Director Su opened the institute laboratory to a small formula comparison. He had moved the meeting to the clinic room so the two workers could leave whenever they wanted. One sat near the door, still wearing her work gloves. The other kept a folded appointment slip on her knee.
Ning sat with them as their representative. “Before we start, you can withdraw from the comparison without losing ordinary treatment,” she said. “The clinic will keep seeing you whether you take part or not.”
The woman by the door nodded. “And you’re only checking which one measures more accurately?”
“Stability and dose accuracy,” Lian said. “We are not testing a cure today.”
One worker pointed at the board. “How will you know whether one is more stable?”
Lian described the measures: the sample would sit for a set time, then be checked at several intervals; the dose would be drawn with the clinic’s marked glass, not estimated by spoon. The worker asked if she could watch the measurement. Lian said yes and moved the chair closer to the table.
“Then I want to see the line myself,” the worker said. “I’m tired of being told the dose is close enough.”
Ning wrote that request into the test plan, with the worker’s initials beside it. “You can stop if the explanation changes or if you want to leave.”
