Chapter 848 Flood Disaster In early autumn evening, the persimmon trees in the courtyard were laden with green fruit.
After dinner, the children chased and played in the yard, while Lu Qingyang and Shen Mo sat on rattan chairs under the pomegranate tree.
“Zhao Rui and Xiao Hua got married too, wow, time flies! Momo, how about we have another child?” Lu Qingyang said jokingly.
Shen Mo's expression turned serious: "Qingyang, the hospital has two training slots. One is to stay at the hospital in Beijing, and the other is to join the medical support team to the grassroots level in the southern mountainous areas for a period of one year."
Lu Qingyang sat up straight: "Of course it's the Beijing Municipal Hospital. It's a rare opportunity, and it's close by."
Shen Mo turned her head and shook her head: "I want to go to the grassroots level."
Seeing that Lu Qingyang was about to speak, she held down Lu Qingyang's hand: "I know what you're worried about. Going to the grassroots level is different. There is a shortage of medical care and medicine there, and manpower is needed. This year, you will be able to come into contact with the most real cases and handle various emergencies independently. It will be a kind of training for you."
Lu Qingyang was silent for a moment, then took her hand in his and sighed, "You... always choose the hardest path."
“That’s because I know that no matter which path I choose, you will always support me.” Chen Mo smiled, her eyes curving slightly.
Lu Qingyang extended his index finger, feigning seriousness, "One year, not a single day more. You are not allowed to stubbornly endure difficulties on your own."
Listening to her detailed and meticulous instructions, Chen Mo felt a warm glow in her heart.
It was late at night, and the children were all fast asleep.
"The thought of leaving for a year makes me reluctant to part with my child."
Lu Qingyang put down the book in his hand, sat down next to her, and placed his warm palm on the back of her slightly cool hand.
“Momo, we are first and foremost ourselves, and then our parents. You can’t always revolve around the two of us.”
He lifted her face and gently wiped her moist eyes with his thumb: "Aunt Liu and Mom are both here, and you come home every day. The children won't be wronged. Come back when you have a holiday, and we'll take them boating at the Summer Palace. Let them see how much more capable their mother has become, and let the children remember her as a good doctor who saves lives in the mountains."
Shen Mo nestled into her husband's arms, listening to his heartbeat.
"Qingyang, thank you," she said softly.
The moonlight outside the window was perfect, illuminating the couple embracing each other.
Separation is certainly heartbreaking, but mutual fulfillment of love is even more touching.
Half a month later, Shen Mo, carrying a simple backpack, followed the medical team to this mountainous area in southeastern Guizhou.
The jeep bumped along the winding dirt road for a whole day before finally arriving at its destination, a town built against the mountainside.
The conditions here are far more difficult than imagined.
The clinic was converted from an old ancestral hall; the walls were mottled and medicines were in short supply.
I stayed in the dormitory arranged by the commune at night. The damp bedding smelled musty, and the sounds of frogs and insects outside the window were incessant.
But Shen Mo soon had no time to pay attention to these things.
From dawn till dusk, there is always a long queue outside the clinic.
There were children shivering with malaria, villagers who had fallen and injured themselves while working, and women with difficult-to-diagnose illnesses… She was busy consulting, examining, prescribing medicine, and bandaging, barely having time to breathe. Using the most rudimentary equipment to complete a wound cleaning and suturing, and relying on meticulous consultation to determine the cause of the illness, this pure feeling of being needed brought her inner fulfillment and peace.
However, the peaceful days didn't last long.
On a stormy night, urgent knocking on the door startled the entire medical team awake.
The teacher leading the team stood at the door, soaked to the bone, his tone stern: "A flash flood has struck a neighboring county, and the situation is dire! We have been ordered by higher authorities to evacuate immediately and provide disaster relief support!"
The room instantly sprang into action, flashlights flashing as everyone quickly gathered the most urgently needed medicines and equipment.
The sound of wind and rain was mixed with the faint rumble of thunder in the distance, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Chen Mo's heart sank suddenly.
Communication will inevitably be cut off once we go to the disaster area, and our return date is uncertain.
"Captain, I...I want to make a phone call home, just for a minute!"
"Go."
The call was extremely difficult to connect to, with harsh static.
When Lu Qingyang's sleepy voice finally came through the receiver, Shen Mo felt a lump in her throat.
"Qingyang! We've received an urgent mission to provide disaster relief in a neighboring county. We might not be able to contact you for a while. Don't worry, I'll take good care of myself and contact you again when I get back!"
She spoke very quickly, as if afraid the signal would be cut off at any moment.
Lu Qingyang on the other end of the phone was clearly fully awake. After a moment of silence, he said, "I understand. Be careful and take precautions."
Chen Mo nodded, even though she couldn't see, "...Then I'm hanging up."
I put down the hot phone receiver; the wind and rain outside seemed to intensify.
She took a deep breath, turned around, nimbly picked up the first-aid kit she had prepared, joined the hastily assembled team, and boarded the truck that was roaring to life in the rain.
The receiver emitted a busy tone, and Lu Qingyang stood there, holding the phone.
In that brief silence, I heard Shen Mo deliberately suppressing her tension, and the danger lurking behind the words "disaster area," "flood," and "communication disruption."
I couldn't sit still any longer.
Back in the bedroom, she quickly changed out of her pajamas, rummaged through a back panel at the bottom of the wardrobe, and deftly stuffed in a few changes of clothes and some cash.
After thinking for a moment, she carefully tucked the solo photo that Shen Mo had left on the bedside table into her notebook and then into the back pocket.
He walked to his desk, unscrewed the fountain pen, and quickly wrote on the letter paper:
Aunt Liu:
Mom will be coming tomorrow morning. I'm entrusting the house and the children to you and Mom.
I have an urgent matter that requires me to come to the door immediately, and my return date is uncertain. Please don't worry.
Qingyang (night)
He placed the note on the most conspicuous eight-immortal table in the living room and weighed it down with a teacup.
In the stillness of the night, the chirping of insects could be heard in the courtyard.
He rode his motorcycle into the thick darkness of the night.
The motorcycle sped along the empty Chang'an Avenue, the night wind blowing against my face, but it couldn't dispel the anxiety in my heart.
My mind was filled with Shen Mo's urgent "Don't worry" on the phone. The more she told Shen Mo not to worry, the more uneasy I felt.
When I arrived at the train station, the ticket windows were lit by dim yellow lights.
He leaned against the window, his voice urgent: "Comrade, buy a ticket for the earliest destination in Guizhou!"
"The earliest train is at 1:50 a.m., and there are still hard seats available," the ticket seller said, yawning.
"This is the train, a hard seat is fine."
It would take a long time to get there, and Lu Qingyang couldn't fall asleep. Even when he did, he dreamed of Shen Mo being swept away by the flood.
She comforted herself, saying that dreams are the opposite of reality, and nothing would happen.
Lu Qingyang was no longer sleepy and sat on the train for several days with his eyes open.
Upon arriving in the provincial capital, we took a bus and began inquiring about the flooded areas from the surrounding neighborhoods.
"You mean that county? The roads were all washed away by the flood, and even buses can't get through."
After getting out of the car, Lu Qingyang made another phone call to his father and explained the situation.
“You left in such a hurry, why didn’t you tell us? Let us try to find some connections and see if we can get in touch with the local military. Don’t worry, just wait for our news.”
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