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Wen Nuo stayed at the hospital for four days. Her symptoms of dizziness and vomiting had gradually improved. The doctor told them that she could be discharged and she would be fine after resting at home for some time.
But the main issue was the little girl’s ears. Her sense of hearing in her left ear was completely gone.
Tang Tang decided to take the little girl to a larger hospital to cure her ear. She applied for a leave of absence from the nursery for Ji Xiao Zhuo and Wen Nuo, and after she was done packing, she immediately took the two children with her to the city.
But when they arrived at the city hospital, Tang Tang was dumbstruck at the situation. There was a massive queue at the registration window, and the queue moved very slowly. When they finally got to the window, the tickets for a specialist were all gone. The employees at the hospital said they could make a reservation but the next one would be at least a week later.
Tang Tang was afraid the delay would make the little girl’s situation worse, and she became anxious. She didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t familiar with this place and Ji Yan was not at home. Tang Tang had no other ideas. But since they came all the way here, they couldn’t go home without achieving anything, right?
Also, Tang Tang didn’t want to return home just like this. After thinking for a while, the only person she could contact was Ji Yue. Without any other choice, Tang Tang called Ji Yue for help and explained the situation to her. When Ji Yue finished listening, she didn’t say anything extra and personally came to pick them up with a car. She drove them to the military’s district main hospital. Ji Yue even contacted the specialist doctor there in advance. When they arrived at the hospital, they went straight to the doctor with the children for an examination.
Tang Tang didn’t know how to thank Ji Yue. If it wasn’t for Ji Yue, Tang Tang didn’t even know if they would have managed to see a doctor while looking after the children.
At this moment, Tang Tang truly experienced how useless she was. Compared to Ji Yue, she was miles and miles apart. It seemed like she should learn more from Ji Yue in the future.
“Ji Yue, thank you. Once this matter ends, I’ll treat you to a meal. I’ll make all your favourite dishes.”
“What are you thanking me for? You send me so much tasty food and every time you make new clothes, you would also send one to me. I haven’t even thanked you for those, so what are you thanking me for? You’re being too courteous! But, I’m still very happy when you thank me! Haha.”
When Ji Yue finished speaking, Ji Xiao Zhuo pulled on her clothes and waved his hand at her, “Auntie Ji Yue, lower your head. I want to tell you something.”
In response, Ji Yue crouched down and lowered her head, “What do you want to say — ah!”
Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Ji Xiao Zhuo’s kiss, “Thank you, Auntie Ji Yue. Love you.”
The little one’s coaxing skills were good. Ji Yue was over the moon. She hugged the little one and kissed him back, “My little darling, I like your way of thanks even more!”
Ji Xiao Zhuo was extremely pleased. Then he went over to Wen Nuo’s right side and spoke close to her ear, “Come, Nuo Nuo, you need to thank auntie.”
Wen Nuo had always listened to Ji Xiao Zhuo. Without any hesitation, she copied him and kissed on Ji Yue’s other cheeks and quietly said, “Thank you, auntie.”
Ji Yue became starry-eyed and held both children, one in each hand, and gave them plenty of kisses. Then she went close to Tang Tang’s ear and teased, “Tang Tang, your daughter-in-law is a lot like you: cute and loveable. Seems like our Xiao Zhuo has the same taste as his father.”
Tang Tang was embarrassed. She nudged Ji Yue lightly and rebuked, “Nonsense, the children just get along well. What do they understand?”
“You look down on children too much. At this era, even nursery kids would date now.” Even though Ji Yue was saying this, she was just joking to lighten the atmosphere so everyone wouldn’t be nervous for the coming examination.
They chatted happily as they walked to the specialist’s office. When they arrived, Tang Tang and the children really weren’t as nervous.
The old specialist was around 60 years old. Most of his hair was already white. He appeared to be full of experience. After he carefully examined Wen Nuo’s ears, he cleared his throat and said, “The nerves in her left ear are damaged. It’s harder to deal with. Her right ear suffered some shock but it can fully recover.”
Tang Tang was happy that the right ear can be fully recovered but the left ear was a major issue, “Doctor, can her left ear be cured? The child is still young. What should she do if she can’t hear from her left ear for the rest of her life? Please think of a way, doctor.”
The doctor had reached the age of being a grandparent and his grandchild was in a similar age group as those children, so naturally, he couldn’t bear to see such a young child lose her hearing. But the damaged nerves in the ear were not easy to recover so he could only say, “We can only treat her as best as we can. It’s hard to say if she’ll recover but I recommend you bring the child every month to do acupuncture twice. We’ll try the acupuncture treatment. Even if her left ear doesn’t recover, at the very least, her hearing may be restored a little bit after a long period of treatments.”
To recover a little bit was better than not hearing anything at all. Tang Tang didn’t want to give up on the slightest hope.
Seeing Tang Tang had agreed, the old specialist took Wen Nuo to the treatment room at the back and started the first acupuncture treatment.
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When the acupuncture treatment had ended, the lights outside were already lit up but the hospital was still very active with people bustling about. In this place, there was never a moment of free time. They were battling with life and death every moment.
Ji Yue said, “Tang Tang, it’s already late. I think we should stay at a hotel for a night and go back tomorrow.”
The two children also rushed around with them all day and they were both very tired and couldn’t last much longer. Naturally, Tang Tang agreed to the suggestion.
When the four of them just left the hospital, they saw an ambulance arrive at the main entrance. A few doctors, who were wearing a white gown, came rushing out. With the nurses that followed them out from behind, they carefully carried out the injured patient. As they were lifting, a loud shout was heard, “Careful. Careful. The ventilator can’t be dropped. Pay attention to the stats on the monitor!”
A young nurse followed closely from the side. She raised her arms as she helped to hold the drip.
From the distance, Tang Tang and the rest couldn’t see who they were carrying but they could see a lot of blood. Ji Yue felt her goosebumps rise, “That person must have a serious injury. It looks like a lot of blood had flowed out. Not sure if that person can be saved.”
Tang Tang sighed. She prayed silently for the person to be safe and sound.
Ji Yue pulled on Tang Tang’s arm, “Come, we can’t help with anything. We can only leave it to the doctors. Let’s go, the children are tired.”
Tang Tang nodded. She held onto Wen Nuo’s small hand tightly and followed Ji Yue. But after taking a few steps, the group of doctors and nurses quickly pushed the stretcher and passed them while shouting, “Everyone, move to the side! Coming through!”
When the stretcher went past, Tang Tang subconsciously looked at the person lying on it. She only took a glance but she felt her blood freeze instantly. She could no longer take another step.
“Tang Tang, what’s wrong? Let’s go. The doctors will save that person.” When Ji Yue saw Tang Tang standing still in a spot, she thought Tang Tang was worried about the injured person.
Tang Tang didn’t hear a single thing of what Ji Yue has said. Her whole face slowly went white. It was like she had lost all her strength in a flash. Alarm filled her eyes.
At this moment, Ji Yue noticed something was wrong with Tang Tang. She went by her side and touched Tang Tang’s forehead, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Tell me if there’s anything wrong.”
Tang Tang’s lips trembled and stuttered her words out, “I … I saw … saw Ji Yan on the stretcher.”
“What? Ji Yan?” Ji Yue’s expression also changed. Her sight immediately went towards the group of doctors and nurses, but she couldn’t see anything. She only saw their clothes disappear around the corner.
“Tang Tang, could you be wrong? Was it really Ji Yan?”
Tang Tang’s entire body trembled. She couldn’t say anything. She also wished she saw it wrong and it wasn’t her Ji Yan. It mustn’t be!
The two children got frightened by Tang Tang’s state. They grabbed onto her trouser and shouted for her, worriedly. But Tang Tang didn’t hear anything. She looked like she had lost her soul.
Not good. Ji Yue said to herself before pinching Tang Tang’s arm while berating her, “Focus, Tang Tang! Maybe you saw it wrong. You haven’t looked clearly so why are you scaring yourself!? You have scared the children!”
From the strong pinch, Tang Tang had recovered her rationality. She remained standing in the same spot for some time before she suddenly ran back to the hospital.
Ji Yue didn’t even have time to say anything before pulling the children and followed Tang Tang from behind. She chased after her and finally saw her standing not far from the operating room. Tang Tang was staring at the tightly shut doors in a daze.
Walking up to her, Ji Yue advised, “Calm down, Tang Tang. Maybe you saw it wrong. The probability of making a mistake from a single glance is high. Maybe the person just looks like Ji Yan. Also, Ji Yan is currently carrying out a mission now in a very far place.”
However, the heavens sometimes didn’t allow wishful thoughts. As Ji Yue finished speaking, there was a burst of rushing footsteps that came from behind. A group of uniformed men quickly ran past them. The group of men stood still outside of the operating room’s doors.
One of the soldiers, who had blood all over, punched the wall ruthlessly. He howled with grief and pain, “****!!!”
The rest of the group wasn’t much better than him. They all stared worriedly at the door of the operation room.
Suddenly, Tang Tang struggled away from Ji Yue. Her lips trembled as she walked towards the men dressed in an olive-green uniform. She reached out to the person who punched the wall.
“Dong Li?”
While Dong Li was worrying, he suddenly felt someone pull him. He subconsciously shook the hand away. But seeing the hand did not move, he was going to shout at the person to get lost. As he turned and saw who it was, his eyes widened. His face was filled with disbelief as he said, “Sao … Sao Zi?!”
“Dong Li, did something happen to Ji Yan? Was Ji Yan the one who went in just now?” Tang Tang grabbed on Dong Li tightly. It was like she could only support herself standing up this way.
In a flash, the rim of Dong Li’s eyes went red. He looked like a helpless child. “Sao Zi, I. I.” He couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t say Ji Yan got shot at the heart. He couldn’t say the doctor was giving a medical crisis notice on their way here.
Dong Li put his head in his hands painfully as he crouched down. For the first time, a seven-foot man was choking with sobs which was so unlike him.
Tang Tang understood. In an instant, she felt her heart freeze. It was like all her blood stopped flowing.
Ji Yan, her husband. Something had happened to him!
Now, Ji Tue also knew Tang Tang didn’t make a mistake. That person was really Ji Yan. She was thinking the world was going to collapse. She stopped herself from panicking and quickly called Gu Zhang An and Zhuo Ji.
When she finished her calls, she saw Tang Tang remained still as she stared at the red light above the operating room. Tears were streaming down her face. Ji Xiao Zhuo, who understood the situation, also sobbed as he cried out for his father.
Ji Yue felt her eyes sting. She didn’t dare to watch the scene. As she covered her mouth with a hand, she turned away from the scene. Suddenly, she really regretted bringing them here. If she didn’t bring them to this hospital, they wouldn’t come across such a heartbreaking scene so coincidentally.
Could it be that this was fated?
Everything was in chaos. It was destined to be an unpeaceful night today. As time went by, there were more and more people arriving outside the operating room but it was very quiet. The heavy atmosphere was suffocating.
The suffocating atmosphere was destroyed when hurried footsteps were heard.
A white-haired old man, who looked imposing and hale and hearty, was at the lead. The old man shook away the hand of someone who was trying to support him. With a walking stick, he advanced towards the operating room. He stared at the red light. He was calm and there was no expression on his face. He looked as firm as a turquoise stone. But if one looked carefully, they would see the old man’s hands trembling under his sleeves.
“Dad, don’t worry. Ji Yan will be fine.” Ji Wei Feng said from behind the old man. His expression looked concerned.
“Yes, dad. Your heart isn’t good. You must not let your emotions stir. Ji Yan will be fine. You should sit down and wait.” Lin Lan attempted to support the old man’s arm again but the old man ruthlessly shook her off.
Upon seeing this, both of them frowned helplessly.
Ji Yue wiped her tears and went to greet the old man, “Grandpa Ji.”
Grandpa Ji blinked. He turned his head and looked towards Ji Yue. He nodded at her. Then he moved his sight to Ji Xiao Zhuo who was standing not far. There was finally a crack on his expressionless face. With his walking stick, he walked towards Ji Xiao Zhuo. Then he crouched down and hugged the little one while patting on his back, “Xiao Zhuo, don’t be scared. Great-grandpa is here. I won’t let anything happen to your father. He will be fine.”
The old man looked like he was comforting both the child and himself, “He is my, Ji An Shan, grandchild. Nothing will happen to him. What can this little trouble be considered to him? He will overcome it.” That was his most beloved grandchild. The pride of his life. He wouldn’t be beaten like this. He won’t!
Ji Xiao Zhuo blinked as he looked at the elder with his swollen eyes. He didn’t cry, make a fuss, or say anything. He just simply moved his gaze back to the large doors in silence.
The atmosphere turned into a suffocating silence again. Time ticked by. Everyone went from anxious to scared and finally to numbness. Each minute and second that went by felt like torture to the people waiting outside the operation room.
When the first rays of light shined through the window in the early morning, the doors that were shut all night finally opened slowly. The exhausted doctors came out, which broke the stillness. Everyone moved simultaneously, “Doctor, how is he? Is he ok?”
