A Western Doctor’s Happy Farming Life[1] chapter 98

Song Qinghan looked at him strangely and asked, “How can you be so indecisive? If you still want to go there, just go. If you don’t like it, then stay.”

Hesitation twined on Yuan Wenxuan’s face, he then said slowly, “The place where Doctor Shi goes is somewhere quite far away from here. And it’s a place where… where the smallpox reigns.”

Hearing the word “Smallpox”, Song Qinghan recalled something in his mind, and then he asked, “Is it MOSHANG Town?”

Not long ago when they were finding an accommodation, they met the farmer who sold goat’s milk. They came to know that the only way they could get a goat was to go westward till they could reach the Moshang Town, yet it was a pity that the whole town was put on lockdown because of the smallpox. Song Qinghan did promise to check it out once he settled down in the provincial capital, but since he got himself kind of busy these days, he had totally forgotten about it. And now it seemed that it was a divine will which entrusted him a grand mission.

As they were talking, Wu Dahu was just right aside listening, just as he caught the eagerness shown on Song Qinghan’s face, he knew that Song Qinghan was planning to visit, and then he turned to Yuan Wenxuan, saying, “Why did Doctor Shi plan to visit the town suddenly? Or he doesn’t even know the danger of the smallpox?”

Yuan Wenxuan answered honestly, “A femina man broke in Huichun Shop today and claimed that he came from the Moshang Town. Though he lives with patients with symptoms of smallpox, he is still healthy. So he just visited Doctor Shi to see whether there is a way to get a resolution from his special physical situation. He visited various doctors but none of them would really love to take a risk to visit the town. Such a trip had already worn him out as his countenance is pale with weakness. Probably he will die from the exhaustion within days. The sight of a femina man in tears failed Doctor Shi to be tough in mind, so he just promised to go with the femina man for a check.”

“But… Though he had promised the femina man that he would go there, he didn’t intend to get into the town but just rest at the nearby town, and he will ask that femina man to take those patients out one by one to see whether he can find a way to cure such a disease.”

Song Qinghan nodded understandingly. After all, though doctors were all responsible for curing people, they should consider their own safety as well. Otherwise, it would be a total tragedy if he devoted himself or even made him as a sacrifice just to treat people but nothing positive posted as a feedback.

He glanced at Wu Dahu, but didn’t dare to say a word.

Wu Dahu patted Little Shitou gently on the back, and then turned to Song Qinghan, saying slowly, “If you really want to go, go. I will take good care of Little Shitou.”

The image of Wu Dahu taking Little Shitou to the Martial Club just popped up right in Song Qinghan’s mind, he was quite reluctant to place his own child into an environment full of clicking sounds of weapons. But he was even more reluctant to take the child with him in this trip because he knew exactly that kid’s immunity was a far cry from the one of a grown-up. Even though he was a doctor, that didn’t mean he could let his guard down.

If there was something wrong with Little Stone because of his negligence, even if Wu Dahu didn’t blame him, he wouldn’t forgive himself.

But if he just let the chance go… Probably that femina man would just die out of his exhaustion as Yuan Wenxuan mentioned. And if he really died, it would be difficult for them to find another guy who had innate immunity toward such a disease.

Seeing that Song Qinghan was with a changeable expression on face, Wu Dahu could draw a conclusion that Song Qinghan must be wavered over the current matter, and then he said, “Xiao Lin and Xu Ziyu have no time for harassing me now, so I’ve got plenty of time being alone in the hall center, I can bring Little Shitou there and ask Brother to take care of him for a bit. It’s gonna to be fine.”

After a while of pondering, Song Qinghan finally nodded, saying, “Alright! Then I will join the trip too, if I can make it to save those patients who got the smallpox, that would be kind of a blessing for our Little Shitou.”

Yuan Wenxuan released from his tense expression as he noticed Song Qinghan nodded, he hurriedly answered, “I will bring this good news to Doctor Shi tomorrow, he must be quite delightful if he knows that Master is coming too!”

Well, in this boy’s point of view, his Master was much more powerful than Doctor Shi. Following Doctor Shi to an unknown place with unknown dangers is a worrisome event for him. But the situation changed as his Master would come along with them as well, now he wouldn’t feel any fright towards this trip.

After the four of them had their dinner, Song Qinghan and Yuan Wenxuan packed up their luggage and all of them rested early.

The next day, Wu Dahu woke up earlier as he thought he should get himself adapted to taking care of Little Shitou by his own in advance, he finished feeding the baby with congee and then headed to the Martial Club with Little Shitou in arms.

Ever since Xu Ziyi and Xiao Lin stopped making troubles for Wu Dahu, fellows in the Liangyi Martial Club were all showing their reverence towards him. Therefore, when they saw Wu Dahu coming in with an adorable baby, there burst out a heated discussion.

“Is that Wu Dahu’s child? Why did he bring the baby here? Where is his husband?”

“Who knows! Probably his husband broke up with him!”

“No way, Wu Dahu is a person with capability. No femina man who is with a brain would choose to leave him right at this moment. But I would believe they might have quarreled for something!”

“…”

When He Wenli came in, he heard all their discussions. His expression changed and he rushed to the back hall. And when he saw Wu Dahu was placing a baby on the table, he caught his breath deeply. But, the bright smile on Little Shitou’s face failed him to lecture Wu Dahu and then he reached out to hold the baby up in his arms, cheering, “Hey you little pumpkin, how heartless your father is! He dares to put you on the table. Are you feeling cold now?”

Little Shitou struggled to get rid of the stranger at the beginning. But when he saw He Liwen’s lips moving up and down, he giggled happily, reaching out as if he was about to pinch the moving lips of the man.

Seeing that the two of them were having fun, Wu Dahu picked up the halberd and started practicing.

At noon, He Wenli thought that Wu Dahu was going to bring the Little Shitou home, he felt a bit reluctant. He saw that Wu Dahu carried Little Shitou up hurriedly and directly while heading out into the kitchen, and then he ran forward in surprise and asked curiously, “You’re not going back today? What’s wrong? Don’t you have to cook for your husband?”

Wu Dahu nodded, and then put Little Shitou back into He Liwen’s arms, while bending over to pick up the congee in the bowl, saying, “It’s the lunch time for Little Shitou.”

He Liwen smiled with an indulgent rage when he saw Little Shitou in his arms again, he lowered down his face staring at the little baby who was putting on a face of innocence. BUT, who wouldn’t be softened to such an adorable-looking baby? So he just urged the servants in the kitchen to get the congee done quickly.

When He Liwen got the congee over, Wu Dahu had just finished eating his meal, he came over and took over Little Shitou in his own arms, nodding while saying gratefully, “Thank you!”

He Liwen snorted when he witnessed Wu Dahu feeding Little Shitou carefully, he intended to ask where Song Qinghan went but in a second thought he would think that it was an action tearing the scab right off Wu Dahu’s sore, so he just said after pondering for a while, “If you can’t make it to take care of Little Shitou alone, recommend myself to take him to my home. Well, I actually would recommend my husband to take care of him because he’s quite experienced on it.”

“Alright,” Wu Dahu smiled in a grateful way, he could feel that it was a real emotion for He Liwen being fond of Little Shitou, he promised, “I will try to take care of him tonight and see if I can handle everything myself. If I can’t make it, I will let him stay with you.”

In the evening, afar from a distance Song Qinghan was standing right at the gate waiting for Wu Dahu. Wu Dahu back home with Little Shitou in his arms while putting on a face of tiredness. Song Qinghan found that though the tiredness still lingered on Wu Dahu’s face, the man was still energetic as always. And then he approached, shrugging and saying, “I thought you would be two dirty ‘beggars’ with dust covered, did Little Shitou act like a little savage today?”

After that, he reached out to carry Little Shitou over in his arms, sighing with emotion.

In the very beginning, he just regarded the little thing in his belly as something belonged to the original body, while he thought he would never bear any responsibility to the baby. But now, separating with Little Shitou just one day was such an unbearable suffering for him.

Imperceptibly, he had completely integrated into the body and became the real ‘Song Qinghan’.

The night went by peacefully. The next morning, after seeing Wu Dahu and Little Shitou off, Song Qinghan was all prepared to set off for the trip to Moshang Town with Yuan Wenxuan.

They didn’t get many companions this time, aside by them walked Doctor Shi, Doctor Shi’s servant and that femina man who got himself out of the town.

Being informed by Doctor Shi, Song Qinghan came to know that the femina man was named Xia Yunfei. He was a stockman in a sheep farm before, responsible for feeding the sheep within the enclosure.

But according to Xia Yunfei’s statement, they did own two cows in their sheep farm there. That made Song Qinghan think of another scenario whether this man was vaccinated with cowpox or not by coincident.

The reason why Xia Yunfei looked sick was not only because he had been searching all around, but also because he had tightly wrapped his bare skin with a strip of cloth, including his neck and face. It seemed that he was quite afraid of being seen by others.

Song Qinghan knew that his skin, which was covered under the cloth, must have some rotten areas. If he wanted to make an effective measurement to vaccinate the others in the town, he had to extrude some pus out of the rotten skins in advance.

So he whispered to Xia Yunfei, “Remove those pieces of cloth, I want to check it out what had saved you out from the disease.”

Xia Yunfei glanced at Doctor Shi and saw him nodding. A struggle flashed across his face but he still stretched forth his arms and untied the rest of the cloth wrapped on his body, exposing those bumpy skins under the sunlight.

Probably it was because that Xia Yunfei had never been observed in such a close distance, he looked so embarrassed fumbling nervously and standing stiffly there. If there existed a hole on the ground, he probably would choose to hide his head into it just an ostrich did.

Song Qinghan picked up Xia Yunfei’s hand and he noticed there was a festered spot with some vestiges of medical cream on it, he then frowned and asked, “How long have you applied it on your skin?”

Doctor Shi broke in all of a sudden when he noticed Xia Yunfei was still being uneasy there just like a fish out of water, “Since he visited me in Huichun Shop, I applied that for him. Anything wrong?”

Song Qinghan nodded, and then answered directly, “Since he is able to… able to get rid of the harassment from the smallpox. Of course we should keep him at the original situation when he got out of the Moshang Town. In this case, it will be better for us to find the trace of the disease’s root. Like, if the secret of the treatment to this disease is hidden right in these festered skins?”

With that enlightenment, Doctor Shi seemed to sink into a long silence while he was pondering. And then he nodded vigorously as if everything in his brain seemed to be brighter, “Right, right! It’s the truth! I might be too impatient.”

And then it was Yuan Wenxuan asked strangely, “I DON’T GET IT! Since the festered skins are the symptoms of the smallpox, then how can they be the secret to cure this kind of disease??”