Crossing the Western Tianshan Mountains

As soon as he entered the hotel, Wu Yongjie collapsed on the bed. The small inn had limited rooms, so he and Nurlan shared a room. Nurlan scoffed at them, "You city people are just not good enough. You all collapsed all at once. For us Kazakhs, it's a little harder, but it's not that serious."

Wu Yongjie glared at him fiercely. "I've always heard that you Kazakhs are very loyal, but what happened? You left a living person in the mountains and nearly killed him. You're far worse than your sister Gulinar."

This sentence made Nurlan speechless. After a long while, he said, "That Ye Minglang doesn't look like a man. He is not qualified to be one of us mountain people."

"Why would a talented student and civil servant choose to live in the mountains? Nurlan, you're so young, why are you so pessimistic? If your sister and Ye Minglang can get together, and they come back to Shanghai in the future, you can go to the big city and have fun. What a wonderful thing! Why are you against it?"

"What's so good about a big city? There are people and cars everywhere. It's not as good as the mountains. I like cows and sheep, and I like being with my parents."

"That's because you like it. Have you asked your sister if she likes it? You can't be so selfish."

……

Wu Yongjie was really angry this time. Although Ling Fengxi was not good enough, Ye Minglang was a particularly good young man. This time, he almost died at the hands of Nurlan and others. It was scary to think about it.

"Nurlan, if Ye Minglang dies, your family will be in trouble. Do you know who will be responsible?"

"How can I be responsible?" Nurlan said angrily, "I don't have any money, but I have my life. At worst, I'll just take my own life with me."

"You--" Wu Yongjie felt that talking to Nurlan was like talking to a cow. He couldn't understand why Gulinar and Nurlan, who came from the same mountain, were so passionate and open-minded, while the other was so old-fashioned?

The rain continued to fall. Nurlan lay on the hotel bed, which smelled of laundry detergent, but she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. "It's raining so hard. I wonder how Bole is doing. And Jiapal, is he lost? I wonder if he can get home safely. If Jiapal is lost, Ye Minglang will have to pay for it."

Wu Yongjie was puzzled. "Who is Jiapal?"

"My horse..." Wu Yongjie suddenly realized that it was the horse that Gulinar rode back to the camp for help today.

"Oh, and you still want Ye Minglang to pay? You should pray to your mountain god first, so that Ye Minglang can survive."

……

After Ye Minglang and Gulinar were sent to the county hospital, Ye Minglang's condition was indeed quite serious. He felt pain in his lungs and had symptoms of bacterial infection, which was very likely to cause myocarditis. In addition, he had a high fever that wouldn't subside, so he needed to be given an IV drip immediately to reduce inflammation, and he also had to undergo an electrocardiogram test.

Looking at the tubes on his body, Ling Fengxi finally became nervous and asked Fang Ya, "Is he dying?"

Fang Ya glanced at him before saying, "Although it's serious, it's not fatal, but it's certainly dangerous. I have to thank Gulinar for today. If she hadn't braved the rain to return to the camp to report the news, Ye Minglang would have been delayed for another day and his life would have been in jeopardy."

Ling Fengxi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I'll guard here, you go check on Gulinar."

As they were talking, Gulinar rushed in. Without saying anything, she lay down beside Ye Minglang's bed, carefully held his hand in her own, and then put it on her face, "Ye Minglang, how are you? Wake up!"

Fang Ya patted her shoulder gently. "He's in the hospital now. The doctors will save him. From what I can tell, he'll be fine. But you, shouldn't you be in the ward? Why did you come out?"

"I was just too tired at the time, but now I'm fine. I just want to be with him."

Seeing that Gulinar's complexion had indeed recovered a lot, Fang Ya said, "Then you should also make sure to rest. There is an empty bed here. You can lie down on it. I'll go out and get something to eat."

In fact, Fang Ya was also exhausted. After coming out of the ward, she sat down on a chair in the corridor and could not move anymore. Ling Fengxi said, "I'll go get some food. You all wait here."

Fang Ya nodded.

Ling Fengxi just turned around when he suddenly heard Fang Ya say, "Was Ayala like Gulinar back then? I guess you and her weren't as passionate and persistent as Gulinar and Ye Minglang, otherwise how could you have broken up?"

Ling Fengxi paused slightly, without answering or looking back, and continued walking forward.

……

This incident involving Ye Minglang served as a wake-up call to both Ling Fengxi and Wu Yongjie.

After a few days, things returned to normal in the camp.

In fact, everything in the camp has been normal. Even though Wu Yongjie and Ling Fengxi both went down the mountain, everything in the camp was running normally because of the perfect management system, and the construction of the tunnel in the 14th site was also continuing.

However, the stream water problem in the palace became more and more serious, and everyone began to move to the new camp. The new camp had four or five rows of brick houses with a strong modern atmosphere, cement courtyards, brick stoves and beds. Thicker quilts were placed on the beds, and the windows were installed.

However, because the house was built and the sunlight time was relatively short, there was still obvious white alkali growing in the corners of the tiled floor and the white-plastered cement walls. The house was filled with a strong and damp smell of white alkali. But of course, it was much better than the tent.

Led by Fang Ya, the medical team first came to the new camp, but did not move in right away. Fang Ya said that if they lived in such a house, moisture would be absorbed into the human body, which would cause illness.

So I continued to live in the tent for the time being. At the same time, I lit some mugwort every day in the house I was about to move into to remove moisture. I opened the windows for ventilation at noon when the sun was shining brightly. At night, I closed the windows one by one to prevent the moisture from the mountains from entering the house.

After a few days of hard work, everyone finally started to move to the new camp together.

The new camp was actually farther away from the 14th site, but when they built the house, they found a relatively flat place and leveled the uneven areas before building the house. When everyone stepped into the flat courtyard without any slope, they suddenly felt as if their chests were opened up.

"Finally, we don't have to move around in puddles anymore." The workers said loudly and happily.

"Yeah, look around here, there are drainage gutters."

"This was all designed in advance, so it's naturally very good. Compared to the temporary residences we used to live in during other projects, this house is really average, but in this mountain area, it's definitely a good house."

"Do you think toads, scorpions, and snakes can enter this house?"

"The door must be kept closed at all times, otherwise it will be difficult to protect it."

"After all, it's much better than a tent."