Chapter 665 - 331: Pity Is Not Deceit!

Outside the emergency operating room at Xiangzhou People's Hospital.

The sunset hung like smoke, red and hazy.

Xiang Yaojun's face was flushed dark red; he clenched his teeth, forcing down his emotions: "Dr. Du, if my son's going to have his leg amputated, we could've just had the surgery done back in the county."

"We rushed here all the way from Tongren. It's been a long trip."

"And it was our county's Director Qiu who said,"

"that over here you could save the limb."

Tongren is in the neighboring Guizhou Province; it borders Ji City in western Xiangxi, but it's still some distance away.

Du Hua'an reached out his hand, his expression calm: "We know you came all the way from the neighboring province. It's especially hard."

"But Director Lu isn't on duty today, and for the moment no one in our hospital can do this kind of surgery."

"The injury has already been dragged out long enough… If we still don't amputate, it's going to become life‑threatening…"

"The surgeon doing the amputation today is the associate chief physician from Trauma Surgery, his technique is excellent."

Xiang Yaojun couldn't accept this outcome: "Can't you have Director Lu come in and work some overtime?"

"My son is only nine this year!~" Xiang Yaojun's voice was hoarse, spit stretching in thin threads.

On his dark‑skinned face, both eyes were bloodshot.

Du Hua'an thought for a moment and said, "Our Director Lu was on duty from April 30th to noon on the 4th."

"Not the kind of 'off work, go home' you're imagining."

"It was nonstop operating in the hospital—he was here more than ninety hours straight."

"He still has to work as usual tomorrow; on the 6th he's on a twenty‑four‑hour shift, the kind where you don't go home at all."

Xiang Yaojun pleaded, "Just do me a favor…"

Du Hua'an cut him off, his tone slightly displeased: "Do you want him to risk his life doing you this favor?"

"We can already foresee that even if Director Lu comes in, even twenty‑four hours in a row wouldn't be enough to cover everything."

"He's a human being too!!!"

Xiang Yaojun started to speak but held back, swallowing the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Honestly, he wasn't sure how true this young doctor's words were—but Du Hua'an wasn't the first doctor to talk to him.

The other doctor had said the same thing.

"He's just a child…" Xiang Yaojun tried to use that to stir Du Hua'an's sympathy.

"Can't he just rest normally at other times?"

Du Hua'an said, "A child's life is a life, an adult's life is a life, and an adult might be the father of a child or a pregnant woman."

"You think Director Lu should rest normally at other times—don't the families of the other patients think the same?"

"So what are we supposed to do?"

"Stop wasting time. It's already been five or six hours since the injury; if we still don't amputate, then it's going to become life‑threatening."

Xiang Yaojun decided to play the rogue: "Call your Director Lu over here."

Seeing that Xiang Yaojun was completely unresponsive to reason, Du Hua'an said, "If you keep this up, I'll call people from the Safety Office, I'll call the police!"

"Then call the police!" Xiang Yaojun was ready to go all in.

Du Hua'an turned and walked off.

After he made the call, it was less than ten minutes before several people from the Safety Office arrived at the trauma center of the emergency department.

At the same time, the general on‑duty office under the Medical Affairs Department also sent people over.

With cases that could turn into medical disputes—high‑risk groups for medical disputes—you had to communicate in advance and stamp out trouble before it started.

All Xiang Yaojun wanted was to see a leader.

When he saw the people from the Safety Office and general on‑duty, he immediately rushed forward in tears and snot.

"Doctors, leaders, my child is only nine, it was an accident."

"We came from Tongren, it's a long way, just because we don't want the child to have his leg amputated."

"I'm begging you leaders to think of some way to help."

But the expressions of the people who had come were all rather indifferent: "We understand, family member, calm down. We really do understand what you're going through."

"And we know what you're asking for, but…"

Tao Ze was the Safety Office staffer on duty: "Director Lu did in fact just get off his shift yesterday. Please try to understand that."

"Our hospital has fixed duty rosters."

Hearing that none of them were budging, their expressions not changing in the slightest,

Xiang Yaojun grew a little angry: "Can you really be that heartless, just watching my son's leg get chopped off?"

"He's only nine!"

"Do you people have any humanity left?"

Tao Ze straightened his back; burly as he was, he stood up: "If we can't bear it, what are we supposed to do? You tell us what we should do."

"Have Director Lu come work overtime!" Xiang Yaojun said.

Tao Ze shot back, "Why didn't you just charter a helicopter to Shanghai or Kyoto in the first place?"

"You're his father, aren't you? Why didn't you do that?"

"If you'd gone to Kyoto or Shanghai right away, your son's limb preservation surgery would probably be finished by now."

"Or why didn't you charter a plane and have an expert from Shanghai or Kyoto fly to your Tongren to operate on your son?"

Xiang Yaojun was instantly stung: "What are you trying to say?"

"You think I have that kind of money?"

"Are poor people not worthy of treatment?"

Tao Ze was quick on his feet: "No, of course poor people deserve treatment."

"But just because you're poor doesn't mean you get to drive someone else to their death!"

"No one does."

"Over ninety hours of continuous duty is not a joke."

"What do you think?"

Xiang Yaojun's Adam's apple bobbed up and down: "But I'm out of options."

"He's my son. Today, what will it take to keep him from losing his leg?"

"Is it money?"

"How much money? You name a figure."

Tao Ze shook his head: "At this point, talking about money doesn't mean anything anymore."

"The limb preservation surgery itself isn't expensive, but there's no one to do it."

"Then call Director Lu to do it!" Xiang Yaojun shouted?

Tao Ze stayed calm, choosing to meet force with force: "Why don't you call some other director to do it?"

Xiang Yaojun shot back, "Call who? Who else is there?"

"You're the ones who said that besides Director Lu, no one can perform it."