Yunyi quickly dried her hands and ran out of the office. Just then, Doctor Qiu arrived and asked, "What happened?"
The messenger was somewhat incoherent. "The lumberyard... there’s been an accident! Some educated youth were carrying logs."
Yunyi had heard from Qiao Wenyu and the others that some educated youth from poor families would secretly go to the lumberyard to carry logs and earn money during the winter. They could earn one yuan a day, a tempting prospect for many.
It wasn’t an easy job. Besides the cold, the main problem was that the mountain was covered in snow, making it easy to slip and fall.
If such thick logs fell on someone, the consequences were too frightening to imagine.
In fact, the Agricultural Reclamation Group strictly prohibited educated youth from secretly carrying logs at the lumberyard. If an accident occurred, no one could bear the responsibility, as people indeed lost their lives at the lumberyard every winter. Get full chapters from 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✦𝓷𝓮𝓽
Either they were hit by falling trees or accidents happened while transporting logs downhill. Everyone knew money from the lumberyard was hard-earned. But in those tough times, with no family being well-off, many desperate people or those in urgent need of money would sneak into the lumberyard to work.
Doctor Qiu, ever responsible, looked at Yunyi and said, "You stay here. I’ll go."
But the messenger collapsed to the ground. "So many people are injured! Doctor Qiu, you won’t be able to handle it alone if you go by yourself."
Yunyi couldn’t help but ask, "Doesn’t the lumberyard have its own clinic?"
The messenger trembled all over. "Doctor Wang from the lumberyard’s clinic went home for a funeral. Only Doctor Gu is there, but she’s eight months pregnant and can’t possibly go up the mountain."
Yunyi and Doctor Qiu exchanged a look. They were in a difficult position. After all, they belonged to the Agricultural Reclamation Group, and the accident was at the lumberyard.
If both of them went, and any of their own patients were delayed, they feared they would face severe consequences.
Yunyi said, "Let’s report it to the Group headquarters."
Doctor Qiu hurried towards the Group headquarters. He hadn’t gone far when people from headquarters came running over. "Doctor Qiu, leave one nurse here at the clinic! Everyone else, go to the rescue immediately!"
While Doctor Qiu was out, Yunyi rushed back to her small courtyard. She changed into the tall leather boots Huo Jingrui had prepared for her some days ago and the military greatcoat that had been sent from Beijing.
When she returned, Doctor Qiu was assigning tasks.
Chen Xiaojuan handed Yunyi a medical kit. "Doctor Chu, please take this with you."
Soon, everyone was ready. The Group headquarters arranged for sleds to transport them.
On the way, they learned that the men hadn’t been injured while carrying logs down the mountain. Instead, a truck had come to haul the timber, and they were helping load it. They had almost finished when the truck’s rear side-panel, not having been secured properly, gave way. Coincidentally, the rope binding the logs also snapped at that exact moment. The entire load of timber tilted and cascaded down, crushing many of the people standing below who couldn’t react in time.
Upon hearing this, Yunyi’s first thought was: The truck’s side-panel wasn’t secured properly, and the rope just happened to snap at that exact moment... Could this have been deliberate?
But she didn’t dare voice such a suspicion.
When they arrived, the air was filled with cries and wails.
Two bodies lay not far off. The expressions of Yunyi and the others turned solemn.
Seeing Yunyi and her team arrive, the people from the lumberyard rushed over frantically. "Doctor, please, save them quickly!"
Doctor Qiu instructed them to bring the injured to the tent they had quickly erected. Without a moment’s delay, the medical team began the rescue operation.
Fortunately, a newly transferred doctor at the lumberyard, along with two nurses, had already done a significant amount of preliminary work, which saved Doctor Chu considerable effort.