Chapter 8: Acute Neurological Dysfunctional Syndrome

On another hand, it was hard to grasp their dialect at first, but it became much either to understand their words shortly after as it wasn't all that different from the dialect Guizhou people used. Not many spoke general mandarin in the city.

As much as she would like to keep track of the number of dishes she learned, it'd be more fun to try and count the number of friends she made, which was basically impossible as there were too many from the elderly to the infants. She recalled how similar it was to the shop vendors in Qianling park as well. Occasionally, the vendors would hand her a little bonus of food when she visits them or treat her as their own child. However, what concerned her more was the number of victims to the new virus that sprouted from the livestock. With great concern, her resolve to head to Beijing only intensified.

As for the discovered virus, it was given an English name called the Acute Neurological Dysfunctional Syndrome, also abbreviated to ANDS. Though she had assumed it may be the doing of the children of Hades, something tells her that wasn't quite true. It was then that she realized that, to prevent the further spread of the virus, the people would need masks, gloves, and disinfectants to protect themselves. Even then, that would not be enough.

The meat they sold would need to be protected and checked for the virus. The health and business workers all told their neighbors and businesses to leave the food indoors in an isolated room for three days at least and to wash off the remaining bacteria and germs with soap and water as one would wash their hands that is unless the food came from a trusted source. Amongst them, Willow helped the doctor spread the words as well, despite the number of times she required the doctor's presence to help validate her words.

Having heard that she had been a medical student in America and China with a short period of an intern at a hospital before becoming a traveler, the majority naturally believed in her words and followed the procedures to protect themselves. The most troubling part of the situation was marketing. She predicted that, with the widespread of the virus and natural disasters, the government will have little choice but to close down the majority parts of the country.

To keep the livelihood of the people, she promoted the idea of delivery to doorsteps. It was simple as they know simple hygiene when making food. Hot food can kill the virus, but, in cold temperatures, the virus could live up to three years at least according to the information her doctor received. If they want cold food, they can only make it themselves and set it out to cool.

Thanks to this, Willow had to prolong her stay from four weeks to two months as she traveled back and forth from Sichuan to Guizhou with a mask, gloves, and disinfectant in her bag. However, she knew that this wouldn't be enough. To fight this virus, Willow deduced to herself that they would require a new vaccine from the information she gathered.

The first symptoms of the virus was a pain in the lungs. The part she worried about the most was that the virus affects the lungs during breathing. It wasn't tuberculosis, but that didn't mean that it wasn't deadly. Just by affecting the breathing was already dangerous enough.

It was also especially bad for the shop vendors and the children since not many have health support backing them up and the local doctor doesn't have enough supplies should something happen to all of them. It would be the honest truth, that the most she could do were send them to the hospital which was filled with victims and may not be as clean as they hoped. She recalled being to one of them before as a child.

For hours, she could tell that the floors were well clean thoroughly and all the people who entered wore masks and left as quickly as they came. Her father had told her of the poor conditions of the hospitals southwest in China. Unless they were in more prominent cities, they won't find much cleaner hospitals to count on. She didn't know if the entirety were true as she was had gone to a couple around the Guizhou Province when she had an allergic reaction that required IV drops a day for three consecutive days to treat.

In the end, she could only leave everything happening in Sichuan in the local doctor's hands as the situation had forced her to leave once the situation began rising in other cities.

The family, who ran a restaurant she now worked at as waiter, was reluctant to let her go out where the virus was going about. She had to make a promise to send them letters until it was safe enough for them to be out and about.

During the time she had stayed in the city, she had taken on a role as a tutor and earned extra cash teaching the kids English and how to understand English math problems as English was one of the courses taught in China's education system as a necessity. What she learned from this experience was that it was hard running any sort of business when you're working and China is run by more than just connections from the source of their resources and financial abilities.

They also require connections with the people around them. Their customers and neighboring shops were also a vital part of their city's prosperity. Not only were the people a part of the city, but they were also what the country relies on to stay strong financially and politically. The only problem was when government affairs interfered with the lives of the people, then it becomes a problem.

However, she dares say that the quarantine was only a matter of time as the virus was getting out of hand. With this, she worried over her future money-making ideas.

"Stay safe, you hear?!" The wife lectured her firmly in Chinese with great hesitation after having successfully forced a bag of food in her hands, "You have to write to us when you can!"

"What 'when you can'?" The resturant owner scowled and called out proudly, "Write to us every day! Also, let us know when you can return home! You may have lost your luggage, but you still have us! Come back if you have no way to return home and we'll help ya!"

His wife rolled her eyes to her husband's jolly nature and scolded to her husband, "Don't you think she may be too tired to write to us all the time from all the looking?! Letting us know that she's well from time to time would be good enough for all of us!"

"Oh, ignore the old fool." The wife continued with a sigh and turned to Willow, "You have that old smartphone my nephew gave you, right? You can use that to check on the internet for any cheap hostels around the provinces. Because he has a partnership with a mobile company, don't worry about any fees. We don't pay them either."

Showered with their goodwill and kindness, Willow could only nod and smile embarrassingly as she responded, "I'll make sure to write. Thank you and your household for taking care of me Mrs. Wu."

Touched by her kind words, the wife laughed, "What are you saying?! Thank you for tutoring our daughter. She was having a hard time with her studies and we don't even have the time or sufficient knowledge to help her pass her math tests since she can't go back to school for a while! All we can do is take care of our finance at home and in the restaurant."

"I could only help with English and Math." She said sheepishly.

"That's fine. That's fine! It's already more than enough! You don't see us using English everyday, do you!" The owner chuckled, "Eh! Let us know if you plan to run a tutoring business here later on! We'll definitely send the kids over to you! Haha!"

"All right. All right." The wife interrupted with a sigh but also a warm smile, "You have to hurry and catch the bus. You plan to head to Shandong province, right? That's dangerously close to Beijing. You should be more careful of thieves this time, you hear? There are more refugees coming down from Beijing. Watch your health too and don't injure yourself again, got it?"

"I'll definitely be more careful." She replied slightly nervous with the adamant words of the wife. Initially, it was her and her husband who was against her leaving before the rest of the neighbors joined in their own homes when she visited. It was hard to persuade them that she would be fine and that she would send a letter back to the restaurant since she can't do it for all of them.

With a hard farewell, they had finally torn themself from her as she left for the main street with her medical mask and gloves to board the bus that arrived just on time.