Gastroliths (continued)

The little ones realized it; they were being deliberately tempted.

A little bear held back for a long time, but finally couldn't take it anymore and burst into tears.

Kang Ying glared at him and said in a gruff voice, "What are you crying for? Squat down properly!"

The little bear shuddered in fright and quickly assumed a proper horse stance, but it still couldn't help sobbing and crying, wetting the fur on its face.

Kang Ying: "That naughty brat won't get any grilled fish skewers tonight, or anything else. He'll have to go hungry all night and remember this lesson."

The little ones from the Riverside Tribe couldn't help but cast sympathetic glances at their friends.

Instantly, even more cubs from the Ice River Tribe began to cry.

This lesson should be profound enough.

The adults looked at the little ones with great satisfaction.

Jian Mo also really likes scaleless fish. The flesh of this fish is delicate and has a special aroma that suits his taste perfectly.

He ate and drank a lot that night, and didn't even know when Wu Jiong carried him back.

When he regained consciousness, it was Wu Jiong calling him from beside the bed.

"What time is it?" Jian Mo opened her eyes groggily and moved closer to the bed. "Is it dawn yet?"

As she spoke, Jian Mo not only didn't get up, but instead hugged Wu Jiong's waist, squeezed him with her legs, rolled over, and rolled Wu Jiong onto the bed. She rubbed against his neck and kissed him.

Wu Jiong cupped Jian Mo's head in his hands and rubbed it to relax his scalp. "Someone downstairs came seeking medical help, should we go down and take a look?"

"Now?" Jian Mo looked up at the window, saw the bright sunshine, and muttered, "Okay, it's getting late. Which tribe are you from? What's the problem?"

Wu Jiong: "The little boy from the Under the Clouds Tribe said he has an upset stomach, and he doesn't look well either; he's very thin."

Jian Mo's mind wasn't quite clear right now. After a moment, she remembered which tribe Under the Clouds Tribe was. "The tribe below Cypress Branch Tribe, right? Okay, I'll go down and take a look."

Jian Mo, grabbed her clothes, put them on, and went downstairs to look.

Sure enough, a family of three was sitting in the living room: two fathers with a little boy.

The cub is in beast form, and looks extremely thin, as thin as a scarf. It is also very long and looks like a little mink.

If Jian Mo hadn't been certain the little creature was alive, she would have thought it was a scarf with a mink head.

The two fathers quickly greeted Jian Mo, who invited them to sit down and then brewed some tea for them.

After washing up, Jian Mo came over and inquired about the baby's condition.

The baby's two fathers looked very worried:

"Gong Wei doesn't eat much. Even if you force him to eat, he'll vomit it up very quickly."

"The little one often has stomach aches and sometimes vomits bile."

"He always refused to transform into human form, saying that it would hurt his stomach when he tried to."

After listening carefully, Jian Mo summarized. "It sounds like loss of appetite, indigestion, upper abdominal pain, and symptoms of acid reflux, heartburn, and vomiting. It sounds like a stomach problem. Let me take a look."

The two fathers didn't quite understand, and just nodded blankly.

Jian Mo took out her stethoscope, listened carefully for a while, and then put the little ferret on her lap.

The ferret was indeed long, definitely over 1.5 meters from head to tail, but because it was so thin, it looked like a narrow strip.

Jian Mo gently rubbed his head.

The little ferret looked sickly, flicked its bushy tail, grabbed Jian Mo's wrist with its paws, and sniffed it.

Jian Mo said softly, "Let me give you a physical examination with my hands first. Tell me if you feel uncomfortable anywhere."

The little ferret wagged its big tail again and said softly, "Okay."

Jian Mo: "Good girl."

Jian Mo touched the little mink's belly inch by inch, and soon found the little mink's soft belly. Then, through the skin, she felt a hard object inside his stomach.

Judging from its location, the hard object should be in the stomach. It's round and quite large, at least the size of a goose egg.

Such a large, hard object is quite frightening for a small ferret of this size.

Jian Mo frowned, worried that it might be a tumor.

There are many types of tumors, some of which are particularly troublesome, and this might be a bit of a problem for the little mink.

No, not necessarily. After a careful examination, Jian Mo felt that the texture was a little strange. It might not be a tumor, but simply a foreign object.

Jian Mo gently touched the foreign object and asked the little ferret, "Does it hurt?"

The little ferret shook its head.

Jian Mo asked his two fathers again, "Do you know when the little guy started having these things on him?"

The little ferret's father hurriedly asked, "You mean this lump? I'm not quite sure. One day the little guy said he felt uncomfortable, and we could feel it when we reached out to touch it."

His father added, "It probably started last autumn, just before winter. We tried many methods but couldn't get rid of it."

Jian Mo, "Was it that big at the beginning, or did it get bigger later?"

Now both of the little ferret's fathers were certain. "It'll grow bigger gradually."

Jian Mo frowned again. "This foreign object can grow, which will be more troublesome. We can't feel it through the skin, so I estimate we'll have to have surgery to remove it."

Little Mink's father. "Doctor Jian Mo, for the surgery... do we need to cut open its belly?"

Upon hearing this, Little Mink burst into tears, struggling on Jian Mo's lap. "I don't want to have the surgery, Dad, Father, I don't want to!"

Jian Mo gently patted the little ferret's head. "Don't be afraid, it definitely won't be done now."

Then, Jian Mo said to his two fathers, "We'll talk about this later. You two can stay at the clinic for now. Have you had breakfast? If not, you can have something at our house."

The two fathers of the ferret said they had already eaten the jerky and didn't need to bother.

Jian Mo told them to go stay at the small clinic first, and when Wu Jiong took them there, he told Banjiu and the others to play with the little ferret.

After everyone left, Jian Mo ate a simple breakfast and went upstairs to write down her medical records related to her stomach.

Besides tumors, bezoars are also a strong possibility – bezoars are various undigested substances that block the stomach.