(Thanks to Langruti83 and Enter the Night Cat for their Moon Tickets)
Freshly cooked, hand-wrapped wontons served with a variety of cold side dishes made for a delicious breakfast.
Qiaoqiao was visibly happy today. Even after finishing her bowl, she scooped two more wontons from Liu Banxia's. After breakfast, she even made a pot of crucian carp soup for Tang Dou.
She would never normally do this; the strong fishy sll usually overwheld her. Today was different; the sll didn't bother her at all.
This was all due to Liu Banxia's presence; though not dicine, his effect was more potent than any drug.
Tang Dou was pleased as well. After eating breakfast and nursing her puppies, she lay lazily beside Liu Banxia and Qiaoqiao.
"Dad, Mom, do you want to go out for a stroll?" Liu Banxia asked.
"There's nothing much to see, just the sa old sights, and it's a bit hot outside," Peng Xiuzhi said. "Actually, if we want to stroll, just walking around this residential complex is fine. It has everything, so why go out? We'd just end up all sweaty."
"Actually, Qiaoqiao is worried you might get bored at ho. Dad, when are you heading back?" Liu Banxia asked.
"Probably tomorrow. Soone called yesterday," Liu Qingdong replied.
"That works. I'll make a trip to the station tomorrow before going to the dical School. My schedule is flexible tomorrow, so it doesn't matter if I arrive a bit early or late," Liu Banxia said.
"Qingdong," Qiao Xuezhi said, "why don't you go ho for a few days and then co back here? When you're free, we can have so drinks and play cards."
"That works. It's not too far anyway, and with the high-speed rail now, travel is really fast," Liu Qingdong agreed.
"So, are we staying ho today then? What do you want for lunch? The weather's nice; how about we have a little barbecue in the yard?" Liu Banxia asked.
"Sure, whatever you and Qiaoqiao want to eat. We're not picky," Peng Xiuzhi readily agreed.
When it ca to food, she had never given Qiaoqiao any suggestions since she arrived; Qiaoqiao ate whatever she wanted.
Besides, Qiaoqiao wasn't eating a lot of staple foods these days, though she was munching on plenty of fruit. What was there to intervene with in that regard? As long as she avoided 'cold' foods, it would be fine.
With an agreent reached, Liu Banxia, Qiaoqiao, and Tang Dou strolled out.
"Hmph, now that he's back, he's your pillar of support, and you don't care about your own babies anymore, huh?" Qiaoqiao said, poking Tang Dou's forehead.
Tang Dou looked at her innocently. I'm the one pulling your cart, you know. Or would you rather have Tiggie do it?
"Alright, do a favor, let's not bully Tang Dou. Should we buy more Pork Belly? Grilled until it's slightly crispy, it's fragrant and delicious to chew on," Liu Banxia said.
"I'm fine with anything," Qiaoqiao said contentedly.
That was another point of agreent. However, Liu Banxia knew that no matter what Qiaoqiao said now, once they were in the supermarket, the final choices would still be hers.
Ever since becoming pregnant, Qiaoqiao hadn't really been to the supermarket much. In the early stages, Wang Xiaoyan had been there to take care of her and was always a great help with errands.
After Peng Xiuzhi arrived, Qiaoqiao had even less to worry about. Whether it was going to the supermarket to buy things or calling to place an order for delivery, everything was very easy.
Returning to the supermarket today, Qiaoqiao was visibly radiant. Her small hands pointed here and there, and in no ti, she'd picked out a whole heap of things.
"Oh? I suddenly feel like having Sichuan boiled fish. What should we do?" Qiaoqiao said, tugging lightly at Liu Banxia's arm as she spotted the snakehead fish in the tank.
"If you want it, we'll buy it. We'll just use less chili, less Sichuan pepper, and less base seasoning, so you can enjoy it thoroughly," Liu Banxia said.
"Okay," Qiaoqiao said happily, linking her arm through his.
"Please pick the best-looking one for us and slice it into fillets," Liu Banxia said to the store clerk.
"Certainly, Dr. Liu," the clerk replied with a smile. "The steaks that arrived this morning are also very good, excellent quality, US Select grade. The store is currently trying out high-end ingredients, and these are great for grilling."
"Alright then, give us four... no, five steaks. My treat," Qiaoqiao decided before Liu Banxia could say anything.
"What if I ss up grilling them?" Liu Banxia asked.
"If you ss up, Tang Dou can eat them. Oh, it should be fine. We just need to grill them for a bit. Abroad, they even serve it dium-rare. As long as we don't overcook them, it's a success," Qiaoqiao said.
The store clerk couldn't help but chuckle.
This was actually a rather special thing about this supermarket. Other supermarkets might recomnd overstocked items. That wouldn't happen here because their sales commission was pitifully low.
No one would recklessly recomnd items just for a tiny commission; only genuinely good products would be suggested. Otherwise, if any resident casually ntioned that a recomnded item wasn't good, it could affect their job.
While the fish was still being prepared, another clerk brought over the steaks.
Liu Banxia took a glance. The marbling was indeed exquisite, with fat finely distributed throughout the beef. Maybe this is the so-called snowflake beef? In any case, they would just eat it; Qiaoqiao was treating, after all.
"Haha, not bad. I could probably eat half a steak," Qiaoqiao said.
"With all these dishes, you'll be lucky to manage two bites. Should we get so fruit too? We should probably restock at ho, right?" Liu Banxia asked.
"Okay, I'm just worried it'll be too much for Tang Dou to pull," Qiaoqiao said.
"No problem, Sister Qiaoqiao. Since you're buying so much, we can help deliver it. You're definitely a VIP custor," the clerk said with a smile.
"Sister Qiaoqiao, are you done shopping? I brought Tiggie too," Qiu Mingyuan's voice ca from nearby.
"Almost done, they're slicing the fish. We can have Sichuan boiled fish for lunch," Liu Banxia replied.
Qiu Mingyuan ambled over and was startled by the amount of food in their shopping cart.
"Brother Liu, what's all this for? Why so much food?" Qiu Mingyuan asked.
"To eat, of course. We'll have a slow lunch and so drinks. Is Xiao Yue coming today?" Liu Banxia asked.
"She's not coming today. I think she's going shopping with her mom, and I didn't want to intrude. So today, I'll just hang around with you; otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do," he replied.
"What else would you do? Help with grilling the skewers, of course!" Qiaoqiao said with a grin.
"Dr. Liu, Dr. Liu! Mr. Chen from Building 3 seems to be having a heart attack! Can you go take a look?" a clerk at the entrance suddenly shouted.
"Wait here. Ming Yuan, stay with Qiaoqiao. I'll go check it out. If it's a heart attack, it could be really dangerous," Liu Banxia responded.
"You go ahead," Qiaoqiao said.
Liu Banxia ran straight out.
Tang Dou, who was waiting by the entrance, glanced inside the store, then back out, and then, holding her leash in her mouth, chased after Liu Banxia. Tiggie, learning by example, ran along too.
The residential complex was quite large. Liu Banxia sprinted all the way to Building 3, with Tang Dou and Tiggie following, growing more excited the faster they ran.
"What's the situation?" Liu Banxia asked upon arrival.
"This is Dr. Liu," a property managent staff mber there quickly said.
"He was just blowing up balloons, then he collapsed. We were afraid to move him," said a middle-aged man who was holding an elderly man.
"Let's lay him flat first. Do you have any nitroglycerin or similar dication at ho? Does the gentleman have a history of heart disease?" Liu Banxia asked, simultaneously checking the elderly man's carotid pulse.
"No, he's always been quite healthy. He was just blowing balloons, then he said his chest felt a bit uncomfortable, and he collapsed," the middle-aged man explained.
"I'll try carotid sinus massage first to control his heart rate; he's tachycardic right now. Everyone, please give us so space, let the air circulate. This looks like a heart attack," Liu Banxia said. "This is bad, he's in cardiac arrest! Tell the ambulance to hurry and bring a portable defibrillator! I'll start CPR."
The old man's treatnt had been sowhat delayed. Heart attacks can happen very quickly.
The ti taken for the old man to show symptoms, for soone to call ergency services and notify property managent, for them to contact Liu Banxia, and for him to run over—all of it added up.
Moreover, they sowhat lacked basic first aid knowledge. After the old man collapsed, they should have laid him flat, which might have helped a little.
Now that he was in cardiac arrest, they would have to see if CPR would be effective.
After more than a minute of chest compressions yielded no results, Liu Banxia gritted his teeth, clenched his right fist, and slamd it down on the elderly man's sternum.
"UGH..."
As his fist landed, a sound ca from the elderly man's throat. Liu Banxia quickly placed his hand on the man's chest and felt a heartbeat.
Ding! Ergency Task Completed.
Reward: 300 Experience Points, 3 Glory Points.
This mission has been rated: Flawless.
Reward: 500 Experience Points, 5 Glory Points 3 bonus Glory Points.
Liu Banxia sat down heavily on the ground, wiping sweat from his forehead. "That should be it. The acute phase should be over. Later, we'll need an EKG, cardiac enzy tests, an echocardiogram, and... uh... right, we're not at the hospital."
"Dr. Liu, is my dad okay now?" the middle-aged man asked.
"He's stable for now, but he still needs to go to the hospital for the tests I just ntioned. It seems he had a heart attack, but he's pulled through. His sternum might be fractured from the precordial thump," Liu Banxia said.
"Thank you, thank you so much! You saved his life!" the middle-aged man said hurriedly.
Liu Banxia waved his hand dismissively. "It was just a standard resuscitation, nothing extraordinary."
Just as he spoke, the sound of an ambulance siren approached. Only then did everyone present truly feel relieved. In the minds of ordinary people, once the ambulance arrived, the person was saved.
Liu Banxia briefly explained the situation to the arriving paradics before they helped load the elderly man onto the ambulance.
Actually, he felt a lingering fear. When CPR compressions weren't working, resorting to a precordial thump was very risky.
Even CPR itself could fracture a patient's sternum, let alone such a forceful blow. When he'd struck down, he had felt a give in the chest cavity and had made sure to inform the paradics about the probable sternal fracture.
Luckily, it was successful. What would have been the outco if a more severe fracture had pierced the heart? Elderly people have such brittle bones to begin with.
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