In the darkness, the sounds of several frantic footsteps accompanied by the panicked sound of scraping against branches were heard, gradually fading away into the woods to the east. The surviving Japanese soldiers rushed past the ninth squad in the dark and successfully broke through.
"Damn it, I was just a step too slow... Is that bastard dead?" Gao Yidao in the trench asked behind the embankment.
Hu Yi sat up from the ground and replied calmly: "Sorry, I disappoint you."
"Why are you standing there? Hurry up and clean up the trenches." As Gao Yidao finished speaking, the second company in the trench behind the earthen embankment started to work on the spot. The Japanese corpses scattered all over the trenches made Gao Yidao depressed, and he was too lazy to care about the situation of the ninth squad. The most important thing was to grab the spoils first.
"Ma Liang, how are you?" asked Hu Yi who was sitting in the dark.
"I'm fine. I'm fine."
"Now pay attention to the east. Be careful of those Japanese who come back and shoot you."
"Yes." Ma Liang fumbled and grabbed the fallen rifle strap, climbed up and ran a short distance into the woods to prick up his ears.
"Girl, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Runny nose."
"Uh... yes."
"Fool."
"have."
"Mule."
There was a loud crash of falling soil at the entrance of the trench, followed by Luo Fugui's answer: "Yes."
"You jumped into the ditch?"
"Ah. Isn't that... to avoid grenades?"
Hu Yi was speechless. This idiot didn't even care which direction the enemy was coming from in order to avoid the grenade. His spirit was commendable. He was lucky that his blind shot from the Mauser pistol didn't hurt him by mistake.
Luo Fugui came to Hu Yi's side, Wu Shitou also climbed over a bush and came to Hu Yi's side, but the invisible Liu Jianqiang did not move.
"Runny nose, what are you dawdling about? Ahem..."
"No, it's okay, my leg... seems..."
"Mule, go see what's going on with this piece of trash?"
Hu Yi felt that he had no strength in his body. His hand holding the Mauser pistol, which had long been empty of bullets, hung on the ground beside him, but he was too weak to put the gun away. After sitting in the dark for a while, he began to feel pain gradually coming.
After a while, Liu Jianqiang's low cry was heard in the darkness.
"Damn it, Snotlout's unlucky leg got pierced."
Hu Yi didn't hear clearly what Luo Fugui said over there. His attention was distracted and he felt as if a comfortable little hand was sticking to his back, stroking his gradually numb back.
"Fox, why are you sweating so much?"
"Um."
Plop—the figure sitting on the ground finally fell down.
Xiao Hongying was stunned. Only then did she realize that the stickiness on her wet little hands was not sweat but blood.
"Fox—" A heart-wrenching, tender and sad sound echoed through the dark night, drowning out the chaotic gunfire in the background.
After the previous period of mopping-up, the division hospital gradually became quieter. Some of the wounded were discharged and returned to their units, while others were buried forever in the cemetery on the hillside.
Zhou Wanping's hands were always idly placed in the pockets on both sides of her white coat. She always had a simple bun on the back of her head, which was unkempt. Because it was tied up loosely, a few strands of hair were either curled or flying. She was too lazy to comb it. Her long legs allowed her to walk faster than others without taking big steps. When she walked through the courtyard under the sun, everyone, whether they were nurses, wounded soldiers, or soldiers on guard, smiled at her or saluted.
Although she is a rare and noble doctor, she does not look like a doctor at all. She is independent and yet approachable. The wounded think she is like sunshine, and the nurses think she is like a friend. Everyone prefers to call her Sister Zhou rather than Doctor Zhou.
Zhou Wanping shrugged and opened the door of the dean's office.
The director's surname is Chen. He is in his forties but looks as old as sixty. He used to be the only real doctor here. His wife is the head nurse of the hospital. The hospital was originally supported by the couple.
"Haha, my great Doctor Zhou, I wonder how long I'll have to wait before I can hear you knocking on my door."
"Oh, I forgot." Zhou Wanping looked around and said, "You made me think my sister-in-law was here too."
Dean Chen smiled helplessly: "You didn't come to me to talk about this, did you?"
"Dean, have you mentioned my idea to the teacher?"
"Yes, the division is considering it."
"What is there to consider? It's so far from the front line, and it's too late to send many wounded here."
"It would be great to build a field hospital, but there are only two of us doctors here, so it's difficult."
"I can handle it on my own."
Dean Chen looked at the confident Zhou Wanping and said with a smile, "I also support your idea, but this is not a simple matter. There are many issues involved. You can't just carry a bag and turn it into a hospital, right? Wait for a while."
Suddenly, there was a noise at the gate.
Zhou Wanping looked back outside the door and saw a large man covered in dust and blood, and a stocky little man who was equally dirty, rushing into the yard tiredly, carrying a makeshift stretcher made of branches and ropes.
A soldier lay motionless on the stretcher, covered in blood and dirt, with his back, shoulders, arms and other parts wrapped in dirty, blood-soaked gauze.
Following closely behind, a soldier whose face was so dirty that it was impossible to see clearly ran in in a panic. His body was covered with bags, he was carrying two rifles and a machine gun on his shoulder. He was sweating profusely and panting heavily, and seemed too tired to speak.
Zhou Wanping was stunned on the spot. Although the two soldiers had mud on their faces, they looked familiar.
At this time, a petite figure like a mud monkey finally staggered in, crying hoarsely: "Save the fox... Aunt Zhou, where are you... Woo... Save the fox... Woo woo..." A pair of small braids swayed sadly in the sunlight.
At this moment, Zhou Wanping knew who the person on the stretcher was.
Operating room.
The unresponsive wounded man lay on the crude operating table, his shirt and bloodstained gauze were all cut and torn off, revealing his strong spine covered with various scars. Two nurses were hurriedly making preparations for the operation.
Dean Chen, wearing a mask, carefully examined the wounds and said to Chen Wanping, who was disinfecting her hands, "One on the left upper arm, one behind the right shoulder, and three on the back. These are fragmentation wounds. They should be caused by grenades." He paused for a moment and said, "The shrapnel that entered the back didn't seem to be as deep as imagined, so it wasn't fatal on the spot. He might have been carrying something on his back at the time."
Dean Chen is an old military doctor who has experience with soldiers' behavior and habits. As he expected, the sundries in Hu Yi's Japanese-style marching backpack kept him alive. However, he did not hold much hope for the wounded on the operating table, because even if the shrapnel was removed, he would die of inflammation and infection. The hospital had no anti-inflammatory drugs, and the wounded had died from this.
Zhou Wanping looked at the surgical instruments the nurse handed her and said calmly, "Let's get started."
Hu Yi felt the light was too dazzling and had to raise his arms to block it out. Gradually... he found himself lying on a cloud.
I always thought that clouds should be the softest place in the world, but now I don't feel comfortable. It turns out that clouds are very hard, like stones floating in the sky, which hurt my back so much that I had to turn over and lie on my stomach.
I saw the fields below, which were covered with a sea of golden flowers, and I could even see the flowers swaying.
A pair of ugly little braids fluttered unruly, running in the sea of flowers, as if chasing the cloud.
"Girl, don't fall."
“No.”
"Why?"
"Because the wind will not fall down." The crisp sound in the fields spread across the clouds.
I finally feel relieved that Feng will not fall.
It's late at night.
Zhou Wanping walked gently into the low-ceilinged ward in the backyard. The oil lamp on the windowsill was dim, and the light in the room was dim. This was where Hu Yi had stayed for two days last time. Now he was lying on the broken bed he had slept on before. But now, the three beds next to him were empty.
The little girl leaned against Hu Yi and slept soundly. She hadn't closed her eyes for almost two days and had been staying by Hu Yi's bed. Zhou Wanping wanted to drag her to her dormitory to rest, but she couldn't persuade the girl. This was the third night, she couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep.
Zhou Wanping picked up the petite body, gently placed it on the bed next to her, and covered her with a quilt.
"Girl, don't fall..." Hu Yi whispered.
I put my hand on his forehead, it was hot. It was inflamed and he had a high fever. He was experiencing what most of the people who were carried out of the ward were experiencing, until he was carried out too.
"How long will it take for you to pay off my medical fees, you self-righteous guy?" Zhou Wanping asked Hu Yi, who was having a fever and talking nonsense, and then she took out a metal box from her side pocket and opened it by the bed.
He lifted a piece of the quilt in the middle, revealing a large piece of solid, sterilized, and took out a syringe from the box. He looked back at the darkness outside the window, listened carefully, and then took out an injection from the other side pocket.
penicillin
There was no anti-inflammatory medicine in the hospital. This was true. However, there were two penicillins in the hospital, one in the hands of Dean Chen and one in the hands of Zhou Wanping. These two anti-inflammatory medicines were specially ordered by the organization to be distributed to the two doctors as a life-saving talisman. They were reserved for the two doctors. No one else was allowed to talk. There were only two doctors in the entire division. How could the anti-inflammatory medicine be more precious? There must be no accidents. If the doctors were gone, more wounded and sick people would die.
A pair of beautiful hands steadily pulled open the syringe and drew the medicine in. At the same time, she glanced at the man's face in the dim light and said in a low voice, "This is for the sake of the girl. You are getting a bargain."
I had just tucked in the quilt and packed up my utensils and put them away when I heard footsteps outside the door.
"Sister Zhou, why are you here?" Nurse Xiao Liu, who had just entered the room, was surprised.
"Uh... It's okay. I couldn't sleep, so I came to check on the patient." Zhou Wanping habitually put her hands into her bulging pockets, and her tall figure swayed unnaturally to the door. She added, "Come over more often in the second half of the night and tell me if there is any change in the temperature."
"Um."
Watching the tall figure disappear into the night outside the door, nurse Xiao Liu secretly sighed. It seemed that Dr. Zhou cared about Hu Yi very much. She hoped that a miracle would happen, but it was very difficult to enter the injured in this ward...