Chapter 16: Trust

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When Fang Zhiyan entered wearing a white coat, he saw Zhu Zixiao fitting a respiratory machine on the patient. Fang Zhiyan was somewhat familiar with the case: the patient was an elderly person suffering from acute left heart failure—the same condition as the patient he had treated earlier.

Tonight, the attending physician Cao Chong was performing surgery, so Zhu Zixiao had temporarily taken over this case. As the shift change approached, the patient’s condition suddenly worsened. However, with the use of the respirator, the elderly man’s blood oxygen saturation stabilized and began to rise.

Zhu Zixiao let out a breath of relief, glanced at Fang Zhiyan, and, rare as it was, gave him a smile.

“Do you know why I became a doctor?” Zhu Zixiao asked.

“Why?” Fang Zhiyan replied casually, his eyes still fixed on the elderly man.

He sensed something was off but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Such intuition seemed improbable, yet it was invaluable in the emergency department.

Zhu Zixiao took up the thread. “When I was a child, the person who cared for me most was my grandfather.”

“At that time, he was seriously ill at home, and the barefoot doctor in our village lacked the skills to treat him.”

“The nearest big hospital was still far away, and with the heavy snow, it was impossible to get him there.”

“So, we helplessly watched as my grandfather took his last breath and passed away.”

“From that moment on, I made up my mind—I would become a doctor myself!”

Fang Zhiyan nodded slightly. Yes, inspiring—but who knew if it was true?

After all, after being bombarded with countless motivational stories, Fang Zhiyan was accustomed to such narratives.

Zhu Zixiao seemed a bit annoyed. “What’s wrong, Xiao Fang? Your brother Xiao is talking to you.”

“I know, I heard you. Xiao, you’re really amazing.”

“So you became a doctor to prevent that kind of regret from happening again. You truly are a compassionate and loyal doctor.”

Fang Zhiyan’s compliment satisfied Zhu Zixiao, who nodded and was about to continue speaking.

Then, suddenly—

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

The heart monitor at the bedside let out a piercing alarm.

Zhu Zixiao’s eyes widened instantly, his face turning pale.

“What’s going on? Why is the alarm going off again?”

“I followed everything Teacher Cao instructed—why is this happening?”

Fang Zhiyan turned to the monitor. Irregular waveforms appeared—it was ventricular fibrillation, a highly malignant arrhythmia.

Zhu Zixiao’s motivational story no longer worked.

He couldn’t save this elderly woman.

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Because this arrhythmia almost always meant death.

During ventricular fibrillation, the heart ceased to function, no longer pumping blood to the organs.

At this point, the only remedy was external chest compressions.

Zhu Zixiao was still panicked.

The elderly woman was unconscious, foam at the corners of her mouth.

Fang Zhiyan quickly stepped forward, taking over from Zhu Zixiao.

“Xiao, go grab the defibrillator!”

He shouted as he began chest compressions.

Zhu Zixiao was flustered. “What? The defibrillator? Where is it?”

His panic made him incoherent.

Fortunately, the doctor was an intern, but the nurse was not.

Shen Qingyue hurried over, pushing the defibrillator that had been prepared in advance.

Fang Zhiyan called out loudly, “Prepare for the first shock at 200 joules.”

Shen Qingyue didn’t speak but quickly followed Fang Zhiyan’s instructions, applying conductive gel to the two electrodes.

Fang Zhiyan glanced at the diagram and selected the two defibrillation points accordingly.

“Everyone, clear the bedside!” Shen Qingyue shouted.

She wasn’t new to these situations and had ample experience.

Zhu Zixiao gradually regained composure.

He noticed Fang Zhiyan had taken over.

He felt somewhat redundant.

But the situation was urgent—not the time to dwell on such thoughts—so he stepped back.

“Bang!”

The elderly woman’s body jerked slightly.

Fang Zhiyan looked at the monitor.

The alarm ceased, and her heart rate stabilized, returning to normal.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Zhu Zixiao breathed out, his gaze complicated as he looked at Fang Zhiyan.

This kid was far calmer than himself.

He truly was a medical prodigy, much better than the flustered state he had been in moments ago.

Should he feel jealous?

After all, the boy just shone a bit more—he wasn’t so petty.

Zhu Zixiao cleared his throat, unsure of his own thoughts.

Meanwhile, Fang Zhiyan continued watching the heart monitor.

His instincts told him things weren’t that simple.

Sure enough, within the blink of an eye, the elderly woman’s blood oxygen saturation began to drop—and rapidly.

Zhu Zixiao’s face instantly stiffened.

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“This is bad, really bad!”

“What should we do? Why is this so difficult to save?”

“Fang Zhiyan? What now? Intubation! Yes, tracheal intubation!”

“I don’t know how—I don’t know! What’s the first step? How do you do it?”

Zhu Zixiao was thoroughly panicked.

He stood clumsily by the side, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

But what he said was correct.

With the blood oxygen saturation dropping, the only option was tracheal intubation—mechanical ventilation.

However, most interns didn’t possess this skill.

Even if they had learned it in school.

But in life-and-death moments like this, who has time to recall theory?

So Zhu Zixiao panicked.

The only thing he could think of was to find the teacher.

“Teacher Cao! Yes, where is Teacher Cao? I’ll go get him!”

Zhu Zixiao shouted, then dashed out of the emergency room like the wind.

He nearly slipped at the doorway with a loud thud, putting on a real-life chase scene for Fang Zhiyan.

But Fang Zhiyan quickly recovered and said to Shen Qingyue beside him, “Quick, prepare for intubation!”

Shen Qingyue looked at Fang Zhiyan in shock.

“Doctor Fang, you’re only an intern. Are you sure?”

Tracheal intubation wasn’t something every doctor could perform.

Without specialized training, many doctors couldn’t do it.

So she doubted Fang Zhiyan’s words.

“Go quickly. The patient can’t wait.”

“If you want to watch the patient die, you don’t have to listen to me,” Fang Zhiyan said firmly.

“But…” Shen Qingyue started to protest but suddenly paused.

From start to finish, Fang Zhiyan had been incredibly calm.

Compared to Zhu Zixiao, his composure was almost frightening—not like an intern at all.

Could he really have this ability?

Shen Qingyue stopped speaking, clenched her teeth, stomped her foot, and quickly turned to prepare the intubation kit.