The man tried moving his waist and, finding no pain, twisted it slightly. His face then lit up with surprise as he exclaimed, "It’s a miracle! I can move again."
Yunyi cautioned, "The lumbar vertebrae have just been repositioned, so you shouldn’t twist too much, lest you cause a secondary injury. It’s best to rest for a while before going back to work."
Having treated these two, Yunyi approached the man with the injured leg. This was Xu Rongjun, a clan member of Xu Wenchang and the most seriously injured of the three.
However, this man did not have a good reputation in the village. Yunyi said, "Brigade Leader, his leg is fractured and needs surgery. He must be sent to the commune health clinic."
At this, Xu Rongjun’s wife became angry, "What do you mean by that? If the other two can be treated, why is it that only my husband can’t? Are you doing this on purpose?"
Before Yunyi could even speak, the woman continued, "If you can’t treat my husband’s injury, why did you even bother coming and wasting so much time? You’re trying to murder him!"
This was exactly the reaction she wanted. She didn’t want to be dragged over every time someone in the village was hurt, only to end up overworked and unappreciated. If she encountered a grateful family who spoke kindly, it was tolerable. But with unreasonable people, she would likely just attract more trouble.
Besides, he was a clan member of Xu Wenchang. She had deliberately left him for last.
The Brigade Leader’s expression turned exceedingly grim upon hearing the woman’s words, "Rongjun’s wife, you are going too far! Chu Zhiqing has been helping with the treatment the whole time, are you blind?"
Yunyi felt it was about enough and said coldly, "In the future, if anyone is hurt in the village, don’t bother looking for me. After all, there’s a village doctor and a health worker; it’s not my place as someone who is essentially a nobody."
When she finished, she looked displeasedly at Qiao Yougen, "Brigade Leader, please don’t call on me for such matters again in the future. And don’t forget to credit my work points."
She wasn’t going to indulge them. Working for free was out of the question.
With that, she walked away.
The Xu clan members present were stunned. Chu Zhiqing really wasn’t going to intervene anymore.
Xu Rongjun’s wife pointed at Yunyi and turned to the Brigade Leader, "What does she mean by that, just walking away ?"
The Brigade Leader couldn’t be bothered with her and shouted to the surrounding crowd, "What are you all gawking at? Hurry up and get the animal tender to bring an ox cart—no, bring a mule instead, it’ll be faster!"
The Brigade Leader had initially sought Yunyi to save on medical expenses, though naturally, he hadn’t expected her to work for free.
Since Chu Zhiqing said Xu Rongjun’s injury required treatment at the commune health clinic, they would send him there. He certainly didn’t want anything serious to happen, nor did he want to invite even greater trouble.
The Brigade Leader had already calculated it in his mind. After sending Xu Rongjun to the commune health clinic for treatment, he would go and talk with the electricity bureau.
This whole incident had caused a significant delay.
When Yunyi and Geng Erhong set off again, they ran into quite a few village women.
Because Geng Erhong was with her, they headed to South Mountain that day. With someone else present, safety was the priority. Besides, Yunyi didn’t want to reveal that she often went to the back mountain alone. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⁂fire.net
The nearby areas had been stripped of their wild goods, so they ventured farther today.
Luckily, under the guidance of a village woman, they did indeed find a pine forest. Though it took considerable effort, their harvest was quite good.
Geng Erhong looked at the haul in her basket, "I’ve dried some before. In a few days, when these are ready, I can send some back home."
She was speaking cheerfully, but then joy turned to sorrow. She tripped on a vine, stumbled a few times, and, failing to regain her balance, tumbled backward and to the side.