HLnovel Chapter 255 Infirmary
Chapter 255 Infirmary
Upon smelling the strong disinfectant odor, Jiang Li subconsciously frowned; she had disliked this smell since childhood.
The medical room was simply furnished, with four rows of seats in groups of three, and a consultation room separated by curtains at the back, just like a small clinic.
There were no patients in the clinic at the moment. The doctor in the white coat sat on the stool and seemed to be talking to the nurse next to him about the infectious diseases outside. Both of them had a look of fear and anxiety on their faces.
Upon hearing Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo's footsteps, the doctor and nurse simultaneously looked towards the doorway.
"Are you here for a medical checkup? Come and sit down."
The female doctor, around thirty years old, had dark circles under her eyes that revealed her fatigue, but she still asked Jiang Li in a gentle manner.
"I'd like to find a traditional Chinese medicine doctor to help her recover. Do you know of any here?"
Ye Jingmo took Jiang Li's hand and led her to the female doctor.
"You've come at an inopportune time; it's not Dr. Huang's working hours yet. If you want to see him, come back this afternoon."
When the female doctor heard why Ye Jingmo had come, she wrote down Dr. Huang's working hours on a piece of paper for him.
"Thank you."
Ye Jingmo took the note and walked out of the infirmary with Jiang Li.
"Brother Mo, are you coming over again this afternoon? Maybe we should just skip it. Don't I know my own body? I'm much healthier than before."
After speaking, Jiang Li patted his chest as if to show off his strength.
Ye Jingmo watched Jiang Li's actions with a smile in his eyes, and half-pulled Jiang Li into his arms, "Let the doctor check your body, otherwise how can I be at ease?"
The tone of her voice, tinged with worry and melancholy, made Jiang Li obediently shut her mouth.
If we were to put ourselves in each other's shoes, she would probably be even more anxious than Ye Jingmo if he were to experience physical discomfort.
If Ye Jingmo could put his mind at ease, Jiang Li would be willing to see a doctor, but the thought of the bitter Chinese medicine made her feel a headache coming on.
Jiang Li imagined scenes from palace dramas where women are forced to drink medicine, feeling like she was one of those concubines, and Mo Ge was the dog emperor who gave the order. Her thoughts started to wander off-track.
Ye Jingmo took Jiang Li's hand and led her toward the big screen, where Liang Zi was already standing.
After waiting for a few minutes, Qin Yue and Qin Yu also came over.
"Let's talk about it when we get back."
Ye Jingmo noticed the occasional glances that swept over him. With so many people around, this wasn't a good place to share information, so he addressed the crowd.
The group went down to the second basement level and arrived at Liangzi's room.
When Lin Panpan saw Jiang Li and his group, a bright smile appeared on her face. "Come in quickly."
Xiao An made no attempt to hide her joy, running to Jiang Li's side and asking her to hug her.
Limited to the chairs inside the room, everyone sat on the floor as before, and the whole room was immediately packed.
“The shopping district that Ah Li and I just visited was practically deserted. There were very few goods for sale, and the prices were five or six times higher,” Ye Jingmo said first.
"So expensive! The items sold before were already considered expensive. If this price is increased five or six times, how many points would that cost? I'm afraid only a very small number of people can afford to buy things in the mall." Lin Panpan didn't go out, but couldn't help but sigh when she heard this news.
She had previously stayed at the base, and it's safe to say that among the people there, no one knew the pricing of the goods better than her.
Liangzi earned a considerable number of points, but Lin Panpan still had to be careful with her spending when buying supplies, and she barely managed to make ends meet.
"The cafeteria we went to still sells food like corn cakes and steamed buns, but the prices have increased several times over, just as Jingmo said."
Prices have gone up, and the food portions have shrunk. I just saw someone buy a corn tortilla from the cafeteria, and it was only about the size of their palm. Plus, the cafeteria has limited supplies and only serves one meal a day.
Qin Yue recounted what he had seen and heard in the cafeteria.
"Then we'll have to rely on the food we brought from home to survive. We just don't know how many days we'll have to stay in this underground base, and we're afraid we won't have enough food."
Lin Panpan's eyes were filled with sorrow as she mentally planned how to better manage the remaining supplies and save as much as possible.
"I went to the resettlement area, and it was crowded with people, almost all crammed together. The only decent thing was that there was a bed I could lie down on. I asked one of the staff members, and they said that you could stay there without having to pay points."
I observed the situation there, and as long as there were no fights or extortion, the management wouldn't interfere; those clandestine activities still existed.
Liangzi sighed. Under natural disasters, who can live an easy life?
"It seems the underground base doesn't have much food stored up. So the supplies we have are key to our survival. The situation outside seems stable for now, but I'm afraid things might change."
As Ye Jingmo slowly began to express his thoughts, his cold eyes were filled with contemplation about the future.
"The captain is right. If things stay stable outside, that's fine. We can barely survive by cutting back on food and clothing. But I'm afraid the situation outside might change." Liangzi's brows furrowed into a deep frown.
In fact, what Liangzi and Ye Jingmo were most worried about was the swarm of birds attacking from outside, which would leave them with nowhere to escape.
"Don't worry too much, everyone. The underground base's defenses are quite good. Perhaps we'll be able to go back soon. We're lucky to be alive now."
Seeing the heavy atmosphere in the room, Jiang Li offered a word of comfort.
People in the midst of natural disasters live each day in fear and anxiety; no one can truly relax and live a carefree life.
“Sister Jiang Li is right, we still need to have faith in life,” Qin Yue said, holding Jiang Li’s hand in support.
“Besides food supplies, the only way we can get information about the outside world is by going to the big screen on the first floor. So, we’ll take turns going there one day each, which will make it easier for us to get information.”
Qin Yu sat cross-legged, elbows resting on his thighs, rubbing his face in deep thought.
"Okay, if you have anything to say, just say it in the group chat, or we can get everyone together to talk."
After finishing their conversation, everyone went back to their rooms.
Back inside, Jiang Li took out some dry clothes from her spatial storage and turned to Ye Jingmo, "Brother Mo, would you like to change your clothes?"
Although the weather wasn't extremely hot enough to make him feel like he was burning up, it wasn't exactly cool either, especially since the underground base didn't have a fully ventilated system for safety reasons.
Jiang Li had just gone up to the first floor and found it packed with people. She felt extremely stuffy, and her clothes were soaked with sweat.
"You go change first, I'll go later."
Ye Jingmo's clothes were also soaked with sweat, revealing his muscular chest. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his temples and sat on the sofa waiting for Jiang Li.
After changing her clothes, Jiang Li sat on the recliner she had brought out, turned on a small fan, and relaxed like a lazy bum.
After changing his clothes in the bathroom, Ye Jingmo quickly washed himself with a damp towel and put his clothes away in a bag.
Now they live underground, where there is no sunlight and it's difficult to use a dryer, so they can only store their clothes and wait to wash them when they return to the villa.
Fortunately, Jiang Li had stockpiled a lot of clothes in her space, and she could throw one away every day without ever running out of clothes.
Seeing Ye Jingmo walk over, Jiang Li diligently fanned him.
"Brother Mo, come and cool off."
Jiang Li pushed Ye Jingmo to sit on the recliner, and Ye Jingmo reached out and pulled her up, so Jiang Li sat down in Ye Jingmo's lap.
Ye Jingmo held Jiang Li's hand and simply embraced her quietly.
"what happened?"
Noticing that Ye Jingmo was not in a good mood, Jiang Li asked softly.
"It's nothing, I just feel a little restless for some reason. Maybe it's because I'm not used to being away from home."
Ye Jingmo gently stroked Jiang Li's back and slowly spoke.
Jiang Li didn't say anything, just quietly stayed with Ye Jingmo.
Suddenly, the recliner sank, and Jiang Li felt herself losing her balance and about to fall forward.
Ye Jingmo immediately stretched out his leg to brace against the ground, and the recliner finally stabilized.
"what happens?"
Jiang Li patted her chest and looked to the side, only to meet a pair of innocent eyes.
Pudding tilted her head, her dark eyes looking at Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo, as if she didn't know what they were doing.
Jiang Li looked at Pudding, who was lying on the recliner with her legs spread out and trying to climb onto it. How could she not know what was going on?
"Pudding, sit still."
Following Jiang Li's command, Pudding obediently sat down.
"What, Pudding wants to be a recliner now?"
Jiang Li rubbed Pudding's head and played with it.
As Ye Jingmo watched Jiang Li's cheerful and playful demeanor, the gloom on his face slowly faded away.
He got up and went to the kitchen to start preparing Chinese food.
The conditions were basic, and there was no way to cook stir-fries or similar dishes, so Ye Jingmo asked Jiang Li to take out the food that had been packed earlier, steam it in a pot, and then serve it on the table.
"Wow, stir-fried pumpkin and stir-fried pork with chili peppers." Jiang Li smelled the aroma of the food in the air, walked into the kitchen and closed the door, leaving Pudding staring longingly outside, drooling.
"Why did you come in? It's hot in there."
"I'm worried the food will be too strong in flavor, so it's better to close the door."
Jiang Li looked longingly at the food on the plate, and played with Pudding, forgetting the time. If it weren't for her real hunger, she would have forgotten the time altogether.
"Then I'll go get a chair and we'll eat in the kitchen?"
Ye Jingmo asked Jiang Li.
The kitchen was very small; Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo had to stand very close together when they came in.
Jiang Li shook her head. "This place is too small. Let's go out once the smell dissipates a bit."
To this end, Jiang Li also brought out an air purifier to ensure that the smell inside the house would not spread and arouse suspicion from others.
Once the smell had dissipated, Ye Jingmo brought the food to the table.
Jiang Li couldn't wait to pick up some stir-fried pork with chili peppers with her chopsticks. The slightly spicy taste wasn't unpleasant; instead, it was quite appetizing.
"Ah Li, how many steamed buns, cornbreads, or other food items are left in the space that can be presented to others?"
As Ye Jingmo served food to Jiang Li, he asked her a question.
"We still have plenty of steamed buns and dumplings, but we don't have many of the sushi and egg pancakes we made before."
Jiang Li paused, her hand still holding the food, and after a moment of contemplation, she replied.
"What's wrong? Do you need us to make more?"
"Yes, let's do some more when we have time recently, just in case."
"Okay, there's nothing we can do here anyway, so this is a good way to kill time."
After finishing their lunch, Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo played with Pudding and Jelly for a while to let them release their boundless energy and prevent them from destroying the house.
After all, the houses here are too small; they're not even big enough for Pudding to take a walk in.
-
"Ring, ring."
The alarm clock rings.
After their nap, Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo got up, changed their clothes, and headed to the infirmary.
When the two arrived, there was another patient being seen ahead of them.
After waiting for about ten minutes, Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo finally saw Dr. Huang.
Just like the stereotypes people have about traditional Chinese medicine, Dr. Huang's hair is gray, his face is lined with wrinkles, and he has a kind smile on his face.
"Is the little girl feeling unwell?"
"She had a sudden bout of dizziness and vomiting, and she's not in good health, so I wanted to help her get some treatment."
Listening to Ye Jingmo's words, Dr. Huang took Jiang Li's pulse.
"This young lady seems to have very weak blood and qi; she's probably prone to menstrual cramps."
Dr. Huang said to Jiang Li with a forced smile.
"Yes, I'm also prone to feeling cold in winter."
"This problem will require medication for a period of time to gradually improve. Go and get the medicine."
Dr. Huang wrote the prescription in a flourish and handed it to Ye Jingmo, also specifically telling him about the precautions he needed to take.
Jiang Li looked at the points she had paid on her watch, her heart breaking.
"This medicine is too expensive. Just a seven-day supply is enough to buy two or three chocolates."
"This is for the sake of my health; I have to make the sacrifices I have to make."
Ye Jingmo comforted Jiang Li.
As Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo walked out of the infirmary, they were stopped by someone.
Jiang Li glanced at the person blocking their way. It was a middle-aged woman, burly and thick-waisted, with a mean-looking face. Her ill-fitting clothes gave off a strong odor that made people want to vomit.
In today's unstable world, most people look like this. Jiang Li doesn't judge people by their appearance, but she doesn't like this middle-aged woman. Perhaps it's because her eyes are full of calculation and self-interest, which makes her feel disgusted.
"Miss, sir, could you give me a packet of the medicine you have? I'll pay two points. My granddaughter is so thin and weak, and she's also short of blood and energy. I'd like to help her get some treatment."
The middle-aged woman pulled out the little girl behind her. Her hair was dry and yellow like weeds, clinging tightly to her scalp, and her whole body was thin like a skeleton.
"If you're not feeling well, go to the infirmary and have a doctor take a good look at you. This prescription is for each individual, how can it possibly apply to everyone?"
Jiang Li refused outright.
The middle-aged woman's words almost made her laugh in anger. Selling her a dose of medicine for two points? Did she think she was stupid?
She probably doesn't have the word "saint" written on her face, does she?
"It's obvious without even looking that you have qi and blood deficiency. I just heard the doctor say that you also have qi and blood deficiency. We just wanted to buy a dose, but they wouldn't sell it to us. You're kind people, so please agree to our request."
The middle-aged woman remained relentless, seemingly determined not to leave until Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo agreed.