Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 33
The competition on the second day started at eight in the morning. The team set out at around five in the morning. After arriving at the archery hall, Wu Jianian carried a large bag of breakfast and distributed it to everyone.
Fat Sun took the plastic bag, took a look at it, and said disappointedly, “Just buns and soy milk?” He opened it and found that it was still vegetarian.
Wu Jianian leaned over and lowered his voice: “Yesterday the coach paid for it, today the team leader will pay for it.”
Everyone gave each other a knowing look and shut up.
When the school team went out to participate in competitions, the expenses were reimbursed by the school, but this amount of money was only enough to keep them from starving. Only Li Xun was willing to pay for special treatment for them.
The bag was passed to Song Yang, and only one with pickled cabbage filling and one with tofu filling were left. He opened them and tasted a little, but neither tasted like what he liked. He stretched his neck and asked, “Master, what filling do you have?”
Li Xun bit off a small half of it and found that it was still the white flour part. He said vaguely, “There is no filling.”
“…”
After a while, Li Xun suddenly bumped his arm. Song Yang turned his head, glanced at the bun in his hand, and laughed out loud.
Li Xun took three full bites before he discovered that the bun was filled with meat. It was the size of a fingernail and he needed a magnifying glass to see it clearly.
“It’s filled with meat. Do you want to exchange it with me?” Li Xun asked.
Song Yang said modestly: “You have already bitten off more than half of it.”
Li Xun was helpless: “If I don’t bite half of it, how can I find out that it is meat filling?”
“……”I couldn’t refute it.
“Do you want it or not? If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Song Yang handed over his two things, “Pick one yourself, I just broke them with my hands, so they’re not dirty.”
Li Xun took a bite of the pickled cabbage bun, and his facial features became lively. He took two sips of soy milk, swallowed the food in his mouth with a grim look, and complained: “I guess shit tastes just like this.”
Song Yang laughed so hard that he almost choked on his bun.
The men’s individual elimination match was scheduled for ten o’clock, so there was plenty of time. After breakfast, Song Yang simply warmed up in the playground, then went to the table tennis hall to play a few games with his senior friends. He didn’t go in to register and get his number plate until nine o’clock.
“Are you still nervous today?” Li Xun asked with concern, “You shouldn’t be as nervous as yesterday, right?”
Song Yang shook his head.
After a day of competition, he was already very familiar with the layout of the stadium. When he got off the school bus this morning, he even felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
“Don’t be nervous. You’ll be playing against Liu Haotian from Nanjing University, who’s ranked 42nd in the rankings. I checked his results in the knockout rounds, and he’s not as good as you. Just stay above eight rings.”
As they talked, they came to the field and observed their opponents.
Liu Haotian was thin, with prominent cheekbones, and looked a little malnourished. He curled up in a corner, holding a glass in both hands, and his condition was completely different from Zhang Chen’s yesterday.
Seeing him, Song Yang suddenly felt full of confidence.
Soon, the game began, Song Yang stood up and took his position, and his teammates cheered for him at the top of their lungs.
Liu Haotian slowly stood up from his position, as if he had no strength left. It took him several attempts to get the arrow tail stuck on the bowstring.
Some contestants in the audience whispered, “He doesn’t seem to be in the right state.”
Song Yang and Li Xun were concentrating on the game and didn’t notice him until Liu Haotian shot his first arrow, then they showed surprised expressions.
Song Yang turned around and exchanged a look with Li Xun—Six Rings! ?
Except for accidental misses in the elimination rounds, there were no scores below seven rings.
Liu Haotian’s coach also noticed something was wrong and stepped forward to ask with concern: “What’s wrong with you?”
In just a few minutes, Liu Haotian’s lips had turned pale. He covered his stomach with one hand and frowned in pain: “My stomach hurts a little.”
“Can we still compare? If not, forget it.”
Liu Haotian nodded and said yes. He forced himself to shoot all six arrows. The result was naturally tragic. The last arrow hit a triple ring.
Song Yang made it into the top twelfth without any effort.
As soon as he came off the court, his teammates rushed over to congratulate him.
Wu Jianian smiled and said, “Sure, little sheep! You are so lucky!”
Yu Shenwei still maintained his personal style of being sarcastic, and mocked: “What’s the point of winning by luck? Are you going to rely on luck in the National Games? Is that possible?”
Wu Jianian rolled his eyes at him and said, “Can’t you just talk properly?”
Yu Shenwei shrugged: “I just like to tell the truth.”
An hour later, the remaining groups had finished their competitions. Li Xun went to the staff to check the afternoon match schedule. The group he was in with Song Yang was still composed of students from Nanjing University, while Wu Jianian and Yu Shenwei were both playing against students from sports schools.
Just as he turned to leave, he saw a girl with a work badge running over to him in a hurry: “Professor Wang, Zhang Feng from Nanjing University said he wants to give up.”
“Abstain!?” Wang Jiao asked, “Why do you abstain?”
“He was feeling unwell, like he had a stomachache or something, it was pretty serious. When I saw him, his face was pale and scary. Their coach sent him straight to the hospital.”
“Another stomachache? Was there someone with a stomachache during the competition just now?”
“It seems so. Anyway, I just feel uncomfortable in my stomach.”
“The weather is cold, and if you don’t keep warm, you will definitely get sick from the cold.”
“I don’t know what’s going on…” The girl was still panting, pointing at Song Yang’s name and asked, “So is this a direct promotion or what?”
Li Xun listened to their conversation in amazement, then looked at the monitor. Teacher Wang framed Song Yang’s name, and the system prompted them to enter the next round of finals.
Before he had time to marvel at Song Yang’s good luck, his cell phone rang.
“Coach, where are you?” Wu Jianian skipped the “hello” and shouted, “Come back soon.”
“It’s right by the door. What’s going on?”
“Fatty Sun said he had a stomachache! And Zhou Xu too, Fatty Sun was rolling on the ground in pain… Hey, hey, hey, Fatty! Fatty! Stop it, stop it, stop it—”
The phone is disconnected.
My stomach aches again!
Li Xun’s scalp tingled and he suddenly had a bad premonition.
He ran back to the viewing area and saw a group of people gathered in a circle as if they were watching a circus, talking in a flurry of concern.
“Call an ambulance right now.”
“Is there any water? Didn’t he ask for water just now?”
“Ah!” With everyone’s scream, the circle instantly expanded, and many onlookers showed disgusted looks on their faces, covered their mouths and walked away.
Fat Sun vomited all over the floor, and he was still lying on the floor vomiting when Li Xun walked over.
The dirt gave off a bad smell, and Li Xun frowned unconsciously.
To describe it more accurately, it can no longer be considered vomiting, it was spraying. Fatty Sun seemed to be drunk, kneeling on the ground with his back half hunched. Every time he twitched, a bunch of smelly watery substance sprayed out, and the scene was in chaos.
His clothes, pants, and arms were all stained with filth. Everyone stood far away from him. Only the leader half-knelt on the ground, hooked his armpit with one hand, looked up and asked, “Does anyone have a tissue?”
When asked about this, many students felt their pockets and offered tissues.
Li Xun quickly squatted down to help, holding Sun Pang’s other arm: “How is it? Can you stand up?”
After wiping his mouth, Fat Sun sat down on the ground, gasping for breath as if he had just run ten kilometers. His condition was almost exactly the same as Liu Haotian’s. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t straighten his back. Soon he began to vomit and have diarrhea.
“What did you eat?” Wu Jianian handed him some warm water.
Fatty Sun shook his head. At this moment, his stomach had been emptied, but he could feel his stomach still twitching. He said with a weak breath, “I didn’t eat anything. I ate the same thing as you guys.”
Wu Jianian asked: “Could there be something wrong with the buns?”
This is a food safety issue. The team leader was shocked and immediately jumped out to deny it: “It’s impossible. I ate it too, so how can I be fine? Didn’t everyone eat it?”
“That’s true.”
Li Xun waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry about it for now! Send him to the hospital to see if it’s gastroenteritis. Sun Xiaojun, can you still walk?”
“Give me a hand…”
As soon as Sun Pang finished speaking, Li Xun heard Song Yang’s nervous voice: “Master, and Zhou Xu, his condition is not good either!”
Li Xun looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Zhou Xu almost hanging on Song Yang, his lips were pale and cracked, and he looked exhausted.
“Hurry, hurry, call an ambulance! Everyone make way!”
After a while, the ambulance arrived and Fatty Sun and Zhou Xu were helped into the car one after another.
Song Yang got into the car and sat down. Li Xun patted his arm and said, “Just focus on the game first. I’ll take care of the others.”
“But you…”
“obedient!”
Song Yang was glared at, pouted, and got out of the car obediently.
The competition had to go on, so Li Xun asked the team leader to stay and called a team member who was not competing. They each supported a patient and discussed the cause of the illness in the swaying carriage.
I haven’t even had time to eat lunch, so the only possible reason is that there was something wrong with what I had in the morning.
Ah Hong said: “Is it because the soy milk is not fresh? My cup was very watery and tasteless, so I didn’t drink it.”
Li Xun frowned slightly: “I drank soy milk, Song Yang drank it too, and nothing happened.”
“That’s weird.”
The nearest hospital to Jianguan is a Class II hospital, and the beds in the emergency room are full. While waiting for the doctor to see him, Fatty Sun vomited again, and this time it was all acid. Zhou Xu did not vomit, but he squatted in the toilet and couldn’t get out.
Ah Hong was so anxious that he was like a spinning top. He patted the toilet door and ran out to ask, “What should I do, coach? Will he get into trouble?”
Li Xun also encountered similar situations when he went out to compete. Usually it was either gastrointestinal inflammation or acclimatization. Compared with a twenty-year-old boy, he seemed much calmer.
“Don’t worry, we’re already at the hospital, nothing will happen. You wait here, I’ll go measure Fatty’s blood pressure, and when he comes out, come to the emergency room to find us.”
“good.”
More than 20 minutes later, the doctor in the duty room finally finished his work and came over. He drew two tubes of blood and asked them to do a B-ultrasound. Sun Pang was too weak to walk, so Li Xun rented a wheelchair and took him up and down the stairs. The whole process took more than two hours. Sun Pang was shivering with cold and Li Xun was sweating profusely from exhaustion.
When the report came out, the doctor pointed to the list and said, “Their conditions are very similar. These three indexes are so low, and there is a lot of fluid in the intestines. There is inflammation.”
“Did you eat something unclean?”
“Well, a similar case was sent in this morning…” The doctor glanced at the work badge hanging on Li Xun’s chest, “Are you two together? Athletes?”
“Yes, the game is over there in the gymnasium.”
The doctor said as he typed the medical records: “I think it’s food poisoning. The onset of poisoning can be fast or slow. You’d better notify each other. If there is a problem, send it here as soon as possible. It will be very dangerous if you delay.”
If it was food poisoning, it would make sense. Why would several people have the same problem one after another? Sun Pang’s body is so fat, but it can shake like a sieve.
The doctor prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine. Li Xun went downstairs to get the medicine prepared. He also found a bed for each of them to receive an IV drip. During this time, something extremely speechless happened.
The wheelchair used to push Fatty Sun was parked in the aisle and someone took it away and used it. It was not found until the surveillance camera was checked.
When we took a break, it was already time for dinner.
There were more than sixty new messages on WeChat. He flipped through them one by one and found that half of them were sent by Song Yang.
——Master! I’m going to play,ヾ(?°?°?)??
——The one I’m playing against is actually Yu Shenwei! ＞皿＜, why do you want us to kill each other?
——TAT Master, I only got fourth place.
——The other party cancels the video call.
——Master! I’m here to see you. Which hospital are you in?
——The other party cancels the video call.
——Oh, I see, I just asked the team leader.
——The other party cancels the video call.
——Is it the Nancheng branch? Why did the driver say there is no such hospital… I was speechless.
——The other party cancels the voice call.
——Okay, I heard it wrong, it’s Nancheng Third Hospital. Or2
Li Xun laughed as he watched. Before he finished reading the message, the video lit up again.
Song Yang appeared on the screen fully armed, with the security room at the hospital entrance behind him. His hair was covered with a layer of snow-white. Li Xun took a closer look and was surprised to find that it was snowing outside.
Song Yang’s nose was red, and he jumped on the spot and said, “Master, I’m here, where are you?”
“I’m here…” Li Xun remembered that Song Yang was a person with poor directions, so he stood up and said, “I’ll come down to pick you up. You go to the security room for a while first, don’t catch a cold.”
“Yeah.” Song Yang sniffed and hung up the call.
Fluffy snowflakes fell down, and the green plants on both sides of the street were covered with a thin layer of snow, emitting a gentle silver light under the street lights.
The ground was wet and the snowflakes melted as soon as they fell. Li Xun came running from a distance, causing the puddles to splash water everywhere.
Before he could shake off the snowflakes on his head, he asked, “How are you? Is your stomach okay?”
“What could be wrong with me, and what did the doctor say?”
Li Xun said: “It is speculated that it is food poisoning. It is also said that the onset of poisoning can be fast or slow, so I am worried that someone else will be attacked. How are the others in the team?”
“Everything is fine.”
“That’s good.”
As they talked, they walked towards the inpatient department. Song Yang slowly unzipped his coat and took out two big sweet potatoes. When he bought them, he asked the boss to wrap them tightly with three layers of inner and outer layers. He used his body temperature to keep them warm all the way here, and they are still hot now.
“You haven’t had dinner yet?” He handed the sweet potato to Li Xun, “This is very sweet.”
“Thank you.” Li Xun indeed hadn’t had time to eat dinner, and he began to salivate automatically when he saw the food.
The sweet potatoes are as big as two fists. When broken open, they are a highly saturated orange-yellow color with a sweet fragrance. Caramel syrup has been baked out and flows down along the narrow cracks from the top of the shell. It feels a bit sticky to the touch, but sweet potatoes of this degree are the best baked.
The scent reminded him of his childhood.
Their family has a small sweet potato field. When the season comes, they have to dig sweet potatoes from the field. Grandpa picks the biggest ones and keeps them, and sells the rest.
When grandma was cooking, she would bury the sweet potatoes in the firewood pile under the stove. When it was time to eat, the sweet potatoes would be ready to eat. He and his sister often quarreled over the different sizes of the sweet potatoes.
The first bite of sweet potato always gets scalded. Li Xun let out a “hiss” and raised his head to take two breaths of cool air.
“How does it taste?” Song Yang looked expectant.
“It’s delicious.” Li Xun broke off half of it and said, “Would you like some?”
“I ate on the way here.” Song Yang said.
“Then you can cover your hands with it.”
Walking into the inpatient building, I instantly felt a warm smell of disinfectant. Song Yang took off his hat and chatted with Li Xun about the game, and then asked, “Are Fatty Sun and the others receiving intravenous drips?”
“Yeah, several bags. I don’t know how long I will lose.” Li Xun got a headache when he thought about it. “After you finish watching, go back early with the team leader. We still have a game tomorrow. Have a good rest.”
“how about you?”
“I must stay here with them. They are both sick and can’t get out of bed right now.”
“Then how do you get home at night?”
“It depends. If it’s too late, I won’t go back. I’ll see if there’s an empty bed and stay there for the night.”
“Then I’ll stay here with them too…” Song Yang bit off the word “you” that was about to come out of his mouth in time, “accompany them.”
