Hospital 444
Chapter 265 - 1 Dai Wei

Chapter 265: Chapter 1 Dai Wei

Dai Wei woke up and immediately felt the cold.

A bone-chilling cold.

"So cold..."

Wrapped in his quilt, Dai Wei stood up, went to the wardrobe for an extra quilt, and then returned to bed to wrap himself up again.

But he found... it still wasn’t warm enough.

Still cold.

"What in the world is going on?"

Today was his nineteenth birthday.

On his birthday... he hadn’t expected to wake up like this.

He lay in bed for a while longer, and then realized... he couldn’t fall back asleep.

The colder it got, the hungrier he felt.

Dai Wei stood up from the bed, put on a few clothes, and cautiously made his way outside, preparing to make himself some late-night snacks in the kitchen.

In this village, acquiring food was never a simple matter. The harvest of crops couldn’t guarantee resistance against droughts and floods, and food such as poultry, eggs, and dairy wasn’t so easily obtained either.

Fortunately... Dai Wei’s family had a considerable surplus of food.

But unexpectedly, just as he stepped outside, he saw his sister Dylan, flashlight in hand, flipping through a book.

"Hey, Dylan! You..."

"Brother!"

Dylan jumped with fright when she saw Dai Wei, "You scared me to death."

Dai Wei walked up beside her and said, "Staying up late to read, aren’t you afraid of ruining your eyesight?"

Dylan lowered her head with a grievance, "I... I..."

"Ah, never mind that." Dai Wei looked at the book she was reading. It was a travel guide, and on it was an illustration of a beach.

"Brother, I want to see the ocean." Dylan pointed to the photo in front of her, "If it weren’t for this photo, I wouldn’t even know what the sea looks like."

Dai Wei looked at the photo and said, "There’s nothing we can do about it, your brother has never seen the sea either."

Dylan thought for a moment, then said to Dai Wei, "Brother, it’s your nineteenth birthday today, right? Happy Birthday!"

"You little rascal, you just remembered? Why are you up so late reading?"

"There’s no time to read during school hours. But classes are so boring, with the same few teachers, and not even textbooks to speak of."

Clutching the book, Dylan said, "Brother, let me make a cake for you? I’ve seen a book about baking before..."

"No need," Dai Wei shook his head, "Why follow the Westerners in celebrating birthdays? Just a bowl of longevity noodles will do."

"But your name sounds so much like a Westerner’s..."

Dai Wei had always been very protective of his younger sister, and the siblings shared a strong bond.

"Brother..."

"Hmm?"

"After your birthday, you’ll have to join the village patrol team."

"Ah, yes. Once turning nineteen, no longer a student, considered an adult, I have to contribute to the village."

Dylan continued to look at her book, suddenly saying, "Brother, ten years ago, back when I wasn’t born yet... the village wasn’t like this. Back then, you..."

"Dylan." Dai Wei sighed, patted the back of Dylan’s hand, and said, "I don’t really want to reminisce about what happened ten years ago."

"Oh... okay."

Ten years ago...

Now that you mention it...

It has indeed been almost ten years.

"Huh?" It was at this moment that Dylan seemed to suddenly remember something, and said to Dai Wei, "Brother, why are you up in the middle of the night?"

Dai Wei felt it somewhat embarrassing to admit to his sister that he got up because he was both cold and hungry and wanted to find something to eat, so he quickly said, "Of course, I sensed you were reading and came to check on you."

Dylan looked at her brother closely, her face filled with disbelief.

"Brother, are you sure?"

"I am sure... yeah..."

"Alright then."

Dai Wei ruffled his sister Dylan’s hair and said, "Go to sleep. Both of us should."

"Oh, okay..."

Back at the bedside, Dai Wei lay down on the bed again.

Suddenly, he noticed, from the window, snowflakes began to fall.

"Is it snowing?"

It seemed that this harsh winter wouldn’t be easy to get through.

At that moment, Dai Wei recalled what Dylan had said earlier.

It was ten years ago... he was only nine years old then.

He still clearly remembered everything that had happened.

Although he was young, his memories of his father, who frequently worked in the fields growing organic vegetables, were fresh. In the village, most able-bodied adults preferred to work in the cities, which left mainly the elderly, women, and children behind – many of Dai Wei’s peers were left-behind children. But his father was different – he had no plans of going to the big city for work.

At that time, his mother had just gotten pregnant with Dylan and was suffering from severe morning sickness, unable to do farm work. His father had taken on all the farming responsibilities by himself and was indeed one of the hardest working farmers in the village.

But no one would have guessed that during that winter, the entire village...

"Huh..."

Dai Wei exhaled, and his breath quickly turned into a mist.

He had already turned nineteen.

...

He didn’t know how long it had been before he woke up, but when Dai Wei opened his eyes,

the eastern sky was just showing the first light of dawn.

Dai Wei still felt very cold.

The wind and snow outside remained the same.

When Dai Wei opened the door, he found that both his father and mother were up.

At that moment, they were preparing breakfast for the family.

"Dai Wei," his father saw him and immediately said, "You’re up so early?"

"Yeah, Dad, I’m up."

At that time, his father was carrying firewood and struck a match to light it.

The village had no natural gas or running water. Ten years ago... these things were available, but now, everyone had to be self-reliant and self-sufficient.

Although there was no running water, there was well water. His mother had gone out early in the morning to draw water from the well, and once his father lit the fire, she began to heat the water.

"Dai Wei," his mother said with a smile, "Today is your birthday. Come back early tonight, and I’ll make you longevity noodles, spare rib noodles."

"Okay!" Dai Wei broke into a smile at the mention of spare ribs.

Meat supply could not be said to be tight, but every family hoped to keep a bit more in reserve.

"Dai Wei," his father said, "this afternoon, follow me with some of our home-cured bacon to Captain Lin’s house. You’re nineteen now; you need to participate in the village’s daily patrol. This month it’s Captain Lin’s turn to be the leader. We should give him a little something."

"Yes, your father is right," his mother also nodded, "Captain Lin is a good man, and he’s easy to talk to."

"Okay, I understand."

"Remember," Dai Wei’s father reminded him, "when you see Captain Lin, be clever and sweet-talk him, for flattery penetrates where arrows cannot."

"Got it, Dad, Mom."

It was past nine in the morning.

Dai Wei, dressed in a leather coat, left the house.

At nineteen, he no longer had to go to school, and in this winter season, there wasn’t much farm work to be busy with anyway.

He gradually followed the others to a square in the village.

In the center of the square was Old Zhao, the most respected elder in the village.

In front of him was a box.

"Alright, everyone, it’s about time, so I’ll start drawing lots," he announced.

He approached the drawing box and said, "There are one hundred forty-two people in the village, excluding children under nineteen and the elderly over fifty. That leaves us with only twenty-eight adults of working age."

Dai Wei knew that he was now one of those adults.

"Now, I’ll draw lots to decide tonight’s patrol team. Apart from team leader Lin Tai, the other eight will be chosen by me."

The people in the square clearly became impatient.

"Old Zhao, you say this every day, don’t you get tired of it?"

"Hurry up! It’s so cold!"

So, Old Zhao reached into the drawing box in front of him...

His hand would determine the composition of the patrol team!

The drawing box in front of him wasn’t strictly one-vote per person.

Some, if their harvest had been poor and food was scarce, could put in an extra paper with their name on it to receive a certain amount of food. Conversely, if one was willing to donate their food to the village, they could opt to not drop their name into the drawing box for a month.

"First up... Dai Wei!"

At those words, Dai Wei was completely stunned.