Chapter 392: Chapter 391: The Mysterious Female Doctor
She has now developed some Northern habits. Lin Wan thought about using the few pounds of meat her mom brought her to make radish and meat buns.
Lin Wan felt like she could open the dough by noon, which was already quite good.
After eating, she first prepared the filling. While waiting for the dough to rise with the filling ready, Lin Wan had nothing to do and nestled into bed again.
Didn’t feel like knitting the scarf either, just found the bed warm and didn’t want to get up.
She stared at the window for a while and actually fell asleep.
She slept until one in the afternoon and woke up because she was hungry. Fortunately, Aunt Jin had brought her mung bean cake and red bean cake.
Lin Wan ate a few to pad her stomach, and drank some brown sugar water.
After a cup of brown sugar water, Lin Wan didn’t feel hungry anymore. She went to the kitchen to check the dough, and it had risen quite well; in two to three more hours she could steam the buns.
Lin Wan took a bunch with her, grabbed the scarf, and went to Shilan’s house for a visit.
"I was thinking of going to your place later," said Lin Wan as she arrived, finding Shi Lan tidying up the kitchen at home.
"What are you up to?" Lin Wan pointed at the somewhat messy small jar.
"There’s not much vegetables in winter, so I’m pickling the mushrooms I gathered yesterday."
"You know how to pickle mushroom sauce? I only know how to pickle chili sauce."
"I’m only good at this; not much else."
"Then I’ll bring you what I gathered yesterday, and we can pickle them together. Once they’re done, just give me a bowl."
"Sure, bring them over. This jar isn’t full yet."
Lin Wan put her things down, went home, and brought out the mushrooms she gathered yesterday that she hadn’t had time to dry, and gave them to Shi Lan.
So Lin Wan spent two hours at Shilan’s house, watching her wash and pickle mushrooms.
When the time was about right, Lin Wan went home to steam her buns.
It had been a while since she ate radish-filled buns, and that evening, Lin Wan ate three freshly steamed buns in one go. Her stomach felt uncomfortable for quite a while. People say pregnant women tend to gain weight, and Lin Wan realized if she continued like this, she’d definitely gain weight. It seems she has to eat less but more frequently from now on. She absolutely can’t let herself develop sideways growth. Losing weight later would be tough.
These days, Lin Wan either went to Shilan’s house or Sister-in-law Jiang’s. She spent the whole day visiting door to door. This lasted for a week.
Lin Wan didn’t learn how to make shoes after days with Shi Lan. It seemed simple but was actually too complicated, especially sewing the soles. It was very troublesome.
Lin Wan could barely handle two stitches.
Shi Lan often teased her.
Finally, they agreed Shi Lan would help her make shoes while she would knit a scarf for Shi Lan.
Today, the camp’s bathhouse opened half a day exclusively for family members, limited to Saturday mornings.
Lin Wan prepared some things, and went to the camp’s bathhouse with Shi Lan and the sister-in-laws.
The bathhouse was quite spacious; otherwise, how could it accommodate so many soldiers?
"Xiao Wan, you’ve got a great figure," Shi Lan whispered to Lin Wan just as Lin Wan undressed.
Shi Lan pinched her chin, eyes fixed on Lin Wan, shook her head and said "tsk tsk": "Doesn’t compare, can’t compare, your skin is better."
"Have you looked enough?" Lin Wan was a bit embarrassed being stared at by Shi Lan, hurriedly covering herself with a towel.
Sister-in-law Zhang beside them already started washing. Seeing the two young ones admire each other’s figures, she couldn’t help but feel envious, lowering her head to look at her own figure, sighing inwardly.
Ah, youth is good.
The bathhouse wasn’t hot at first, but as more steam from the faucets filled the air, it warmed up considerably.
The bathhouse had a fire wall; once the boiler started burning, the bathhouse became unbearably hot in no time.
When at home, Lin Wan often bathed with Mom, so she wasn’t very dirty, and only scrubbed lightly. She was out in about half an hour. Sister-in-law Jiang and Sister-in-law Zhang weren’t done yet; she and Shi Lan waited for them for a while in the changing room.
The changing room also had hair dryers, but there were too many people, so you had to queue.
By the time they came out, it was already past eleven. As soon as Lin Wan stepped out, she was hit by a sharp cold wind, shivering.
A short time after returning home, she caught an elaborate cold.
She had been pretending to be ill around Wang Guihua and her daughter for days, and now it actually happened.
She kept sneezing and had a runny nose.
Lin Wan endured through the night, and got up the next day to go to the camp’s infirmary. She wanted to ask the doctor if she could take some medicine, it was too unbearable.
"Hello, medical staff, I’m from the family compound. I caught a cold after bathing yesterday," it was Lin Wan’s first visit to the camp’s infirmary.
The infirmary had two male doctors in military uniforms and three or four female doctors.
Lin Wan asked the female doctor ahead.
The female doctor glanced at her, then continued her work while asking, "Which company’s family member?"
The female doctor’s question left Lin Wan puzzled; she didn’t know which company Han Yi belonged to.
"I only know he’s in the shooting team; my husband is Han Yi."
Upon hearing Han Yi’s name, the female doctor suddenly stopped her work, looked up at her, scrutinizing her more accurately.
The initially plain gaze upon her entry gradually became unfriendly.
"What are your symptoms?" Her tone carried some disdain.
"Sore throat, sneezing, and a runny nose."
Lin Wan didn’t take much notice, thinking this was the typical attitude here.
"I’ll prescribe some cold medicine, three days’ worth; go home, rest well, drink more hot water," the female doctor raised her eyes to her and said.
"Alright, um... can you prescribe some herbal medicine instead? I’m pregnant, barely over two months now."
"You’re pregnant and still not careful? What are you messing around for, trying to harm the child? I’ll prescribe then," hearing Lin Wan, the female doctor suddenly snapped, yelling at Lin Wan.
Lin Wan felt baffled by the shouting. "Comrade, what’s with your tone? I’m here to seek treatment, not to mess around. Are you saying I can’t be sick?"
"Pregnant women can’t take medicine, you don’t know?" The doctor was somewhat wrong-footed by the questioning, losing some momentum.
"If I knew, I wouldn’t be here to be rebuked," Lin Wan was annoyed, thinking how every encounter after arriving here was with such people. "It’s my first time here at the infirmary, truly an eye-opener. With such an attitude, a little army wife like me can’t suffer," said Lin Wan, turning and striding away.
Guess she forgot to check the luck calendar before going out.
"What’s going on?" At this point, a man in military uniform emerged from a room, asking.
"Doctor Wang, nothing much. This compound’s sister-in-law got pregnant, caught a cold, and insisted I prescribe medicine. I didn’t give her any," the female doctor changed her tone dramatically upon seeing the military doctor.
The smile made Lin Wan feel disgusted.
"You’ve got to speak clearly, this isn’t a place for semantic play; several people are listening here," Lin Wan surprisingly replied, glaring hatefully at the female doctor’s eyes.
Doctor Wang, dressed in military attire, gave the female doctor a meaningful look, took the chart before her, before addressing Lin Wan, who was already at the door, "Captain Han’s family member, right? Come with me."
Seeing the person was quite polite, Lin Wan nodded and followed along.
Doctor Wang led her to his office, gestured for her to sit.
Then he took a white lab coat from the door and wore it.
"Captain Han is lucky, soon becoming a father," Doctor Wang smiled at Lin Wan.
"Yes, just over two months."
"Pregnant women in early pregnancy have low immunity, most likely to catch colds, but also, it’s a crucial period for pregnant women, avoiding any medicine," Doctor Wang explained, gesturing her closer for a simple check-up.
"Luckily it isn’t too serious, drink more hot water when you get home, make sure it’s hot. Drink ginger sugar water more often, you’ll slowly recover."
"Thanks, Doctor Wang. I thought if I couldn’t take Western medicine, maybe I could take Chinese medicine since it’s too uncomfortable."
"All medicine has three parts toxicity; pay more attention later. Our camp hospital tends to have men with rough hands treating illnesses, not much progress with gynecology. Definitely go to the city regularly for check-ups," Doctor Wang advised.
"I will, thank you Doctor Wang, then. I’ll head back now."
"Take it slow on the trip back."
Upon reaching the infirmary’s entrance, Lin Wan saw the female doctor; she had no intention of looking at her, but saw that the female doctor was glaring fiercely at her.
She had no idea why their first meeting resulted in offending her. Lin Wan just found it incomprehensible.