In the face of reality, the waiter helplessly shook his head.
"I’m sorry, but I am helpless too; without money, no one can get treatnt. Doctor Tang has already helped you and your grandmother a lot; it’s not reasonable to expect him to keep paying, is it? Besides, you have no ability to repay him."
"I do, I have it—I can sell myself. As long as it saves my Grandma, I’d even sell myself,"
Before the girl could finish speaking, the waiter looked at her with a pained expression.
"Even if you sold yourself, how much silver would you actually fetch? I’m afraid it wouldn’t even cover one of your Grandma’s treatnt expenses. Girl, go back, spend ti with your Grandma, see what she wants to eat, and try to get so for her. That way, at least your ti together won’t feel wasted."
On hearing this, the girl grew even more desperate, sitting at the entrance of the pharmacy, crying her heart out, which pitied to see.
But without money, the pharmacy too had its own difficulties. The local folks had been listening for so ti and knew that her family had not repaid their debts, all showing sympathy but none offering help.
Xiao Yu saw this as an opportunity from heaven, so she walked over and asked the girl, "What illness does your Grandma have?"
The waiter hadn’t gone far and, hearing the inquiry, quickly cautioned her, "Tuberculosis, she hasn’t much ti left, miss, you’d best keep away, it’s contagious."
Tuberculosis?
At this word, everyone instinctively took a step back.
In ancient tis, tuberculosis was an infectious disease, similar to pulmonary tuberculosis in later tis, and contagious, unlike pneumonia, which is not contagious.
Tuberculosis is a slowly-progressing chronic disease, where a persistent cough for more than two weeks, unresponsive to treatnt, might indicate tuberculosis.
But for pneumonia, dications targeting the pathogens usually stop the cough, so if it’s diagnosed as tuberculosis and goes untreated, it will drag one to death.
Due to its contagious nature, doctors were generally cautious—hence the girl hadn’t even been allowed entrance to the pharmacy.
It must have been due to fear she might contract it, that the waiter had kept such a distance from her.
Xiao Yu rembered she had dicine to treat tuberculosis in her space and, coming from a respiratory background, she was fully capable of helping the girl.
"Co on, take to your ho, and I’ll check on your Grandma."
The girl turned her head incredulously toward Xiao Yu.
"Sister? Are you serious? You’re not deceiving , are you?"
The girl seed about seven or eight, skinny from poverty and though it was already autumn, she was still dressed flimsily, which was heartbreaking.
"Why would I deceive you? Just take to see first."
The girl imdiately rose from the ground, and Xiao Yu moved to help her.
"No, sister, they all say my grandma has a contagious disease. Don’t touch ; I don’t want to infect you."
Xiao Yu insisted on helping her up, smiling and lowering her head: "It’s alright, sister isn’t afraid. Are you hungry? Have a stead bun."
Xiao Yu took a bun from her pocket (space) she had made from cornal, sweet potato, and buckwheat; it had a dry texture and was sowhat choking but, being made from these flours, it was not harsh on the throat.
The girl hadn’t eaten in who knows how long; upon seeing the bun, her eyes imdiately reddened. I clearly saw her swallowing hard, yet she firmly gripped the bun in her hand and tucked it into her own pocket. When she noticed Xiao Yu’s puzzled look, she shyly smiled.
"Grandma hasn’t eaten either. I want to save it for Grandma. Thank you for the bun, sister!"
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