Chapter 117 Protecting the People is His Responsibility
The rain was so heavy that several villages near the mountains were hit by landslides.
The People's Liberation Army comrades endured a day and a night of wind and rain, and finally managed to transfer all the disaster-stricken people to a safe place.
While Pei Jiuyan was leading his team on a final search of the Five Star Peak Brigade under his command, they unexpectedly heard faint cries for help coming from a dilapidated building.
Pei Jiuyan frowned. He remembered this family. Because they had many children, he had specifically asked them during the evacuation if anyone was still inside. The woman of the house counted the number of people in her family and said no.
How come there are still people inside now?
The reality didn't allow him to think too much. Seeing the house swaying precariously in the strong wind, Pei Jiuyan went in with his tools and searched several rooms. Finally, in a room that looked like a storage room in the far west corner, he found an elderly man with a disability in both legs lying on the bed!
"Oh no! The house is collapsing! Is anyone inside?"
"Commander! The commander has gone in to rescue people!"
"What?"
"Commander, come out quickly..."
Pei Jiuyan heard the shouts outside. The house was shaking even more violently. The situation was urgent. He immediately went forward, picked up the old man, and strode towards the door.
Just as he was about to pass through the main room and reach the front door, the wooden door of the main room suddenly collapsed, crashing heavily onto his right leg, which he hadn't yet stepped out of.
The surrounding villages are all located near mountains, and the villagers mostly use local materials for their furniture and building materials. The wooden doors are mostly heavy solid wood doors. This blow directly knocked Pei Jiuyan to his knees, but he still managed to hold the old man firmly in his arms.
Tears welled up in the old man's cloudy eyes: "Comrade PLA soldier, put me down quickly, you can definitely run away by yourself."
Pei Jiuyan gritted his teeth: "The People's Liberation Army of China never deserts!"
Upon hearing this, the old man wept even more profusely.
Pei Jiuyan frowned, trying to pull his leg out from under the wooden door, when suddenly there was a "crashing" sound, and bricks from the wooden door fell down and hit the door.
Seeing that the house was about to collapse, Pei Jiuyan quickly handed the old man in his arms to Xiao Sheng, who was rushing over: "Xiao Sheng! Catch!"
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. When Xiao Sheng came out of Pei Jiuyan's arms, he had already run from another room to this side. In just over ten seconds, when he took the old man from Pei Jiuyan's arms, he watched helplessly as a thick beam from the main room door crashed down from above.
Before he could even finish shouting "Watch out!", the roof beam crashed down on Pei Jiuyan's head.
"Luckily, the battalion commander dodged to the side at the last moment, otherwise he would probably be smashed to pieces by now..." Xiao Sheng sat next to Qin Suisui with red eyes. He was covered in mud and hadn't had time to wash it off. His hands were soaked and trembling.
"I'm sorry, sister-in-law, it's all my fault. I should have been the one to do the final search. It's all my fault. If I had gone, the one who was injured wouldn't have been the commander..."
Xiao Sheng covered his face in anguish, the 1.8-meter-tall strong man crying like a child.
From the moment Qin Suisui arrived at the hospital, her eyes remained fixed on the operating room door, without moving an inch, as if frozen in place.
"Xiao Sheng, it's not your fault. He's a soldier, and protecting the people is his responsibility."
After saying those words, she never spoke again. She just sat there blankly, staring in the direction of the operating room.
The hospital was bustling with people, with wounded being constantly brought in and medical staff rushing out. The cries of the injured and the wails of their families echoed outside.
She didn't know how much time had passed when Song Yunlai and Chi Donglin arrived. They whispered something in her ear, but Qin Suisui couldn't hear anything. All she could hear was a deafening roar, as if time itself had gone out of control.
She felt as if she had been cast out of time, or as if she were watching a slow-motion silent film, with only black and white images before her eyes and no sound to be heard...
With a "whoosh," the operating room door opened.
Qin Suisui seemed to come alive in an instant, suddenly standing up and rushing over, her expression anxious: "Doctor, how is my husband?"
The doctor removed his mask, his expression grave: "There is no immediate danger to his life. We have done everything we can. However, it seems there is a blood clot blocking a nerve in the patient's head. We are unsure when he will wake up, or rather, whether he will wake up at all."
Qin Suisui breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the doctor's first words, but what followed struck her like a thunderbolt.
"What do you mean by 'it's uncertain whether she'll wake up'?"
The doctor looked at him with pity, but said nothing more.
Qin Suisui dug her fingernails into her palms, trying to stay upright and not collapse. She needed to catch Pei Jiuyan and wait for him to come out.
Less than two minutes later, a nurse wheeled Pei Jiuyan, who had just undergone surgery, out of the room, and Qin Suisui immediately stepped forward.
It had only been two days and one night since we last saw each other. Just two nights ago, we were whispering sweet nothings to each other. She was such a vibrant person, but now she lay quietly in bed, her head wrapped in thick gauze, her eyes closed, and her face pale.
Qin Suisui didn't dare to breathe, feeling the air she inhaled sting. With trembling hands, she touched Pei Jiuyan's pale cheek, then touched his injured leg, and said softly, "Pei Jiuyan, does it hurt? Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Her condition is very worrying.
Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai stepped forward: "Sister, don't worry, Ayan has always been in good health, she will definitely wake up soon."
Qin Suisui remained silent, simply following the nurse as they pushed the hospital bed into the ward.
After returning to the ward, the nurse finished explaining the precautions and left. Qin Suisui quickly went forward, closed the ward door, locked it from the inside, and then rushed to the bed.
Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai were both stunned for a moment, not quite reacting, when they saw Qin Suisui pull out Pei Jiuyan's hand that wasn't receiving an IV drip, and quickly place her fair fingers on it, as if... taking his pulse.
That's right, Qin Suisui was indeed taking pulses.
Ever since Chi Donglin was injured and poisoned, she had suspected that Pei Jiuyan had also been poisoned. However, at that time, his body was not damaged and he did not show any symptoms of discomfort. Therefore, even if Qin Suisui suspected him, she had no basis for it and did not even know where to start to treat him.
Based on Chi Donglin's case, Qin Suisui guessed that this poison might have a certain incubation period. When the host's body is normal, it will not show up. However, once the host is injured, especially if there is excessive blood loss, the toxin will take advantage of the host's weakened state to quickly spread throughout the body, and the toxicity will increase several times over.
So when the doctor said Pei Jiuyan might fall into a coma, Qin Suisui guessed that it might be due to the poison taking effect.
Just now outside the operating room, she briefly checked Pei Jiuyan's pulse and felt something was wrong. Now, after checking his pulse again... sure enough!
Without hesitation, she bent down and took out the silver needles from the cloth bag, spreading them out on the table next to the hospital bed.
Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai understood perfectly well that Qin Suisui had been doing this often in the past to detoxify Chi Donglin.
The two of them exclaimed in unison, "Ayan has been poisoned too?"
Qin Suisui nodded, took out alcohol and disinfected all the silver needles, then said to the two men, "Brother Yunlai, Brother Donglin, come here quickly and help Ayan take off her clothes."
Now is the time when Pei Jiuyan's body is at its weakest. The toxin and the antibodies in his body are always in a state of "you are strong and I am weak, you are weak and I am strong". Therefore, at this moment, while he is weak, the toxin is rapidly circulating throughout his body. She must race against time to give Pei Jiuyan acupuncture to prevent the toxin from spreading.
Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai were very skilled at undressing. The two of them worked together and quickly stripped Pei Jiuyan naked, leaving him only in his underwear.
Qin Suisui looked at them and said, "You must help me guard the ward door. No one is allowed to come in and disturb me. If the acupuncture is interrupted, it may have the opposite effect."
Knowing how potent the poison was, the two nodded cautiously: "Don't worry, sister, even if the King of Heaven himself came today, he wouldn't be allowed to come in."
Chi Donglin even moved a chair and sat at the door of the ward to block the entrance. He was a big guy, and he stood there like a statue.
With preparations complete, Qin Suisui didn't wait any longer. Her fingers flew as she quickly inserted the needles, and soon Pei Jiuyan was covered in needles. Qin Suisui was drenched in sweat, as if she had been pulled out of the water.
Song Yunlai poured her a glass of water and handed it to her at the right time: "Little sister, drink some water and rest. How long until the needle is removed?"
Qin Suisui took the water and drank it all in one gulp: "Ten minutes later."
Song Yunlai frowned and looked at her: "Only ten minutes? Can your body handle it?"
Qin Suisui forced a smile: "Don't worry, I've been eating and taking good care of myself at home these past few days, so I can definitely handle it."
"By the way, what was that sound outside just now?"
"Oh, it's nothing. It's Xue Shan. His leg was broken, and he was just brought to the hospital."
"Xue Shan? Wasn't he suspended from his duties? How could his leg have been broken?" Qin Suisui had almost forgotten about him because she hadn't heard that name in a long time.
The Japanese encephalitis outbreak resulted in Xue Jiao being sentenced to two years of labor reform, Xue Shan's wife Yang Rucui also receiving an eight-year prison sentence, and Xue Shan was suspended from his job for one year, with no return to work scheduled for next year.
I haven't seen him in the family compound for a long time. Xue Ziming is not at the nursery either. I heard from the sisters-in-law that Xue Shan took the children back to his hometown. How come he suddenly appeared here?
"Sigh, they are soldiers after all. In times of crisis like this, they must stand on the front line."
Qin Suisui paused for a moment, then said nothing more. In fact, she didn't blame Xue Shan for what had happened before. The grievances had their perpetrators, and the organization had already given her an explanation, and the person who harmed her had received the punishment he deserved.
As Song Yunlai said, Xue Shan is a soldier after all. No matter what he is like in private, he is still the guardian of the people in times of crisis.
She could clearly distinguish between righteousness and personal grudges.
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