Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 282 Return Gift
Chen Fan followed Dr. Lu to the inpatient department and immediately smelled a strong medicinal odor.

It wasn't the smell of disinfectant found in hospitals in later generations, but rather the aroma of a mixture of different Chinese herbs.

Dr. Lu didn't explain much to him. After arriving, he went to find the nurse on duty and took the medical records to make rounds together.

The nurse, on the other hand, seemed quite delighted by Chen Fan's arrival, chattering away quietly beside him.
"This belongs to the cement factory. He twisted his ankle while moving it and fractured it."

"This is from the Red Star Brigade. He's infected with schistosomiasis. Normally, there's no cure for this disease in its late stages; we can only take medicine back to prolong the illness. But he doesn't want to die, so he's been lying here. There's nothing we can do."

"This one is from Bailang Lake Brigade. He fell into the water while fishing, but he was unlucky and fell through the gap in the boat. He broke four ribs. The brigade's barefoot doctor couldn't treat him, so he had to be sent here."

"this is……"

As Chen Fan listened to her describe the illness, he took the patient's pulse at Dr. Lu's instruction. Combined with reviewing the medical records, he quickly got a sense of what was going on.

Although there were only a dozen or so patients here, their conditions were quite complex. Unlike decades later, when over a hundred people sat in the outpatient clinic all suffering from colds and coughs, this was because many common diseases of that era were nipped in the bud.

In that era, apart from some infectious diseases, the most common diseases were hepatitis and gastritis, followed by various injuries.

Some had broken legs, some had broken arms, and some had their heads smashed.

Chen Fan walked around the inpatient department and, after removing duplicate cases, collected pulse patterns for eight different diseases, ranging from injuries to illnesses. Combined with the more than thirty patients he had seen that morning, he had gained some preliminary understanding of pulse diagnosis.

After Dr. Lu finished checking on all the patients, he waved to Chen Fan, signaling him to follow, and then walked out.

Once outside the inpatient ward, he asked softly, "How are you feeling?"

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "Not bad. I learned more than ten pulse types today. It was quite a fruitful day."

Doctor Lu snapped out of his daze and looked at him in surprise. "You've learned more than ten kinds of pulse patterns? You've mastered all the pulse patterns we encountered today?"

Chen Fan grinned. "Uh, I guess so."

After a moment's hesitation, Dr. Lu extended his hand and said, "Let me take a look."

Chen Fan placed his fingers on it, and his first reaction was that the patient was short of breath and had a weak pulse. Then he realized that it was normal for Dr. Lu to be short of breath and have a weak pulse, since he was over 80 years old.

He probed again, and after a while, he suddenly felt something out. He turned to look at Doctor Lu and said in surprise, "It seems like you have some problems with your liver and kidneys."

Doctor Lu gave him a strange look, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and slowly walked forward with his hands behind his back.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and followed slowly behind.

Just as they were about to enter the outpatient department, Dr. Lu turned around and said, "Besides pulse diagnosis and acupuncture, would you like to learn something else?"

Chen Fan's eyes darted around slightly. "What?"

Doctor Lu smiled and said, "It's massage and bone setting."

Chen Fan immediately beamed with joy, "Great!"

Traditional Chinese medicine is also divided into departments, and they are very detailed, including internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, orthopedics, acupuncture, massage, rehabilitation, etc.

With so many subjects, Chen Fan couldn't possibly learn them all. He only needed to get a general understanding of the material and master some basic skills to improve himself through reading.

The most basic skills are pulse diagnosis, acupuncture, trauma treatment, massage, and bone setting.

I already know how to treat external injuries.

Cough cough, although he learned it from a veterinarian, many aspects of wound care are the same. Bandaging a human wound is no different from bandaging a horse's wound. Look how well he treated Jiang Lili.

Therefore, he only needs to learn the other four.

Originally, Master Lu had arranged for him to learn pulse diagnosis and acupuncture from Doctor Lu. He was also thinking about where to learn massage and bone setting, but unexpectedly, Doctor Lu had them. What a coincidence!

Seeing Chen Fan's delighted expression, Dr. Lu smiled and said, "Don't misunderstand, it's not that I know massage and bone setting, it's another doctor in the hospital named Dong Qingzheng, who is an orthopedic surgeon. I can only take you to see him. Whether he teaches you or not depends on him."

Chen Fan said "Oh" without minding, and nodded with a smile, saying, "In any case, thank you."

Dr. Lu smiled and continued walking forward.

A short while later, they arrived at the orthopedic clinic, where an elderly doctor in his sixties was holding someone's arm. Upon seeing Dr. Lu enter, the doctor immediately smiled and said, "You've come!"

The patient instinctively followed his gaze.

Just then, Dr. Dong's hand suddenly trembled, and a cracking sound was heard, followed by a cry of pain from the patient, "It hurts!"

He quickly pulled his hand back, twisted his right arm, and was about to speak when he suddenly realized what he had done, stood up and stretched his arm. "Huh? Huh? That's it?"

Dr. Dong picked up his pen and wrote a prescription, saying without looking up, "You're not completely healed yet. I'll prescribe two plasters for you. Apply one plaster a day, and you'll be cured after two applications."

Then she tore the prescription off a whole sheet of paper, handed it to him, and said, "Okay, go get your medicine. You don't need to come back for a follow-up appointment."

The man took the prescription and left happily.

Only then did Doctor Lu point to Chen Fan and say, "His name is Chen Fan. He was introduced by Fourth Master and is here to learn pulse diagnosis and acupuncture from me."

Upon hearing this, Doctor Dong immediately stood up and looked at Chen Fan in surprise. "I've heard of Teacher Chen's reputation, but I didn't expect he would have a connection with Fourth Master?"

Chen Fan bowed slightly and smiled, "I learned calligraphy from Fourth Master, and I also learned the basics of medicine from him."

At this moment, Doctor Lu said, "Just keep it to yourself, don't spread it around."

Doctor Dong immediately chuckled and said, "That's definitely not the case. I understand Fourth Master's situation."

Doctor Lu looked at Chen Fan again and said to Doctor Dong, "Young Chen has good talent. He learned basic pulse diagnosis in just one morning with me..."

Before he could finish speaking, Doctor Dong's eyes widened. "Really?" Doctor Lu smiled and continued, "He has already memorized 'Binhu Pulse Study,' but he is not familiar with pulse patterns. As long as I feel the pulse, I can tell him what kind of pulse it is, and then compare it with the records in the book. He learns it quickly."

Doctor Dong was still somewhat incredulous. Looking at Chen Fan standing to the side with a smile, he couldn't help but shake his head, "That's too fast."

Dr. Lu ignored his words and said directly, "I think he has good talent, so I recommended him to you so he can learn massage and bone setting from you."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Of course, it's up to you whether you accept it or not, but you absolutely cannot let it interfere with your work."

Doctor Dong immediately understood what he meant: teaching only massage and bone setting meant that he wouldn't be teaching any secret techniques, just some common things. He would be considered a disciple in name only, or even less than a disciple in name only.

In that case, there's not much to consider.

He smiled and nodded, "Since he was recommended by Fourth Master and personally brought over by you, how could I not teach him?"

Then he looked at Chen Fan and said, "Except for Sundays, I work here every weekday. If I'm not here, I'm making rounds in the inpatient ward. You can come find me whenever you have time."

Chen Fan rubbed his hands together and chuckled, "I'm free today."

Dr. Dong didn't hesitate and immediately nodded, "Okay, then you'll stay by my side and watch over me now."

Thus, Chen Fan was transferred from internal medicine to orthopedics.

……

A week has passed in the blink of an eye.

April has ended, and it is now May 1st.

This day marked the first market day after the Nanhu Commune officially reopened its farmers' market.

In the educated youth compound, Master Liu appeared again, driving his horse-drawn cart.

He and Chen Fan sat together on chairs under the eaves, watching four girls carry baskets onto a cart. Inside the baskets were stacks of bundled bowls and plates, which were what they were going to sell that day.

Master Liu, smoking a cigarette and looking at the baskets on the mule cart, asked, "Why aren't you going over today?"

Chen Fan crossed his legs and listened to Zhang Cuie's voice coming from the loudspeaker in the village ahead. Finding nothing wrong, he smiled and said, "Going to see it twice is enough. Anyway, there's nothing to buy. As for selling goods, Yang Ju and the other two can handle it."

That's right, only Yang Ju and two others went this time; even Jiang Lili wasn't going.

It has been almost forty days since the last market day. During this time, in addition to firing some bricks and pottery shards for building houses, as well as squat toilets ordered by others, Jiang Lili and her friends have made several pottery tablewares almost every day, preparing to sell them at the next market day.

Over the past few days, they have accumulated more than 100 sets. After the announcement of the resumption of farmers' markets, they have been tying these pottery tablewares together with straw and putting them in baskets. They have collected exactly 100 sets, just waiting to take them to the market today.

Chen Fan's only role was firing the kiln; even applying the glaze was done by Jiang Lili and the other three. He had originally planned to give up a bit more profit, since he felt it was a bit like taking advantage of him to take 60% of the profits when he was just throwing in some firewood and starting the fire.

He would never do anything to take advantage of a girl.

As soon as he started, all four of them firmly expressed their opposition.

Yang Ju even brought up her father, Captain Yang, saying that they were taking more than 40% because Chen Fan was the "master craftsman" and they were at most helpers. If they were in the kiln outside, they would only be entitled to a lowly worker's wage, working from dawn till dusk, one yuan a day, not a penny more, let alone any dividends.

In the end, both sides compromised and agreed to maintain the 40/40 split. The only change was that, as previously agreed, the money from the sales would no longer be divided equally, but rather according to the quantity each person produced.

As a result, the number of pottery sets produced this time was exactly the same for the four people.

Last time, Yang Ju and the others weren't familiar with the process, which allowed Jiang Lili to take the lead. Now that their skills have caught up, the number of pottery blanks they made is about the same. After subtracting a dozen or so sets that weren't brought, we get the average, just like last time.

Furthermore, when they learned that Chen Fan was not going to the market, Jiang Lili stayed behind, citing her foot injury as just healed. Huang Ying and the others then volunteered to take the pottery to the market to sell.

Now it's time to prepare to set off.

Soon the baskets were loaded onto the cart. Master Liu threw away his cigarette butt, stood up, waved, and drove off in his mule cart. Yang Ju and the other two followed behind in their donkey cart, swaying leisurely out of the courtyard gate.

After they had all gone far away, Jiang Lili turned around and looked at Chen Fan, then suddenly smiled.

Chen Fan looked at her and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Jiang Lili pursed her lips. "It's nothing."

There's really nothing wrong, I just wanted to laugh.

Chen Fan chuckled twice, then waved his hand, "Come here, I have something for you."

Jiang Lili looked back at the open courtyard gate, quickly followed, and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

Chen Fan returned to his room, turned around, and waved to her, "Come in."

Jiang Lili pursed her lips, puffed out her cheeks, and walked straight in without hesitation.

Once inside the room, she saw Chen Fan take a small cloth bag from the innermost cabinet, hand it to her, and say, "This is for you."

Jiang Lili was stunned for a moment, "What is this?"

As he spoke, he had already taken it in his hand. When he opened it, he found two leather belts.

The leather was crocodile skin, and the buckle was exquisite purple copper. She recognized at a glance that Chen Fan had hammered it out himself the day before yesterday while burning charcoal in a stove.

She looked up at Chen Fan in surprise, "W-why did you suddenly give me this?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "You helped me transcribe the manuscript, so of course I have to return the favor."

(End of this chapter)