The emergency room was not big, there was only one bed. However, there was a brand new ventilator and an ECG monitor that looked expensive.
A young lady in a white coat who was staying by the bed and doing emergency records like she was in a big hospital asked in a clear voice immediately when she saw the two of them barging in, "May I know if you're Zhang Daowu's family?"
"Nurse, I'm his villager, this is his son. How's Daowu?"
Although she was shocked that the patient had such a young son, the young lady answered professionally right away, "I'm a doctor. The patient is in a critical condition and needs to be operated on immediately. We've wasted too much time, we must sign now."
While the female doctor was talking to the middle-aged man, Zhang Lisheng looked at his pale and old father who was dying on the bed in a daze. There was a lot of sorrow in his heart, but there was also a lot of joy in his heart.
Speaking of which, Zhang Daowu had a special position in Guawo Village. Although he was cold and never socialized with the villagers, he was not a village cadre nor was he a respectable old man, all of the villagers in Guawo Village respected him. Even the old secretary who had been the pillar of the village for over 30 years dared not offend him.
Rumor had it that Zhang Daowu was over 80 years old, and some said that he was over 100 years old. In short, due to the war and turmoil in the past, all of the rumors could not be verified.
The only thing people knew was that when the red whirlwind of the cultural revolution swept across the country and even blew into the remote Guawo Village, the five-man task force that wanted to criticize Zhang Daowu in the county had all died.
Although the cause of those people's deaths seemed to be some strange coincidences, this was Western Sichuan after all. Since then, no revolutionary masses or cadre went to look for trouble with Zhang Daowu.
However, to his son, Zhang Daowu was not the mysterious wizard, but a cruel tyrant. Zhang Lisheng just had his memories when he was young, so he could not speak fluently. He was forced to recite those tongue-twisting incantations. If he could not recite them, he would have to starve or even have his flesh pierced by needles.
When he grew older and could hold a brush, he would have to copy the complicated pictures and ancient texts in ancient books over a hundred times every night. If he was careless, he would be punished with a wooden stick.
He was forced by his father to feed the venomous worms with his own flesh and blood three times a day. If he did not do it well, he would be whipped by the rattan whips. After a few years, he was around 30 to 40 pounds lighter than his peers. His height was also more than 10 centimeters shorter … Zhang Lisheng was a little older than Zhang Lisheng.
The past flashed before his eyes one after another. Only then did Zhang Lisheng realize that he had never enjoyed even a second of happiness and warmth in his short 16 years of life.
Seeing her father on the verge of death and thinking that he could no longer blame her, it was the most relaxing moment of her life!
When Zhang Lisheng was subconsciously reminiscing about the past, the old man on the hospital bed suddenly opened his eyes and stared at his only son. An expression of ecstasy and determination appeared on his face as his lips began to tremble silently.
The others had no idea what Zhang Daowu was doing when he woke up all of a sudden. However, Zhang Lisheng who was looking at him knew that his father was chanting witchcraft incantation.
'Could the incantation to control the venomous worms be able to save lives?' Zhang Lisheng was dumbstruck when the thought flashed through his mind out of nowhere. Subsequently, he heard a mysterious whisper echoing in his ears. His mind became muddled.
Everything seemed complicated, but in reality, everything happened within over ten seconds. After quickly explaining the patient's serious condition to Tao Lielin in the emergency room, the young female doctor wanted to get the patient's son to sign the operation consent form. However, she realized that the young man was staring at his father on the hospital bed. He was standing shakily as if he had lost his mind.
The patient was in danger. The female doctor had the thought flash through her mind instinctively. She then looked at the patient, and sure enough, his face was stiff and his mouth was twitching unconsciously. It was an obvious clinical symptom of organ failure.
"The patient's heartbeat is 35 and his body temperature is 34. There's an original organ failure. A Reese cardiac emergency agent will be injected into the cardiac artery directly …" Without wasting even a second, the female doctor performed the first aid in a very professional manner with a nervous expression. At the same time, she described the treatment steps clearly and recorded it with the recording device in her white coat.
Unfortunately, medicine could not cure an illness. In the end, the female doctor failed to save Zhang Daowu's life who was on the verge of death. After a few times of electric shock resuscitation with the pacemaker, the pulsating waves on the ECG monitor screen turned into a straight line. The beeping sound that represented the patient's heartbeat turned into a cold, long sound.
Her last effort was in vain. The female doctor looked at Zhang Daowu's widened eyes that were filled with hatred, regret, and unwillingness to die. After a moment of silence, she looked at the watch on her wrist helplessly and said in a deep voice, "14: 36, the patient died. The cause of death was a massive internal bleeding that led to rapid organ failure. Over."
After that, she slowly walked to Zhang Lisheng who was dumbstruck and said in an apologetic tone, "I'm very sorry but I've tried my best …"
As she spoke, the female doctor looked at the patient's son who had lost his loved one. All of a sudden, she could no longer suppress the anger in her heart. She strode out of the emergency room and roared at the emergency room's director in front of many patients, "The car accident patient is already dead. He has a child who is about 16 or 17 years old. He's still a teenager and he has lost his father now.
"If we didn't have to wait for the damn surgery to be signed, the patient would still have a chance to live.
"There's no nurse, no assistant physician, not even a care worker. I'm the only one in charge of the entire emergency room as a novice doctor who has just obtained a professional doctor's license.
"I can't believe that this is a regular emergency hospital that serves 400,000 people. Do you know that you're treating human life like grass? You're treating human life like grass!"
The emergency room fell into silence. The emergency room's director only reacted after a long time and shouted angrily, "Doctor Mary, you can't say such irresponsible words. What do you mean by treating human life like grass? I've said it just now. The patient's family members should sign the papers as soon as they arrive and they'll enter the operating theater after signing the papers. Who asked you to act so arrogantly?
"I think you're the one who's treating human life like grass.
"Do you think this is Beijing, Shenzhen or America? What regular emergency center? Dream on! This is Qu County in Western Sichuan. There are very few doctors and nurses in our county. That's why it's so difficult.
"I'm not the one who invited you here. It's you, the American student, who insisted on interning in a hospital in a poor area. You insisted on interning in a hospital in a poor area. In the end, you were forced to come to our hospital.
"To tell you the truth, if it wasn't for the advanced ventilator and ECG monitor donated by the Central China Medical Charity Association, our county hospital wouldn't have accepted you at all.
"Now that you're here, you're saying 'Okay, okay, okay, okay …' This doesn't meet the requirements, that doesn't meet the regulations. I couldn't hold it in any longer. Our county hospital isn't really a hospital in a poor area yet you already have so many opinions. If you were to go to a hospital in a rural area, wouldn't you turn the world upside down?
If your words really cause a doctor-patient dispute today and affect the evaluation of excellence in the emergency room, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll be furious. I'll call Director Li right now, and whoever is willing to serve you will have to … "
The room outside the emergency room was noisy because of Zhang Daowu's death. However, Zhang Lisheng, who was one of the most important parties in the incident, did not move or say a word.
It was until Tao Lielin, who came along with him, patted his shoulder and said softly in sympathy, "Mountain Worm, your father's gone. Just cry if you want to. Don't keep it in your heart. You'll get sick." Zhang Lisheng collapsed onto the ground all of a sudden.
Seeing that Zhang Lisheng had collapsed all of a sudden, Tao Lielin ran out of the emergency room to call for a doctor in a panic. Meanwhile, the emergency doctors from the Qu County People's Hospital rushed into the room as fast as they could. They were busy trying to save Zhang Lisheng.
Although Zhang Lisheng had no strength left in his body at the moment and his external senses seemed to have been taken away, his mind was extremely clear.
The witchcraft incantation that he was forced to memorize, the runes that he drew, and the incantation that he chanted flashed clearly in his memory. They floated before his eyes, condensed and mixed together continuously and disappeared slowly. Eventually, there was only a witchcraft incantation left.
At the same time when the witchcraft incantation was formed, Zhang Lisheng's entire body felt numb all of a sudden. There was a magical power growing in his flesh and a green bean-sized sarcoma bulged out of the roof of his mouth.
Later on, the power in his flesh and blood appeared intermittently. The sarcoma bulged out, disappeared, and bulged out again and again.
When the power in Zhang Lisheng's flesh and blood appeared and the sarcoma bulged out of the roof of his mouth, countless snakes and insects were running around the jungle in the mountains within a radius of a hundred miles around Qu County. Some of them even crawled onto the village roads in batches. Some of them screamed in fear while some of them were crushed into minced meat by the vehicles.
Not knowing how much time had passed, the magical power in his flesh and the sarcoma in the roof of his mouth finally stabilized and stopped disappearing. Zhang Lisheng opened his eyes slowly.
The single ward with mottled walls was filled with the disinfectant smell that was unique to the hospital. Seeing that Zhang Lisheng who was lying on the bed opened his eyes, Mary asked in concern, "What's your name?"
"My full name is Zhang Lisheng. My nickname is Mountain Worm," Zhang Lisheng answered in a hoarse voice.
Mary showed four fingers and asked, "How many are these?"
"Four."
"That's great. You're conscious, there's nothing wrong with you.
Zhang Lisheng, erm, Mr. Zhang Lisheng, you're already 16 years old. You've reached the youngest age to get a passport in China. You can be addressed as' sir 'respectfully. As a man, you must be strong and accept reality … "
"My father is dead. I know. It's okay," Zhang Lisheng said in a numb tone.
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