This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Children: an unavoidable topic for any family. When young, one might not feel it, perhaps even viewing children as a burden. But as one ages, seeing friends and colleagues surrounded by their children often evokes complex feelings. This is particularly true for women over thirty and men over thirty-five. Ask them then if they want children, and their voices are unlikely to hold the same firm conviction they had at twenty. Of course, this doesn't apply to those who inherently dislike children. And now, in rural China, the pressure on Zhao Fang was immense.

While they were talking, Wu Buwei had already written a prescription. Du Heng took it, glanced over it, adjusted the dosage of a few medicines, then signed his name and handed it to Zhao Fang. "Calm your mind, focus on curing your cold first, and then come back to me. We can discuss other issues then, alright?"

Zhao Fang nodded and left with the prescription, looking back every few steps, her reluctance clear.

「The next day.」

Du Heng and Wang Zhenzhen went to the Township Government again. Du Heng's main purpose for this visit was to deliver the materials for the impoverished households. He had also asked Wang Zhenzhen to come along to expedite obtaining the 10,000 yuan promised by Song Jiaying.

It took a whole morning of persistence, but Wang Zhenzhen finally secured the money. If Du Heng and his team hadn't proactively pursued the payment today, it was unlikely the Township Government would have allocated the funds on their own. Furthermore, with Song Jiaying due to give birth very soon, any delay in settling this would mean waiting another two to three months.

Once they had the money, Du Heng and his team had to handle the subsequent matters properly. Song Jiaying, for her part, was quite decisive, directly handing over the information for seven impoverished households to Du Heng's team.

After discussing it with Lu Zhongjiang and the others, Du Heng decided to take on three households himself, while Lu Zhongjiang and Wang Lili would each handle two. The three households Du Heng selected shared a common trait: all had fallen into poverty, or relapsed into it, because of illness. While such families were the most challenging for others to manage, this was precisely where Du Heng held an advantage.

The township's directive was to complete the critical phase of the poverty alleviation task within the month. But how can anyone truly escape poverty in just one month? Du Heng mused. Surely not by simply helping poor families harvest wheat? Of course not. The township's intention was to use the month to identify a sustainable path out of poverty for these families and implement it. Achieving a preliminary, tangible result would be sufficient.

「After lunch.」

Du Heng held a brief meeting. While he and Lu Zhongjiang were occupied with the poverty alleviation work, Wang Zhenzhen was to handle all routine clinic matters. If she encountered something she couldn't manage, she was to call either of them. They needed to concentrate all their energy on this new endeavor.

The meeting had just concluded when a clamor erupted from the Hall, the sounds filled with anxiety. Du Heng and Wu Buwei were descending the stairs, Du Heng still in the middle of giving Wu Buwei some instructions. Hearing the commotion, they quickened their pace.

At the entrance of the Hall, an elderly couple struggled with a rack car; the man pulled from the front while the woman pushed from behind. On the car lay a young man, looking to be around twenty. The man pulling the rack car was relatively composed, but the woman pushing from behind was wailing, her cries so piercing they felt as if one's eardrums might burst.

"What happened?" Du Heng hurried to the side of the rack car, assessing the patient while questioning the elderly couple.

The woman, her voice shrill, ignored Du Heng's question, instead screaming right beside his ear, "Doctor, save my son! Please, save my son!"

Startled by the wailing so close to his ear, Du Heng instinctively recoiled. Seeing the woman was hysterical, he stopped questioning her and turned to Wu Buwei. "Buwei, come and help me carry him to the office."

Wu Buwei, already by the rack car, immediately moved to help Du Heng lift the young man. By then, Yu Haiting and Xiao Li had also come out and quickly lent a hand.

Du Heng could now see the patient's condition clearly: eyes tightly shut, face slightly flushed. He appeared to be about 1.8 meters tall, though he was quite thin.

Seeing their son being carried into the office, the old couple abandoned the rack car. They hurried closely behind the group, the woman still crying out, "Save my son!"

After placing the patient on the examination bed, Du Heng began his examination, with Yu Haiting assisting. After checking the patient's pupils and touching his skin, Yu Haiting whispered to Du Heng, "Is it heatstroke?"

Du Heng, having just taken the pulse, had a fairly clear idea of the situation and nodded gently.

Yu Haiting breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't a life-threatening condition like cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, or heart disease, simple unconsciousness wasn't a major issue.

The woman stood by the bed, sobbing. "Doctor, please save my son! We were forty when we had him. We never laid a hand on him, never scolded him. He's always been such a good boy. How could he suddenly faint and not wake up? If anything happens to him... how will I go on living?"

A late-born son; no wonder the woman was so emotional. But even in such distress, she needed to get to the point. Wailing like this, aside from agitating everyone, served no purpose.

The woman was too distraught. The man, though his face was taut with anxiety, seemed more coherent. Du Heng addressed him, "Tell me exactly what happened." Then, he instructed Wu Buwei, "Go get a needle tool kit."

The man glanced at his son on the bed and quickly explained, "He'd just come back from outside. He sat down, and then suddenly collapsed like this. We don't know what happened."

"Tell me in detail, the entire sequence of events."

"He went out around noon; we don't know what he was up to. When he came back, he lay down on the sofa, ate a few slices of watermelon and some other fruit. He'd just pulled out his mobile phone when he suddenly collapsed."

Du Heng was already quite certain the patient was unconscious due to heatstroke. However, to be absolutely sure, he asked, "Does the patient have any history of diabetes, nephritis, epilepsy, or similar conditions?"

The woman quickly interjected, "No, Doctor! We absolutely treasure our son. We take him for a check-up every year. He's a little thin, but otherwise, he has no health problems at all."

Du Heng nodded, acknowledging her response, and took the needle tool kit from Wu Buwei. He took out the needle utensils. After disinfecting the needles and the selected acupoints with alcohol swabs, he inserted needles at the philtrum and PC-06 acupoints, employing intermittent stimulation.

However, the effect was minimal; the patient showed no response. Du Heng then had to resort to bloodletting from the ten diffusing points.

Seeing the long, trembling needles piercing her son's skin, and then blood being drawn from his fingertips, the woman, standing behind them, was overcome with anguish. "My son, my poor son!" she cried. "What's happening to you? Look at all this suffering!"

After the bloodletting from the ten diffusing points was complete, Du Heng again stimulated the philtrum and PC-06 acupoints.

If bloodletting from the ten diffusing points doesn't work, I'll have to try acupuncture on the Baihui (GV20) and ST-36 acupoints next, Du Heng considered. However, the Baihui (GV20) acupoint is a reserve point, much like CV-01, he mused. It's best not to use them lightly unless it's a critical emergency. The area around CV-01 is dense with nerves; one wrong move could lead to paralysis and incontinence. The Baihui (GV20) acupoint is similar; a mistake there could render a person intellectually disabled.