Chapter 23: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 23: Mountain Gully Village 23

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

The rain was still pattering down, and Wang Changgen held Li Xiulan as he ran and ran through the wet, dark night.

The health station sat beside the highway at the village entrance, a good several hundred meters from his home.

Wang Changgen ran until he was gasping for breath, yet he dared not stop.

"Changgen, Changgen, don't leave me, I truly didn't do anything to wrong you, truly didn't..."

The unconscious Li Xiulan murmured in a feeble voice.

Wang Changgen looked at her pale face full of terror, and in that moment his heart shattered.

All resentment vanished in an instant.

"Wife, you'll be fine, you'll definitely be fine..."

Wang Changgen gritted his teeth and sped up toward the health station.

At last, he reached the health station.

Seeing Wang Changgen carry Li Xiulan in through the rain, the health station's old doctor Zhong Jianguo immediately hurried forward to receive them, placing Li Xiulan on a worn-out sofa.

"What happened?"

Zhong Jianguo's brows furrowed slightly; seeing Li Xiulan's face pale as paper, he already sensed something was wrong.

"Doctor Zhong, quickly save my wife, I don't know what happened either, she suddenly fainted."

Wang Changgen's face was full of anxiety.

Zhong Jianguo felt Li Xiulan's forehead, found it burning hot, promptly fetched a thermometer to take her temperature, and then took her pulse to assess her condition.

"Your wife is pregnant, how could you let her get soaked in the rain?"

Seeing Li Xiulan drenched through, Zhong Jianguo couldn't help but reproach Wang Changgen.

Wang Changgen was filled with remorse.

He indeed shouldn't have quarreled with his wife; no matter what the matter, it should have waited until the child was born — this uproar might well cost two lives, and the consequences would be grave.

"The pulse is chaotic; the child in her belly has likely run into trouble. My little village health station has limited medical facilities, and your wife is a pregnant woman — I'm afraid I can't treat her. You'd best rush her to the town health center right away!"

Zhong Jianguo dared not treat Li Xiulan; after all, many antibiotics cannot be used on pregnant women, so he could only urge Wang Changgen to quickly send Li Xiulan to a larger hospital.

"It's the middle of the night, I don't have a vehicle, and it's still twenty-plus kilometers to the town health center — how am I supposed to get her there?"

Wang Changgen felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, desperate and helpless.

Seeing Li Xiulan was also quite pitiable, Zhong Jianguo said:

"Wait here, I'll get Old Zhao who sells pork to come over, have him drive his motorcycle to take you to town."

Zhong Jianguo grabbed an umbrella and hurried out at a jog.

Before long, he returned to the health station riding on Zhao Datian's motorcycle.

Getting off the motorcycle, he promptly had Wang Changgen hold Li Xiulan and climb onto Zhao Datian's motorcycle.

Then they headed for town.

The rain was still falling.

The motorcycle had no canopy, but fortunately there were raincoats.

Inside the raincoat, Wang Changgen held Li Xiulan tight, to keep her from catching cold on the way.

Over a dozen kilometers of potholed yellow mud road — the whole way jolted not only this rickety motorcycle, but also Wang Changgen's uneasy heart.

If Li Xiulan suffered any mishap because of this, he might spend the rest of his life living in guilt.

With great difficulty, they finally arrived at the town health center.

Wang Changgen hurriedly carried Li Xiulan inside running.

"Doctor, doctor, quickly save my wife!"

He shouted helplessly.

Only now did Wang Changgen discover that Li Xiulan was bleeding below.

"What's going on? Back in the village she wasn't bleeding at all, how come she's bleeding now?"

Wang Changgen was at a complete loss.

A nurse hurried over to examine the situation, then took Li Xiulan to the emergency room.

The emergency room doctor took one look and knew the situation was rather serious.

He said to Wang Changgen:

"Your wife is very likely to miscarry. If you only want the mother to be safe, I can arrange an induction of labor right now, and she'll pull through the crisis quickly. But if you want to try to save the fetus, this town health center doesn't have the medical facilities for that — she must be transferred immediately to the county's big hospital. You decide what to do."

Wang Changgen felt the sky was about to collapse.

He never expected things would turn this bad.

For a moment he didn't know what to do.

In his heart he certainly wanted to save the fetus, but he also knew clearly that going to the county big hospital would likely cost a lot of money to save the fetus, and his entire savings now amounted to less than five hundred yuan.

The several thousand yuan he had saved up before had all been paid to Yang Dafu as medical expenses not long ago.

"Make your choice quickly, this can't be delayed."

The doctor pressed Wang Changgen.

Wang Changgen could only hastily blurt out in his fluster:

"Induce labor, induce labor — anyway, no matter what, I can't let anything happen to my wife!"

Out of realistic considerations, he could only make this kind of choice.

But right at this moment, Li Xiulan suddenly grabbed Wang Zhanggen's hand; she had somehow recovered a trace of clarity.

A weak voice, carrying a plea:

"Husband, I want to keep the child..."

Li Xiulan truly wanted to keep the child in her belly.

Although she had already given birth to two children, she still wanted a third.

And she had a very strong premonition that the third child would definitely be a girl.

She wanted both a son and a daughter; in her thinking, limited by her cultural level, there was a firm belief:

If she had both a son and a daughter, then even if the second half of her life was bitter and tiring, she would have something to look forward to in living on.

"But we don't have money to go to the County Town Hospital!"

Wang Zhanggen's face was full of pain and helplessness.

He fiercely slapped himself two big slaps.

"It's all my fault, I have no ability, I made you suffer!"

Wang Zhanggen truly regretted it; how could he have gotten angry at his wife because of Village gossip?

If they hadn't quarreled, his wife fundamentally wouldn't have ended up in this current situation!

If the child in his wife's belly died, that would be him indirectly killing it!

"Husband, let's go back; no matter what, I won't induce labor..."

Li Xiulan used a weak tone to resolutely speak this one sentence.

Her ignorance gave her enormous faith.

She always felt her child would definitely be able to tenaciously survive in her belly.

Just like she was able to tenaciously survive on this impoverished land.

"Aren't you just messing around? You've already had premature rupture of membranes; not inducing labor has a high probability of fetal death in utero, and the result would be the same then? And you might be in mortal danger!"

The Doctor hurriedly scolded at this time.

Rural Area women's ignorance, he had seen too much of it.

The woman before him was not the first to disregard her life to protect the fetus, nor would she be the last.

They rush forward one after another; for the sake of giving birth they can disregard everything.

"Husband, let's go back!"

Li Xiulan grabbed Wang Zhanggen's hand, pale complexion, plea mixed with determination, like a Warrior prepared to meet death.

Wang Zhanggen finally nodded.

The Doctor saw this and could only helplessly sigh.

Everyone has their own choice; he had no way to interfere with another's fate.

Since the Patient was this determined, he could only compromise.

Finally he prescribed some Fetal Protection Medicine for Li Xiulan, and then let her leave.