Chapter 269 Prescription
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it was March 1981.
With the arrival of spring, the cold winter gradually fades away. After the first spring rain, the weather gradually becomes warmer, but the moisture in the air also begins to increase. The season when all things come back to life is also the peak period for colds.
Uncle Qi is an old employee of a state-owned factory. He has worked in this factory for nearly 30 years and has always been working in the front-line team. He is one of the most experienced workers in the workshop.
Due to years of working environment and smoking habits, coupled with recent weather changes, Grandpa Qi's bronchitis will relapse at this time every year. He has to experience a long cough every year. This disease is not serious, but it is serious too. Especially at night, the uncontrollable coughing makes him unable to sleep all night long.
On this day, Grandpa Qi had almost finished taking the medicine he had been prescribed, so he took some time out to go to the local hospital he often went to. He registered for the internal medicine department and found his acquaintance, Dr. Zhang, who had always treated him. When his number came, Grandpa Qi walked in and couldn't help coughing twice before he could even speak.
"Uncle Qi, what's wrong? Have you finished your medicine again?" Seeing that it was Uncle Qi, Doctor Zhang smiled and took the medical record card and registration ticket handed to him by Uncle Qi. He directly inserted the ticket number into the upright iron stick on the table, opened the medical record card and asked.
"Ahem, yes, Doctor Zhang, I've almost finished the medicine. I'll come over to get some more." Uncle Qi coughed twice and nodded.
"Uncle Qi, you'd better smoke less. Cigarettes are not good things. In fact, your illness is caused by smoking. It's not good for your health if you continue like this for a long time." Nodding slightly, Doctor Zhang looked at Uncle Qi's yellow fingers and couldn't help but remind him.
"Hey, I don't know how many times you've said this, but you also know that I really can't quit smoking. I don't have any hobbies in my life, and I just smoke a few cigarettes on a daily basis. If I'm not allowed to smoke... cough cough cough... what's the point of living?"
Uncle Qi smiled bitterly and shook his head. He knew that cigarettes were not good things and that smoking was of no benefit to his illness, but the problem was that he really couldn't quit.
"That being said, you should try to smoke fewer cigarettes in your daily life. It's always okay to smoke better ones, right?" Doctor Zhang advised again tactfully.
Uncle Qi nodded and said yes. Although he agreed verbally, who knows whether he can actually do it. In fact, every time he sees Dr. Zhang, he has the same conversation with him. They have been saying this to each other for several years, but Uncle Qi still does not change.
Doctor Zhang actually knew the answer clearly. Looking at Uncle Qi's expression, he smiled bitterly and shook his head. What could he say about this kind of thing? The most a doctor could do was to give some instructions. Couldn't he tie up the patient and watch over Uncle Qi to prevent him from smoking?
I took out a stethoscope and asked Uncle Qi to lift up his clothes. I listened to his lung sounds, and then I took a bamboo stick to check Uncle Qi's throat. Just like before, it was a relapse caused by bronchitis and weather changes. There was no good medical treatment for this disease. I could only prescribe some throat and lung moistening medicine to take and regulate it.
Doctor Zhang picked up a pen and took a prescription to prescribe medicine for Uncle Qi. After writing two lines, he suddenly remembered something and looked up at Uncle Qi and asked, "Uncle Qi, you drank the loquat paste from Factory 1 last time. How about I prescribe the one from Factory 8 this time?"
"From Factory 8? Why open Factory 8? Isn't the one from Factory 1 better than the one from Factory 8?" Uncle Qi asked subconsciously.
"That's how it was originally, but Factory Eight has just released a new loquat paste product, which is said to be quite effective. How about you open a bottle and try it?" Doctor Zhang explained.
Uncle Qi thought about it and nodded. After all, Dr. Zhang was the old doctor who treated him, and it was always right to listen to the doctor. Besides, the loquat paste from Factory One and Factory Eight were actually similar. It was just that the one from Factory One was more famous, so Uncle Qi was used to it.
Since Dr. Zhang recommended the loquat paste from Factory No. 8 today, let’s give it a try. What if this new product is actually effective?
Seeing that Uncle Qi agreed, Doctor Zhang nodded and continued to write on the prescription. After a while, he took out his seal and stamped it, then handed it to Uncle Qi.
"Uncle Qi, please keep the prescription and go directly to the window to pay and get the medicine."
"Okay, thank you, Doctor Zhang. Ahem…see you next time…"
After saying goodbye to Dr. Zhang, Uncle Qi took the prescription and left the internal medicine department, and went straight to the lobby to pay for the medicine. When paying, the amount reported at the window made Uncle Qi stunned, because Uncle Qi always came to get these medicines, and he knew the amount by heart, but today's amount was nearly five yuan more expensive than usual.
"Why is it so expensive? The prices of vegetables and medicine outside have increased?" Uncle Qi asked while paying.
"There is a loquat paste that is priced differently from the regular ones. It's much more expensive than the regular ones." The comrade at the window answered.
This answer made Uncle Qi feel dissatisfied. No wonder Dr. Zhang recommended the new product from Factory 8. It turned out that the new product was expensive! Isn't this hospital supposed to save lives? Why is it doing business now? Cheating ordinary people to use expensive products? Isn't this a pockmarked case? Isn't this a scam?
Thinking of this, Uncle Qi's face suddenly darkened, but he didn't say anything. After all, Uncle Qi had labor insurance, and the company would reimburse the money for prescribing medicine. If he spent more later, the company would also pay for it. However, Uncle Qi, who had worked in the factory for his entire life, was very uncomfortable with such a bad atmosphere.
After paying the money, Uncle Qi went to get the medicine with a sullen face. After he handed in the list, a large pile of medicine was delivered out in a short while. But at this time, Uncle Qi found that there was also a large thing delivered together with the medicine. This thing was wrapped in a very delicate paper box on the outside and was bigger than an ordinary teacup. Uncle Qi was stunned when he saw this thing, and quickly asked the comrade who was distributing the medicine if he had given the wrong thing.
The comrade who was distributing the medicines carefully checked the list and the medicines, and told Uncle Qi that they were right. Uncle Qi pointed at the paper box and asked what it was. The comrade who was distributing the medicines told him that it was loquat paste. Uncle Qi was even more puzzled after hearing this answer. He often ate loquat paste, but he had never seen such a big box. It was usually a small glass bottle.
As there were people queuing behind him, Uncle Qi could only take the medicine first. After getting the medicine, he found a chair in the hall and sat down to sort out the medicine.
The other medicines were sorted out quickly, just like before. When he finally looked at the paper box containing loquat paste, Uncle Qi curiously opened the box and took out the medicine.
When he took the things out of the cardboard box, Uncle Qi couldn't believe his eyes and was stunned. He subconsciously wanted to stand up, but when his eyes fell on the words printed on the outside of the thing in his hand, he stopped again.
"This...this...?" Uncle Qi was playing with a warm cup in his hand in surprise.
This is a well-made and uniquely shaped warm cup. The outer shell of the cup is made of plastic, which is of very good material. The color is dark green. The cup body is printed with the words "Yanjing City Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory No. 8". On the other side there are a few big characters saying "Refined Loquat Paste".
The cup felt heavy in his hand. Uncle Qi looked at it for a while, opened the seal on the mouth of the cup, and then unscrewed the lid.
When the cup lid is unscrewed, you can see at a glance that the cup is filled with brown loquat paste with a familiar smell. In addition, you can also see the sealed cup mouth thread and the structure inside.
The inside of this thermos cup is similar to a thermos bottle, but the liner is not made of glass, but purple clay ceramic. Such cups are rarely seen on the market. Uncle Qi once saw a similar thermos cup in a city department store. It was about the same size as this one, but the price was nearly eight yuan. Uncle Qi would never buy it at such an expensive price, so he usually used the enamel cup that he had used for many years and was awarded as a reward for advanced production workers.
After a moment's pause, Uncle Qi suddenly realized why loquat paste is so much more expensive today than before. This turned out to be the reason.
Thinking of this, Uncle Qi's anger disappeared in an instant, and he couldn't let go of the warm cup. Although the price was a bit expensive, the warm cup was very good, and the most important thing was that he came to the hospital to get medicine, and the medicine fee could be reimbursed in full. After the reimbursement, wouldn't the warm cup be free to him?
This is such a good deal. I have never had such a good thing before. You know, it costs a lot of money to buy such a warm cup in a department store. Now I can give myself such a warm cup for free. It's great! It's great!
All of a sudden, Uncle Qi's complaints about Dr. Zhang disappeared, and he was secretly happy. He played with the warm cup for a while, and suddenly seemed to remember something. He quickly put the warm cup back into the box and put it into his handbag with other medicines.
After doing all this, Uncle Qi ran straight to the internal medicine department without saying a word, and returned to Dr. Zhang after a while.
"Uncle Qi, why are you back?" Doctor Zhang had just finished seeing a patient and before he could call the next one, he saw Uncle Qi pushing the door open in a hurry.
"Doctor Zhang, I suddenly remembered that we will be very busy at work in the factory. I guess I won't have time to see you again during this period. How about you prescribe me some more medicine? I don't need anything else. Just prescribe me more loquat paste. Can you prescribe me three... no, five bottles, please?"
Seeing Grandpa Qi's anxious look, Doctor Zhang was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Okay! What's wrong with that? This loquat paste is a good thing. It can cure diseases, and you can also drink it to regulate your throat. You want five bottles, right? Wait a minute, I'll prescribe it for you..."
Twenty minutes later, Grandpa Qi left from the medicine dispenser with a smile on his face, holding five large paper boxes. Together with the one he had opened previously and the five bottles he had just opened, Grandpa Qi opened six bottles of loquat paste in one go.
Uncle Qi has his wife and two sons at home, plus two daughters-in-law, not counting the children, a total of six adults. Each of them gets one cup. Thinking of this, Uncle Qi was overjoyed.
On the way home, Uncle Qi suddenly thought that these six cups might not be enough. Wouldn't it be a loss if he didn't stock up on such good things? Besides, things will break after use, so it's always good to stock up more. The more Uncle Qi thought about it, the more he felt it made sense. He thought about asking his wife, son, and daughter-in-law to go to the hospital to get more loquat paste as soon as he got home. Anyway, the medicine money would be reimbursed, so he would take advantage of this bargain!
