Du Heng feigned mild surprise with an ’Oh,’ then pointed to Shi Kaimin, who was chatting with Dong Yuezhang and others, and asked, "What do you all call him?"

"Grandpa."

"Why didn’t you go to kindergarten but instead came to work with your Mother? Don’t you want to go to school?"

The two kids seemed to be about one or two years apart, one slightly older, about five years old, and the other slightly younger, about three or four years old. The younger one was busy playing, while the older one was playing and chatting with Du Heng.

"I want to go to school, but my Mother can’t afford the kindergarten tuition." The older child looked a little aggrieved, pouting and gently telling Du Heng the reason, and the movement of his hands playing slowed down as well.

Du Heng looked at the child with some surprise and couldn’t help but ask, "What about your dad?"

"Dad abandoned us because Mother is sick."

Hearing the child’s words, Du Heng couldn’t help but feel a little flustered, thinking he’d been a bit reckless.

The woman working in front seemed to have heard the conversation between Du Heng and the children and turned her head to call out gently, "Mo Mo, hurry up and get to work."

"Okay, Mother." The older child stopped talking.

Du Heng didn’t feel embarrassed by the woman’s call but frowned as he listened to her voice.

Her voice was very faint. So faint, it felt as though the sound didn’t come from her throat but directly from her oral cavity. Moreover, her breath was very short when she spoke.

Especially when she coughed, it felt like the phlegm in her throat was just a little short of being coughed out, but it just couldn’t come out.

Insufficient lung qi?

Just as he thought of this, Du Heng heard the distressing cough and phlegm-spitting sounds again.

He couldn’t stand it any longer and went straight to the woman’s side. "Hello, I am a doctor from the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital. May I ask if you are sick?"

The woman was startled by Du Heng’s actions, and the sound of her coughing was stifled.

But what came back was an even more intense cough; although it wasn’t too severe, her breath was almost cut off during the coughing.

Du Heng’s face twitched, and he took two steps back, watching the woman coughing desperately.

When the woman felt a little better, she said, "Yes, I’ve been sick for two years."

"Can you tell me more about it?"

The woman took another look at Du Heng. "There’s nothing I can’t say. I’ve had this cough for almost three years. Before, it was just a constant urge to cough, and after a couple of coughs, it would pass.

Last year during the New Year, I caught a cold by accident, and it turned into this, coughing more frequently, and there’s always phlegm whenever I cough.

And after that, I became particularly tired, completely without strength, and I suffer from severe shortness of breath. I can’t do anything remotely heavy." As she spoke, she coughed frequently, and her words came out increasingly rapid.

Du Heng’s expression was very serious, and he listened very attentively, not making the woman feel that he was deliberately asking questions to ridicule or tease her.

Du Heng continued to ask, "Have you had any check-ups?"

The woman’s expression darkened, her eyes wandering behind Du Heng, full of reluctance and worry. "I’ve been to several hospitals: JZU Second Hospital, Chinese Medicine Hospital, Pulmonary Hospital, and Provincial Oncology Hospital as well.

They couldn’t find any specific cause. They just said I had primary interstitial pneumonia. They also explained that in the later stages, my lungs would become fibrotic, making it difficult to breathe, and then... then... well..."

The woman couldn’t go on and just sighed softly in her throat. "The doctor said there’s no way to treat my illness now, only medicine to control it.

Starting last year, my illness began worsening day by day. The frequency and dosage of my medicine increased. I couldn’t work anymore, and then we divorced.

Now I have to drag my father down with me."

Idiopathic interstitial pneumonia?

Du Heng’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he looked at the woman earnestly and said, "I’m a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. May I take a look at you?"