Chapter 53 I said I didn’t break up with you
The stifling yellow sand of the border refugee camps blew in my face, and plastic tents were pitched on the sand. There weren't a single tree here; they'd all been cut down to make way for the tents. Sand was everywhere, and there was no water in my water bottle. Sand stuck to my cracked lips, my hair, my eardrums, my eyes. The moment I opened my eyes, I was met with desolation. The whistling of the sand lingered in my ears, and the sharp, raw sting of my throat stung as I opened my mouth.
Amidst a haze of yellow sand, Li Wenjing entered the peacekeeping camp. Several foreign soldiers passed by, squinting at her. They stopped in front of her and began chattering, asking who she was looking for. They were much taller than she was, their bulk blocking out the scorching sun. She clutched her bag tightly and was about to ask when a Chinese man emerged from the tent behind them, stepping out from between them. He shouted, "I'm an engineer!" She nodded to the two men and quickly trotted over.
"Hello, Miss Li. It's our first meeting. I'm Lu Cong. You've already been briefed on the basic situation here. The conditions are just like this. We're constantly accepting refugees, and we're short on water, food, and everything. The higher-ups are planning to open another camp, and our team will be responsible for security." He looked at the soldiers of varying skin colors passing by and said, "Don't be shy. We have many Chinese people on our team, and several Asians can speak Chinese. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us."
He had a dark complexion and rough facial features, but he spoke delicately. Li Wenjing wiped the sweat from her forehead, and he asked her to go to the shaded tent nearby to talk.
Li Wenjing said as she walked: "There are indeed many problems. The most important one now is water. Without water, we can't survive."
She pulled out a blueprint and pointed out the location for a well. The geology here was poor, with severe desertification. It was an abandoned town, without water or food. They had dug more than a dozen wells in the past week, with little success. To make matters worse, the country to the north was embroiled in civil war, with a constant influx of refugees. Li Wenjing bluntly told him that wells a few hundred meters deep wouldn't be enough to meet the needs of the growing population. She proposed a bold plan: dig several wells at least a thousand meters deep to at least meet everyone's water needs.
Lu Cong nodded. "Such a deep well, just like a mine."
"Yes! My question is, what can we use to drill? A well like this requires a heavy oil drilling rig, Captain Lu, can you provide one?"
"I'll help you contact them, don't worry, just tell me if you need anything."
"I..." Li Wenjing bit her lip subconsciously, but still asked the name, "How is Doctor Gu?"
"Let's go and take a look together."
A few days ago, Lu Congcai had been involved in a fight with a local group of al-Shabaab rioters. He injured his arm and was on his way to the UN medical camp for a dressing change when he picked her up on his motorcycle. When asked what had caused the disturbance, he explained that water had always been a major issue, with constant friction between the locals and the refugees, and he hoped to resolve this major problem as soon as possible. The road was covered in rolling yellow sand, and by the time they reached the medical camp, Li Wenjing's nasal cavity was already filled with sand, so she could only wipe it with her sleeve. Without water, she couldn't even shower; she had to conserve water in everything she did.
They asked the doctors and nurses inside, but Gu Weiyi was not there. He had just gone out. Recently, he did not stay in the camp every day, but went to the tents to see patients.
While waiting for the doctor to come, Gu Weiyi suddenly pushed open the door and walked in. His eyes slid from Li Wenjing's face to the man beside him, "You soldiers have to wait outside too."
Lu Cong smiled and said, "Doctor, how polite of a thing to say. It's just a matter of changing the medicine, it will only take two minutes. What kind of friendship do we have?"
"Wait outside, or find someone else."
He tore off a corner of the straw paper, scribbled a number and handed it to Lu Cong, then told Anna to bring in the next patient.
The old canvas curtains of the consulting room were lifted, and scorching air rushed in. Nurse Anna and an elderly woman assisted the next patient in. She was middle-aged, incredibly thin, her bony frame almost piercing through her dry, dark skin. Her abdomen bulged like an overripe fruit about to rot. Every step she took was accompanied by a short, painful inhalation, her abdomen clearly too heavy to bear.
She was lowered onto the crude examination bed, the movement slow and labored, as if lowering an explosive container. Li Wenjing turned away, unable to bear the sight. Anna drew the curtains around the bed. Gu Weiyi inquired about her condition. The two women spoke neither English nor French, and Anna translated for them. Li Wenjing listened intently, believing what she had thought: without clean water, many people here were suffering from parasitic diseases.
She took a few steps closer to the curtain, silently watching him work. He was drawing her blood, then inserting a needle through her abdominal wall into her peritoneal cavity. The woman moaned, and they comforted her. After the examination, Gu Weiyi first asked Anna to give her some nutrition and fluids, then prescribed medication. When he finished with the patient, he looked up and saw Li Wenjing still standing there. Their eyes met. He moved his lips twice, then lowered his head to sort through the medical records. Li Wenjing walked over to his desk.
"I don't need to wait outside. I'm not here to seek medical treatment."
"Wenjing, I'm very happy to meet you, but now is not the time to talk about feelings. I'm sorry, you saw it all."
"I'm not talking to you about feelings, I'm talking to you about work."
He was stunned for a moment, looked up at her, and then twisted his face as if he was embarrassed.
"That……"
"Your patients are sick because of the water. You know how water is scarce in refugee camps right now. When you're thirsty, you can only drink dirty water that's full of bacteria and parasites. Without clean water, it's useless to treat more people or work yourself to death."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"I'm not here for you. I'm here to help with the construction of the refugee camps for our unit," Li Wenjing said, observing his reaction. His cheeks seemed to tremble. Li Wenjing continued, "We've drilled a lot of wells this week, but no matter how hard we dig, we can't keep up with the speed of people coming here. Unless we dig a well over a thousand meters deep, we'll need an oil drilling rig. I've already submitted a report to the leadership, and Captain Lu has agreed to help. But there are too many review processes. From our unit to headquarters, from headquarters to our sister units, then to the national government, and then to diplomatic relations... All of this will take at least a month. And right now, you know where the nearest drilling rig is."
"Gustav?"
As soon as Li Wenjing said that, he understood everything. He frowned and said, "That's impossible. The last time we had a fight, he didn't even want to pay any compensation. Not to mention it's an oil drilling rig. There will be a lot of losses."
"I see you've been getting worse since we broke up," Li Wenjing sneered. "You used to even write news stories about how you'd target Gustav and me, shutting down all the oil fields. Now you won't ask him for an oil drilling rig. Please consider it today, thank you. It doesn't matter if I can't borrow it. I'm just trying my best to secure resources and asking everyone who can help me."
After that, Li Wenjing was about to leave when Gu Weiyi ran up behind her and said anxiously, "You misunderstood. I didn't say I wanted to break up with you."
Li Wenjing was stopped at the door by him, pursing her lips, unwilling to say a word. To her, he had said enough that day, and any further conversation would only torture them both. But deep down, she couldn't bear to leave him, and just seeing that he was doing well was enough.
"I have something else to do. Hurry up and take care of Captain Lu's wound. I still need to take his car and leave. I have a lot of work to do."
Li Wenjing walked out of the camp, her hand touching the cigarette box. She wanted to smoke, but this was a hospital, so she held back and waited until Lu Cong came out after bandaging his wound. Gu Weiyi followed behind, rubbing his hands and looking at her.
"Just left?" Lu Cong looked at Gu Weiyi, but said to Li Wenjing, "You've already sent your boyfriend out, and I was listening to you guys quarreling outside."
"We broke up." Li Wenjing said lightly without even looking at him.
"I said I'm not breaking up with you, I just need some time." He shouted behind me.
Li Wenjing ignored Gu Weiyi's explanation and got on the motorcycle without looking back. Lu Cong drove slowly and said, "Doctor Gu is still watching from behind. Did he really leave?"
"I've already left."
"I can turn around if I want to go back."
"Captain Lu, you're not that free, are you?"
"I'm busy, but I still have time for a drink," he said. "If we were somewhere else, I'd take you out for a drink right now."
Li Wenjing felt a little angry when she heard him laughing, and said to him, "Forget the wine, buy me some water."
"You science students are too smart. Here, water is more expensive than wine."
The stones on the road hadn't been cleared yet, and Li Wenjing accidentally swayed a few times, bumping her head against his back. He said, "You can hold my waist, like in the movies."
Li Wenjing didn't move, and he smiled again: "You are too unromantic. You don't even respond to my joke."
A group of refugees passed by them. Lu Cong stopped the car, but they stepped back several steps to let him pass. Li Wenjing laughed at his authority. He stopped the car, got out, helped an elderly woman up, let her go first, and pulled two candies from his pocket to give to a child. More children reached out, and he smiled and said, "No more, no more."
Li Wenjing watched from the side, remembering the first time she met Gu Weiyi, when he had given candy to children in the same way. She couldn't help but laugh. Ten minutes later, Lu Cong returned with a few colorful stones, saying they were small stones the children had found and were gifts for them. He asked her what she was laughing at.
"Nothing." She put away her smile.
"If you have anything funny, share it with us. Don't keep it all bottled up. Look at you, you never smile. Let me guess," he said, sizing up the group of children. "Do you like children?"
"I can't say I like it. The kids are making a lot of noise."
"That's right. Many people don't want children now because they think it's too troublesome to take care of them."
"That's not what I'm talking about." Li Wenjing also watched the children walk over with him and picked up a red stone from his palm, which looked like a human heart.
"Many children are very innocent, but this world is not real, it's very chaotic, and it's not suitable for many people to survive."
"So we both have a common goal - to make the world a better place. I still remember when I first joined the army, my mind was full of serving the people. Now I am serving in Africa and serving people all over the world."
“Have you traveled a lot?”
"Asia, Africa, Europe, America..." He counted on his fingers and smiled at Li Wenjing again. "Except Antarctica, I think I've been to all of them, but I feel like nowhere is as good as home. Actually, I want to go home, but my parents are very traditional. Their son is serving in the army and they're so happy that they told me not to come back and to work hard to bring glory to the country. What about you?"
"My mom passed away this year, leaving me to take care of my dad and my brother. I feel very tired. There is no place for me in that family anymore, so I'm leaving and I won't be going back."
He was stunned for a few seconds, then apologized: "I'm sorry."
"It's nothing. My mother has been ill for a long time. This day would come sooner or later. Now that my mother is gone, I don't want to go back."
Li Wenjing sighed and didn't say anything else. Lu Cong said that if she was sad, she shouldn't mention it. She was already very strong. If her mother passed away, she would cry if she mentioned it. Generally speaking, girls are more emotional and more attached to their mothers.
"You like to cry? Boys cry too."
"Yeah, I couldn't stand the pain. I would cry when it hurt. I stopped crying when I grew up. I was just afraid of injections. When the needle stuck in my body, it was more painful than being punched twice."
"No wonder you were so afraid of Dr. Gu. When he asked you to leave, you really took the number and left obediently."
"If I disrespect the doctor, he'll just stab me to death with a needle. Don't be fooled by his gentle appearance, he can be very fierce when he yells at us. Last month, someone was causing trouble in the hospital and trying to steal something, and he almost beat them up with a wrench because he couldn't stop them. Maybe he didn't do anything to me out of your kindness."
Li Wenjing smiled and shook her head. She couldn't imagine what Gu Weiyi, who was usually so gentle, would be like when he really got into a fight. Perhaps his temperament was always clean and gentle, as if he was far away from these violent and dirty things, so people often overlooked that he had actually lived in such an environment for a long time.
"No, he's a very kind person. Even if you really provoke him, he won't do anything to you. You're his patient."
Even if the patient is little Philip, the person who hurt him.
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