Chapter 66: Very Bad

After most people left the ward, Lan Mo began to slowly unwrap the bandages Qiao Xueli had previously applied, carefully removing the pieces of pine bark used for immobilization.

At this point, his arm was still severely swollen, and it was difficult to determine with the naked eye whether the fracture had been properly reduced.

Unable to rely on observation alone, she had no choice but to carefully feel her way through. Upon examination, she discovered that the fractured area had indeed not been fully reduced.

If not handled properly, this situation could lead to separation displacement, angular deformity, or overlapping displacement of the fracture ends. It might also cause difficulties in healing, resulting in nonunion, delayed union, or malunion…

Fortunately, it was discovered in time. Lan Mo began to gently massage the area using her skilled bone-setting techniques…

Director Qiao gritted his teeth and endured the pain, but eventually, he couldn’t hold back and cried out, “Ah…! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

Seeing her father in such pain, Qiao Xue grew anxious. “Doctor, could you be a little gentler?”

Lan Mo glanced at Qiao Xue and nodded. She then said to Qiao Xueli, “Director Qiao, try to relax a bit. If the reduction is incomplete, your bone may become deformed in the future. Not only would it look unsightly, but it might also ache when the weather changes.”

“Alright, please continue. I can endure it.”

After several minutes of careful adjustments, Lan Mo finally managed to properly reduce the incompletely set area.

“Director Qiao, it’s done now. Let me re-bandage it for you.”

“Thank you, Comrade Xiao Lan!”

As Lan Mo used pine bark to immobilize his arm and wrapped it with gauze, she couldn’t help but wonder why Director Qiao kept switching between calling her “Doctor Lan” and “Comrade Xiao Lan.” Was he trying to build rapport?

Once the pine bark was secured with gauze, Lan Mo turned to Qiao Xue and said, “Come over and help hold your father’s arm. I need to wrap the gauze around his neck now.”

“Okay…”

With Qiao Xue’s assistance, Lan Mo quickly immobilized Qiao Xueli’s arm.

“Director Qiao, your arm has been fully reduced. For now, avoid moving it unnecessarily and let it heal gradually.”

“Alright, thank you, Comrade Xiao Lan! By the way, could the wound near my eye be re-sutured? Will it leave a large scar?”

“Director Qiao, reopening that wound might make it worse. As for scarring, it’s almost certain to leave one…”

If he wanted to avoid scarring, he could ask her brother for help. She certainly wouldn’t offer assistance on her own.

Qiao Xueli felt disheartened. If he really ended up with a large scar, his appearance might become fierce and intimidating, like a villain. What would he do then?

He wasn’t a bad person, and the thought of being mistaken for a villain didn’t sit well with him.

Suddenly, Qiao Xue spoke up, “Dad, you could go to a hospital in the city and ask the dermatology department if they have any scar removal ointments.”

“Right, how could I have forgotten that?”

Lan Mo smiled and said, “Well, you two can chat. I’ll head back to the dormitory now.”

…

After Lan Mo performed the bone-setting procedure for Qiao Xueli and confirmed there were no major issues, she discharged him the following day. Wu Guodong’s family hadn’t arrived, so Qiao Xueli arranged for him to stay in the hospital a few more days.

For the next several days, it was overcast and rainy, with showers lasting from morning till night.

The town hospital was already small, and there weren’t many inpatients to begin with. With the continuous rain, patients with minor ailments were reluctant to venture outside.

In the town, patients with serious or critical illnesses who had money would find ways to seek treatment at hospitals in the city, while those without money could only wait at home to die.

Raindrops pelted against the windowpane with a loud, splattering sound. All the doctors in the office were quietly reading books or writing medical records, making the entire hospital appear desolate and cold.

Doctor Wang Min said to Li Jing, a doctor from the Obstetrics Department of this hospital, “Doctor Li, when people from the town come to your hospital to give birth, how do you handle the stillborn fetuses?”

“Of course, we bury them under the big trees in the backyard!”

Lan Mo shuddered. So that was why those big trees looked so eerie—they were buried with many dead infants underneath?

“Doctor Wang, how do you handle them in your big hospital? And what about the placentas? Are they sold or taken as supplements? Purple placenta is a good thing…”

“In our big hospital, we handle them uniformly. Of course, if the families want to take them back, we have no objections.”

Li Jing whispered mysteriously, “I heard that in some hospitals, obstetricians sell babies who aren’t completely dead to traffickers, tricking the families into believing the child died?”

Wang Min smiled awkwardly. Was this person suspecting her? She had professional ethics, after all.

Lan Mo recalled that such things could only happen in this era. In her previous life, she had been an obstetrician who specialized in delivering babies, and she had never once considered harming an infant.

She was a doctor with professional ethics and would never do anything immoral.

Wang Min retorted, “Doctor Li, if you casually bury the babies under the big trees, aren’t you afraid living in the backyard?”

Li Jing laughed. “I don’t live in the dormitory. Once, a nurse lived there and seemed to hear the cries of babies in the middle of the night. She was so scared she never dared to stay in the dormitory again.”

It wasn’t even dark yet, and they were already telling ghost stories. Were these two doctors deliberately conspiring to scare her?

They knew she lived alone in a room, and right near her house was a century-old tree. Yet they spoke so loudly about such terrifying ghost stories.

Lan Mo quickly spoke up to stop them. “Seniors, let’s not talk about this anymore. Everyone should stop now!”

It was time to get off work, and the rain had stopped. Lan Mo tidied her desk, grabbed her lunchbox, and hurried to the cafeteria.

After getting her meal, Lan Mo prepared to return to her dormitory. As she passed by a large tree, a gust of wind blew, rustling the leaves. Droplets of water from the leaves splattered onto Lan Mo’s head, as if little ghosts were shaking the branches from the tree.

Lan Mo suddenly remembered what Doctor Li had said—they buried stillborn fetuses and placentas under the big trees…

Thinking of this, Lan Mo felt a chill run down her spine, and her scalp tingled. Clutching her lunchbox, she broke into a run. Back in her room, she quickly locked the door and, still holding her lunchbox, entered her space.

Sitting on the sofa, she patted her chest. “Mom, that really scared me…”

Wait, why should she be afraid of ghosts? Logically speaking, wasn’t she a ghost herself? She was just a ghost with a body…

While comforting herself that ghosts were nothing to fear, Lan Mo hurriedly went to steal the newly planted Yangjinhua and hemp flowers from “Medicine to Make You Look Good,” even forgetting to eat her meal.

Yesterday, she had specifically traded ten pounds of braised beef for two medicine mortars and pestles, a medicine grinding mill, and several dozen pounds of yellow wine.

Lan Mo had no intention of selling this Yangjinhua and hemp flowers.

She planned to personally use these two medicines to make anesthetic spray and ointment, which would come in handy when suturing patients’ external wounds.

Especially for those children who like to bite people and are too afraid to get anesthetic injections, applying these medicines externally would be best.

Of course, she also needed to make some anesthetic powder—who knows, she might encounter bad people someday, and a sprinkle of powder could subdue them in one move.

After stealing the medicine, Lan Mo went to check the large cardboard box. The color of those little eggs was getting darker and darker, and she estimated that the silkworm babies would hatch in less than a week.

The farm had only reached level fourteen the day before yesterday, so it seemed she needed to find a way to push hard these next two days.

Bai Wei was also pushing herself hard. Ever since being rejected by Gu Yan’an and then rejecting Gu Yandong herself, she had suddenly come to her senses.

She was already twenty-three, an old maid, and hadn’t even officially dated anyone. She really regretted it to death.

Back then, she had only kept Gu Yan’an in her heart, wasting all these years and squandering her prime youth.

After realizing this, she began casting her net to catch a big fish…

When Gu Yannan returned home from work, he saw a girl lurking near the corner of the compound wall, peeking furtively and craning her neck, as if watching something.

He walked over to take a look—oh, it was her!

Gu Yannan slapped Bai Zhi on the shoulder. Startled, Bai Zhi jumped up with a yelp, “Who? Who’s sneaking up on me?”

Turning around, she saw it was Gu Yannan. “What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, Gu Yannan asked, “What are you peeking at here?”

Bai Zhi remained pressed against the compound wall, staring intently at the two people ahead.

“I’m watching my sister on a date! I don’t know what’s gotten into her—she doesn’t want the perfectly good Yandong, so why does she have to pick some four-eyed nerd?”

Bai Wei was dating? That was truly something to celebrate. Finally, some kind soul was taking this troublemaker away.

Gu Yannan said with a smile, “Your sister is dating already?”

“Should she wait for your Elder Brother to come back instead?”

Gu Yannan waved his hand. “That’s not necessary! Now that your sister is dating, you’re next.” After saying this, he quickly glanced over Bai Zhi, pursed his lips, and shook his head. “But I think you should lose some weight…”

What did he mean? Was this damned Gu Yannan implying she was fat?

“My sister says I have no waist and no chest, and if things go on like this, I won’t find anyone. Sigh… being a woman is really hard!” Bai Zhi sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

“It’s actually not that hard. You just need to find a way to transfer the fat from your belly! Hahaha…” Gu Yannan laughed and walked away.

Only then did Bai Zhi realize what he had meant. That damned Gu Yannan was really awful.