Chapter 23
Tong Shu would prepare the goods to be sold for the next week outside each time, then load them into the speedboat and bring them back. Because order is gradually being restored, they no longer set off together as a group of three; Tong Shu usually does it all by herself. Apart from her grandparents, everyone else in Tong Shu's family is considered able-bodied and is engaged in social production.
Tong Shu came home a little late that day. She was carrying a box of repackaged instant noodles upstairs. Now that conditions have improved, motion-sensor lights have been installed in the corridors of the office building. With the help of the dim light, Tong Shu slowly walked to the iron gate of the office warehouse.
As soon as she reached the iron gate, Tong Shu sensed something was wrong. For some reason, her senses had become increasingly acute over the past few months; like now, she could smell a strong stench of blood in the air. Just as Tong Shu suspiciously put down her suitcase and reached into her backpack for a baseball bat, she saw a figure leaning against the corner.
Tong Shu was startled and took a big step back, slamming into the iron railing behind her with a loud thud, causing all the motion-sensor lights to light up. It was at this moment that the face of the figure in the darkness was revealed; it was Wen Shaocheng, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.
Wen Shaocheng's face was covered with dried bloodstains, and his combat uniform was stained with dark marks in several places. He had one hand on his waist, his handsome eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and his lips were pale.
Tong Shu's vigilance vanished instantly. She rushed forward, squatted down in front of Wen Shaocheng, and kept slapping his face: "Major? Major? How are you? Can you hear me?"
Wen Shaocheng did not respond and appeared to have fallen into a coma. Fortunately, Tong Shu touched the side of his neck and could still feel a pulse. She did not dare to delay, took out her key, opened the iron gate, and quickly ran home through the corridor to call Wang Jie, who was already in the room preparing to rest. The two of them worked together to carry Wen Shaocheng to the warehouse for emergency treatment.
Wang Jie pried Wen Shaocheng's hands open and carefully cut open his combat uniform with scissors. He saw a bullet hole the size of a fingernail in his waist and abdomen, from which blood was gushing out.
"Tsk, this is troublesome. He's been shot." Wang Jie frowned. Under the current circumstances, treating the gunshot wound would be difficult.
"What happened? Was he injured in Z City?" Tong Shu was incredulous. Guns are prohibited in China. Although Tong Shu hadn't seen the major during this time, according to Zhu Cheng's frequent mentions, she knew that Wen Shaocheng had been working with grassroots workers to improve infrastructure and hadn't gone too far.
“We’ll have to wait until Major Wen wakes up. Besides, this might be some military secret, so it’s best if we don’t pry,” Wang Jie said. “The most urgent thing right now is to remove the bullet from here. Given his condition, I don’t dare to give him anesthesia, otherwise he might not wake up.”
"What should we do? The bullet needs to be removed. We can't just send it to the hospital, and we don't know any military medical facilities," Tong Shu said anxiously.
A voice, so soft it sounded almost like a whisper, came from below.
Wen Shaocheng struggled to open his eyes and said with difficulty, "Just... take it out."
"Major, Major, you're awake!" Tong Shu had just breathed a sigh of relief when she became troubled again: "The bullet hole seems to be very deep. Removing it directly will be extremely painful."
As a doctor, Wang Jie also felt somewhat reluctant.
"It's nothing." Wen Shaocheng's face was pale. "I'm used to it. Take it."
Without further ado, Wang Jie knew that time was of the essence. He took out alcohol, iodine, and sterile instruments from the first-aid kit and began to remove the bullet from Wen Shaocheng with great speed and dexterity.
Tong Shu watched as Wang Jie's pliers, holding an alcohol swab, pierced deep into the bullet hole. She felt a shiver run through her own body and immediately looked away, unable to bear the sight. When she saw Wen Shaocheng's face, he seemed to have been jolted awake by the incident. The muscles in his face twitched uncontrollably, his jaw clenched, and his jawline was as sharp as a knife.
Tong Shu took out a disinfectant wipe and stepped forward to wipe the blood off Wen Shaocheng's face, trying to distract him.
Wen Shaocheng endured it again and again, but Wang Jie once again inserted the instrument into the bullet hole and began trying to pull out the bullet embedded in the flesh. The feeling of the flesh being repeatedly churned was like being hit by bullets again and again in the same spot. Even Wen Shaocheng, a special forces officer who was frequently injured, was in so much pain that his veins bulged and he let out a few low groans.
"Don't let him grit his teeth, find him a stick to bite on." Wang Jie, his forehead also beaded with cold sweat, gave the order with a distracted expression.
Tong Shu nodded, rummaged through the shelf, found a pair of chopsticks, and quickly put them to Wen Shaocheng's lips.
Wen Shaocheng was in so much pain that his consciousness was blurred. He clenched his teeth tightly and refused to let go, and a trace of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Major? Major? Open your mouth and bite this." Tong Shu reached out and patted Wen Shaocheng's face, calling to him.
Wen Shaocheng's face was covered in a mixture of sweat and blood, and his long eyelashes were stuck together.
"Wen Shaocheng, Wen Shaocheng!"
Hearing Tong Shu's call, he struggled to open his eyes and saw that the person seemed to be saying something incessantly, with such an anxious expression, just like the one he had seen in the air-raid shelter when the flood broke out that day.
Wen Shaocheng opened his mouth as if to say something, but Tong Shu quickly stuffed chopsticks into his mouth. At that very moment, Wang Jie finally caught the deadly bullet and pulled it out of Wen Shaocheng's body in one go.
"Uh..." Wen Shaocheng's mind went blank. The intense pain made it impossible for him to remember anything. With a "crack," one of the chopsticks in his mouth was bitten off.
"Phew... finally pulled it out." Wang Jie took the wet wipe from Tong Shu's head and wiped the sweat off his brow. Looking at the blood-stained bullet on his hand, and then at Wen Shaocheng sitting on the ground, his face showed genuine awe.
As expected of a soldier, such perseverance and conviction are unmatched by ordinary people.
Wang Jie disinfected the instruments again, poured anti-inflammatory powder onto the gauze, and quickly stuffed it into Wen Shaocheng's wound. Finally, he treated the wound and bandaged it.
Wen Shaocheng looked as if he had been pulled out of the water, his whole body was soaked in sweat, and after all that commotion, he didn't even have the strength to open his eyes.
"Major, should we deliver the supplies to the ship, or would you like to rest at our place for a while?" After a while, Tong Shu saw that Wen Shaocheng had finally recovered a bit and stepped forward to ask.
No matter when Wen Shaocheng is sent back to the supply ship, the news will eventually leak out. It is unknown how Wen Shaocheng got injured. Even though there are many secrets in the family, if it involves national secrets, Tong Shu is still willing to take the risk and temporarily take in Wen Shaocheng until he recovers and goes back on his own.
"...Thank you for your help." After a long while, Wen Shaocheng said weakly.
Tong Shu understood and asked Wang Jie to look after Wen Shaocheng in the warehouse for the time being, while she went home first to find her two uncles to get a simple stretcher to carry Wen Shaocheng back.
Of course, the most important thing is to take this time to pack away things that shouldn't be in the house, such as Qin Xiaoxiao's potato chips, the water dispenser filled with purified water, and other supplies that could only be purchased before the disaster.
Shuli simply sewed up a bed sheet and had Wang Jianye put two dry bamboo poles on it to make a stretcher. The bamboo poles all floated down from the water; they collected a lot and put them on the terrace, where Grandpa Tong would use them to weave baskets.
After confirming that there were no other items that could have given away the information, Tong Shu led Wang Jianye and Qin Jiaqiang from the connecting corridor to the office warehouse, carefully lifted Wen Shaocheng onto a stretcher, and took him home.
They arranged for Wen Shaocheng to sleep in Wang Jie's room. Wang Jie's room was originally the Tong family's study, and the bed there was a sofa bed. Because Wen Shaocheng was injured, Wang Jie gave him the sofa bed and set up a spring mattress next to it so that he could check on Wen Shaocheng's condition at any time.
Because the bullet had just been removed, Wen Shaocheng couldn't eat or drink. Wang Jie took his temperature, gave him an IV drip of anti-inflammatory medicine, and told him to rest while receiving the IV. Fortunately, Wang Jie was a doctor at the community clinic, so it made sense that he had some commonly used medicines at home. Besides, Wen Shaocheng was still not fully conscious and hadn't noticed anything amiss.
The Tong family had a very good impression of Wen Shaocheng. Their efforts and sacrifices during the flood were witnessed by all the residents of the community.
"I saw Major Wen a while ago and he was perfectly fine. How did he end up like this now?" Shu Li sighed as she tidied up Wen Shao Cheng's clothes. She worked in a government factory and had run into Wen Shao Cheng not long ago.
"He was shot, that's terrifying!" Grandma Tong chimed in. "We ordinary folks have never even seen a gun before. They shot down a major, aren't we all in danger?"
Tong Shu was also worried about this matter. Upon hearing this, she said seriously, "Grandma is right. You must be careful when you go out. Don't go out at night. Although order has been restored a little, it is still very chaotic overall. We don't know what others have pulled out of the water. In any case, safety must be the top priority."
Everyone nodded in agreement, indicating that they would not let their guard down.
In fact, Tong Shu had other thoughts in mind, but since they were just guesses, she was unwilling to discuss them further.
Wen Shaocheng preferred to stay at home to recover from his injuries rather than return to the supply ship. Tong Shu felt that the reason for his injury must not be so simple. If he was only injured by criminals who found guns, he could have returned to the team first and then been arrested by the police.
That means the person holding the gun is probably not an ordinary person.
With doubts in her heart, Tong Shu went into her room, carefully locked the door, and entered the island.
With an outsider in the house, activities related to the island will have to be reduced, and if necessary, they will have to be carried out secretly. Fortunately, Tong Shu's house is relatively large, so it is still possible to avoid one person if you are careful.
Tong Shu arrived at Nini's magic house as usual.
The little fox sat on a high stool in front of the crystal ball, its two little feet dangling. When it saw Tong Shu arrive, it greeted her and then placed its hands on the crystal ball.
Blue mist rose from the crystal ball, just like any other scene.
Tong Shu felt that she would probably hear the same prophecy as before.
...
"ah!"
"It's frozen."
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