Because it takes more than two hours by boat to get from the island to the garrison regiment, Lupin was considerate enough to borrow a military stretcher with a bracket underneath that could be used as a temporary bed from the regiment hospital.
So as soon as he got on the boat, Yin Xiaoman was forced to lie on a stretcher.
She and Qiao Mai were on the same patrol boat that Lu Tuan and his men had taken when they arrived. They were the only two women on the boat.
Especially in the cabin, everyone except her was sitting, which made Yin Xiaoman, the only one lying down, feel extremely uncomfortable all over.
So much so that even the discomfort that had lingered in her mind for two days had dissipated a lot without her noticing.
She didn't even have the time to comfort her little girl, whose eyes were filled with tears, before the patrol boat sailed far away from the shore.
Fortunately, everyone noticed her discomfort, and not long after the ship set sail, Lu Tuan and his companions all left the cabin and went to the deck to talk.
There were only her and Qiao Mai left in the cabin, which made them feel a little more comfortable.
This was Yin Xiaoman’s second time taking a boat ride. The first time was when their family came to the island.
Maybe it was because she was full of hope and excitement at that time, the two-hour journey seemed to pass in a flash.
But this time, it felt extremely long.
Especially since she was lying on such a narrow stretcher, she felt the slightest shake of the boat more strongly. It wasn't long before she started to feel seasick, which was something she hadn't felt for a long time, and she felt like vomiting again.
"Xiaoman, here's something for you." Qiao Mai suddenly stuffed something into her mouth.
Yin Xiaoman tasted it carefully and found that it was actually a cream plum.
Maybe because they had been left for too long, the plums became very dry, but they still tasted very good, just enough to suppress the waves of nausea that were rising in her heart.
"Thank you, you helped me a lot." Yin Xiaoman let out a long sigh and said gratefully.
Hearing her say this, Qiao Mai was obviously very happy. She opened a military satchel she was carrying, took out a small paper bag from it, and placed it next to Yin Xiaoman's head: "These are all for you, take your time to eat."
Glancing at the paper bag, Yin Xiaoman felt extremely familiar with it.
She thought for a moment and asked in surprise, "Did you bring this from home? Was the one that Mr. Hua gave me before also yours?"
Qiao Mai was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "It's not me. I was in such a hurry when I came from home that I didn't have time to buy these. This was given to me by... Li Hai. Yours should have been given by him as well, right?"
When she said this name, there was a hint of shyness on her face.
Li Hai, Yin Xiaoman knows him.
Mr. Hua’s assistant and Li Fang’s brother.
In her impression, he is a quiet but good-natured person.
When he has nothing to do, he may not take the initiative to say a word to you for a whole year; but he will generously share his delicious food with Erniu, Dabao and other children.
So when Qiao Mai said that those plums were given by Li Hai, Yin Xiaoman felt that it was very likely.
"It's not easy to get something delicious. I have to find a way to repay this favor later." She muttered silently in her heart.
However, Yin Xiaoman didn’t know when Li Hai had become so familiar with Qiao Mai?
Although Qiao Mai did not admit it, she always remembered the scene when she saw this girl and Liu Chang getting along with each other at the clinic.
Judging from how familiar they are with each other, if someone said that they were just classmates before, not only would Li Fang not believe it, but she herself wouldn't believe it at all.
But since the other party didn't tell her the reason, she naturally wouldn't ask.
The boat finally docked.
Yin Xiaoman and Qiao Mai both got on the jeep that was sent specifically to pick up Lupin.
She also enjoyed "special treatment" and sat in the passenger seat.
In Lupin's words, "It's too bumpy at the back. If it bumps you again, Shen Qingyun will never forgive me."
And Qiao Mai was also nervous.
He even took out a small blanket he brought with him and insisted on putting it on her seat, saying it could help reduce shock.
This made Yin Xiaoman feel extremely embarrassed, and she felt as if in their eyes she might have been made of clay.
After these people finally finished their work, the car drove away from the harbor and headed towards the provincial capital of Province B where the security regiment was stationed.
This is Yin Xiaoman's first time in a big city.
The most prosperous place she had ever been to was the county town where the Pioneer Camp was located.
It is a remote place and although it is called a county town, there are actually not many people there. Even the most prosperous supply and marketing cooperative in the county has only a few counters.
Just now on the boat, Qiao Mai had told her that the capital of Province B was one of the top cities in the country, and its prosperity was not much inferior to that of Beijing and Haicheng.
So after getting on the car, Yin Xiaoman has been staring out the window curiously, wanting to see what the big city that Qiao Mai mentioned looks like.
At the beginning, the road was common yellow soil. There was not even a house on either side of the road. It was bare and deserted everywhere.
Gradually, there were more rice fields and a few scattered villages on the roadside.
After driving for about another two hours, we gradually saw villages and towns on the roadside, and later factories and even two-story buildings made of bricks and tiles.
Pedestrians began to appear on both sides of the road.
When we entered the city, it was almost lunch time. Many people were pouring out of the factories and schools on both sides of the road, and the speed of cars slowed down a lot.
Seeing Yin Xiaoman's curiosity, Lupin smiled and knocked on her car seat from behind: "Xiao Yin, roll down the window. We will soon pass by the largest machinery factory in Ningcheng. There is our tallest building there. You can take a look from the outside."
As he spoke, he showed her how to roll down the car window using the handle.
Yin Xiaoman followed suit and rolled down the window, and the view immediately became clearer.
But at this moment, a sharp female voice suddenly came from outside the car window: "Revolution is not a crime, rebellion is justified!"
Before she could react, she saw a young woman in military uniform and red armband holding a wooden stick, and a group of teenagers also in military uniform and who looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, running past their car like the wind and rushing towards the factory gate not far away.
None of the children were empty-handed. Each of them was holding a wooden stick or a brick.
Yin Xiaoman had sharp eyes and even saw that some of them were holding very thick steel pipes in their hands!
The posture made it clear that he was ready to fight someone to the death.
Her heart was pounding as she watched, but before she had time to think, she saw a group of young men in blue work clothes suddenly pouring out of the machinery factory that Lupin had mentioned before.
They rushed towards the group of children in military uniforms, looking very aggressive and shouting random slogans.
Because there were so many people and the noise was so chaotic, Yin Xiaoman could barely hear one sentence clearly: "Civil-attack, military-defense, give me back my comrades!"
There was a sudden chaos outside the car.
Apart from the two groups of people who gathered together, other passers-by or workers who had just got off work began to disperse quickly to both sides.
Many people had expressions of fear on their faces, but quite a few also had expressions of numbness on their faces.
Because when I was on the island, most of the people around me were wearing military uniforms.
In addition, her man is also a soldier, so Yin Xiaoman habitually tends to favor those who wear military uniforms.
What's more, although she just took a quick glance, she could still see that the people in that team were still immature children.
She couldn't understand why those people who came out of the factory would look for these kids as comrades?
But we could see that the two groups of people had gathered together and started fighting.
She still panicked.
She quickly turned her head to look at Lupin and Qiao Mai who were sitting in the back seat, and wanted to ask if they needed to stop this situation?
Yin Xiaoman knew that the Guard Regiment was the only military force in the city, so those children in military uniforms should all be children of military personnel?
Well, in this case, Lupin wouldn't just leave them alone, right?
But as soon as she turned her head, before she could ask, Qiao Mai, who was sitting behind her, quickly shook his head at her.
In a place where no one else noticed, he made a gesture to her to keep quiet.
Yin Xiaoman glanced at Lupin who was sitting next to Qiao Mai.
At this moment, he sat in his seat with an expressionless face, looking straight ahead, as if the fighting and cursing outside the car window had not happened at all.
It was as if he hadn't heard or seen anything at all.
Seeing him like this, Yin Xiaoman opened her mouth but swallowed the words back.
She looked out the window again, and saw that the two teams were already fighting. She didn't know what deep hatred there was between them, and each of them wanted to treat their opponent as an enemy. They all tried their best.
He is ruthless even to girls.
Yin Xiaoman saw with his own eyes a man in blue work clothes hitting the girl on the head with a stick, and blood flowed down her forehead.
But the girl didn't care at all. She just wiped it with her hand, shouted something, and then took her stick and swung it at the man fiercely...
Then he plunged into the crazy fight again.
The glaring red made Yin Xiaoman's heart surge.
She didn't dare to look anymore, turned her head to the side, and subconsciously covered her heart with her hand.
"Drive faster."
Lupin in the back seat suddenly spoke, his tone was stern and filled with a hint of annoyance.
The driver in the driving seat responded and then honked twice in succession.
The sharp sound of the flute stimulated the people running back and forth, and they finally made way.
The driver stepped on the accelerator, and the car finally moved farther and farther away from the group of people beating each other.
The scene outside was so shocking that Yin Xiaoman didn't dare to look at it anymore.
She silently rolled up the window, trying to shut it all out.
But at this moment, through the glass, she saw thick smoke coming out of a house on the roadside not far away, and many young people wearing green military uniforms and armbands were throwing piles of things into the fire.
Not far from the fire, an old lady with silver hair sat on the ground, silent and with a look of despair on her face. In his hand, he was tightly holding a little boy who looked no more than four or five years old.
The little boy looked at the fire and cried until he was hoarse...
Yin Xiaoman saw similar scenes several times along the way. She even saw a group of elementary school students smashing each other crazily at the gate of a school.
Those children didn’t look much older than Dabao, but hatred was etched on each of their faces, and their expressions were hideous and distorted.
Yin Xiaoman closed his eyes silently.
After rushing all the way, the car finally drove into the guard regiment’s base.
When the barracks, playgrounds, and training grounds appeared before their eyes again, and when the familiar trumpet sounds replaced the crazy shouting outside, Yin Xiaoman finally opened his eyes.
Only then did she realize that her clenched fists were wet with cold sweat.
As Lupin requested, the car drove directly to the regimental hospital.
Just as Liu Chang said, this place is many times more formal than the clinic on the island.
This is a three-story gray brick and tile building with about a dozen or twenty rooms on each floor.
The stairs are right opposite the door. They are wide enough for four people to walk side by side.
Seeing Yin Xiaoman staring in a daze, Qiao Mai quietly approached her and said that this house should have been built with the help of the Soviet Union when China and the Soviet Union still had a brotherly relationship.
So the building looks solid and heavy, but also has an exotic feel.
Yin Xiaoman nodded.
She also felt that this house was completely different from the one she had seen in the Pioneer Camp before.
Seeing them come in, several doctors from the outpatient department quickly came over. They must have been informed in advance, so without Lupin's further instructions, he took Yin Xiaoman and the others directly to the innermost ward on the first floor.
"Comrade Yin, this is your ward. Please take a rest first. The attending doctor will come to check you later. If you have any problem, just pull the rope at the head of the bed. We can hear the ring at the nurse station."
A young nurse who was probably in her early twenties placed the bag she had taken from Qiao Mai on the bedside table, then walked over and pulled something that looked like a lamp cord hanging on the side of the bed.
Then a clear ringing sound was heard in the room.
Following the sound, Yin Xiaoman discovered that the other end of the light cord was near the ward door, and there were indeed two yellow copper bells tied to it.
Seeing that Yin Xiaoman was settled, Lupin and the driver left.
The young nurse also signaled Qiao Mai to go out with her.
"Comrade Qiao, the ward you are going to stay in is on the second floor, Department II of Internal Medicine. Can I take you there to have a look at the environment?"
Qiao Mai nodded.
But before leaving, he hesitated and looked at Yin Xiaoman, obviously having something to say to her.
Seeing her like this, the young nurse smiled.
"Comrade Qiao, all your examinations will be tomorrow. There is nothing to do today. Just go up to the ward and look for your room, then come down to talk to Comrade Yin. No one will stop you."
After hearing these words, Qiao Mai also smiled awkwardly, and his mood obviously eased a lot.
After they left, Yin Xiaoman returned to the imperial kitchen as quickly as possible. Sure enough, Lichun had replaced the medicine in the cupboard with new one.
She had already finished taking the pregnancy-preserving medicine that Doctor Wang had prescribed for her. After asking about her condition, the doctor said that there was no problem with the fetus and she didn't need to take the pregnancy-preserving medicine anymore.
Then Lichun asked for some health-maintaining medicine for her, and continued to make the medicine for her every day, forcing her to drink it twice a day.
Doctor Wang said that as long as she keeps eating, she will be able to take good care of her body and give birth to a big fat baby smoothly.
Because she was preparing to leave the island this morning, she had been surrounded by people since she got up, so she only had time now to take the medicine.
I just swallowed the last bite and didn’t even have time to take a look at what was written on the note left by Lichun.
Yin Xiaoman vaguely heard the sound of someone knocking on the door outside.
She was so scared that she ran back to the ward as quickly as possible.
It was not until he stood beside the bed that he had time to wipe the medicine off the corner of his mouth.
She subconsciously patted her chest with her hands.
If you live like this, sooner or later you will be scared to death!
She silently complained in her heart, but still agreed and quickly walked over to open the door.
"Xiaoman, why did you lock the door?" Standing outside the door was Qiao Mai.
Yin Xiaoman looked at her in surprise, unable to understand why she moved so quickly.
Didn’t she just go upstairs? Didn’t she even have to rest for a minute?
"I was just about to change my clothes when you came over. What on earth do you want to tell me in such a hurry?"
Yin Xiaoman welcomed her into the house and asked directly.
We are already very familiar with each other, so there is no need to beat around the bush.
Sure enough, Qiao Mai didn't think much about it, but directly took out a small red-covered book that was not even as big as a palm from his coat pocket and handed it to her.
"Xiao Man, have you never seen □□ before you came to the island?"
Yin Xiaoman didn't expect that Qiao Mai would chase him just to ask him if he had read any books?
She looked at the girl in front of her in confusion, then looked at the red-covered booklet that was handed to her.
The booklet had a picture of an old man in military uniform and five large characters below it: "Quotations from Chairman Mao."
Of course she knew the old man, and looking at the cover, she probably knew the contents of the booklet.
However, she looked again and still couldn't find the word "□□" that Qiao Mai mentioned.
"Why are you watching this?" She looked puzzled.
"I knew it." Qiao Mai showed an expression that said, "As expected."
Then he grabbed her and pushed her back onto the bed.
Then he moved a stool and sat beside her bed: "Xiao Man, your family came to the island early, and a lot of things happened outside in the past two years, many... things that you may not understand.
The phrase my parents say most often nowadays is “Don’t talk about state affairs”. So I won’t tell you more details, I can’t explain it clearly in a short time.
Anyway, just listen to me. No matter what you see or hear in the future, don't say it, don't ask, and don't care about it.
Just remember that the purpose of your coming to the hospital is to have a physical examination and to give birth to a healthy baby smoothly. This is your biggest task this time.
Everything else has nothing to do with you. ”
"besides,"
Qiao Mai pointed at the booklet with his hand and said, "You should read it carefully these days. You must memorize every word on it. This is very important. We don't know how long we will have to stay in the hospital. We must be prepared for any emergency."
Qiao Mai also confessed a lot. She almost said as much today as she had said to Yin Xiaoman in the past six months.
Given her usual personality of "speaking only half of what she says to people", Yin Xiaoman knew that what she said must be extremely important.
This reminded her of the extremely cruel scenes she had seen on the road before. Once again, she realized how lucky she and the people on her island were to live in such a paradise.
So much so that after only being away for half a day, she already began to miss Zhongshan Island and her home terribly.
Qiao Mai didn't let her move. He ran to the cafeteria, got food for two and ate with her.
After dinner, Qiao Mai returned to her ward, but Yin Xiaoman didn't have time to rest before the doctor in charge of her came over with the nurse.
This is a female doctor who is probably in her 50s or 60s. She is wearing a military uniform and has a kind face.
You can tell at first glance that he is very experienced.
The doctor touched her belly and checked the fetal position. She asked her some more questions, then wrote out a test order and handed it to the nurse following behind her.
Then I told her, "Don't worry. From the current situation, the fetus is in good condition. The fetal position is a little bit lower, but it's not serious. Liu Chang's previous treatment method was correct. You still need to lie upside down for a while. But don't be afraid. It will be able to turn right soon. It will definitely not make you uncomfortable for too long."
After listening to the doctor's instructions, the nurse skillfully propped up the legs of Yin Xiaoman's bed, and she resumed the head-down, feet-high position. Moreover, the position of the feet is higher than Liu Chang's previous one.
This posture is very uncomfortable, but because of previous experience, Yin Xiaoman has become accustomed to it.
But she didn't expect that she would have to meet people in such an embarrassing state!
So, when Lupin appeared in her ward again, Yin Xiaoman blinked subconsciously, and for a moment she couldn't understand why he came here again at this time?
Seeing what she was thinking, Lupin didn't say hello to her, but walked directly to the stool beside her bed and sat down.
He said to her, "Xiao Yin, I know it may not be appropriate for me to disturb you in your current situation. But I am here to talk to you on behalf of the organization. Normally, someone from the organization department should have talked to you about this matter, but I was afraid that you would be too nervous when meeting someone you are not familiar with, which would affect your recovery. So I came here by myself."
From this angle, Yin Xiaoman couldn't actually see Lupin's facial expression clearly.
But his words still made her feel the seriousness of the matter.
She immediately calmed down and replied solemnly: "Lu Tuan, if you have any questions, just ask me. I will tell the organization everything I know."
Hearing her say this, Lupin nodded, opened the notebook in his hand, and asked, "Do you know a person named Jin Zhou?"
Yin Xiaoman thought hard, but still shook his head: "No, I have never even heard of this name."
Lupin wrote it down and continued to ask, "Then, do you know Jiang Wanning?"
Yin Xiaoman's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
