Chapter 209 I'm fine, come back soon
Zhu Yingning's heart sank. He turned around and looked at Shen Fei and Wen Wenxu. He saw the same solemnity in their eyes as his own.
After more than a year of working together, the three of them had developed a tacit understanding about their work. Wen Wenxu immediately stood up to look for his windbreaker, Chen Fei went to look for his mask, and Zhu Yingning leaned down slightly to carefully ask the child standing at their door: "Where's your grandfather? Did he let you come out to see us alone?"
"Grandpa had a fight with Grandma this afternoon because she made my favorite sweet and sour pork trotters but not his favorite, stewed pork trotters with soybeans. He's drinking at my little grandfather's house now."
"When did your grandma start to feel unwell, and what were her symptoms?"
The child struggled to recall, then stammered, "She... must have been feeling unwell last night. She said her throat was sore from a sore throat. She made chrysanthemum tea, but it still hurt this morning. This afternoon, she said she wanted to take a nap and asked me not to bother her, so I went to my uncle's house to play with my cousin. I just came home and saw her lying in bed, gasping for breath, saying she was hot, then cold, and that she was sore all over and didn't have the strength to stand up... She asked me to come find you."
Zhu Yingning nodded, understanding. She quickly reviewed the situation in her mind and said to Wen Wenxu, "Take the car keys and go find the Party Secretary. You men are stronger. First, carry Granny Lu to the car and take her to the hospital. Shen Fei and I will stay here to do some basic disinfection and quarantine the close contacts. We can't be sure it's COVID-19 until the test results come back, so that's not ideal. If it is, we'll have to report it and have the hospital send someone over to do some deep disinfection."
Then he looked at Chen Fei and said, "I'll go to Grandma Lu's place to check on the situation first. You go find her husband. When you find him, be sure to bring him to Grandma Lu's house. Don't let him come into contact with other people for now."
Wen Wenxu and Shen Fei responded "OK" one after another. Wen Wenxu handed over their coats, and Shen Fei also took out a few medical masks and a large bottle of alcohol.
After putting on all the masks, seeing that there were still some left, Zhu Yingning simply put a mask on the child who came to help. She casually took the emergency medicine hanging by the door, asked Wen Wenxu and Shen Fei to keep in touch with her at any time, and then led the child to his home.
Lu Yigui was lying on the bed in the bedroom, still vaguely conscious. Seeing her coming, he managed to stand up and said in a hoarse voice: "Xiao Zhu, look, cough, cough, cough - it's New Year's Day, I..."
Zhu Yingning quickly raised her hand to stop her from continuing. She first took her temperature with the thermometer she had at home. It was 39.5℃, which was considered a high fever. She poured out some antipyretic medicine and mixed it with a cup of warm water. She held her head and fed her the medicine before slowly asking, "Grandma Lu, have you had any contact with anyone from outside the village these days? Have you been to town?"
Although Lu Yigui was ill, he wasn't stupid. When he heard her say that, his expression instantly tensed up, and even his originally weak voice became a little louder with excitement: "Xiao Zhu, are you saying that I'm infected with that... heart, heart... new coronavirus? But I haven't been to town these past few days! Ahem, ahem, ahem—it was that damn old man in our family who went to town to buy cigarettes even though I told him not to buy them, ahem... I guess he didn't just buy cigarettes, he also went to play mahjong or cards with his rubbish friends. Damn old man... Xiao Zhu, I can't be infected with the new coronavirus, right? If so, why doesn't my old man have any symptoms?"
Everyone has a different incubation period and different resistance. Although Zhu Yingning knew this, she couldn't say it directly, for fear of causing Lu Yigui's fear. She could only comfort her and said, "The secretary will come over and take you to the hospital later. We can only know whether it is the new coronavirus after a doctor's examination. It is not certain yet."
While they were talking, Wang Shengju had already hurried over with his men. Before he even walked in, his voice came in: "Let's go! Let's go to the hospital first!"
Lu Yigui was hurriedly helped onto the back of a strong young man. She had never seen such a scene before, and she became even more terrified. She glanced at her little grandson standing stupidly beside her, and she couldn't help but shouting in panic: "Oh! What about my grandson? My grandson...ah...my grandson..."
Zhu Yingning had no choice but to shout, "Don't worry! I will take care of him."
Even after being carried out, Lu Yigui was still telling him, "You have to take good care of him... ahem, Xiao Zhu, you have to take good care of him!"
After she left, Zhu Yingning asked the child if he had eaten dinner, and he shook his head and said no.
"Then go sit in the living room and wait for me. I'll make you some noodles when I'm done."
After giving the instructions, she immediately started to disinfect the places where Lu Yigui had been and the instruments he had used with alcohol.
After spraying for only a few minutes, I heard a voice with a strong dialect coming from outside: "Hey, what's that smell?! What have you done to my nice home!"
It was Shen Fei who came back with Lu Yigui's husband.
He walked into the room with a hunched back, looked around first, and didn't see Lu Yigui, so he shouted unhappily: "Where is my old wife?!" His mind was full of lawsuits, and he smelled of alcohol. It was obvious that he was in high spirits after drinking. He was forced to come back by Chen Fei, and he was so angry that he had no place to vent.
"The branch secretary took her to the hospital. She was feeling unwell, had a fever, and a sore throat. She needed to be checked to see if it was COVID-19," said Zhu Yingning.
"Why go to the hospital for nothing? It's just a minor illness. Who would go to the hospital on New Year's Eve? Don't you think it's unlucky? Is the hospital open?" He put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in the room like an old lion patrolling his territory. After pointing fingers at Jiangshan with dissatisfaction, he sat down on the sofa and took out a lighter as if to light a cigarette.
Zhu Yingning hurriedly stopped him, saying that they had just sprayed alcohol and the alcohol concentration in the room was very high, so they could not light an open flame.
It is not easy to explain these things to an old man, especially a stubborn old man. Zhu Yingning almost suffocated from talking so much, and finally he even had to grab the food to stop his suicidal behavior.
The old man sat on the sofa and cursed at them, scolding them so harshly that Chen Fei was about to rebel. He especially admired Zhu Yingning for listening with a calm face. In the end, he asked him where he had been these days as if nothing had happened.
"What's wrong? I can't even go to town? Huh?!" The old man couldn't smoke, and his temper got worse. He held the cigarette butt in his hand and gestured in the air. "I'm a prisoner? What crime did I commit that you want to lock me up? Huh?!"
"It's not that you've committed any crime, but that you might be infected with the novel coronavirus. This disease must be taken seriously. If elderly people with underlying diseases are infected, their lives could be in danger. I need to know where you've been and who you've come into contact with."
"Don't tell me about this nonsense. You even cursed my old woman's life to be in danger. She's as strong as a bull. That's bullshit!"
After scolding them, the old man went to the kitchen within a few seconds. When he opened the pot, he found that there was no rice cooked. He immediately started complaining and blamed Lu Yigui for not preparing the New Year's Eve dinner before leaving.
Shen Fei couldn't stand it any longer and whispered softly: "You have hands and feet, but you can't do it yourself?"
Maybe it was because he was hard of hearing or what, but the old man didn't respond to this sentence. He just put his hands behind his back again, muttered, and walked out the door.
"Where are you going?" Zhu Yingning asked.
"If there is no food at home, I have to go to someone else's house to find food, right?" He reached out and opened the door.
"No, you have to stay at home first. Only after the test results come out can I decide whether I can let you go out." Zhu Yingning said.
The old man still stepped out the door.
She slammed the table and shouted, "I told you to stay home! Didn't you hear me?!"
The coffee table was very thick and made of wood. It was placed firmly on the surface of the table. But even so, when she hit it, it made a dull loud noise, like thunder falling to the ground, and the teacups on it also shook and crackled.
The old man turned around in astonishment, paused for a while, and silently retracted his foot.
Okay, that’s it.
Shen Fei was stunned. She had always thought Zhu Yingning's strategy was to appeal to people's emotions and reason, but she hadn't expected there was a final trump card - to resort to force.
Should I say it or not...
It’s quite useful.
She silently gave her a thumbs up in her heart.
**
Zhu Yingning was the one who cooked this dinner in the end, mainly because she promised Lu Yigui to take good care of her grandson, and also because she couldn't bear to see an eight-year-old child who knew nothing go hungry.
Two eggs were cracked into the noodles. Zhu Yingning scooped them all out and gave them to the children, without giving any to the old man. In the end, he went to the kitchen to serve himself some noodles in a cowardly manner, muttering to himself that he would go to the town to complain about them after the New Year.
Zhu Yingning turned a deaf ear to her and just told the child to go to his bedroom, take off his mask, close the door and eat.
The old man's anger lasted until the second half of the night and then subsided. Of course, it was not because of his own realization, but because of news from the hospital that Lu Yigui's condition had deteriorated very rapidly, moist rales had appeared, and he was now in the intensive care unit.
"Where are the nucleic acid test results?" Zhu Yingning frowned and asked Wen Wenxu on the other side of the phone.
He said, "Positive."
**
Later, when recalling that period of time, Zhu Yingning found that he had lost most of the memories related to it, probably because he was too tired. When people are extremely tired, they will automatically reduce the burden on the brain.
After learning that Lu Yigui's nucleic acid test result was positive, she and Shen Fei asked Lu Yigui's husband in detail about his, Lu Yigui's, and their grandson's recent movements, as well as all the people who had unprotected contact with them, and reported the situation to the township epidemic prevention and control headquarters. That evening, the higher-ups sent Dabai to perform deep disinfection. Originally, it was agreed that Lu Yigui's husband and grandson would be directly isolated at home, each living in their own room to reduce contact, and Zhu Yingning and others would be responsible for their care and meal delivery. However, just one day later, Lu Yigui's husband also fell ill, and his condition was even more serious than Lu Yigui's.
There was only one child left in the family, so after some discussion, they decided to take the child to the county for centralized quarantine.
The transmission path was also found out. There was a migrant worker in their county who had returned from Wuhan. He was playing cards in a township chess and card room. He infected Lu Yigui's husband, and Lu Yigui's husband then infected Lu Yigui.
There are now many close contacts and close contacts of close contacts. It is said that the county has specially vacated a school teaching building for isolation.
Zhu Yingning asked someone to inquire about the specific situation and learned that the county was short-staffed and that meals at the quarantine facility were being delivered irregularly, sometimes only twice or even once. After some thought, she decided to file a request to have the child quarantined at his own home, under her care. This would prevent the child's weakened immune system from becoming ill even if he wasn't already ill.
This decision was a huge responsibility. Wang Shengju asked her to think it over, and she said she could take the responsibility.
“It’s not a question of whether or not you can take responsibility.”
Wang Shengju rubbed his forehead and sighed, tapping the table with his index finger. "Think about it—there are already two patients in their family, and this child is most likely in the incubation period. It's only a matter of time before an outbreak occurs. Although you take protective measures every time you deliver food, what if something happens? Didn't the doctors and nurses in the hospital take proper precautions? Didn't someone fall ill? I know you're young and in good health, and this disease is nothing for a young person like you, but if you get sick, you'll be unable to work for seven or eight days. Our village cadres are already short-staffed, and if one person falls ill, it will be a huge loss for the villagers."
"I won't fall," she said.
Wang Shengju was talking at cross purposes and couldn't get over her stubbornness, so he could only wave his hand impatiently and let her go.
Every time she delivers food, Zhu Yingning takes great care to protect herself and disinfect. Besides delivering food, she has countless other things to do. First, the quarantined houses need regular disinfection. Second, the villagers are panicking. Besides calming them down, they have to step up inspections, urge everyone to wear masks, and ban group activities. And then there are the pigs that weren't processed before the Lunar New Year. When will they start processing? How will they balance epidemic prevention with work once they start? Will future logistics and sales be affected? How can they make contingency plans before resuming work after the Lunar New Year? These are all questions.
Some timid people, upon hearing that Lu Yigui's husband had white lung and was nearing death, were so frightened they didn't even dare go out to buy groceries. This trend spread quickly, and soon every household was like a frightened bird. Wang Shengju and Zhu Yingning held a meeting and decided that their village committee would be responsible for centralized procurement of food and daily necessities, reducing villagers' contact with outsiders. This would be a way of being responsible both to outsiders and to the villagers.
This sounds simple, but their workload has doubled. Zhu Yingning can barely handle it, and Wen Wenxu has a habit of fitness, so he's also okay. What worries her most is Chen Fei. Every night when she returns to the dormitory, she will try her best to make some nourishing soup for Chen Fei.
At first, Chen Fei thought this was an overreaction and that there was no need to give her special care. However, eight days later, she was the first person to collapse from exhaustion.
Fortunately, it was not the new coronavirus, but just low blood pressure due to exhaustion.
She rested for a day, and then got up and continued to help despite Zhu Yingning and Wen Wenxu's attempts to stop her.
After the 14-day quarantine period, they finally received the only good news during this period - the child did not become ill, his nucleic acid test result was still negative, and there were no problems with other close contacts in the village.
There was also bad news - Lu Yigui and her husband were still in the intensive care unit and had even been transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital.
The chain of transmission in the county was also not optimistic. The migrant worker from Wuhan not only infected Lu Yigui and her husband, but also two other people, each of whom had their own chain of contact. Once the first patient appeared, everything snowballed, spiraling further and further out of control.
There is still an extreme shortage of manpower in the county.
Zhu Yingning thought about it for a whole night, and the next day she reported to Wang Shengju that she wanted to go to the county to help.
Wang Sheng held his forehead with his hand for a long time before he recovered. He earnestly advised her to think twice: "Yingning, let me be selfish. Since the higher-ups haven't issued any hard targets for us to go over and help, it means they can still handle it. In that case, why do you have to take the initiative to go to the most dangerous place..."
She knew that Wang Shengju said this for her own good. It was not easy to say this for a colleague in the workplace, but she insisted on her own opinion.
"I've handed the start-up plan to Wen Wenxu. He can take care of the farm," she said. "Secretary, the village is basically stable now. Having me or not having me won't make much difference. But it's different in the county. Having me might actually mean a little more hope."
Wang Shengju remained silent.
Finally, he closed his eyes and waved his hand.
So Zhu Yingning packed up his things overnight and rushed to the county to help.
The county was so short of workers that they drafted her into hard labor before she could even complete the approval process. Fortunately, physical exertion was nothing to Zhu Yingning. For a whole week, she slept only four hours a day. With free time so scarce, she became increasingly slow to reply to Xu Sirui's messages.
They have been in contact almost every day since New Year's Eve.
Perhaps he'd heard from Chen Fei about the COVID-19 cases in their village, so after New Year's Eve, he'd been texting her frequently, reminding her to be careful about this and that, and occasionally popping up a message asking if she was feeling unwell. She didn't have time to reply immediately, so she'd just wait until that evening and then reply with a single, "I'm fine."
After the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, he started sending things to her. The medicine, masks and food were all normal. What made Zhu Yingning laugh and cry the most was that he got a lot of protective suits from somewhere, which were said to be "enhanced versions" that could keep germs out.
She had been very busy in the county these days, and it often took two or three days before she had time to reply to him.
Perhaps for this reason, when she was about to fall asleep in bed that night, she received a message from Xu Sirui, which was simple and clear: "I bought a ticket and will come to see you tomorrow."
???
She was half asleep and immediately grabbed her phone to reply, "Don't be silly. If you want to go back to Shanghai after you come here, the procedures will be complicated. You might get stuck here. Do you want to quit your job?"
He said his employees were mostly working from home now, and he could handle his work online. As for offline matters, they could be handled collectively after he returned. But Zhu Yingning selfishly didn't want him to come to the epidemic area, worried that his fragile skin would be infected. So she added a bit more forcefully, "You coming here won't be of any help. It will only distract me, taking my energy away from taking care of you. Xu Sirui, do your job. I'm responsible for my work and the people I serve, and I hope you'll be responsible for yours and your employees. If you truly respect me, then be a good person first."
The top bar shows "The other party is typing...", which disappears and then reappears, indicating that he has been deleting and revising for a long time.
Two minutes later, he only sent a short message: "But you haven't told me that you are fine in a few days."
She was stunned, her heart suddenly rippled. She held the phone and looked at it for a long time, took a deep breath, and was about to reply when Liu Guifang called.
It's already two o'clock in the morning.
People's bad premonition of bad news comes from these details that would not appear under normal circumstances. She knew that according to her mother's normal schedule, she would never call her at such a late time.
Absolutely not.
The moment Zhu Yingning picked up the phone, her hands were shaking, but her voice was calm: "Mom."
Liu Guifang's voice seemed to come from another world, distant and vague. Through the clouds and mist, she said, Ningning, come back soon, your father is dying.
She forgot what she agreed to, maybe she didn't agree to anything, but after hanging up the phone, she remembered that she calmly opened the app and called a cross-city online taxi.
Fortunately, I can still call a car at this time, thanks to the Internet.
After the phone interface showed that the purchase was successful, she got up from the bed, packed some clothes, and went out to catch the bus.
It's very windy outside.
It was February, and the lingering chill of winter still lingered. The wind blew through the hems of her coat and the collar of her sweater. She looked down at her phone screen, which showed that the driver was five kilometers away and would need more time to catch up...
How many more minutes will it take?
She couldn't see clearly.
Xu Sirui's message popped up from the top again, asking her, "Are you asleep?"
She exhaled a hazy white breath and typed a reply slowly and laboriously with her cold, stiff fingers: "It's almost time to go to bed, you should go too."
Keep typing: "I'm fine."
His finger paused for a moment, and finally he clicked send with a trembling sound.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Two in one.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
