Chapter 219: Giving Up on Oneself
Xia Qiuming’s eyes widened. "Su Gu, do you know what’s wrong with my uncle? Is it serious? Are you confident?"
His father and uncle were away for years at a time and rarely got together, so he had no idea his uncle was sick.
"Well, I can’t say for sure. We’ll have to do a gastroscopy first to find out. I’ll do my best."
"Su Gu, thank you!" Xia Qiuming said, looking at Gu Jiaojiao gratefully.
Gu Jiaojiao waved her hand. "The patient’s priority is detoxification, followed by another gastroscopy. When I have time, I’ll develop a new medication. That’s the only way to ensure a full recovery."
She looked at Uncle Xia. "Mr. Xia, your stomach pain is usually quite severe, isn’t it? Take two of these stomach pills first. They’ll stop the pain immediately, no matter how bad it is. After the gastroscopy, we’ll know if you need surgery."
Uncle Xia’s smile became much more sincere. Though very weak, he thanked Gu Jiaojiao profusely.
"Little Divine Doctor, thank you. If it weren’t for you, the combination of my wounds and this stomach pain would have killed me."
"You’re too kind, Uncle Xia. Go ahead and take the medicine." Gu Jiaojiao took a bottle of stomach medicine from her backpack and handed it to Xia Qiuming.
Despite not having slept all night, Xia Qiuming wasn’t the least bit disheveled. He looked as ethereal as a banished immortal, detached from the world.
"Su Gu, my uncle’s condition isn’t too serious, is it?" Xia Qiuming asked anxiously as he took the medicine.
"First, give him the medicine, then start the IV. I’m going to perform acupuncture on Mr. Jiang, and after that, I’ll treat your uncle."
Xia Qiuming nodded and held the cup of water to his uncle’s lips. Xia Zhenggang opened his mouth and obediently took the medicine.
He’d had stomach pain for years, but it had never hurt as severely as it did after this injury.
The tearing pain was so agonizing he felt it would be better to be dead. Moreover, medical supplies at the border were limited.
All he could do was grit his teeth. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead from the pain, but he was too embarrassed to mention it.
After the surgery, a sharp pain shot through his stomach, forcing him to curl into a ball. It was so intense he could barely breathe.
Yet no matter how much it hurt, he never uttered a groan. Even his own nephew didn’t know he suffered from stomach pain.
’But this Divine Doctor Su Gu knew. Does that mean I can really be saved?’
’It wasn’t that I didn’t have time for check-ups, but every time I did, they told me it was nothing serious.’
’Every time, the doctors just prescribed painkillers. For the first two years, they worked, but then they became useless.’
’It even made me think I had some kind of terminal illness.’
A few minutes later, the pain did indeed stop. Uncle Xia breathed a sigh of relief and promptly fell asleep.
While Gu Jiaojiao performed acupuncture on Jiang Ruihao, Xu Qingxu stood beside her to observe.
She even offered a few pointers as she worked, from which Xu Qingxu benefited greatly. "Divine Doctor Su Gu, am I stealing your techniques?"
Gu Jiaojiao chuckled. "You’re joking, Senior Xu. I should be the one asking you to be my master. Acupuncture just happens to be my strong suit."
A flicker of joy crossed Xu Qingxu’s eyes, but he feigned concern and sighed.
"Ah! I’m hardly worthy of being your master. If Comrade Xiao Su were willing to become my disciple, I would wake up from my dreams laughing."
Xu Qingxu was speaking from the heart. Having a disciple with such extraordinary talent was something well worth bragging about.
In his entire life, he had only accepted five disciples, three of whom were from the Xu Family itself. It wasn’t that he didn’t want more, but that he had never found a suitable candidate.
Most aspiring students of Chinese medicine were simply handed over to his eldest son; they weren’t worthy of his personal instruction.
Gu Jiaojiao was indeed incredible when it came to surgery, but she was still lacking in the field of Chinese medicine.
’I learned acupuncture from my maternal grandfather, and at the time, I only used it to stop bleeding in emergencies.’
’After coming to this world, Grandpa Gu gave me a precious medical book, and from it, I became self-taught.’
’But if I had a master of Chinese medicine to guide me, my progress would be twice as fast with half the effort.’
’He Shen Yi and Divine Doctor Jiang were both less skilled than I am, so naturally, I don’t want to study under them. And while Xu Qingxu is famous throughout the Empire, I want to observe him a bit more.’
After finishing Jiang Ruihao’s acupuncture treatment, Gu Jiaojiao saw that Xia Zhenggang was asleep, so she went to call Su Shuochi before grabbing breakfast.
Su Shuochi clutched the phone, unwilling to hang up, but Gu Jiaojiao was extremely busy and quickly explained her situation in just a few sentences.
Su Shuochi also knew they couldn’t use a military line for long, so he quickly filled her in on what was happening back home and what he planned to do that day.
He told her he was having a phone installed at the new house. By the time she called him that evening, he would have the new number for her.
In just a few minutes, Gu Jiaojiao learned a lot. For instance, her Second Brother Gu was teaching Dong Qiming how to make *jianbing guozi*.
Dong Qiming and his sister wanted to set up a small stall to sell the savory crepes, but their grandfather wouldn’t allow it.
In the end, Second Brother Gu came up with an idea: the stall would be in Su Qinchun’s name, with Dong Qiming making the crepes, and the two of them would be partners.
Second Brother Gu and Mr. Gu had moved their stall to the gate of the steel factory outside the residential compound, and business was booming.
Mr. Su and Su’s mother had also moved their cold noodle stall outside the compound, and their business was doing much better than before.
As a result, the Su and Gu families were still eating together, with Mrs. Gu and Eldest Brother Gu handling the cooking.
Mr. Sheng had confined Sheng Yueyue to the house, so she had dropped her act and was now just wallowing in self-pity.
She wouldn’t greet her two older brothers, and instead would always taunt them with passive-aggressive comments.
Sheng Shiwu had grown weary of Sheng Yueyue. When he learned that Su Shuochi and his family had moved, he went and complained miserably to Su’s mother and Mrs. Gu.
He dreaded going home, afraid that Sheng Yueyue would harass him.
Both mothers sympathized with him and kindly allowed him to pay for board and eat his meals with them.
Sheng Shiwu was a diligent young man and a smooth talker. Su’s mother and Mrs. Gu had been worried sick about Gu Jiaojiao, but his reassurances put them much more at ease.
At dinner, Sheng Shiwu took his first bite, closed his eyes in satisfaction, and declared dramatically,
"This is the life! Meat and rice at every meal. It satisfies the very soul."
His words whetted the appetites of Su’s mother and Mrs. Gu. They both eagerly raised their chopsticks to eat, and the atmosphere instantly brightened.
Even the lovesick Su Shuochi found his appetite stimulated. He was telling Gu Jiaojiao all this to put her mind at ease about her family.
And sure enough, Gu Jiaojiao smiled happily hearing all this. When she hung up the phone, she was in an exceptionally good mood.
Breakfast in the field was plain congee and steamed buns, but she had food in her personal space. She stealthily pulled some bread from her backpack and passed it to Xia Qiuming and Xu Qingxu.
There was none for anyone else. The bread had no discernible scent, so no one else took notice.
After a quick breakfast, Gu Jiaojiao entered the ward again to perform acupuncture on Xia Zhenggang.
The other doctors in the war zone were swamped; the wounded were being brought in batch after batch.
Unless a patient was critical, Xia Qiuming and Gu Jiaojiao were not to be disturbed. But when a particularly difficult case came in, Xia Qiuming would be asked to perform surgery.
Xia Qiuming and his students were busy all day, constantly on their feet. Elder Rong was also busy coordinating the doctors’ work schedules.
The three patients in Mr. Han’s ward were thus left in the care of Gu Jiaojiao and Xu Qingxu.
But there was always one idle person who would show up just to be a nuisance, and that person was Jiang Ruyan.