Chapter 57 Let me see
When it came to paying living expenses, the Gao family hosted a dinner in the afternoon, and the Gao brothers officially began their practice of offsetting their food expenses with labor, which they had been doing since before their marriage.
They said they were hosting a dinner party, but no one actually showed up until the actual mealtime.
Around 2 PM, someone wearing an apron walked through the gate, clearly a neighbor who had come early to help.
Gao Tiejun invited several families in the courtyard and a few familiar old friends. Three tables were set up in the courtyard early on, and the remaining table was placed in the main room.
Chen Yun, who had been sent away by Gao Ming twice when he entered the kitchen, grabbed a handful of melon seeds and slowly peeled them with his hands.
People who can't crack sunflower seeds with their teeth can only use their two thumbs.
"Little Chen, I heard you're a doctor at the Workers' Hospital?"
Aunt Liu, who hadn't given Chen Yun a cold look all morning, suddenly changed her expression and came over with her small stool to chat.
She was accompanied by Aunt Luo and Aunt Niu from next door.
Aunt Niu is related to Aunt Luo by marriage. Old Jiang's eldest son, Jiang Heyun, married Niu's second daughter, Niu Qiuhong.
According to Dong Qiaoying, she has an exceptionally fiery temper, so you must never let her hear anyone say anything bad about the Niu family, otherwise she might just throw manure in her face.
There was a family at the entrance of the alley who liked to gossip, and their yard was once washed with excrement. The stench lingered for months.
"I haven't reported for duty yet!" Chen Yun smiled and quietly moved to the side. "Besides, he's just a neonatologist, specializing in treating babies as big as your grandson."
The person Chen Yun pointed out was Zhang He, the son of Old Liu's educated youth who abandoned his wife and children to return to the city. He became a live-in son-in-law a few years after returning and just had a son this year.
The couple were also called back for dinner by Aunt Liu today. The youngest daughter-in-law, Cao Chunjuan, was holding the six-month-old baby in her arms, who is currently Aunt Liu's only grandson.
The child was only seen from behind; the person entered the yard and was carried into the house without even a greeting.
"If you can take care of a child, you can definitely take care of the child's mother too!" Aunt Liu's lips curled into a smile, beaming with delight. "She must have some great skills for the hospital director to personally invite her, don't you think?"
Aunt Niu and Aunt Luo smiled somewhat awkwardly.
Aunt Liu quickly continued, "In a little while, could you take a look at my Yanling? She's been married for over ten years and only had one daughter, and then she hasn't had any more children!"
He Yanling is Aunt Liu's eldest daughter-in-law. I heard that she rented a newsstand in front of the movie theater to sell newspapers, and she goes to work before dawn.
"Girl?" Chen Yun popped a melon seed into her mouth and glanced towards Zhang Quan's room. "Why haven't I seen Brother Zhang Quan and his daughter come out?"
Aunt Liu suddenly turned her face down, as if Chen Yun had said something she shouldn't have.
Chen Yunquan pretended not to see it and continued, "Family planning is now a basic national policy of our country. Even if Sister He wanted to have a second child, the hospital would not allow her to be admitted according to the policy."
After the one-child policy was officially implemented in 1983, hospitals required prenatal checkups to clarify the number of pregnancies. If any misreporting or omissions were discovered, both the doctor and the hospital would be punished.
"We're all neighbors, why bring up the country?" Aunt Liu slapped her thigh, stood up, and walked away muttering, "If you don't want to help, then don't. You have two children yourself, but you can't stand seeing other people have sons."
Chen Yun: "..."
As he walked down the steps, he remembered that he hadn't brought his own stool, so he turned back, picked it up, and glared fiercely at Chen Yun.
"Never mind her." Aunt Luo handed Chen Yun some of her sun-dried pumpkin seeds. "Zhang Quan and Yanling's daughter is at her grandmother's house. Speaking of which, this is all Old Liu's own doing..."
When He Yanling was more than seven months pregnant, she had an argument with Aunt Liu and accidentally fell. That night, she went into labor and gave birth to a daughter.
"You know... the baby is only seven months old. When it was born, it wouldn't be much bigger than my palm, all wrinkled up like a little mouse." Aunt Luo gestured roughly to indicate the baby's length, then silently spat at Aunt Liu: "None of us outsiders said anything, but Aunt Liu insisted on saying in front of her daughter-in-law that the baby wouldn't survive... Can you believe that's what a human being would say!"
If a mother tells her daughter-in-law, who has just given birth, that she can't raise the child, I doubt many mothers wouldn't hold a grudge.
But what happened next was even more shocking: while her daughter-in-law was asleep, Aunt Liu actually tried to throw her granddaughter into the latrine pit to drown her.
If Zhang Quan hadn't been awakened in the middle of the night, her daughter would have truly died at her own mother's hands.
After the incident, Zhang Quan sent his wife and daughter to his father-in-law's house to recuperate after childbirth, and his daughter was raised by her maternal grandparents.
"That girl is about the same age as your Liangliang, and she's never come back to see Aunt Liu even once. Don't you think she deserves it?"
Chen Yun also looked towards Aunt Liu's house.
No wonder there's an old saying—it's not that people get bad as they get old, but that bad people get old!
"The eldest granddaughter doesn't acknowledge this grandmother, and Zhang He's son has taken the woman's surname. Since she can't control the second son's wife, she's trying to find a way to get under the thumb of the eldest son's wife." Aunt Niu's summary was quite accurate.
"Why don't Zhang Quan and his wife move out and reunite with their daughter?" Chen Yun asked curiously.
"We have no money!" Aunt Niu rubbed her fingers together. "Zhang Quan's wife developed health problems after giving birth, and all the money we've earned over the years has gone to medicine. How can we afford to rent a place?"
It all comes down to money, so He Yanling would rather leave early and return late than share a room with her mother-in-law.
"Look," Aunt Luo suddenly nudged Chen Yun and Ruan Qiu's knees, gesturing for them to look: "That's Zhang He's wife."
In Chen Yun's memory, Zhang He was a educated youth who returned to the city and abandoned his wife and children... He had the words "heartless and treacherous" pasted on his forehead.
To attract the attention of an only child in the city, Zhang He's appearance truly fit the aesthetic standards of that era: tall, wearing glasses, and looking refined and cultured.
As for his wife, Cao Chunjuan, she is at most 1.5 meters tall and seems to have a slight hunchback.
While the others were busy looking at the two adults, Chen Yun's gaze quickly fell on the child's face.
By six months of age, babies should be at the stage where they can be held upright and have their heads and necks held upright for extended periods.
But the child's head seemed unable to stand up straight at all. After shaking its head a few times, it limply leaned against its mother's shoulder. Strangely, its hands also hung down at its sides without any extra movement.
Although each child's growth and development will vary, there should not be significant differences; otherwise, growth and development interventions will be recommended during child health checkups.
The instant after Aunt Luo finished speaking, Chen Yun saw Cao Chunjuan trying to change her holding position, and she may have accidentally touched the child's foot, causing the child's instep to suddenly straighten.
The abnormality was so obvious that Chen Yun didn't even need to observe the child's nerve reflexes up close to be certain.
This...is a child with cerebral palsy!
"Auntie."
Out of instinct, Chen Yun decided to ask about the situation. If it was mild cerebral palsy, early rehabilitation training could still offer hope of living like a normal person.
Aunt Luo turned her head and asked, "Hmm?" Chen Yun quickly caught the glint in her eyes.
"Does your sister-in-law also think there's something wrong with the child?" Chen Yun asked.
The sunflower seeds he had just put in his mouth rolled off and bounced off his knees, landing at Chen Yun's feet.
"Auntie, don't forget I'm a doctor who specializes in treating little kids. How could I not see what's wrong with this child!"
"Is there really a problem?" Aunt Luo asked in a low voice, afraid that Aunt Liu might overhear and cause a fight between them. As she spoke, she deliberately glanced at the Liu family's house twice before asking, "I just think that baby is strange. Why is he so limp..."
They're all mothers; they know exactly what a six-month-old baby is like, they just don't dare to say it to their faces.
Aunt Niu was bold and kind-hearted. She grabbed Chen Yun's arm and asked directly, "Do you think it can be cured?"
“An assessment and inspection are necessary,” Chen Yun sighed.
It's certain there's a problem, but the extent of brain damage can only be determined by a brain MRI, and currently there probably isn't a single hospital in the entire northern part of the city that has MRI technology.
As a second-best option, a brain ultrasound and electroencephalogram (EEG) should be performed for further evaluation. Most importantly, the judgment of a professional doctor is crucial.
"Is it very serious?" Aunt Luo asked.
Chen Yun shook her head again: "I can't see clearly from too far away." She then turned to Cao Chunjuan: "If I rashly say that the child has a problem... what will Aunt Liu do!"
Many children are ruined by their parents' ignorance, and Aunt Liu is not only ignorant but also unreasonable.
"It's alright." Aunt Luo waved her hand and called directly to Cao Chunjuan, "Juanzi, let Auntie hold the child."
Aunt Niu whispered to Chen Yun, "Cao Chunjuan is reasonable, unlike her mother-in-law."
Cao Chunjuan smiled, raised the arm that was supporting the child's head, and pointed at Aunt Luo and the others: "Grandma Luo is calling our Leilei! Let's go find Grandma Luo and play for a while."
The child seemed to understand his mother's words and tried to look up towards the main entrance of the house.
"Hello, both of you aunties."
Aunt Luo took the child and placed him on her lap. Cao Chunjuan moved her aching shoulders and looked at Chen Yun with a smile.
"You must be Uncle Gao's third daughter-in-law, right?"
"Hello, my name is Chen Yun."
Cao Chunjuan has a very pleasant voice, gentle and soothing, and speaks with a smile in her eyes and clear pronunciation.
"I heard from Uncle Gao a few days ago that his daughter-in-law and two grandsons were coming, and the two old folks were overjoyed!" As he spoke, his gaze swept over the children playing in the corner: "The eldest one is really tall."
“She looks like her father.” Chen Yun smiled and brought a taller bamboo stool from inside the house and put it down: “Your back is not good, sitting on one with a backrest will be more comfortable.”
How did you know I have a bad back?
"You wouldn't know that!" Aunt Luo gently cradled the child's head in her arms, and upon hearing their conversation, looked up and smiled, "Little Chen is a doctor, and a doctor who specializes in treating children."
"A pediatrician?"
"To put it simply, he is a pediatrician, but to be more specific, he is a neonatologist."
"What a coincidence!" Cao Chunjuan looked at Chen Yun in surprise, her expression a mixture of excitement and trepidation. "Our newspaper also received an interview invitation regarding the news that the Workers' Hospital is going to establish the first neonatal department in the country."
Cao Chunjuan works at the Beicheng Daily. Two months ago, she received news that the Workers' Hospital was preparing to establish a neonatal department, and there were also rumors that the department director was a big shot that Dean Zhao had invited from afar.
However, despite the flurry of rumors, no newspaper has managed to get a photo of the director yet.
The person everyone was so curious about was right in front of them, holding sunflower seeds in his hand, with a piece of sunflower seed shell still stuck to his lips, smiling and chatting with her.
Chen Yun was completely unaware that she had become famous among medical workers in Beicheng. At this moment, she kept turning her head to glance at Aunt Luo's arms.
Aunt Luo, who is usually good at praising people, seemed to be completely speechless at this moment. She pursed her lips, wanting to say a few words of praise, but then she couldn't help but purse them again. All that was left was the action of her hands constantly wiping the child's drool.
"..."
"What's the child's name?" Chen Yun asked, trying to steer the conversation toward the child.
"His name is Cao Lei." Cao Chunjuan smiled, her gaze gently falling on the child's face: "He just turned six months old yesterday, but he's growing so slowly that I'm a little worried."
Cao Lei's face was round, his skin was fair and delicate, and his pupils were clear dark brown. However, the eyes that should have reflected the eyes of his elders were now completely replaced by a blank, unfocused emptiness.
He lay quietly in Aunt Luo's arms. Just as Chen Yun reached out and gently touched her small hands hanging at her sides, he suddenly clenched his fists and raised them to his chest.
Cao Chunjuan's smiling eyes slowly dimmed, and something struggling surfaced from the depths of her eyes.
Chen Yun stood up and silently brought out two more tall chairs from the room.
The two chairs were placed side by side. Chen Yun carefully took the child and first turned to Cao Chunjuan to ask, "Shall I check the child?"
Cao Chunjuan nodded slowly.
Chen Yun thought... There was no need for many opening remarks; Cao Chunjuan must have already sensed that something was wrong, but she just didn't want to admit it!
Does the child grab things?
Extend a finger and gently touch the child's wrist to guide him to make a grasping motion. When the fingertip tries to move towards the palm, the little fist is still clenched tightly.
"I occasionally grab toys, but I rarely do."
Chen Yun tried to gently massage the fingers to make the baby loosen its fist, but only felt continuous resistance, a force that would not be present on a six-month-old baby.
"Try calling him to look at you." Chen Yun carefully supported Cao Lei under his armpits with both hands, trying to slowly pull him up from his lying position.
"Leilei, look, Mom is here." Cao Chunjuan clapped her hands and called out gently.
Although his neck was swaying, he tried very hard to lift his little head and looked in the direction where Cao Chunjuan was.
Chen Yun was very pleased and smiled, gesturing for Cao Chunjuan to change direction.
Cao Chunjuan then moved to the right side, and although the head was unsteady, it slowly looked towards Cao Chunjuan.
"very good!"
Seeing her child's performance, Chen Yun seemed even happier than Cao Chunjuan, the mother.
Cao Lei's performance indicates that his central nervous system development is only delayed, but there are no strong abnormal signals.
Cao Chunjuan couldn't help but feel happy too, and tears welled up in her eyes, which she quickly suppressed.
Soon Chen Yun began the next examination.
He bent his index finger and gently tapped Zhang Lei's knee tendon.
Thump thump thump—
The lower leg bounce amplitude is normal, and the Achilles tendon response shows slight plantar flexion, suggesting possible damage to the vertebral pathway. Chen Yun is more inclined to believe that there is delayed development of the upper motor neurons, but it is impossible to determine whether there is any damage.
"..."
The group stared intently at Chen Yun, not understanding what he could possibly diagnose by touching and tapping. But since he was a doctor, there must be a reason for his examination.
Until Chen Yun withdrew her hand and gently picked up the child.
"How is it?" Cao Chunjuan asked anxiously.
Chen Yun gestured for her to sit down, then gently massaged the baby's arm as she spoke: "Leilei has high muscle tone and shows signs of delayed upper nerve development..." She then asked in a softer tone, "Did you experience any problems during childbirth?"
"I had a vaginal delivery that turned into a C-section, and it took more than four hours for the baby to be born," Cao Chunjuan said.
Did the baby experience oxygen deprivation after birth?
"Hypoxia?" Cao Chunjuan thought carefully but couldn't find the word "hypoxia" in her memory. But then she suddenly remembered something else: "The doctor said the baby choked on amniotic fluid and only survived after being rescued."
Chen Yun sighed: "That means there was a lack of oxygen."
However, due to limited medical resources at the time, Chen Yun could no longer find out how long she had been deprived of oxygen or what tests she had undergone afterward.
She could only continue based on her assessment: "I suggest you take your child to the pediatric department of the hospital for a complete examination. Unfortunately, there's no MRI available, so..."
“They have an MRI!” Cao Chunjuan quickly interrupted Chen Yun: “You’re new to Beicheng, so you might not know, but the Beicheng People’s Hospital just got an MRI machine two months ago. I even did an interview about it!”
"That's great!" Chen Yun said happily. "Then you should take your child to get an MRI and show the images to a neurologist to check the extent of the damage... If you trust me, you can also show me the images. I can help you develop a rehabilitation plan. The earlier the intervention, the better the child will recover."
"I'll go right now," Cao Chunjuan said hurriedly.
“The hospital is almost closed now.” Chen Yun quickly pulled her agitated hand and continued, “You need to be mentally prepared, this process will be very long… and even if you spend money on rehabilitation, your child may not be as smart and lively as a normal child.”
"I'll be satisfied as long as he can be close to a normal person. I won't compare him to other children."
Cao Chunjuan's ability to say these words immediately impressed Chen Yun; she was able to quickly accept the child's problems and also had a clear vision of the future.
Zhang He was able to marry such an outstanding wife... Chen Yunzhen felt sorry for Cao Chunjuan.
"You can take the MRI scans to a specialist first. If they confirm there's damage, then come back to me, and I can tailor a rehabilitation plan based on the results... I..."
"I believe you." Cao Chunjuan hurriedly grabbed Chen Yun's arm, her expression becoming increasingly urgent: "I only believe you now."
"..."
As a new mother, Cao Chunjuan was more anxious about her child than anyone else. She was sure to sense any abnormalities before anyone else, and she had already discovered the problem three months ago.
Her husband said she was making a mountain out of a molehill, and her parents said she was making trouble out of nothing.
In the end, she even brought up the old saying "a wise person speaks slowly," but no one was on her side.
Even so, Cao Chunjuan still secretly took her child to the pediatric department of the People's Hospital for a check-up.
As a result, the doctor dismissed her with just a few words, his explanation being exactly the same as that of her family: to wait until the baby stops eating and sleeping before going to the doctor.
When her child was four months old, he had difficulty falling asleep and wouldn't sleep at night, so Cao Chunjuan took him to the hospital again.
In the end... he was dismissed with just a few words.
From then on, she never took her child to the hospital again. Instead, she went to libraries and bookstores to find information and then compared it with the abnormal symptoms her child had.
I had already read those technical terms Chen Yun used, such as high muscle tone and neurons, hundreds of times in books.
So it wasn't that Cao Chunjuan had a high level of understanding, but rather that she already knew her son might have cerebral palsy.
“Then bring the X-ray to my house.” Chen Yun decided, then patted her knee with a smile: “Don’t be too nervous. In my opinion, Leilei’s condition is not serious. As long as there is no large-area damage, I am optimistic.”
"Okay." Cao Chunjuan let out a deep breath and reached out her hand: "I'll take Leilei back to sleep and talk to Zhang He about the child's condition."
Cao Chunjuan carried the child and went into Aunt Liu's house again.
Aunt Luo quickly pressed, "It's really not serious, you weren't just trying to comfort Xiao Cao, were you?"
"Will comforting the child make things better?" Chen Yun stood up, put the sunflower seeds back in the basket, and clapped her hands: "It's all true. Maybe the child's situation is better than I think."
First, she genuinely disliked eating sunflower seeds; second... her intuition told Chen Yun that Cao Lei's situation was better than expected.
"That's good, that's good." Aunt Luo patted her chest repeatedly, her mood improving so much that she even cracked sunflower seeds faster. "You didn't see how much I didn't dare to hug her just now..."
"Gao Nian'an!"
"Run! Mom's coming!"
The three children who were playing in the mud in the corner scattered instantly, desperately trying to squeeze into the kitchen under Gao Nian'an's direction.
Among them were several adults who loved them the most.
Gao Tiejun scooped up Gao Nianping, who was about to fall over: "Grandpa was just about to call you in to eat meatballs..." His smile quickly froze on his face, and he soon became both amused and exasperated.
Gao Nianping rubbed his face, quickly leaving five dark finger marks on his cheek.
"Grandpa, Nianping likes to eat meatballs."
"No matter how much you like it, you have to wash your hands before you can eat it." Chen Yun chased after him and grabbed a guy who was pushing his way towards the stove: "If you don't wash your hands, you can't eat at the table tonight."
Chen Yun racked her brains but couldn't understand how someone as clean as her could have raised two "dirty babies."
Gao Nian'an doesn't like to take baths, and Gao Nianping doesn't like to wash his hair.
The siblings' slovenly habits are of unknown origin!
Gao Tiejun cheerfully carried Gao Nianping to the well, then rinsed his hands in the basin and casually wiped his face.
Now we know who she inherited it from...
"Eat meatballs..."
Before Gao Nian'an could even utter the word "Luo," Chen Yun dragged him back to the well and grabbed both his hands, putting them into the basin of water.
The dark, sticky dirt under her fingernails was extremely irritating to her eyes, and Chen Yun absolutely could not tolerate her using those hands to grab food and put it in her mouth.
"Mom." Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, Gao Nian'an quickly smiled and acted coquettishly, rubbing her head against Chen Yun's arm: "Are you angry?"
Chen Yun smiled and said, "Why would Mom get angry over such a small thing? I just noticed that the dirt under your nails wasn't cleaned properly. I'll trim your nails for you after you wash them."
The high-speed rail guard is still standing by the well! If Chen Yun really blames her father-in-law for not washing the child's hands properly, then she's really looking for trouble.
"Then you help your younger brothers wash, I can wash myself clean."
Gao Nianping quickly and proactively applied soap to his hands, and Li Shuaishuai followed suit.
Seeing their older sister subdued, the two younger children dared not run away and obediently stood in place, stretching out their little hands to wait to be washed.
Li Shuaishuai's mother was chatting enthusiastically with her two aunts, leaving sunflower seed shells scattered all over the floor. She had no idea what her son was doing.
"You need to wash under your fingernails too."
"Okay..."
The mother and her children were squatting by the well washing themselves, while several other people were peering into the yard from outside the gate.
"Such a big yard, we can't let it just benefit others in the future."
The old man at the head of the group wore a green military cap at an angle, his back was slightly hunched, his hands were behind his back, and he spoke in a sour tone.
"Don't worry, Dad," the middle-aged man said cheerfully, helping the old man into the yard.
When Gao Tiejun saw the person who came, his smile froze instantly.
"Zhou Jianguo".
The short, stout middle-aged man called Zhou Jianguo glanced at the bustling courtyard in surprise before calling out, "Dad."
Zhou Jianguo, who made Gao Lan humble herself, appeared with her parents and younger brother's family.
And they... obviously didn't know the Gao family was hosting a dinner today.
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