Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 59
by Little PandaVolume 2: Inheritance
Salvation
A teacher for a day, a teacher for life
In the dim room, the computer screen was still on, the ashtray on the desk was full of cigarette butts, next to it was an unfinished instant noodle, clothes had slipped off the body, and the person who had stayed up all night slowly woke up on the sofa.
Fang Zhiyou got up, walked to the desk and picked up the electric kettle to pour some water to drink, but after several attempts, not a drop of water came out. She cursed under her breath, “F*ck,” and had to pick up the kettle again, kick aside the scattered chairs and mineral water bottles to walk to the kitchen to fetch water. On the way back, passing through the living room, the TV was still on, mom was lying on the bed cracking sunflower seeds, and the bedside was covered with scattered sunflower seed shells.
“Tsk tsk, quite a lot of people must have died, right? If you ask me, why work in a chemical plant when you could do something else? They must be tired of living. Look, even quite a few rescue personnel were dragged in. I heard there was also a doctor who…”
Fang Zhiyou suddenly turned her head back, her eardrums buzzing. On the TV, the female host’s lips were opening and closing, that well-made-up face reporting this kind of news without any fluctuation, as if chanting sutras.
“According to reports, this incident has caused a total of over 200 injuries and 43 deaths, including ten firefighters and one doctor. Now we have arrived at the emergency center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Renji Medical University, which is responsible for the medical support for this incident…”
Fang Zhiyou couldn’t bear to listen anymore. She took out her phone from her pocket to call Yu Gui. The phone messages showed that Yu Gui had left her a message 24 hours ago.
“I love you, good night, Zhiyou”
The young person’s eyes reddened, tears falling drop by drop, frantically pressing the keypad: “Fuck, pick up the phone! Yu Gui! Pick up the phone!”
Seeing her daughter’s hysterical state, Mother Fang said in a cool tone: “It’s better if she’s dead, saves her from harming others”
Fang Zhiyou turned around, her eyes cold enough to kill. Mother Fang put down the sunflower seeds in her hand: “What are you looking at me for, can’t I say that? You white-eyed wolf…”
Again, it was a round of cursing that invoked her ancestors for eighteen generations as well as Yu Gui. Fang Zhiyou gritted her teeth and ignored her, rushed into the bedroom, hastily packed a few clothes, took out a stack of slightly damp banknotes from under the bed, slung the backpack over her shoulder, and dashed out the door.
“Hello, one train ticket to Jinzhou”
The ticket seller yawned and clicked the mouse a few times: “No train tickets left”
“What about standing tickets?”
The ticket seller gave her a blank look: “What were you doing earlier, those are gone too”
Fang Zhiyou gritted her teeth, pulled out four red banknotes and pushed them into the counter: “Are there any high-speed rail tickets left?”
“There are standing seats, do you want one?” The ticket seller glanced at her, took the money: “Still short fifty”
Fang Zhiyou pulled out some change from her wallet: “One standing seat, thank you”
“Yanzhi! Gu Yanzhi! Gu Yanzhi! Wake up!” In a daze, someone was calling her name desperately, that voice so familiar and tinged with tears, coming from far away yet suddenly pulling her consciousness back to reality.
Gu Yanzhi coughed twice, spitting out the blood stuck in her throat, slowly opened her eyes, and met the anxious eyes of the person beneath her. Those eyes were beautiful, filled with heartbreaking tears, cupping her face, the tiger’s mouth of the hand calloused from years of holding surgical scalpels, gently brushing away the hair from her forehead.
“Gu Yanzhi?”
For some unknown reason, Gu Yanzhi’s whole body trembled once, fully awakening. She grabbed her hand and coughed twice more.
“I’m fine”
When the disaster happened, she only had time to hug her and throw themselves to the ground. After the explosion, she fell unconscious, and Lu Qingshi didn’t dare to move, only maintaining this position. Until now when she woke up, the two were nose to nose, face to face. Her breath lightly brushed against her own neck as she spoke. Lu Qingshi slightly turned her head, her ears feeling a bit hot.
“If you’re fine, then get up”
Not knowing who was just crying and calling her name, Gu Yanzhi found it a bit amusing. She simply plunged her head down again, nuzzling against her chest, filled with the joy of having survived the calamity.
“Ah, my head hurts so much, my shoulder hurts too, my chest is in severe pain, everywhere hurts…”
Lu Qingshi couldn’t bear it anymore. This person always managed to wear away her good temper completely.
“Get off!”
It was time for the medical team to evacuate. A crowd of people anxiously waited for their return. Yu Gui had almost worn out the communicator in her hand but still hadn’t received a response.
The recent big explosion left everyone still in shock. Even Hao Renjie, who was usually the most boisterous, hung his head in silence.
Several colleagues with weaker constitutions who were vomiting and having diarrhea were also sent back to the hospital for emergency treatment by ambulance. Chen Yi took a few bottles of mineral water from the car and distributed them one by one, while Liu Qingyun also got a box of ham sausages from the fire brigade and handed them out.
“Come on, eat something”
Who would have an appetite in this situation? As dusk was approaching again, they had been working continuously for a day and a night. Everyone was starving, but no one ate. They were all waiting for a result.
“You must evacuate immediately now. The medical team’s mission is completed. The subsequent search for victims’ bodies will be carried out tomorrow”
The government sent people over to negotiate. The words “victims’ bodies” sounded harsh no matter how one heard them. The hot-tempered Liu Qingyun, filled with pent-up anger, almost got into a fight with someone but was restrained by several colleagues. No one expected Yu Gui to suddenly rush forward and grab the person’s collar.
“You’re talking nonsense! My teacher and my friend are still inside! You need to send people to find them quickly! Ah!”
After she finished shouting, her eyes silently turned red. Seeing the other person’s still unperturbed face, she lost the desire to say anything more.
The government person straightened the tie she had skewed: “Five minutes, I’ll give you five more minutes”
The sky darkened bit by bit, with a hint of twilight covered by thick gunpowder smoke. Hao Renjie’s phone rang, he answered and put it on speakerphone.
Xu Qiankun shouted on the phone: “Hasn’t the rescue already ended?! Why the fuck aren’t you hurrying back to help! Don’t you know the hospital is going crazy busy?!”
Hao Renjie held the phone a bit farther away: “Sister Lu hasn’t come out yet”
“Who cares who hasn’t come out, hurry back to me. Wait, who did you say hasn’t come out, who?”
Hao Renjie repeated softly again: “Sister Lu”
Xu Qiankun pondered for a moment and thought this kid must be joking with him: “Impossible, Lu Qingshi’s life is so tough, she’s a husband-killer and child-killer, everyone else could die but she wouldn’t. Hey, hey?”
Hao Renjie hung up the phone with a snap. Yu Gui also stood up: “Let’s go in and find them”
“No,” Chen Yi quickly ran over to stop them: “Sister Lu’s fate is unknown, don’t run in there to throw your lives away, spare some thought!”
Liu Qingyun took out a crumpled cigarette from his pocket and smoothed it out, wanting to smoke but then remembering this was in a chemical plant leak area, so he had to crumple it up again and throw it on the ground, stomping on it hard twice.
“Let’s go back, it’s so late now, and the hospital really can’t spare any manpower. The firefighters will continue to search and rescue Director Lu. There’s no point in us just waiting here”
Some colleagues collapsed on the ground exhausted, yawning continuously, able to fall asleep with their eyes open.
Yu Gui clenched her fists: “None of you are going?”
Her gaze swept over each colleague who had spoken – Chen Yi, Liu Qingyun, Hao Renjie, and other nurses. Everyone remained silent, even avoiding her gaze.
Yu Gui picked up the first aid kit and put it on her back: “From the moment Teacher Lu entered the fire scene, she became a potential patient. I won’t give up on other patients, let alone her”
She took a deep breath. Without a positive pressure respirator, standing outside the warning line, her throat was already starting to itch and hurt. But so what? Even if Teacher Lu was cold to her, a teacher for a day is a teacher for life. What she admired was her character and medical skills. Who would remember these trivial things? Patients will always remember the person who can bring them new life, and so will she.
Yu Gui slowly lifted her foot and walked into the darkness. After just two steps, she suddenly excitedly shouted: “Teacher Lu! Teacher Lu! Captain Gu! You’re still alive, that’s great!!! Someone come quickly!!!”
For the first time, she felt that the noisy Yu Gui wasn’t so annoying after all, as she supported Gu Yanzhi, walking unsteadily through the ruins.
“Come help”
Yu Gui quickly threw down the first aid kit and ran over to support Gu Yanzhi’s other arm, working together with the person to drag her out.
“Take off your coat,” Lu Qingshi said, unbuttoning her buttons. In public, Gu Yanzhi coughed once and grabbed her hand.
“I’ll do it myself, I’ll do it myself”
She swiftly took off her coat. Lu Qingshi knelt beside her, examining her injuries. Under the black tactical vest, the female body was slender yet strong.
Lu Qingshi used tweezers to gently lift the fabric on her shoulder, which was swollen high and had broken skin. She used iodine balls to disinfect it bit by bit.
“Does it hurt?”
She looked up at her briefly, just catching her gaze before it could be withdrawn, excessively gentle.
The ambulance had a spotlight mounted on top. She leaned obliquely against the vehicle, with half of her clothes removed, one leg on the ground, the other bent at the knee supporting her arm. Light fell from above, illuminating her pupils. Her hair was slightly disheveled, the flaxen color making her skin appear very white. Her features were as if carved by knife and axe. Having just come out of the gunpowder smoke, with injuries on her body, it increasingly gave a kind of…
She remembered a term Qin Xuan had once told her: battle scars.
Yes, that’s it, battle scars, a kind of heart-stirring beauty.
“It hurts”
She never thought there would be a day when she would be entranced by another woman’s beauty. The doctor was a bit dazed: “Where does it hurt?”
Gu Yanzhi pointed to her chest: “Here”
Three inches below the ribs, the heart.
Lu Qingshi leaned over: “Don’t move, let me listen”
Gu Yanzhi’s shoulders were broad, and the stethoscope wasn’t long enough. She had to move a step forward, her head touching the other person’s chin. The two were at a delicate distance, able to feel each other’s breath and smell the faint tobacco scent on her.
Gu Yanzhi’s hand rested on her waist, touching lightly, afraid of triggering something.
“Can you hear it? Qingshi”
She called her name softly, her voice clear and warm, but her heartbeat became less gentle due to this suddenly close distance.
Beat by beat, with a chaotic rhythm, it entered Lu Qingshi’s eardrums.
Based on her medical experience, she determined that this person only had superficial injuries, but…
She suddenly bit her lower lip tightly.
“I feel like I’m very seriously ill. Can you tell me what disease I actually have?”
The hand on her waist gradually gained weight. Having been kneeling for a long time and lacking strength, Lu Qingshi unexpectedly fell into her embrace. Her lip corner brushed against her collarbone, and she could clearly feel that person’s body tensing up.
“Mmm…” Lu Qingshi rubbed her forehead that had been bumped: “Gu…”
Before she could finish speaking, someone yelled: “Damn, are you all made of iron?! Not sleeping for a day and night and still so energetic!”
Both of them turned their heads at the same time. Hao Renjie was holding two bottles of mineral water, seemingly wanting to hand them over. Gu Yanzhi quickly let go, and Lu Qingshi also straightened her white coat and stood up, although she didn’t know why she was making this gesture, it seemed superfluous. Hao Renjie’s gaze obviously turned gossipy.
“Work’s done, let’s go home”
0 Comments