70 - Waiting Line

Everyone waited in line to see the doctor, that was how things typically work at Yide Hospital. There was no appointment system set up in place.

Piwei had been there since 4am in the morning. He looked at his phone, 2pm. The sudden realization of the time made his stomach growled. He had skipped lunch in order to stay in line as he was too poor to pay for scalped tickets.

Just two more people he thought, seeing two gentlemen waiting before the entrance to the doctor's office. He immediately called his wife to bring their mother inside. The elderly woman was too old to stand in the line, and this was the best method to see a specialist.

Suddenly, a woman rushed in front.

"You b**** can't you see I was here first!" Piwei cried out.

"Don't you understand the concept of ladies' first!" The woman cried back. "I was in line, but I needed to go to the bathroom."

"You're a f****** liar, I was standing in line all day and I didn't see you at all!"

The rest of the people waiting from behind were also upset and shorted at the woman. The security guards around the area ignored the scene and continued talking, it was just a typical day for them. They wouldn't get involved unless people start getting physical.

Li Yun bypassed the line waiting and curiously looked at all the people waiting to see the doctor. There were two main systems to see doctors. The first was a waiting line system where patients waited in line to see the doctor. After reaching the front, people would receive a ticket to see a doctor. The people who usually arrived early were usually the scalpers who would resell the tickets at exorbitant prices. The second and newer system was an appointment system where people would set up appointments on an app.

One of the first things Director Hong did when he took over Qinbei Hospital was to replace the wait line system with an appointment based system to remove scalpers and the long lines.

Li Yun thought most hospitals would start using the TeeBee app to set up appointments, but it was not true for all hospitals. It seemed that there were special interests in Yide who preferred the antiquated way of seeing patients. Scalpers inflated pricing on tickets, but there was no way for them to get tickets unless they had insider's help.

Instead of waiting, Li Yun walked into the Yide Hospital like he owned the place. It helped that he had his white coat on. If anyone asked, he was just a flying knife surgeon. He wore masks only in areas with cameras, which were usually at the entrances. After going inside, he could remove the masks in the hallway to look less suspicious, but always putting it back on near the checkpoints between the buildings.

His purpose was there to see if he would be able to exorcise the spirits in the well by finding the doctor involved with the illegal organ harvesting case.

Walking down the long corridor, he passed by a woman in a green dress escorting an elderly woman.

"Help!" A man scream abruptly alerted everyone in the vicinity.

Up ahead, there seems to be some disturbances. A woman in green abandoned the old woman and rushed ahead. There were a mixture of people rushing in and out of the scene. A skinny doctor who looked frightened ran past the old lady, almost knocking her down if it wasn't for Li Yun reaching out to break her fall. Li Yun really wanted to knock the skinny doctor, but he made a beeline toward the exit.

Li Yun's eyes sharply turned to a bulky man rushing toward him from the other side, or rather toward the exit. Li Yun could see traces of blood on a man's knife.

Li Yun took out his white coat and swirled it around into a rope. As the running bulky man was within reaching distance, Li Yun wrapped the white rope around the man's arm and twisted. The knife fell to the ground.

"AH!" The man cried out, but before he could retaliate, his face was already smashed into the ground and his body secured in place by a strong knee.

Li Yun barked out commands to the security guards, who quickly piled on top of the man. Once the security guards cuffed the guy, Li Yun took back his white coat and ran toward the front. Several doctors had already arrived to look at the man, Piwei, who was stabbed once in the stomach and was bleeding heavily.

The two doctors, a cardiologist and a general surgeon, checked the vitals and knife wound. They found it difficult to assess the abdominal trauma without any imaging.

"What happened?" the cardiologist questioned the trembling nurse.

"A patient was meeting with Doctor Nan... He, he was upset that after waiting in line for a day, the doctor only spoke to him for ten minutes," the nurse recited what had happened. "Doctor Nan didn't have time and asked him to leave. The man refused, and he suddenly got irritated! I didn't know what to do!"

"Calm down," the general surgeon said in placating tone.

The nurse nodded and continued, "he took out a knife, so Doctor Nan and I quickly left the room. The man followed, but instead of stabbing Doctor Nan, he missed and attacked this man."

While she was explaining, the general surgeon applied pressure and made sure there was no more blood loss.

"Where's Doctor Nan?" asked the cardiologist.

The nurse shook her head. The coward ran off without caring about his other staff. He had probably run off to the Chief's office to hide out and complain about the patient. The nurse bitterly held back the remark, she knew better than to provoke the attending doctors.

The gurney arrived.

"Are you a family member?" The general surgeon asked the woman in green dress.

The woman was a bit shaken, but she nodded.

"We'll take him to the ER, we should come along."

The woman nodded.

They rushed the man to the ER building next door to access trauma. The woman in green was about to follow, but realized she still had to bring the elderly woman along. She panicked, not knowing where she had kept her mother.

Looking around at the large strange hospital, she felt despair and disoriented.

"Ms. Du," a voice called out to her.

She was relieved to see that a young doctor was pushing the elderly woman in a wheelchair. "Thank you doctor."

"You go on ahead, I'll push the elder Ms. Du along," Li Yun said as he pushed the wheelchair.

Walking past the corridor and into the adjacent building, they arrived to the waiting lobby of the ER. Li Yun was horrified at the condition of the facility. It looked like the maintenance staff had been on vacation for the past 5 years, no 10 years. Nothing looked clean and everyone was slow, even when things seemed pressing and there were barely any seats for patients.

This was partially due to the long waiting line. It was often faster to see the doctor in the ER. However, judging from the environment, it wasn't that much faster. Li Yun wasn't sure how a facility like this was able to pass inspection. But then again, he shouldn't be surprised.

He rolled the wheelchair by Ms. Du, whose husband was being operated on. Li Yun peaked into the operating room through the half glass door, and sighed in relief. At least the surgeon knew what he was doing. Judging from the surgeon's ability, Piwei should be able to make it.

"Your husband is in good hands," Li Yun said to calm Ms. Du. "He will make it through."

"Thank you again doctor for bringing my mother along," Ms. Du bowed as she spoke her sincere welcome.

"It's not a problem," said Li Yun as he handed to her a sheet of neatly written prescription on a napkin.

"What's this?" asked the woman in green.

"It's a supplement for Ms. Du," said Li Yun. "It should help to alleviate the diarrhea, but more importantly, you shouldn't discuss heavy topics with the elder Ms. Du."

He had checked the elderly woman's pulse briefly and she seemed to be suffering from Yangming diseases. Yangming diseases were usually associated with the large intestine and the stomach. The elderly woman was suffering from stomachache, constipation and diarrhea. It wasn't a recurrent issue, but it had been happening more recently.

The elderly woman was probably worried about the state of the household. The family didn't look like they had much, and her health was failing her. She didn't want to leave the world seeing her family still living in poor condition.

Li Yun called Lao Yi Bao for assistance, and they came up with a modified version of the Baihu Tang. With the instructions written down, Li Yun passed it to Ms. Du.

Ms. Du read through the list that contained round-grained non-glutinous rice, licorice, reed rhizome, and tofu. Some of these were common ingredients, and there wasn't anything odd. Traditionally, the recipe called for raw gypsum, but it might be difficult to find. Some brands of tofu use gypsum as an additive to increase the calcium content, and was a good replacement for raw gypsum.

"Try to feed her a balanced meal, something light. Use this prescription for a week, and reduce the amount by a third the following week," said Li Yun. "By the third week, she should be feeling better."

The woman thanked Li Yun and left to see her family. Li Yun stayed in the ER and chatted with the nurses and staff in the ER. He wanted to know who was the most impressive doctor and surgeon, and who was considered the worst.

Unfortunately, Li Yun wasn't able to find much information. He was going to need some help.

"Hey Ju De," Li Yun called.

"What's up?" Ju De was taking his mid-day nap in bed, that was the luxury of being a Sunday. His girlfriend shifted from his side, and began to wake up.

"Have you heard anything about the illegal organ operation on Caoben?" Li Yun inquired.

"Not much, do you need help?"

"The doctor involved with the case is still on the loose. Can you look into it?"

"Sure, classes are getting stale. I'll call Lao Bu for the details."

Ju De hung up the phone, and his girlfriend glared at him.

"What?"

"You're helping Li Yun again?" she asked.

Ju De nodded.

"Please don't stab the guy if you find him."

Ju De laughed.