A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 1161 Going to the Hospital to Help

“Don’t even mention it,” Xie Bolan wiped his face. “The ship missed us, so I came to the hospital to lend a hand. My father is trying to find a ship, and Teacher Chen is on board too.”

Walking inside, they indeed saw Chen Muli squatting on the ground bandaging a wounded soldier. His movements were very skillful, and his forehead was covered in sweat. He probably didn't know how many wounded soldiers he had treated that day. When he saw Gui'er, he paused for a moment, then gave a tired smile: "You're here too? Good, good..."

There were several classmates around, some carrying stretchers, some feeding water to the wounded. When they saw Gui'er, they all nodded and greeted her hurriedly, but their eyes were no longer as relaxed as before.

“The shelling was really fierce over Victoria Harbour last night,” a boy said breathlessly. “Many civilians were injured by stray bullets. The hospital is almost out of bandages and medicine. The doctor said that if this continues, they won’t even have any disinfectant alcohol left.”

Gui'er didn't say anything more. She picked up a cotton ball, dipped it in the medicine, walked over to a woman with a leg injury, and said softly, "Let me wipe it for you."

The woman winced in pain, but still nodded, tears welling in her eyes: "Thank you, young lady... My son is still outside, I don't know if it's alright..."

Before he could finish speaking, another commotion arose outside, and someone shouted, "Shells are landing nearby! Take cover!"

Everyone hurriedly squeezed into the corridor. Gui'er instinctively protected the child beside her, her heart pounding. The light bulb above her head swayed back and forth before finally falling to the ground and shattering.

Once the explosions outside subsided, Chen Muli stood up, dusted himself off, and said, "Let's continue. Every minute we finish dealing with this gives us a better chance of success."

Looking at his bloodshot eyes and then at the busy classmates around her, Gui'er suddenly felt a little more at ease. Though the war raged, there were always people reaching out in the mud; that glimmer of light might be the source of their strength to survive the chaos.

In the following days, Gui'er came to the hospital to help out, while Wu Mingqiang spent his days running around the docks and the black market, trying to find people to exchange for boat tickets. Although he had been quite well-connected before and had gotten on good terms with Sheriff Long Xing, everything was in chaos in the face of the big battle, and not many people respected him. He had to use real money as a stepping stone. Moreover, there were many swindlers and desperate criminals. Even someone as shrewd as Wu Mingqiang almost got robbed and cheated several times.

As the war intensified, everyone realized that the British army was on the verge of collapse. Many civilians joined the support efforts. Although they were unable to fight directly due to lack of weapons, they made significant contributions by helping to transport supplies, build fortifications, and transport the wounded.

By noon on the 17th, Gui'er was helping to take care of the wounded at the hospital when Wu Mingqiang suddenly came looking for her and told her to go home immediately.

Gui'er asked, completely bewildered, "Brother Wu, what's wrong? I can't leave here. Look at all these wounded people."

Ignoring everything else, Wu Mingqiang pulled her aside to a secluded spot and whispered, "I just came back from the docks. The British can't hold them off, and the Japanese are about to land. You know how the Japanese operate. Once they're ashore, there will likely be street fighting. Places like hospitals will become hell on earth. Let's go."

Gui'er turned pale upon hearing this, and images of the Nanjing Massacre that she had seen before immediately flashed through her mind.

She turned her head and glanced around. The hospital wards were full, and even the slightly empty spaces in the corridors were filled with wounded people lying, standing, and sitting. She had come here to help, and she had helped many wounded people in the past few days, but many of them had also succumbed to their injuries. She didn't know how many times she had secretly cried.

But she was neither a god nor a leader who could command a large following. Now that the Japanese were coming, she didn't know what to do.

Wu Mingqiang urged from the side, "Miss, let's go quickly, it will be too late if we go late. Let's go home. There is a cellar at home, which I used to store rice. We can hide in there. I have already asked Dingxiang to prepare to make more pancakes. Let's take water in to eat, and we'll come out after this is over."

Gui'er still couldn't bring herself to do it, so she quickly ran to tell Xie Bolan and Chen Muli about it.

Upon hearing this, Xie Bolan didn't hesitate for a moment. He took Gui'er's hand and said, "Gui'er, thank you for telling me. I'm going home now to tell my parents. Take good care of yourself, and we'll see each other after the war." Then he turned and walked out of the hospital.

Upon hearing this, Chen Muli put down what he was doing and asked, "Are you sure?"

Wu Mingqiang stepped forward, nodded, and said, "Professor Chen, I'm not lying to you. This was told to me personally by someone who came from the front lines. The British army is currently fighting and retreating. Before long, the Japanese will launch a full-scale landing, and by then it will be too late to escape."

Upon hearing this, Chen Muli said, "I'll go find the hospital leaders to arrange for the patient's accommodation. Gui'er, hurry home with your housekeeper."

Gui'er asked worriedly, "Teacher Chen, when are you leaving?"

Chen Muli smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about me, go on your way."

Wu Mingqiang said from the side, "Mr. Chen is very righteous, but I still have to remind you that when I arrived at the hospital, several of the hospital's leaders were fleeing in panic. Now the hospital is probably without any leaders. You should run for your life too." After saying that, he grabbed Gui'er's hand and walked out without saying another word.

The two got into the car, and Wu Mingqiang sped off. After that, the people on the street looked strange, as if fear was slowly spreading.

Wu Mingqiang drove the car to a secluded wooden shed, some distance from his house.

Gui'er asked curiously, "Brother Wu, what's going on...?"

Wu Mingqiang sighed: "The Japanese are coming. I want to keep this car. In case we need it when we escape."

He took some scraps, plastic sheeting, and haystacks from the shed and covered the car with them to hide it. Gui'er quickly helped him. After it was covered, it was indeed impossible to tell from the outside. Next to the dilapidated shed was a house. It seemed that the owner of the house had already fled. The lock on the door had been pried open, and the inside was a mess. This was good. In places that had been looted, no one would usually think there were any valuables inside.

After finishing these tasks, the two hurried home. By then, there were many refugees on the street. Some of them were even people they had seen before. People living nearby were frantically saying everywhere, "The Japanese are coming! They're going to land!"

When the two returned home, Dingxiang and the others surrounded them and said, "We made a lot of steamed buns and pancakes, and we've already taken them to the basement. We also carried two buckets of water down there. Shall we go down now?"

Wu Mingqiang thought for a moment and said, "What other valuables do we have in the house? Let's move them all out."