The courtyard instantly fell silent.
Uncle Qi was startled, while Gao Xiulan looked nervously at Lin Xiaxia.
Lin Xiaxia’s heart skipped a beat, but she remained outwardly calm. She stepped forward and asked, “Comrade, I’m Lin Xiaxia. May I ask what I’ve been reported for? Our clinic has been operating according to the rules.”
The man in charge looked her up and down.
“Someone reported that although you were sent to the countryside as an educated youth, you’ve been behaving like a capitalist and refusing to work in the fields!”
As he stated the accusation, his eyes scrutinized her closely.
Lin Xiaxia immediately understood what was going on and had a good idea who was behind it.
After steadying herself, she replied clearly, “Comrade, educated youths were sent to the countryside to help the villagers build and develop rural communities. I have medical knowledge, so the village chief and production brigade unanimously approved my work at the village clinic, where I diagnose and treat the villagers. I’m contributing to the village in a practical way. How does that make me a capitalist?”
The man’s brows furrowed, and his tone became harsher.
“You were sent to the countryside to receive reeducation from the poor and lower-middle peasants. That means you should be working the land! You’re obviously trying to take shortcuts and avoid manual labor!”
“The policy never states that educated youths are only allowed to work in the fields,” Lin Xiaxia replied calmly, neither humble nor confrontational.
“Official regulations allow educated youths with relevant knowledge and skills to serve the collective as rural teachers or barefoot doctors. If you believe what I’m doing violates the rules, then please show me the written regulation that says so.”
“You little brat! You dare argue with me?”
The man had been rendered speechless for a moment, and embarrassment quickly turned into anger.
“At your age, what could you possibly know about medicine? You’re obviously putting on an act! Tear this shabby clinic apart!”
The men behind him immediately rolled up their sleeves and prepared to start smashing things.
Seeing this, Gao Xiulan rushed in front of Lin Xiaxia without hesitation, her face flushed with anger.
“What are you doing?! How can you be so unreasonable? You can’t destroy this place!”
Uncle Qi became furious as well. Leaning heavily on his cane, he shuffled forward and raised it to strike at one of the men.
“You rotten scoundrels! Comrade Lin is a good person! She cured the pain in my old back! Just try laying a hand on her! I’ll beat you senseless for causing trouble!”
In the middle of the chaos, a furious roar came from outside the courtyard.
“What are you doing?! Who dares cause trouble in our Gaojiatun Village?”
Village Chief Gao Lide stormed into the courtyard with more than a dozen villagers behind him. They carried hoes and shoulder poles, each of them glaring angrily at the intruders.
“I’d like to see who dares destroy our village clinic!”
The village chief walked to Lin Xiaxia’s side and glared at the uniformed men.
“I’m the village chief of Gaojiatun. Comrade Lin’s work was approved by the production brigade. She receives full work points every day, and everything is completely in accordance with the rules! What right do you have to destroy the clinic?”
“Exactly! Comrade Lin saved Xiaohuzi’s life!”
“You can’t falsely accuse a good person!”
The villagers shouted one after another, surrounding the courtyard so tightly that there was hardly any room to move.
Everyone was furious.
Just as the atmosphere in the courtyard reached a breaking point, a commotion suddenly erupted at the entrance.
A group of people rushed inside in a panic.
At the front was a woman carrying a child around ten years old in her arms. Her voice was hoarse from crying.
“Doctor! There’s a doctor here, right? Hurry! Please save my son!”
Lin Xiaxia immediately pushed through the crowd and hurried toward them.
The woman’s hair was disheveled, and the bottoms of her trousers were covered in mud. She had even lost one of her shoes while running.
The child in her arms was soaking wet and ice-cold. His face was as pale as paper, while his lips had turned bluish-purple.
“What happened?”
As Lin Xiaxia asked the question, she steadied the woman, who looked ready to collapse. She quickly took the child from her arms and rushed inside.
She gently laid him on the makeshift bed that had been set up against the wall.
The woman stumbled in behind her and dropped to her knees with a thud, desperately kowtowing at Lin Xiaxia’s feet.
“Please, Doctor! Please save him! If my son dies, I won’t be able to go on living!”
“Did he fall into the water? How long was he submerged? Did anyone perform first aid after pulling him out?”
Lin Xiaxia fired off the questions rapidly while checking the child’s pulse.
It was so weak she could barely feel it.
His breathing was also frighteningly shallow.
The woman was trembling so badly that her lips quivered and she couldn’t get the words out.
A man beside her hurriedly explained, “The boy was in the river for quite a while! We were going to take him straight to town after pulling him out, but when we reached the crossroads, someone told us there was a doctor here, so we rushed over! Doctor, please, you have to find a way to save him!”
So no one had performed any first aid at all!
Lin Xiaxia’s heart tightened.
She immediately cleared the mud, water, and debris from the child’s mouth and nose. Then she knelt beside the bed, placed both hands over his chest, and began CPR.
One compression.
Two.
Three…
Her movements were steady and controlled.
After thirty chest compressions, she leaned down, pinched the child’s nose closed, sealed her mouth over his, and carefully gave him rescue breaths.
When the uniformed men saw what she was doing, their leader immediately began shouting.
“You shameless woman! The child is already like this, and you’re still kissing him on the mouth? How indecent!”
Lin Xiaxia whipped her head around.
Her gaze was as sharp as a blade as she glared at him.
“Shut up!”
The village chief immediately roared, “Hold them down!”
Several young villagers rushed forward.
Within moments, they had all three men firmly restrained and even stuffed cloth into their mouths to keep them quiet.
Gao Xiulan quickly waved everyone back.
“Move back! Stop crowding around! Give her some room and let the air through!”
The room instantly became quiet.
The only sounds were the rhythmic thuds of Lin Xiaxia’s hands pressing against the child’s chest and her controlled breaths whenever she leaned down to give him air.
The boy’s mother remained kneeling on the floor, biting her lip so hard that tears streamed silently down her face.
She didn’t dare make a sound, terrified that she might interfere with the rescue.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on Lin Xiaxia’s forehead.
Her arms gradually began to ache, but she didn’t stop for even a moment.
Only one thought remained in her mind.
She had to pull this child back from the brink of death!
No one knew how much time had passed.
Just when everyone seemed afraid even to breathe, a faint sound suddenly came from the child’s throat.
Then he abruptly coughed up a mouthful of muddy water!
“He moved! He moved!” someone cried out softly.
Lin Xiaxia’s eyes lit up.
She immediately checked beneath the child’s nose.
His breathing was still weak, but it was noticeably stronger than before!
She didn’t dare relax yet.
Lin Xiaxia continued with several more rounds of CPR until the child’s chest finally began rising and falling on its own.
A faint trace of color gradually returned to his face.
Only then did she allow herself a small sigh of relief.
“Quick! Boil some hot water and bring me a dry towel and a thick quilt!” Lin Xiaxia called out to Gao Xiulan, her voice slightly hoarse from exhaustion.
Gao Xiulan immediately ran outside.
The child’s mother finally came back to her senses. She scrambled toward the bed and stared at her son’s faint but steady breathing.
She burst into uncontrollable tears, but this time, they were tears of overwhelming relief.
The village chief walked over.
Looking at the strands of hair plastered to Lin Xiaxia’s forehead with sweat, his eyes filled with admiration.
“Xiaxia, you’ve worked hard.”
Lin Xiaxia waved her hand dismissively, her eyes never leaving the child.
She knew he was only temporarily out of immediate danger. They would still need to watch him carefully for signs of a lung infection afterward.
But at the very least, she had pulled him back from the edge of death.