I Am Diagnosed as a Medical Titan

Chapter 206: Chapter 148: At the Bedside of a Long Illness

”Nurse, where’s the nighttime payment office? The window on the third floor is closed.”

Chen Hao reached out and patted the man’s shoulder. ”Hey.”

The man turned his head, his expression anxious.

Chen Hao said, ”A while ago, on the big downhill slope by the south gate, you hit my roommate with your bike and injured his ankle. Remember?”

The young man froze.

He looked at Chen Hao’s face, then got a clear look at the white coat he was wearing. ”You’re... a doctor?” he asked, startled.

Chen Hao was about to explain that he was just a medical student when the young man suddenly grabbed his wrist.

”Doctor, take me to the payment office. I can’t find the nighttime window, and my mom’s account is out of money.”

After a moment of silence, Chen Hao said, ”Follow me.”

The two of them hurried down the corridors of the emergency building.

”What’s going on?” Chen Hao asked as they walked. ”That day, you were riding your bike like your life depended on it. Were you rushing to the hospital?”

”Yes.” The young man followed closely at Chen Hao’s side. ”My name is Feng Ye. My mom... has stage III cervical cancer.”

Chen Hao’s heart sank.

’Stage III cervical cancer.’

He knew how dire this stage was.

”No surgery?”

”It was discovered too late. The tumor had invaded the parametrial tissue, so a radical resection wasn’t possible. She’s on concurrent chemoradiotherapy—paclitaxel and cisplatin. She had a severe reaction tonight. She’s thrown up six times and her fever is thirty-nine point two degrees. The doctor suspects an infection and prescribed antibiotics, but her account is overdue.”

They reached the east side of the first floor.

The payment window was lit.

”Bed number.”

”Oncology, Bed 43, additional bed. Wu Lan.”

”There’s an outstanding balance of one thousand two hundred. If she’s to continue with the paclitaxel and antibiotics tomorrow, the account needs a minimum balance of three thousand. Otherwise, the system will automatically lock her medication tomorrow morning.”

Feng Ye shoved the wad of cash in his hand through the slot at the bottom of the window.

”Here’s two thousand one hundred. Please deduct what’s owed and authorize tonight’s antibiotics. I’ll pay the rest first thing tomorrow morning.”

The cashier took the money and put it in a currency counter.

”Sign here.” The cashier handed over a receipt.

Feng Ye grabbed the pen and quickly signed his name.

He turned to Chen Hao. ”Thanks, Doctor. I have to go back up.”

”I’ll go up with you and take a look,” Chen Hao said.

The two of them got into the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor.

「The oncology ward.」

An emaciated woman lay on the bed, so thin she was almost unrecognizable.

Her lips were dry and peeling, and her hair was sparse and patchy from chemotherapy.

Beside the bed was a short, red plastic stool.

A middle-aged man in a worn-out jacket sat on it, holding a wet towel and gently wiping the back of the woman’s hand.

Feng Ye hurried over.

”Dad, the bill is paid. The nurse is getting the medicine ready now.”

The man looked up, his face etched with deep lines.

Seeing Chen Hao behind his son, he immediately stood up and nervously wiped his hands on his pant legs.

”The doctor’s here,” the man said, his voice hoarse.

Chen Hao nodded and walked to the bedside.

He glanced at the monitor mounted by the head of the bed.

Heart rate one-ten, temperature reading thirty-seven point eight degrees.

”The fever’s gone down a little,” Chen Hao said.

Hearing his voice, the woman’s eyes fluttered open.

Her gaze passed over Chen Hao and landed on Feng Ye.

”Son...” the woman’s voice was faint.

”Mom, I’m here.” Feng Ye immediately crouched down and held the woman’s hand.

”Let’s stop the treatments. Let’s go home,” the woman said, her voice halting. ”Don’t spend any more money.”

”Mom, the attending physician said during rounds today that the tumor has shrunk. The medicine is working. The fever is just a side effect, you’ll feel better after the injection.”

The man, standing to the side, quickly chimed in, ”Yes, yes, listen to our son. The doctor said it’s working.”

But Chen Hao, standing nearby, could clearly see that as the man agreed, his eyes were empty.

There wasn’t a single trace of joy that her condition was improving.

Chen Hao felt the atmosphere was so oppressive he could barely breathe.

He glanced at the IV bag. ”I’ll go check on the medication at the nurse’s station. You two get some rest.”

Chen Hao turned and walked away.

”Doctor, I’ll walk you out,” the man said, following him.

They walked to the nurse’s station, one behind the other.

Chen Hao stopped, just about to say there was no need to see him out.

The man suddenly pointed to the fire escape door next to them.

”Doctor, can I have a word with you in private?”

Chen Hao hesitated for a second, then nodded.

They pushed open the heavy fire door and entered the stairwell.

As soon as the door closed, the man reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes.

He pulled one out and offered it to Chen Hao.

”I don’t smoke,” Chen Hao refused.

The man nodded and put the cigarette back.

Then he pulled a red envelope from his pocket.

Chen Hao’s gaze sharpened, and he immediately took a step back. ”Sir, what are you doing? Take it back.”

The man didn’t pull his hand back, keeping it extended.

”Doctor, I’m begging you. Please go talk to Feng Ye.”

”Huh? Say what?”

”Tell him his mother’s illness can’t be cured. Tell him the tumor has spread, that there’s no hope, and that he should discharge her.”

Chen Hao was shocked. ”Sir, are you crazy? You just said the tumor shrank and the treatment is working!”

”It shrank, but the money is gone.”

The man lowered his hands, the red envelope clutched in his palm, crumpling it.

”Doctor, we’re from the countryside. To pay for her treatment, we sold our house and our land. A single shot of this paclitaxel costs several thousand. We’ve borrowed from every relative we have. Now, people from our village don’t even answer when they see my number.”

The man’s tone was calm.

It was a calm born of utter despair, a sorrow deeper than grief.

”Feng Ye is a graduate student in computer science. He was supposed to go for his PhD, but last month, he was getting ready to drop out. Said he wanted to leave school early to work and earn money.”

The man turned his head and looked at Chen Hao.

”He only sleeps two hours a day. At night, he takes on several freelance gigs. That two thousand he paid today... I don’t know where he got it. I asked, but he won’t say.”

Chen Hao felt a lump in his throat and couldn’t say a word.

The man continued, ”Last Wednesday, while we were out, his mother pulled out her IV, walked to the window, and tried to jump.”

”Feng Ye happened to come back with food right then. He rushed over and grabbed his mom. He knelt on the ground, slamming his head on the floor as he begged his mom not to leave him.”

”Doctor, we’re trapped. We old folks aren’t afraid of dying, but we’re afraid of dragging our son down with us. Even if she’s really cured, the follow-up treatments, the check-ups... who knows how many tens of thousands that will cost. My son is a genius. He has a great future ahead of him. I can’t let him ruin his life, saddled with hundreds of thousands in debt.”

The man approached Chen Hao again, pushing the crumpled red envelope forward with both hands.

”As his parents, if we say we’re stopping treatment, he won’t listen. But you’re a doctor. If you just go over there and tell him there’s nothing more that can be done, tell him that continuing the medication will only increase her suffering... he’ll listen to a doctor.”

”Sir...” Chen Hao’s voice was trembling.

”I’m begging you.”

The man suddenly dropped to his knees.

Chen Hao was scared out of his wits and lunged forward to grab the man’s arm.

”What are you doing?”

The man knelt as if rooted to the spot, his body as rigid as iron.

”Doctor, I’m begging you, please, save my son.”

Chen Hao had studied medicine for three years, but no textbook had ever taught him how to handle a situation like this.

He suppressed the anguish in his heart and could only say through gritted teeth, ”Sir, I’m sorry. I’m just an Intern. I don’t have the authority to give a diagnosis. And besides, I would never, ever lie to a patient’s family to get them to give up on treatment!”

”I’m sorry, I can’t help you with this!”

Chen Hao turned, pushed open the fire door, and practically fled.

The door slammed shut behind him.

Chen Hao returned to the hallway outside the First Consultation Room of the Emergency Department.

People came and went in the corridor.

He sat there, his body stiff.

The man’s words kept replaying in his mind: ”Please, save my son.”

Two thousand.

A human life.

A young man’s future.

Chen Hao reached into the pocket of his white coat and felt his phone.

When he ran into an impossible situation, his first instinct was always to find Jiang He.

’If it were Old Jiang, he would be able to diagnose the root of the problem at a glance. Old Jiang could always carve a path to life out of a dead end.’

He took out his phone and glanced at the time.

3:30 AM.

He opened a new text message.

Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.

4:00 AM, 5:00 AM, 6:00 AM.

Outside the window, the sky gradually lightened. Morning had come to Yangcheng.

’Finally, it’s morning.’

’Sending the message now won’t bother Old Jiang.’

Chen Hao’s eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night.

He weighed every single word:

[Old Jiang, something’s happened. I ran into that guy who hit your ankle, Feng Ye. His mom is in oncology with stage III cervical cancer. Their family is at a dead end trying to pay for her treatment. The treatment is clearly working, and the tumor has even shrunk, but his dad just pulled me into a stairwell, knelt down, and begged me to lie to Feng Ye. He wants me to tell him his mom can’t be cured, using a doctor’s authority to crush his son’s hope. The old couple wants to kill themselves to free their son from the burden. This kind of thing... I have no idea what to do. If you’re done with what you were doing, when you see this, just text me back...]

...

...

「Morning.」

「A hotel room.」

Jiang He opened his eyes.

The moment he saw his wife, happiness bloomed in his heart.

’This must be one of the most romantic things in life:’

’The last person I see before I fall asleep is you, and the first person I see when I wake up is you, too.’

Jiang He didn’t move.

He savored the quiet moment.

While Shen Yu was still asleep, he even snuck a quiet kiss on her forehead.

Then he pulled her a little closer.

Perhaps because Jiang He held her a bit too tightly, the woman in his arms stirred.

Shen Yu frowned slightly and let out a soft, sleepy murmur. ”Mmm.”

Then her eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Her vision gradually focused from a blur, and the first thing she saw was Jiang He’s smiling face, just inches away.

Not only that, but she could also clearly feel that she was clinging to Jiang He with all her limbs, like a little koala, in an extremely intimate position.

”Ah...” She was instantly wide awake, her cheeks flushing red in an instant.

She quickly burrowed into the blankets, leaving only a pair of flustered, shy eyes exposed, and stammered, ”Y-You... When did you wake up?”

”Just now. Did you sleep well last night?”

”It was okay. Just okay!”

Shen Yu threw off the covers and scrambled off the bed. ”I-I’m going to go wash up!”

Jiang He couldn’t help but smile.

After a moment, he reached for his phone on the nightstand.

As soon as the screen lit up, he saw an unread text message.

Jiang He opened the message and read it, word for word.

After reading it, his eyes narrowed.

’So that’s why he looked so familiar. It was Feng Ye.’

In his past life, there was a top-tier domestic medical company valued at over a billion.

The founder of that company, Feng Ye, was a young prodigy who frequently appeared on the covers of major magazines and in televised interviews.

The SAP early-prediction model that Jiang He was planning to push forward was facing a difficult problem:

The extraction of massive amounts of clinical data and the construction of the core underlying algorithm.

’He’d been wondering where he could possibly find someone with that kind of talent.’

’And now, who would have thought he’d run into Feng Ye.’

’Besides, Chen Hao said the treatment is working. The main problem right now is money.’

’Well, that simplifies things.’

’Truthfully, even if Feng Ye were just an ordinary person, I would have stepped in. It would just take a bit more effort to optimize the medication plan or enroll them in a clinical trial for free medication to save them money.’

’But since I’ve run into a future legend, the solution can be a bit more simple and direct.’

’A problem that can be solved with money isn’t a problem at all... ’

Jiang He dialed Chen Hao’s number.

”Old Jiang! Are you finally free?!”

”Yeah.”

”...Did you see the message I sent you? I really don’t know what to do. Do you have a plan...?”

”I’ll come to the hospital after I drop off Teacher Shen. Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”