Chapter 85: Briquettes and Wind Bladders
Sunday.

Early in the morning, Wang Mengde and his father pulled the flatbed cart in the yard and came to Fangzhuanchang Hutong.

Today, they came here to buy several hundred kilograms of honeycomb coal to take back.

Autumn and winter are just around the corner. With two babies, the temperature in the house can’t be as low as before. The stove has to be burning brightly 24 hours a day.

The price of honeycomb coal and coal briquettes is similar, and 500 kilograms cost a total of more than nine yuan.

At the entrance to the courtyard, Wang Mengde stopped temporarily from a distance because the threshold was a bit high. He rubbed his hands together, then pulled the cart and started to sprint, with Wang Hao pushing hard from behind.

Fortunately, both of them had practiced martial arts for many years and had considerable strength, so they managed to pull the flatbed cart up.

After entering the front yard and taking a breath, Yan Bugui was about to move forward when he heard some noise. He stuck his head out of the house and saw that the cart was full of honeycomb coal, so he came out:

"Hey, Lao Wang, why did your family buy honeycomb coal? The coal briquettes in our house won't fit in."

Seeing a flatbed cart full of honeycomb briquettes, he asked curiously.

"Old Yan, now that we have two more children, I asked Meng De to buy a flower pot stove that can burn honeycomb coal. This stove and honeycomb coal can be used to keep the house warm in winter."

Wang Hao stopped and explained with a smile.

The "flower pot stove" is named because the stove is shaped like a flower pot from top to bottom. Some flower pot stoves can only burn coal balls, while some are dual-purpose stoves that can burn coal balls and honeycomb coal.

This type of stove, after being connected to a chimney, can be placed directly in the house during autumn and winter evenings, thus providing a means of both cooking and heating.

"Oh, your family is really generous. They even bought a new stove. It must have cost a lot of money." Pushing the frame of his glasses, Yan Bugui smacked his lips and said, "The honeycomb coal has holes all over it. It's hard to burn, isn't it?"

"Uncle, this honeycomb coal is not only inexpensive, but also more economical than burning coal balls, and it also produces stronger fire power." Wang Mengde on the side continued.

Nowadays, everyone is still used to using coal balls, but in fact, honeycomb coal is easier to use and saves coal. By next year, that is, in 57 years, the country will vigorously promote the use of honeycomb coal.

"Is honeycomb coal more economical than coal briquettes?" Yan Bugui said with some disbelief.

"Yes, it's more economical than coal briquettes." Wang Mengde said affirmatively.

Hearing that honeycomb coal saves money, Yan Bugui was tempted, but when he thought about how the coal stove at home could still be used for a few more years and how it would cost a lot of money to buy a new stove, he stood there for a while with a conflicted look on his face.

Seeing that he was silent and obviously thinking about something, Wang Mengde said, "Uncle, I'm going to go back first. After the coal briquettes are stacked, we still have to install the chimney."

As he spoke, he pulled the flatbed cart and walked towards the backyard along the hanging flower gate.

"Hey, Meng De, you just bought a flower pot stove and honeycomb coal. The fire is too strong. In addition to installing a chimney, you should also install a wind scoop to prevent coal ball poisoning." Yan Bugui shouted loudly when he saw him leaving.

"Got it. Thank you, Uncle San."

After returning home and stacking the honeycomb coal, Wang Mengde began to install the chimney and air scoop.

This cannot be taken lightly, as in addition to the adults at home, there are two newborn babies.

At noon, on the dinner table, in addition to pork kidney soup, Ran Xiaomei also cooked seven or eight brown sugar poached eggs for He Shengnan.

"Meng De, you should go to work tomorrow. It's not good to always ask for leave. There is not much to do at home for the time being. I can take care of the washing and cooking." Ran Xiaomei said to him.

"Okay, then I will go to work tomorrow." Wang Mengde thought about it and agreed after realizing that this was indeed the case.

The next morning, he said goodbye to his sleeping wife and two sons and rode his bicycle to Guang'anmen. In the hospital clinic, when Pu Lao came into the room and saw him, he smiled and said, "Meng De, congratulations on having two sons. By the way, why don't you take a few more days off to take good care of your wife and children."

"Sir, things at home have basically been arranged, and I don't play a big role at home." Wang Mengde said.

"Okay, if you need any help, you can always ask for leave. If you can't make it in time, you can just make up for it later."

"Okay, thank you sir."

"Well, since you are here today, in addition to treating patients with me in a while, you can also review the case records of the critically ill patients we treated last time for Japanese encephalitis.

Next week, there will be a seminar that I need to attend, and I will talk about the treatment of severe Japanese encephalitis patients at that time. "

Pu Lao ordered.

"Yes, I will find time to organize the materials today." Wang Mengde said.

When he treated a critically ill patient for Japanese encephalitis last time, he basically participated in the whole process and recorded all the relevant information anytime and anywhere. Therefore, writing this document was a piece of cake for him.

Soon, it was time for lunch.

In the cafeteria, Wang Mengde and Qian Dayong stood together, holding lunch boxes in their hands, waiting in line to get their meals.

"Meng De, you haven't been here for a few days. Something big happened in the hospital." Seeing that the line was quite long, Qian Dayong couldn't help but speak.

"What's the matter?"

"Just a few days ago, the hospital held a meeting and the dean said one thing. In the future, he would encourage everyone to conduct research integrating Chinese and Western medicine, and also said that we should learn more from the advantages of Western medicine." Qian Dayong said in a low voice.

Wang Mengde's expression changed. He didn't expect Dean Lu to be so decisive. He just talked about this topic a few days ago, and started to implement it a few days later.

"Brother Dayong, what do you think?"

"Most people in the institute think that Chinese medicine really needs to make the best use of its strengths and overcome its weaknesses, learn from the advantages of Western medicine, and make up for some of the shortcomings of Chinese medicine, so that Chinese medicine can develop."

Qian Dayong said in a low voice.

"My teacher and I think so too," he added.

"That's right. The combination of Chinese and Western medicine is indeed the trend of the future." Wang Mengde nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that's what my teacher said. In the next two days, the institute will add some Western medicine books and some foreign journals. Let's study together then."

"Okay, let's go read some Western medicine books when we have time."

After a busy whole day, before leaving get off work, Wang Mengde gave the sorted materials to Pu Lao for review.

"Good, it's well organized and the content is very detailed. Please make some changes here and give me another copy tomorrow." Mr. Pu read it carefully and said with satisfaction.

He is now becoming more and more satisfied with this apprentice.

After checking the time and seeing that it was time to get off work, Pu Lao took a bag from the table, took out a few cans of milk powder from it, and pushed them in front of him:
"Meng De, you have two children at home. Take these four cans of milk powder back and feed them to your children first. I will give you a few cans every month in the future."

(End of this chapter)