Chapter 56 Helping to stop the bleeding / Visiting the black market again

Less than two minutes after Qian Xiaolan inserted the needles, the blood on the man’s arm finally stopped. The man’s wife wept with joy and kept bowing to Qian Xiaolan in thanks. A nurse rushed over, just in time to see this scene. She curiously asked what happened, and when she learned that the man’s arm bleeding had stopped, she was surprised. She was about to ask how it had stopped when she saw Qian Xiaolan’s needle-removing movements. The nurse’s face lit up instantly. She grabbed Qian Xiaolan’s hand and excitedly said, “Comrade, can you also use acupuncture to treat patients who keep having nosebleeds?”

Qian Xiaolan shook her head, “It can only alleviate it, not stop it immediately.”

Hearing this, the nurse immediately pulled her away. “It’s okay if it can alleviate it. Come on, we’re so worried. We have five or six doctors in our hospital, and they’ve all tried, but the blood is still flowing like a waterfall.”

“Hey, these people are really something. They didn’t know how to be careful when driving the boat. The whole boat hit a reef. They’re lucky that there were other boats nearby and rescued them. Otherwise…” Qian Xiaolan understood. No wonder the man was drenched. She thought, “Could Wenxuan be this nurse’s descendant? Otherwise, why is he so talkative?”

Qian Xiaolan was dragged into a ward. She saw a man lying on the bed with a towel on his forehead. A doctor was just stuffing cotton into his nostrils, which were instantly stained red.

“Doctor Chen, this comrade knows acupuncture. She stopped the bleeding of that man outside just now. Let her try it on this patient.”

Doctor Chen looked up. Qian Xiaolan met his gaze calmly, “I can’t guarantee that it will stop the bleeding immediately, but it can definitely alleviate it.”

Doctor Chen looked at Qian Xiaolan for a while. Seeing that she was always calm and composed, he stepped aside.

Qian Xiaolan stepped forward and disinfected the Hegu, Yingxiang, Shaoshang, and other acupoints. She took needles and inserted them one by one. After about five minutes, the patient’s bleeding symptoms had indeed lessened. The nurse was overjoyed, and a look of surprise flashed in Doctor Chen’s eyes.

Qian Xiaolan, however, frowned and gently pressed on several acupoints. After another two minutes, the patient’s nosebleed finally stopped. Qian Xiaolan breathed a sigh of relief and removed the needles.

“Thank you, comrade. Your skills are truly amazing!” Doctor Chen said, then immediately cleaned the patient’s nasal cavity and applied medicine.

Seeing that the tense atmosphere had eased, Qian Xiaolan said, “Hello, Doctor Chen! I’m Qian Xiaolan, a military wife. I’m currently living on Xiya Island. I want to take the barefoot doctor exam. Is there anything I need to know?”

Doctor Chen was surprised, “You’re not a practicing doctor at any hospital?”

Qian Xiaolan shook her head, “I learned medicine from my mother. I haven’t studied formally or taken any exams. I’ve only treated minor illnesses for the villagers.”

Doctor Chen nodded understandingly, “Actually, this is just a personnel selection. Anyone who can read and write, has a sense of responsibility, and can wholeheartedly serve the people can get the qualifications to study as a barefoot doctor. They will all study for three months and then return to their villages to treat people. But seeing how skilled you are with acupuncture, I assume you’re also good at other illnesses. You might be able to skip the study part.”

“If you’re not sure, I’ll lend you a copy of the Barefoot Doctor Handbook. Take it back and read it. If there’s no problem, you can just wait for the final exam with everyone else.”

Qian Xiaolan went to his office to get the book. She thanked him and left the commune hospital.

Since she was already here, she wanted to go to the supply and marketing cooperative and indulge in some shopping. Unfortunately, the supplies here were extremely scarce. Besides the common salted fish, seaweed, and clams from the island, there were only some cabbage, potatoes, and greens. Daily necessities were also in short supply. Even towels and soap had to be snatched. Forget about fabrics and cotton.

Before she could start shopping, she sighed and left the supply and marketing cooperative. Oh well, if she couldn’t buy anything, she would sell.

She rode her bicycle around Bailong Commune for two laps and figured out the location of the black market and several exits. Qian Xiaolan found a secluded spot and entered her space with her bicycle.

Half an hour later, a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes appeared in the black market, carrying a large backpack. The people in the black market saw him as a stranger and stared at him warily.

Qian Xiaolan smiled inwardly. She didn’t panic. She took off the backpack, lifted the coarse cloth on top, and waved to the person staring at her. The black market’s younger brother curiously looked in and immediately ran forward excitedly.

“Comrade, are you selling all these things?”

Qian Xiaolan nodded and said in a calm voice, “Take me to your leader. I have more than just these abalone, sea cucumbers, and big fish. I have even better things.”

The younger brother was overjoyed. He forgot to ask her to wait and disappeared in a flash.

Soon, he came back, pulling Qian Xiaolan along, “Our Brother Cheng wants to see you.”

Qian Xiaolan calmly shook off his hand, carrying the backpack and observing the surroundings as she walked with him.

The meeting with Brother Cheng was successful. Qian Xiaolan saw that although he looked fierce, he was loyal and spoke to her politely. She said to him, “My friend got some goods from Guangzhou. We have a thousand pounds of rice, two hundred towels, ten bolts of various common fabrics, ten bolts of fine cotton fabric, ten six-jin cotton quilts, and a hundred pounds of pork. The goods are ready. As long as Brother Cheng gives us a suitable price, we’ll sell it to you immediately.”

As for the seafood, the smell was too strong and difficult to hide, so she only brought the backpack she had brought.

Brother Cheng was very excited. He immediately gave Qian Xiaolan a price, all five percent higher than the supply and marketing cooperative.

Qian Xiaolan knew she had to give Brother Cheng a profit margin, so she nodded in agreement. “Brother Cheng, get the money ready. I can take you to our storage location now.” Qian Xiaolan said, taking the lead and going out of the house. Brother Cheng hesitated for a moment and said to a younger brother beside him, “You take two people and go with him to take a look. If it’s true, I’ll bring people over to trade immediately.”

So, Qian Xiaolan took three younger brothers to her storage location. It was a good place she had found after changing her clothes and coming out. This place had something in common with the previous transactions. It was close to the government office. If anything happened, she could shout, and those people wouldn’t be able to escape.

Seeing that there were so many goods, the younger brother quickly ran back to call Brother Cheng and tell him about the situation. Brother Cheng laughed when he heard this. He tucked a large leather bag filled with money under his arm, put on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and rushed over.

Checking the goods, calculating, counting money, the transaction was completed quickly. Qian Xiaolan received over a thousand yuan. She counted it again and, confirming that everything was in order, put the money away and left in a hurry. This was probably her last time dealing in the black market. To avoid affecting Gu Yanqing’s career, she wouldn’t come back again.

She returned to her previous changing location, entered her space, changed clothes, removed her makeup, and put five ribs and two pounds of pork belly in a basket. Then, she went to the post office and called her mother’s office at the Beijing Military Region General Hospital. She told her about the two cases she had encountered today and asked if there were better solutions.

Rong Qian was happy to hear Qian Xiaolan’s voice. When she asked about her family, she answered one by one. Just as she was about to ask about their situation, she heard Qian Xiaolan ask about the business, so she listened attentively.