Chapter 1: Don't scare me, old lady

  Ye Nan is a pediatrician at a small hospital in the suburbs of Dongjiang City. He has been working there for almost a year since graduating from university one year ago.

  Working in this hospital, Ye Nan was very helpless. After graduating last year, he started looking for a job, but his family had no connections, and the big hospitals in the city were impossible to get into. He finally managed to find a job in this newly built small hospital.

  The hospital was newly built and there weren't many patients, but Ye Nan still liked it here. Although the salary wasn't high, life was relatively leisurely, with only a few shifts per week and plenty of free time, which suited Ye Nan's laid-back personality.

  It was another peaceful night shift, Ye Nan was carefully sorting out the medical records that had accumulated over the past week, which were due to be submitted tomorrow. If they weren't sorted out properly, the director would probably deduct from his own salary again.

  After a busy period, Ye Nan took a look at the last one and finally let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that it would take no more than half an hour to finish the task.

  But things are never as smooth as imagined, Ye Nan, who was working hard, was interrupted by a sweet and greasy voice.

  "Dr. Ye... Dr. Ye! The old lady in bed twelve is calling for you!" It was the voice of Zhang Yan, the new nurse. This little nurse Zhang Yan had only been at the hospital for two months and was quite pretty. Ye Nan's favorite thing to do was tease her whenever he had nothing better to do, and every time Zhang Yan saw Ye Nan, she would blush bright red.

  "Calling me? Okay, I'll be right there!" Ye Nan quickly finished writing the last few words of the discharge record, while tidying up the scattered medical records on his desk, finally almost done.

  Ye Nan buttoned up the white coat and picked up the stethoscope hanging around her neck, hurrying towards bed twelve.

  An old lady with twelve beds is a lonely elderly person in the suburbs of Dongjiang City. She was hospitalized due to coronary heart disease and heart failure at the suburban hospital where Ye Nan is located. Since no one took care of her, only the village committee paid for a medical treatment fee, no one else bothered her again.

  Ye Nan saw the old lady was lonely and pitiful, so every day before work, she would call the cafeteria to ask them to send some food for her three meals a day, which kept the old lady from starving.

  Ye Nan walked over to the twelfth bed, where the old lady was looking very content and smiling at him.

  Ye Nan was annoyed, seeing the last medical record almost done, but being messed up by you old lady, at least half an hour would be delayed. However, Ye Nan still smiled and asked: "Nurse Wu, where are you uncomfortable? Why did you call me over in such a hurry?"

  Old Lady Wu looked at Ye Nan carefully, smiled and said: "Doctor Ye, I've been troubling you lately. As an old woman, I'm about to go, there's nothing good to remember, but I just want to repay your kindness, it's on my mind!"

  Ye Nan heard the old lady's words and quickly comforted her with a smile: "Nothing's wrong, Wu Nainai, you can rest assured. Look at your current condition, in just two more days you'll be able to leave the hospital, and at least you'll still have several good years ahead of you. Don't think like that!"

  The old lady was not affected by Ye Nan at all, looked at Ye Nan and sighed, saying: "Dr. Ye, these days you have taken care of me, I remember it in my heart, yesterday I felt it myself, my time is up today, but I owe you a favor, this makes me feel uneasy!"

  She said, taking out a small sandalwood box from her bosom and handing it to Ye Nan, looking at him with a smile: "This is what my ancestors have passed down, it's a fun thing, Dr. Ye, don't despise it, take it, and I, the old lady, can rest assured!"

  Yè Nán took a glance at the small box and hastily declined, "Auntie Wu, don't worry, you're fine now. You've been treated for several days and your condition has improved greatly, hasn't it? Don't think too much, you'll be okay!"

  Ye Nan said so, but Wu old lady insisted that Ye Nan accept it, saying: "Dr. Ye, I understand my own affairs, yesterday my partner came to find me and said that today he will take me away, let me hand over this heirloom! After thinking about it, I think only you are left, don't decline, accept it, just to fulfill my wife's last wish!"

  After finishing speaking, he opened the small box and fished out a white jade pendant in the shape of a small fish from inside. He held it in his hand, gazing at Ye Nan with a pleading expression!

  Ye Nan looked at Old Lady Wu's pitiful appearance, and her heart softened. She sighed and said: "Alright, whatever you say goes. I'll keep it for now, and when you're discharged from the hospital, I'll return it to you!"

  The old lady heard this and smiled with a face full of wrinkles: "Dr. Xiao Ye, bow your head, I'll put it on for you. At this age, there's still such a good child like you taking care of me, I can close my eyes in peace!"

  Ye Nan obediently lowered his head, allowing Old Lady Wu to hang the small jade pendant around his neck. Old Lady Wu treasured the look at the small jade pendant on Ye Nan's neck, gently wiped it with her hand, and then carefully tucked it into Ye Nan's clothes, looking at him as if he were her own most beloved grandson.

  Then he inexplicably smiled and said, "Dr. Xiaoye, I look at you as if you were my own child. My child was just as beautiful as you back then, but unfortunately passed away halfway through life. Now looking at you is like looking at my own child, so no matter what, I will take care of you!"

  "Save me? Why save me?" Ye Nan's face was full of puzzlement!

  Old Lady Wu looked at Ye Nan and said seriously: "Doctor Ye, you have a great calamity in the next few days. If no one resolves it for you, it will be very difficult for you to escape this calamity!"

  Ye Nan thought: "What is this 'jie shu'?"

  Ye Nan was puzzled for half a day, looking at Old Lady Wu with a bewildered expression. Old Lady Wu looked at his furrowed brow and chuckled: "Doctor Ye, my ancestors were all Taoist priests, and by the time it got to me, it was already the 25th generation. However, by our generation, we've pretty much fallen from grace. Now I can only do some small tricks that aren't even worth showing off."

  Here is the translation:

  "Now that I've reached this point, I'm completely carefree. That's why my intuition is particularly sharp today. Just looking at you, I sense that a great calamity may befall you in the next few days. So I'm giving you this family heirloom, which should help you get through this ordeal safely. Once you've passed this test, everything will go smoothly for you. Don't think me an old nag, but wear this pendant well and it will also put my mind at ease!"

  Although Ye Nan didn't quite believe in these things, seeing the old lady's life-and-death appearance also made him feel some inexplicable sadness. He had been accompanying the old lady for nearly ten days and still felt some emotions. Seeing her concerned expression, he quickly nodded and replied: "Auntie Wu, I've heard everything you said, I'll definitely wear it all the time and won't let you worry!"

  Watching Ye Nan nodding sincerely, Wu Lao Tai nodded in satisfaction, stretched out her hand to touch Ye Nan's head, with a loving expression. However, before she could even touch him twice, her eyes suddenly closed, her hand fell, and she collapsed.

  Ye Nan's heart tightened and he quickly looked at the electrocardiogram beside him, where the displayed values of heartbeat and blood pressure were gradually falling.

  "What's going on?!" Ye Nan was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted and rushed to shout outside: "Zhang Yan... emergency rescue for bed twelve!"

  When Zhang Yan pushed the rescue car over, Wu Lao Tai's heart rate had dropped to around thirty times, and her blood pressure was fluctuating at 60/40 mmHg.

  Ye Nan held a small flashlight, opened Wu Lao Tai's eyes, shone on the pupils, and the light reflex had almost disappeared. He also felt the carotid artery and couldn't feel it either. Panicked, he quickly instructed Zhang Yan beside him: "Continue high-concentration oxygen inhalation, atropine 1mg static push, hurry..."

  Soon, Zhang Yan quickly and efficiently put on the oxygen and then quickly pushed the medicine into the vein.

  After the medicine was administered, Ye Nan stared nervously at the fluctuations on the ECG monitor above the bed, his heart racing with anxiety, thinking to himself: "Hurry up...get up! If you don't get up now, it's really over..."

  Less than a minute later, the ECG monitor showed that Wu Lao Tai's heart rate had risen to around 50 beats, and Ye Nan couldn't help but feel a surge of joy in his heart. However, this good situation didn't last long, and after less than half a minute, it dropped again, with the heart rate now below 30 beats, while the blood pressure had also fallen below 40/20 mmHg.

  Ye Nan took a deep breath, calming down his slightly tense and sentimental mood, and calmly said: "One milligram of adrenaline intravenous injection, three milligrams of lobeline intravenous injection!"

  After the medicine was pushed down, Wu Lao Tai's blood pressure rose a bit to 70/50 mmHg, but it didn't hold up and soon dropped down, gradually showing zero, while her heart rate also dropped to less than twenty beats.

  Ye Nan let out a sigh, walked forward, opened Wu Lao Tai's shirt, and used his hand to locate the position of the heart, about 2 cm away from the xiphoid process. He then punched three times in the chest with a "thud... thud..." sound, and checked the ECG monitor again, but the heart rate was still around ten beats per minute, and there was no sign of recovery.

  Helpless, he could only take the final step recently, stand in position and start performing chest compressions. However, after just two presses, Wu Lao Tai's ribs made a series of "cracking" sounds, indicating that her ribs were starting to fracture. But Ye Nan couldn't care about that anymore; if he didn't quickly restore Wu Lao Tai's heart rate, the rescue would be meaningless.

  Ye Nan pressed at a steady frequency for two minutes, but Wu Lao Tai's heart rhythm still showed no signs of recovery, and only presented two irregular heartbeat fluctuations with Ye Nan's downward pressure. Ye Nan felt a chill in his heart, thinking: "If I couldn't save her in these two minutes, the hope is already slim!"

  "Administer 10 milligrams of dexamethasone stat!"

  Ten milligrams of dexamethasone were also administered, but Wu Lao Tai showed no reaction at all. Although Ye Nan knew that the hope was already very slim, he still had to hold on, whether it was for Wu Lao Tai or for the sake of the rescue regulations, he had to hold on until the end.

  Ye Nan continued to perform the standard chest compression, occasionally observing the changes on the ECG monitor, but there was no reaction. After continuing to push the medication several times, Zhang Yan looked at her watch and reminded Ye Nan: "Dr. Ye, the rescue has been going on for thirty minutes, should we continue?"

  Ye Nan was stunned for a while, and it had already been half an hour. Wu Lao Tai had stopped breathing for half an hour, so there was no point in trying to rescue her anymore.

  Ye Nan let out a sigh and instructed the nurse, "Rescue efforts have ended. Declare the patient's rescue as ineffective and deceased. Record the time accurately and document all related rescue measures in the medical record!"

  Zhang Yan nodded, put away the emergency supplies and took them out, leaving only Wu Lao Tai and Ye Nan quietly lying in the hospital room. Ye Nan looked at Wu Lao Tai who was calm and peaceful as if she had fallen asleep, touched the small jade pendant on her neck, shook his head and sighed, pulled up the quilt to cover Wu Lao Tai, and walked out!

  At this time, the corridor of the ward was quiet, and it is estimated that all patients and their families knew that another person had gone, and they all hid in their rooms, with no one willing to come out.

  Ye Nan found Wu Lao Tai's medical records at the nurse station, took out the phone number left by their village committee, dialed it, and informed the local village director of this news. The village director promised to send someone over immediately to handle this matter!

  When he heard the other person say that they would arrive immediately, Ye Nan finally let out a sigh of relief. If they had to leave the old lady here overnight, it would really be a troublesome matter!

  At this time, Zhang Yan walked over and asked worriedly: "Ye Nan, this old lady has no relatives or friends, what can we do now?"

  Ye Nan saw her worried look and quickly told her about the phone call just now. Zhang Yan finally put her heart at ease, took over Ye Nan's medical record, and began to supplement the emergency rescue orders that were just executed!

  Ye Nan also took the opportunity to write down the rescue record from earlier and organized the first medical history. After finishing, he waited for a while but didn't see anyone coming from the village, so he decided to organize this medical history as well. He just had to wait a few more days to discuss it and then he could close this death case!

  After an hour, the local village committee finally arrived. Ye Nan led them to take a look at Wu Lao Tai Tai's body. The village director nodded and said faintly: "It's good that the old lady went so quietly, at least she didn't suffer!"

  Then I talked to Ye Nan about the situation when the old lady passed away, and under his suggestion, I dialed the funeral home's phone number and had them come pick up the old lady.

  Ye Nan glanced at the jade pendant on his chest, sent the old lady's body onto the car, and felt a bit sad in his heart. However, such things, Ye Nan had seen quite a few times over the past year, so he just sighed a couple of times and didn't dwell on it anymore.

  In the following days, Fang Nan remembered the few words Wu Lao Tai said to him before his death, and Ye Nan's heart was always trembling with fear.

  However, as the days passed by in a flash, a week had gone by. Ye Nan went to and from work every day, living a comfortable life, and nothing out of the ordinary happened, so he gradually put his mind at ease, thinking that Old Lady Wu was just talking nonsense, and he threw the matter to the back of his mind, not thinking about it again.

  But what's meant to come will still come, this fate or opportunity has finally arrived, its appearance simply changed the course of life that Ye Nan had long been destined for, and led him towards a brilliant but unknown future that he had never thought of before.