Xiao Mandong was now exhausted and sleepy, only wanting to go into her space to take a shower and get a good night's sleep, not wanting these disgusting people to waste her time: "Your family's sordid affairs, please go solve them at home. Now please leave immediately."
Accountant Sun tried to forcefully drag Zhang Yanhong away, but Zhang Yanhong clung to the wooden bed frame and shrieked: "I'm not leaving! I'm not leaving until this Xiao Mandong massages me without it hurting!"
While crying and shouting, she kicked at Accountant Sun: "Get away from me! It's all your fault! If you hadn't let your dick do the thinking..."
"Slap!" Accountant Sun lost control and slapped Zhang Yanhong across her blister-covered face, instantly tearing off a layer of skin and exposing bloody, raw flesh.
Ignoring the pain, Zhang Yanhong lunged at Accountant Sun, but crashed into the nearby table. She clutched her stomach and slowly squatted down, blood once again seeping from her pant leg.
The brigade leader looked toward Xiao Mandong, who waved her hands repeatedly: "Take her to the hospital. I can't handle this." She didn't dare treat someone like that again—she was like a rabid dog, biting whoever she came near.
"Send her to the hospital," the village secretary said, not wanting Xiao Mandong to be dragged into this any further.
The brigade leader also understood that if the baby really was lost, it would bring trouble to Xiao Mandong, so he immediately told Shunzi to go start the tractor. Shunzi was the village's tractor driver, and the neighboring village had just returned the tractor that evening.
Shunzi stood still without moving: "Dad, I've been drinking."
The brigade leader clutched his forehead. What to do now? If treatment was delayed because of drinking, his son would definitely be criticized too.
The village secretary suddenly thought of Zhou Qichuan: "Shunzi, go call Zhou Qichuan. He knows how to drive the tractor."
Zhou Qichuan hadn't been drinking. His military service had instilled in him the good habit of being on standby at all times, never touching a drop.
In less than five minutes, Zhou Qichuan came running back with Shunzi.
Soon Zhang Yanhong was loaded onto the tractor. The secretary didn't go along—he went home to sleep. Accountant Sun and Zhang Yanhong had brought this on themselves, and he'd already arranged for a vehicle. Whatever the outcome, it had nothing to do with him.
The brigade leader went along, after all, Zhou Qichuan was there in place of his son, so it wouldn't look right if he didn't accompany them.
Xiao Mandong also had to go. The incident had happened at the clinic, and this counted as an emergency case. If she didn't go, she would bear responsibility.
The tractor drove for over half an hour, and just as they were about to reach the hospital, it ran out of fuel.
The brigade leader cursed in anger: "That Red Star Brigade is really something! Didn't they tell us it was out of fuel?"
Looking at the bloodstains beneath Zhang Yanhong, Xiao Mandong knew this baby definitely couldn't be saved.
Though honestly, losing it wasn't such a bad thing. Sun Hao wouldn't grow up to be anything good—he'd marry a wife and beat her until she miscarried, spend his days stealing chickens and dogs, and once steal a manhole cover from the roadside. An old lady who didn't notice stepped right into the open hole and fell, severely injuring herself. Sun Hao was later caught and sentenced to three years in prison.
Xiao Mandong felt that not saving her was actually doing the public a service.
The hospital was right across the street, but Accountant Sun had been worn down over the past few days and was struggling to carry Zhang Yanhong.
He wanted Zhou Qichuan to carry Zhang Yanhong on his back to the hospital, but the brigade leader stopped him. An unmarried young man—how could he carry a widow like that on his back, and one covered in blood with signs of a miscarriage no less?
But Zhou Qichuan was a soldier. He wouldn't worry about such things—saving people was his instinct. Just as he was about to step forward, Xiao Mandong stopped him.
"You can't carry her in your arms or on your back—it'll strain her stomach. Hurry to the hospital and borrow a stretcher, and call two doctors out to help as well."
In no time, Zhou Qichuan came running back with two doctors. They lifted Zhang Yanhong onto the stretcher and rushed her into the hospital.
The brigade leader looked at the tractor. After all, Accountant Sun was Zhou Qichuan's uncle, and since they were here, they naturally waited a bit outside the operating room as well.
Forty minutes later, the operating room door opened, and the doctor's expression was extremely grim: "Didn't she just get discharged? Didn't I tell you to be careful? Why don't you listen? This impact has damaged the uterine wall. Her chances of getting pregnant in the future are very slim. We also had to do a dilation and curettage this time. Even if she does get pregnant by some stroke of luck, the risk of miscarriage is extremely high. Take her home and let her rest well."
When Accountant Sun heard the doctor's words, he collapsed directly to the floor, covering his face and sobbing. He just wanted a son—why was it so hard?
Zhang Yanli was sent to a ward, with Accountant Sun staying behind to care for her. Xiao Mandong and Zhou Qichuan went together to inform the brigade leader of Zhang Yanli's condition.
The brigade leader sighed: "Accountant Sun has lost everything—the chicken's gone and the eggs are broken. What was the point?"
The tractor was out of fuel, so none of them could go back. They could only wait until dawn to borrow fuel from the commune. The tractor was a treasure of the brigade—it couldn't just be left here.
Zhou Qichuan told the brigade leader and Xiao Mandong to go find a place in the hospital to rest, saying he would keep watch alone.
The brigade leader couldn't leave Zhou Qichuan by himself, so in the end, he told Xiao Mandong to go find an empty ward in the hospital and rest for a while, while the two of them stayed to watch the tractor.
Xiao Mandong went to the corner of a hospital ward and slipped directly into her space.
She took a shower and got ready to have a good sleep.
"Yuan Qing, thank you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't know what to do."
"Alright, why are you thanking me? Just take good care of the child. You know he's my only precious son—all my money will be his in the future."
This voice sounded familiar—it was a bit like Director Huang from the Revolutionary Committee.
"Don't go, okay? I want you to stay with me."
"Come on, you know what that woman is like. If I don't go home for a night, she'll go crazy."
"I'll bring you something nice tomorrow. I'm sure you'll like it."
"Mm, alright. Be careful on the road."
"Go on back. The hospital beds are too narrow—don't let the child fall off. I'll find someone to take care of your father tomorrow, so you won't have to work so hard."
The two of them lingered affectionately for a while longer. Only after hearing the footsteps grow distant did Xiao Mandong step out of her space. Looking at Director Huang's receding figure in the distance, Xiao Mandong quickly followed.
They walked for about half an hour before entering an old alley, arriving at an old mansion with seals on the doors. Director Huang looked around in all directions, then circled to the back courtyard of the mansion, walked into a pig shed, and disappeared.
Xiao Mandong didn't dare follow. Director Huang was a cunning man, so she waited outside, planning to go in only after he left.
After waiting about twenty minutes, she finally saw Director Huang emerge from the pig shed.
