Chapter 1615: Dr. Jia

"Dr. Jia, I've brought my mother over. Please take a look."

Chen Ling’s wheelchair reached behind the curtain, and he heard a respectful voice. He didn't go out immediately, but waited quietly behind the curtain, his gaze looking forward through the gap.

The speaker was an ordinary young man wearing cotton clothes. He was hunched over, carrying a woman in her fifties on his back. She was covered in dust, and her sleeves had several patches on them.

"Mm, put her down." Dr. Jia waved his hand casually.

After the young man placed his mother on a chair in the clinic, Dr. Jia walked up, touched her forehead, and then leaned in close to her ear, shouting:

"Ma'am, where does it hurt??"

The young man beside them froze, hesitated, and then spoke up:

"Uh... Dr. Jia, my mother is just sick, she's not hard of hearing, and she's not that old..."

"Do I need you to remind me?" Dr. Jia glanced at him, and the latter immediately shut up.

"I've been... *cough cough cough*... coughing for the past few days, can't sleep at night, feeling cold all over... My heart feels like it's muffled in a drum, I feel like I can't catch my breath..."

"Is there blood in your cough?"

"Yes... it's yellowish-black in the morning, and red the rest of the time."

"How long has it been?"

"More than twenty days... The coughing up blood only started in the last few days." The woman tremblingly reached out her hands, trying to grab Dr. Jia’s hand as if it were a straw to save her life.

"Dr. Jia... Dr. Jia! Is my illness contagious... Aqiang has been taking care of me lately, I'm afraid he'll get infected by me... My younger son was born with a visual impairment, and now that I'm this sick, Aqiang is the only pillar of our family... I can't infect Aqiang!!"

The moment the woman's hand was about to touch Dr. Jia, he pulled his hand back with a *whoosh*, pinching his mask tightly with his index and middle fingers to make it fit more snugly...

Then he sighed:

"Whether it's contagious, it's hard to say... There are so many infectious diseases now, and they all spread in different ways."

"It's said that in the past, our medical standards were good enough to analyze the characteristics of these viruses, develop specific drugs, and take effective precautions... But now... sigh."

Aqiang, standing beside them, grew anxious. He couldn't help but speak up:

"Dr. Jia, could you prescribe some more antibiotics? The last batch is finished, and we can't buy them anywhere else outside... I've been asking around these past few days, and you're the only one who has antibiotics."

"Antibiotics, I do have some." Dr. Jia stood up slowly, hands behind his back.

"And they are some scarce forbidden drugs. They are ten times more effective than ordinary antibiotics and work faster. After your mother takes them, she should feel much better..."

Hearing this, hope lit up in the eyes of Aqiang and his mother. Aqiang was almost ready to kneel to Dr. Jia.

"Dr. Jia, please save my mother!!"

"But this medicine... is quite scarce. I was originally planning to keep it for myself..."

"I understand! I understand!" Aqiang picked up the basket beside him and uncovered the white cloth wrapped tightly over it. Several pieces of dark yellow bread were exposed to the air. "This is the last of our family's supplies... Dr. Jia, please see if this is enough?"

Dr. Jia turned back, saw the few pieces of filthy bread in the basket, and frowned slightly.

He snorted coldly:

"What do I want with these few pieces of broken bread? Take them back! Don't you have anything valuable on you??"

Aqiang froze. He subconsciously felt around his body, but found nothing... After a flash of conflict in her eyes, the woman reluctantly took off a jade bracelet from her wrist and held it out to Dr. Jia with both hands.

"Dr. Jia, this was part of my dowry... Do you think this is enough?" Her voice was extremely hoarse.

Dr. Jia narrowed his eyes, weighed the jade bracelet, and then tucked it back into his pocket.

"Mm, that'll do."

After saying that, he pulled a crumpled ball of newspaper from his other pocket.

As he slowly peeled back the newspaper, a few irregularly shaped objects that looked like pills appeared before Aqiang and his mother. He took one out and placed it in Aqiang's hand.

"Go, pour some water, and have your mother take one right now... For the rest, take two a day. Don't take more, understand?"

"My medicine is very potent. After taking it, she will definitely feel better."

"Okay! Okay!!"

Aqiang excitedly took the medicine, poured a cup of water, and served it to his mother. Then he solemnly folded the newspaper containing the other pills and tucked it into his clothes for safekeeping.

"Thank you, Dr. Jia!"

"No need to thank me. You two go back now, don't let your mother catch a cold."

Aqiang carried his mother on his back again, thanked Dr. Jia repeatedly, and then picked up the basket of bread and left, pushing the door open.

Just as Dr. Jia was about to return to his room to rest, he turned around and saw a figure in a wheelchair appearing silently behind him like a ghost.

Dr. Jia was clearly startled. After seeing it was Chen Ling, he patted his chest and let out a long sigh of relief:

"It's you... How come there's no sound when you push that wheelchair? When did you wake up?"

"Just now." Chen Ling smiled slightly.

"Are you Dr. Jia? Thank you for saving me."

Dr. Jia relaxed as well. He sat down on a chair nearby and spoke unhurriedly, "You really should thank me... Without me, you'd probably have been cremated by now."

Chen Ling nodded slightly: "Does Dr. Jia like gold and jewelry?"

Dr. Jia was stunned. He looked suspiciously at Chen Ling in the wheelchair, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded:

"Yeah, why?"

"Then this gold brick will serve as my token of gratitude."

Chen Ling flicked his sleeve, and a heavy gold brick traced a beautiful parabola in the air, landing in Dr. Jia’s hands...

Dr. Jia hadn't seen clearly what it was at first, but when he actually held a gold brick in his hand, his jaw nearly dropped in shock... A gold brick? Was it really a gold brick?

Was it his imagination, or did the dimensions of this gold brick look a bit like the bricks outside his clinic?

Regardless, this was the first time Dr. Jia had seen such a large piece of gold. He stared blankly at Chen Ling in the wheelchair, unable to speak for a moment.

"I'll borrow this wheelchair for now... That's fine, right?" Chen Ling took the initiative to speak.

"No, no problem."

"Don't tell anyone you've seen me, and don't reveal anything about this gold brick... unless you want to invite trouble." Chen Ling didn't seem to intend to stay here long. He pushed the wheelchair straight to the clinic door, then, as if remembering something, turned back to look at him.

"By the way, do you know which direction the Jinghong Pavilion is in?"