Chapter 142: Was that any way for a human to live?

Liu Pandi knew very well in her heart that if they spent too much time talking during the midday meeting, everyone would not even have enough time to eat.
If the speaking time was cut short, could the issues really be explained clearly?
Holding a meeting at this hour was truly tactless, making it exceptionally easy to incur complaints and resulting in a thankless, grueling task.
However, faced with Wu Qi's silent plea for help, Liu Pandi could not undermine him either, so she had no choice but to step forward and help keep the gathering under control.

After some effort, the two of them finally managed to steady the atmosphere.
Taking advantage of this moment, Wu Qi cast a glance around the circle and found that a few people were missing. His expression sank once again; he had not expected that attendance would be incomplete.
"Comrade Xu! Educated Youth Xu! Stop busying yourself over there and come join the meeting!" Wu Qi shouted at the top of his lungs.
"I can't! I can't spare myself here. A single dose of medicine costs several yuan! If it gets ruined in the brewing, will you compensate me?"
Xu Lin shouted back at the top of her lungs, feeling somewhat irritated. She had already said she could not get away; why on earth did he have to bellow like that?
Utterly tactless!

Huang Zishu was equally displeased upon hearing this. Glaring at Wu Qi, she demanded,
"Didn't I tell you earlier that Educated Youth Xu couldn't leave her post? Why did you still yell for her?"
"That's right, all of us told you about the situation over at Educated Youth Xu's side. With that shout of yours, whose face are you trying to make her lose?"
Qian Li chimed in, growing annoyed as well. Had she known Wu Qi was going to be such a high-maintenance pain, she wouldn't have voted for him in the first place.
The mere thought that it was her own suggestion to elect Wu Qi made Qian Li feel a twinge of regret.

Having been publicly rebuffed, Wu Qi felt rather disgruntled, yet Xu Lin's mention of "several yuan" completely cornered him.
Several yuan for a single dose of medicine—that was something he simply could not afford to pay out of pocket. After all, he didn't have money to burn.
Seeing that Wu Qi was on the verge of provoking public outrage, Liu Pandi hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Alright, alright, let's all say a little less. Since Educated Youth Xu can't get away, there's no need for her to come over. We can just catch her up later."
Liu Pandi looked at Wu Qi. "Team Leader Wu, let's get straight to the point. Don't waste everyone's time."
"Exactly, exactly! In the middle of the day like this, everyone is very busy, you know."
"Indeed! What on earth couldn't wait until the evening meeting? We've always had our meetings in the evenings before."
The crowd began whispering and discussing among themselves once more; barely anyone cared about the agenda of today's meeting.

Wu Qi swept his gaze across the gathering. What could he do? He could only silently swallow his frustration and realize that he had chosen a terribly poor time.
If he had known better, he would have held the meeting at night.
What a mess this turned out to be!

Wu Qi opened his mouth with a trace of lingering gloom. "The sole theme of today's meeting is to discuss how we should handle the matter of caring for Educated Youth Du."
"Educated Youth Du? Oh, oh, him." Qian Li started halfway through her sentence, only to immediately realize that some things shouldn't be spoken aloud in public. She hurriedly changed her tune.
"Isn't Educated Youth Du staying at the hospital? What is required of us to do?"
"Well, him..." Wu Qi let out a long sigh, his eyes drifting back toward Xu Lin. He had heard from Du Yong that Xu Lin ran into Du Yong yesterday.
Yet even though a random passerby was able to send Du Yong to the hospital, Xu Lin had simply hopped on her bicycle and rode away.
Honestly, hearing about this left him quite disheartened.
They were all educated youths; they ought to help one another. Xu Lin's behavior was simply too petty.
No matter how much discord there might be among them back at the educated youth quarters, when they were outside, they should look out for each other, shouldn't they? How could she just walk away without a single word?

Xu Lin, who was intently watching the medicine pot, seemed to sense something. She turned her head to look in the direction of the meeting.
She could hear the voices from over there quite clearly. Upon learning that they were discussing Du Yong's affairs, Xu Lin curled her lips in a silent sneer.
Du Yong's current situation was far from just ordinary bad luck; anyone who took care of him might very well be dragged down by his ill fortune and suffer bad luck themselves.
In any case, Du Yong harbored malicious intentions toward her and had even hurled abusive remarks at her. Xu Lin was certainly not magnanimous enough to go out of her way to help him.
Whatever those people chose to do had nothing to do with her.

Wu Qi withdrew his gaze and said with a complex expression, "Educated Youth Du's condition is very poor. He, he managed to break his leg while walking yesterday.
While staying in the hospital ward, he somehow wrecked three hospital beds and managed to break both of his arms. When they rushed him to the emergency room, the operating table collapsed..."
"Now, in this freezing cold weather, he can only sleep on the floor. The hospital authorities hope he can be transferred to the county hospital."
Wu Qi rubbed his face hard. The doctors and the director of the commune hospital had practically begged them to leave.
In the hospital director's words, their clinic was simply too small and had no more hospital beds left to be destroyed.
Besides, an operating table had already collapsed, and the sole remaining one must not suffer any further accidents.
If another accident happened, they wouldn't even be able to piece together a single operating table. What would they do if an emergency patient came in needing surgery?
For goodness sake, please leave a way for their hospital to survive!

Truth be told, Wu Qi had been nearly scared out of his wits yesterday. He had genuinely never witnessed such an unlucky person—someone who could practically choke to death half a time simply from drinking cold water.
Judging by that spectacle, it looked as though he might cough his very lungs out.

Qian Li did not miss the complicated look on Wu Qi's face, and she instantly recalled Xu Lin's warning to use Du Yong as a benchmark for bad luck.
Unable to hold back, she blurted out, "Why do they want him to transfer hospitals? Did something happen to Du Yong at the hospital?"
"That's right! Why transfer hospitals for no good reason? Transferring to the county hospital must cost a fortune! Food, lodging, daily supplies—is there anything that doesn't cost money?
Does Educated Youth Du have that kind of money?"

Liu Pandi's question struck straight at the core of everyone's concerns. Surely, they weren't expected to chip in their own money to send Du Yong for a hospital transfer, were they?
Given Du Yong's unloved-by-father, unwanted-by-mother status, would he ever be able to pay them back?

Wu Qi rubbed his face hard once more. Met with everyone's curious gazes, he had no choice but to explain the hospital's predicament to the group.
When they heard that the hospital had actually been terrified of Du Yong, everyone was dumbfounded.
This—wasn't this a bit too exaggerated?
That was a commune hospital, not a village clinic! How could they possibly fail to scrape together a few hospital beds?
Furthermore, even if the hospital beds were flimsy, it was impossible for every single one of them to have issues.
And besides, how could an operating table collapse just from someone sleeping on it? Was Du Yong really that heavy?
Or could it be that Du Yong had offended some deity and become possessed by the god of misfortune?

"Right now, Du Yong's condition is extremely critical. The commune hospital is worried that Du Yong might meet with an accident, so they are strongly demanding a transfer.
However, as you all know his situation, he actually doesn't have much money on hand. That's why I'd like to ask everyone to pool some funds together.
What do you all think?"

After finishing, Wu Qi looked toward the educated youths. What could the educated youths say? If they refused to chip in, it would make them look entirely cold-hearted.
Yet if they did pitch in, would that money ever be recovered?
Everyone knew very well what kind of person Du Yong was: getting up there in years, yet without much savings to his name.
Most importantly, Du Yong had no backing whatsoever and literally no one to rely on.

The atmosphere instantly grew somewhat rigid.

Meanwhile, Qian Li was listening with her heart pounding in her throat. Xu Lin's words echoed once again in her mind as she pictured Du Yong's miserable state.
Three of his four limbs broken, covered in other injuries from falls, choking half to death just from drinking water—was that any way for a human being to live?
Just thinking about it made Qian Li's scalp tingle.

"We should let everyone think this over. We aren't going to reach a conclusion in a rush anyway; we might as well talk about it tonight."
Liu Pandi stepped forward to mediate, thinking that she had better go cook dinner. If they kept discussing this, they wouldn't have time to cook at all, and they couldn't possibly go to work hungry in the afternoon.