The Audacious Proposal

The medics and caretakers were used to having war victims die under their care, so they were indifferent about two additional deaths. Moreover, these two were basically already waiting to cross the river to the underworld for several days already. Their fellow poisoned comrades had already gone ahead of them, so these two had little hope to survive. Unless Xiao Yue conjured two magical pills out of thin air to feed the patients, they would die sooner or later. Better sooner, the caretakers would say. Prolonged pain did not merit better karma for the next life.

Xiao Yue understood their valid point of view, but she could not help but feel distraught at her failure. The hospital staff did not consider it a failure at all. She just arrived the day before. Only magical-pill-summoning deities could save those poor patients, as they repeatedly told the grumpy young woman.

And then the young woman had a revolutionary idea which was quickly rejected by morality.

"Can I harvest the blood from the corpse to try to create an antidote?"

"..."

"..."

"No." Medic Chen finally answered after he recovered from the shock. How could Xiao Yue even suggest that? That was very disrespectful toward the corpse and the family! Forget that the poisoning victim's antibody reacted against the poison only to lose a battle against the vicious substance, and that the destroyed antibody cells could actually become a starting point to produce antidotes.

Hmm... wait... it kinda made sense.

Of course, the Shaman did not require to harvest anyone's blood to create antidotes. Xiao Yue had to pick another route to hopefully land at the same destination which was the antidote.

Medic Chen and the other medics were having internal struggles. For the sake of medical development, they were very interested in helping Xiao Yue harvest the blood from the corpses, but from an ethical point of view, they simply could not allow that to happen.

Xiao Yue the salesgirl had to make another pitch.

"If we succeed, no one else has to die. After we get the first antidote and study its characteristics, we can make it from scratch."

Harvesting corpse blood vs. death of many more soldiers.

Hmm...

Caretaker Wang raised his hand.

"Yes, Caretaker Wang?"

"We can harvest the blood if we get permission from the family."

The others started to groan.

"Brother Wang," Medic Chen put an arm around Caretaker Wang and spoke in a patronizing way. "You are speaking as if the mourning family is here with us. Are you suggesting we send the corpses back to the family and while they are crying their eyes out, ask whether we can desecrate their loved ones' empty shells?"

Caretaker Wang pursed his lips and glared at Medic Chen.

"Brother Chen, are you taking me for a fool? I am talking about Zhou Zi Chen."

Upon hearing the name fall into the conversation, everyone but Xiao Yue cringed.

"What's wrong? Who is Zhou Zi Chen?" Xiao Yue asked, looking at each of them and demanding answers.

Caretaker Liu rubbed his lower arms. He looked extremely uncomfortable as he answered Xiao Yue.

"Zhou Zi Chen was one of the two patients who died yesterday. He was new with us. And he was also the younger brother of Colonel Zhou."

Xiao Yue oh-ed.

"So if we can get permission from Colonel Zhou, we can..."

"Unthinkable!" Medic Chen objected immediately. "Xiao Ya, the two siblings lost their parents when they were young. Colonel Zhou Zi Ran and Caretaker Zhou Zi Chen both had to work hard to survive since young age, and they depended a lot on each other. I have never seen two siblings closer than they are. Caretaker Zhou perished due to a momentary carelessness. Colonel Zhou is mourning deeply. We should not even think about talking to him."

Xiao Yue understood. The pain of losing a loved one was immense. Who would be willing to even listen to such an absurd idea, even if it served a higher purpose? Xiao Yue just had to find another solution.

The dejected young woman went to grab some lunch. Yu Fen was really giving her all in this new job. It was not wrong to say that as long as one enjoyed the work, exhaustion was almost non-existent. Xiao Yue had enjoyed gardening. She did not mind getting dirty and sweaty. The joy from seeing flowers bloom or fruits grow was the only thing that counted.

Since she was so popular, Yu Fen was often dragged by various soldiers to eat together with their group. She was like a celebrity chef, invited to talk about food and the newest recipes.

That day too, Yu Fen was not available to accompany her for lunch, so Xiao Yue ate alone under a tree. Today's lunch was packed in paper bags. Everyone got a paper bag. Inside the paper bags were two other smaller bags. Inside each of the smaller bags was a dish Xiao Yue neither saw nor tasted before.

Right underneath the paper bags were two soft white bun halves with generous filling in between. The filling was a mix of grilled pork belly stripes and chopped vegetables, cooked together with wine and soy sauce. The dish was still warm. Xiao Yue took a little bite into the meat stripes. The sweet and salty flavor along with some pepper bits filled her mouth, extremely satisfying.

"Is it good?"