PSE - 27

In the eastern part of the city, the brilliant printing shop where Cao Xiaoyu worked received a large order yesterday.

The newly planned literary figure’s former residence in the development zone was expected to officially start construction by the end of the month. Before the groundbreaking ceremony, the development company planned to set up a circle of advertising barriers outside the construction site.

According to industry standards, for convenience, such advertising barriers were generally handled by a single advertising company, covering everything from internal light steel keel and gypsum board construction supervision to external PVC fabric printing, installation, and package bidding.

Although the price wasn’t very affordable, it was convenient for acceptance and coordination, managed uniformly by the advertising company.

Initially, the boss investing in the literary figure’s former residence followed this approach under the persuasion of subordinates. However, after the keel construction was completed and it came to producing the printed fabric, the marketing supervisor responsible for advertising coordination was suddenly anonymously reported by subordinates: taking advantage of the convenience of choosing the advertising company, he took a 20% kickback from the cooperating party.

The entire barrier plus lighting originally cost over 100,000 yuan. Who knew that just the intermediary skimmed off 20,000 yuan?

As a result, the swindled boss was deeply angered and immediately cut losses, firing the relevant personnel. Except for the already constructed keel, which was discounted and paid for, to recover the maximum loss, the project manager was in a panic and hurriedly inquired about prices for all printed fabrics in Suicheng.

The quote of eight yuan per square meter from the Brilliant Printing Shop was the most cost-effective choice.

Although it was a large order, the work Cao Xiaoyu had to do was actually quite simple. The advertisement graphics had already been completed by the previous company. All Cao Xiaoyu needed to do was adjust the layout slightly, just like she usually helped students print study materials, and set the Photoshop canvas size according to the actual keel dimensions.

If there were any gaps, she would fill them with background; if there was excess, she would simply crop it. It didn’t require much technical skill.

However, this morning, after selecting the type of PVC fabric and arranging the production schedule with the factory, Cao Xiaoyu suddenly discovered that the dimensions of the PVC fabric provided by the previous construction unit were incorrect.

There was a significant error in the printing and splicing of the graphics.

After repeated questioning, the contact person, having failed to earn the expected fees, started blaming others and creating obstacles. Eventually, when things went south, they simply blocked her. With no other choice, as the factory was about to start printing in the afternoon, the boss had to close the shop and drive Cao Xiaoyu to the construction site to measure the barrier dimensions.

Unfortunately, while taking these measurements, Cao Xiaoyu, wearing high-heeled boots, fell from the loose scaffolding, hitting her head and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.

At the time of the accident, Jinzi was on a business trip with the director of the Cultural Bureau 870 kilometers away and couldn’t immediately return to Suicheng. Although he quickly notified Xiaoyu’s parents to go to the hospital, after much deliberation, he realized that his family members were elderly, not very articulate, and would likely only add to the confusion.

Someone sensible was still needed at the hospital.

He initially dialed Ha Yue’s number but hung up before it connected. His sister Ha Yue had her own patient to take care of and often disappeared without notice. Moreover, his mother was impulsive, and Jinzi didn’t want to alarm too many people before confirming Xiaoyu’s condition.

Jinzi had many friends, with thousands of contacts in his phone book. But at this critical moment, as he flipped through the pages, he felt he couldn’t rely on anyone.

After some anxiety, he became so worried that he had no choice but to swallow his pride and call Xue Jing, hoping he could go to the hospital on his behalf to check on his wife’s condition.

After all, Xue Jing appeared to be the smartest intellectual Jinzi knew, and his ability to react to emergencies would surely be better.

The situation was urgent, and Xue Jing didn’t refuse. Before hanging up, he quickly turned the steering wheel and sped toward the hospital. On the way, he stopped at a bank and withdrew 30,000 yuan in cash to carry with him.

During his last medical check-up, he had noticed that Suicheng Hospital wasn’t even up to second-class standards. Its payment system was outdated and still didn’t support electronic payments. When he had to pay for his check-up, he specifically walked across the street to a tobacco and alcohol shop, exchanging a few hundred yuan in cash with the owner under the pretense of buying something.

Cash was rarely used in China nowadays.

He wasn’t sure if Xiaoyu’s parents, shocked by the incident, would remember to bring money with them.

Xue Jing always planned for the worst. If Cao Xiaoyu lost consciousness and went into shock, she would likely need ICU treatment, which started at 3,000 yuan per day.

What Jinzi’s family needed least right now was to delay treatment due to lack of funds. When Jinzi had helped him without hesitation, this favor was the least he could do.

With the accelerator fully pressed, Xue Jing cut a twenty-minute drive down to ten minutes. Upon arriving at the hospital, he parked the car and hurriedly ran toward the emergency room.

As he had anticipated, Xiaoyu, who had gone into shock, was indeed sent to the ICU. The boss who had brought her to the emergency room fled as soon as he heard her condition was critical, long before Xiaoyu’s parents arrived.

Xue Jing remained calm and methodical. He first paid the outstanding fees at the cashier on the first floor.

Then, with the receipt in hand, he went to the nurse’s station on the ICU floor to systematically inquire about Xiaoyu’s vital signs and conditions since arriving at the hospital. After buying two bottles of water for Xiaoyu’s parents, Xue Jing went to the stairwell to call Jinzi.

Xiaoyu’s injuries weren’t entirely clear yet. The blood loss was within a controllable range. Based on external injuries, the emergency doctor determined that the skull damage wasn’t severe—only a slight depression—and she had a concussion, possibly some brain injury. However, why she remained unconscious and went into shock despite relatively minor injuries required further examination to determine if there was serious internal bleeding in the brain.

In the worst-case scenario, a blood clot pressing on a nerve might necessitate brain surgery.

It was also possible that her body had other underlying conditions.

There wasn’t much the family could do except wait for the doctors’ diagnosis and results.

Before making the call, Xue Jing had cleared his throat several times. He wanted to sound as calm and reassuring as possible. But as soon as Jinzi’s tearful voice reached his ear, an involuntary reaction kicked in, and he began coughing uncontrollably.

Wiping his face roughly with his palm, Xue Jing gulped down half a bottle of mineral water, forcing himself to suppress the chill running through his body. In a stiff tone, he delivered the words he had rehearsed in his mind: “It’s okay. Take your time coming back, and be safe. I’ll stay here and keep watch for you. Don’t blame yourself too much. Even if you were here, there’s nothing you could do but wait outside.”

“Let’s not dwell on things we can’t change.”

“There is some good news. The doctor said Xiaoyu’s vital signs are stable.”

“Good people have heaven’s protection. She’ll be fine. Jinzi, everything will be okay. You’re still so young, and you have a whole life ahead of you. Right?”

At 2 a.m., the hallway outside the ICU was eerily quiet, occasionally interrupted by the rapid footsteps of nurses working in the corridors.

Cao Xiaoyu’s test results were now clear. Her head injury wasn’t severe. The reason she went into shock was that she was already pregnant.

Ten weeks along, the baby was developing normally. The little one was incredibly resilient, remaining securely implanted despite the mother’s dangerous fall. The ultrasound showed no signs of threatened miscarriage.

Two hours earlier, Xiaoyu had regained consciousness with the help of nutritional fluids. Her blood pressure and blood sugar were both low, but the doctor suggested she remain under observation in the ICU until the next morning before transferring to a general ward for recovery.

Xue Jing rented two folding beds for Xiaoyu’s elderly parents, allowing them to rest temporarily in the hallway. Meanwhile, he sat on the cold, hard metal chair by the elevator, lost in thought.

Today, there were three patients in the ICU.

Besides Cao Xiaoyu, who had fallen from a height, there was an elderly man in the late stages of cancer and a newborn with a lung infection.

However, the other two patients weren’t as fortunate as Xiaoyu.

The elderly man had been admitted to the ICU for emergency treatment a week ago. His body was failing, and the skin below his chest had turned bluish-purple. He had long lost consciousness and was essentially kept alive by a ventilator.

The treatment plan was to prolong his life as much as possible, but there was no need for family members to stay overnight. No news was the best news.

As for the newborn’s family, although they were only allowed ten minutes of visiting time each day, the child’s father still stayed at the hospital day and night, eating and sleeping there, just to ask the doctors more questions about the child’s condition whenever they passed by.

According to the child’s father, after the baby was born, the couple had been embroiled in a divorce dispute over trivial matters that had occurred between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law during the pregnancy. The household was in constant chaos, with all three parties refusing to back down. The arguments escalated to a fever pitch, with the wife threatening to cut her wrists and the mother threatening to jump off a building. The police had even been called in to mediate.

At first, when the baby developed a fever, the adults didn’t notice it in time. By the time the infant was rushed to the hospital with a high fever, the lungs were already filled with white spots, severely affecting oxygen supply to the brain.

A few meters away, Xiaoyu’s parents and the newborn’s father were lying in a row against the wall.

Because of the good news, Xiaoyu’s parents fell asleep quickly, their bodies motionless except for the steady rise and fall of their breathing.

The child’s father was a stubble-faced young man with a crew cut, appearing to be in his early twenties. His features still carried the youthful naivety of someone not yet fully mature. He kept wriggling on the folding bed like a caterpillar, tossing and turning for hours. Finally, he opened his eyes, pulled out his phone, and seemed to send a WeChat message to someone.

Despite staring at the WeChat interface for a long time, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes down to his earlobes, the other person didn’t reply.

This was how it was outside the ICU—despair lingered everywhere. Few people found blessings in misfortune; many lost the most precious treasures of their lives here.

Xue Jing withdrew his gaze from the hallway, feeling a dull ache in his neck and lower back. He swallowed a painkiller from his wallet without water, rested his elbows on his knees, and slowly massaged his temples with his middle finger.

He hadn’t slept for over twenty hours and should have been exhausted, but while his body was fatigued, his mind was abnormally alert. Thoughts swirled chaotically like an uncontrollable uprising, with images and sounds rolling ceaselessly before his eyes, making his vision blur and spin in waves.

Many years ago, outside the ICU of Jicheng First People’s Hospital, he and his father had also waited in front of the ward one early morning. But no matter how hard he tried to piece together his memories, he couldn’t find any trace of emotion on Xue Lianwu’s still handsome face.

On that day, Xue Lianwu simultaneously lost the wife and daughter listed on his household registration. However, unlike Xiaoyu’s parents, who were visibly distressed, or the young father who secretly wiped his tears in the night, Xue Lianwu remained cold and detached.

He simply stared at the wristwatch on his left hand, answering overseas work calls across time zones while waiting for updates on the rescue efforts. In the meantime, he shook off Xue Jing’s small hand as it clung to his thigh and pressed a finger heavily against his temple, like the barrel of a gun, bending down to scold him: “Stop crying. I don’t like boys showing weakness by shedding tears.”

That day, coincidentally, was also a snowy day.

Young Xue Jing, not yet of school age, had been thoroughly chilled by the melting snow. He caught a cold, ran a fever, and cried for hours in the freezing wind. He desperately wanted to cough, but his father, Xue Lianwu, found him annoying and shot him a glare that made his whole body tremble. So, he endured, waited, and held back.

Later, when dawn broke and the doctors announced that the rescue efforts had failed, both patients died one after another. All the adults filed out to the morgue to handle the aftermath.

At the end of the corridor, a janitor cleaning the area was horrified to find young Xue Jing still waiting there, like a dead plant, collapsed on the ground, unconscious from the fever, with involuntary bowel movements.