"They're all back, and he's fine now."
"That's good!"
Yu Jiu breathed a sigh of relief; Lin Rong's deathly pale face that afternoon had almost scared her to death.
“Those families have apologized, and the matter is over. However, I plan to hold a meeting in the next couple of days, inviting both adults and unruly children to attend. The main purpose is to remind everyone to keep a close eye on their children and to educate those unruly children that they cannot run around recklessly or go to dangerous places.”
Xu Zijiang suddenly realized that the people in the team lacked safety awareness, especially after he went to the commune hospital tonight to find the Lin brothers, Lin Zheng and Lin Rong. At the hospital, he also ran into the team leaders of other production teams, whose children had drowned. One died on the spot, and two others were currently being rescued.
Isn't there a lake not far from their team? Many of the team members are mischievous kids, and even some adults go swimming in the river. It's good that nothing happened, but if something did, it would be too late. Therefore, Xu Zijiang felt it was necessary to raise everyone's safety awareness.
"Okay, that's good. But honestly, will they listen to you? Especially the brats, the more you talk to them, the more rebellious they become, deliberately going against you. They might not have wanted to go in the first place, but they might actually end up going."
"Give it a try. Most people will listen. You can't reason with a fool who's asking for trouble. If there are really people who aren't afraid of death and won't listen to any advice and insist on courting death, then I can't control them. But those who are just unaware of the danger, I still have to remind them."
Xu Zi has his own moral compass; he will do what he is supposed to do, and the rest is up to fate.
"Okay, shall we call a meeting tomorrow?"
"Yes, let's do it tomorrow. We should also get everyone involved. We need to start preparing for the harvest the day after tomorrow, so we need to get everyone motivated and not let them slack off."
Xu Zijiang pondered for a moment and then set a time.
"But I have to go to work tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to attend your mobilization meeting."
Yu Jiu was in a bit of a dilemma, having just said today that he would try his best not to take leave or be absent from work in the future.
"It's alright. Anyway, you don't need to work in the fields, and you don't go swimming in the lake. It doesn't matter whether you listen to me or not. Just go to work in peace. I'll take care of things in the team."
Xu Zijiang would never scold his little wife. He smiled and pinched Yu Jiu's slender waist again.
"Oh, it itches. I'll go to work tomorrow. You should go take a shower."
Yu Jiu laughed and playfully dodged his hand, then playfully kicked him off to take a bath.
After Xu Zijiang finished taking a bath, he came back and hugged Yu Jiu tightly. The two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.
The next day, Yu Jiu didn't let Xu Zijiang take her; she rode her bicycle to work at the department store by herself. Meanwhile, Xu Zijiang convened a safety meeting for the production team, which was held together with a mobilization meeting.
Xu Zijiang stood in front of him and addressed the dense crowd below with a serious expression.
"You are not allowed to swim in the lake anymore. If you must go, remember to go in pairs, and they must be good swimmers. If you drown, don't panic. Whether you are in the water or watching from the side, you must stay calm. The more nervous you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes. You can..."
Xu Zijiang stood at the front and spoke eloquently, imparting a lot of first aid knowledge to everyone, including how to properly rescue people in the water, and how to save oneself if drowning, etc.
Yu Jiu didn't hear the safety training meeting, but as luck would have it, she happened to be riding her bicycle to work and encountered a drowning person when she passed the lake.
"Help, help me, help me! My leg is cramping, gurgling."
The person who drowned was a young man, probably in his early twenties. He looked like he could swim, but he had a leg cramp and couldn't get up, so he kept struggling in the water.
After he sank down and choked on some water, he struggled to surface again. He had already swum to the edge of the lake, right there, but then his leg cramped up, and he didn't have the strength to climb back up.
It would be such a tragedy to drown right there on the shore. It would be one thing to die in the middle of the lake, where the water is too deep. But to die on the shore is to see hope right in front of you, only to watch it crumble and to watch yourself die and disappear. It's an incredibly despairing feeling.
Yu Jiu couldn't just stand by and watch someone die in front of her, so she quickly got off her bicycle, but she was at a loss for what to do.
"I can't swim! I'll go get someone to rescue you!"
Yu Jiu couldn't swim and would never rashly go down to save someone; she might end up drowning instead. She looked around and found no one there, but if she rode her bicycle back to call for help, the person would probably drown by the time she returned.
She had no choice but to put her hand to her mouth, making a megaphone shape, and then shout loudly.
"Is anyone there? Help! Someone's drowning here! Is anyone here who can swim? Help!"
Yu Jiu shouted with all her might, but all around was quiet, save for the sound of birds flying by. It was still early morning; no one came to swim here. There wasn't a soul passing by either. What could she do?
"Please help me up, please, just help me up..."
As the man spoke, he made bubbling sounds, and in just a short while, he drank quite a bit of water.
He lunged forward with all his might and finally reached the edge of the lake, bracing his hands against the lakeside wall. But his leg was still cramping, and that strange sensation prevented him from standing up.
If the water is deep enough, he wouldn't drown if he stood up, given his height. But the problem is that he can't stand up at all right now; both his legs are bent. So touching the lakeside wall is useless, and he keeps choking on water.
He wanted Yu Jiu to help him up. If Yu Jiu helped him up, he could stand up, go upstairs, and he wouldn't die.
Please, save me, save me.
His weak pleading voice rang out, and Yu Jiu felt a pang of pity. She gritted her teeth and found a relatively long branch by the lake. She tested its length and found it wasn't long enough; it was still a bit too short to reach the water so he could grab it.
Seeing that the man's eyes had rolled back, he was barely breathing, and his struggling movements had lessened considerably, and he was about to sink, Yu Jiu calmly searched for a tool.
He had no rope on hand, and his storage space was filled with food and drink, but no first-aid supplies. It was only because of this incident that Yu Jiu remembered he should have kept some first-aid supplies in his space. This very thought saved his future self many years later.
Yu Jiu found a sturdy vine by the roadside. People usually cut this kind of vine to use as rope to tie firewood and so on. When Yu Jiu saw it, her eyes lit up. She quickly pulled out a few vines and tied them to a tree branch, and the other end to a thick shrub. Then she threw the branches down and shouted loudly.
"Quick, grab it! I'll pull you up!"
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