Along the way, Ye Yaodong kept trying to cheer up his wife, Lin Xiuqing.
With her rosy cheeks, she thought that he was getting bolder, even teasing her in public.
Though… it had been years since she had heard something like that. “You be quiet! We’ll talk when we get home!”
Ye Yaodong quipped, “You say one thing, but your heart says another!”
“Alright, I’ll talk about it tonight!”
Lin Xiuqing felt exasperated, unsure whether to be angry or to scold him.
By the time the couple returned home, they waited for a long while without seeing their two sons come back from the beach.
Worry began to creep into their hearts, and they decided to head out together to check, planning to bring back a bucket of seawater to raise clams.
Initially, Ye Yaodong thought he could just mix some salt in clean water to raise the clams.
It only required a handful of salt, but Lin Xiuqing insisted that he was being wasteful, arguing that Ye Mother would bring back seawater.
In the end, he reluctantly gave in to her wishes.
His frugality was, after all, due to their tight finances!
The couple hurried towards the beach, and as they arrived, they spotted a crowd near the water, with several heads bobbing in the sea.
“What’s going on?”
“Did someone fall into the water?”
The two exchanged worried glances, their brows furrowing.
They quickly started running, hoping it wasn’t their children involved.
As Ye Yaodong ran, he recalled that the village chief’s eldest grandson had drowned a couple of years back.
The hospital was too far away and delays led to the tragic outcome.
At the time, he had treated it as mere news and didn’t think much about it, but now the memories were vivid in his mind.
With that thought, his worries eased a bit, yet he still felt uneasy since he hadn’t seen with his own eyes.
Reaching the shore first, he overheard a shout coming from the sea. “We found him! We found him!”
Moments later, several young men from the village emerged from the water, carrying a child.
The anxious crowd rushed over, voicing their panic, “Ah Bin! Ah Bin! Wake up!”
“Son! Wake up!”
“Ah Bin! Ah Bin!”
“Is he not breathing? Oh, my son!”
Chaos ensued.
“Don’t panic, don’t panic… Press on his stomach first, maybe we can make him spit out the water and wake him up…”
“Or hang him upside down…”
The villagers were eager to help, offering suggestions.
Though they knew some basic drowning rescue methods, the child had already stopped breathing and had no pulse.
At this point, the best course of action wasn’t hanging him upside down, but performing CPR, which mainly involved chest compressions and rescue breaths.
The knowledge of CPR was still quite limited even in future times; in the countryside, who would know about it? No wonder the child from the last incident had not made it to the hospital in time.
Watching the villagers in a flurry, Ye Yaodong felt anxious.
Their actions might delay the rescue of this little life, who looked to be about the same age as his eldest son.
Without hesitation, he pushed through the crowd, “What you're doing is useless! He’s not breathing! You’re wasting precious time. We need to perform CPR!”
“What’s CPR? Do you know how to do it?” Ye Father looked worried.
Although everyone in the village was aware of the situation, losing a child could drive anyone to desperation.
“I’ve learned it,” Ye Yaodong felt the pressure of possibly being blamed if the child didn’t survive.
He turned to the child’s family, “Should I try? He’s not breathing! We have to act fast! And you, hurry to the commune and call for an ambulance!”
“Yes, yes! Please try!” spoke Chen Houzhong, the village chief, a middle-aged man with red-rimmed eyes.
He quickly urged the child’s father to dash off to make the call.
A village chief wasn’t a fool.
A kid already gone was still a dead horse to save as a living one; at least CPR sounded plausible.
Ye Yaodong confidently placed his hands where they needed to be, checked for a pulse in the carotid artery, and confirmed there were no obstructions in the mouth and nose before beginning chest compressions.
The pressure was applied in the lower third of the sternum, with hands interlocked, pressing down about five centimeters at a rate of 100-120 beats per minute, with two rescue breaths every thirty compressions.
He maintained this rhythm.
This was knowledge he had learned during his time on a large ship, and who would have thought he would be using it to save someone else in such a life-and-death situation?
The villagers watched silently, afraid to interrupt, only whispering among themselves.
As Ye Yaodong continued to follow the procedure, beads of sweat began to pour from him.
He felt the weight of nervousness pressing down on him, worrying that he might not be able to save this life.
After all, he too had faced death and cherished life deeply.
Having stumbled upon this child’s dire situation, he desperately wished to pull him back from the brink.
After seven or eight minutes with no response, a woman among the crowd could no longer hold back her sobs, “Are you even doing anything? My son is dead, isn’t he? He’s not coming back, is he? Waaa…”
“There’s still time! If he doesn’t recover in another twenty minutes, then we can be sure…”
The wailing increased among the crowd.
“Be quiet! Didn’t we say there’s still time? Don’t make a fuss…” Chen Houzhong hushed the grieving woman.
“He moved! His hand moved! He’s alive!” shouted an observant villager amidst the crowd.
“Yes, yes! I saw it too!”
The eyes of everyone sparkled with hope as they realized he truly seemed to be coming back to life.
Ye Yaodong sighed with relief, but he didn’t dare stop his motions because even if breathing and heartbeat returned temporarily, they could still falter again.
He kept going until he couldn’t anymore, then called his elder brother and younger brother to step in turn, and only when the ambulance arrived did he feel like he could breathe easy.
“Good heavens! I’m exhausted! My hands are shaking!”
The villagers nearby had witnessed the miraculous recovery of the child who had stopped breathing, and their hearts surged with emotion.
“Dongzi, you’re incredible! You really know how to perform first aid?”
“Thank goodness you were there today, otherwise, who knows what would have happened to Ah Bin…”
“That’s right! What you did is called CPR, where did you learn it?”
“I never expected you could do this!”
“Finally, Ah Bin’s life has been saved! Let’s see if he dares to play in the water again!”
Chattering in excitement, Ye Yaodong remained silent.
He was too worn out…
“Alright, it’s fine now. The ambulance has left, you all head back home.”
“Dongzi, next time you should teach everyone this method. Every few years, someone from our village drowns, but if everyone knows what to do, it might give more hope for survival.” Chen Houzhong patted Ye Yaodong’s shoulder, his eyes still red.
“Sure, that’s easy enough!”
“Once Ah Bin’s parents return from the hospital, I’ll have them thank you. Without you, that child might truly have been lost.”
Ye Father chimed in with a smile, “You’re too kind, Chen Secretary. It’s just neighbors helping neighbors.”
“Expressing gratitude is only right!”
They all chatted and exchanged pleasantries as they walked back…
(End of Chapter)