to the roadside. He had already vomited a second time, and the smell of his digestive waste was quite unpleasant. Tang Zhitong thought that if it weren't for so many people guarding him, he could at least use his cheat code to mask the smell.

Hmm? Thinking about it, Tang Zhitong felt he could try using a cheat to collect the food residue left in the stomachs of employees who had suffered food poisoning, since potato leaves are not human tissue.

And you know what? Tang Zhitong tried it, and it really worked!
While walking around and looking at things, Tang Zhitong collected the stomachs and intestines of all his poisoned colleagues.

As for the toxins in the blood vessels, forget about them; they're impossible to identify, and the rest you just have to let your body slowly tough it out.

Although this whole ordeal was a bit disgusting, at least it helped my colleague recover from food poisoning sooner, and Tang Zhitong felt that the red scarf on her chest was even brighter.

"Director Su, Dr. Cui, you've finally arrived! If you hadn't come, I would have fed everyone charcoal powder. Did you bring atropine?" Tang Zhitong was overjoyed to see these two men. Diarrhea is hard to stop once it starts, and without atropine, charcoal powder was the only thing he could try.

Charcoal powder has some absorbency, similar to montmorillonite powder, but it's not the first choice for treating diarrhea. Even though it doesn't produce a bowel movement, the urge to defecate is still strong, and the feeling is just as unpleasant. Speaking of which, Tang Zhitong didn't know Dr. Cui before, but they met once when she picked up her medicine. Dr. Cui's signature was on the prescription and receipt, and she occasionally saw receipts signed by him when submitting expense reports, so she recognized him immediately this time.

"I brought it, I brought it." Dr. Cui didn't expect Tang Zhitong to recognize him. He quickly put down his medical kit and took out two bottles of atropine, the kind with 100 tablets in each bottle. After Tang Zhitong took them, he looked at the rows of poisoned colleagues on the roadside.

"Two pills each, hurry up and arrange for everyone to take them." Tang Zhitong unscrewed a bottle, poured out four pills for himself, handed the rest to Shu Qing and a male colleague next to him, and then ran off in a flash.

The most seriously injured person in the unit is Gao Lide. Although he meant well but did something wrong, he still needs to receive treatment.

Tang Zhitong gave Gao Lide two pills first before delivering medicine to Fang Yuan.

On a sweltering day, with the office door closed, Tang Zhitong was almost driven away by the stench as soon as she entered.

"Old Su is here?" Fang Yuan was among the first to be induced to vomit, and he was feeling better, though the smell around him was still unpleasant.

"Yes, and Dr. Cui too. Brother Yuan, the bathroom is already heating up the water, why don't you go take a shower first?" Fang Yuan was bound to face the issue of food poisoning, and his current state was not presentable, since others were relieving themselves outside, while he was in the office, so Tang Zhitong could only bite the bullet and suggest it.

"Okay, can you help me tidy up the office? I'm really embarrassed to let others get involved, it's too shameful." Fang Yuan looked at the floor, which was almost covered with newspapers, and felt a little embarrassed.

"Okay, I'll take you to the bathroom first, I'll take care of these when I get back." There were quite a few newspapers, most of them wet, and it was obvious that this was the result of the diarrhea fighters. Tang Zhitong stepped forward to help Fang Yuan out, and didn't forget to close the door behind him when they reached the door.

After taking Fang Yuan to the bathroom, Tang Zhitong took a shovel and a basket, filled the basket halfway with soil, and then took Su Qingxiang to Fang Yuan's office so that Old Su could see how serious Fang Yuan's poisoning was.

People have a sense of compassion. If you want the Municipal Bureau to treat Fang Yuan leniently, you need to let the leaders of the Municipal Bureau know that Fang Yuan is also a victim, and one of the worst ones.

"Director Su, it smells bad inside. Please wait outside for a moment while I tidy up." Tang Zhitong opened the door to let Su Qingxiang get a feel for the situation inside Fang Yuan's office before deciding to have him stay outside.

"It's nothing. I never thought I'd be cleaning up after Lao Fang's excrement one day." Su Qingxiang waved his hand in front of his nose twice, then put it down, probably realizing it was futile.

"Then we'll carry it together with just one shovel. I'll cover it first." Seeing that Su Qingxiang was still in the mood to joke, Tang Zhitong felt a little relieved, but still refused to let him in.

It's true that Su Qingxiang and Fang Yuan have a bond, but in his haste, Fang Yuan didn't put down the newspaper properly, including all sorts of instructions and pictures. If this happened after the wind picked up, even a god couldn't save him. Tang Zhitong decided to help him cover it up.

"Okay." Su Qingxiang glanced at the shovel and agreed.

Tang Zhitong was quite efficient at his work; he tidied up in no time, within ten minutes.

"Xiao Tang, I see everyone is doing alright. You arranged things very well and in a timely manner. I'm going to ask the Municipal Bureau to commend you." Su Qingxiang took the initiative to praise them as the two carried baskets to the fertilizer dumping area.

While Tang Zhitong was delivering medicine to Fang Yuan, Su Qingxiang had already had a brief conversation with the staff about the poisoning and learned the whole story. Tang Zhitong's approach was also approved by Doctor Cui.

"Director Su, you've praised the wrong person. This was all ordered by Director Fang; I just came out to carry it out. When I called you, Director Fang was vomiting badly. He wanted to give orders while he was sick, but I stopped him." Tang Zhitong didn't care about any merit or achievement. All he wanted now was for Fang Yuan to get through this ordeal safely. If it weren't for Fang Yuan's usual care for him, how would he have had the opportunity to go to the Northeast to stockpile grain?

"This is a bit tricky. I just heard from other employees that someone called the hospital before we organized it, so it might not be easy to keep it under wraps within our municipal bureau." Being a seasoned shrewd individual, Su Qingxiang knew why Tang Zhitong had made him witness everything. But once the hospital got involved, the municipal bureau couldn't make the decision anymore, because the hospital had regulations requiring reports of infectious diseases and mass food poisoning.

"This is quite a mess. We'll just have to deal with it as it comes." Tang Zhitong hadn't expected that someone in the escort department would lack such a sense of the bigger picture. Maybe they were too afraid of someone getting killed?
But it's understandable. Anyone would feel uneasy seeing so many people vomiting and having diarrhea together, right?

After emptying the clutter from the basket, Tang Zhitong, on his way back, used his special ability to move all the newspapers a meter into the ground. This depth was just right; with various fungi present, they could fully decompose all kinds of organic matter, and they would be gone in a year or two.

"Next, it's time to rest. Everyone, please go back to your offices. Hot water has been heated in the bathroom. Anyone who needs to take a shower or do laundry can go now." Before they even reached the roadside, Tang Zhitong said to the employees who were standing or sitting in twos and threes.

Since someone has called the hospital, we need to find a way to minimize the impact. Having such a large group of people gathered here is not a good thing.

Before the crowd had completely dispersed, a man in a white coat rode a bicycle and sped towards them.

"How many people are vomiting and having diarrhea? How serious is it? Where are the patients?" Before the car had even come to a complete stop, the doctor in the white coat hurriedly asked the employees on the roadside.

"I'll go over there. You take the staff to their offices first, and we'll see how things go later," Su Qingxiang whispered to Tang Zhitong before heading towards the doctor in the white coat.

"Director Su, I'll go. I know this doctor." Tang Zhitong tugged at Su Qingxiang's sleeve, then smiled and quickly walked over.

"Dr. Mou, are you on duty today?" Tang Zhitong extended his warm hands from several meters away.

Dr. Mou was Luo Qingquan's student. When he went to deliver materials to Luo Qingquan, Tang Zhitong had met him once at the Women's Federation.

The incident happened a long time ago. The reason Tang Zhitong was able to remember him was not because of his outstanding memory, but because when Dr. Mou registered his name at the door, the gatekeeper read out his name: Mou Youmao.

It's hard not to remember this name.

(End of this chapter)