Chapter 93: Severe Malnutrition

Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Severe Malnutrition

After work in the afternoon, Yun Zhen tallied up her daily earnings.

Seventy-eight yuan from collecting scrap.

One hundred and ten yuan from her two jobs.

Three thousand yuan from selling crocheted dolls.

The total came to 3,188 yuan.

She had given 120 yuan to Li Mei, asking her to help buy crochet material kits and crochet hooks online. She had also promised to consult a doctor about her mother’s physical weakness and buy some supplements.

Yun Zhen headed to the same small pharmacy where she had previously bought the frostbite ointment.

"Where are you feeling unwell?" the doctor in a white coat asked when she saw Yun Zhen walk in.

"Doctor, it’s not for me. It’s for my mother. She’s in poor health and couldn’t make it today, so I’m asking on her behalf."

Since her mother was in another world, she truly couldn’t come here. Yun Zhen felt a deep sense of regret. If only her mother could cross over, she could have brought her in for an in-person consultation.

"Your mother?" The doctor thought the girl’s phrasing was a bit old-fashioned. "What are your mom’s symptoms?"

Yun Zhen knew that "mom" meant the same as "mother," having heard Lele call Li Mei "Mom." She described the symptoms to the doctor. "My mother is very thin. She’s weak and lacks energy, feeling dizzy and lethargic all day. She feels faint after just a few steps and can’t do any heavy lifting. If she stands for too long, she starts panting and her whole body goes limp."

The doctor asked, "Are there any other symptoms? For example, does she get sick often, or is she prone to emotional outbursts and irritability?"

Yun Zhen thought carefully. "Although she likes to stay in bed most days, it’s just because she’s weak and lacks energy. She hasn’t gotten sick once, even in the dead of winter. It was the same in the past—she never really fell ill. She just breaks out in cold sweats easily. And no, she doesn’t have a bad temper."

The doctor nodded thoughtfully. "Did she only become this weak in the past couple of years, or has she lacked energy and gotten tired easily since childhood?"

Yun Zhen thought back again. Her father had mentioned that before her mother married him, she had always been listless. She couldn’t even climb a small hill to forage for wild vegetables and would be out of breath just from cooking a meal.

"She has been weak since she was little," she told the doctor.

The doctor sounded a bit uncertain. "Based on the symptoms you’ve described, I think she has likely suffered from severe malnutrition since childhood. A deficiency in various essential trace elements would explain why she lacks the strength to work and easily experiences chest tightness and shortness of breath. Were the living conditions in your mother’s original family quite poor?"

Her mother used to say that there were too many children in her family, which was why her heartless parents had sold her to human traffickers. In truth, her parents had initially planned to starve her to death. But she had managed to survive on wild grass from the mountains until the age of ten, at which point she was sold to the traffickers for two taels of silver.

The traffickers had raised her until she was fifteen, originally intending to sell her to a wealthy family as a scullery maid. Unexpectedly, she caught a severe chill along the way. After recovering from the illness, her body became weak and frail. She was constantly lethargic, and taking medicine didn’t help.

No one wanted to buy someone who looked like they could drop dead at any moment, so the traffickers dragged her to the streets to sell her off cheaply. She could be taken away for just twenty copper coins. As it happened, her third grandpa saw her and bought her, eventually marrying her off to Yun Zhen’s father.

Yun Zhen had a rough understanding of the word "malnutrition." "Doctor, do you mean my mother is like this because she didn’t have enough to eat and starved when she was little?"

The doctor nodded. "That’s a very likely cause. If an illness was the root of her weakness, she definitely would have fallen sick frequently afterward. But you just said that aside from being weak and staying in bed, she doesn’t get sick easily. It’s highly probable that a lack of various trace elements in her body is what caused her to be so frail since childhood."

She suggested, "Bring her in sometime. I can confirm it by taking her pulse."

However, Yun Zhen had no way to bring her to this world. "Doctor, if we treat it as malnutrition, what kind of medicine can resolve her condition?"

"All medicines have side effects. Without seeing the patient or their medical records, I wouldn’t dare prescribe any clinical drugs for her," the doctor explained. "But I can prescribe some supplements. Since your mom has been chronically weak, it’s highly likely due to a lack of essential trace elements, just as I mentioned. You can buy some Ginseng and Spleen Pills, which are specifically for replenishing qi and blood, and treating overall bodily fatigue.

"There are also Qi Replenishing Pills, which specifically target whole-body lethargy.

"Furthermore, you should buy some multivitamin tablets and calcium pills.

"As long as she takes these supplements according to the instructions, even if they don’t perfectly target her underlying condition, they won’t have any negative effects on her body.

"If your family’s conditions permit, feed your mom more lean meat, beef, pork liver, red dates, Chinese yam, eggs, milk, crucian carp soup, and peanuts.

"If her symptoms are truly caused by malnutrition, following this diet for a month or two will restore more than half of her vitality."

Yun Zhen’s eyes lit up. Hearing that there was hope, she quickly tried her best to memorize the doctor’s words. She planned to buy a catty or two of everything the doctor had mentioned later.

"Doctor, please help me get some of those supplements for my mother, the ones you just mentioned."

"Take the Ginseng and Spleen Pills and the Qi Replenishing Pills once in the morning and once in the evening. Two pills each time, after meals. If there’s no improvement after a month, then your mom isn’t suffering from malnutrition and needs to be examined at a hospital."

She then carefully instructed, "Also, make sure your mom walks around more. Don’t let her stay in bed all day. Even a healthy person would develop problems from lying down too long. Since your mom is already weak, lying down too much is bad for her.

"The multivitamins are taken just like the Ginseng and Spleen Pills—twice a day, one tablet after meals. The calcium pills are taken three times a day. I’ve written the daily dosages on the instruction leaflets for you.

"The total is one hundred and twenty yuan."

After paying, Yun Zhen walked out and tossed the medicine into the treasure land in her mind.

She found a shop selling roasted seeds and nuts, which happened to have the red dates and peanuts she needed. "Excuse me, how much are the peanuts and red dates here?"

The shop owner told her, "Roasted peanuts are seven yuan a catty, and red dates are eight yuan a catty."

"Give me five catties of each."

According to the prices in her original world, peanuts could be pressed for oil, meaning only wealthy families could afford to eat them. Red dates were used to nourish the body and weren’t much cheaper than white sugar. But the prices here were much cheaper than back home.

At seven yuan a catty, five catties of peanuts were thirty-five yuan.

At eight yuan a catty, five catties of red dates were forty yuan.

The total came to seventy-five yuan.

Carrying a bag of peanuts in one hand and a bag of red dates in the other, her hands felt heavy. The moment she stepped out of the shop, she tossed them into the treasure land in her mind. She didn’t know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that her mental space was growing larger every day.

Having bought the peanuts and red dates, she headed to a general store to buy milk, opting for one inside the farmers’ market.

Yun Zhen entered the general store and found the milk shelves. "Excuse me, how much is the pure milk?"

The store owner replied, "We have milk for 39.90, 49.90, 59.90, and 69.90 yuan. Which price range do you want? They’re all genuine, pure milk produced this year."

Yun Zhen thought about it briefly. Her mother needed to nourish her body, and the other villagers needed to build up their strength too. Plus, Li Mei had mentioned that children who drank plenty of milk would grow taller. "I want the pure milk for 39.90 yuan. I’ll take ten crates. Do you have enough in stock?"

"Ten crates? Yes, we have enough!" the store owner quickly nodded.

"However, I’ll have to trouble you to move all the milk to the alley next door that intersects with the flea market," Yun Zhen added. "I’ll have my family come and pick it up."

"No problem," the store owner readily agreed. "I’ll get someone to keep an eye on them for you. I guarantee no one will take them."

Yun Zhen accepted the store owner’s kindness and thanked him sincerely.