63 Chapter 63
Wang Jie acted quickly, getting out of the car before Tong Shu had to wait long. Ren Ya and the others dared not approach, but worried about the students, they waited anxiously in the distance.
Wang Jie carefully packed the IV stand and medicine into his backpack, only taking them out after entering the tent, and then applying them to each student.
“We don’t have the resources right now, and we don’t know the exact condition of their lungs, so we can only say we’ll do our best,” Wang Jie said to Tong Shu.
"Let's save as many as we can." Tong Shu looked at these students and felt as if she were seeing herself in her school days. When she was that age, she had also experienced a major infectious disease outbreak. A close friend of hers had unfortunately contracted the disease after returning from a trip abroad and passed away not long after. This had always been a shadow and regret of her student days.
Wang Jie looked after the students for a while, measured several of their vital signs with a portable device, and made records. Then he took out several boxes of antibiotics from his backpack. With Tong Shu's tacit approval, he took the medicine and walked towards Ren Ya.
"Hello, doctor." Ren Ya judged that the woman was probably an officer of this medical group, and the tall man in front of her must be their accompanying doctor. She greeted him nervously, "Are the children alright? Can they be saved?"
"He's still unconscious," Wang Jie said. "But his vital signs are relatively stable. We'll see if he wakes up after treatment."
Ren Ya's eyes immediately welled up with tears. Heaven knows how many children have fallen into a coma and never woken up again in the past few days. Hearing that her child could be saved, she was happier than anyone else: "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Wang Jie waved his hand and then handed her the medicine: "Here's some medicine for you. There are some sick students in it. You can feed it to them, one pill at a time."
Ren Ya was truly speechless. She had only intended to exchange one box of medicine for emergency use by her seriously ill student. These days, medicine is a very precious resource; they could exchange it for anything of value. She hadn't expected the doctor to bring out several boxes so readily, meaning that besides the student, her sick colleagues could also get their medicine.
"Thank you so much! I... I'll take my students and colleagues up the mountain to dig potatoes and sweet potatoes tomorrow..." Ren Ya was so excited she couldn't speak coherently.
"There's no rush," Wang Jie said. Many people at this school are sick; they probably won't be able to leave anytime soon.
Ren Ya thanked them profusely and ran with her colleagues towards the teaching building with the medicine. Many students were still running a fever, and she was extremely anxious, wishing she could fly back immediately.
Fearing that the two elderly people might accidentally get infected, Grandpa Tong and Grandma Tong were asked to return to the island. The others, who had been cooped up in the car for several days, were now taking turns getting out of the car to get some fresh air while wearing protective suits.
The feeling of stepping on solid ground is definitely different from being in a swaying carriage. Even though I was wrapped up tightly and couldn't breathe properly, I still felt like I was back in the human world.
Fearing attacks from the killer vine and other unidentified plants that night, Tong Shu's two uncles grabbed shovels and began digging trenches along the car and tent, while Tong Songming went to cut tree branches. Fortunately, although these trees were thick and sturdy, they did not show any tendency to attack people.
Shuli and Shuya joined in after asking around. They took pesticides and sprayed them in every nook and cranny to make sure no spot was missed.
Wang Jie deliberately increased the dosage of the medication in the IV drip. After the drip was finished, a young man had already opened his eyes, seemingly half-awake.
"Hey classmate? How are you? Can you talk?" Wang Jie leaned over to check on the situation.
"...Thirsty...So thirsty..." The boy opened his chapped lips, his words coming out in a breathy voice.
Wang Jie took the sports water bottle that Tong Shu had placed aside and fed him a little water.
After drinking the water, the boy's eyes cleared a little, but his mind was still somewhat unclear. He lay on his back, staring at the top of the tent for a while, then looked at the IV drip hanging on the stand, muttering incoherently, "...I, I think I had a dream...I dreamt that the end of the world came...Jiahao died...Xiaozhuo is gone too...Principal Xu..." Tears streamed down the boy's face, his feverish body making the tears feel hot, burning his face like boiling water.
Wang Jie sighed inwardly, not wanting to interrupt him. Tong Shu watched for a while, then went over and squatted down beside him, saying softly, "You're tired, go back to sleep."
The boy was already in poor spirits, and after crying for a while, he felt even worse. Hearing this, he slowly fell back asleep. Fortunately, when he closed his eyes again, his breathing was steady and long, indicating that he was out of danger.
Although the students were seriously ill, they were still young. After the boy, the other four also woke up for a moment one after another. Without exception, they all cried bitterly. One girl was obviously aggravated by the death of their principal. She woke up and fell asleep several times, calling out their principal each time.
"It seems the school principal is really dedicated and responsible." Tong Songming also came to visit, and upon hearing the students' cries, he felt sorry for the principal he had never met.
To be able to protect so many students under such severe weather conditions, the principal must be a very capable person, and Tong Shu admired him greatly. This reminded her of Director Zhu Cheng, who asked for nothing in return but to save as many lives as possible. It had only been less than a month since they parted, but thinking back to that time felt like a long time ago.
The stability that the north of the city was maintained at that time was not only due to the supplies on the small island, but also largely due to the supply ships and the community team led by Zhu Cheng who worked hard to maintain order. Tong Shu knew that if more people were to survive, there had to be more people like Zhu Cheng and Principal Xu of D County No. 1 Middle School. With them, more people would have hope of survival.
“...Sister, sister…” A faint call interrupted Tong Shufei’s thoughts. She looked down and saw another little girl staring at her with her eyes open.
"What's wrong? Where does it hurt?" Tong Shu squatted down and asked.
The girl looked a little embarrassed and said softly, "I...I'm a little hungry..."
That's true. These students have been unconscious for who knows how long, and Ren Ya certainly doesn't have the means to feed or water them while they're unconscious.
"Wait a minute, I'll go get you something to eat." Tong Shu said as she walked to the car, closed the door, rummaged through her backpack, and took out several cans of eight-treasure porridge. Holding the cans, she walked out and casually sat down by the ditch. A fire had already been lit in the ditch, and she lined up the cans by the fire, waiting for the porridge to heat up slowly.
"Hello..." Ren Ya appeared outside the ditch at some point and greeted her.
“My surname is Hua,” Tong Shu said.
"Miss Hua," Ren Ya called out, "I don't know what that doctor's name is, but after taking the medicine he gave us, some of the students and teachers have started to sweat and their fevers have gone down. We really owe you all this." Ren Ya's face showed sincere gratitude.
Tong Shu thought for a moment and said, "He also has the surname Hua, and he's my brother."
Ren Ya suddenly realized why they could support each other during the disaster; they were indeed close relatives.
"Um... I wonder how my students are doing..."
Tong Shu raised her chin towards the fire: "They've all woken up, so they shouldn't be in any danger. One of them said he was hungry, so I'll heat up some eight-treasure porridge for them and take it over."
Through the firelight, Ren Ya indeed saw the row of eight-treasure porridge jars, and she couldn't help but swallow. The supplies in their school store had long been exhausted during the flood. In peacetime, she wouldn't touch such things even once a year, and now seeing them again was a luxury. However, she was genuinely happy for those students; they had truly met a kind-hearted benefactor.
"It's getting dark, you should hurry back, the Killing Vine will be coming out soon." Tong Shu urged Ren Ya to leave quickly.
Hearing that the Killer Vine would appear at night, Ren Ya didn't dawdle any longer. She quickly thanked Tong Shu and hurried back to the campus.
Seeing that the eight-treasure porridge was almost heated, Tong Shu wrapped the jar in a towel and took it into the tent. Except for the girl who kept waking up and falling asleep, the other four had already woken up. She and Wang Jie helped them sit up and gave each of them a jar of eight-treasure porridge.
The first boy to wake up took the porridge and tears welled up in his eyes again: "Sister, were you sent by the government to rescue us? Will we be able to go home soon?"
Tong Shu was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to respond. At this moment, Wang Jie spoke up, saying from the side, "We were not sent by the government, but your teacher came to rescue you. People outside have lost their homes. You are very lucky to have such a big family and so many family members who care about you."
The boy sobbed even harder after hearing this. He nodded vigorously, stopped talking, and tried to drink the porridge spoonful by spoonful while holding the jar of eight-treasure porridge.
Other students also silently shed tears. They had suffered so much over the past six months. Being with their teachers and classmates, and having to watch familiar faces leave from time to time, was already unbearable for them. They dared not imagine how devastated they would be if they were with their families and witnessed the death of their loved ones.
They endured such a long time with the mutual care of their teachers and classmates. They wholeheartedly agreed with what Wang Jie said. If it weren't for so many classmates and teachers who were like family by their side, they probably wouldn't have been able to persevere long ago.
“It’s okay, my parents will be fine. They’re definitely trying to live on in places I can’t see, just like ours, and so are yours,” a boy said.
The others responded in unison. Tong Shu was the first group of people they met from outside. They were in good spirits and had plenty of supplies. Although the outside world was cruel, they believed that as long as they had the ability, they could survive. They firmly believed that their families were also living peacefully outside the school in the wider world.
A rustling sound came from outside; the killer vines had reappeared. The crackling and popping of firewood masked the chilling noise. The students, warmed and illuminated by the firelight filtering through the tent, fell asleep peacefully.
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