Undercurrent
When the smell of disinfectant pierced his nostrils like a needle, Chen Yanzhi belatedly realized he was lying on a trolley in the emergency room. The regular beeping of the electrocardiogram monitor and the hurried footsteps of the nurses intertwined, creating a cacophony of sounds. He tried to point to the nitroglycerin tablets in his suit pocket, but found his fingertips were an abnormal bluish-purple, and his heart was throbbing with a deathly thud in his chest.
"The patient's blood pressure is 80/40, and the blood oxygen saturation continues to drop!" The nurse's voice was like being immersed in ice water. Chen Yanzhi vaguely saw a white coat swaying in front of his eyes. Suddenly, he heard someone shout, "Contact the cardiac surgery department for consultation and prepare for IABP!" In the last moment before his consciousness was about to collapse, he saw a familiar figure flash past the door of the emergency room—it was Su Wanyu. The hem of her camel-colored coat was still wet with raindrops. She was holding the door frame and staring blankly at him.
Chapter One: Sudden Rain
Three hours earlier, Chen Yanzhi was still arguing vehemently in the law firm's conference room. The listed company's merger and acquisition case had entered a crucial stage, and as the lead lawyer, he was refuting the opposing party's proposed asset divestiture clauses when he suddenly felt a strange, dull pain in his left scapula. It felt like being slowly slashed by a rusty, dull knife; the pain crawled along his nerve endings toward his heart. His knuckles, gripping the pen, turned white, and he forced his fingertips against the edge of the table.
"Attorney Chen?" The opposing lawyer's voice was tinged with doubt. Chen Yanzhi looked up and found everyone staring at him, his pale face reflected in the glass curtain wall. He wanted to say "continue," but his voice sounded like a damp cotton ball: "Excuse me, just a moment..." Before he could finish speaking, a flurry of snowflakes suddenly filled his vision, and his pen fell to the ground with a "clatter."
When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the hospital's emergency room. The green light from the monitor flowed across his face. Chen Yanzhi saw Su Wanyu standing next to the nurses' station, her fingers rapidly scrolling through her phone. Suddenly, she grabbed a passing doctor: "Director Zhang, right? I'm a student of Professor Li from the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Renji Hospital. Mr. Chen's condition requires immediate investigation to rule out the possibility of acute myocardial infarction caused by coronary artery spasm, especially the possibility of variant angina..." She spoke extremely quickly, and her eyes behind her glasses were surprisingly bright, completely unlike the quiet administrative assistant who always organized documents at the law firm.
"Su Wanyu?" Chen Yanzhi only realized her voice was hoarse like sandpaper when she spoke. She immediately turned around and walked quickly to the hospital bed. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that there were still raindrops on her eyelashes, her hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and there was a faint red burn mark at the base of her right ring finger—probably from spilling coffee when she left.
"Don't talk." She reached out and pressed her hand against the back of his hand, her body heat seeping through his skin. "The ECG just showed ST segment elevation abnormality. We're still waiting for the troponin results, but acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction has been ruled out. We need to do coronary angiography now, but all the cardiac surgeons are in surgery. I contacted Professor Zhou Ming from the Provincial People's Hospital; he'll be there in half an hour."
Chen Yanzhi wanted to say "No need to trouble yourself," but then he saw the dense call log on her phone screen: a call to a classmate at Fuwai Hospital in Beijing at 2:20 AM, a call to the head of the cardiology department at Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai at 3:05 AM, and the latest call was to the equipment department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Shanghai ten minutes earlier, with the note "Requesting to borrow an intravascular ultrasound catheter." He suddenly remembered three months ago, when Su Wanyu broke a glass in the break room, and as she squatted down to pick up the shards, she whispered "I'm sorry." And now, she was using those hands, which had been cut by glass, to carve a bloody path through the labyrinth of the medical system.
Chapter Two: The Long Night
The hospital corridor at midnight seemed to have been drained of all sound. Su Wanyu leaned against the wall by the ward door, her phone screen reflecting the dark circles under her eyes. Chen Yanzhi, by the light of the corridor lamp, saw her texting someone: "Dr. Wang, please check the pharmaceutical company's inventory again. That batch of Nicorandil extended-release tablets from Germany must be delivered today; the patient is allergic to the regular dosage form." After pressing send, she pinched the bridge of her nose, then suddenly looked up and found him awake.
"Would you like some water?" She walked quickly to the bedside, and as she poured the water, the silver bracelet on her wrist clinked against the glass. Chen Yanzhi noticed that she had changed into a white shirt, with rain stains on the collar, indicating that she had rushed over from home without even changing her coat.
"How...how did you know I'm allergic to nicorandil?" Chen Yanzhi took the water glass, his fingertips touching the thin calluses on her palm—marks left from years of organizing documents and moving files. Su Wanyu paused, then looked down to adjust the IV pump's speed: "Last year when you were hospitalized for gastric polyp surgery, the nurse gave you the wrong medication. You asked me to go to the pharmacy to keep an eye on changing the batch number, and I wrote it down."
Memories suddenly flooded back. During that post-operative care lapse, Chen Yanzhi saw Su Wanyu standing at the pharmacy window, meticulously checking the batch numbers of each box of medicine. Sunlight streamed in from behind her, casting the shadow of her ponytail onto the white tiles. He initially thought she was just doing her duty, never imagining she would remember that detail for a whole year.
At three in the morning, a nurse suddenly rushed into the ward: "Mr. Chen's blood pressure is dropping again!" Su Wanyu immediately stood up, her phone already dialing a number: "Professor Zhou, are you at the hospital entrance? Yes, we need to do an intravascular ultrasound immediately. The patient may have coronary microvascular spasm, which may be missed by a regular angiography..." As she spoke, she followed the wheelchair towards the catheterization lab, the hem of her white shirt being lifted by the wind, revealing a light brown burn scar on her lower back—Chen Yanzhi suddenly remembered that it was from last year's law firm team building event, when she was splashed with hot oil while helping him retrieve documents that had fallen onto the barbecue grill.
The bright lights of the catheterization lab stung his eyelids. Chen Yanzhi heard Professor Zhou Ming's voice: "Intravascular ultrasound shows spasm in the distal anterior descending artery, with 90% stenosis. Prepare for intracoronary injection of nitroglycerin..." Through his hazy vision, he saw Su Wanyu standing behind the lead glass, gesturing to a nurse, when she suddenly turned and ran out. Ten minutes later, she returned with a warm towel in her hand, gently wiping the cold sweat from his forehead: "It's alright now, the spasm has subsided. Professor Zhou said we need a new type of calcium channel blocker. I've already asked the pharmaceutical representative to get the drug from another province; it will arrive before eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
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