At 3 a.m., when sleep is deepest and snores are loudest, Du Heng groggily picked up the phone and then sat in a daze for three seconds.
Jiang Feng had spoken too quickly, and Du Heng’s brain, buffering slowly, couldn’t keep up. But five seconds later, Du Heng leaped out of bed.
After casually splashing water on his face, Du Heng grabbed his car keys and fumbled for the door in the dark.
The first thing he did upon leaving was to call Jin Juan and Lu Guangying, but his calls went unanswered.
Du Heng was furious. In such a large Obstetrics Departnt, only one on-duty doctor? How lax must the managent be? How could they be so careless?
But anger wouldn’t solve anything. After calling three more tis, Du Heng sat in the car and, in his fury, let out a curse—a true ’National Treasure’ of its kind—then hastily drove off.
At 3 a.m., the streets were mostly empty, save for a few wandering taxis. The only other vehicles were the ballast trucks, which usually ca out only at night, now roaring and whistling as they raced along the completely clear roads.
His usual thirty-minute commute took Du Heng only eight minutes today.
Du Heng was frantic. Yet, upon arriving at the hospital entrance, he found himself decisively blocked by his own hospital’s retractable door. No matter how much he honked, no one ca to open it.
Du Heng was furious, practically stamping his foot. He tried to enter through the small side door but found it locked from the inside with a padlock.
Is this the situation at the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital at night?
Du Heng trembled with rage. Seething, he started to climb over the retractable door.
Just as he was halfway over, the lights in the previously pitch-black security room flickered on. An old man wearing red thermal pants and shuffling in slippers erged, his back hunched.
Du Heng felt his own lips tremble.
Without a word, he finished climbing over the retractable door and started running towards the delivery room.
"Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Get out! Get out now! Who let you in?" As he spoke, the old man, who had initially been hunched, suddenly straightened and beca agile, reaching Du Heng in a few quick strides just as Du Heng landed on the other side of the door.
Grabbing Du Heng’s sleeve, the old man switched on a high-powered flashlight. "Stop! Stand right there! What do you think you’re up to in the middle of the night?"
When the flashlight beam hit Du Heng’s face, a countenance so grim it seed water could drip from it t the old man’s eyes. "You’re trying to steal... The Dean?!!!"
"An excellent job. Truly excellent," Du Heng said, his face dark as he glanced at the on-duty old man. He then violently shook off the old man’s hand. "Stay right where you are." Without a backward glance, he strode into the hospital building.
"What’s the patient’s condition?"
Entering the delivery room, Du Heng hurried towards the parturient, inquiring about the situation as he went.
"After I called you, the parturient’s heartbeat dropped to 20 at one point. After resuscitation efforts, it has now recovered to around 45."
"Have you run any tests?"
"We’ve done the basic check-ups. There’s no hemorrhage or lesion in the parturient’s body. It’s just that her heart rate and blood oxygen levels won’t rise."
"Were there any other symptoms when her heart rate dropped?"
"No, it just seed to stop naturally."
By now, Du Heng had reached the parturient. He saw her pale face and shallow breathing.
Checking her pulse, he found it already barely perceptible, like a fine strand of hair—a thready pulse.
A deficiency of true elental essence, the spirit and qi unable to anchor themselves?
Du Heng furrowed his brow.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed signs of slight sweating. Moreover, the parturient looked thin, strikingly so.
This was a very unusual condition for a woman who had just given birth.
During pregnancy, a woman needs to take in a large amount of nutrition to support fetal developnt. Much of this nutrition is also absorbed by the mother’s own body. Coupled with the high secretion of estrogen during pregnancy, it’s normal for pregnant won to gain weight.
But this parturient not only showed no signs of weight gain but was, in fact, incongruously thin.
"What’s the baby’s situation?" Du Heng suddenly asked.
"A baby boy, six pounds and five ounces. All his indicators are normal. He’s already been handed over to the family."
Du Heng’s eyes lit up slightly. "What’s the patient’s weight?"
"She weighed 104 pounds before entering the delivery room."
104?
Du Heng silently made a quick calculation, then abruptly asked, "Do you have any fine needles for acupuncture?"
"No."
"Get an infusion needle."
The doctors and nurses in the delivery room didn’t understand Du Heng’s intention, but they quickly unwrapped a new needle from the side.
Du Heng took it, walked straight to the parturient’s head, and lightly pricked the ophryon acupoint between her eyebrows.
Soon, beads of blood began to roll down.
As the blood rolled, the parturient’s breathing started to deepen, and her heart rate began to slowly increase.
Instantly, all the doctors in the room stared at Du Heng.
They couldn’t understand how rely pricking the skin between the eyebrows could have such an effect.
The confusion, bafflent, and intense curiosity in their eyes begged for answers, but Du Heng had no mind to explain.
The ophryon is one of the body’s acupoints. It’s a key node connecting the upper and lower body and has the effect of calming the spirit and relieving uneasiness of mind.
It connects upwards to the brain and downwards, via the lingual frenulum, to the heart. Pricking the ophryon acupoint ensures the pathways to both the brain and tongue are clear. When the pure qi in the heart ascends, blood stasis will naturally descend.
However, there are too many nerves around this acupoint, making it unsuitable for direct needling. Du Heng wouldn’t even advise others to perform a light prick to draw blood here.
If one’s hand is too heavy, or the pricked location is imprecise, the patient could instantly suffer facial paralysis—the kind that’s impossible to recover from.
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