The moon was rising high in the sky and the lights had been turned on in the west room of the division's hospital.
Zhou Wanping sat backwards on the chair, with her arms crossed and placed on the top of the chair back, her beautiful chin resting on her arms, and she looked intently at the man sitting beside the bed and talking in a low voice, and gradually became fascinated by what he said.
In the story, there is the vast white snow outside the Great Wall, the scorching sun by the Yellow River, the coagulated blood red, and the smoke turning into ashes. There are thousands of figures against the magnificent background, but Zhou Wanping feels that this is a lonely story, a story without hope and end.
At first, Zhou Wanping interrogated him, then induced him, and finally, Hu Yi spoke to himself. To Hu Yi's surprise, he did not feel the pain of exposing a scar this time. It felt like he was telling another person's story. Hu Yi did not understand why, maybe it was because of the smell of the hospital, maybe it was because there was a doctor in a white coat in front of him, or maybe it was because of the messy room and Zhou Wanping, the unrestrained listener.
He talked a lot, from the frontier to the south of the Yangtze River. He talked in great detail and even carefully described the various hallucinations he had when he had a headache. Except for the part about Su Qing, he basically told everything.
Until the end of the story, the two people were still staring at each other quietly in the dim light, the man was still sitting on the edge of the bed, and the woman was still lying on the back of the chair.
Finally, Zhou Wanping stood up and left the chair. She habitually put her hands in the pockets of her white coat and walked to the window with her tall figure. She looked at the moonlight on the branches outside the window. After a pause, she turned back to face Hu Yi and said, "You are indeed sick. It's too late now. I'll give you a check-up tomorrow."
Hu Yi raised his head, looked at Gao Tiao by the window and asked, "You mean... can I be hospitalized?"
"Let's talk about it after the inspection tomorrow." Then Zhou Wanping walked straight to the door, opened it and called out to the yard, "Xiao Liu."
A young nurse ran out from next door and came to the door: "Doctor Zhou, what's going on?"
"Is there any room left in the ward?"
The young nurse lowered her head and thought quickly, then looked at Hu Yi in the room and said hesitantly: "There is still a place in the backyard, but..."
Zhou Wanping nodded directly: "Okay, you arrange it and let him go over later."
…
In one of the low earthen houses in the backyard, there was a small oil lamp on the windowsill. There were four beds made of wooden boards in the room, with a little distance between them to serve as aisles. They were arranged side by side. There was a foul smell in the room, mixed with a faint smell of blood. The nurse pointed to the only empty bed near the outermost and told Hu Yi: "You live here. If you need anything, just shout for me." Then she gently closed the door and left.
Hu Yi took a closer look under the dim light. The patient lying on the innermost bed had more than a dozen dirty bandages on his body. It seemed that his hands and feet were tied to the bed with ropes, motionless and silent.
The patient on the second bed was covered with a torn quilt, but the lower half of the quilt was basically flat. His legs must have been gone. The light was poor and his features could not be seen clearly. He kept mumbling in a crying voice, "I can't blow it... I really can't blow it... It's time to charge... I have to blow it..."
The patient on the third bed had his eyes covered with bandages, and his abdomen was also wrapped in thick bandages with blood stains seeping out.
Amid the creaking sound of wooden boards, Hu Yi put aside all his fatigue and lay down on his bed with his clothes on. After talking, he felt very comfortable. He was not affected by the fishy smell at all, and did not mind the constant muttering of the bugler with a high fever on the second bed. At least it was much more comfortable than the sound of artillery fire and much quieter than Luo Fugui's snoring. It was more like a hypnotic song.
"Are you dying too?"
This voice seemed to come from both hell and heaven. Hu Yi tilted his head and looked at the third bed closest to him: "Why do you ask?"
“Those with minor injuries will not be carried here, and those who are carried here, few can be carried out alive. Cough…” The blindfolded man finished his words weakly, and coughed a few times in a suppressed manner, as if the cough pulled the wound on his abdomen and caused him pain.
Hu Yi straightened his body again and looked at the dark roof: "I don't know, maybe."
After a moment of silence, the blindfolded man said again: "Maybe you won't die."
"Why?"
"I can hear you. At least you walked in by yourself, so you can still walk out."
Hu Yi said nothing and closed his eyes quietly.
"I don't want to die." The blindfolded man continued to speak calmly, not caring who the person in the fourth bed was, or whether he was listening or not.
"I really don't want to die. I can't bear to leave. You know, I still have a piece of land in my hometown, at the foot of the mountain, it's a good field. With this, I can definitely find a good wife. I like women with big butts, which are both nice to touch and easy to give birth to... Now it's spring, and it's time for busy work... I can't bear to leave..."
As the blindfolded man talked, Hu Yi fell asleep peacefully and had a rare dream.
Hu Yi dreamed of a military bugle. The copper-yellow trumpet was delicately wrapped into a flat circle, reflecting the pride of metal. A long red ribbon was tied tightly to the trumpet pipe, which was bright and beautiful, fluttering in the wind like blood, so beautiful that it was creepy, and so proud that it was shameful... A young bugler, with a blurred figure, jumped out of the trench, stood tall, and held his chest high. A clear golden bugle, facing the rain of bullets and the bloody wind, the blood-colored spirit tied to the bugle fluttered like a ball of flame, playing the music of the charge... The sound of the bugle was clear, loud, and passionate, penetrating the mountains, awakening countless souls, dispelling infinite fear, and drawing a dawn of light, accompanied by endless mountains and tsunamis, echoing over and over again in the smoke... Until the young bugler fell in the wind, the lingering sound was still moving and soul-stirring...
Hu Yi woke up to the sound of a melodious military bugle call. He thought he was still dreaming. When he saw the light in the house and the dawn outside the window, he realized that he was really awake. That melodious melody was the wake-up call.
I haven't heard the sound of a military bugle for a long time, and I almost forgot about it. There were buglers in the 67th Army, but later, there were almost no charges, and they were always digging trenches, so we gradually couldn't hear them. The Independent Regiment also had buglers, but they all died later, and they were always hiding and moving, so we couldn't hear them anymore, at least when Hu Yi arrived at the Independent Regiment, there were no buglers.
The bugler in the second bed died. His legs were shattered by machine gun bullets, and they were amputated. The infection and the lack of medicine to reduce inflammation caused him to murmur all day and all night in a high fever that lasted for several days, and finally he calmed down before dawn.
Amid the melodious wakeup call, the bugler's body was carried out of the ward, with a copper-yellow mouthpiece tightly clenched in one hand. This was the only glory he could take away.
The mouthpiece of the bugle is kept close to the body of the bugler. The bugle may be replaced, but the mouthpiece will not. No matter if the soldier is transferred to another branch of the military, retired, or sacrificed, the mouthpiece can still be kept as a personal property, a commemoration, and a never-ending melody, always ringing loudly in the ears of the bugler.
…
In the morning sunshine, the young nurse led Hu Yi to Zhou Wanping's office.
In stark contrast to Dr. Zhou's dormitory, this place is clean, tidy, orderly and spotless.
Zhou Wanping, who was sitting behind the desk, saw Hu Yi frowning and looking around. She guessed what Hu Yi was thinking, and said to Hu Yi with her beautiful and plump lips: "What are you looking at? People who are too lazy to wash their feet may not be too lazy to wash their faces!" Then she stood up and pointed to a bench by the window: "Sit here and take off your hat."
Hu Yi couldn't help but smile, thinking it was a relief that she could say that. He took off his hat and sat on the bench.
Zhou Wanping leaned over and casually brushed Hu Yi's hair, and in the sunlight from the window, she began to carefully observe him, checking the top of his head, the back of his head, his neck, his forehead, his cheeks, and all the tiny scars.
Based on Hu Yi's description last night, Zhou Wanping judged that he might have suffered a concussion due to the impact of the explosion, but did not rule out the possibility of brain injury caused by shrapnel. After a careful inspection, no suspicious wounds were found on his head, so there would be no brain injury.
It can only be assumed that it is a concussion, but the hallucinations described by Hu Yi are a little different from the symptoms of concussion that Zhou Wanping knows about. In addition, Zhou Wanping thinks that Hu Yi must have psychological problems. He is too depressed. The fatigue on him comes from his heart. Based on his bloody experience and those scar records, he should not be a person who takes the initiative to come to the hospital. Why is he avoiding? What is he trying to avoid
Zhou Wanping stood behind him for a long time without making any movement, so Hu Yi couldn't help but ask, "How is it?"
"What?" Zhou Wanping came back to her senses.
"About my headache and..."
"Well, I suspect you have a concussion. However, your condition is a little strange, so I can't be sure. It would be better if I could take a look at it when it occurs."
"… "
"Okay, let's leave it like this for now. I'll find some time to study and see what's wrong with your brain." Zhou Wanping said as she went to wash her hands.
"Then... can I be admitted to the hospital?"
Zhou Wanping shook the remaining water on her hands into the basin and answered without looking back: "You don't need to be hospitalized, you need something to do. What do you think?"
Hu Yi sighed and said nothing.
After a while, Zhou Wanping finished treating her hands, returned to her desk and sat down, saying, "Also, this doctor's treatment is not free."
"… "
"Why do you look like that? You're deserting me, so of course I have to treat you specially."
"I am poor."
"I know, so you can owe me the money first. The consultation fee is not expensive. Just help me get a box of wine and send it to me when you get it, but no one else is allowed to know."
"liquor?"
"Well, you can stay one more day today, and go back tomorrow. Hurry up and don't delay it too long. I need it urgently, and you have to get it done for me no matter how tired you are!"
Hu Yi was speechless. It seems that you don’t treat me as an outsider, right
…