Chapter 275: Getting Better

Chapter 275: Turning for the Better

Jiang Leyin had already started IVs for the commander and the Political Commissar, and their symptoms had improved—not as bad as before.

The Political Commissar, concerned about the others, weakly asked, "How are the others? Are they all okay?"

"Rest assured, Political Commissar," Jiang Leyin replied. "Clinic doctors have come to assist and got the others on IVs."

"That’s good," the Political Commissar said.

He meant to ask more about the specifics of the poisoning incident.

However, due to the exhaustion from vomiting and diarrhea earlier, he let it go for now after hearing Jiang Leyin’s reassurance and didn’t press further.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiaoxiao also began setting up IVs for the others.

Mixing meds and inserting IVs were simple.

The bigger issue, as Jiang Leyin had mentioned, was the shortage of medicine.

The fastest the backup meds could arrive was in three hours.

This place was remote and thinly populated, with cities spread far apart—nothing they could do.

However, according to traditional Chinese methods, bloodletting and acupuncture might help too. Ye Xiaoxiao debated using them.

There were still a dozen-plus people who hadn’t received IVs, all of whom Ye Xiaoxiao had identified as having the mildest poisoning symptoms.

But mild symptoms didn’t make their suffering any less real—they were still miserable lying there.

"Do it your way," Lu Hanchuan said firmly. "If anything goes wrong, I’ll take responsibility."

This was a huge screw-up. Though it had nothing to do with Lu Hanchuan’s management, since it happened under his leadership, the buck stopped with him.

One of the soldiers lying on the ground added, "Dr. Ye, if it’ll make this misery stop, I’ll do anything."

The reason they were lying on the ground wasn’t to mistreat the patients—it was simply because there weren’t enough beds, so they had to improvise.

"Alright then, let’s try my method," Ye Xiaoxiao said.

She opened her medical kit and began treating them one by one with bloodletting.

Needling the right spots and releasing a few drops of blood.

By the time the backup meds got there, the situation had mostly stabilized.

Ye Xiaoxiao put the traditional treatment cases on IVs.

They would be observed for a day. If their condition didn’t worsen by the next day, they’d be in the clear.

Originally, the commander and the Political Commissar were only supposed to stay one night, but due to this incident, they got stuck staying two more days.

For the serious consequences caused by the raw soy milk, the cafeteria staff were chewed out and retrained, with their pay docked.

No harsher punishment was given—after all, it was an accident.

Before leaving, the Political Commissar praised the base’s medical team, giving Jiang Leyin a special shout-out.

Over the past two days, Jiang Leyin was responsible for taking care of the senior officer and the Political Commissar, scoring major brownie points.

Li Zhen overheard the Political Commissar praising Jiang Leyin and muttered, "Give me a break! Xiao Xiao, you're the one who worked the hardest. She only had two people to look after, while you handled twenty or thirty!"

Ye Xiaoxiao didn’t argue about it. She was just an intern and would leave in a few months, while Jiang Leyin was probably here for the long haul.

Jiang Leyin was playing it smart by cozying up to the higher-ups.

Besides, the mass poisoning incident hadn’t resulted in any deaths, so no point making a big deal out of it.

What Ye Xiaoxiao really wanted to say was that while getting along with the leadership was important, winning over the regular folks was just as important—it all depended on personal choice.

Once the Political Commissar and the senior officer were gone, the base settled back into its usual quiet.

Ye Xiaoxiao’s packages arrived one after another. Song Guangjing had mailed her a lot of traditional Chinese medicine.

She sorted the herbs and placed them in a corner of the clinic.

Nobody would swipe them, so no worries about theft.

Still, not many interns would shell out their own cash like this.

Zhao Chunhua was finally convinced Ye Xiaoxiao was just here for the experience.

Apart from Song Guangjing, Miao Cuifang and her husband, Ye Changqing, and Ye Changning had also sent her tons of food and supplies.

The young soldier in charge of delivering letters and packages already knew Ye Xiaoxiao by sight because she received parcels almost every day.

This soldier had also been one of the poisoning victims last time and was happy to do it.

What mattered was that whenever Ye Xiaoxiao received edible items in her packages, she would share them with others.

Her rep around the base shot up fast, putting her at the top.

Ye Xiaoxiao also wrote a letter to Ye Changning, telling him if he had time, he ought to swing by—the sheepskins here were a steal.

No reply yet, likely because the letter hadn’t reached him.

Actually, the military base had telephones, as did the research institute, but Ye Xiaoxiao never used them.

Too much hassle—every call here was tapped.

Though Ye Changning had no trade secrets, Ye Xiaoxiao still didn’t want to stir up trouble. She wouldn’t touch the base’s phone unless it was an emergency.

By late October, it had cooled off a bit.

But the days were still baking hot, while nights called for heavy blankets.

One night, before Ye Xiaoxiao even dozed off, she noticed flashes of lightning outside the window.

Rain’s coming!

We’re finally getting rain!

Li Zhen and Yang Juan had also noticed the unusual weather. Like Ye Xiaoxiao, they were thrilled, but their first reaction was to take containers outside to collect rainwater.

Ye Xiaoxiao had no experience with this, but she noticed that Li Zhen and Yang Juan had placed stones in their buckets for weight.

"So if the wind kicks up, the buckets stay put."

Ye Xiaoxiao: "If it's windy, won't it just be all sand?"

Li Zhen: "No big deal, it'll settle out. I hope the rain here comes down hard—we haven’t had a proper rain all summer."

As if answering Li Zhen’s prayer, the rain arrived fiercely, with a good amount of rain.

Ye Xiaoxiao checked her watch—it had been raining for twenty minutes. Though the downpour wasn’t consistently heavy, it kept up a steady drizzle.

They waited until the next day to check the buckets in the yard.

The buckets weren’t full, but they were over half full.

What made Li Zhen even happier was that with this rain, the strain on the water supply would ease significantly.

Ye Xiaoxiao: "Does this mean we can actually bathe?"

These days, she had only managed to give herself sponge baths and wash her hair. A proper bath was a luxury due to water shortages. At one point, she even considered cutting her hair short.

Now, she kept her hair pinned up under her cap, leaving it up unless absolutely necessary.

Li Zhen examined the bucket—a layer of fine yellow sand had settled at the bottom, but after settling, the upper layer was clear.

"We'll need to boil it, otherwise it won’t be clean."

Ye Xiaoxiao was already scooping with a ladle to take out the clean water.

Yang Juan, now accustomed to life here, wasn't big on frequent bathing.

He offered the water from his bucket for the two women to use.

After all, he had borrowed his share of things from Ye Xiaoxiao these days.

Least he could do was return the favor.

So Yang Juan started heating the water without being asked.

Li Zhen teased, "Well look at that. This is the first time he hasn’t immediately thought of Dr. Jiang when there's something nice to share."

Ye Xiaoxiao looked up. "Yang Juan likes Dr. Jiang?"

Li Zhen: "He does, but Dr. Jiang isn't into him."