Reborn in the red age

As time entered mid-July, the rainfall that caused the flood in East China gradually stopped. The sky, which had been gloomy for two consecutive months, finally cleared up and the sun reappeared over the East China region.

Jiangsu Province is an economically developed region with abundant supplies and no shortage of medical resources in the surrounding area, so Hu Jiabao and his team's support location is in Anhui Province.

As the main stream of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River embankment exceeded the warning water level in many places, the areas along the river and the Huaihe River became the hardest hit areas and trains could not reach Anhui Province.

The medical team needs to first go to Zhengzhou, the capital of Central Plains Province, which is closest to the disaster area, for a short rest, and then take a military aircraft to the disaster area in Anhui Province for medical rescue.

After two days and one night of train travel, the medical team organized by Hu Jiabao's school arrived in Zhengzhou, the capital of Zhongyuan Province, which is closest to the disaster area.

After replenishing a large amount of medical supplies in Zhengzhou, the medical team took a military aircraft to a special airport in Anhui Province that was not flooded.

After arriving at the airport, the medical team had no time to rest and immediately started rescue work. They were divided into several groups and each took a helicopter to the area in need of disaster relief.

Hu Jiabao and his team of five, including two doctors and three graduate students who were about to graduate, took a military aircraft to their destination, Feixi County.

In the helicopter, Hu Jiabao couldn't bear to see the fertile land on the ground turned into a vast ocean. All the bungalows were submerged, and only a few two- or three-story buildings were exposed above the water. He closed his eyes.

The leader of the medical team, Xiong Shuquan, sighed as he looked at the swamp below him, and shouted to the pilot: "Comrade pilot, where are we below?"

"This is the Sanhe Town area. On July 7, the Fengle River burst its banks and the entire town was destroyed by the flood in more than 11 minutes. More than civilians were sent to a safe area by boat by our troops," the pilot said after glancing down.

"Sanhe, a thousand-year-old ancient town, was washed away in this flood," Xiong Shuquan sighed as he looked at the beams above the water below.

"Floods are merciless. It's no big deal if buildings are washed away. As long as people are safe, it's OK. As long as people are still here, it won't take long to rebuild their homes after the flood recedes."

"Well said, if the house is gone, it's gone, as long as the people are safe, that's all that matters."

The helicopter slowly landed on a flat ground crowded with tents. As soon as the plane came to a complete stop and the medical supplies had not yet been unloaded, several dirty men rushed up in a hurry.

"Comrade doctor from the capital, I am Kong Fubing, the mayor of Sanhe. I have been looking forward to your arrival for a long time. Now that you are here, we are saved," a man covered in mud and wearing glasses stepped forward, shook Xiong Shuquan's hand, and said excitedly.

Xiong Shuquan did not dislike the dirt in the other person's hand at all. He held the other person's right hand tightly with both hands and said, "Mayor Kong, you are too polite. Fighting floods and disaster relief is the duty of us medical workers."

"We have many patients here who are in urgent need of treatment. Now that you are here, they can finally be saved. Come on, I have already notified the patients. Let's go and treat them quickly."

"Of course, of course. Where is the patient? We'll be there right away."

While the team leader Xiong Shuquan was talking to the other party, Hu Jiabao frowned and looked at the densely packed tents in front of him, and couldn't help feeling cold all over.

Hu Jiabao stopped Xiong Shuquan who was rushing to treat the patient and frowned at him and said, "Mayor Kong, may I ask, how many people are there in this gathering area now? How many patients are there?"

"All the villagers from the surrounding villages have been sent here. There are 25,000 people in total now, and more than 300 of them are sick," Kong Fubing pushed his glasses, thought for a moment and spoke.

“What symptoms do the patients have?”

"Except for a few with external injuries, most of them have fever and diarrhea."

“When did the patients become ill?”

“Just these two days”

The five members of the medical team are all doctors who have received systematic training. After hearing the answer from the town mayor Kong Fubing, the five people looked at each other and put on the protective masks they had prepared before.

Kong Fubing and the two town cadres who came with him were a little confused when they saw that the five doctors from the capital all wore masks at the same time.

After a long while, Kong Fubing asked tremblingly, "Doctor, there won't be any infectious diseases here, right?"

"Don't worry, Mayor Kong. It's normal for us doctors to wear masks. We'll talk about whether it's infectious or not later. Let's go see the patients first." Xiong Shuquan smiled and patted Mayor Kong Fubing on the shoulder, motioning him to lead the way.

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When Kong Fubing led the five people to the edge of the gathering area, he hesitated, stopped, turned to look at Xiong Shuquan, and said awkwardly: "Um, Team Leader Xiong, my nose is uncomfortable, can you give me a mask to wear?"

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Walking into the gathering area filled with tents, looking at the sewage-filled environment, the victims wearing dirty clothes and with sallow skin due to hunger, Hu Jiabao couldn't bear it and forced himself to stare at Kong Fubing's back as he walked forward.

After random examinations of several patients, the medical team confirmed that infectious diseases such as malaria and dysentery were indeed present in the gathering area and that the patients were in urgent need of medical treatment.

"Teacher Hu, we didn't bring much medicine. We used up half of it this afternoon. We need to ask our superiors for medicine support tomorrow."

As it was getting dark, in the tent provided by Kong Fubing for the medical team, Xiong Shuquan, who had been seeing patients all afternoon, sat on the ground tiredly, discussing with Hu Jiabao and others about applying for drug support from their superiors.

Taking off his mask tiredly, Hu Jiabao withdrew his lifeless eyes from the candlelight, looked at Xiong Shuquan beside him, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "This is an infectious disease. If we don't improve the living environment of the affected people, there will be more and more patients, and no matter how much medicine we send, it will not be enough."

"Now we can't even guarantee food and drink, let alone the living environment." Xiong Shuquan sighed and said helplessly: "Save people first, and take care of the rest later. As long as the flood does not recede, the living environment will not improve."

“This damn flood”

At night, Hu Jiabao lay on the ground covered with a sheet, smelling the scent of grass through the sheet, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

The situation now is different from that of later times. Because the affected area is too large, the affected population is large, and a large amount of grain is destroyed by rain.

The country's ability to deliver supplies is limited, and it is already difficult to maintain the most basic meal a day in the disaster area, let alone other supplies.

Let alone camp beds in the tent, having a sheet to keep out the dirt was already a luxury. In many of the victims' tents, there was not even a sheet on the floor, and they had to sleep on the floor with their clothes on.

Cheng Yanrui, a prospective doctor who lived in the same dormitory with Hu Jiabao in the dark, felt Hu Jiabao's movements and asked softly, "Teacher Hu, are you hungry?" "No, I just felt uncomfortable when I saw those suffering people during the day. What's wrong? Are you hungry?" Hu Jiabao opened his eyes, turned sideways and said to Cheng Yanrui.

"Well, I was busy all afternoon, and I just soaked a biscuit in hot water at night. I didn't eat enough."

"Alas, this is just one biscuit. Mayor Kong is taking care of our doctor. Everyone else only has lunch. There is a food shortage in Anhui Province. Most of the grain harvested this autumn has been soaked in water. The country needs to transfer grain from other places. In the future, our enemies will not only have diseases, but also hunger."

Cheng Yanrui sat up from the ground and said aggrievedly: "I know, I'm just hungry and my stomach is uncomfortable."

Hu Jiabao didn't say anything. He stood up and picked up the backpack he brought with him. He fumbled inside, took out a piece of chocolate and threw it to Cheng Yanrui.

Cheng Yanrui was hit by something. She picked up the object and took a look at it in the moonlight. She shouted excitedly, "Chocolate, Teacher Hu, you are well prepared. I didn't think of bringing some food with you."

"Eat quickly, these are prepared by my husband for me, but most of them were left at the airport. I only have a dozen pieces in my bag that I packed before coming here." Listening to Cheng Yanrui's excited voice, Hu Jiabao said gently.

Cheng Yanrui was unwrapping the chocolate bag while curiously asking, "Teacher Hu, I heard that your lover is Mr. Li, the chairman of the Lemon Company, who is known as the pride of the Chinese people. Is that true?"

"You're exaggerating. He's just a small business owner. The newspapers exaggerate his achievements." When talking about Qingfeng Li, Hu Jiabao was proud in his heart but very humble in words.

"Cough cough."

Cheng Yanrui, who was eating chocolate, was choked by the comments made by the small boss Hu Jiabao. She coughed violently in her throat and her face turned red.

Seeing Cheng Yanrui choking, Hu Jiabao quickly went over to help pat her back and said, "Are you okay? How can you choke when eating chocolate?"

"Ahem, no, nothing's wrong."

Cheng Yanrui waved her hands, and after a while she recovered from the discomfort of being choked by food.

With a complicated look at Hu Jiabao's concerned face, Cheng Yanrui secretly complained in her heart: Humility is a virtue, but being too humble is hypocrisy.

Your family is so rich that you donated 50 million US dollars to this flood disaster. If this is a small business, then what are the self-employed people who set up stalls on the street?
"Teacher Hu, I'm very curious about your relationship with Teacher Li. Can you tell me about it?"

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"How did you two meet? What was Teacher Li like when he was young?"

"We were both educated youth who went to the same place to work in the countryside. I first met him on the train to the countryside."

Talking about the events of more than ten years ago diluted Hu Jiabao's sympathy for the disaster victims. He talked to Cheng Yanrui incessantly about his time in the countryside. He talked for two or three hours until his eyelids started to droop and he fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Hu Jiabao and other five members of the medical team, after eating a nutritious meal of biscuits specially prepared by Mayor Kong, continued their intensive treatment.

The July sun hangs high in the sky, like a blazing flame, mercilessly scorching the earth.

Due to the rising temperature in the gathering area, a pungent smell was everywhere, which penetrated into Hu Jiabao's nose through the thick mask.

After treating more than a dozen patients in the cluster, Hu Jiabao suggested to Mayor Kong during lunch that
It is necessary to immediately organize sanitation and cleaning inside the gathering area, and if possible, try to disperse the people in the gathering area. If this continues, the epidemic will spread completely in the gathering area.

Faced with Hu Jiabao's suggestion, Kong Fubing said with some embarrassment: "Doctor Hu, I know what you said, and you have seen that this piece of land can only be used to set up tents. Other places must be cleared before the people can be dispersed."

"If we had tools and enough food to eat, it wouldn't be difficult for me to lead everyone to level the place. But now there's not even a hoe in the camp. We can only eat one meal a day, and it's only half full. In order to save energy, many people lie in their tents and don't want to come out."

Hu Jiabao knew that Kong Fubing was telling the truth. It was really difficult to ask them to level the land when they couldn't even get enough food to eat.

However, thinking of the consequences of the disease spreading in the gathering area, Hu Jiabao still insisted that Kong Fubing organize people to level the land and relocate some of the people in the gathering area.

Without food and tools, Kong Fubing was unwilling to put himself in trouble. No matter how Hu Jiabao tried to persuade him, he just refused to give in.

Malaria and dysentery are not serious diseases. They can be transmitted. They won’t kill people for the time being. After the water recedes after a while, they can be easily cured.

Seeing Kong Fubing's stubborn attitude, Hu Jiabao got really angry. He stopped him from leaving and demanded that he must separate the gathering areas to avoid a larger outbreak of infectious diseases.

Team leader Xiong Shuquan, who was standing by, saw that the two men were in a stalemate and were about to start arguing.

Xiong Shuquan came over quickly, pulled Mayor Kong aside, and whispered, "Mayor Kong, I advise you to do as Dr. Hu said. It will be good for your town."

Hearing Xiong Shuquan's words, Town Chief Kong's eyes turned and he asked in a low voice, "Team Leader Xiong, is this Doctor Hu someone important?"

"It's so big that it reaches the sky." Xiong Shuquan pointed to the sky vaguely, with an unfathomable look on his face.

"Sigh~"

Mayor Kong took a deep breath. He had not expected that Hu Jiabao had such a great background. He grabbed Xiong Shuquan's hand and asked nervously, "Which central leader's daughter is Doctor Hu?"

? ? ? ?
Xiong Shuquan was stunned, knowing that Mayor Kong had misunderstood, so he quickly explained: "Mayor Kong, you misunderstood, Doctor Hu is not anyone's daughter, and his wife is not an ordinary person."

"Which leader's son is Dr. Hu's wife?"

Xiong Shuquan was speechless. How could it be either a daughter or a son? Couldn't it be that they had their own abilities?
"Neither. The man is rich and his business is all over the world. He donated 50 million US dollars to the flood this time. The scale of the flood this time is so large that it affects many provinces. When the flood recedes, there is little hope of relying on government funding for post-disaster reconstruction."

"Why don't you take advantage of Dr. Hu's visit to your town to get close to him and leave a good impression on him. When Dr. Hu is about to leave, you can talk about the difficulties of post-disaster reconstruction. Dr. Hu will be soft-hearted and donate a few hundred or a million dollars to your town, and then you will have the money for post-disaster reconstruction, right?"

After hearing about Hu Jiabao's background, Kong Fubing took a deep breath, thanked Xiong Shuquan casually, and turned around with a smile on his face and ran towards Hu Jiabao. (End of this chapter)