Chapter 755: Emergency

Song Sisi flipped her phone’s camera around so Hao Ying could see Li Xu sitting across from her, eating. She smiled and said, “I’m not busy. We’re just having dinner. Why are you in such a rush so late at night?”

“Ah, you two are living together?” Hao Ying exclaimed in surprise from the other end of the video call.

From the camera’s view, Song Sisi and Li Xu were wearing loungewear, clearly eating in a luxuriously decorated home. The food on the table consisted of home-cooked dishes; they definitely weren’t dining out.

“Shoo, shoo. Weren’t you asking for help? How do you have the time to gossip right now?” Song Sisi’s face flushed slightly as she playfully scolded her.

“Ah, right, right, right! I almost forgot about the main point.” Hao Ying finally remembered the purpose of her video call. “Sisi, did you see the screenshot I sent you? One of my college roommates—we’re super close—her mom is in critical condition at her hometown’s county hospital. You work as a nurse at the city hospital, right? Do you know any top-tier experts? Can you help arrange a hospital transfer or a consultation?”

Hao Ying had actually made this video call with the mindset of grasping at straws. Since the two of them only contacted each other occasionally, Hao Ying didn’t know much about Song Sisi’s current situation. She only knew that after graduating from nursing school, Song Sisi became a nurse and later seemed to have started dating a doctor.

As for what tier of hospital Song Sisi worked at now? How skilled her boyfriend actually was? What department he belonged to? Hao Ying had no clue. Let alone knowing about Li Xu’s meteoric rise to fame in Feng City, and even across the entire provincial medical field.

Of course, this was also because the patient wasn’t Hao Ying’s own immediate family; she was just her college roommate’s mother, after all. With that degree of separation, her emotional state and level of urgency were naturally different.

If Song Sisi could actually help, then it would be doing a quick favor. If she couldn’t, then there was nothing to be done; Hao Ying had at least tried her best. If it were her own parents who were this sick, Hao Ying would have been jumping out of her skin with anxiety long ago, trying every possible method to pull strings and find connections.

“What’s the specific situation?” Song Sisi asked.

Hao Ying briefly and concisely explained the situation through the video. “This afternoon, her mom suddenly experienced numbness on the left side of her body and couldn’t even speak clearly. She was rushed to the county hospital for an MRI. The results just came out. She was diagnosed with subacute infarction in the right basal ganglia and paraventricular areas. That means cerebral infarction—a stroke.”

Hao Ying’s roommate, despite being a local of Feng City, had a very ordinary family background, with both parents being laborers. Even though she was technically a medical student currently pursuing her postgraduate studies out of town and did know some friends in the medical circle, her resources were limited. Of course, as an ungraduated medical student, the most impressive connection she could possibly have was her own supervisor. However, supervisors were usually far away and incredibly difficult to book an appointment with.

Only naive young students like her, panicking in the face of such a sudden medical emergency, would pin their hopes on an almighty plea for help posted on their WhatsApp Moments. More mature adults in society knew that for such life-or-death illnesses, the effectiveness of Moments was virtually non-existent. Who with any real medical prowess would accept a consultation over Moments?

“Which hospital is the patient at right now?” Li Xu put down his chopsticks and interjected.

“She’s still in the observation room of the county hospital’s emergency department,” Hao Ying quickly replied. “The doctors at the county hospital said the condition is still progressing and suggested transferring her to a higher-level hospital.”

Li Xu pondered for a moment, his mind quickly assessing the situation. If the patient were currently in the neurology department of a top-tier Grade 3A hospital like the City People’s Hospital or the City First Hospital, it would actually be inappropriate for him, as the vice dean of the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, to forcibly intervene and poach the patient. After all, it would arouse suspicions of stealing patients, and Western medicine’s thrombolysis technology was indeed quite mature.

However, to Li Xu, the fact that the patient was currently at a subordinate county-level hospital made the situation entirely different. Faced with a patient in the subacute phase whose condition could deteriorate into a massive cerebral infarction at any moment, county hospitals usually didn’t dare to take the risk, given their limitations in both hardware equipment and medical expertise. They would most likely strongly recommend and agree to a hospital transfer.

“How about this? Have your roommate handle the paperwork immediately, and get the county hospital’s ambulance to transfer her straight to the emergency department of the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine,” Li Xu said decisively.

“Okay, Brother Li.” Hearing Li Xu’s crisp and clean answer, Hao Ying found her pillar of support. With almost no further questions, she agreed right away. “Then I’ll call my roommate to tell her right now so her family can prepare for the transfer. I’ll call you back once the paperwork is sorted.”

“Alright,” Li Xu responded, and Hao Ying hurriedly hung up the video call.

“Eat faster. Once we’re done, we’ll probably have to make a trip to the hospital,” Song Sisi smiled and urged him, speeding up her own eating at the same time.

As Li Xu’s girlfriend and right-hand assistant, she knew his temperament all too well. Encountering such a critical emergency, he would never just stand by and do nothing.

Chatting as they ate, the two quickly finished their dinner. Before they even had time to clear the dishes, Hao Ying’s call came in again. This time, it was an audio call.

“Brother Li, my roommate has communicated with her family, and the county hospital has agreed to release the patient. They are getting into the ambulance right now and transferring directly to your Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Um… should I give them your phone number so they can contact you when they arrive?”

“There’s no need to give them my number.” Li Xu thought for a moment. Just to be safe, he said, “Give them Director Zeng’s number.”

Since the patient was transferring over this late, they would definitely come straight through the emergency channel to be received by the emergency department. Letting Director Zeng Yunjun of the emergency department understand the situation in advance would allow both sides to communicate and prepare for the reception and resuscitation as quickly as possible. Moreover, following the formal emergency admission procedure complied with the hospital’s rules and regulations.

After hanging up, Li Xu first sent Zeng Yunjun’s phone number to Hao Ying via WhatsApp. Then, he immediately dialed Zeng Yunjun’s number, briefly explaining the condition of the incoming cerebral infarction patient and stating that he would also head over to take a look shortly.

Once the instructions were given, Li Xu and Song Sisi quickly changed into their outdoor clothes and drove straight to the emergency department of the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Under the cover of night, the emergency hall remained brightly lit. People came and went, the air thick with an atmosphere of anxiety and busyness.

“Director Yunjun.” As soon as Li Xu walked into the emergency department, he spotted Zeng Yunjun arranging beds at the nurse’s station and went over to greet him.

“Dean Li, you’re here.” Zeng Yunjun turned around. “Is the incoming cerebral infarction patient a relative or friend of yours?”

“My girlfriend’s roommate’s mother. I guess you could say we’re acquainted,” Li Xu replied.

“Mhm. I just got a preliminary understanding of the patient’s detailed condition over the phone with the accompanying doctor from the county hospital,” Zeng Yunjun said.