Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 85

Volume 2: Inheritance

Token of Love

A token of affection

Every time she recalled that day afterwards, she would wake up startled from nightmares.

            

She didn’t know how she got off the ambulance.

She only remembered how the doctors snatched Lu Qingshi from her arms.

Soldiers in panic, horses in chaos (meaning a scene of complete chaos and disorder).

            

Before they could even enter the hospital, various instruments and tubes were already being inserted into her body.

Then there was blood.

So much blood.

            

She had never fainted at the sight of blood, but that day, when she saw her hands covered in fresh blood – the hands that had held her – everything started spinning.

“Drainage, drainage, hurry!!!” As soon as the tracheal tube was inserted, blood began bubbling up from the core. She heard Yu Gui screaming at the top of her lungs.

With each squeeze of the ventilation bag, blood would backflow into the air sac.

            

Yu Gui’s eyes were red, her entire body trembling.

“Quick… get her to the operating room!”

In her dazed state, she seemed to hear Xu Qiankun shout something, and everyone started rushing the gurney into the hospital.

            

Gu Yanzhi stared at her blood-covered palms for a long while, her eyes slowly turning red. She bit her lower lip and began running frantically.

“Director Liu, another casualty has arrived.”

Liu Changsheng, who hadn’t slept for three days and nights, yawned: “Haven’t I said that we don’t have any operating rooms available right now?”

            

A figure lunged forward and grabbed his collar tightly: “Give me an operating room, give me an operating room!”

It took him a while to recognize that this disheveled girl with a blood-stained face was Yu Gui. Then he saw Xu Qiankun rushing in with the gurney, and when he recognized who was lying there covered in blood, his legs nearly gave out.

“Quick, quick, check if Operating Room Three is finished! Notify the blood bank to prepare blood supplies! Call Dean Meng down for consultation, notify all departments to prepare for joint surgery!”

            

Yu Gui rushed to the triage desk to make phone calls, crying while speaking: “Please… hurry… please come quickly…”

These past few days, the clinical departments of Renji Medical University’s First Affiliated Hospital had barely gotten any sleep. Over seventy operating rooms were running 24 hours a day, with the next surgery starting immediately after sterilization. All available surgeons were sleeping in the operating rooms.

After calling several departments, the responses were all the same: “Currently saving patients, can’t come” “In surgery, can’t leave”

            

Yu Gui collapsed with the phone, hysterically crying: “It’s my Teacher Lu!!! Please… come quickly…”

Liu Changsheng shouted into the phone: “Operating Room Three isn’t finished yet, take her to the emergency room first!”

“One, two, three, transfer!” She was moved from the gurney to the hospital bed. As soon as the cardiac monitor was connected, the machine started alarming.

            

Yu Gui quickly cut open her clothes with scissors. Lu Qingshi lay there lifeless, occasionally coughing up bloody foam, with a large patch of the snow-white sheets becoming soaked.

A gloved hand pressed down gently, the chest cavity collapsed, and blood trickled from the corner of Lu Qingshi’s lips.

Multiple organ damage.

            

Yu Gui wiped her tears with her shoulder: “Bring the ultrasound and X-ray, go check if the CT is ready!”

The ultrasound showed massive pleural effusion. Liu Qingyun checked her pupils with a penlight – they were unequal in size.

The full-body CT also showed subarachnoid hemorrhage.

            

For such complex combined trauma, Yu Gui couldn’t handle it alone, neither could Liu Qingyun, and even Xu Qiankun felt helpless.

The young man buried his head beside the bed, letting out a wail from his throat.

The blood collecting in the drainage container kept increasing.

            

Hemorrhagic shock became inevitable.

She never imagined there would be a day when she’d have to operate on Teacher Lu, with various tubes inserted into her body. Despite the continuous medication being injected, the hemorrhagic shock showed no signs of improvement.

Her heart rate dropped from 110 to 60 beats per minute.

            

Oxygen saturation fell below normal levels.

Blood pressure dropped below 40.

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Everyone is at the end of their ropes. All vital signs were indicating they had run out of options.

            

“Has the blood arrived?! Has the blood arrived?! Go check quickly!” Chen Yi was about to rush out of the emergency room.

Yu Gui held her head in her hands, kneeling beside the bed, sobbing: “It’s… it’s useless… I’ve seen Teacher Lu’s lab results… she… she’s RH negative…” (Rh negative blood is a blood type that doesn’t have the Rh factor protein on the surface of red blood cells. The “negative” part of a blood type, like A negative or O negative, refers to the Rh status.)

Thunder from a clear sky (meaning a shocking sudden development), everyone was stunned for a moment.

            

Whether for emergency transfusion or surgery, having blood available would have meant at least half a chance of survival.

Hao Renjie stubbornly called the Blood Bank Department, and the person on the other end shouted: “Forget RH negative blood, I don’t even have Type O blood right now!!!”

Liu Changsheng, who had never been so humble in his life, pleaded: “Please, Old Li, I don’t need much, even 200ml would save a life!”

            

“It’s not that I won’t give it to you, your hospital needs blood urgently, other hospitals need it urgently too, it’s supply and demand, don’t you understand?”

“I understand shit!!! Our hospital’s doctor is lying on the operating table between life and death! You’re telling me there’s no blood?! We saved so many people, now it’s our turn – who’s going to save our lives!!!!”

After his outburst, he removed his glasses and wiped his tears: “Brother, I’m just asking for this one thing, get me some blood. That doctor is still young, she’s saved many lives, and now when it’s her turn, we can’t just let her go like this…”

            

The other end went silent for a moment, then sighed deeply: “Alright then, I’ll try to coordinate something, but don’t get your hopes up. This accident is too severe, the entire Southeast region’s blood banks are running short, especially for “panda blood” (referring to the rare RH negative blood type)…”

Xu Qiankun turned away and quietly lifted his glasses to wipe his tears: “Hey, Yu Gui, contact her family members to come say their final goodbyes.”

The head nurse came running with the phone, hesitating to speak: “Director Lu… seems to have no family members…”

            

“What—” he raised his voice, and the nurse put the iPad in front of him. The emergency contact column was completely empty.

The emergency room fell into dead silence.

Yu Gui’s expression became complex as she looked at her face, exceptionally pale from blood loss, and gently held her hand.

            

Teacher Lu… had she always walked this lonely path?

Her coldness and sharp edges suddenly seemed to have a fitting explanation.

Growing up stumbling through life alone, no parents, no relatives, no children, and before meeting Qin Xuanzhi, no friends.

            

How lonely and desolate her heart must have been.

Yet she never spoke of it.

Both gentle and strong.

            

“Move aside! Let me in!” The emergency room doors were roughly pushed open as Gu Yanzhi rushed to her bedside, gently taking her hand and pressing it against her face.

“Qingshi, Qingshi, wake up, don’t sleep… open your eyes and look at me, please?”

She really didn’t want to cry – soldiers bleed but don’t shed tears – it was an oath etched in her bones.

            

But tears still fell like broken strings of pearls, landing on her pale fingertips.

Lu Qingshi’s brow twitched unexpectedly.

The cardiac monitor showed brief fluctuations in its readings.

            

She was also fighting, gritting her teeth.

“Hamburger and French Fries haven’t seen their owner for days… they miss you… Qingshi… you’re not without people who care… we all miss you…”

Gu Yanzhi’s hand caressed her cheek, wiping away the reflexive tears from her eyes: “I know you’re in pain right now… hold on a little longer… just a bit longer… stay strong… French Fries can’t be without their owner… and I… can’t be without you…”

            

The ECG showed movement.

Heart rate returned to 90 beats per minute.

Yu Gui covered her face and cried: “Teacher Lu once told me, ‘doing something doesn’t guarantee success, but not doing anything guarantees failure.'”

            

“Just this once, we cannot fail no matter what.”

Operating without blood – everyone knew this was a “going without return” risk.

Yet everyone still resolutely pushed her into the operating room.

            

Before going in, Gu Yanzhi took off a necklace made from a bullet casing from her neck, initially wanting to put it on her, but the nurse said they couldn’t bring anything into the sterile operating room.

So instead, she placed it in her palm, her large fist enclosing her small one.

“This is my talisman. It has kept me safe all these years, and it will protect you to come out safely too.”

            

There was one more thing she said, leaning close to her ear: “It’s a token of love. Once you accept my gift, you… can’t take it back.”

Lu Qingshi’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

Then she was pushed into the operating room, the door separating her from her. Gu Yanzhi slid down against the wall, supporting her forehead with her hand.

            

Qingshi… you must get better.

“Who’s performing the surgery?” Everyone looked at each other uncertainly.

They had the operating room, they had the instruments, but they lacked an experienced lead surgeon, and experts from other departments were all tied up in their own surgeries.

            

Yu Gui bit her lip and quickly pulled on her gloves: “I…”

“Step aside,” Xu Qiankun pushed her away and took the lead surgeon’s position: “With your ‘three-legged cat’ skills (meaning amateur or inadequate), you can’t handle this surgery.”

“Magnifying glass,” the nurse lowered the magnifying glass for him: “Sterilize, let’s begin.”

            

In truth, no one felt confident. Large beads of sweat formed on Xu Qiankun’s forehead, and looking closely, his wrists were trembling. He took a deep breath: “We still need a neurosurgeon. I can handle the thoracoabdominal organ damage, but we can’t ignore the intracranial hematoma – it’s life-threatening.”

“Sister Chen, hang the mannitol,” Yu Gui said, moving to the other side: “Give me the puncture needle, I need to drain some cerebrospinal fluid, the intracranial pressure is too high.”

Liu Qingyun glanced at her: “Can you handle it, Yu Gui?”

            

Yu Gui felt for her lumbar region, searching for the right spot, without looking up: “Treating a dead horse as if it were alive.” (meaning to try whatever possible even if chances are slim)

Despite her words, the puncture needle hit bone on the first try.

Yu Gui took a deep breath, withdrew it: “Let me try again.”

            

“…” Hao Renjie was speechless.

“Amitabha.” Thankfully, Sister Lu was unconscious, otherwise she would have surely beaten Yu Gui senseless.

“This is…” The chest examination revealed worse conditions than imagined: multiple rib fractures, pulmonary contusion, broken bones piercing the myocardium, massive pleural effusion – dark red liquid mixed with blood and bodily fluids suddenly rushed into the collection container.

            

Blood pressure started dropping.

Chen Yi administered another dose of dopamine to maintain the falling blood pressure.

Finally getting the puncture needle in correctly, Yu Gui managed to drain blood-tinged cerebrospinal fluid: “The intracranial bleeding is severe, we need to perform a craniotomy immediately.”

            

Liu Qingyun was at his wit’s end: “But none of us specialize in neurosurgery.”

“Check if their neurosurgery is finished, if we don’t get someone soon, she’ll die.”

Xu Qiankun carefully extracted bone fragments from the myocardium, drenched in sweat.

            

Just as he finished speaking, the operating room door burst open, and Dean Meng and the neurosurgery professor rushed in, with nurses following behind tying their surgical gowns.

“I’ll take over,” Meng Jihua took the scalpel from Xu Qiankun: “You and Liu Qingyun repair the other vascular damage, I’ll handle the cardiac issues.”

“As for the intracranial hematoma, we’ll leave that to Teacher Zhang.”

            

Everyone seemed to find their anchor. Liu Changsheng sat down in the observation room chair above: “Chase up on that blood again.”

“Don’t worry, Director Lu is still young, I’ll do everything in my power.”

Other doctors gradually arrived at the operating room. A senior anesthesiologist replaced Chen Yi’s position, Liu Qingyun stepped down from first assistant, and junior staff like Yu Gui could only stand back and observe.

            

This was already the finest surgical team that Renji Medical University could assemble.

Meng Jihua took a deep breath: “Well then, let’s begin.”

The doctors, who had been fighting continuously for three days and nights, had bloodshot eyes, not daring to show any slack.

            

Nurses hurried back and forth passing instruments, while the anesthesiologist initiated cardiopulmonary bypass.

The neurosurgery professor used the cranial drill to open her skull, exposing the brain tissue, and blood immediately gushed out.

“Blood loss 50!”

            

“Arterial aneurysm rupture due to trauma – it’s a miracle Director Lu held on for so long.”

Dean Meng’s eyes grew moist: “This child…”

He slightly tilted his head, and the head nurse understood. No one heard what he said.

            

But upstairs, Liu Changsheng took his phone and went out to make calls.

Time passed minute by minute, people came and went in the hallway, while the operating room light remained on.

Gu Yanzhi kept her phone in her chest pocket, constantly watching the direction of the door, questioning any nurse who came out about the situation.

            

When doctors tried to treat her wounds, she refused, saying she would wait until Lu Qingshi came out.

The doctor, at his wit’s end: “If you fall ill too, who will take care of Director Lu when she comes out?”

Only then did she reluctantly follow the doctor to the emergency treatment room.

            

“Dear citizens, we interrupt with an urgent news bulletin: Following the 9.25 Changping Tunnel severe landslide incident, hospitals have treated a total of 1,872 injured patients, with 201 deaths. Jinzhou City’s blood bank is critically depleted, and our city’s clinical blood supply is extremely tight. Many injured patients unable to receive blood transfusions have died during rescue attempts… We urgently appeal to all citizens to extend their helping hands and actively donate blood. Here are the blood donation locations throughout the city…”

A white-collar worker just leaving their office building looked up, pausing for a long while at the LED display in the city center square, then walked toward the nearby blood donation vehicle.

A middle-aged man turned off the television, tucked in his wife and daughter, and quietly left the house.

            

Groups of university students arrived at the campus blood donation vehicle, their chattering voices making the rainy night feel less cold.

“Take mine, take mine,” doctors and nurses were the first to roll up their sleeves.

“Next,” a construction worker squatting on the street smoking stood up, throwing away his cigarette.

            

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More and more people left their homes and took to the streets, forming long queues at blood donation points.

“Blood… the blood’s here!” The young nurse snatched the temperature-controlled box from the blood bank staff and began running frantically.

Yu Gui stood at the elevator door ready to relay, and the young nurse, breathing heavily, thrust the temperature-controlled box into her arms: “Quick… hurry… RH negative blood!”

            

Yu Gui desperately pressed the elevator buttons, but it wouldn’t come down, so she gritted her teeth and ran into the fire escape.

Ten floors of distance, no less challenging than an 800-meter fitness test.

Hao Renjie waited for her at the operating room entrance.

            

“Quick! Hurry!” Seeing her exhausted, he ran over and grabbed the box, beginning another frantic sprint.

Watching him rush into the operating room, Yu Gui collapsed sitting on the ground, unknowingly tearing up.

Really… thank goodness.

            

“Doctor Yu, you have a phone call,” the triage nurse walked out with the receiver.

Yu Gui got up from the ground: “Who is it?”

“Don’t know, answer it yourself.”

            

“Hello? Hello?” She called out several times, but no sound came through the receiver, so she had to hang up.

“Must be a wrong number.”

Gu Yanzhi walked out of the treatment room, opened her phone to see news about blood donation “covering the sky and blanketing the earth” (meaning widespread) all over the internet. She sighed slightly in relief and limped toward the operating room.

            

An elderly man in his advanced years (usually 80-90 years old), upon hearing this news, remained stunned for a long while, the receiver dropping from his hand.

“Academician Lu, Academician Lu, are you alright?”

The receiver was still speaking, but he couldn’t care about that now. Supporting himself with a cane by the bed, he started walking out. The caretaker heard the noise and quickly ran over: “Sir, where are you going so late at night?!”

            

Lu Xucheng tapped his cane on the ground with loud thuds: “Book me a flight ticket… book a ticket…”

“Alright, alright, but to where?”

“Jinzhou, as soon as possible.”

            

“Pulmonary contusion repair complete,” Dean Meng sighed in relief, sweat dripping into his eyes.

“Aortic clamping complete,” the thoracic surgeon nodded slightly.

“Cardiac bypass complete,” the cardiac surgeon put down his scalpel.

            

“Rib fractures have been fixed,” came Liu Qingyun’s voice.

“All pleural effusion has been drained,” the junior doctors.

“How’s the blood pressure?” Dean Meng asked.

            

“Heart rate 100, blood pressure 60-90, oxygen saturation 100, overall stable.”

He turned his head to look at the neurosurgeon above: “Old Zhang?”

“The aneurysm situation is complicated, it’s close to the functional neural areas. Are you finished on your end?”

            

“Almost, just suturing left.”

He lifted his eyes from the microscope: “Let’s do an intraoperative awakening, Old Meng.”

Meng Jihua hesitated: “What are the chances?”

            

“Not high, five percent, but—” he paused: “Director Lu’s aneurysm is too close to the language, motor, and optic nerves. If there’s even a slight deviation…”

Not only would she be unable to work as a doctor, but even basic self-care might become impossible for the rest of her life.

Yu Gui’s heart leaped into her throat, looking between Teacher Lu – pale and intubated – and the hesitating Director Meng.

            

He let out a long sigh: “Anesthesiologist, prepare for intraoperative awakening.” (the patient is awakened during brain surgery to monitor neurological function.)

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