Chapter 311: Let the Couple Worry a Little Longer
Ning Xiyue followed behind Bai Yu and her husband as they ran. Judging by the direction they were heading—away from the main brigade—Ning Xiyue quickly guessed who Bai Yu wanted her to save, and what kind of person it might be.
First of all, this couple had only just arrived in the village. Other than the people they’d brought from the coal mining team, they didn’t know anyone else. Since they weren’t heading toward the miners’ quarters, it meant no one from the mining team was in danger.
Second, if it were a stranger from the brigade giving birth, Bai Yu wouldn’t be acting this way—so anxious and worried, with tears streaming down her face full of genuine emotion. The person in need of saving had to be someone she knew and cared deeply about.
From what Ning Xiyue had heard from Comrade Ji, other than Aunt Shen in town, they had no relatives here—no in-laws, no distant kin. That ruled out everyone in the brigade.
That narrowed it down quite a bit. The only people left unaccounted for were those living in the “unspeakable” shacks—the ones outside the brigade’s social circle.
Those shacks sat halfway up a small earthen slope, in what used to be a forest guard’s hut, far away from the brigade and its members.
The brigade leader was a clever man. He had adopted a “free-range” management style, not harassing them too much—just assigning them simple work, mostly guarding the trees in the area. He only visited once a month to collect their reports.
The ordinary members of the brigade, afraid of getting into trouble, avoided those people; and those people, in turn, avoided the brigade members. They kept to themselves, never crossing paths.
Because of that, their days in the Dayu Brigade weren’t as easy as the villagers’, but they were at least peaceful and safe—they hadn’t been mistreated.
Ning Xiyue had never paid much attention to them before, focusing on her own life instead.
Chen Yechu had never acted differently either—but tonight’s behavior was clearly out of the ordinary.
That alone told Ning Xiyue something serious had happened inside the shacks—something life-threatening. Knowing Chen Yechu, she wasn’t the type to act recklessly or to play the saint for strangers.
And as for childbirth—there was only one pregnant woman there, who had arrived at the end of last year. It had to be her.
So the biggest reason Bai Yu came to the Dayu Brigade this time was probably for that pregnant woman in the shacks.
If even Comrade Ji didn’t know her, she wasn’t a relative—she must be a close friend of Bai Yu’s, or someone she deeply cared about.
As Ning Xiyue thought this through, Zhou Cheng, running ahead with his arm around Bai Yu, looked conflicted. After a while, the hesitation in his eyes faded, replaced by determination.
He said, “Sister-in-law, I need to apologize first. I didn’t want to hide anything from you, but the place we’re going now is one everyone in the brigade avoids. The person we’re saving is someone no one wants to associate with. As Ji’s friend and your brother-in-law, I should’ve told you earlier. I’m sorry for saying it only now—I hope you won’t take it to heart…”
Even as he spoke, Zhou Cheng didn’t slow his pace. He ran and explained everything—who the pregnant woman was, what her situation was, and what they were about to face.
Bai Yu snapped out of her anxious daze and also apologized to Ning Xiyue, asking for her understanding.
“Huihui is my best friend,” Bai Yu said tearfully. “And since I know you, when Huihui got into trouble, you were the first person who came to my mind.”
After that, both of them fell silent, waiting for Ning Xiyue’s decision.
Zhou Cheng’s face showed worry for his wife—he was afraid Ning Xiyue would refuse, which would break Bai Yu’s heart.
Bai Yu’s face, meanwhile, was full of worry for her friend’s fate. She feared losing her, but also felt ashamed—ashamed for dragging her cousin’s girlfriend into a situation that everyone else avoided like the plague.
Ning Xiyue wasn’t too upset. At first, she did feel uncomfortable that they’d hidden something so important, but thinking from their perspective, she could understand. She couldn’t blame them.
If it were her own friend, she might have done the same. With two lives at stake—and given the kind of identity the pregnant woman had—ordinary people’s first instinct would be to avoid involvement. Bai Yu couldn’t be sure if she would help, so she’d chosen to hide it.
But now, after struggling with her conscience, Bai Yu had decided to tell her halfway there. That was much better than springing it on her once they’d arrived.
And seeing how Chen Yechu—a reborn person—had reacted earlier, it was clear that the pregnant woman’s identity wasn’t something morally dubious. She wasn’t truly a “bad element.”
The couple didn’t stop running, but they kept glancing sideways at Ning Xiyue, nervously trying to read her expression and guess her decision.
Ning Xiyue noticed everything—their anxious faces, their unspoken worries—and she saw right through them.
They were already on the way there. What decision could she possibly make now?
Well then, she thought, let this couple stay nervous a little longer.
She said nothing, simply fixing her big dark eyes on the two of them, staring until their faces turned awkward and uneasy. Only then did she withdraw her gaze, satisfied.
Activating her inner energy from her Tai Chi training, she steadied her breathing, tightened the medicine box strapped to her back, and sprinted up the slope toward the wooden hut at her fastest speed.
A single fall could mean two lost lives—there was no time to waste.
Right now, time itself was the enemy. She had to race against it.
With her martial skills, Ning Xiyue soon left Bai Yu and Zhou Cheng far behind; in just moments, she was out of sight.
The couple stared in shock but quickly understood what that meant. Her actions were her answer. They hurried to catch up.
When Ning Xiyue reached the small wooden shed, she could already hear cries of pain inside—piercing, desperate screams—along with voices trying to comfort the woman.
“Where’s the pregnant woman?” Ning Xiyue shouted loudly when she was still more than fifty meters away, scanning for the source of the sound.
“Over here! Over here!”
A middle-aged man waiting by the door poked his head out, waving frantically. His eyes lit up the moment he recognized her.
“It’s Doctor Ning from the brigade!” he shouted excitedly back into the room. “She’s here! Li Hui and her baby are saved—saved!”
Ning Xiyue charged toward him like a gust of wind, rushing into the hut. A middle-aged woman led her quickly to the only kang bed in the room.
The area had been curtained off with sheets. Two middle-aged women sat beside the laboring woman.
All the men had stepped aside respectfully—some stood by the door as guards, others sat silently in the straw where they usually slept, staring in worry.
Ning Xiyue ignored them all, focusing only on the woman in labor. She took a few quick steps toward the bed.
An older woman sitting nearby clasped her hands together, pleading, “Doctor Ning, please—please save Huihui and her baby!”
“I will,” Ning Xiyue said firmly, nodding. She immediately knelt beside the woman to assess her condition and said quickly,
“Listen to me, all of you. I need one person to go boil water—right now, as fast as possible. The two of you—hold the curtain up high and step back several feet to give me enough room to work. I’m going to deliver this baby, and for the mother’s safety, no one is to disturb me—under any circumstances.”
“Understood,” they all replied solemnly.
The woman who’d brought Ning Xiyue in ran off to boil water, while the two who had been speaking with the mother lifted the sheet and backed several steps away, holding it high to form a semi-enclosed space.
From outside, a voice called, “Old Mo, Old Huang! Go find three long branches to take over for our hands!”
Two voices answered, “Got it!” and hurried out.
It was clear everyone here was united and working together as one.
