Chapter 290: Terrible tragedy

In China, the people of the border province were slightly more westernized since they often interacted with Russians who were more western than Asian.

For instance, people here loved to eat steak, although they didn't have as many rules about it as in the west. Still, the western food restaurants were really popular in Chasu City. The restaurants' interiors would be decorated as if they really were in the west. Of course, the meals at these restaurants would be rather expensive.

Also, the people of the border province really loved to buy on debt. Even those who only made 3,000 yuan per month would dare to go to the bank for a car loan.

People from the border province, when compared to people from inland China, really did only treat cars as a tool. They would go out on the weekend with family or a lover, either to the plains for a barbeque or to a primeval forest to pick mushrooms and wild vegetables, which would make them quite happy.

Fishing and hiking were really popular activities in the border province. Chasu City was an old city with hundreds of years of history, even if it was a small city. Although Chasu City was old, Zhang Fan felt that its roads were quite good.

The taxi industry wasn't very well developed here. In fact, fancy horse-drawn carriages for rent were more common to see out in the streets. Housing prices were cheap here, and population density was low, so people didn't have as much pressure. The tempo of life here was also relatively slow, which was why horse-drawn carriages were still popular. Chasu City's air was really clean, especially after the beginning of spring as various flowers would start blooming. There would always be a faint flower fragrance lingering in the air.

However, it seemed as if the cars had suddenly really increased in number after the Spring Festival this year. The number of cars was on another level entirely. The streets were filled with the sounds of honking. Traffic jams became really bad. Trying to find a parking space was like fighting a war. A trip which only took 10 minutes previously would now commonly take 40 minutes during rush hour.

Zhang Fan also noticed something rather strange. Although northwestern Chinese people were really direct and had a bad temper, they would still be reasonable. When walking in the streets, people would of course bump into each other, but most of the time, no major argument would occur. Both sides were usually quite understanding. Even for waiting in lines, maybe because of the communal farms, people here were more orderly than people from inland China.

However, once cars got involved, no matter if the driver was male or female, or how much education they had, or how high-ranking or lowly their job was, it seemed like most people would change. They would become really unreasonable and easy to anger.

Maybe the car in front was driving slow, while the car in the adjacent lane passed you by! It was common to hear curse words in the air! If there was an accident, then perhaps that would cause a fight out in the streets, which required police intervention to stop!

Maybe it was cars which had changed people, or maybe it was people who changed cars. Regardless, it seemed like people's personalities were changing to become more impatient ever since cars became more common.

Zhang Fan now rarely drove. Not only were there terrible traffic jams, trying to find parking at the hospital was such a headache. Zhang Fan wished that he could carry his car up to the hospital department with him!

The government couldn't do anything about the high number of cars. The city planners from 10 to 20 years ago had never expected that China would've changed so much. The roads were rather narrow. Since Chasu City also wanted to compete for being awarded as a nice city to live in, they also constructed many gardens on the already narrow roads. The roads which were originally four lanes were narrowed down to two lanes.

Fights in the streets could be seen every day because of cars! The worse the traffic jams became, the more arguments there were. People became ever more frustrated, leading to even more accidents.

The narrow and crowded streets could be described as being an indirect accomplice or even killer for causing all these incidents.

The Rural Electricity Bureau, located in between the city and rural villages, was a place that most city dwellers were unfamiliar with. This was a special bureau that only existed in major agricultural provinces.

This bureau didn't have many employees. Since it was far away from the city, the bureau had an apartment constructed for its employees right next to the workplace. Tonight, as people got off work, there was the sharp sound of a child screaming in pain.

Wang Congcong was a little boy who had just turned four recently. He was incredibly naughty as well as incredibly curious about everything. His parents were both employees of the Rural Electricity Bureau.

He hadn't gone to kindergarten today, because he had a cold. Wang Congcong's mother thus asked her own parents to help take care of him for today. Wang Congcong's grandparents really doted on him.

Wang Congcong's mother was really tired these days as she had to take care of her son and ensure that the rural villages had electricity, and also because it was currently planting season. She was getting somewhat skinny from her fatigue.

Today, Wang Congcong's grandparents took him to the bazaar and purchased several large cow legs, some whole wheat, and beans so that they could cook some beef rice for their daughter and son-in-law.

Bazaars were a type of open market in the border province. Since bazaars were temporary, there were no highly professional meat cutting machines. The purchased cow legs were still large and uncut, so whoever purchased them would have to do additional work cutting the cow legs into smaller pieces.

Later that night, Wang Congcong's grandfather started swinging an axe in order to cut through the bone in the cow legs. However, Wang Congcong's grandmother just happened to go to the bathroom at this time, so nobody was watching Wang Congcong as he sneaked over to grab a cow leg.

As Wang Congcong's grandfather swung the axe, *shing!*, the cow leg bone was sliced together with Wang Congcong's tiny hand! The boy's entire hand was cut off from the wrist!

Blood started spewing out as if a high-pressure water gun was being shot everywhere. The boy grabbed his injured right arm with his left hand due to the pain and cried extremely loudly. Blood spurted everywhere in the kitchen!

The sliced off tiny hand was really pale! Its fingers were still twitching!

"Aaah!" The extreme pain caused Wang Congcong to cry so much! His lips were turning purple!

"Hand! My hand!!!" Wang Congcong was still only four. Even an adult wouldn't be able to withstand this pain! Wang Congcong's grandfather felt his vision going dark when he saw this sight!

"Hurry! Someone's dying! What are you doing!? Hurry and come!!" Wang Congcong's grandfather loudly called out to his wife while grabbing his grandson's wrist, hoping that he could stop the bleeding with his hand! However, he wasn't able to stop the bleeding at all. The tremendous blood pressure caused blood to keep spurting.

Wang Congcong's grandmother had just finished going to the bathroom. She hadn't even pulled up her pants yet when she heard Wang Congcong's screaming and her husband's shouting. She hurriedly ran out of the bathroom, but since she hadn't pulled up her pants and due to rushing, she accidentally smacked her head against the bathroom door, causing blood to flow.

This was truly trouble on top of trouble. She couldn't be bothered with the blood right now as she held her head and pulled up her pants while running out of the restroom. Her heart really clenched when she saw her grandson's cut off little hand and her husband covered in blood! She felt as if knives were stabbing her heart. She even let go of her head!

Luckily, she had previously been a surgical nurse at a small city hospital. She thus understood basic emergency treatment. Without caring about anything else, she went over while taking off the leather belt around her pants!

Although she was old and retired, she still had her former professional knowledge. She threw off her pants as she walked. While wearing her underwear, she directly used her leather belt to tie around a location four centimeters above her grandson's elbow. This action was correct. When needing to stop blood, no matter how much of an emergency it was, it would be absolutely vital not to use a thin rope or metal wire to tie the limb. While thinner objects were indeed capable of stopping the bleeding, the tying would be too tight and would easily cause necrosis because they were too thin!

"Call our daughter and her husband immediately! We need to immediately get a taxi!" she said as she placed her grandson's cut off tiny hand in a clean bottle!

Both grandmother and grandfather were now covered in blood. Together, they carried their grandson while running as he kept vomiting! His face was turning pale!

Everyone who got off from work now at the Rural Electricity Bureau saw that the grandparents were covered in blood. They then saw the incredibly shocking scene of the child's condition! People hurriedly came over to help them. Since they were all from the same workplace, they all knew each other. One person who had a car immediately drove his car over to help out without even needing to be asked.

Not long after, Wang Congcong's parents also arrived!