Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 926 Internal Processing
When Tang Zhitong heard the gatekeeper read out Mu Youmao's name, her first reaction was that the gatekeeper was teasing her. She even looked up at Mu Youmao, whose hair was clearly very thick.

"Mou Youmao, your name... is very good. May the ancestors of the Mou family bless your family with abundant offspring." The gatekeeper read the name again, suppressed a laugh as he praised him, and then quickly waved for him to leave, afraid that he might burst out laughing at any moment.

It was only then that Tang Zhitong realized that Mu Youmao was not hairless. Of course, he didn't know for sure whether he actually had any hair or not. Although he had watched countless films, he had never seen a grown man who was truly hairless.

Well, the key point is that he didn't pay much attention to the male actors; he focused more on the co-stars he acted with.

"Who are you?" Mu Youmao let Tang Zhitong hold his hand and went through his mind, but he couldn't remember such a person. He thought she was one of his former patients.

Seeing that Mu Youmao didn't recognize Tang Zhitong, Su Qingxiang's anxiety grew even higher.

"You know Luo Qingquan, right? I call him Uncle. I've met him before when I went to the Women's Federation to deliver materials to him. My name is Tang Zhitong." Tang Zhitong introduced herself to Mu Youmao with a smile.

"Oh, Mr. Tang! I've heard my teacher mention you before, saying that you are a role model for us."

Mu Youmao had assisted Luo Qingquan in compiling the "Barefoot Doctor's Manual," so he not only knew who Tang Zhitong was, but also the opinions of several big shots in the system about him. When Tang Zhitong introduced himself, he was both surprised and delighted.

She was surprised that Tang Zhitong knew her, but happy to be able to get to know Tang Zhitong.

As a medical student who has already started working, he knows all too well the difference between having guidance and not having it in this field.

Seeing this, Su Qingxiang breathed a sigh of relief: Xiao Tang's connections are impressive!
"Hey, Senior Brother Mu, please don't call me teacher, I don't deserve it. Just call me Little Tang." Tang Zhitong didn't let go, letting Mu Youmao's other hand rest on his own, pulling and shaking it like this, creating a scene reminiscent of a victorious reunion.

"That won't do. If the teacher finds out, he'll break my legs." Mu Youmao shook his head, his posture even more humble than Tang Zhitong's.

"Xiao Tang, are you and Dr. Mou going to talk in the private room of the cafeteria?" Su Qingxiang interjected. The three of them were standing next to the vomit of the food poisoning workers from the transport department, and the smell was quite strong. He wanted to avoid the area and originally wanted to say that they should go to the office, but when he thought of the mess inside the office, he changed his mind.

"Alright. Director Su, this is Mu Youmao, my Uncle Luo's top student. This is Su Qingxiang, the director of our municipal post office." After hearing Su Qingxiang's reminder, Tang Zhitong immediately let go of his hand and introduced the two.

"Hello, Dr. Mu." Upon hearing Mu Youmao's name, Su Qingxiang was slightly surprised, but his cultivated composure over the years prevented him from showing any other intentions beyond welcome.

"Hello, Director Su." Mu Youmao went up to shake hands with Su Qingxiang, his words and expression were polite, far less enthusiastic than his attitude towards Tang Zhitong earlier.

Not only Su Qingxiang noticed the change in Mu Youmao's attitude, but Tang Zhitong also did.

This reminded Tang Zhitong of a doctor classmate. It was very difficult to invite him to dinner. After get off work, he was either surrounded by pharmaceutical and medical device sales representatives or friends and friends of friends.

When Tang Zhitong was working like a slave, one of the projects he was in charge of got stuck on the issue of receiving payments.

Anyone who has worked on projects knows that if you really want to find fault, you can find fault with any project, but you can always get the payment back in many projects. What this tests is the customer relationship.

Tang Zhitong was at his wits' end when the money couldn't be recovered. He went through the process repeatedly, thinking that he hadn't offended anyone. Finally, when he communicated with his colleagues at the project site, he unexpectedly learned that the elder of the key person was recently hospitalized.

Tang Zhitong followed this lead, carrying a fruit basket, and headed towards the hospital.

As luck would have it, it was the same department where Tang Zhitong worked, but the key person's elder was not Tang Zhitong's patient.

But none of that mattered; Tang Zhitong successfully learned about the illness and the reason for his hospitalization.

The problem was simply that the surgery was risky, and the patient's family wanted to find a top expert to perform the surgery in order to reduce the risk. However, at that time, the "flying knife" scandal was making headlines, and experts at that level were a group that did not lack money, so the key person was at a loss.

If you want to see a top specialist, you can only transfer to another hospital, but the specialist's ward is already full, so you can only receive conservative treatment here temporarily while waiting for an empty bed.

In order to get the money back and earn that little bit of "humiliation fee," Tang Zhitong knew it was wrong to involve his classmate, but he had no choice but to shamelessly beg him. His classmate was righteous and agreed to ask his mentor to make a trip.

The matter was resolved satisfactorily, and the key person returned to the office to sign the document that same day. There were no other issues either.

Afterwards, this classmate told Tang Zhitong: I've seen this kind of thing many times. Many things can't be agreed upon, and you can't get people to come to the party, but if you say there's a director (or deputy director) of a top-tier hospital at the party, the vast majority of people will readily agree to go.

When people's lives improve, they inevitably start thinking about things like health and even immortality.

While some people have become wealthy, medical conditions have not seen a leap forward. The number of hospital beds per 100 people is still pitifully small, and there is a huge room for improvement in the number of doctors.

Although Mu Youmao's estrangement from Su Qingxiang was partly due to their lack of acquaintance, it was undeniable that his status as a doctor also contributed, as he simply didn't care about a leader outside his own system.

"Dr. Mu, it's quite hot outside. Shall we go to a private room to talk?" Su Qingxiang exchanged a few pleasantries with Mu Youmao before formally extending the invitation.

"Director Su, I'm here on a house call. Let's see the patient first and not delay the treatment." Mu Youmao had actually been holding back. In a doctor's belief, the patient's health is above all else. If it weren't for Tang Zhitong's presence, he wouldn't have bothered with formalities.

"Brother Mou, regarding the patient, Dr. Cui from the Municipal Post Office and I have already provided emergency treatment under Director Su's guidance, and the patient's condition is currently stable. Moreover, this is not an infectious disease. Let's discuss the details in the private room."

For the sake of Fang Yuan and to ensure that today's matter could be handled internally within the postal service, Tang Zhitong shared some of the credit with Su Qingxiang in front of Mu Youmao, and also expressed the idea of ​​going to the private room.

"Okay then." With Tang Zhitong's approval, Mu Youmao was no longer so resolute.

"Senior Brother Mou, do you work at Tiantan Hospital?" On the way to the private room, Tang Zhitong took over the responsibility of receiving Mou Youmao, while Su Qingxiang directed the non-poisoned staff to cover up the vomit and excrement by burying them. "No, I work at the Infectious Disease Hospital," Mou Youmao shook his head.

"Wow, that's quite far. They said on the phone that they suspect it's an infectious disease?" Tiantan Hospital is right next to the Temple of Heaven, north of the escort office, very close. The infectious disease hospital is much farther away, next to the Temple of Earth outside Andingmen. These two hospitals practically span the entire city of Beijing.

"Yes, the office took the call very seriously and asked me to come over. I rushed there on my bike, afraid of delaying the patient's treatment. If I had known that Teacher Tang was here, I wouldn't have been in such a hurry." Mu Youmao was still smiling. Although he hadn't seen the patient yet, he had already guessed what was going on.

"Thank you for your hard work. With me here, I can help everyone induce vomiting. I'm sure you can see it too, it's food poisoning, all because of the lack of food and vegetables." After entering the private room, Tang Zhitong left the door open. There was no one in the cafeteria at this time, and leaving the door open allowed them to hear footsteps outside, preventing anyone from eavesdropping.

"Sigh, things are a little better in Beijing, but it's much worse in other places." Mou Youmao's expression turned grave as he spoke of this. "I know of several places where people have suffered varying degrees of food poisoning after consuming loquat seeds, castor leaves, and cocklebur. Henan and Shanxi provinces are the most severely affected, with nearly ten thousand people poisoned by cocklebur alone. And that's just what I know..."

"Alas!" Tang Zhitong could only sigh.

Man-made disasters are uncontrollable. If there were no natural disasters, things would be fine, but who would have thought that the two would happen together?

This made him think of artificial rainmaking again. To be honest, artificial rainmaking is effective in alleviating drought, but the results are not as great as some people imagine. At present, there are no satellites or radars, and we have to wait for cloud cover, which is inevitably a drop in the ocean.

"Many commune members have developed 'cyanosis' after eating rotten vegetables, leaves, and wild fruits. Atropine treatment is not very effective, and Beijing has received requests for assistance in their treatment. Teacher Tang, do you have any ideas?" Mu Youmao, still with a childlike heart, shared this hot potato with Tang Zhitong.

"I really don't have any good solutions, after all, I'm not a medical professional." Tang Zhitong knew about cyanosis, also known as enterogenic cyanosis. The cyanosis caused by diet that Mu Youmao mentioned was actually nitrite poisoning.

Strictly speaking, this is also a type of food poisoning, and it accounts for the largest proportion of poisoning cases in the past three years. In fact, sporadic cases began to appear in other places starting last year, and it is particularly serious this year. The cases in Beijing will be delayed, and will probably appear this winter.

How do you treat this thing again? I think there's oxygen therapy, but even hospitals at the county level might not have access to oxygen these days, so treatment is out of the question.

"Well... I was too hasty." It wasn't until Tang Zhitong said that he couldn't do anything that Mu Youmao realized that he had been presumptuous. His teacher had once told him that Tang Zhitong was just a security guard at the post office. If even people with proper medical backgrounds couldn't do anything, how could he expect a security guard to have a solution?
"It's alright, you're just worried about the patient, I understand your feelings." Tang Zhitong smiled. From Mu Youmao's attitude towards him when they first met, it was clear that Luo Qingquan was partly to blame, but the rest was mostly due to the halo brought by "The Barefoot Doctor's Manual".

"I know you have regulations that require reporting special illnesses, but this time everyone's symptoms are not serious and their emotions are very stable. They will be fine after resting for two or three days."

Personally, I still hope you can help us smooth things over at the infectious disease hospital; we can handle today's matter ourselves.

After all, we're in Beijing. If a mass food poisoning outbreak happens because of a food shortage, it would be a really bad thing if word got out.

If this is reported, it might get recorded in the archives or even historical records.

Tang Zhitong then brought up the topic of the food poisoning incident at the escort office. Mu Youmao had been there for some time, and if he returned late, people might have some doubts, and it wouldn't be so easy to cover it up then.

"Well... how about I go back and tell my unit that two people here ate the food they brought from home and got sick?" Mu Youmao hesitated. The infectious disease hospital had indeed received a call, and it wouldn't be appropriate for him to go back and say that nothing had happened at the escort department.

"Okay! I'll find you two more patients so you can examine them. That way you'll have something to report back. Thank you. If the higher-ups really investigate, I'll take responsibility and won't implicate you." Tang Zhitong was very happy to see that Mu Youmao had agreed, and unusually, he took the initiative to assume responsibility.

"Professor Tang, you flatter me. Our infectious disease hospital focuses more on infectious diseases, and food poisoning like this is not a priority." Mu Youmao was somewhat flattered and waved his hands repeatedly.

"Well, thank you too. The office is a mess today, so I can't entertain you. I'll come see you in a couple of days when things are settled." Tang Zhitong stood up and extended her hand to Mu Youmao.

"No, Teacher Tang, it's really not that serious. If the teacher finds out, I'll be scolded, that's the least of my worries. Please don't be so polite." Mu Youmao realized that Tang Zhitong wanted to end the conversation and understood that he wanted to give him something, so he cut off that avenue in his speech.

After the matter was settled, Tang Zhitong led Mu Youmao to meet Ma Wei and Fu Caiyun.

Ma Wei's father is a high-ranking official in the postal and telecommunications system. He probably couldn't hide this kind of thing from the escort department, so he might as well have Ma Wei make some contributions and cooperate in putting on a show.

After the group went over their lines and Mu Youmao conducted another round of medical consultations, the matter was considered closed.

Perhaps knowing that his pride was worthless in front of Mu Youmao, Su Qingxiang didn't approach him after failing to invite him to the private room. It wasn't until Tang Zhitong watched Mu Youmao leave that he came up and asked, "Is this a settlement?"

"Well, he won't talk nonsense when he gets back. Director Su, do you think this matter... won't be dealt with too severely?" Tang Zhitong was still worried about Fang Yuan, so she turned to probe Su Qingxiang's tone.

"No one died, so it shouldn't be a big problem, but disciplinary action is inevitable, given how many comrades have been poisoned." Su Qingxiang was exhausted. He never dreamed he would encounter such a thing, considering that the Municipal Bureau had a farm and the escort department had its own plot of land.

As for the outcome, Su Qingxiang had been pondering it ever since he arrived. It was impossible not to punish them, because too many people were involved, but it shouldn't come to the point of dismissal.

He had heard similar stories from other places. In one place, after a rain, wood ear mushrooms grew on trees. A woman thought they were edible and picked them to take home.

To prevent her family from getting poisoned, the woman ate some herself after boiling the food. Only after confirming that she felt no discomfort did she share it with her mother-in-law, husband, and two children.

This meal had a serious consequence: she was the only one left in the family.

The woman cried and begged the village officials to arrest her and sentence her to death.

The village officials knew she definitely didn't do it on purpose, so they told her directly, "If you were put in jail, the government would still feed you. You're dreaming..."

"That's good, that's good." Tang Zhitong was already very satisfied with this outcome.

(End of this chapter)