[Gone with the Wind] Back to the beginning

The doctor turned around slowly, his expression stiff.

"Phil?" he repeated, as if confused about the meaning of the word, "Phil?"

"Yes, it's your son Phil Meade!" Scarlett grabbed the doctor's arm and said eagerly, "Go back and have a look, he's injured, he's dying, you have to go back and see him! "

The doctor looked at her as if he didn't understand what she said.

"God!" Finally, he spoke, but it was a trembling growl, and his face was distorted with resentment and anger.In an instant, Scarlett read the deep hatred on his face, but what he hated was not Scarlett, not anyone, but the world where such a thing happened.He roared, "Are you crazy? I can't leave them! I can't leave them for Phil alone!"

"But—" Scarlett could not help arguing, "Phil is going to die, doctor, he needs medical attention—"

"Death? Yeah, yes, they're all going to die—everyone here. No ointments, no quinine, no chloroform, not even bandages! God, give me some morphine! Just Give a little to those who hurt the most! Give me a little clophon! God damn Yankees, god damn Yankees!"

"Send them to hell, doctor!" The wounded on the ground echoed feebly.

Will she give up her family for others?No, absolutely not.But why are the eye sockets still sore at this moment? In this desperate and chaotic world, the sad solemnity is even more sad.Scarlett knew she couldn't persuade her any more.

At this moment the doctor had regained his composure, his face calmed down, he patted Scarlett on the face, and said to her:

"Okay, boy. Thanks for telling me that, but I can't go. Mrs. Meade didn't send Phil here but brought him home, so Phil's gone. There's no use going back, and besides, We have no medicine to save him."

Seeing that Scarlett just stood there blankly, he said again:

"The wounded still need me. If you want, stay and help me. Or go back and see Phil. Mrs. Meade can probably hold on, and we must hold on."

"...Doctor, I understand." Scarlett licked her dry lips, feeling a bloody smell, "I'll stay here to help you."

Dr. Meade didn't say anything, he just nodded and led Scarlett back to the carport.

------------------

When Scarlett finished most of the day's busy work and remembered that it was almost the time agreed with Rhett to get the medicine, she bid farewell to the doctor and walked out of the inhuman hell alone.When she inhaled the first breath of less turbid and smelly air, she was not as relaxed as she imagined, on the contrary, her heart was even heavier.The part called conscience seemed to be resurrected for the first time after so many years and began to show its existence.Waves of guilt made her breathless.

"Please, give me some medicine..."

"Without anesthesia, we can only operate directly."

"No! No! Leave me alone, don't cut my legs!"

"..."

She can obviously get the medicine.

Scarlett is very clear that what she asks Rhett is "the more the better", and what Rhett will give her will be more and never less.As long as there are medicines at home, it is very likely that some of the medicines she brought back this time-or even a large part of them will not be useful in the end.Bringing it back is just to give her peace of mind, just for the one in ten thousand possibility.But she knew better that the chances of surviving the wounded without medicine were even slimmer.

But she still couldn't convince herself.Scarlett's hands were trembling, her lips were slightly twisted, and her hands were tightly squeezed together.Those were her relatives, the relatives she had lost, the relatives she must keep no matter what.She once swore to God that no matter what she did, she would keep them, so how could she distribute that potentially life-saving medicine to others?How can she?

"Rett."

A man's figure appeared not far away, and Scarlett recognized it immediately.What he was holding in his hand must be the medicine she urgently needed.A tired smile appeared on her face, and she called out his name palely and feebly.

Even if the world collapses, there is still someone waiting for her at the end.

-------------------

"Hi, Scarlett." Rhett greeted her first, and the person who was leaning on him straightened up. He threw the cigar in his hand on the ground and stamped it out.For some reason, Scarlett thought he was not in the mood.

"Conscientious angel, are the people inside alright?" It was in the usual light and sarcastic tone, but the speaker seemed a little bit less interested at the moment.He casually handed what was in his hand to Scarlett, it was a cloth bag, "Here, take it."

Seeing that Scarlett didn't move, he twitched the corner of his mouth: "What? Didn't it come back to Atlanta on purpose? Take it, it's not heavy."

Scarlett agreed and took the cloth bag from him.She has been busy for most of the day, and at the moment she is exhausted, and she can only rely on instinct to do things.She opened the cloth bag, looked at it silently for a moment, and mentally calculated the weight of the bag and how much would be needed to treat her family under the most general circumstances, so she fell silent again.

Not too little, but too much.

In addition to typhoid medicine, there are also basic medical supplies such as gauze, quinine, and alcohol that she hopes for.Rhett was really thoughtful.But at this moment, holding such a cloth bag, what Scarlett felt was not sweetness or stability, but heavy depression.Conscience pricks, these things are too hot!But for the sake of her family, even if she was burned to the point of blood, she would never let go.cannot.

however……

"Rhett." Scarlett stopped and called out the name of the man in front of her, "You have seen it all."

"What?" He turned around, eyes flashing.

"You saw it." Scarlett said affirmatively, her tone was low, "here...there are dead people."

"Of course people will die in war." He smiled slightly, and for some reason there was an inexplicable sadness in his expression, and maybe even anger.His face suddenly became calm and gloomy, "Of course I know this, of course I know what's going on."

"—but I never look," he said softly.

Scarlett bit her lip, and suddenly, as if she had made up her mind, she untied the cloth bag again.She counted it roughly, stretched out her hand and pulled out half of it—and stroked back a third.She took off her apron, hurriedly poured the rest into the apron, and wrapped it up in a random way.Then she hastily bound up the part that remained in the cloth bag, and thrust it into Rhett Butler's hand.

"Do me a favor, Rhett." Her voice trembled but she spoke clearly. "Help me take this to Dr. Meade, please. I can't explain the source of the medicine, please do me this favor, or else I'm going to keep having nightmares."

Rhett gave her a deep look, but said nothing.But just when Scarlett thought he was going to refuse, Rhett took the cloth bag from her, and his words were so clear:

"Wait for me for a while, be back soon."

------------

In fact, what Scarlett didn't know was that Rhett had been here for a long time.

The man stood just across the street from the train station, watching the dust flying across the street and people coming and going.Everyone's face is full of exhaustion and numbness, but there is a kind of tenacity that will never fall.Painful groans|groans sounded one after another, and the smell of blood permeated the air faintly.People's desperate cries and begging became lower and lower.Thousands of soldiers, unkempt and unshaven, walked silently into the torrent of marching, preparing to step on the battlefield again after a little self-cultivation.

He had seen hell, and his heart was hard as iron.In fact, Rhett Butler has always been very aware of what is happening in Atlanta, and has consciously reduced his connection with these events.He was avoiding risks, both life risks and emotional risks.The secret dealings he had with the Yankees, the profits involved were large enough to make their relationship delicate, and the slightest display of affection for the South might at this moment raise suspicions--of course, he hadn't felt that way in himself before.He doesn't look at what's going on in the south, because he doesn't care about disdain, and he is willing to make himself more hated by the southerners, or there may be more reasons that he doesn't know clearly, for fear that a certain deep-seated emotion will revive and make him do something. Not worth the stupidity.

——Until he came outside the train station to pick up the girl.

He knew that Phil Meade was dying, and he could read from Scarlett's face that she was touched no less than him. Dr. Meade with the old goatee stood among the wounded, tired and determined like A general who deploys the battle of dignity in desperate situations.

The one who was defeated was actually himself.

Rhett Butler pushed through the crowd almost arbitrarily, his black face full of sarcasm.There was a hint of surprise in his eyes—for himself, it lit up.Despite his haste, the heroic Captain Butler did not step on any wounded

"What are you doing here?" The intrusion of the tall man obviously caused a commotion in the carport. Dr. Meade raised his head and saw that he was a notorious speculator in the city, and immediately darkened his face, "You are not welcome here, please immediately Get out." The doctors also lowered their faces, standing beside the doctor and glaring at Butler.Cold and restrained, it is still the demeanor of the upper class in the south.

But Reiter ignored them. The Charleston man just glanced at these gentlemen before throwing the cloth bag in his hand, and Dr. Meade subconsciously reached out to catch it.

"What's this?" he demanded.

"I'm leaving." Rhett didn't answer his question, "I have to leave Atlanta today, and I don't need these things anymore."

After he finished speaking without thinking, he looked at the faces of these noble people again, as if he planned to engrave them in his heart, then he smiled, put his right hand on his left heart, bent over and raised a bow .His movements were as graceful as ever, but not funny anymore.He got up, pushed aside two simple door curtains and strode outside.

"Why is he crazy?" The doctor said while opening the cloth bag.Suddenly, his pupils dilated unfathomably, followed by a cry full of joy and excitement:

"My God, it's medicine!"

---------------

At the same time, outside the train station, the black-haired man had returned to normal, and said with a smile to the green-eyed girl in front of him:

"Well, you won't have nightmares anymore."

Scarlett really wanted to say something to thank him, but she couldn't say anything at the moment. She held his hand tightly, feeling that the other party actually had the same emotions as herself.She calmed down.

"It's time for me to go back to Tara," she said to Rhett.