Sent to the countryside, I turned the health center into a top-tier hospital.

Chen Ping stood in the middle of the courtyard, directing Wang Tao and Liu Wei to distribute medicine and administer IV drips to the children.

"Dean Zhao, we can't let the child receive treatment in the yard. Can we vacate the dormitory in the backyard?" Chen Ping asked Zhao Guosheng.

"Of course, several dorm rooms are empty, it's just that you and Cui Ying are resting..."

"It's okay, I can get through the night," Chen Ping said nonchalantly.

Soon, the children who were in the yard were moved into the dormitories in the backyard.

Cui Ying came over from the backyard, rolled up her sleeves, squatted down in front of a little girl, and gently wiped the sweat off her face with a damp towel, saying, "It's okay, it'll be fine in a bit."

The little girl nestled in her mother's arms, stopped crying, but her eyes were still red as she blinked at Cui Ying.

Zhou Xiaohe also came and stood in the corner of the yard, holding a glass of water in her hand. She didn't know who to give it to, so she just stood there.

Wang Jianguo was responsible for registering the information of each child one by one, including their name, age, symptoms, and parents' contact information. He wrote several pages, and when his hand got tired, he would shake it off and continue writing.

Li Fang was dispensing medicine in the pharmacy, dispensing it bottle by bottle and sending it out one by one. More than half of the medicine on the shelf had been used up when she called out, "Dr. Chen, we're running out of medicine."

Chen Ping gave her another set of medicine names and told her to switch between them.

Zhang Jianmin stood in the middle of the courtyard, his phone ringing non-stop as he called the township, the county, and the health center to coordinate the supply of medicines.

His voice was hoarse, and it felt like there was sand in his throat when he spoke, but he didn't stop.

Principal Zhao squatted by the flower bed, holding his head, seemingly lost in thought.

Chen Ping asked Liu Wei to go to the canteen in the backyard to boil water in a large pot. He wrote out a prescription for clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood and removing spots. He wrote a whole page of it and gave it to Li Fang to get the medicine.

Li Fang grabbed a dozen or so pieces, filling a basket, carried them to the canteen, poured them into a large pot, added water, covered it, brought it to a boil over high heat, and then simmered it over low heat.

The smell of medicine wafted from the backyard, bitter and astringent, with an indescribable grassy aroma, permeating the entire clinic.

Once the medicine was ready, Chen Ping instructed Wang Tao and Liu Wei to divide it into disposable cups, one cup for each child, so that their parents could feed it to them.

The children complained that it was too bitter and refused to drink it; some cried, some vomited, and some knocked over their cups.

The parents were both anxious and angry. Some tried to coax the child, some tried to force-feed the child, and some even pinched the child's nose to force-feed the child, which only made the child cry louder.

A boy vomited medicine all over his father. His father was so angry that he raised his hand to hit him, but his hand didn't fall. He lowered his hand, squatted down, hugged his son, and cried.

The courtyard was in complete chaos.

The smell of medicine mingled with the sounds of crying, cursing, and footsteps. Chen Ping stood in the middle of the courtyard and shouted, "Stop arguing!"

The sound wasn't loud, but the courtyard fell silent for a second.

All the parents were watching him.

He squatted down, took the cup from a mother's hand, and knelt in front of the boy who refused to drink the medicine. He didn't say anything, just squatted there, looking into the boy's eyes.

The boy looked at him, and then stopped crying.

"Drink it, and the itching will stop." Chen Ping handed over the cup.

The boy took it, frowned, and drank the medicine sip by sip.

After finishing the drink, I stuck out my tongue, but it didn't come out.

His mother asked, "Is it bitter?" The boy said, "Yes," but he didn't cry.

Other parents followed suit, feeding them one by one, bowl after bowl.

After taking the medicine, the children gradually calmed down. Some nestled in their mothers' arms with their eyes closed, some fell asleep on the examination bed, and some lay by the flower bed with tears still on their faces, but their breathing became even.

Chen Ping looked at them one by one, examining their eyes, flipping their palms, and taking their pulses.

The erythema is fading, changing from dark red to light red, and from light red to pinkish-white.

My spirits are returning; I was like a frostbitten eggplant, but now I'm slowly straightening up.

The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, shining on the courtyard, on the children nestled in their parents' arms, on Principal Zhao squatting by the flowerbed, and on Wang Tao dozing against the wall in the corridor.

Chen Ping sat on the steps outside the clinic, holding a cup of cold tea in his hand. He didn't drink it; he just held it there.

Cui Ying walked over and sat down next to him without saying a word.

The two of them sat there, looking at the lights in the yard and at the tired faces that had finally quieted down under the lights.

Zhang Jianmin walked over from the courtyard, squatted down in front of Chen Ping, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible, "Dr. Chen, are the children alright?"

Chen Ping nodded. "It's alright, he should recover by tomorrow."

Zhang Jianmin nodded and tried to stand up, but his legs went numb from squatting, so he had to hold onto Chen Ping's shoulders to stand up.

He stood there, looking at the children in the yard, for a long time, before letting out a long sigh of relief.

Principal Zhao was still squatting by the flower bed, not having left.

His phone slipped out of his pocket, fell to the ground, and he didn't pick it up.

Teacher Lin stood next to him, with a band-aid on her palm; it was unclear who had given it to her.

She looked at the children, her lips moved several times, but in the end she said nothing.

Chen Ping stood up and walked towards Teacher Lin.

Seeing this, Zhang Jianmin and Zhao Guosheng followed behind Chen Ping.

When Teacher Lin saw several people walking towards her, she was so frightened that her body trembled.

She was a young woman in her early twenties who had never experienced anything so significant before, and she was quite bewildered at the moment.

"Are you the homeroom teacher?" Chen Ping asked.

Teacher Lin looked at Chen Ping without saying a word, her face expressionless, as if she had been frightened into a daze.

"Dr. Chen, this is the homeroom teacher, surnamed Lin," Principal Zhao quickly said from the side.

"When you organized the children's outing to Xiaoxishan this afternoon, did you notice any unusual smells?"

Chen Ping asked.

Since it is respiratory poisoning, the poison gas must have a special smell.

Teacher Lin remained silent, standing there blankly, without moving.

"Speak up!" Principal Zhao shouted, and his voice carried far in the quiet night.

Teacher Lin was startled and quickly shook her head, but then nodded.

"Teacher Lin, don't be nervous. Think slowly and try to recall. The children are fine now, but I need to figure out how they were poisoned."

Chen Ping comforted the terrified Teacher Lin.

Teacher Lin pondered for a moment, then spoke, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

"I took the children to play in Xiaoxishan. When we were about to return to school, we did smell a pungent odor."

"The smell seemed to be wafting from the west, but it disappeared after a few minutes."

Teacher Lin recalled.

"That's it. This pungent smell must be the source of the poisoning. Fortunately, it didn't last long, so the children weren't seriously poisoned," Chen Ping said.

"Dr. Chen, Teacher Lin was also present, so how come she wasn't poisoned?" Zhang Jianmin asked, puzzled.