Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 54
by Little PandaVolume 2: Inheritance
Feline Distemper
Chemical plant explosion
When Wu Xinyuan woke up, the hospital room was empty, with only her sister, who had fallen asleep by her side, still guarding her.
In a daze, that feeling of weightlessness came over her again. Looking at the person before her, she had the illusion of being a guest in her own dream. She slightly raised her hand, but before she could move, Wu Xinyu sprang up. Seeing that she was awake, she didn’t reproach her, but tears immediately streamed down her face.
This was more effective than any words. In her eyes, she saw struggle, hesitation, attachment, reluctance…
Various emotions, like a spilled bottle of five-spice powder, seared her eye sockets, making them ache. The two of them could no longer hold back and embraced each other, sobbing.
“Sister… wuwu… don’t leave me… If you go, I’ll be all alone…”
Wu Xinyu nestled into her embrace, her face covered in tears. The harrowing scene of hanging from the high-rise building still made her heart race whenever she thought about it.
“I… I don’t want to be a burden to you… You’re still young…” Wu Xinyuan said hoarsely, stroking her sister’s somewhat dry and yellowing hair.
Wu Xinyu raised herself from her sister’s embrace, wiped away her tears, and held her shoulders firmly. Just as Yu Gui had said to her, she declared with conviction: “Trust me, as long as you don’t give up on yourself, there will surely be a way to save you.”
On the night of Wu Xinyuan’s failed suicide attempt, she had gone to the duty room to find Yu Gui. The doctor, with her right hand wrapped in bandages, had struggled to get down from the narrow bunk bed and had held her shoulders in the same way, speaking with unwavering certainty.
She had said: “I’m not a god, not an expert, and I can’t even be considered the attending physician. But I have a heart that desperately wants her to live, and I’m constantly making efforts towards that goal. As long as she doesn’t give up on herself, there will always be hope.”
If Yu Gui had truly changed in any way, it was that she had transformed from someone who only talked the talk to someone who not only shouted slogans but actually took action. She genuinely wanted to save Wu Xinyuan, and also to prevent tragedies like Miaomiao’s from happening again.
In the simulated operating room, the monitoring equipment sounded once more. The 38th attempt had failed.
Lu Qingshi released the laparoscope and flexed her wrist slightly. “Let’s take a five-minute break. Yu Gui, you’ll be my assistant for the next round.”
Everyone in the simulated operating room was practicing in their spare time after busy work hours. It was already past one in the morning. Yu Gui was yawning continuously, yet she still managed to doze off on the monitoring equipment for a moment after Lu Qingshi left, setting an alarm to wake up precisely five minutes later.
When it was her turn to be the first assistant, she became particularly cautious. Although it wasn’t her first time assisting Lu Qingshi in surgery, she still felt somewhat flustered.
Unsurprisingly, the 39th simulated surgery also failed, leaving her feeling somewhat dejected.
The person across from her had worked a day shift followed by a night shift without showing any signs of fatigue. She held the laparoscope steadily in her hand and, without raising her head, said: “Continue.”
Yu Gui had no choice but to muster her energy and reply: “Alright.”
After the 40th simulated surgery failed, Lu Qingshi walked out of the operating room to get some air. Outside, daylight had already broken. The morning sunlight streamed through the glass curtain wall into the corridor, bathing the fire-blue uniform of the firefighting instructor. She leaned casually against the wall, idly playing with a lighter in her hand. With her tall figure and high cheekbones, she possessed striking good looks, attracting sidelong glances from the medical staff. The object of their attention, however, remained indifferent until she spotted the doctor in green scrubs walking towards her from a distance.
She quickly stood up straight, swiftly tucking the lighter into her pocket, looking as if she was about to salute: “Good morning, Dr. Lu.”
Lu Qingshi found it somewhat amusing that this person, who was usually carefree around others, was rarely so serious in front of her.
“If you’re here to see me as a patient, go register first.”
Gu Yanzhi quickly shook her head: “No, no, no, it’s not me. It’s French Fries who’s sick. He kept throwing up milk last night. I couldn’t reach you by phone, so I came to the hospital.”
Lu Qingshi’s expression changed immediately: “How is he now? Has he improved at all?”
Gu Yanzhi spoke while pressing the elevator button: “I took him to the veterinary hospital. The situation might be… not so good.”
Only upon arriving at the veterinary hospital did she understand what Gu Yanzhi meant by “not so good.” Feline panleukopenia, commonly known as feline distemper, is a disease that spreads among felines with a mortality rate as high as 80% to 90%.
“French Fries…” she called out softly through the transparent isolation cover. French Fries merely raised his head, giving her a listless glance before flopping down again, dispirited. To prevent him from biting the IV line, a muzzle had been placed around his neck, making him appear even more frail and weak, curled up in a tiny ball in the cage.
As a surgeon, she had saved countless human lives, but facing her own gravely ill pet, she felt equally helpless. To some extent, she now understood the anxious state of mind that patients’ families experience.
Lu Qingshi kept pressing the veterinarian about when exactly French Fries would recover, insisting that they use whatever medication necessary, regardless of cost, as money was not an issue.
The veterinarian heaved a long sigh: “Let me put it this way, Miss Lu. Feline distemper has an incubation period of two to nine days, and it takes another two to three days for the disease to progress to its middle and late stages. As a doctor yourself, you should know that any disease is much easier to treat in its early stages than in its middle or late stages. At this point, we’re doing our utmost to prolong his life…”
She had not only heard this kind of speech before but had also given it herself. Lu Qingshi stood up: “You…”
Gu Yanzhi quickly grasped her wrist, pulling her back: “Qingshi, calm down a bit.”
“I…” She wanted to say more, but when she met Gu Yanzhi’s gentle gaze, it had a miraculously soothing effect on her heart.
Lu Qingshi took a deep breath, composing herself: “I’m sorry. I believe you’ll do your utmost.”
“Of course,” the veterinarian nodded: “The way you feel about your patients is exactly how we feel about the pets in our care.”
Recently, she had been busy organizing surgical plans and indeed hadn’t taken good care of French Fries. If she had noticed the symptoms earlier, perhaps it wouldn’t have progressed to this point…
Lu Qingshi sat in the owner’s waiting area, biting her lower lip tightly. As she heard French Fries’ faint whimpers of pain from the subcutaneous injection nearby, her nails dug deep into her palms.
Gu Yanzhi knew that she was actually more worried about French Fries than anyone else. She called out softly, “Qingshi…”
Lu Qingshi turned her head to look at her.
“When Hamburger was young, he also had parvovirus, a very serious illness. I thought at one point that he wouldn’t make it. I even found a burial site. But in the end, he miraculously survived. Look at him now, he’s as lively as ever.”
Lu Qingshi gritted her teeth: “It’s not the same. French Fries is only three months old and wasn’t breastfed from birth. His immunity is too weak…”
Gu Yanzhi leaned forward, holding her shoulders, her amber eyes fixed firmly on Lu Qingshi’s: “Don’t you believe in me believing in French Fries? You’re French Fries’ owner. As long as you don’t give up on him, there’s still hope.”
She began to understand Yu Gui’s seemingly nonsensical way of encouraging patients’ families. Although French Fries’ condition remained critical, her anxious state of mind seemed to have eased a little.
Lu Qingshi nodded: “I won’t give up on him.”
The outskirts of Jinzhou City were dotted with factories of various sizes, releasing murky fumes into the atmosphere day and night. The once lush forests from ten years ago had now become sparse, all covered in a hazy white armor.
Rows of low-rise, flat houses sprung up from the ground, serving as workers’ residences. The alleys were narrow and deep, with larger open spaces occupied by cargo trucks with rusted metal sheets and grimy minivans.
Wealthy people would never choose to live here. Those who did were the lowest creatures in this ephemeral world.
Except for hospitals that operated 365 days a year without rest, this place was the same. Coal, oil, steel, and other products manufactured in these factory areas were continuously shipped to all parts of the country, becoming the lifeline that kept this vast land functioning normally.
The sign of Jinzhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. was not small among the factory area, even adorned with neon lights. After all, being a state-owned enterprise, no matter how rotten it might be on the inside, it had to maintain a decent appearance.
At midnight, the night shift handover began. Personnel in work uniforms moved back and forth, inspecting with high-powered flashlights. Technical workers checked one by one to ensure the valves of the separation towers were tightened, especially in the chemical product workshop where large quantities of vinyl chloride were stored. The slightest carelessness could result in a safety incident.
A tiny flicker of light appeared intermittently in the dark workshop. The safety supervisor quickly approached, snatching the cigarette from the young man’s mouth: “Are you trying to get yourself killed by smoking here?!”
The scolded worker, wearing a workshop team leader’s badge, was actually the brother of a distant relative—possibly the kind of relative who had shared a bed—forcibly inserted into the position by the factory manager.
“Oh, come on, supervisor! I just had a craving! Cut me some slack! I’ve just checked these valves, and they’re all tight!”
He revealed his tobacco-stained yellow teeth, patted the storage tank behind him, and grinned.
The safety supervisor was so infuriated that he nearly had a high blood pressure attack, his lips quivering as he repeatedly stuttered “You…”
The nonchalant worker, seeing his cigarette thrown on the ground, lost interest and tucked his lighter into his work uniform pocket: “Fine, I’ll go smoke outside.”
As several chaotic flashlight beams departed, a technical worker yawned and said: “Supervisor, we’ve checked everything. All the valves on the separation tower have been inspected.”
“Oh yes, yes, Supervisor, you can rest assured. That guy may be a slacker, but he’s never been sloppy with his work.”
“After all, he’s the factory manager’s distant relative. Let’s just drop it. No need to catch a rat and end up smelling bad ourselves.”
The previously extinguished cigarette butt emitted a faint glow in the darkness, flickering like a will-o’-the-wisp.
At the factory gate, Old Liu, working the night shift, took another swig of erguotou. The radio played warbling opera tunes, and he swayed his head along. A white vapor drifted in through the open door. He sniffed: “What’s that smell? Is the sewer blocked again?”
Old Liu abruptly pushed open the window, ready to curse loudly, when he suddenly spotted a massive mushroom cloud rising in the night sky.
“Holy shit!” He collapsed into his chair, grabbing the landline phone: “Quick! Someone come quickly! There’s a leak in the vinyl chloride workshop!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a blinding red light erupted from the mushroom cloud. The earth shook violently. The ceiling fan in the room crashed down with a buzz. Dust filled the air, and the phone, not yet hung up, was covered in blood.
Twenty minutes earlier.
“Get some sleep, Qingshi,” Gu Yanzhi draped her own coat over her.
Lu Qingshi sat up, the coat sliding off her: “I’m going to check on French Fries.”
As soon as she spoke, she was gently pushed back down: “I heard from Qin Xuan that you haven’t slept for two days. Get some rest. If you fall ill too, who will take care of French Fries?”
“I…” Lu Qingshi wanted to say more, but Gu Yanzhi sat down right next to her. The sofa in the waiting area was too cramped, suddenly bringing them very close together. She shifted uncomfortably towards the inside.
“Sleep now. French Fries is in the ICU. Once you’re asleep, I’ll go watch over him.”
Lu Qingshi grasped her wrist, not delving too deeply into why she always made such unreasonable demands of her.
“Then go now, and I’ll take a short nap.”
Gu Yanzhi smiled, her voice low and tinged with indulgence: “Alright, you sleep quickly then.”
Five minutes earlier.
Yu Gui had just finished treating an emergency patient and returned to her office to write up the medical record. Her phone lay beside her, showing an ongoing call, but after three attempts, no one had answered.
Yu Gui picked up her phone and typed: “Good night, Zhiyou. I love you.”
Just as she pressed send, a phone ring shattered the quiet atmosphere. Flustered, she realized it was the landline on her desk and quickly grabbed it.
“Hello, Renji Medical University’s First Affiliated Hospital Emergency Center!”
After hanging up, she went around waking up the on-duty medical staff: “Wake up, wake up, quickly! Emergency mission! There’s been a chemical leak causing an explosion at Jinzhou Chemical Plant, with numerous casualties!”
It was as if a bomb had been dropped into a calm lake. The quiet emergency center instantly erupted into a flurry of activity.
“Quick, call Lu Qingshi! And get everyone who’s on leave back here!”
Xu Qiankun rushed back and forth: “Check the emergency medicines and equipment. Bring everything we can!”
Liu Qingyun ran over from the dormitory, having lost one slipper, and quickly threw a stethoscope around his neck: “Ambulances are assembled and ready to depart at any time!”
“Anesthetics inventory complete, ready to go!” Chen Yi panted as he ran over from the anesthesiology department.
“Emergency kits and medicines checked and ready to go!” Hao Renjie tossed an emergency kit to Yu Gui, who caught it and slung it over her shoulder: “Teacher Lu!”
A calm and composed voice came through the receiver as Lu Qingshi sprang up from the sofa: “You go ahead first, I’ll be there shortly!”
Gu Yanzhi had also received the assignment and ran over from the ICU. Lu Qingshi handed her the coat, and they exchanged a glance: “Let’s go.”
As they ran past the corridor where the ICU sign was posted, Lu Qingshi glanced inside: French Fries, hang in there. Wait for me to come back.
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