Chapter Five: The Big Wife

  To be on the safe side, before entering the ward, the department director once again reminded Su Tong to temporarily leave all electronic products that could be used for photography at the nurse station, and then took her to push open the door of the ward.

  Because the symptoms of the seven children were exactly the same, without any difference, in order to facilitate examination and care, these seven children were all arranged in a very spacious large ward. The beds were specially moved from other wards, so that the nurse on duty at night could monitor the condition of the seven people at the same time.

  As soon as Su Tong entered the ward, he involuntarily shivered and his body hair stood on end. This was clearly a south-facing room, and at this moment, the room was filled with sunlight, which should have been the warmest and most comfortable time of day. However, for some reason, Su Tong felt that the temperature in the room seemed to be a few degrees lower than the corridor outside without natural light, making his skin crawl layer by layer. Looking around at the seven beds where the children lay unconscious, the chill in the air became even more intense.

  The hospital beds, painted white, were covered with white sheets and white quilts, under which lay small, white bodies. If one didn't pay close attention to the extremely slight rise and fall caused by breathing, Su Tong would have thought he had mistakenly entered a morgue, where seven corpses lay before him.

  "During the day, nurses come to check on them every hour and make detailed records of any changes in their indicators," the department director said to Su Tong. "Because these children have been unconscious all along and cannot eat on their own, we give them intravenous injections of nutrient solution every day."

  Su Tong walked up to a hospital bed, where a little girl about six years old was lying. She was stiff and rigid, her apple-shaped face pale and bloodless, her eyes tightly closed, her teeth clenched, and her breathing so shallow it was almost imperceptible. Su Tong couldn't help but reach out to touch the girl's round cheek, but the icy cold sensation made her jump back in fright, thinking for a moment that she had touched a highly realistic plaster statue.

  "Director, why are these children like this?" Su Tong asked. "Have their bodies been in a state of low body temperature since they were sent here? Has there ever been a precedent, even if not exactly the same, but similar?"

  The department head shook his head, with a helpless expression: "If I could find any similar cases, I wouldn't be so helpless now. These children's organs are fine, their brains are fine, but their heartbeats and pulses have become extremely weak, their breathing has slowed down to an unimaginable degree, their body temperature has dropped significantly, and it continues to drop slowly as we monitor them."

  "Will it be a threat if it continues to decline like this?" Su Tong heard these words and felt somewhat worried. Before she came, based on some information she had already grasped, she also roughly estimated in her heart that at most she would see a few unconscious children, like vegetables, but she didn't expect the actual situation to be worse than she thought. Even if they were vegetables, it's unlikely that these children would be as pale and cold as this.

  The department head shook her head again: "I don't want to accept media interviews, that's why I couldn't give you an accurate answer. These are seven living lives, broadly speaking, it affects the life and fate of their seven families, narrowly speaking, it also affects our hospital, our department, even my personal reputation and future. So, for both public and private reasons, I don't want these children to have any accidents. However, this situation is indeed the first time we've encountered, and no one in the entire hospital can find anyone with similar experience. As for whether they can be cured or not, who dares to make a conclusion? Now you see, their vital signs are very weak, and we don't dare to take risks. But judging from the current situation, if their breathing becomes slower and slower, and their questions become lower and lower, it will definitely not be a good thing."

  Su Tong listened attentively, nodding his head, when suddenly a thought flashed in his mind, and he asked hastily: "Is it possible that it's food poisoning? For example, accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms or some kind of toxic wild fruit?"

  The head of the department looked at her with a wry smile and sighed: "This is the first possibility we considered, after all, these seven children are not very old, six or seven years old, and they are most mischievous at this age. As soon as they were sent over, we saw that all of them were unconscious, and we also learned that they had been absent from their group before being discovered, so we immediately considered the possibility of food poisoning. Children are curious, and when they see brightly colored mushrooms or wild fruits, they might want to try them. So at first, we handled it as a case of food poisoning, but in fact, all of their stomachs were empty, without even any undigested lunch. The teacher who sent them over said that the seven children probably slipped away to play somewhere else just after lunch started, and hadn't had time to eat yet. As for what happened during this process, why they fainted, we have no way of knowing. Oh, right, we also ruled out the possibility of poisonous insects or snakes, and after a thorough examination, there were no signs of bites or stings."

  Su Tong's face turned slightly red after hearing the department head's words, and he hastily nodded his head in embarrassment, saying: "Sorry, I just wanted to understand more thoroughly, no intention of meddling."

  "It's not necessarily a bad thing to ask questions, in many cases, being more serious is much better than being too careless." The department head was relatively easy-going and didn't get annoyed by Su Tong's sudden question. He also took the opportunity to speak on behalf of the hospital, "Our hospital attaches great importance to the condition of these children, our medical level has a certain reputation in the city and even the province. In order to find out the root cause of their illness as soon as possible, the hospital director has contacted famous experts from first-tier cities to come over for consultation. After all, the children's condition is not suitable for transfer, so we can only invite the experts to come here."

  "...Can I come over to understand the situation and do an interview when the expert comes for consultation?" Su Tong realized that this time she couldn't get too much valuable information from the hospital, so she took the opportunity to lay the groundwork for her own follow-up report.

  "This... the expert can come this weekend, at that time you contact me, and I'll consult with the hospital again. This matter is not something a small department director like me can decide on."

  The department director also didn't dare to agree too readily, leaving room for himself in his words, "Besides, when the time comes, the parents of the child will all come over, whether or not they are willing to accept an interview, I estimate you'll still have to get past them first."

  "Alright, no problem, I understand. Can I get your contact information for now? Before the expert comes over on the weekend, we'll be in touch again to see if there's an opportunity for an interview." Su Tong hastened to express his stance, "Our newspaper has always been known for its objectivity and respect for the parties involved in the news. Whether it's the hospital or the child's family, we will definitely report on this matter with respect for both sides' feelings and emotions."

  "Let's get in touch later and decide then, isn't it just the beginning of the week? I'll take a look over the next few days to see if I can help you with some work." The department head responded somewhat ambiguously, with variables filled throughout his answer.

  Although, Su Tong couldn't ask for more. After all, in the three years she had been doing this line of work, she had come to understand a principle: as long as the other party didn't give her a flat-out refusal, then there was still room for maneuvering.

  As she walked out of the ward, she suddenly thought of the time issue: "Director, you just said that the expert who came to the consultation would not arrive until the weekend? But today is Monday, will the children have any problems in these few days?"

  "I also hope not, or rather, apart from the children's families, it's probably only us who least want anything to go wrong. But this matter I'm not sure about, all I can tell you is that in these few days we will make our greatest effort to strengthen our care and supervision of these several children, trying to keep their various indicators stable, hoping that by the weekend there won't be too many changes. You also know that those famous experts aren't so easy to invite, their schedules are usually very full, it's impossible to squeeze out time, if not for this one time encountering a situation that is truly too special, without precedent, I'm afraid they wouldn't necessarily all agree to come and diagnose, able to squeeze out time in just these few days, or more or less also having the hope of filling in the blank of their career with difficult cases. This I only say privately to you, apart from this door I absolutely won't repeat it again." The department head replied.

  Su Tong nodded in understanding and left the ward with Director Ke, went to the nurse station to retrieve his phone, left Director Ke's contact information, and bid farewell to the therapy area.

  When leaving, the head nurse didn't forget to remind her to take another elevator this time. Su Tong felt a bit puzzled but still followed her advice. There were six elevators on this side, but there were also many people. She waited for three elevators, all of which were full and she couldn't get in. Finally, she lost patience and went down the stairs instead.

  When she reached the first floor, Su Tong still walked through the corridor connecting the inpatient department and the outpatient department, only to take a different route than before. Halfway through, she passed by a small dimly lit corridor, where she suddenly realized that someone was waving at her. She took a closer look and saw that it was the woman with the blue jacket and pants, who had been standing in the elevator lobby earlier, now standing in the small corridor, poking out half of her face to stare at Su Tong, beckoning her over while mouthing "come-come-come".

  Su Tong was stunned, his brain hadn't had time to think, and his two feet seemed to have their own mind, turning around and walking towards the beckoning woman. However, he had only taken three steps when he was pulled back from behind.

  "Hey, hey, hey, no entry for idle people over there." The person holding her back was a hospital staff member wearing a white coat, and it couldn't be seen which department they were from. They seemed to have some distaste for Su Tong's reckless behavior, and with a twisted face, said, "Don't you look around before wandering everywhere? Do you think the hospital is a vegetable market?"

  "Oh, sorry, I didn't know that side was off-limits. Just now there was an aunt who greeted me..." Su Tong awkwardly hurried to explain to the other party.

  The other party suddenly turned pale upon hearing this, and looked at Su Tong with a strange gaze, asking: "What's with the 'big wife'?"

  Su Tong pointed to the small corridor and took a look, but it was empty, where was the big woman in blue clothes?

  If it were in the past, she might not have thought much about it, but after experiencing a terrifying experience like a dream the night before, she suddenly felt a chill and the hairs on her back stood up.

  "Excuse me, which department does this small corridor lead to?" Su Tong asked nervously.

  That white coat also looked at her nervously: "It's not any department, it's going to the morgue in the basement..."

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