For the next two days, Deanna became quite busy.
The reason was simple: her free clinical treatment at Hughes Pharmacy, along with the praise from Old Hughes and Old Wright, had made her well-known in Cloudmere.
Now, many people came to seek her medical help every day.
Deanna originally didn't want to treat these people since she wasn't fully qualified yet.
However, she couldn't resist their pleas, especially when she saw elderly women, as old as her grandmother, suffering terribly from illnesses.
In the end, she agreed to see patients.
To avoid disturbing other residents, she limited herself to treating ten people a day.
That evening, after finishing her daily ten treatments, Deanna went to prepare dinner.
Shortly after, the doorbell rang again.
She heard it from the kitchen and instructed the kids to answer the door.
"Gregory, Chloe, go see who's at the door."
"Got it."
The two kids responded and ran to the door.
When they opened it, they saw a haggard old lady and a young man with an impatient look on his face.
Gregory immediately realized they were there to see their mom for medical help and politely reminded them, "Grandma, today's consultations are over. Please come back tomorrow."
Before the old lady could speak, the young man started complaining rudely.
"What a crappy clinic with so many rules."
"Shut up!"
The old lady scolded the young man immediately and then started coughing violently.
Old Ashley, hearing the commotion from the living room, came out with concern, "Gregory, Chloe, what's going on?"
"Great-grandma, this grandma is here to see mommy for treatment, but she seems to be in bad shape. Should we call mommy out?"
Chloe looked at the old lady, whose face had turned red from coughing, feeling conflicted.
Old Ashley also felt sympathetic and said to the kids, "Bring the old lady to sit on the sofa. I'll go get your mommy."
With that, she turned and walked towards the kitchen, while the old lady struggled to express her gratitude.
When Deanna learned that a patient had come and seemed to be in distress, she quickly put down her spatula and followed her grandmother out.
As soon as she stepped out, she frowned at the scene before her with displeasure.
The young man who accompanied the old lady was behaving like a hooligan, rummaging through the living room without any manners.
The old lady sat nearby, looking very embarrassed.
She wanted to scold her son but lacked any authority.
The young man, however, brightened up when he saw Deanna and walked over rubbing his hands together. "Are you that highly skilled doctor?"
"I'm not a highly skilled doctor; I just happen to know how to treat illnesses."
Although Deanna disliked the way he looked at her, she endured it out of professional duty and turned to the old lady. "Please give me your hand so I can check your pulse."
The old lady gratefully extended her hand while thanking Deanna.
She then explained apologetically, "I know Dr. Deanna only sees ten patients a day. I really couldn't come during the day. Our family is not well off. My son here has no stable job and his fiancée left him with a child. Now my whole family relies on me collecting recyclables during the day."
Hearing this, Deanna felt deep sympathy for the old lady and grew even more displeased with the young man.
The young man immediately changed his expression upon hearing his situation exposed.
"I told you to just get treated. Why tell the doctor all that?"
He then turned to Deanna with what he thought was a charming smile and defended himself. "Don't listen to my mom. I'm not lazy; I'm working on a project that could make me rich overnight."
Deanna didn't want to engage with him and responded perfunctorily before focusing on treating the old lady.
After checking her pulse and asking a few questions, she understood the old lady's condition.
"Your illness has accumulated over many years. Now that you're older, many of your organs have started to deteriorate and can't handle your daily workload. That's why you experience heart pain, chest tightness, dizziness, and sometimes temporary blindness or deafness. This illness will be difficult to cure completely; you need to take care of yourself and avoid heavy labor."
"I can't avoid heavy labor; my family depends on me."
The old lady shook her head helplessly.
Deanna glanced at the young man playing with his phone on the sofa and couldn't help but shake her head lightly.
People say raising children is for old age support; at this moment, she found that saying ironic.
But it was someone else's family matter, so she said nothing more and advised, "I'll prescribe you some medicine for two days. Take it first to nourish your body and try to avoid heavy labor. I won't charge you much for the medicine; just give me the cost price."
"Thank you, doctor. Thank you."
The old lady was very grateful.