Chapter 65: The High-Ranking Official's Hospital Room
Mom smoothly moved into the Guanglan Military Region General Hospital and was admitted to the high-ranking ward. At the Guanglan Military Region General Hospital, Baoyu Lin's mother was probably the first person who had no relationship with the high-ranking military leaders but was admitted to the high-ranking ward. She was also an elderly rural woman who had never seen many luxurious things before, which scared her and made her think that Baoyu Lin must have spent a lot of money to make this happen. Baoyu Lin didn't know how to explain it to his mother either. Although Guanglan City Public Security Bureau Director He Qinglong helped by calling the hospital director, this was still not enough for Baoyu Lin's mother to be admitted to the high-ranking ward at the Guanglan Military Region General Hospital. It would probably take more than that even if Director He himself were sick. However, with the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office stepping in, things became different. The issue of Baoyu Lin's mother being hospitalized was elevated to a matter concerning national diplomacy, and it also involved Wang Hong, the commander of the Guanglan Military Region Investigation Brigade. As a result, Baoyu Lin's mother, a rural villager, received treatment that only high-ranking officials could enjoy.
The old man was hospitalized, not only did he undergo a thorough examination, but also had 24-hour care from a dedicated person. As his companion, Bao Yulin even had a separate rest room. In fact, Bao Yulin didn't want things to turn out this way, and he knew it was a waste of resources. The old man just had his leg broken by a car, if Bao Yulin wasn't trying to put his mind at ease and give the old man a thorough examination, under normal circumstances, he would have been able to leave the hospital already. Generally speaking, after being cast in plaster, one only needs to rest for a period of time, wait for the bones to heal naturally, and check up on them from time to time, there's no need for hospitalization. Bao Yulin thought about how his mother had not been in good health lately, and since he had the time now, he might as well have her stay in the hospital for a few days to get a thorough examination.
Those who can live in the high-ranking ward of the General Hospital are mostly some retired old men and women from the army. Many of these people have been suffering from various geriatric diseases for a long time, and they have been stationed here for a long time. Although some of them look weak and sickly, there are also those who are in good spirits. However, as they age, they all have some physical discomforts. In fact, many of these people were used to being at the pinnacle of power, but after the central government drew a line, they had to retire when they reached a certain level. The strong sense of loss made many people unadapted, and these people were all meritorious officials who had been busy for a lifetime. Suddenly one day, the country announced that they no longer needed to work and could enjoy their retirement. Many people became unaccustomed to this new life, and various illnesses emerged. Some people didn't have any serious health problems but couldn't get used to staying at home all day, watching others busily working. Moreover, their children were mostly in the prime of their careers, and they didn't want to drag them down. So, they found an excuse to stay in the hospital. After all, there are many old friends here with similar situations, and they can chat together and reminisce about the past.
Don't look at the old men and women staying here, but take one out casually, and they were all mighty figures in their heyday. Even if they are hospitalized, from time to time, there will be some of their former subordinates coming to visit them. Although they are no longer in power, their energy is not to be underestimated by anyone. After being a leading cadre for so many years, they have woven a vast network of relationships. If you offend these people, it's likely that you'll be directly reported to the central government, and if things get out of hand, even those who are currently in power may not be able to withstand it. However, on the other hand, the current leaders understand that the energy of these old revolutionaries is great, and they are united, and besides, they have all retired, unless someone wants to make trouble for themselves, no one wants to offend them. Another aspect is that these old cadres were also leading cadres for many years, and they are very aware that having people pointing fingers and making gestures behind their backs will make it difficult for them to do things, so no one is looking for trouble.
When Bao Yulin's mother moved into the high-ranking cadre ward of the General Hospital, it was just after lunch break. The old cadres with regular living habits would usually come out to bask in the sun and chat at this time, except for those who couldn't move around. At this moment, an elderly woman suddenly entered the high-ranking cadre ward with only one young man accompanying her (Bao Yufeng still had to go to work, and Bao Siguo needed someone to take care of him), with a plaster cast on her leg. This surprised the old men and women very much. Think about it, when they came in, weren't they always followed by a large group of people? Not to mention that this elderly woman was obviously injured. So someone started asking around. As a result, everyone was shocked to learn that this elderly woman named Lu Xiyun was just an ordinary peasant. It is said that she was arranged to stay in the high-ranking cadre ward by the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office.
This time, the usual sense of superiority made these old cadres discuss it endlessly. They couldn't understand that although the Foreign Affairs Office had some privileges at times, it was still a unit under the Provincial Committee. Even if the director of the Foreign Affairs Office was ill, he wouldn't be able to enter this high-ranking hospital, let alone someone arranged by the Northwest Province's Foreign Affairs Office.
Bao Yulin's mother had not been in the hospital ward for long when Director Lan from the Foreign Affairs Office of the Northwestern Province arrived at the Guanglan General Hospital in his Crown car. He did not dare to drive the car into the high-ranking officials' ward. Although his car was highly equipped due to work, driving such a car into the high-ranking officials' ward would definitely make him feel uneasy. If that old official was in a bad mood and criticized him, it would be a difficult situation to explain, and he would have to endure the criticism.
Seeing Director Lan come in, an old man who was sunbathing called out to him.
"Xiao Lan, come here." The old man called out.
Director Lan of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shaanxi Province was about to rush to see the resettlement situation of Bao Yulian's mother, and when he heard this call, his nerves were tense. There are only a few people who can call him like that, except for Gan Xiushu, basically all in this hospital.
Following the sound, under a big tree, an old man wearing military uniform was playing chess and calling him. There is a convention here, generally, people from the military and political aspects are relatively clear-cut. Local high-ranking officials usually wear hospital clothes or casual clothes. Retired cadres from the troops all wear military uniforms, it's not clear why, but it can be said that it's a tacit understanding.
Director Lan's office was transferred from the Guanglan Military Region to a local place, although later on he would not be able to wear his military uniform even if he moved into this high-ranking hospital. However, it does not mean that he is unclear about who is greeting him. The person greeting Director Lan under the tree is the former director of the Political Department of the Guanglan Military Region, Director Lan's old superior. When Director Lan was transferred, he owed a great debt to this old superior for helping to make arrangements, which allowed him to be assigned to the Foreign Affairs Office of the Northwestern Province.
"Ah, Director Lao. What brings you here too? Is everything all right?" Even though they hadn't been in touch much lately due to work being busy, Lan still knew how to treat people properly and hurriedly took a few steps forward to greet him.
"I'm not sick or anything, I'm just bored out of my mind, so I came to keep you old friends company. What's with the flustered look on your face, what brings you here in such a hurry?" The team leader was always like this, never beating around the bush when speaking.
"That's right. It was a matter handed down from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The mother of a French army lieutenant was injured in a car accident by our military district reconnaissance team, and as a result, our local public security comrades mistakenly detained someone else. Due to this incident, the French ambassador later called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express concern. We received a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying that there was a problem somewhere, anyway, it's up to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with it. They must satisfy this French person. So, we had no choice but to arrange for his mother to come here. In short, try to satisfy him as much as possible." Minister Lan dared not hide anything and told everything in detail.
"What? What are you all doing here? Isn't he just a small army lieutenant colonel? Back then when I was promoted, I was already a major general. Why should foreigners be superior? Go and get the hospital director for me! This is a hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, not one opened by the French!" The old minister was furious. In fact, he wasn't the only one. Many retired cadres who had some connection to the army were also unhappy upon hearing this kind of sycophantic nonsense.
"Old chief, don't be angry, listen to me." Minister Lan may have been able to act tough in the province, but here he didn't dare show any temper. The people here, no matter which one you pick out, are all higher in rank than him.
"This French army lieutenant was originally a soldier, participated in the 79-year self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, and was a first-class meritorious citizen. Later, because he was captured, the situation was not clear for a while, and the work problem could not be settled, so he had no choice but to run to France to become a soldier. It is said that after making great contributions abroad, he became an officer. It is also said that he received a knight's honor, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attaches great importance to it." Minister Lan hastily explained, he did not dare to offend the old comrades-in-arms.
"He got a first-class merit in the self-defense counterattack? Which unit was he from originally?" The old minister's heart sank. As veterans, everyone knew what a first-class merit meant to a soldier. Such a person would be forced to go abroad, which would truly be a mistake for the unit's work.
"He was originally from the Wuhan Military Region, and the situation of his capture is very complicated, it's hard to explain for now. Why don't I go arrange something for his mother first, and then come out to talk to you?" Director Lan asked cautiously. To show his attitude, he should have arrived at the hospital before Bao Yulin, but since he came late, it was already a mistake, so he asked for instructions from the old minister.
"You go and take care of your business first, come out and tell me about the situation later, I'll wait." The old minister waved his hand and let Director Lan leave first. Ever since the old minister heard that Bao Yulin was a first-class meritorious deed in the Sino-Vietnamese self-defense counterattack war, he had no temper at all. People of this generation, who have gone through life and death on the battlefield, naturally know the value of a first-class merit. Bao Yulin's situation made people feel that there was more to the story. He had been a prisoner of war, and after the fact, the Wuhan Military Region could still award him a first-class merit, which showed that his contribution was extremely great. People who have spent their whole lives in the army love to hear such stories.
Director Lan's forehead was almost sweating, fortunately after the incident, he had a very detailed understanding of Bao Yulin's situation, otherwise today would have been really hard to get through.
After arranging the treatment for Bao Yulian's mother, Director Lan reviewed Bao Yulian's relevant information in his mind again before meeting with the old minister. Of course, when describing Bao Yulian's situation, Director Lan was truthful and followed the investigation materials. He didn't dare to fabricate anything, as he believed that if the old minister were to investigate, he would definitely know more than himself.
Director Lan was talking about Bao Yulin, and a group of old cadres surrounded him, listening like they were hearing a story. Director Lan knew that these old comrades were particularly concerned about people like Bao Yulin. In fact, this is also very normal, no one wants the good things in their own home to run to someone else's home.
Although he has returned to China, Bao Yulin still habitually conducts some routine training every morning. This is also a habit that has been cultivated over the years. Early in the morning, even without hearing the bugle call (the hospital doesn't blow bugles), Bao Yulin gets up on time according to his habit. First, he took a look at his mother who was sleeping soundly and found nothing wrong, then greeted the nurse on duty, wearing his exercise clothes and ran out of the ward. All along, Bao Yulin has been wearing military uniform for morning exercises, but now in the hospital of the army, on Chinese soil, he dare not wear French military uniform for morning exercises.
Although it's a hospital, after all, it's the army's territory. There are no other facilities, but there is a playground and some simple equipment. Bao Yulin had already set his sights on it. As soon as he got up in the morning, he ran towards the playground. He was already used to it. His daily exercise had to be completed according to a certain amount. The playground has a standard running track, which can measure the distance he runs.
When Bao Yulian ran a few laps on the playground, the female soldiers from the hospital's nursing department also came to the playground for exercise. In fact, in Bao Yulian's opinion, the significance of these female soldiers' exercise form was greater than the significance of exercise itself. Running slowly for a few laps had little meaning, at most it made people more alert and enter a working state...
Bao Yulin ignored them, single-mindedly running his own pace according to the time. He wore a Swiss-made chronograph watch specially designed for French special forces on his wrist. He had to complete his daily training quota according to plan.
The female soldiers would occasionally see male comrades showing off in front of them on the playground. Normally, the male soldiers wore sports shorts and a vest, almost revealing all their muscles. The female soldiers had noticed that whenever these men ran past them, they would speed up significantly and try to lead the way for a while. This tactic was nothing new to the female soldiers, who were not impressed. Perhaps it was because of his time abroad, Bao Yulin was used to seeing passionate French women. Compared to these uniformed female soldiers, he almost didn't notice them. He wore a morning exercise suit purchased from Paris, France, which had a significant visual impact on the female soldiers (most of whom came from wealthy families and were children of military personnel). The black and white suit was tailored to fit perfectly, making it a novelty for the female soldiers who only wore uniforms or sports clothes. With Bao Yulin's nonchalant attitude and his speed, which was obviously faster than usual, whispers spread among the female soldiers during their morning exercise, with many starting to gossip about which department this "patient" belonged to. The cadres responsible for leading the run and commanding the team were clearly aware of the situation but did not stop it, letting the female soldiers be as long as things didn't get out of hand.
But the problem still came, when Bao Yulin quickly ran 10,000 meters and then went to the equipment on the edge of the playground to exercise his arm strength, the female soldiers' discussion became even more intense. Especially when the female soldiers finished running 400 meters and came back to the single bar again, while Bao Yulin was still doing pull-ups, the female soldiers' formation almost couldn't move. It's said that the law doesn't blame the crowd, although no female soldier dared to say that they admired Bao Yulin (after all, China hadn't opened up to France yet), but the whole formation slowing down obviously made the leading officer very dissatisfied. In fact, he thought this training was too exaggerated, and there was no need to show off like this, as if afraid these female soldiers wouldn't know about him. He didn't believe that someone who wasn't in good physical condition could have such a large amount of training. Moreover, this was in the hospital, and this male soldier obviously had better conditions and came to the hospital to slack off.
Then a scene that left Bao Yulin speechless appeared. At the command of the team leader, dozens of female soldiers stopped in front of the equipment on the runway.
"Turn left!" The female soldiers of the entire nursing department faced the equipment area, lined up neatly on the playground, and watched Baoyu Lin's performance.
When Bao Yulin found something was wrong on the horizontal bar, he turned his head and almost got scared off. Although in France, during their morning training sessions, there would often be some beautiful women greeting them graciously, but that was within the team, they could directly ignore those French women's greetings as long as they thought she was waving at someone else. But now... dozens of female soldiers were standing opposite him watching his workout, which made Bao Yulin a bit unbearable. He quickly loosened his grip on the horizontal bar and tried to run away nonchalantly.
"Attention!" The head nurse gave the order: "Which department is this patient from? I think I should discuss with your doctor to give you a thorough check-up?" In the General Hospital of the Military Region, unless it's the child of a hospital leader, there wouldn't be such a big commotion. As the head nurse, she had some authority in saying so. Looking at Bao Yulian's age and rank, even if he was higher ranked, there was still a limit, so the nursing staff didn't take him too seriously, and naturally didn't need to be polite. She was actually quite annoyed that Bao Yulian was causing such a stir, disrupting her morning exercise routine.
At the sound of the order, Bao Yulin reflexively straightened up, but then he thought for a moment. He reacted and realized that this was China, and his current identity was that of a French officer. Moreover, he was just exercising, so what business did he have locking others up? After a brief pause, Bao Yulin didn't make a sound, and instead ran out quickly.
After seeing Bao Yulin stop, the leading cadre was still quite satisfied. No matter what, as long as he was in the hospital, even higher-ranking cadres would be more careful when they saw him, after all, for the hospital, he was still a management cadre. But unexpectedly, Bao Yulin just stopped for a moment and then took off running. The leading cadre was so angry that his nose was crooked.
"Hey, is there such a patient?" The team leader's face didn't look so good anymore. He pointed to the nursing soldier under him: "Which one of you knows which department this patient belongs to?" He really wanted to give Bao Yulin a show of his authority. Actually, it was very simple. As long as he said a word to the nursing department, Bao Yulin's days would be over if he was a patient.
A group of nursing soldiers chattered for a while, and a female soldier reported: "Report, this person doesn't seem to be a patient. I saw him in the high-ranking officials' ward, he seems to have come with someone else. The old lady he was accompanying had a leg fracture and is hospitalized." This female soldier happened to be on duty in the high-ranking officials' ward yesterday and had seen Bao Yulin once.
"Is he an escort?" The leading cadres had nothing to say. Firstly, the high-ranking ward was not a place where his hands could reach, and secondly, if he was an escort, there was really no way to deal with him. Moreover, being able to escort people to the high-ranking ward, it's not surprising that he has some ability.
Bao Yulin ran out of the playground and rushed towards Gao Gan's ward. Anyway, the exercise time was almost over, and it was time to prepare breakfast for his mother. Although the nursing soldier could help bring back breakfast, Bao Yulin had refused from the start, thinking that these things were better done personally.
Bao Yulin returned to the ward when his mother had already gotten up, and the nurse had helped the old man finish washing up. This is the advantage of a good hospital, they even consider things that you haven't thought of.
"Mom, I'll pack you breakfast. What would you like to eat?" Bao Yulin had just finished exercising and was still in an excited state. He picked up the lunchbox and asked his mom.
"Yu Lin, you don't have to bother, the nurse said someone will bring food over soon." The old lady didn't know the difference between a caregiver and a nurse, in her eyes, if it wasn't a doctor then it was a nurse.
"Alright, I'll go buy you some wontons!" Bao Yulin grabbed his lunchbox and ran out of the hospital room with a rhythmic gait.
The old man wanted to advise Bao Yulin, but he raised his hand halfway and put it down again.
"Auntie, your son is really filial." said one of the soldiers who was helping to tidy up the mosquito net.
"That's it." The old man didn't say much, but his eyes were full of joy.
Bao Yulin was running out of the ward with a lunchbox when Yuan Guanglan, the former director of the Political Department of the Guangzhou Military Region, was doing radio calisthenics downstairs. Seeing Bao Yulin coming down, he greeted him: "Young man, delivering breakfast to your mother?"
Bao Yulun has always been very polite to the elderly. Although he doesn't like to talk, it doesn't mean he doesn't understand human relationships and social etiquette.
"Is it? How's your exercise?" Bao Yulin said this as if he was saying "How are you?"
"Hmm! The young man is not bad, come over here after having breakfast, I have some things to ask you." The old soldier was very interested in Bao Yulian's affairs. In his opinion, a first-class meritorious citizen going abroad to be a soldier did not make sense either emotionally or logically.
"Understood, I'll be right there!" Bao Yulin was in a good mood. He had great respect for these old revolutionaries who had made contributions to the Republic.
