"Do you remember the license plate number?" Shen Chi asked again.
Shen Yinian thought for a moment, "I remember it’s a local plate, yellow. The last three digits were 174."
After a pause, he added, "But I saw what the driver looked like. I’m sure I’d recognize him if I see him again."
"Are you sure?" Shen Chi felt a surge of spirit.
"Sure," Shen Yinian stated firmly.
"Good, come with me to the police station, and we’ll catch the person responsible." Saying this, Shen Chi looked toward Han Shouzhen.
Han Shouzhen hurriedly waived her hands, "Go ahead, we’ll be fine here." The thought of the person who caused her son to be rushed to the emergency room made her teeth itch with hatred. If it were not for her concern for her son, she would have insisted on going along.
"I should go too, instead of waiting here helplessly," Wan Quan said a bit restlessly.
"Alright. If you’re busy until morning, remember to come home and bring Nannan over," Han Shouzhen instructed.
The three of them, two adults and a child, rushed off, leaving only Han Shouzhen and Lin Xiaoguai, the aunt and niece-in-law, in the corridor.
"Sister, did older sister-in-law not come?" Lin Xiaoguai asked.
She had thought that even though it wasn’t the weekend, seeing that it was now evening, even if her older brother was busy, her sister-in-law should be free, right? Could it be that she was unfortunately on the night shift?
"Your brother is tied up, and your sister-in-law is in the operating room," Han Shouzhen said somewhat distractedly.
Lin Xiaoguai didn’t expect that her sister-in-law was the one performing the surgery on Ping’an, but thinking about it made sense, as it was better to have their own highly skilled family members doing the emergency work rather than strangers.
Time ticked away, and the tension between the aunt and niece-in-law mounted. After all, the longer the surgery took, the more dangerous Ping’an’s condition became.
Suddenly, the door to the operating room burst open, and a white-haired doctor quickly stepped out.
"Uncle..." Han Shouzhen called out hastily.
Lin Xiaoguai recognized him as Ping’an’s chief physician, the one who had previously declared that Ping’an would not live past the age of eighteen.
"Didn’t you say before that you found a heart that could be transplanted into Ping’an? Can we get it now?" Xu Chengying asked desperately, grabbing Han Shouzhen.
At his words, Han Shouzhen instinctively guessed that her son’s condition was poor and spoke with a trembling voice, "The volunteer is a death row inmate; the execution is not until the 19th of next month."
Xu Chengying’s face immediately turned ashen, muttering, "It’s too late, too late..."
Han Shouzhen paled with shock, "Uncle, what happened?"
Lin Xiaoguai was also stunned, only to hear Xu Chengying say bitterly, "We originally thought Ping’an had only suffered severe damage to his lung lobe and kidney, but after opening the abdominal cavity, we discovered his heart was also injured. Such damage wouldn’t matter to a normal person, but Ping’an’s heart is not like a normal person’s. Half an hour ago, his heart began to bleed continuously and has been getting worse. No matter how I stitched, I couldn’t stop the bleeding. If we don’t implant a healthy heart, even if the other surgeries succeed, Ping’an won’t live for more than a few days."
Hearing this, Han Shouzhen turned ashen, grasping Xu Chengying’s hand tightly, "How could this happen? No! Uncle, you must find a way, what’s the point of me living if anything happens to Ping’an?"
She broke into sobs towards the end, her eyes filled with despair.
On the other side, Lin Xiaoguai, shocked yet puzzled, asked the virtual assistant 001 in her mind: [What’s going on? Shouldn’t the Heart Nourishing Pills have made his heart just like a normal person’s?]
Had she forgotten this month to secretly give Ping’an the Heart Nourishing Pills?
No, that couldn’t be right; she remembered putting the Heart Nourishing Pills in the sweet soup just last week for Ping’an to drink.
[The Heart Nourishing Pills regulate the function of the heart, not its resistance to injury,] replied the flat voice of 001 in her mind.
Lin Xiaoguai furrowed her brows, [Then do the Heart Nourishing Pills still have any effect on Ping’an’s current condition?]
[There is still an effect, but the rate of medicinal efficacy consumption would be several times faster than usual. If not for this, the patient should have died within half an hour of the injury, and couldn’t have dragged on until now.]
Lin Xiaoguai felt a mix of relief and worry, then asked 001: [Is there anything in the exchange store that could help with Ping’an’s current situation?] She didn’t have time to search in the space herself and thus had to ask 001 for help.
[...There is, the Heart Protecting Pills, priced at one million Gold Coins each. They can preserve a glimmer of life when the heart is injured, buying time for the injured to be saved.] 001’s voice followed after a few seconds, presumably because it took some time to search the information.
[Help me buy it,] Lin Xiaoguai said without hesitation.
She knew 001 could use the exchange store system with her consent.
[Are you sure?] 001 paused, [I was not very clear before, the Heart Protecting Pills are emergency medicine used on the battlefield, typically when medical personnel are too occupied to attend. They are emergency medication. Although the Heart Protecting Pills are powerful, each can only provide ten minutes of time. Judging by the situation on your end, host, the number of Heart Protecting Pills needed would be around five thousand, and the Gold Coins you will spend... would be approximately 4.5 billion.]
Lin Xiaoguai inwardly gasped, yet still said through gritted teeth, [Buy, buy a thousand Heart Protecting Pills first.]
This amount was about her annual income. In recent years, with the gift shop and buying those precious raw materials, she always kept between 50 and 100 billion Gold Coins on hand. Currently having 56 billion, she couldn’t spend it all in one go, especially since the gift shop was about to stock a new batch of raw materials.
To ensure Ping’an’s survival, it looked like she had to sell some of her accumulated designs. (To be continued. If you work, we invite you to cast your recommendation vote, monthly ticket at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)