After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

Old Tian gripped the pipe tightly in his hand, twisting the bamboo handle with his knuckles, his eyes sliding from Luo Yushan's face to Ye Zhen's body, and then back again.

"Dr. Luo, what are you saying? I'm just a barefoot doctor, I don't even have a proper license, who can I save?"

Luo Yushan ignored his words and pushed Ye Zhen's diary, which was spread out on the table, toward him.

"Take a good look at what's written on this first."

Old Tian glanced down at it, then turned his face away.

"That happened in March, and I don't quite understand what you wrote here."

Ye Zhen pointed to the line of pencil words with her finger and read them to him word by word.

"Tian Xiaobao, male, four years old, with purple lips, wheezing after activity, penicillin injection for two days without effect, family took him home."

She looked up after she finished reading.

"Did you treat this patient?"

Old Tian's lips moved twice before he finally managed to utter a sentence.

"Yes, he came. His mother said he had a fever, and I noticed his throat was a little red, so I gave him two injections for a cold."

Ye Zhen's finger did not leave the line of text.

"Your lips are purple, did you write that?"

"Um... kids from the mountains have dark skin, so sometimes their lips look a little off; it's not necessarily purple."

"You're panting after the activity, did you notice?"

Old Tian switched the tobacco pouch to the other hand.

"His mother said he would squat down after running a few steps. I thought it might be because he was physically weak. Children in the mountains don't get enough to eat, so it's normal for them to be panting a bit."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yushan angrily said, "Tian Youfu, you yourself said that a four-year-old child with purple lips, who would squat down after running a few steps, and after two days of penicillin treatment with no improvement, the family took the child away. Don't you have any doubts about this?"

The vein in Lao Tian's neck tightened.

"Dr. Luo, it's easy for you to talk when you're not in the situation. My clinic only has one stethoscope, which was handed over by the epidemic prevention station eight years ago. The town has never taught me any screening points for congenital heart disease. How am I supposed to know that this child has a heart problem?"

Just as Luo Yushan was about to speak, Ye Zhen raised her hand to stop him.

She didn't raise her voice or speak faster.

"Dr. Tian, ​​you said that Tian Xiaobao didn't get better after two days of injections, so his mother took him home. What happened after that?"

Old Tian's eyes darted to the side.

"He hasn't come since."

"Since he hasn't come, you just stopped caring?"

"His mother didn't bring him, so I couldn't go to their house to see him."

Old Tian's voice started to waver.

"Besides, I haven't heard anything about how the child is doing since then. Since he didn't come back, maybe he's recovered."

Luo Yushan slammed his hand on the table, and the empty medicine bottle bounced up and rolled to the ground with a thud.

"Tian Youfu, you've been a barefoot doctor for over twenty years, and you don't even have this much common sense? A child with congenital heart disease can be cured with two injections of penicillin? You actually dare to think that?"

Old Tian's pipe slipped from his hand. This time, he didn't bend down to pick it up. Instead, he hunched over on the bench, his back hunched.

"Dr. Luo, please don't scold me. It won't do you any good."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

Ye Zhen closed the journal and placed it on the corner of the table.

"I'm going to ask you three things, and you'll have to answer truthfully."

Old Tian raised his head, his face wrinkled up.

Ye Zhen looked at him.

"First, where is Tian Xiaobao now?"

Old Tian's lips moved.

"They should still be at home."

"Should I, or should I be sure?"

"His family lives in that mud house at the bottom of the village slope. His father farms at home and hasn't gone out. He should still be alive."

Ye Zhen nodded and then asked.

"Secondly, did the town ask you to change the records?"

Old Tian shrank back a bit.

"What record?"

"Have you been notified to revise the outpatient logs, vaccination records, and your child's medical records?"

Old Tian stopped talking and started rubbing his hands on his knees.

Luo Yushan snorted coldly.

Ye Zhen didn't urge him, she just waited.

Inside the house, you could hear the wind blowing in through the roof with missing tiles.

Old Tian held his breath for a long time, his voice muffled in his throat.

"The day before yesterday, someone came to the town and said that the county needed to check the forms. He asked me to rewrite the children's physical examination registration for the past two years. He asked me to fill in 'examined' for any children who had not been examined and not to write down any families with problems."

Liu Xiaolan's pen flew across the notebook as she scribbled.

Li Hong bit her lower lip, her fists clenched tightly.

Ye Zhen asked the third question.

Has Luoying Village actually undergone congenital heart disease screening?

Old Tian's lips twitched.

"no."

The two words fell to the ground with a louder sound than an empty medicine bottle hitting the ground.

Gao Haiping let out a long sigh of relief.

Old Tian placed his hands on his knees, then suddenly leaned forward, slamming his pipe onto the table with a "thud."

"So what if you find out!"

His voice suddenly rose, carrying a defiant, "what's the point?" attitude.

"You experts from the north of the city stood here asking me questions one by one, making my hair stand on end. And what happened after you finished asking your questions?"

He stared at Ye Zhen, his eyes reddening.

"So what if they found out? The child has a heart condition, I know that, and then what? Send him to the county hospital? Can the county hospital treat heart disease? Send him to the provincial capital? A train ticket to the provincial capital is enough for their family to live on for half a year. Even if they sell their house, they still won't be able to pay for the treatment and surgery in the provincial capital."

His voice was hoarse and his tone was low.

"In the end, they still brought her home, and she still died at home. What's the difference between that and not finding anything at all?"

No one inside the room responded.

Liu Xiaolan stopped holding the pen, and her eyes reddened.

Li Hong lowered her head, her shoulders trembling.

Ye Zhen didn't interrupt him. She waited until his breathing calmed down before speaking.

"you're right."

Old Tian was stunned.

He originally thought that this young female doctor from the north would scold him and bring up some national policy to pressure him, but he didn't expect that what she said was right.

Ye Zhen took out a brown paper envelope from her handbag, pulled out a stack of referral forms stamped with red seals, and then took out three stacks of cards tied with rubber bands from her side pocket—red, yellow, and blue.

She placed the items one by one on the table in front of Lao Tian.

Have you heard of "The Heart of China"?

Old Tian shook his head.

"This is a government-approved project specifically to save children with congenital heart disease."

She pulled out a red card, turned it over, and showed Lao Tian the instructions on the back.

"Initial screening is free, verification is free, and for children who meet the assistance criteria, the project covers all costs from examination to surgery."

Old Tian stared at the card, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.

"What you're talking about... does Beicheng really offer free heart surgery to children in the mountains?"

Ye Zhen nodded.

"I performed the surgery myself."

Old Tian didn't believe it and turned to look at Luo Yushan.

Luo Yushan took a sip of water from the enamel mug and smacked his lips.

"She's telling the truth; it was in the newspaper. Don't you read the newspaper?"

"Where am I supposed to read the newspaper? There's no electricity in Luoying Village. The newspapers are just used to cover the windows."

Old Tian turned back to look at the cards, reaching out his hand and then pulling it back, as if afraid they would disappear if he touched them.

Ye Zhen pushed the referral form to his side.

"Red indicates emergency transfer, yellow indicates follow-up examination within a specified period, and blue indicates observation and follow-up. Each card has a number, the contact number of the hospital, and the project stamp of Huaxia Heart."

Old Tian picked up the red card and examined it three times.

Ye Zhen gathered the card and referral form together and put them back into the envelope.

"Now take me to Tian Xiaobao's house."

Old Tian stood up, bent down to pick up the tobacco pouch from the ground, wiped it on his trouser leg, and put it down again.

He turned and took two steps toward the door, then paused.

"Dr. Ye, I have something to tell you."

Ye Zhen looked at him.

"The people who came from town not only asked me to copy the bottom register, but also said something."

He lowered his voice and glanced around the doorway.

"He said that if any family lets a doctor from out of town come into their home to examine their child, their relief grain quota for the end of the year will be deducted, and whoever takes the lead will have their quota deducted first."

Liu Xiaolan gasped.

Li Hong clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh.

Gao Haiping's face was as somber as a cloudy day in the mountains.

Ye Zhen fastened her handbag with a click.

Do you believe what he said?

Old Tian smiled wryly.

"What's the use of believing or not? The people in the mountains rely on that little bit of relief grain to survive all year round. If he dares to say it, the villagers dare not disobey."

Ye Zhen walked to the door, pushed open the crooked wooden door, and the mountain wind rushed in, causing the empty medicine bottle on the table to roll halfway.

"Dr. Tian, ​​lead the way."

Old Tian followed behind, walking a beat slower than her. He muttered something that no one could hear, then lifted his foot and walked towards the village slope.