The pungent smell of disinfectant, accompanied by a cold wind, and unreasonable fear eroded the people who came here.
The vast hall was filled with the sounds of chaotic footsteps and the lamentations of patients' families. The dripping of IV drips seemed to be a countdown for everyone wearing the striped virus.
Li Xiujun's once lustrous black hair now draped messily over her shoulders. In her haste, she had only thrown on a thin shirt.
The plastic door curtain was lifted from time to time, and the cold wind rushed into the house.
She shivered, but didn't care about the coldness.
His eyes fell on the information desk where the crowd was gathered, and he hurried over.
"Nurse, my dad came to your hospital for a checkup yesterday. He's always been in good health, so how come he has chronic enteritis? The doctor said all the tests on the list must be done. They're so expensive, can't they just skip a few?"
"My daughter has a fish bone stuck in her throat. Which department should I go to? ENT, ENT, or Ear, Nose, and Throat? Okay, thank you."
"I got some medicine from your hospital last month, but it's not working. A cold and fever should only last a day or two. Is there something wrong with the medicine?"
The cacophony of consultations was giving her a headache. Li Xiujun squeezed to the front and said in a trembling voice, "Excuse me, which ward is the patient surnamed Li who was just brought in?"
"You mean the cancer one? It's in Emergency Room 4 on the second floor of the East District. Here's the bill. Take it over there to pay."
The nurse's voice was startlingly cold.
When some family members heard that it was cancer, they looked at her with pity.
These days, people have no worries about illnesses, big or small. The only thing is cancer. Not to mention the huge cost of chemotherapy upfront, even if you can afford it, few people can survive the final surgery.
Li Xiujun didn't pay attention to these looks. She grabbed the red payment slip and joined the long queue.
After I stood still, my panicked mood calmed down a little.
It was just the string of numbers on the bill that made her stare blankly.
Six hundred and thirty-five yuan.
The only thing she had on her was the two hundred or so dollars she had left in her pocket during the day. In her haste, she had forgotten to take the tin box with her.
Before receiving the bill, the emergency room could only provide simple first aid. The longer they delayed, the more likely it was that Grandpa's life would be lost.
As the team moved, Li Xiujun became extremely desperate.
His head was too heavy to lift up, and a few shaky tears hung on his long eyelashes. He blinked a few times, and then the tears swayed and fell from the corners of his eyes.
The vision was hazy, and through the faint mist, a face with bloodshot eyes was reflected.
There was a traffic jam on the road, so Gu Qingming simply handed over a ticket, tucked his coat under his elbow, and went straight to the hospital.
His tall frame was still heaving with the intense exercise. He held the wallet between his bony fingers and handed it over.
Li Xiujun couldn't explain how she felt at that moment. She thanked the nurse and quickly paid the money to the nurse who kept urging her. She took the stamped payment slip and went to the second floor of another building.
Gu Qingming just stayed behind her silently.
After receiving the bill, the doctor instructed the nurse to put a ventilator on Mr. Li and push him into the emergency room.
The indicator light on the door suddenly turned red, as if a string in Li Xiujun's heart had snapped.
The corner of his eye caught the woman's red fingertips, and Gu Qingming took the coat hanging on his elbow and put it on her.
Wu Wen's big hand patted his back again and again, his voice still hoarse from sleep: "Uncle Li is a man of destiny. The First Hospital is also the best hospital in Beijing. He will be fine."
The jacket was a suit with a gold plaid pattern, which was very different from his casual home clothes.
The pleasant scent of cedar becomes the only connection.
Li Xiujun opened her lips slightly, and it took her a long time to find her voice, which was extremely difficult.
"Thank you, Uncle San. I will pay you back as soon as possible. It's too late now. Uncle San has to go to work tomorrow. Go back and have a rest early."
A normal girl would be terrified if faced with something like this, and wouldn't even have the energy to think about money. When you first arrive in Beijing, it's better to have someone to look after you than to grope around blindly.
Gu Qingming couldn't help but rubbed her head. "Since you call me Third Uncle, as an elder, it's not reasonable for me to ask the younger generation to pay. Just think of it as my investment in your studies in advance."
What is the relationship between surgery fees and studies?
This man, just like in his previous life, was cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
With a chuckle, Li Xiujun was amused by his mature tone and hasty excuse.
Gu Qingming couldn't understand why the person who had a sad face just now changed so suddenly.
He tacitly agreed not to bring it up again, and instead turned the conversation to an interesting anecdote from his business career over the years: "A year ago, I accompanied a friend to Shen City to discuss Wen Zhengming's "Ice Figure." We were supposed to be met at the station, but it turned out that our group had only recently arrived in Shen City, so we had no choice but to ask a few locals for directions."
"What the hell! The people in Shen City all looked so well-dressed, yet they were so vicious and sinister. Seeing that we were from outside, they all pointed us in the opposite direction, and then we circled back to the starting point like a ghost wall..."
No matter which life it was, Li Xiujun had never been so close to the real him as she is now.
Listening to those past events, it was like the two of them were experiencing them all alone.
The difficult time passed quickly.
The indicator light turned from red to green, and the doctor came out, took off the sterile cap, folded it and threw it into the special trash can, looking exhausted.
Li Xiujun shot out like an arrow: "Thank you, doctor, for your hard work. How is my grandfather doing now?"
"You're the patient's family member, right? They brought him here today, but any later and his life would have been threatened. But your grandfather is old, and the tumor is growing. Ordinary treatments won't help him much. Chemotherapy and surgery are the only options. There's a glimmer of hope."
As long as it can keep her grandfather alive, she will try any method.
"Of course we have to do it." Li Xiujun's thoughts raced. "The success rate of surgery should be higher after chemotherapy, right? Doctor, don't worry about the money. Just give my grandfather the best medicine."
The girl before me was only about ten years old, and the youthfulness on her face hadn't faded yet. I couldn't help but think of my daughter of the same age.
The doctor sighed and softened his tone. "Little sister, you have to understand that surgery always carries certain risks, especially with tumors like this. The success rate is low, not high. And considering your age, even if the surgery is successful, there's no guarantee you'll be able to recover."
This is a rather euphemistic way of putting it.
When ordinary families encounter such a situation, it is better to save the money for their children to go to school than to sell everything they have and go bankrupt to save an elderly person whose survival rate is almost zero.
Reality is both cruel and indifferent.
It’s not because most people regard human life as worthless, but because with their financial strength, the cost of surgery is like a bottomless hole that can never be filled.
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