Chapter 29: The sorrows of our era

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

When Ren Xiaosu found out that the officer’s name was Wang Congyang, he was shocked. He was very worried that this fellow would start relentlessly pursuing him.

At dawn, Ren Xiaosu opened the clinic’s door and saw Wang Fugui sweeping the grocery store with a broom. When Wang Fugui saw him, he put the broom aside and walked over. He lowered his voice and asked, “What happened last night?”

“It was nothing.” Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “The stronghold’s private army still suspects me and conducted another search.”

Wang Fugui spat in anger. He said indignantly, “They always treat us refugees as thieves. Even after I told them that you had the backing of Boss Luo, they still dared to come and search a second time?”

“Alright, alright, you can stop putting on an act.” Ren Xiaosu looked at Wang Fugui in a speechless manner. “Why are you feeling so disgruntled for me?”

Wang Fugui started to laugh. “You can rest assured that you’ll be alright. I’ve sent a new batch of black medicine into the stronghold.”

Right at this moment, a man sprinted over with a bleeding arm. When the man was still a distance away from the clinic, he shouted, “Doctor! Please save me!”

The man was probably frightened because his arm was bleeding heavily. However, Ren Xiaosu knew at a glance that this man’s wound was nothing serious.

In town, nothing serious meant not having to die.

It had to be said that the refugees had quite a broad outlook on life. Other than matters concerning life and death, nothing was considered too serious.

Ren Xiaosu glanced at him. “Come in. You’re not that badly hurt, so you won’t die. How did you get injured?”

“I was on my way to work at the factory, but I realized that I had forgotten to bring something. I ended up going back home to get it, but I discovered that there was someone in my shack stealing my stuff. I tried to catch him, but he slashed me with his knife,” the man explained. “Doctor, will I really be alright? I’ve already lost so much blood.”

“You’ll be fine,” Ren Xiaosu said calmly.

When the man heard that he would not die, he calmed down a little. Ren Xiaosu took another look at his wound and wondered if he should use the anesthetics that he recently received and had yet to use.

Ren Xiaosu looked at the man and said, “We have anesthetics here. After the injection, you won’t feel any pain while we’re treating the wound.”

“Is that so?” The man was taken aback. “Do I have to pay for it?”

“Of course!” Ren Xiaosu snapped. “Would I give you such an expensive drug if I didn’t need you to pay? Look at the size of your wound. It’s at least ten centimeters long. You’re gonna die from the pain if I sew it up with a needle on a wound this long.”

Ren Xiaosu was actually telling the truth. As the wound was too large, he would have to be very careful when applying the black medicine on it. Otherwise, a single dosage would not even be enough.

So he was truly worried that this man would not be able to tolerate the pain.

At this moment, Xiaoyu came out holding a metallic tray with a syringe and a small bottle of anesthetics on it. The syringe was from the equipment that was left behind in the clinic.

Due to the state of medical treatment available, they did not have any disposable syringes and needles. Therefore, they had to properly disinfect the equipment each time they used them. Based on best practices, this was definitely the wrong way of doing it. But what could Ren Xiaosu do about that?

The best he could do was to disinfect the equipment properly, like sterilizing the needle over a flame for a little longer.

This time, Xiaoyu waited for the needle to cool down before she used it to suture the wound. But just as she was about to use it, she had a dilemma. “Xiaosu, should I administer the anesthetic inside or outside the wound?”

They had never used anesthetics before, so Xiaoyu was wondering whether the anesthetic would be more effective if it was administered into the wound.

Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. He had also not thought about it before. “I’m not sure.”

The man beside them listened to their conversation and nearly pissed his pants. “So you’ve never used anesthetics before? Do you even know how to treat wounds in the first place?”

The man had heard before that Ren Xiaosu could treat wounds. Coupled with Ren Xiaosu’s good reputation in town, he immediately thought of coming here to get himself looked at.

However, it didn’t seem like that was the case!

“So where should I administer it, Xiaosu?” Xiaoyu asked.

Ren Xiaosu saw the patient’s expression and gave it some thought. “Why don’t you administer it on his leg instead? Prevent him from running away afterwards.”

The patient was surprised.

…

“Quest complete. Awarded 1.0 Strength.

“Quest: Successfully treat 20 patients.”

Even though Ren Xiaosu had completed the repeatable quest for the third time by successfully treating 10 patients throughout the day, his gratitude tokens fell from ten to eight. Many of the patients did not give him any gratitude even after they had been successfully treated.

However, Ren Xiaosu felt that his life was extraordinarily enriching.

During the morning, he would attend to patients at the clinic. During the afternoon, he would take over his duties as the substitute teacher at school. At night, he would chat with Xiaoyu and Yan Liuyuan out in the yard. He had tilled the soil in the yard and planned to plant some vegetables. One of his greatest wishes from before was to have a yard he could plant scallions, garlic seedlings, and various vegetables.

Right now, Ren Xiaosu felt that his strength had almost doubled to that of a normal adult male, and his muscle had become denser.

Ren Xiaosu asked his mind palace, “What are my current Strength and Dexterity?”

The voice from the palace answered, “You have a Strength of 5.5 and a Dexterity of 4.1.”

Ren Xiaosu did not say anything. It seemed that his attributes were relatively balanced for now, and it was unlikely that he would suddenly look like a beefcake.

Yan Liuyuan suddenly asked, “Bro, why didn’t you treat all the patients? Every one of them represents money to be made.”

Ren Xiaosu glanced at him. “I don’t know how to treat them.”

“The previous doctor didn’t know how to treat them either, yet he still treated everyone who came to the clinic.” Yan Liuyuan thought about it and questioned him again.

“We can’t learn from him.” Ren Xiaosu explained, “Take a look at his current plight. Did anyone offer to help him when he was in trouble? As people, we need to have inviolable principles.”

“But if something happens to us, others may not help either,” Yan Liuyuan muttered with his head lowered. “Since they won’t help us, why should we be so kind to them? These days, there are a lot of people who can’t wait to see us fall.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at Yan Liuyuan with a serious expression. He knew that Yan Liuyuan was still young and that his values were still in their formative stage. The environment Yan Liuyuan lived in had ensured he would suffer plenty of malice from the outside world.

Ren Xiaosu had to admit that Yan Liuyuan was right. In this era, everyone was selfish. Selfishness was such a natural thing that even the intention to harm others was seen as normal. But Ren Xiaosu had to make Yan Liuyuan understand that they should not be like the others just because it was the norm.

“Liuyuan, remember this.” Ren Xiaosu said seriously, “Don’t let the sorrows of our era become your sorrow as well.”

Yan Liuyuan fell deep into thought while Xiaoyu looked at the two brothers with glistening eyes. She suddenly felt that as long as Ren Xiaosu was with Yan Liuyuan, he would never take a wrong path in his life.

A hubbub burst from outside. Someone exclaimed, “The band is back! Didn’t they go to Stronghold 112? Why did they come back?”

“Right, and that guy who went as their guide isn’t among them anymore!”

Ren Xiaosu looked up and suddenly thought of the cap-wearing girl with Perfect Firearms Proficiency.