Episode 1
[Opening Scene]
△ Fade in. Rolling subtitles: white background with black text, horizontal layout, line by line, regular script font.
In the 1970s of the Republic of China era, coal mining in Taiwan was gradually heading toward decline. The Pingxi Railway, a railway built for coal mining operations, ran through towns such as Houtong, Pingxi, and Jingtong. These towns, once prospering because of coal mining, had experienced their period of glory and inevitably moved toward decline.
Houtong, a mining town that rose because of coal extraction, was the first station of the Pingxi Line Railway, extending north–south along the Keelung River valley between the Yilan Line railway. During its peak production period, human and vehicle traffic here was extremely busy. Houtong Railway Station was a place filled with the sounds of whistles, machinery operation, and noisy human voices.
A girl adopted by miners. The man in her family had lost his ability to work, and the burden of life fell upon this mother and daughter. In hardship, this girl studied diligently and advanced herself, realizing her wish to become a female doctor.
△ Fade in. Long shot: Houtong Station appears from far along the railway tracks.
△ Camera slowly moves closer. Early morning Houtong Station, filled with train whistles, mechanical sounds, and human noise.
△ Diesel trains bring coal miners. Workers at the end of the month file out in order; dozens of middle school students board in order.
△ The town streets are bustling with noise. Under arcades, vendors and housewives buying vegetables, coal miners eating breakfast.
△ Fade out.
1 Morning Scene
Time: Early morning of a day in late September, 1977
People: Yang Jialing, Yang Tiansi, Yu Tianmei, Yang Jiaxiang, Yang Jiazhen, Xu Congming, Xu Zhaodi, Xiao Yaqian, ticket inspector, dozens of students
Location: Yang Tiansi’s wooden house in Houtong village, doorway, alleyways, Houtong Railway Station, train carriage
▲ The Yang family’s old wooden house is dark and damp. Two bedrooms, one living/dining room, one kitchen, one bathroom, one toilet. The living room is simply furnished: a round dining table and five chairs. In the corner are two desks and chairs with two desk lamps for Jialing and her sisters to study and do homework.
△ Camera enters from the wooden house doorway. Early morning, the Yang mother and daughters are busy in the kitchen. Tianmei cooks porridge and stir-fries dishes. Jialing carries bags of ingredients such as dough, vegetables, and braised food through the living room and places them on a tricycle at the door, then goes into the bedroom to wake her younger siblings.
△ Mother Tianmei brings the cooked side dishes to the table.
Jialing: “Go brush your teeth and wash your face. Younger sister, make sure you bring all your textbooks and stationery for class.”
△ Jialing first helps her younger brother Jiaxiang wipe his face, then returns to the kitchen, serves porridge for her father Tiansi, and hastily drinks a bowl herself. The younger brother gets dressed and sits at the dining table. Jialing feeds him and softly urges him.
Jialing: “Eat faster. Your elder sister has to catch the train.”
△ At this moment, Xu Congming rides his bicycle and stops at the door shouting.
Congming: “Jialing, time to go!” (wearing Keelung Middle School uniform, large cap on head)
Tiansi: “Jialing, you’re going to be late for class. Go catch the train first. I’ll feed the rest.”
△ Jialing stuffs the lunchbox into a bag, quickly grabs her schoolbag, and sits on Congming’s bicycle. The camera follows the bicycle as it turns through several alleys and arrives at Houtong Station. Jialing jumps off; Congming quickly parks the bicycle.
Zhaodi (at the station entrance waving and shouting): “Jialing, Congming, you lovebirds hurry up! Ticket checking has started!”
△ Congming and Jialing jog into the station. Students line up and pass through the ticket gate in order onto the platform.
△ A blue diesel train slowly leaves the platform. Inside the carriage, Jialing and Zhaodi, Yaqian and Congming sit together. Congming lifts the window.
Zhaodi: “Jialing, your English is so strong. You won first place in the English speech contest. Are you really planning to apply for the English Department at Normal University?”
Jialing: “Yes. Studying English at Normal University means four years of tuition exemption. After graduation I can stay in Ruifang to teach. It’s very close to home, so I can commute.”
Zhaodi: “Oh, but being a teacher doesn’t earn much money.”
Jialing: “True. So you want to study fashion design and become a designer in the future?”
Zhaodi: “Yes. My dad said if I can get in, he’ll support me to study fashion design in Paris. But my math foundation is weak. I’m very worried.”
Jialing: “I’m not strong in math either. Ask Congming to teach you. He often gets full marks in math.”
Zhaodi: “I wouldn’t dare. He’s your prince charming!”
Jialing (smiling): “Nonsense! What prince charming? We’re all just good friends.”
Yaqian: “Zhaodi, I’m not bad at math either. I can teach you.”
Zhaodi (making a face, sticking out her tongue): “You’re not a prince charming, who wants you to teach me?”
Yaqian: “Miss Zhaodi, are you really that picky?”
Zhaodi (giving him a teasing side-eye): “Of course! Otherwise why would you be called ‘Little Toothpick’?”
Yaqian (surprised, then suspicious): “What? You even found out my nickname?”
(turns to glare at Congming) “Congming, did you betray me?”
Congming (waving hands): “I didn’t! It’s not me!”
Yaqian (disbelieving): “Oh? Xu Big Mouth, you really are a big mouth!”
Congming: “I didn’t tell Zhaodi. I only told Jialing. So it’s not my fault!”
Yaqian: “Oh? Xu Big Mouth, you two are like pig playing dumb and tiger eating it.”
Zhaodi (laughing): “You should say: you two are like a temple priest and altar assistant.”
Yaqian: “Hey! I think I’ve heard those roles from my mom before.”
Zhaodi: “Yes! Stop twisting your tongue every sentence. Your speech sounds like tying dough twists. It’s awful. Learn Taiwanese from your mom when you have time!”
Yaqian (troubled expression): “There are many kinds of Taiwanese. You want me to learn them all? It is impossible!”
Zhaodi: “At least learn the Taiwanese your mother speaks!”
Yaqian: “I can understand my mom’s Taiwanese and speak some.”
Zhaodi: “Little Toothpick, I won’t argue with you anymore. Jialing, ask your Congming to teach me math. He listens to you the most.”
△ Congming sits nearby, smiling foolishly.
Jialing: “Big Mouth Bird, Zhaodi wants you to teach her math.”
Congming: “I’ve never taught anyone before, but if Zhaodi wants me to teach, I’ll try—if I have time.”
Jialing: “Zhaodi, see? Congming agreed.”
Yaqian (innocent look): “So different? If Big Mouth Bird is a prince charming, then I must be Robin Hood!”
Zhaodi: “You’re not Robin Hood. You’re more like Robinson Crusoe with a beard.”
Jialing: “Yaqian, she means you should shave more often.”
Yaqian: “I do shave every two or three days.”
Zhaodi (mock disgust, holding neck): “Don’t you think your beard is… that kind of thing?”
Yaqian (pretending ignorance): “What kind of thing? I think it’s sexy.”
Zhaodi: “I only think it’s disgusting and unhygienic.”
Yaqian: “If the instructor didn’t check appearance every day, I wouldn’t shave at all.”
Zhaodi: “So you’re saying you want to keep your beard and act like a mountain bandit?”
Yaqian (serious acting): “What’s wrong with playing a mountain bandit without makeup?”
Jialing (laughing): “Alright, Zhaodi, you two are really quarrelsome lovers.”
Zhaodi (smirking): “Who told him not to give in to me?”
Yaqian: “When Guan Gong meets a fiery horse, a good man must fight a spicy girl, otherwise life is boring!”
2 Day Scene
People: Yang Tiansi, Yu Tianmei, miners, baby girl, Yang Jiaxiang, Wu Youshou
Time: Morning of the same day
Location: Yang Tiansi’s house entrance, road to mine
△ Tiansi lies on a reclining chair at the doorway, holding a fan in one hand and a small piece of coal ore in the other. It is a souvenir from his last mining trip. He watches miners passing by and falls into memory…
INS:
Time: Early morning, one day in 1964
△ Close-up: wall calendar dated 1964.
△ Young Tiansi wears a miner helmet with headlamp, thin undershirt, carrying pickaxe and shovel, wearing long rubber boots.
Tiansi (looking at baby Jialing): “Be good, Jialing. Dad is going to work. I’ll buy toys for you when I come back.”
△ He pokes the baby’s cheek making a “boop boop” sound.
Tianmei (from kitchen, handing lunchbox): “Don’t wake the child. Hurry and go to work.”
△ Tiansi leaves toward the mine, greeting coworkers.
Miner A: “Ah Tsi, morning! Payday today.”
Tiansi: “Yes, I’ll buy fish and meat at the market.”
Miner B: “Come drink some liquor at my house?”
Tiansi: “Sorry, my wife doesn’t let me drink.”
Miner B (laughing): “Just married and already afraid of wife?”
Tiansi: “Not afraid. Just don’t want her nagging in my ear.”
Miner C: “You just married and already have a daughter? Shotgun marriage?”
Tiansi: “We adopted her on the way.”
Miner C: “You can pick up girls on the road? You’re joking.”
Tiansi: “It’s true. Ask neighbor Deng Youcai if you don’t believe me.”
△ Fade out, fade in.
△ Back to present. Tiansi lies at the doorway. Jiaxiang comes out.
Jiaxiang: “Dad, you’re coughing. There’s wind outside. I’ll get you a coat.”
Tiansi: “If only you were as healthy and good at studying as your sister… I could rest in peace…”
Jiaxiang: “Dad, I’ll be filial, earn money, buy you a house.”
Tiansi (patting his head): “Good child…”
Wu Youshou arrives.
Youshou: “A friend from Taipei brought ginseng. Boss Fugui asked me to bring it.”
Tiansi: “Thank you…”
Youshou: “We are neighbors, we should help each other.”
Jiaxiang: “What is marriage?”
Youshou: “Congming will marry your sister Jialing.”
Jiaxiang: “Great!”
Youshou: “I heard there’s a folk remedy for black lung disease…”
Tiansi: “No need. I’m already dying anyway.”
3 Day Scene
Time: Weekend afternoon in October
Location: living room
△ Jialing smells Chinese medicine as she enters.
Jialing: “What are you doing?”
Jiazhen: “Dad asked me to boil herbal medicine.”
Jialing: “Herbal medicine?”
Jialing (to father): “Didn’t Western doctors say not to take random remedies?”
Tiansi: “Someone said it helps…”
Jialing: “Don’t believe it. If it worked, hospitals would close.”
Tiansi: “I’m already dying anyway.”
Jialing: “Stop talking nonsense.”
△ Jialing pours out the medicine and discards the herbs into the trash.
4th Day Scene
People: Yang Jia-ling, You Tian-mei, Xu Cong-ming, customers including Huang Da-chuan, Dr. Zhao Ren-jie
Time: One weekend noon in October
Location: Hou-tong Village, Tian-mei’s “Ruyi Dining Hall”
△ Ruyi Dining Hall is located in a row of shop houses beside Hou-tong train station, where there is a larger flow of people.
△ Weekend noon, Cong-ming and Jia-ling come to Ruyi Dining Hall to help their mother Tian-mei, customers gradually come in.
Jia-ling: “Mother, I have come.”
Cong-ming: “Auntie.”
Tian-mei: (Tian-mei wears an apron around her waist) “Cong-ming, sorry oh, you come again to help me. First drink pork thick soup, Auntie learned to make it herself today, customers all say it is delicious.”
Cong-ming: “Jia-ling, you eat first.”
Huang Da-chuan: “Manager Xu’s son is very considerate! Boss lady, in the future if you match them together, you also can enjoy blessings!”
Cong-ming: “Don’t talk nonsense.”
△ Xu Cong-ming blushes and goes to the back sink to wash dishes.
Tian-mei: “Both children are still studying, it is still too early to talk about these things now.”
Customer B: “The girl is generous, the boy is blushing.”
△ A burst of laughter rises.
△ Dr. Zhao Ren-jie wearing a shirt and jeans walks in and sits down at a seat.
Ren-jie: “Boss lady, one bowl of plain noodles, dry noodles, and also…”
Jia-ling: “Sir, my mother’s kway teow is very tasty.”
Ren-jie: (staring straight at Jia-ling) “Oh, I still eat dry noodles, a large bowl, and one plate of water spinach.”
Jia-ling: “Side dishes? My mother’s braised food is very delicious.”
Ren-jie: “This is enough. Little sister, thank you.”
Cong-ming: “Jia-ling, I will just wash the bowls.”
△ Xu Cong-ming looks up and down at this unfamiliar outsider.
Tian-mei: “This young man, you should have just come from out of town, right?”
Ren-jie: “Yes, I was just transferred to the health station here.”
Tian-mei: “Then you are the new doctor at the health station? Your accent does not sound like a local.”
Ren-jie: “Yes, I am from outside the province.”
Tian-mei: “I can understand you speaking Mandarin. Our place is relatively remote, maybe you will not be used to living here.”
Ren-jie: “No, I feel that the villagers here are very easy to get along with.”
Tian-mei: “The old doctor at the health station retired earlier. He was actually a good person, but when it came to more troublesome illnesses, villagers could only go to the miner hospital. Like my husband’s black lung disease, the old doctor also said he could not treat this kind of illness.”
Ren-jie: “Oh? Auntie, your husband has black lung disease?”
Tian-mei: “Yes, even the doctors at the miner hospital cannot treat it, sigh!”
Ren-jie: “This kind of disease is indeed very troublesome. When you have time, bring your husband to the health station for me to take a look.”
Tian-mei: “Okay okay, thank you very much!”
Tian-mei: (while making noodles, speaking quietly to Jia-ling) “The miner hospital also has no way at all. What ability does the health station doctor have? Sigh! All are children of heaven, can live how long is how long, it is fate already set well!” (Hakka)
Jia-ling: “Mother, can father really not be cured?”
Tian-mei: (shaking head and sighing) “It will not get better, it is only dragging time. Your father himself also has awareness in his mind.”
△ Several groups of customers gradually enter, most are coal miners from the mine. Customers who finish eating gradually stand up and leave to settle the bill.
Customer A: “Boss lady, how much is mine?”
Tian-mei: “Yours total 25 yuan.”
△ Customer A pays and leaves.
Customer C: “Boss lady, ginger intestine, stir-fried dishes, stir-fried river shrimp, white sliced meat, and herbal jelly chicken soup.”
Jia-ling: “Dipping sauce? Tangerine sauce?”
Customer C: “Of course, those who know the food all specifically order tangerine sauce.”
Ren-jie: “Auntie, your shop is really full of variety, there is everything.”
Tian-mei: (smiling) “That is also as it should be, to satisfy the tastes of all kinds of customers.”
Ren-jie: “True, that is why you named the shop ‘Ruyi’.”
△ Ren-jie looks at the mother and daughter busy cooking, lost in thought.
5th Day Scene
People: Yang Tian-ci, Yang Jia-ling, Dr. Zhao Ren-jie, nurse Wang Xiao-fen (Hakka)
Time: One Sunday morning in October
Location: Hou-tong Village Health Station
△ Sunday morning, nurse Wang Xiao-fen is busy receiving patients at the health station. Jia-ling supports her father Tian-ci slowly walking into the health station, and finds a bench for her father to sit.
Jia-ling: “Nurse, I will register my father.”
Xiao-fen: (hands out a registration form) “You fill this in, go draw a number ticket.”
△ Half an hour later, the nurse calls at the clinic door: “Number 25 Yang Tian-ci, Yang Tian-ci.”
Jia-ling: “Here.”
Jia-ling: (helping father up) “Father, it is our turn.”
△ Jia-ling supports her father and walks into the waiting room.
Ren-jie: (smiling) “Uncle, where is uncomfortable?”
Jia-ling: “My father has silicosis. He has taken many medicines, all have no effect. Doctor, in our Hou-tong area, many miners have this illness.”
Ren-jie: “I know this. My specialty is otolaryngology. I am more familiar with this kind of respiratory system illness. Come, I will listen first.”
△ Jia-ling helps her father open his shirt. Ren-jie moves the stethoscope back and forth on Tian-ci’s chest cavity several times.
Ren-jie: “Uncle, later the nurse will first take you to take a chest X-ray, then go to the nebulizer, use medicated mist to wash your trachea. Remember to come back for follow-up next week.”
Xiao-fen: “Mr. Yang, please follow me.”
△ Jia-ling supports her father and follows the nurse toward the X-ray room.
6th Day Scene
People: Yang Jia-ling, You Tian-mei, Xu Cong-ming, Deng Wen-fang, Deng Wen-ming, customer Huang Da-chuan and two others
Time: 11 a.m., one weekend in October
Location: You Tian-mei’s “Ruyi Dining Hall”
△ Jia-ling supports her father back to the dining hall. At this time there are not many customers in the shop.
Tian-mei: “Are you father and daughter hungry? I will cook ban-tiao for you to eat.”
Tian-ci: “Walking makes me a little hungry.”
Tian-mei: “What did that young doctor at the health station say? Will this illness get better?”
Jia-ling: (walking to her mother’s right side) “Mother, that Dr. Zhao, his medical skill seems quite good.”
Tian-mei: (while busy cooking ban-tiao) “Oh? If that is the case, then I feel more at ease.”
Wen-fang: (taking out a five-dollar coin and a carrying pot) “Auntie, one bowl of ban-tiao.”
Tian-mei: “One bowl of ban-tiao is not enough for your whole family to eat. Come, Auntie will cook more, you take it back for the whole family to eat.”
Wen-fang: “Auntie, my mother will scold me, I don’t dare.”
Tian-mei: “Ah Ling, when I finish cooking, you help me carry it over.”
Jia-ling: “Mm, I will carry it over.”
Huang Da-chuan: “Boss lady, you are a very good person.”
Tian-mei: “Neighbors should take care of each other. Her father and my husband were old colleagues, they used to dig coal mines together. Later in an accident, his lower body was injured and paralyzed, and he could no longer go down the pit to mine coal. Her mother works odd jobs everywhere, the family often has no steady meal. Speaking of it, it is really very pitiful.”
Huang Da-chuan: “Yes, it is rare that the boss lady has so much compassion.”
Tian-mei: “My ability is limited, but helping neighbors whose situations are worse than mine, I can still do it.”
Huang Da-chuan: “Yes, unlike those rich big bosses, heartless and ungrateful. Speaking of it, we laborers risk our lives mining coal, get black lung disease, but the mine owners do not care at all. Those rich bosses eat meat and gnaw bones, truly have no heart and no conscience.”
Customer E: “A-chuan, don’t talk nonsense. Be careful you lose your job, these people cannot be offended.”
Huang Da-chuan: (unimpressed) “What I say is the truth, how is it nonsense? When have the bosses ever cared about the life and death of us miners?”
Customer E: “Walls have ears, haven’t you heard that?”
Huang Da-chuan: “I, Huang Da-chuan, am clean and poor, just a cheap life, what is there to fear?”
Customer E: “Eat your meal. Eat two more bowls of rice, and say a few less complaints.”
Scene 7
People: Yang Tian-ci, Yang Jia-ling, You Tian-mei, Deng You-cai, Wu Man-mei, Deng Wen-fang, Deng Wen-ming
Time: One evening in October of the year 1971
Location: Yang Tian-ci’s wooden house living room
△ Neighbor Deng You-cai sits in a wheelchair, pushed by his wife Wu Man-mei. The family comes to Yang Tian-ci’s home.
You-cai: “Brother Tian-ci, sister-in-law, thanks to your help, our family has been able to get through the difficulty.”
Tian-ci: “We are all good neighbors. When there is difficulty, we help each other. Do not take it to heart.”
Man-mei: “Your own life is not easy either.”
Tian-mei: “Heaven leaves no road without an exit. There is always a way.”
You-cai: “We cannot keep eating and drinking for nothing and accepting your charity. Sister-in-law, Man-mei and I discussed it, let her go work at your dining hall.”
Tian-mei: “Good, my dining hall is short of workers.”
Tian-ci: “Ah Tian, just pay Man-mei daily wages. They need this money to maintain their living.”
You-cai: “Thank you very much, Brother Tian-ci.”
Tian-ci: “Do not say it like that. We all have illness in our bodies, the children are still young. You must take care of your health.”
8th Day Scene
People: Yang Jia-ling, You Tian-mei, Xu Cong-ming, Zhao Ren-jie, several customers
Time: One Sunday morning in early November
Location: You Tian-mei’s “Ruyi Dining Hall”
△ Noon. Zhao Ren-jie walks into Tian-mei’s Ruyi Dining Hall.
Ren-jie: “Boss lady, one bowl of assorted noodles, and a plate of braised dishes.”
Tian-mei: “Doctor, please sit for a moment, it will be ready soon.”
△ Tian-mei cuts a large plate of braised dishes and asks Jia-ling to bring it over.
Ren-jie: “I cannot finish such a big plate alone, boss lady.”
Tian-mei: (smiling and walking closer) “Just a small gesture. We country people have nothing much to entertain guests with. Dr. Zhao, please do not be polite.”
Ren-jie: “Your place really has human warmth, unlike those realistic Taipei people. Even neighbors rarely greet each other.”
Tian-mei: “You are from Taipei? Just as I guessed.”
Ren-jie: “Yes. That is exactly why I asked to be transferred here, I do not want to stay in Taipei.”
Tian-mei: “Is it not better to stay in Taipei? There are more chances for promotion.”
Ren-jie: (smiling with narrowed eyes) “Boss lady, I came here just to seek peace, without a superior nagging in my ear every day.”
Tian-mei: (smiling) “Oh? So you do not like being nagged by your superiors? That is true. Here, no one will nag you.”
Ren-jie: “Boss lady, your daughter is very filial. She comes to help you run the shop.”
Tian-mei: “Yes. We are people with hard lives. If we do not work, we have nothing to eat or wear. My husband cannot work, so my daughter has no choice but to be sensible.”
Ren-jie: “Your daughter seems to still be studying?”
Tian-mei: “Mm, studying at Keelung Girls’ High School. She is quite lucky. My son is always absent-minded, already fourteen or fifteen, still needs help bathing and dressing. My elder daughter has studied well since childhood. Since she got into girls’ high school, I must support her no matter how hard it is.”
Ren-jie: “Boss lady, your thinking is very good. Sons and daughters are the same; whoever can study further should be supported.”
Tian-mei: (bitter smile) “That is different. A daughter will marry out in the future. Once married, she belongs to her husband’s family. A son, no matter how useless, will still remain by the parents’ side.”
Ren-jie: “Why is your daughter not here?”
Tian-mei: (looking at the wall clock) “She should already be on her way here.”
9th Evening Scene
People: Yang Tian-ci, Yang Jia-ling, Xu Cong-ming, Xu Fu-gui, Wu You-xiu
Time: One evening in early November
Location: Hou-tong town, Tian-ci’s living room, Xu Fu-gui’s house entrance
△ Fade in. Long shot. Winter has arrived in Neiwan, wind and rain blowing, weather cold and damp.
△ Camera moves closer. Inside the living room, Yang Tian-ci’s coughing becomes more severe. That evening, Jia-ling herself is also coughing with a cold. Hearing the sound, she comes from the kitchen to the living room and sees her father Tian-ci sitting sideways on a recliner coughing up blood. (Jia-ling is wearing a coat)
Jia-ling: (distressed, helping her father up) “Father, you are coughing blood again. Cough cough!”
Tian-ci: (looking at the blood on the handkerchief) “I may really be about to die, Jia-ling.”
Jia-ling: (distressed) “Do not say that. I will take you to see a doctor, father. Cough.”
Tian-ci: “Your younger siblings are still waiting for dinner.”
Jia-ling: “The food is already cooked, father.”
△ Jia-ling puts a coat on her father, helps him take an umbrella, and the father and daughter leave the house and knock on neighbor Xu Cong-ming’s door. Cong-ming opens the door.
Cong-ming: “Jia-ling, seeing you coughing so badly, later you should also let the doctor examine you and get medicine.”
Jia-ling: “I am fine, cough cough, I will be fine if I drink more water.”
Cong-ming: “No, if you are sick you must see a doctor.”
△ Xu Fu-gui and his wife, who are eating, put down their bowls and chopsticks and walk to the door.
Fu-gui: “Tian-ci, you must take care of your health! Cong-ming, you accompany uncle to go.”
Cong-ming: “Father, mother, you eat dinner first.”
You-xiu: “It is raining, the mountain road is slippery, you must be careful.”
△ Cong-ming grabs the umbrella by the door, supports Tian-ci with one hand, and the three walk into the rain.
10 Night Scene
Cast: Yang Tianci, Yang Jialing, Xu Congming, Wang Xiaofen, Zhao Renjie
Time: That evening
Location: Houtong Health Station in a rainy night
△ It has just passed six o’clock. The health station is cleaning up and preparing to close. Nurse Wang Xiaofen feels impatient upon seeing more patients arriving.
Xiaofen: “We are about to close. You should go to the Miners’ Hospital and register for emergency treatment. Please come earlier next time for consultations.”
Renjie: (walks out of the consultation room, speaking to the nurse) “Nurse, if you have something to do, you can leave after work. I will handle things here.”
Xiaofen: “Doctor, you haven’t finished work yet. How could I leave first?”
△ Congming and Jialing help Tianci into the consultation room.
Jialing: (anxiously) “My father has coughed up bloodstreaks again, cough cough.”
Renjie: (to the nurse) “Lift his shirt, let me listen. Miss Yang, you seem to have caught a cold as well. I will check you later.”
Jialing: “I’m fine. Please look at my father first. He is more serious, cough.”
△ Renjie moves the stethoscope back and forth across Tianci’s chest for a while.
Renjie: (calmly) “Your father has bronchial inflammation. The rupture of swollen capillaries is causing bloodstreaks. Has he caught a cold recently?”
Jialing: (thinking) “I don’t think so. Apart from coughing, my father has no symptoms like fever or runny nose. Cough cough!”
△ Renjie looks up and says “oh?” then turns to write a medical record form for a while.
Renjie: (murmuring to himself) “If it is not a cold, then it must be allergic bronchitis.”
Jialing: (confused) “Allergic bronchitis? How should it be treated? Cough!”
Renjie: “Medication alone is not enough. You must first improve the patient’s living environment.”
Jialing: (not understanding) “Improve the patient’s living environment? Cough! Doctor, what do you mean?”
Renjie: “The patient is likely living in an overly humid environment, which triggers this condition.”
Congming: “The doctor means your wooden house is too damp. You need to move Uncle to another place for recovery.”
Renjie: “Yes. If the patient can be moved to a drier and better-ventilated place, combined with medication, the allergic symptoms will improve quickly.”
Congming: “I will go back and discuss with my parents. I will take Uncle to stay at my house. We still have an empty room. My father should agree.”
Renjie: “Young man, your plan is very thoughtful. However, I still have something important I want to speak privately with Miss Yang.”
△ Xu Congming looks suspicious, thinking the doctor might intend something improper toward Jialing, but he does not object in front of her.
Jialing: (nodding in understanding, to Congming) “Congming, please help my father to the waiting room, cough cough.”
△ Congming helps Tianci leave the consultation room and go to the waiting room.
Renjie: (seriously) “From the chest X-ray film last time when you accompanied your father, I assess that your father will not survive more than one year. You must be mentally prepared.”
Jialing: (anxiously) “Cough, is it really as bad as you say, doctor? Cough cough.”
Renjie: “Yes. Actually, since your father was diagnosed with silicosis, it has already been nearly five years. Being able to last until now is already very rare.”
Jialing: (tears falling) “My father said he cannot leave yet, cough.”
Renjie: “Of course. The patient’s will to survive has some positive effect on the illness.”
Jialing: (pleading) “Doctor, is there any way to let my father live a few more years? Cough cough.”
Renjie: “There is a method. I have read relevant foreign medical literature, but it carries some risk, because this is also my first time using this method.”
Jialing: (wiping tears, trying to steady herself) “What kind of method? Cough.”
Renjie: “To lavage the patient’s lungs with saline solution. But the patient must first undergo general anesthesia. If shock occurs during the lavage process, there will be a life-threatening risk.”
Jialing: “Then…” (thinking) “Would it be more appropriate to transfer my father to a large hospital, cough, for lung lavage?”
Renjie: “Of course. However, I doubt whether there are doctors in the country willing to take the risk of performing this kind of lavage treatment. You can first ask the Miners’ Hospital and see what their doctors say.”
Jialing: “Alright, I will follow your suggestion, cough, and ask first.”
Renjie: “If the doctors at the Miners’ Hospital are unwilling to perform this treatment, then come back to me. But do not delay too long.”
Jialing: “Mm, I understand. Thank you, cough cough, doctor.”
Renjie: “Little sister, your father’s condition now needs treatment for allergic bronchitis first. Coincidentally, there are empty beds here at the health station. The ward has air conditioning and dehumidifiers, which can improve his allergic symptoms. It would be better to let him stay here first. This also saves you the trouble of transferring to a big hospital and a sum of hospitalization fees.”
Jialing: (thinking for a moment) “Alright, I will let Congming go back and explain to my mother, cough, and later bring the things needed for hospitalization.”
△ Jialing stands up and walks to the waiting room.
Jialing: “Congming, tonight I will stay here with my father, cough. The doctor says he should rest in the ward here.”
Congming: “Jialing, leaving you alone here makes me uneasy. Besides, you are also catching a cold and need rest.”
Jialing: “Congming, you are overthinking, cough. I will be fine.”
Congming: “I always feel that doctor is not very righteous. When he ate noodles at your mother’s restaurant, his eyes kept looking at you in a suspicious way.”
Jialing: “Congming, I understand what you mean, cough. I will be careful myself. Cough. Go back and tell my mother that my father will stay here temporarily, cough. My mother will prepare everything else properly. Please help me bring them over, cough cough.”
Congming: “Tonight, can I come to keep you company?”
Jialing: “No. Tomorrow you still have to catch the train to school, cough. Your father will not agree to your absence.”
Congming: “I will go back and talk to my father. Maybe he will…”
Jialing: “Stop talking. Tomorrow morning, cough, I also need you to help me call my homeroom teacher to request leave.”
△ Jialing helps her father into the waiting room. Renjie takes them through the corridor to the ward and turns on the air conditioner and dehumidifier.
Renjie: “There are two beds here. The blankets are in the cabinet. Mr. Yang sleeps in the inner bed. I will go get the medicine.”
△ After speaking, Renjie turns and leaves toward the consultation room. (The consultation room lights are dim)
Tianci: “A Ling, are we going to stay here tonight? Cough cough.”
Jialing: “Yes, father. Our home is too humid. Didn’t you hear what the doctor said, cough? Your condition is caused by humidity, cough.”
Tianci: “Oh? Staying here should be cheaper than the Miners’ Hospital, cough.”
Jialing: “Father, don’t worry about money first. Just stay here. These days I will take leave from school and stay here with you.”
Tianci: “No, this will delay your studies, cough.”
Renjie: (entering with medicine) “Little sister, you also have a cold. Don’t force yourself. It is enough that I take care of your father. When his hospitalization items arrive, let Congming take you home.”
Jialing: “Then, the cost of my father staying here, cough…”
Renjie: “I only charge for materials and utilities. That is within my authority.”
Jialing: (confused expression) “Doctor, we are not related at all, cough, why…”
Renjie: “Didn’t I just call you ‘little sister’? You really look like my deceased younger sister.”
Jialing: “Do I really look like her? Cough.”
Renjie: (frowning) “Seeing you coughing like this, come back to the consultation room. I will examine you.”
△ Jialing follows Doctor Zhao back to the consultation room and sits on the chair in front of Renjie. Renjie uses a stethoscope to listen to her chest.
Renjie: “Upper respiratory tract infection. I will prescribe you three days of medicine. After finishing three days, come back for a follow-up. You must take the medicine on time. Otherwise, if it develops into acute pneumonia, it will be troublesome.”
Jialing: “I understand, doctor.”
Renjie: (with a reluctant expression) “You take care of your father, but you must also take care of your own health.”
