Epidemiological Investigation

Mingyi, Wei Lan, Shunxing, and Sanqi, four of them, hurriedly ran to the medical hall, each feeling anxious and uneasy, as if a heavy stone was hanging in their hearts, making them restless.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the door of the consultation room, they saw several patients stretching their necks, looking inside. Upon seeing Mingyi, they hurriedly took out their number tags, their faces full of anxiety as they shouted, “Doctor Liu, where’s Doctor Chen? Who will treat us?”

Mingyi leaned close to Banxia’s ear and lowered his voice, “Banxia, from now on, we will stop registration. Finish seeing these few patients, and then close the medical hall for a few days.”

Banxia was an assistant at the medical hall, responsible for receiving patients, managing registrations, and other miscellaneous tasks. At this moment, his face was serious as he nodded, silently thinking that this year had really been unlucky, and their misfortunes seemed endless. The pharmacy had just closed, and now the medical hall was closing as well. Could it be that they had encountered some evil spirit?

Mingyi smiled and, with an air of nonchalance, bowed to the patients in front of him, saying, “Everyone, please don’t worry. For those who already have a number, please follow me upstairs to wait. Doctor Chen is dealing with an urgent matter, but he will return shortly.”

Although the patients were still puzzled, they saw Mingyi, who was usually friendly and reliable, so they followed him upstairs, still half-believing.

Mingyi settled the patients on the benches in the upstairs classroom, letting them sit and rest for a while. He then turned and entered the back yard, speaking to the busy Honghua, “Honghua, quickly prepare some hot tea for the guests.”

Upon hearing Mingyi’s words, Honghua immediately busied herself. She took a few pinches of special tea leaves from the tea jar, placed them in the teapot, and poured hot water into the pot from the stove.

A moment later, the fragrance of tea filled the air. Honghua brought a tray of steaming cups of tea, delivering them to each patient with a gentle voice, “Here, everyone, have a cup of tea to soothe your throats. This tea is specially made at our medical hall. It will help relax and comfort you while you wait.”

The patients took their cups, the pleasant aroma of tea calming their previously anxious minds.

Once everything was in order, Mingyi and Wei Lan entered the consultation room and closed the door behind them. Inside, five diarrhea patients were waiting, each looking somewhat flushed but not in a dangerously ill condition.

Among them was a couple—the man was around thirty, dark-skinned, and furrowing his brow, while the woman, in her twenties, looked slightly frail and was tightly holding a child of about seven or eight. The man, looking extremely anxious, stood up and asked, “Doctor, what is this illness causing our diarrhea?”

Seeing the anxious looks on the patients’ faces, Wei Lan smiled gently and reassured them, “Please don’t panic. I just need to ask a few more questions to figure out the illness. First, before you had diarrhea, did you eat anything unusual, something you don’t usually eat?”

The group looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison, replying, “No, everything was the same as usual.”

Wei Lan paused for a moment, scanning their faces, then asked slowly, “Who else ate with you? Did they have similar symptoms?”

The couple exchanged looks and nodded in unison. The man said, “We three ate together.” The woman added, “Yes, the three of us had the same meal.”

An older woman nearby, who had been quiet, shook her head and said, “I ate, and so did my husband, but he’s fine, no problem at all. What’s going on?”

Wei Lan furrowed her brows slightly, then asked, “What did you all eat?”

The older woman patted her thigh and said, “I just had spring pancakes with vegetables, a regular homemade meal, nothing special.”

A young man who hadn’t spoken up until now scratched his head and said, “I had a bowl of vegetable noodles.”

The man from the couple added, “We had home-cooked food too—stir-fried preserved meat with garlic shoots, green dumplings, and rice.”

Wei Lan listened attentively, nodding occasionally, but in her heart, she felt perplexed. There didn’t seem to be anything common among the foods they ate. And looking at the couple and the older woman, the mystery of the diarrhea was even harder to solve. She realized that to unravel this mystery, she would need to investigate further and gather more information.

As Wei Lan pondered, she suddenly heard a sharp knock on the door. Shunxing’s voice came through, “Mingyi, Wei Lan, Lord Zhang has arrived.”

Mingyi carefully filed away the medical records of the five patients, as these detailed the patients’ conditions and treatment process. If any disputes or conflicts arose later, the records would serve as the only objective evidence. Furthermore, since the cause of the diarrhea was unclear, Mingyi made sure to record everything meticulously, lest he miss any critical details.

The two of them stood up and walked out. They found Lord Zhang standing outside the medical hall, his feet firmly planted at the threshold, unwilling to step inside as if the medical hall contained something dangerous that he wished to avoid.

Before they could approach, Lord Zhang took a half step back, his face unhappy, his brow furrowed. He said, “Mingyi, what’s going on here?”

Mingyi responded respectfully, “Lord Zhang, we are still investigating. We have not yet figured out the cause.”

Lord Zhang’s eyes widened, his tone sharply rising. “Not figured out yet? I give you three days to report back. I have already arranged two rooms in the suburbs to temporarily house the patients. This medical hall is too crowded. If the illness spreads, what will happen?”

“Other medical halls don’t have this problem, but you have run into this issue. It’s really troublesome!”

Lord Zhang finished speaking without waiting for Mingyi’s reply, and behind him, a few expressionless officials in grey-blue uniforms immediately stormed into the medical hall.

Just as Lord Zhang was about to turn and leave, Wei Lan urgently called out, “Wait, Lord Zhang! Three days is simply not enough.”

Lord Zhang stopped in his tracks and turned back to ask, “Then how many days do you need?” Without waiting for Wei Lan to answer, he said decisively, “Fine, I’ll give you five days, but no more! If there’s still no result after five days, not only will the midwife training be canceled, but whether this medical hall can stay open will also be in question!”

With that, Lord Zhang waved his sleeve and strode off.

At this point, the officials, as if escorting criminals, began pushing the patients out.

The anxious man from earlier, seeing his family being forced out, couldn’t contain his frustration and shouted, “Where are you taking us? What have we done wrong?”

His wife tightly held the hand of their seven-year-old child, who was crying inconsolably, his little shoulders shaking.

As they passed Mingyi, the man grabbed his sleeve with a trembling voice and pleaded, “Doctor Liu, what’s happening?”

Seeing this, Mingyi quickly reassured them, “For your health and safety, we need to move you to a single location for treatment. All your food and other needs will be taken care of by our medical hall. Once you’re well, you can return home.”

After the last patient left, the medical hall’s doors were finally closed.

Inside the second-floor classroom, the group sat upright, and the atmosphere was heavy. Wei Lan stood at the podium, with the words “Investigation of Diarrhea of Unknown Cause” clearly written on the blackboard.

Wei Lan began assigning tasks. She looked at Mingyi and Shunxing and said, “We three are going to conduct field investigations.”

She took out a map of Changsha and unfolded it, placing it on the podium. The streets and alleys were clearly visible, resembling a complex web that awaited them to investigate thoroughly.

“According to the latest news from the medical bureau, many new cases have emerged,” Wei Lan’s voice echoed in the classroom. “Our task is to precisely mark the addresses of each patient on this map.”

She lightly tapped the map with her finger, the sound crisp. “This way, we can see the distribution of cases at a glance and deduce the potential source of infection.”

Mingyi and Shunxing exchanged a look, understanding the gravity of the task. They nodded, knowing that only through detailed investigation would they be able to uncover the key clues to solving the mystery of the diarrhea.

She turned to Chen Fuqi and instructed, “Doctor Chen, work with the medical bureau to treat the diarrhea patients. Handling the feces is crucial, so make sure to clean it regularly and bury it with lime. Don’t be careless.”

Chen Fuqi nodded solemnly, his expression serious.

Next, Wei Lan turned her attention to Honghua and Jiuan. “Honghua, Jiuan, you’ll be in charge of logistics, providing food and clothing for the patients. This is an important task.”

Honghua, hearing this, briefly showed reluctance and raised her hand, “Wei Lan, the three of you walking all over Changsha is exhausting. I want to help too. I can read!”

Wei Lan smiled gently and said, “Honghua, your task is actually the most important. Diarrhea is caused by food, which is why I entrusted this responsibility to you. I have great trust in you.”

Honghua understood that her being assigned to logistics was a sign of her ability and importance. She nodded firmly, her eyes determined, “I understand!”

With Lord Zhang giving them only five days, the situation was urgent. As soon as the tasks were assigned, Wei Lan, Mingyi, and Shunxing immediately set out. The three of them stood back to back at the entrance of the medical hall, each holding a map of Changsha and a booklet of patient records.

Wei Lan said, “Time waits for no one. We’ll split into three teams, each responsible for one area. Make sure to visit every detail.”

Mingyi glanced up at the sun, which was slowly setting in the west, and said in a low voice, “Let’s set a time. We’ll meet here before dark. It’s around the shen hour now, and it’ll be dark by the you hour, so we have one hour of daylight left, and we need to head back in half an hour.”

Shunxing and Wei Lan nodded, and they all set off on their separate paths.