"Oh, right, you weren't here earlier. The medical affairs office received a call, and a few of us were just getting ready to go to the train station to pick someone up. Dean Liu is back from Shuangqing, and his wife might be..."
"The former director? What happened to his wife?"
No wonder these leaders all came out.
"They didn't explain very clearly over the phone. From what I heard, they said the people might be in danger, and they felt helpless over there. They wanted to come and see if there was still hope. Their train is about to arrive at the station."
Li Chu's heart sank upon hearing this. The old dean's wife was already over eighty years old. Was it really a good thing for her to go through all this trouble?
If someone passes away here, do we have to move them back?
Traveling from Shuangqing to Beijing involves both boat and train journeys; even a normal person would be exhausted after such a trip, let alone an elderly man in his eighties. I wonder what the old director was thinking.
Actually, it wasn't the old dean's idea to come here, but since his son and daughter were willing, he could only let it go.
"When will you arrive? Are you going now?"
"If it's on time, that train should arrive around 11:00. Shall we go together?" Dean Du asked Li Chu, casting a questioning glance at him.
"Okay, how do we get there? Are we all driving?"
"No need, let's take that minibus."
"Okay, I'll go tell Qiu Nan."
...
At the train station, some headquarters staff who had arrived earlier greeted them and drove their car directly onto the platform.
It's rare that this train was on time; it arrived promptly at 11:10.
When Li Chu saw the old director and his wife, he sighed inwardly.
This isn't just one person failing; it's clearly that both of them are at their wits' end.
Without much small talk, we picked up the person and got into the car.
As soon as they got on the bus, everyone except the old director's children turned their attention to Li Chu.
"Xiao Li, the reason I agreed to the children's request to come back from so far away is actually because of you. We're waiting for your advice on how things are going between us."
The old dean looked at Li Chu and said, slightly tired, while he and his wife were still holding hands tightly.
His children, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren all looked over with some surprise. The old man's meaning was very clear: the reason he agreed to come back was to find him.
But isn't that a bit too young?
"Director, you and Aunt Liu must have had a long journey. Please rest for a while. We'll talk once we get to the hospital."
Li Chu didn't know what to say. He believed that the old dean himself was well aware of his condition and was willing to make this trip, probably as a last resort.
During the journey, only the old director's family members were whispering inside the car. Several hospital leaders and headquarters staff members were relatively silent. The old director and his wife sat there with their eyes closed, resting.
"Old Li, I have a feeling..."
Vice Dean Chang walked from the back of the car to the front and sat down next to Li Chu, speaking quietly.
What did you see?
"I can't quite put my finger on it, but I always felt there was something strange about the two of them."
"Your feeling is right. It's not just Aunt Liu who's dying; the old director is actually holding on to his last breath as well."
Vice Dean Chang turned his head to look to his side and then back, asking, "Don't you have any ideas either?"
"Their current situation is one of mutual benefit and mutual loss. If one of them fails, the other will definitely follow immediately. We'll see what happens when we get back."
"Xiao Li, Xiao Chang, what are you two whispering about over there?"
"Director, Vice Director Chang and I are discussing how to treat Aunt Liu."
"Hehe, don't try to fool me. After all these years, how come I didn't know you needed to consult with others before seeing a doctor? Tell me, what exactly did you figure out? Let me see if your medical skills have improved over the years."
"Old Dean, is it time to test my medical skills?" Li Chu said, somewhat amused and exasperated.
The old dean stared at Li Chu with his somewhat cloudy eyes for a while before sighing, shaking his head, and saying, "How is your uncle? We haven't been in touch for a long time. Is he bedridden and unable to take care of himself?"
"If you'd like, I'll take you to see him later, old dean."
"I don't need you to take me there. It's not like I don't know his house. I'm going over there this afternoon to freeload a meal."
Seeing the old dean close his eyes again, Li Chu and the other hospital leaders exchanged glances, realizing that this matter could be kept secret for a while, but not forever.
At the time, everyone was worried about the old dean's health, and since he lived too far away, they unanimously decided not to tell him about Lin Sanshou's passing. However, it seems that they can't hide it from him now.
The car arrived at the hospital quickly. After a flurry of activity, it was already one o'clock when they finally settled Director Liu's wife into a special ward.
"Xiao Li, you don't need to hide it from me, is she already dying?"
Outside the suite, the old dean had just sat down on the sofa when he couldn't wait to ask.
"Old Dean, I think you should already have your own judgment, right?"
"Sigh," Dean Liu sighed with some reluctance upon hearing Li Chu's words, and said with a dejected expression, "I knew it would be like this, but I still held onto a sliver of hope for you, so I didn't object when they said they wanted to go to Beijing to take another look."
The eldest son of Dean Liu, who was over sixty years old, looked puzzled. He leaned close to Qiao, the deputy director of surgery who had just arrived, and whispered, "Dongsheng, who exactly is this Xiao Li that my father is talking about? I saw him, but he didn't show him to my mother. He didn't even touch those test reports. How could my father believe him just because he said it casually?"
Deputy Director Qiao was a former student of Dean Liu, and also the only person his eldest son could recognize here.
“Old Liu, you can only call Xiao Li your father. He’s an absolute expert in traditional Chinese medicine in our country. He specializes in treating and regulating the body.” As Deputy Director Qiao spoke, he secretly pointed upwards with one finger.
The eldest son of the Liu family glanced at Li Chu, who was sitting there talking to his father, with some surprise, and asked again, "How old is he?"
"Uh... I'm probably around fifty, but I'm not quite sure how old I am exactly."
On the other side, several chief experts from the surgery, internal medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine departments carefully reviewed the old lady's examination report from Shuangqing and shook their heads helplessly.
This isn't an illness, but rather a normal decline in bodily functions and the failure of various internal organs. The fact that I was able to successfully reach Beijing this time was entirely due to that fighting spirit.
The old lady had already fainted as soon as she was moved into the ward.
"Xiao Li, are you confident you can extend her life by a few more days?"
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