Chapter 1033: 695 The soul should sever when dispersed two feet apart_2
Qiu Pingzhen stopped talking and cleared the way for Du Heng.
At this moment, Du Heng sighed softly and calmed down.
He still couldn’t save the child!
The moment he heard the nurse’s call, this thought rose in his mind. When he first diagnosed the child’s pulse, apart from the six scattered pulses in the Cun, Guan, and Chi positions, the three pulses of the instep yang, Tai Xi, and LV-03 were also disordered. At that time, Du Heng already knew that the child could hardly be saved.
In "Binhu Sphygmology," it is said that when the left Cun pulse is pounding and the right Cun pulse is sweating, an overflowing pulse should be soft and scattered at the left Guan position, and right Guan should be soft, scattered, and swollen with a scattered pulse at both Chi positions, indicating a soul that is about to break.
The characteristics of a scattered pulse in the Cun, Guan, and Chi positions are clearly described. However, this child not only had these characteristics but also a slippery pulse that couldn’t withstand any pressure, which was even more severe than the situation described in the book. A scattered pulse indicates the decline of Yin and the depletion of Yang. The heart qi cannot maintain blood circulation, and most importantly, the stomach qi was broken.
Although there were various signs showing that the child was beyond saving, Du Heng still wanted to give it a try. Perhaps I could succeed.
But when the child woke up, began to chat with him, and his body indicators also began to recover, Du Heng knew then that he did not have the ability to defy nature. The child’s physical indicators were only superficial, just the final resurgence before death. Otherwise, he would not have let the child’s father into the Emergency Room.
SIGH!
"Let’s talk about it later," Du Heng whispered to Qiu Pingzhen, then walked towards the Emergency Room.
Before, I had such a hard time accepting it. Although he spent every day in the hospital, Du Heng was not used to the cycle of life and death. He had not seen many deaths. Moreover, the shock of a child’s death was absolutely greater than that of an adult. Fortunately, Du Heng had now calmed down and adjusted his mood.
Entering the hospital room, Director Cao and the Emergency Doctor were doing their best to perform resuscitation. However, the long, flat line on the monitor seemed to mock them, laughing at their futile efforts. As for the child’s father, he stood dazedly in the background, his eyes blank as he watched the busy Director Cao and the others. At this moment, he wasn’t crying, impatient, or noisy; all that remained was a dazed and calm expression. Perhaps, at this point, he had given up hope, or perhaps he simply couldn’t accept this reality.
「Half an hour later.」
Dr. Cao and the Emergency Doctor finally stopped. Director Cao, panting, checked the child’s vital signs again and then whispered, "The pediatric patient has been resuscitated for 33 minutes. Pupils are dilated, and there’s a complete loss of consciousness. Breathing and heartbeat cannot be restored; they are in a completely stopped state. Blood pressure remains at zero."
Having relayed the check-up result, Dr. Cao turned to Du Heng. "Dean, should we announce it?"
Du Heng didn’t speak. I have no right to say anything. He turned to look at the man beside him. The decision now rested with the family. If the family chose to give up, the doctors could stop. If they insisted on continuing, even if it meant performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for another four hours, Director Cao and the others would have to persist. Although the child’s condition was clear and the legally stipulated time had passed, as long as the family didn’t give up, the doctors had to continue.
However, most of the time in the hospital, the doctors were the authority. If they decided to stop, the family usually wouldn’t make unreasonable demands.
The man seemed to regain his senses. Seeing everyone looking at him, his face twitched a few times. Then, he squatted down, covered his face, and began to cry softly.
Seeing this, Du Heng nodded to Dr. Cao. Then, he heard Dr. Cao announce the time of death.
The moment he heard Dr. Cao’s voice, Du Heng turned and left the Emergency Room. From beginning to end, Du Heng never took another step toward the sick bed.
Upon exiting the Emergency Room, Du Heng let out a quiet sigh. He looked around the hallway but didn’t find Qiu Pingzhen’s figure, so he called him on his phone. Qiu Pingzhen said he had already left, fearing he might disturb Du Heng’s attempt to save the patient. Du Heng wasn’t dissatisfied; he simply said he understood and headed back to his office.
Life is so uncertain. But for such a tragedy to happen because of a watermelon... I just can’t accept it.
Throughout the afternoon, Du Heng remained in an indescribable state. Even when he went to pick up Wu Shengnan, his mood hadn’t fully recovered.
Wu Shengnan had been busy all day, and now pregnant, she felt even more tired than usual. After getting in the car, she slumped into the passenger seat, not noticing anything amiss with Du Heng.
"Honey, I’ve already requested my leave," Wu Shengnan hummed comfortably, then said, "It’s for two weeks in total. I’ll start work again on October 8th, so I don’t need to go in tomorrow."
Du Heng glanced at Wu Shengnan, who had settled in, started the car, and began driving home. He only responded softly with an "Mm."
Unsatisfied with Du Heng’s brief response, Wu Shengnan turned to him, pouting. "Don’t just say ’Mm.’ How are things on your end? Have you set your dates?"
"My time is set too. I’ll work one more day tomorrow, then I’m off starting the day after, also until October 8th."
"That’s great." Wu Shengnan’s smile returned. "Then you go to work tomorrow, and I’ll head home first. My mom said that from now until the wedding, we can’t see each other alone."
Du Heng glanced at Wu Shengnan out of the corner of his eye and continued driving carefully. "No seeing each other? How can that be? Aren’t we supposed to look at clothes the day after tomorrow?"
Wu Shengnan said happily, "Then we’ll look at clothes the day after tomorrow."
「The next day.」
After arriving at the hospital, Du Heng began delegating his tasks for his upcoming leave. In fact, this process had been ongoing for the past few days, and by today, there wasn’t much left to hand over. Therefore, Du Heng took an early break in the afternoon.
Since he was off early, he planned to go pick out clothes with Wu Shengnan. However, upon arrival, Du Heng started to regret it. Today, besides Du Heng and Wu Shengnan, Wu Shengnan’s six bridesmaids were also there to pick out clothes. The scene of a group of women chattering together was a bit overwhelming for Du Heng. After a moment’s thought, he decided to call Wu Buwei and Li Shuxun as well.
Originally, I wanted to wait until everyone was free this evening. We could all try on clothes together, then have a BBQ and I’d watch them drink a couple of beers. But seeing this crowd, it’s better to just treat everyone to dinner and save the hassle.
Initially, their idea for the wedding dress and bridesmaid outfits was the same as most people’s: rent them, since they’d only be worn once. But then Du Heng thought, I’m not short on money, and my father-in-law is a respectable person. Renting a wedding dress would be a bit disgraceful.
After discussing it with Wu Shengnan, they decided to have everything custom-made, including the outfits for the groomsmen and bridesmaids. So, when they said they were "looking at clothes" today, it was really just to try them on for size. If there were no issues, they could just take the outfits and leave. There wasn’t much to worry about regarding fit, as everyone’s measurements had been taken beforehand. After everyone tried on their two sets of outfits, they took them and headed straight to the hotel.
「For the next few days.」
Du Heng became completely swamped. And, just as Wu Shengnan had said, they really didn’t see each other again. It wasn’t that they couldn’t meet, but rather that they simply had no time.
In rural areas, there’s no custom of sending out formal wedding invitations. Instead, people invite each other verbally or by phone. Sometimes, the news simply spreads by word of mouth. Everyone then knows who is getting married and that they should prepare gift money.
Thus, Du Heng and Du Ping busied themselves going back to the village. They invited relatives and neighbors to their wedding, informing them of the meeting time, location, and where to catch the arranged transportation on the wedding day. Afterward, they went to the car dealership to confirm that on the wedding day, the vehicles for picking up guests would depart on time and transport everyone to the hotel smoothly.
Of course, some things made Du Heng’s life much easier. For instance, Wu Shengnan’s older brother handled the hotel arrangements, and Liao Quansheng took care of the entire fleet picking up the bride.
