Ning and Bai brought Yan the exact supply count after Qinghe showed them the nearly empty jar. The clinic had twelve days of essential medicine if it turned away nonurgent requests. Two common remedies would run out in less than half that time.
Bai kept a second ledger for people who refused free treatment. He used it to see where aid was welcome, but he did not write down private reasons. A man might want to pay for his own care because he feared owing the refuge. A family might take medicine for a child and refuse help for an adult. The page recorded only the decision.
Yan read the marks. “I can give my island reward to the clinic. It won’t replace regular deliveries, but it can buy time.”
“It will buy a small emergency reserve,” Bai said. “If we spend it on every shortage at once, none of the routes will become dependable.”
Qinghe put the jars on the table. One could be rationed safely to people with mild symptoms. The other was used to prevent dangerous fevers in children. She did not want equal shares if that meant a child went without while a patient with a mild cough received more than needed.
