Chapter 3

Xu Di had become Xu Di, ready to embark on a new chapter of her life!

Meanwhile, in another ward of the same hospital, a doctor was busy attending to a patient.

“The child choked on water. You family members need to take good care of him, watch for any fever. If he gets a fever, see a doctor immediately. He’s so young, he’s scared and shocked and choked on water, he might develop pneumonia.”

The doctor put down his stethoscope and instructed the child’s family to be vigilant and not take any chances.

“We understand, doctor, we’ll keep an eye on him. Can we find you anytime, I’m worried about the child at night.”

“Don’t worry, there are doctors on duty at the hospital.”

The doctor gave a few more instructions before turning and leaving the ward.

The little boy on the bed, about three or four years old, had a chubby face, now drained of color. His brows were furrowed, as if he was having a nightmare.

“Mom, you rest for a while, you’ve been scared enough. Liang Bo is not home, you’re the backbone of the family.”

“I’m fine, don’t worry, the most important thing now is Ankang’s safety.”

The old lady touched her grandson’s forehead. Thankfully, he didn’t have a fever.

Because the child was so small, and he had suddenly fallen into the water, scared and shocked, and also choked on water, his condition was worse than Xu Di’s, and he hadn’t woken up yet.

Both mother and grandmother were consumed by their own child’s safety and hadn’t had time to think about the child’s savior.

Before nightfall, the little boy started to develop a fever.

“Mom, Kangkang has a fever, you stay here and watch him, I’ll go find a doctor.”

The child’s mother said anxiously, rushing out of the ward, her footsteps hurried and chaotic.

“Doctor, doctor, my son has a fever, please come and take a look.”

In the doctor’s office, the doctor who had just examined the little boy picked up his stethoscope and went to the ward.

“I listened, there are no abnormal sounds in his lungs, it shouldn’t be pneumonia. It’s probably a fever caused by excessive fright, I’ll give him a shot of antipyretic, you use a towel to wipe him down.”

The doctor also sighed in relief. It would be very troublesome to treat such a young child if he had pneumonia.

“Thank you, doctor, thank you…”

The child’s mother didn’t know if it was because she had run too fast earlier or because she was anxious, but she felt weak all over.

After the injection, the child cried loudly in his sleep.

After calming him down and wiping him with a warm towel, the child stopped crying, and his temperature gradually went down.

The child woke up once in the middle of the night, peed, cried a few times, and finally fell asleep in his mother’s arms, his small hand tightly clutching his mother’s clothes.

The next morning, the child woke up. Apart from being a little listless, he had no other symptoms.

The hearts of the Liang family, mother and grandmother, finally settled down. He was finally alright.

After the child was fine, his grandmother remembered the girl who had saved her grandson. She wondered how she was doing.

“Fangfang, you stay here and watch Kangkang, I’ll go and find out how the girl who saved Kangkang yesterday is doing.”

“Okay, Mom, you go quickly, that girl is Kangkang’s savior.”

Yan Fangfang also remembered this, her face flushed slightly. She had been so focused on her son yesterday that she hadn’t bothered to ask how the girl who saved him was doing.

The child’s grandmother went to the nurses’ station. She knew that the nurses’ station had the most up-to-date information.

“You’re asking about the little girl who was brought in together yesterday? She’s also been saved. The process was quite dangerous, she stopped breathing for a while, it scared us. She’s so young, if she hadn’t been saved, her parents would have been heartbroken.”

“Yes, I saw it too, the girl’s face was pale, it was really dangerous.”

“Good people are rewarded, she pulled through.”

…

From the mouths of several nurses, the child’s grandmother pieced together the general story.

She followed the ward number provided by the nurses and found Xu Di’s ward.

“Hello, I’m the grandmother of the child this girl saved yesterday, my name is Wang Lan.”

Xu Di had just finished breakfast and was urging her mother to go to work. She was feeling much better and would probably be discharged tomorrow.

“Sister, I’m the child’s mother, Li Hua. How is your grandson doing?”

“You’re a good girl, you’re a good girl. You raised a good daughter, she acted bravely and saved my grandson’s life. The child was scared and shocked and choked on water yesterday, he was unconscious all day, and only woke up this morning.

We should have come to see you earlier, but there was only me and the child’s mother at home, the child’s father is on a business trip, we really couldn’t spare the time, we are so sorry.”

Wang Lan, who looked about the same age as Xu Di’s mother, Li Hua, held Li Hua’s hand and expressed her gratitude.

“It’s good that the child is okay, it’s good that he’s okay. The child being safe is the most important thing, she learned from Lei Feng and did a good deed, it’s what she should do.”

Li Hua said politely, although she was secretly blaming Xu Di for being impulsive and saving the boy, almost costing her own life, but the deed was done, she couldn’t say anything.

Saving the boy was Xu Di’s own decision. Saying anything hurtful now would be foolish and pointless.

“Yes, you’re right, sister. We are grateful for the girl’s kindness. When the child’s father comes back, we will definitely thank this girl properly.”

“Sister, you’re too kind, learning from Lei Feng and doing good deeds, there’s no need to talk about gratitude.”

Li Hua and Wang Lan exchanged polite words, Xu Di listened to them from her bed, thinking that the people of this era were quite interesting.

Xu Di no longer paid attention to them, focusing on her own thoughts.

The original Xu Di had spent some time living with her grandmother in the countryside. Her mother gave birth to her older sister, and then two years later, she gave birth to Xu Di. With her older brother, who was only a few years older, she couldn’t handle all three children.

Also, because Xu Di’s birth was difficult, her mother’s body was injured and she didn’t have any breast milk.

Xu Di’s grandmother came to help with the confinement, seeing that her granddaughter had no milk to drink, and formula was hard to buy, she decided to take her back to the countryside. They had dairy sheep at home, and she could drink goat’s milk.

That’s how, not even a month old, Xu Di was taken to the countryside by her grandmother.

Xu Di’s grandmother had two sons and a daughter.

Xu Di’s father was the eldest son. He got a job in the city and became a worker. Later, he married and had children, and he didn’t go back to the countryside.

Xu Di’s aunt married in the village, and her uncle was younger, he was just married at the time and didn’t have any children yet.

Xu Di lived happily in the countryside until she was eight or nine years old, when she had to come back to go to school.

Before that, she spent her time between the countryside and the city, living a comfortable life.

Because she started school late, and she spent another year back in the countryside during the year when she was most active in sports, she was sixteen years old when she started high school, and she was about to start her second year in September, while her peers had already graduated from high school.

Xu Di thought about the Xu family’s situation. They were an ordinary worker family.

Xu Di’s father, Xu Dapeng, was an eighth-level fitter in a machinery factory, with a decent salary. But he was a simple man, he had always been a fitter and had no room for advancement.

Xu Di’s mother, Li Hua, was a chef in the machinery factory’s canteen, with a good salary and good relationships with her colleagues.

Her older brother, Xu Li, was a second-level fitter in the machinery factory, a regular worker, with a similar personality to his father.

Her sister-in-law, Wang Meili, was a nurse in the factory hospital.

Her older sister, Xu Mei, went to Yunnan Province as an educated youth in the winter of 1968.

She also had a younger brother, Xu Jun, who was in elementary school.

This was considered a well-off worker family in the 1970s. Both parents were workers, and apart from her sister who had gone to the countryside to support the country, they had no other burdens.

In her memory, the atmosphere in the Xu family was also good, they were a loving family, with brothers and sisters getting along well.

Xu Di had sorted out the Xu family’s situation, and she also needed to think about her own life going forward.

She would be in her second year of high school in September. High school was a two-year program at the time, which meant that she would graduate from high school in July next year.

The college entrance exam was canceled, and the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Universities were not an option for her. If she couldn’t find a job, she might face the prospect of going to the countryside.

Xu Di had seen TV dramas about educated youth, and it was really tough.

In her previous life, her family was from the countryside. In the 1990s, mechanization was not yet widespread, and she had done a lot of farm work.

Thinking about the countryside now, where almost everything was done by hand, made her feel tired just thinking about it. She was determined not to go to the countryside, she would find a way to find a job and stay in the city.

“Xu Di, Aunt Wang is leaving, say goodbye.”

Her mother’s words brought Xu Di back to reality.

“Goodbye, Aunt Wang, thank you for coming to see me, I hope your nephew gets well soon and is discharged from the hospital.”

Xu Di could still say these polite words, she wasn’t the seventeen-year-old Xu Di anymore.

“Good girl, you rest well too, Aunt Wang will come to see you again in the afternoon.”

Wang Lan said goodbye to Xu Di’s mother and wanted to go back and see her grandson. She also thought about how to repay the Xu family’s kindness.

After seeing Wang Lan off, Xu Di’s mother looked at her daughter who had fallen silent again. The child must have been scared too. She would secretly call her soul back at night.