The company commander drove the jeep steadily, carefully avoiding potholes and choosing the smoothest path he could find. He asked:
"Doc. Li, whether does my driving like this dump Sister Xu?"
Hearing his question, Li Weiwen grew flustered and stammered softly:
"I...it's...fine. I...I'm not...a...doctor."
As soon as she finished, she lowered her head, gripping the hem of her clothes tightly, not daring to meet anyone's eyes. Sitting beside her, Xu Yumei noticed her anxiety and immediately reached over to gently hold her hand. She gave her a warm and reassuring smile and said:
"Don't scare this child. Our Weiwen is a quiet and shy girl, not at all like me rough and boisterous types." Trying to ease Weiwen's nerves, she added with a chuckle, "But tell me, Weiwen, how do you have experience to deliver the baby? Look at you, just a girl with seventeen years old."
Li Weiwen bit her lip and replied in a low voice:
"I used to follow my mom..." The word "mom" had barely left her mouth before she swallowed it back. Her voice dropped even lower as she corrected herself, "my family used to help to deliver the babies."
Everyone had all caught the sudden change in her words but no one said anything. They understood and silently chose to let it slide.
Suddenly Liu Yun cut in:
"But it seems that you know more than just how to deliver a baby. I get the feeling that you also understand a bit of traditional Chinese medicine too, don't you?" Her tone was calm but there was a faint trace of dissatisfaction in it. Before Li Weiwen could respond, Liu Yun went on, "Actually, we all took a short crash course in the traditional Chinese medicine before we were assigned to the different companies, especially identifying medicinal herbs. The idea was that if we ran into an emergency, we could made use of whatever herbs we could find to treat the wounded. But it was only two-day lessons and we had to learn to recognize dozens of different herbs. I couldn't make sense of any of it. And it wasn't taught in any systematic way. It was too hard so most of us just ended up focusing on the Western medicine instead."
No one in the jeep responded to her words but everyone was now even more curious: how could this girl, only seventeen or eighteen years old, know so much about traditional Chinese medicine? It was Xu Yumei who continued asking Li Weiwen:
"I can't believe we have been together for nearly a year. I never knew this about you. I always thought you just liked making the different teas for us to drink, those herbal blends you were always experimenting with. I figured you just enjoyed playing around with that kind of thing. I never imaged you actually knew a lot about Chinese medicine. If it weren't for you today, I don't even want to think about what could have happened. My baby and I might not have survived...."
She couldn't go on and the tears began to steam down her cheeks as she looked down at her tiny infant wrapped in swaddling cloth in her arms. Sitting next to her, Instructor Zhang also had tears in his eyes. He spoke in his clumsy but heartfelt voice:
"She is right. I really don't know how to thank you. You saved my wife and my baby."
He wrapped his arms gently around his wife again, his eyes full of gratitude as he looked at Li Weiwen. But Li Weiwen kept her head down and whispered softly:
"A doctor's compassion should be like that of a parent. It is simply what I must do." she added, "Sister Xu, you shouldn't cry during your postpartum confinement. It is bad for your health."
Liu Yun asked curiously:
"I have heard that the woman can't do a lot of things during the postpartum confinement, no cold water, no wind, no crying, no moving around too much and so on. But why? Honestly, I always thought it was regarded as superstitions rooted in feudal traditions."
Li Weiwen replied in a soft voice but with firm conviction:
"Crying during the confinement period can harm the eyes, slow a woman's recovery, and even reduce milk production. It's not feudal superstitions ---- it's fact."
Liu Yun curled her lips slightly but didn't argue further. Just then, Xu Yumei seemed to recall something and asked:
"I have often seen you wandering around picking some flowers and plants, sometimes even digging up roots and bark from trees. Are those all medicinal herbs?"
Li Weiwen nodded:
"Yes. Different regions grow different flowers and herbs. Herbal medicine varies from place to place. Of course, cultivated herbs are the different matter."
Instructor Zhang looked at her with surprise:
"I can't believe you, such a younger girl, already know a lot about this. And you just said that a doctor's compassion should be like that of a parent. How long did you have learned all this? Who taught you?"
Li Weiwen replied:
"I started learning when I was a child. My grandfather was a traditional Chinese doctor."
There was a slight tremble in her voice. The memories of her childhood always brought a deep ache to her heart. Suddenly the company commander said:
"Then from now on you will be the doctor for our company. What do you think, Instructor Zhang?"
His tone was calm but there was an air of finality to it ---- as if the decision had already been made. In fact, Guo Yungang had remained silent throughout the journey, focused on his driving. Yet each time Li Weiwen spoke, his eyes, almost involuntarily, would lift to the rearview mirror to steal a glance at the girl with her head lowered in the backseat.
As soon as he spoke, Liu Yun's expression changed. She clenched her jaw tightly but quickly adjusted her demeanour. Her smile returned as if nothing had happened. Her subtle shift in emotion, sitting in the front seat, went unnoticed by the others. Unexpected, Instructor Zhang immediately responded in agreement:
"Yes, yes. From now on let's have her be our doctor."
As soon as Li Weiwen heard this, she became flustered again and quickly waved her hands, saying:
"No, no, I would rather in the kitchen. I don't know anything about the Western medicine."
Then she looked up with a pleading expression and grabbed Xu Yumei's hand, seeking help. Xu Yumei understood her meaning and smiled warmly as she said with a grin:
"You leaders never consider how we feel. I have just given birth, still in my confinement period. From now on I will take care of a newborn so I have to rely on Li Weiwen to help me out. She is the model worker in our kitchen. But now you're trying to poach her? No way, I will never allow it happen." She turned her head slightly and added, "Besides, we still have Nurse Liu Yun, don't we? Right, Liu Yun?"
Liu Yun just gave a dry smile but didn't say a word. Xu Yumei glanced at Li Weiwen with a warm smile and went on, "I'm not letting go of our little Weiwen just yet. But of course, if there is ever an emergency and you ever need her in the future, there is no problem and you can count on her. She would never stand by and do nothing. After all, saving lives is what it is all about."
The tension inside the jeep eased instantly. Li Weiwen looked at Xu Yumei with gratitude. A soft and relaxed smile formed at the corners of her lips. Her cheeks flushed slightly with shyness and her clear green eyes seemed to shine even more brightly. The company commander, keeping a straight face, glanced into the rearview mirror again, just in time to catch Xu Yumei's smiling face and those bright green eyes turned gratefully toward her. From the corner of her eye, Liu Yun caught the commander's subtle movement. She silently turned her head to look out the window, lips pressed tightly together, a flicker of displeasure passing through her eyes.