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

After finishing my meal and returning to the front clinic, I had just put on my sleeves under my white coat and sat down when I heard hurried footsteps in the corridor.

A young woman in her twenties rushed in, holding a five or six-year-old boy in her arms. The child leaned limply against her shoulder, his face flushed, his eyelids half-open, his lips dry and chapped, and his breathing rapid and hot.

The woman's hair was disheveled, and her face was streaked with tears. As soon as she entered the examination room and saw Chen Ping in his white coat, her legs went weak and she almost knelt down in front of the examination table. With a sob in her voice, she cried out, "Dr. Chen, please, please save my child! He started having a fever last night, and he keeps vomiting whatever he eats. This morning, he didn't respond when I called him. I'm so scared..."

Behind her followed a woman in her fifties, wearing a dark red old cotton-padded jacket, with white hair and temples, deep wrinkles on her face, and clutching a cloth bag in her hand.

She followed the woman into the examination room and stood by the door. She didn't speak, but she didn't seem to be in a hurry either. The corners of her mouth were turned down, as if she was holding back something.

Chen Ping had the woman place the child on the examination bed.

When the boy lay down, his body was as limp as a bundle of cotton. His brows were furrowed, his lips were dry and pale, his breathing was short, and his body temperature could be felt even through his clothes.

Chen Ping flipped his eyelids over; the pupils were responding normally. He then pressed on his stomach, and the baby groaned, his brows furrowing even more, but he wasn't fully awake.

"When did the fever start?" Chen Ping asked, while listening to the patient's heart and lungs with a stethoscope.

"Last night after dinner, he started complaining of an upset stomach, but I didn't pay much attention to it."

The woman answered, her voice broken and tears still streaming down her face, "I felt his temperature was a little high in the middle of the night, and thought it was just a cold, so I gave him fever reducer. The fever went down a bit, but then it came back up again, on and off. He started vomiting just before dawn, and now I can't wake him up..."

Chen Ping asked a few more questions, such as whether he had diarrhea recently or had come into contact with anything unclean.

The woman shook her head and said no, then glanced at her mother-in-law standing at the door, her lips moved slightly, and she turned back.

Chen Ping took the child's temperature; it was 39.6 degrees Celsius.

He asked Zhou Jie to bring over the IV stand so he could start rehydration to maintain electrolyte balance, and then asked Sun Xiaoyan to collect a blood sample for testing.

While waiting for the results, he bent down and asked the boy, "Little friend, have you eaten any raw eggs or raw meat in the past couple of days?"

The boy was still half asleep, but when he heard the words "raw egg," he nodded with his eyes closed and mumbled, "Grandma gave me this to drink..."

The air in the consultation room seemed to have been paused for a moment.

The young woman's face changed instantly. She turned to look at the woman in her fifties at the door, her voice rising abruptly, "Mom! How many times have I told you not to feed the child raw eggs! Why won't you listen? He's so small, how can his stomach handle it!"

The mother-in-law was embarrassed by her daughter-in-law's outburst in front of outsiders. She took two steps into the examination room, straightened her back, and retorted confidently, "Raw eggs are nutritious! I've been eating them like this since I was a child, and I've never had any problems growing up."

"I want my grandson to grow taller and faster, am I wrong? Don't listen to the doctor's nonsense, eating raw eggs will make you sick? I've lived for over fifty years and never heard of such a thing!"

Chen Ping removed the stethoscope from his ear, straightened up, turned around and looked at the old woman. "Auntie, raw eggs are indeed nutritious, but they may contain Salmonella."

"Salmonella entering the gastrointestinal tract can cause acute gastroenteritis, with symptoms such as fever, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In severe cases, it can lead to dehydration, bacteremia, and even shock."

"Adults may be fine because of their strong immune system, but children's immune systems are not fully developed and their digestive systems are weak. They can't handle a raw egg with bacteria."

The old woman's pursed lips widened even more, her eyes glaring. "Isn't this how all rural children grow up? Which child hasn't eaten a raw egg?"

"You doctors are so fussy, you can't eat this or that. Back in our day, we didn't have any germs. I think kids these days are just too pampered."

Upon hearing this, the young woman's tears welled up again. Turning to her mother-in-law, her voice brimming with suppressed anger, she said, "Mom! In the past six months you've been taking care of the child, how many times have I told you not to eat raw eggs? When have you ever listened?"

"Last time the child had diarrhea for five days, I thought it was because he caught a cold, but now I think it might have been because you secretly gave him raw eggs to drink! Why couldn't you listen to me?"

The mother-in-law, feeling humiliated by her daughter-in-law's scolding, raised her voice, "I've raised children for most of my life, two sons and a daughter, and they're all doing well! What do you know, you've only been a mother for a few years? Would I harm my own grandson?"

Chen Ping stood between the two women, looking at the old woman's stubborn refusal to admit her mistake, and then at the young woman's anxious and aggrieved expression. He knew that nothing he said would make a difference in this situation.

The elderly have their own way of taking care of children; they've been doing it for decades. If you talk to them about science, they'll talk about their experience. If you mention Salmonella, they'll say it's harmless to eat it—it doesn't make sense.

The young woman turned around, looked at Chen Ping, her eyes red-rimmed, "Dr. Chen, how is the baby now? Is he alright?"

Chen Ping looked at the child's breathing, which was gradually calming down, and his brows, which were slightly relaxed. He said in a calm voice, "The child has acute gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella infection."

"I've already had the nurses give him IV fluids to correct his dehydration. We'll adjust his medication once the blood test results are in."

"It's not a big problem, but you'll need to be hospitalized for two days for observation. With oral medication and a light diet, you should recover in about a week."

Chen Ping paused, glanced at his mother-in-law who was still staring wide-eyed, then turned to the young woman, lowering his voice slightly, "Young lady, to be honest, the older generation truly loves children, but their childcare concepts are different from today's."

"You have to work during the day and can't take care of the children, so it's unavoidable for the grandparents to take care of them. But there are some bottom lines that you should stick to."

"If conditions permit, try to take care of the child yourself. It's not that the elderly are bad at taking care of children, it's just that times have changed, and there are some things they really don't understand, and they won't listen to you even if you explain them to them."

Upon hearing this, the young woman lowered her head and wiped away her tears.

After several seconds of silence, she nodded slightly. "I understand, Dr. Chen. Once the baby is better, I plan to quit my job and take care of him myself."

"It's been heartbreaking to see him get sick on and off for the past six months. Money can be earned again, but once a child is ruined, no amount of money can make up for it."

The mother-in-law next to her heard her daughter-in-law say she wanted to quit her job and take care of the child herself, and her expression changed.

His wide eyes widened even more, and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something.

However, after glancing at Chen Ping and then at his grandson lying on the examination bed, he didn't say anything. He simply slung the cloth bag over his arm, snorted coldly, and turned to leave the examination room.

The young woman watched her mother-in-law's retreating figure, sniffed, and sighed helplessly.

Chen Ping shook his head and didn't say anything more. After all, every family has its own troubles.

He wrote a few lines in the patient's medical record, then got up to arrange the ward.

Zhou Jie came in carrying the IV tray, inserted an indwelling needle into the child, and the medicine dripped down.