This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Du Heng accepted the mask Wang Shizhen tossed him and, on his way out, grabbed his bag as well.

The aunt Wang Shizhen mentioned didn't live in their village but in Sishe, which was about a ten-minute walk away.

When they arrived at the door of the woman's house Wang Shizhen had mentioned, Wang Shizhen called out, "Auntie, are you home?" Then he pushed open the half-ajar door and walked in.

A girl's voice came from a small room to the left of the main house. She waved to them from the window, saying, "Brother Zhen, we're in here."

Wang Shizhen led Du Heng into the room and said to the girl, "Linger, you're home too. How's your mom?"

The girl, Linger, replied, "She woke up this morning with a fever that hasn't gone down, and she keeps throwing up. She said she felt too weak to even stand, so she lay down again." Looking at the two of them wearing masks, she asked, a bit puzzled, "Brother Zhen, who is this?"

"This is President Du from our Health Clinic. I asked him to come take a look at your mom."

"That's great! But why are you both wearing masks?"

"Ah, it's better if you don't ask." Turning to Du Heng, he said, "Du, could you take a look?"

Du Heng handed his bag to Wang Shizhen. "I'll examine her first."

Du Heng walked to the bedside. The woman on the bed glanced at Du Heng and said weakly, "Sorry to trouble you both."

Du Heng didn't say anything, but his premonition grew stronger.

Her skin had a yellowish tint, and her eyes showed traces of yellow as well. She looked very weak and was covered with a thick quilt.

"When did you start feeling unwell?"

"The morning of the day before yesterday. I had a headache and fever, no appetite, and the smell of cooking oil made me nauseous. I thought I had a cold, so I took two days off. I also hadn't been home in a while, so I decided to come back for a visit. I didn't expect to become too weak to get out of bed."

Well, that's one way to get the whole story with a single question.

"Have you urinated in the past few days? Did you notice the color?"

"Yes, I've used the toilet. The color was a bit dark."

Du Heng's heart sank. "Shift towards the edge of the bed a little; I need to examine you."

The woman moved with some difficulty, slowly turning towards the edge of the bed.

The examination Du Heng needed to perform was simple, involving only one procedure: percussion of the liver area.

But just from this, he found that the area of dullness upon percussion over the liver was significantly smaller, and her abdomen was distended, suggesting possible ascites.

He was now one hundred percent certain: this was acute icteric Hepatitis A, and to top it all, it was the malignant form.

"Have you cooked at all in the last two days since you've been home?"

"No, my daughter has done all the cooking."

Du Heng turned and asked the girl called Linger, "The bowls and chopsticks your mother has been using these past two days—has the rest of the family been using them too?"

Linger also sensed something was amiss and became a little flustered. "Yes, is there a problem? What's wrong with my mother?"

"I suspect your mother has acute icteric Hepatitis A—also known as Hepatitis A. It's an infectious disease."

"But... but..."

Du Heng walked out of the room and said, "Have everyone in your family come back home. Then, wait for news from me."

Exiting the house, Du Heng felt incredibly frustrated.

He couldn't tell if this was fortunate or unfortunate. Fortunate, because even though the woman had been symptomatic for three days—and Hepatitis A, spreading mainly through the fecal-oral route, could have easily contaminated the kindergarten where she worked as custodial staff, affecting toys and drinking water—they had found it now. Unfortunate, because it was his first day, and he'd already been bitten by Wang Shiyuan's wife. Still, the key thing was that it *had* been discovered promptly. Enough. No point overthinking it. He had to report it.

When it comes to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, the entire medical system has its own established procedures.

"Xiao Du, why did you decide to call me today? Is something wrong?" An Chunhui sounded happy on the other end of the phone. He had received news that the Sir had accepted Du Heng's treatment and was now showing significant improvement.

Du Heng got straight to the point. "Leader, in Sishe, Wangjiazui, Zhonghu Town, a suspected case of acute icteric Hepatitis A has been discovered."

"What?!"

"A suspected case of severe Hepatitis A, an infectious disease. Moreover, before the onset of symptoms, the patient was working at a kindergarten."

"What?! Are you sure?"

"I'm at the patient's home right now. I'm ninety percent sure."

An Chunhui, on the other end of the phone, was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "You handle the patient and their family. Leave the rest to me."

"Alright, I understand."

Hepatitis A is a Class B infectious disease. If the kindergarten was indeed infected, someone would definitely face serious consequences.

After hanging up, Du Heng said to Wang Shizhen, who was beside him, "I remember giving you infectious disease report forms. Find them immediately and fill them out. Also, prepare absinthin, gentiana, and sweet wormwood... Brew them and bring the decoction to me."

"Write it down for me; I can't remember all that." As a village doctor, Wang Shizhen was also responsible for epidemic prevention in Wangjiazui. Discovering and reporting infectious diseases was part of his job. Now that there was an actual infectious disease, he was more nervous than anyone.

Without further ado, Du Heng took a pen and paper from his bag and began writing.

Looking at the prescription, Wang Shizhen asked Du Heng, "What is this prescription for?"

"To clear heat, reduce dampness, and reverse jaundice; to cool the blood, resolve stasis, and detoxify; and also to protect the liver. Severe Hepatitis A causes immense damage to the liver. In serious cases, it can lead to liver failure, which is life-threatening."

"I understand."

Wang Shizhen took the list Du Heng had written and ran out the door.

Du Heng sighed, picked up his bag, and turned to go back into the room.

Today, it was just Hepatitis A. If it had been other respiratory infectious diseases, he wouldn't have entered wearing only the double-layered mask he had. He would have waited for the Epidemic Prevention Department to arrive and for proper safety measures to be in place before going in.

Upon re-entering the room, he saw a panicked Linger and her bewildered mother. When they saw Du Heng come in again, both of them fixed their gaze on him.

Du Heng stood still, looked at them, and said, "Don't be too nervous. Your mother's Hepatitis A was detected quite early. A hospital car will come soon to pick her up. After receiving treatment at the hospital, she'll recover quickly and should have hardly any sequelae.

"Now, think carefully. In the days since your mother returned, who has visited your home and eaten with you? Or, did your family visit anyone else's home and eat there? Write down the names of everyone you've shared meals with. I'll need that list later."

After thinking for a moment, Linger said, "In the three days since my mom came back, no one has come to our house for meals, and we haven't gone to anyone else's house."

"Take your time, think slowly."

Du Heng walked over to the patient and took out his pen and paper again. He needed to ask some basic questions to supplement the infectious disease report form Wang Shizhen would be bringing.

"Don't worry too much. I've already sent Wang Shizhen to get the medicine, and I will also give you acupuncture treatment. There shouldn't be any major problems, and your body won't suffer any lasting damage. Now, I need to ask you a few questions. Please answer them truthfully."

"Please ask."

"Name, age, workplace."

"Li Xiue, 49 years old, works as custodial staff at XX Kindergarten."

"Which areas are you responsible for, and what exactly does your job entail?"

"Everything—cleaning the classrooms and dormitories, and washing the children's toys."

"How are the eating utensils cleaned and stored?"

"The utensils for teaching staff and students are stored separately, but they are washed together."

Du Heng sighed silently. It seemed there was no room for luck.