Chapter 55: Becoming Stronger When Facing Challenges

However, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan still couldn’t go in because the hospital didn’t allow so many children at once.

“Comrade, you’re going too far. It would be fine if you brought one or two children, but why are you bringing six or seven? What if they rush around and bump into people once they’re inside?” The security guard at the hospital entrance dutifully stopped Wen Jiajia and her group.

The hospital mainly serves patients, and if something goes wrong, the hospital could be held responsible. If something happened to a child, the hospital would be even more liable.

Seeing Wen Jiajia’s wary expression, the guard felt she might be unreliable. If possible, he wanted to avoid letting them in.

Wen Jiajia: “…”

To be honest, she didn’t want to either.

These children hadn’t been brought by her but had followed along. When they heard they were going to see Xiaopang, they clamored to come too, and Wen Jiajia couldn’t drive them away.

Suddenly, six or seven children stood in a row, looking at Wen Jiajia eagerly.

Wen Jiajia was also concerned about potential problems, so she grabbed the basket from Wen Chun’s hand and said, “None of you should go in. Just wait outside. I’ll tell you how Xiaopang is doing after I’ve checked on him.”

Wen Xuan pouted. “Aunt, but we want to see Xiaopang in person.”

Wen Chun nodded, fearful that Xiaopang might die and they would never see him again.

Wen Jiajia said sternly, “Are you still going to listen to me? If you don’t, I won’t help you take your toys.”

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan looked extremely depressed and stood aside with frowning faces, as if they had suffered a severe blow.

Xie Yi took out two colorful stones from his pocket and handed them to Wen Jiajia. “Aunt, help me bring these to Xiaopang.”

The others also took out their gifts. It would have been fine if there were just stones, but there was also mud, a stick, and a feather that belonged to some unknown bird or chicken. Wen Jiajia was bemused by what she saw.

She really didn’t understand children’s friendships.

Wen Jiajia brought the various items into the hospital. She asked a passing nurse for directions, and the nurse guided her.

“The fat kid who was poisoned by mercurochrome is here, right? He’s on the second floor, room 206. The stairs are in front of you. Just go straight ahead.”

Wen Jiajia thanked her and proceeded upstairs. Finding room 206, she opened the door to find it lively with many people inside.

“Jia Jia, come and sit down,” Xiaopang’s mother urged, pulling her to a seat. Wen Jiajia looked at her carefully and saw that she seemed okay, so it appeared Xiaopang was also doing well.

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, “I came to see Xiaopang. A group of children is waiting outside. They asked me to bring in these things.”

She handed the pork to Xiaopang’s mother and said, “I went to your house, but no one was home, so I brought it here. You can ask the canteen to cook it for Xiaopang.”

The hospital provides cooking services. When Wen Jiajia had sent her two children to the hospital before, she had asked the cafeteria to help her steam egg custard, which tasted delicious with a bit of lard added.

As usual, Xiaopang’s mother refused the pork twice before accepting it. There was no reason to be rude, and she promised to return the favor in the future.

“Where is Xiaopang?” Wen Jiajia asked.

“They’re still undergoing checks. The doctor said if there are no major issues today or tomorrow, he can go home. The hospital is short of beds… Hey, Jia Jia, you wouldn’t believe it, but a few people were sent here from the city yesterday. I heard the city couldn’t save them. It was chaotic all night, and things only calmed down around six this morning,” Xiaopang’s mother said.

Wen Jiajia was greeted by an aunt who looked familiar but whose name she couldn’t recall. The aunt said, “I heard about it when I came in. They said it was a factory boiler explosion and several people were injured. Our military hospital is good at treating burns, but they sent the patients here. How could such a disaster happen? It’s almost the New Year; we should be safe and happy with our families.”

Wen Jiajia was surprised. “Which factory was it?”

“Who knows? The families fainted at the operating room door, so I didn’t dare to ask more,” said Xiaopang’s mother.

“It seems it was a chemical plant,” another aunt said. “I heard from the nurse that it’s fortunate it wasn’t an explosion in the workshop, otherwise, most people would have died on the spot with no chance of rescue.”

Wen Jiajia was stunned and then sighed. “That is indeed a blessing in disguise.”

She had only visited a few factories, and apart from the pharmaceutical factory, she was most familiar with the chemical plant, having seen an explosion there before.

It seemed every factory in the city would be busy in the near future, with investigations into production risks likely continuing until the end of the year.

Xiaopang returned quickly. The child walked back with strong steps, but he looked listless and not very energetic.

As soon as he came in, he asked, “Mom, when can I go home? I’m thinking about having a snowball fight. What if the snow melts before I get the chance? Then… I’ll be the only one left without a fight.”

As Xiaopang spoke, he noticed the basket of items that Wen Jiajia had brought.

He paused, then his eyes lit up. 

“Aunt Chun’er, these are Chun’er’s toys and Xiaoyi’s stone!” Xiaopang exclaimed, nearly jumping with surprise.

Wen Jiajia explained, “They are all waiting at the door and can’t come in, so they asked me to bring these things to you.”

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had wooden guns that Wei Dai made for them.

Xiaopang was so thrilled that he would have run out to play with his friends if his mother hadn’t stopped him.

Wen Jiajia wasn’t well-acquainted with Xiaopang’s mother, so she didn’t stay long. Before leaving, she patted Xiaopang’s round head and said, “Take good care of yourself. When you recover, you can go play basketball with Chun’er and Xuanxuan.”

“Okay, I’ll learn it together!” Xiaopang replied, happily playing with the various toys.

The thought that being sick might have some benefits crossed his mind, and he even said so aloud.

As expected, after Wen Jiajia had walked a few steps out the door, she heard Xiaopang scream in pain after being pinched on the face by his mother.

Before leaving the hospital, Wen Jiajia took a detour to another building and saw many people from the chemical factory.

One of them was a leader whom she had met when she accompanied Director Xue to the chemical plant.

However, the leader was surrounded by a group of people and appeared extremely anxious. Wen Jiajia chose not to approach him. Instead, she went to the pharmacy to pick up two bottles of digestive tablets before leaving.

The children were still waiting. Wen Jiajia said, “Let’s go home, everyone. Xiaopang is fine. He’ll be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and will play with you.”

“Really?” one of the children asked.

Wen Jiajia replied, “Really. How could I lie to you?”

The child lowered his head and muttered, “If I had known he would be able to come out tomorrow, I wouldn’t have given my pheasant tail feather to Xiaopang. I like it so much, and Xiaopang will definitely not give it back to me.”

“…”

Wen Jiajia didn’t understand children’s friendships at all.

Wen Jiajia brought the group of children back to her residential area. People who saw her on the way jokingly called her the “king of children.”

She found the title somewhat embarrassing and hurried home.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan didn’t want to go back. With snow still on the ground, they decided to play house.

The group of children used the accumulated snow to build pots and stoves, and picked up leaves to use as vegetables.

After returning home, Wen Jiajia got to work. She steamed the rice, then went to her room to take out her notebook and prepare to write the report.

She was eager for a promotion. Although the final outcome might be a suspension without pay, the salary would be higher after the promotion.

Therefore, she had to work proactively, anticipate tasks before the leader assigned them, and then complete them.

Fortunately, Wen Jiajia was familiar with the situation in the workshops, at least in the sixth workshop, so the manuscript was coming along smoothly.

At this point, the advantage of her frequent checks of the workshop machines on behalf of Director Xue became apparent.

This job, which was originally done by Li Haijun in the office, had been assigned to Wen Jiajia because Director Xue thought Li Haijun’s work was insufficient. Li Haijun didn’t care much about this job and didn’t mind that it was given to Wen Jiajia. Little did he know, this job would help her produce a manuscript.

Additionally, Wen Jiajia had a good relationship with the workshop workers, so she was privy to many details that only front-line workers knew.

She managed to write more than 2,000 words in an hour, which was quite efficient for her.

At noon, since Wei Dai did not return for lunch, Wen Jiajia reluctantly set aside her pen and got up to cook.

She glanced at the taro^[1]refer to root vegetable that is commonly used in various cuisines. in the corner of the kitchen and decided to make some spicy and sour taro shreds.

In winter, she liked to eat foods with strong flavors. Wen Jiajia could easily eat two bowls of rice with just this dish.

She also steamed a bowl of egg custard, and lunch was ready.

Wen Jiajia didn’t worry about the two children. They were children, not fools. They would come back to eat when they were hungry after playing.

After finishing her meal, Wen Jiajia put the dishes in the pot to keep them warm and returned to her room to continue working.

A good manuscript couldn’t be completed in just one or two hours, or even two or three hours.

Wen Jiajia had only written a rough detailed outline. It would need to be revised and supplemented later.

Moreover, after writing, it had to be proofread. If Director Xue was not satisfied after proofreading and submission, it would need to be revised again.

Wen Jiajia’s manuscripts were generally well-written and usually required fewer than three revisions.

Sha Yue, on the other hand, had a harder time. She often revised her manuscripts six or seven times. According to her, she even revised them more than ten times when she first started, which annoyed Director Xue so much that he instructed her to submit only two basic manuscripts a month: one work report and one ideological report, to be submitted at the beginning of the next month.

There was no snow that night, but temperatures were record low.

A howling cold wind rattled the open door of a nearby house.

Wen Jiajia peered out the window. The cold wind made her hair messy, and Wei Dai had not yet returned.

The two children had fallen asleep. They were very tired from the day and had gone to bed early after dinner.

Wen Jiajia went over, adjusted their quilts, and replaced the hand warmers with bags of hot water, tucking them into their blankets. She propped the courtyard door with a stone, inserted the key to the living room door into the lock, and then went back to her room to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Wen Jiajia felt a gust of cold air rush into the quilt and subconsciously moved to the side.

But it was cold there too, so she shifted back and asked groggily, “Are you back?”

Wei Dai held her close. “Yeah.”

He felt like he was hugging a hot stove, while Wen Jiajia felt like she was lying in an ice cellar.

Gradually, both of them warmed up and fell asleep.

The next day was another demanding workday.

Wen Jiajia woke up to the cold wind and arrived at the pharmaceutical factory on time, without even having time to buy breakfast.