Chapter 2

The health center was not far from the township government, only about a hundred meters away. A group of people noisily carried Wang Yazi inside, shouting loudly, "Doctor, help!"

At this time, the health center had just opened for the day. A middle-aged male doctor looked at the scene and frowned, "Drinking poison again?"

Working at the township health center, the middle-aged doctor had seen many cases of people drinking pesticides.

Before those people could speak, Su Xinghui shouted, "Uncle Kong, this man drank Shachongshuang. It hasn't been long since he drank it. I already fed him boy's urine to induce vomiting, so he should have vomited most of it out by now."

Su Xinghui's father, Su Wenjun, was a doctor at the county people's hospital, so Su Xinghui was acquainted with this doctor, Kong Fanliang.

Only then did Kong Fanliang notice Su Xinghui. Su Xinghui spoke logically and answered everything he wanted to ask, maximizing the time saved for emergency treatment. He nodded at Su Xinghui and then shouted to the nurse, "Quickly prepare one liter of one-percent baking soda solution, and also prepare atropine for detoxification."

After saying this, Kong Fanliang led them into the emergency room and began the rescue of Wang Yazi.

After emergency treatment, Wang Yazi's condition stabilized. Kong Fanliang arranged for him to be moved to a ward and hung an IV drip.

Su Xinghui had now figured out that Wang Yazi's full name was Lu Dawang. The reckless man was his younger brother, Lu Erwang. Beside them were his third brother, Lu Sanwang, and his younger sister, Lu Sixiu. The old woman was their mother, and there was also an old man who was their father.

Lu Dawang was in his thirties. He already had three daughters but not a single son. His family had been bankrupted by fines for exceeding the birth quota, leaving them with nothing. However, at the beginning of this year, his wife became pregnant again. To have a son, he hid his wife at the home of his sister Lu Sixiu's in-laws in the mountains, while he went to the county seat to work as a construction worker to earn money.

A few days ago, the township family planning station, acting on a tip-off, went to Lu Sixiu's in-laws' home, dragged Lu Dawang's wife back to the station, and forcibly performed an induced abortion on her. Lu Sanwang went to the county seat to notify Lu Dawang. Lu Dawang returned home last night and saw his wife who had already undergone the procedure. He didn't know who told him that the aborted fetus had already formed and was clearly a boy. He sat blankly by his wife's bed for the whole night. Early this morning, as soon as the agricultural technology station next to the township government opened, he bought a bottle of Shachongshuang, ran to the entrance of the township government, and drank it all in one gulp.

Fortunately, someone nearby recognized Lu Dawang and ran to the Lu family to report the news. The Lu family was not far from the township government, so his family members arrived quickly. However, by that time, Lu Dawang had already lost consciousness, and they thought he couldn't be saved. They didn't expect Su Xinghui to have managed to save him.

Su Xinghui sighed, left the ward, bought some apples and nutritional supplements at the small shop next to the hospital, and carried them inside.

Lu's father and mother were honest people; they wiped away their tears and thanked Su Xinghui profusely.

The reckless man, Lu Erwang, looked at Su Xinghui with some sheepishness. He always felt that his brother had been forced to drink pesticide by the township government. However, he had seen today that Lu Dawang's life had been saved by this young man from the township government, and he didn't know what to say.

Lu Sanwang and Lu Sixiu were also honest people; they sat silently by Lu Dawang's hospital bed.

Su Xinghui sighed in his heart: who could say who was right and who was wrong in this matter? In a mountainous area like Meng Hu Ling, if you couldn't have a boy, you couldn't hold your head up. However, family planning was a national policy with strict targets. Although forced abortions seemed inhumane, what else could the family planning station do if they didn't do that? Persuading her to have an abortion certainly wouldn't work.

Su Xinghui had worked in rural areas for many years in his previous life and was very clear about the difficulty of grassroots work. Without such resolve, some work simply couldn't be carried out; otherwise, family planning work wouldn't be called the most difficult task under heaven.

Su Xinghui said to Lu's father, "Uncle Lu, does Brother Lu really have to have a son?"

Lu's father puffed on his pipe gloomily and said, "How can we not have a son? Without a son, we'll be pointed at behind our backs."

"But Brother Lu already has three daughters. This doesn't comply with national policy! Besides, can you afford to raise so many children?"

Lu's father puffed on his pipe gloomily again, lowered his head, and said nothing. Lu's mother said, "Isn't it enough that we pay the fines? His father and I had four, didn't we raise them? Children in the mountains have cheap lives; they are easy to raise."

Su Xinghui thought to himself, pay the fines? They were already bankrupted and in debt; what would they use to pay the fines?

At this moment, Lu Dawang woke up and opened his eyes. His mother shouted happily, "Wang Yazi, you're awake!"

Saying this, her tears fell: "How could you be so stupid! Since when do men drink poison?"

People in Meng Hu Ling called grown men "men-generals." It was truly rare to see a man drink pesticide; usually, it was women who felt so hopeless.

Lu Dawang didn't speak; his eyes looked hollowly at the ceiling of the ward.

Lu Erwang said indignantly, "It's all the township government's fault. They forced my brother to drink poison. We must go and demand an explanation from them later."

Lu's father said gloomily, "Stop causing trouble for the family. Isn't the family chaotic enough?"

Lu's parents were honest people, not troublemakers. If the daughter-in-law hadn't been found by the family planning station, they would have just let the child be born. But after all, they felt they were in the wrong; the family planning station had found the daughter-in-law and performed the procedure, so they had nothing to say.

If Lu Dawang hadn't been saved, the Lu family might have gone to the township government to make a scene, and Lu's parents might have let them. Now that Lu Dawang had been saved, and it was someone from the township government who saved him, they already felt very lucky. They didn't think the Lu family had any reason to go to the township government to make trouble.

Although Lu Erwang was reckless, he was also a filial son. Hearing his father's words, he muttered a few times and stopped talking.

Su Xinghui said to Lu Dawang, "Brother Lu, it's great that you're awake. Please don't do this again. Your lives will definitely get better and better in the future."

Lu Dawang acted as if he hadn't heard; his eyes remained hollow.

Lu's mother felt a bit embarrassed. She said to her son, "Wang Yazi, it was this cadre Su who saved you today! If it weren't for him, you would have lost your life. Why don't you thank him?"

Lu Dawang still didn't say a word. Lu's father glared, about to speak, but Su Xinghui smiled and said, "Uncle, Brother just woke up and must be uncomfortable. Let him rest more. I have to go back; I haven't even washed my face since I got up this morning."

Seeing Su Xinghui stand up, Lu's father and mother also stood up. Lu's father said, "Cadre Su, thank you very much today!"

Su Xinghui waved his hand and said, "Uncle, it's nothing. By the way, I told the health center that today's medical expenses will be put on the township government's account, so you don't have to pay."

In fact, today's medical expenses wouldn't be much, at most a few dozen yuan, but for the current Lu family, it was a significant expense that they could hardly afford. Therefore, Lu's father and mother thanked Su Xinghui profusely as they saw him out.

Returning to the township government, Huang Sao and Cheng Taoxian asked Su Xinghui, "Was that person saved?"

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Saved. He should be fine now."

Huang Sao patted her chest and said, "That's good. I was scared to death this morning."

Huang Sao was a local, in her early thirties. Her husband was a cadre at the forestry station. She had been cooking for the single staff members at the township government. She was quite curvaceous, especially her chest, which was very full. When she patted it with her hand, her chest trembled, which was quite eye-catching. Su Xinghui couldn't help but glance at it.

Cheng Taoxian said, "Su Xinghui, I couldn't tell, you college student, you're quite capable, even saving someone who drank pesticide. If it weren't for you today, this matter would have blown up."