Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Daring to Take Responsibility

In a cheerful mood, Yan Ziruo walked briskly toward the hospital’s south entrance, thinking that if her brother wasn’t busy, they could grab lunch together.

As she rounded the physical examination center, she suddenly saw a huge crowd of people slowly walking in through the south entrance.

Yan Ziruo froze.

When she got a clear look at the scene, her scalp tingled, and a chill ran down her spine…

At the front of the crowd was a young girl, about twelve or thirteen years old, flanked by three firefighters, walking with a steady gait toward the emergency department.

Behind the firefighters followed two doctors with tense expressions.

The little girl’s left eye was closed.

But horrifyingly, a dart with a red plastic tail was sticking straight out of the center of her eyelid.

Two strips of medical tape were wrapped around the dart, with the other ends securing it to the girl’s left forehead.

A trail of blood ran from the dart, down her cheek, and all the way to the left corner of her mouth.

It was a terrifying sight.

The dozens of people trailing the little girl all moved in silence, keeping a careful distance of several meters as if they were afraid to startle her.

The path to the emergency department had been cleared for the girl.

Yan Ziruo noticed that four or five doctors were already waiting grimly at the entrance to the emergency department.

She saw that her own brother was one of them.

Yan Ziruo couldn’t bear to look at the little girl.

Just looking at her made her heart ache. It felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing her heart, a deeply uncomfortable sensation.

Yan Ziruo even had the phantom sensation of a dart sticking out of her own eye.

But she couldn’t stop herself from watching.

The scene was simply too heart-wrenching…

Over the short distance of a dozen or so meters, Yan Ziruo could only stare at the little girl’s feet, watching them lift gently and land gently, moving forward step by step, smooth and steady…

Yan Ziruo watched as her brother and the other doctors stepped forward, took over from the firefighters, and shielded the little girl as they slowly walked into the emergency hall with her. She couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.

At the same time, she heard a collective sigh of relief from the crowd.

It seemed that seeing the little girl enter the emergency hall put everyone who had followed at ease.

Immediately after, a buzz of voices erupted.

Many people surrounded the firefighters and the two doctors, quietly asking what had happened, while others did the same with a few people who seemed to know the inside story.

Yan Ziruo also sidled closer, pricking up her ears.

“She’s the older sister. She has a little brother at home, about seven or eight years old. They both had colds and were at home resting.”

“That little brother, he’s a real hellion, so mischievous.”

“And what do you know, he was playing with darts at home and, by some terrible luck, he hit his sister’s eye.”

Just then, a man’s voice added, “With an injury like this, the doctors said you can’t pull out the dart, and she can’t ride in a car.”

“If the vehicle jolts too much, the vibration could make the dart tear the wound even wider, and her eye would probably be ruined.”

“There was no other way. The kid had to walk all the way here…”

“Poor kid. She had to endure the fear and pain and walk carefully for over an hour.”

Hearing this, Yan Ziruo sighed in sympathy for the little girl, marveling to herself at the same time.

’You never know what a person is capable of until you push them into a desperate situation.’

Looking back now on that period when Yan Feifan lay in a hospital bed in a coma, Yan Ziruo was amazed at herself.

She had somehow persevered through that one year and three months—four or five hundred days that all blurred into one.

’I really have to hand it to myself.’

Yan Ziruo looked toward the emergency hall entrance again and offered a silent prayer. ’Strong, brave little girl, you’re going to be okay.’

She waited for about ten minutes before she saw Yan Feifan walk out of the emergency hall. She immediately went up to meet him.

Once they were away from the crowd waiting in front of the hall, Yan Ziruo finally asked, “Feifan, is the little girl’s eye injury serious?”

Yan Feifan grunted in affirmation. “Very serious. Multiple traumas, including a penetrating globe injury, a perforated cornea, a ruptured iris, and vitreous incarceration. The ophthalmology specialists are operating on her right now.”

“Will they be able to save her eyeball?” Yan Ziruo asked, worried.

Yan Feifan analyzed the situation. “As long as there are no complications like a severe post-operative infection, the chances of saving the eyeball are quite high.”

“But her vision will definitely be severely affected.”

Yan Ziruo said hopefully, “Let’s hope she gets lucky, doesn’t get an infection, and her vision doesn’t decline too much.”

She then asked for confirmation, “Hey, I heard her eye was injured by her little brother. Is that true?”

Yan Feifan nodded. “That’s right. Her little brother was sent to the ER earlier with a broken arm.”

“That brutal?” Yan Ziruo was astonished.

Yan Feifan sighed softly. “It was probably his family. They must have lost their tempers and acted on impulse.”

“Let’s hope the little guy learns a hard lesson from this.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Yan Ziruo agreed, then she suddenly asked, “Feifan, I saw you waiting with your colleagues in front of the hall earlier. Were you involved in this emergency surgery?”

“I was only involved in one step. Once I was done, I came out.”

Yan Feifan explained, “After the ER received the report, they immediately coordinated with the ophthalmology department.”

“Since the ophthalmology operating rooms are all upstairs, to avoid any unnecessary accidents while taking her up, Dr. Fang from ophthalmology came down with surgical equipment and set up an isolated operating room in the emergency hall.”

“In the girl’s condition, she had been controlling her injured eye through sheer willpower and fear.”

“After anesthesia, that control would disappear, and her left eye would likely have a compensatory twitch, causing a secondary injury.”

“But pulling the dart out while she was conscious would cause immense psychological trauma and likely cause a reflexive rotation of the eyeball.”

After this long explanation, Yan Feifan got to the point.

“They discussed it and decided to pull the dart out while the girl was under conscious sedation, waiting for the right moment to do it quickly and precisely.”

“I volunteered for the job of pulling out the dart.”

“You volunteered?”

Yan Ziruo’s voice rose involuntarily. “Feifan, do you have any idea what would happen if you made a mistake? You’d have to take responsibility!”

“You’re just a resident doctor. Never mind the attending physicians, there were several associate chiefs and chief physicians on site.”

“Did you really need to stick your neck out and volunteer?”

Yan Feifan looked down into Yan Ziruo’s eyes and said seriously, “Sis, I wasn’t thinking about making a mistake or about responsibility at all. I only thought about the fact that I could do it, and that I was very confident I could.”

“Sis, as a doctor, you have to be willing to step up and take responsibility.”

“If you know you can do something, you have to step forward.”

“At a critical moment, shirking a task you’re confident you can do and pushing it onto someone else is a sign of irresponsibility.”

“In a situation like today’s, if I had shirked my duty, the consequence could have been the loss of that girl’s left eyeball.”

“Sis, would you want something like that to happen?”

Yan Ziruo’s face flushed, and she muttered softly, “Feifan, I’m not telling you to back down from challenges or shirk responsibility.”

“I just mean you need to learn to protect yourself. Don’t just rush forward recklessly whenever something happens and end up being taken advantage of.”

Yan Feifan grunted. “Sis, I know what you mean. I’m not an idiot.”

“But as a doctor, when it’s time to step up, you have to step up.”

“I know you’re smart and willing to take charge,” Yan Ziruo retorted irritably. “Let’s put this whole responsibility issue aside for a moment.”

“Yan Feifan, you were so high and mighty just now, lecturing me with that serious face of yours. Do you think just because you’re healthy now, your wings have grown strong, and your big sister is disposable?”

Yan Feifan quickly tried to defend himself. “Sis, when was I lecturing you? Can you please be reasonable?”

“Are you daring to call me unreasonable now?”

Yan Ziruo raised her hand angrily. “Fine, I’ll show you what unreasonable looks like today…”

“Yan Feifan, you little punk, don’t you dare run…!”

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