Chapter 28: Repaying Kindness with Enmity

Women's Director feared scaring Su Ruo, and hurriedly comforted her: "These people are seriously injured; you don't need to feel too much pressure, just do your best to treat them."

Su Ruo steadied her mind and said: "Auntie, I didn't expect the situation to be this serious; this time we came out in a hurry, and I didn't bring enough herbs."

As the saying goes, even a skilled cook cannot make a meal without rice; even if Su Ruo's medical skills are superb, without medicine she cannot save anyone.

Women's Director immediately said: "This is easy; we rely on the big mountain here, and to subsidize household expenses, every family goes up the mountain to pick some herbs. I'll have people bring all the herbs over; you can see which ones you need. If it really isn't possible, I'll have people go up the mountain to pick more."

Although picking herbs on the mountain is dangerous now, this is unavoidable; they can't just stand by and watch people die!

Women's Director went to look for herbs, and Su Ruo began checking each person's wound one by one, then according to the severity and urgency, decided who to treat first.

Most of these people have external injuries; some are severe and even need surgery, so Su Ruo needs a large amount of hemostatic powder and painkillers, which cannot be obtained immediately.

Su Ruo called out to 001 in her mind: "System, I need hemostatic powder and painkillers; do you have any?"

"How much do you want to exchange?" Having done it once before, the system now trades with Su Ruo smoothly, without nonsense, and directly asks.

Su Ruo thought for a moment, these medicines placed in the space won't spoil, and she will often use them in the future, so she said: "Let's exchange for a hundred points first!"

"Good!"

After the system spoke, Su Ruo's account balance decreased by a hundred points, and at the same time, dozens of bottles and jars instantly appeared in her space.

Spending a hundred points so easily made Su Ruo feel a pang of regret; she lamented: "Fortunately, the man I saved earlier was valuable, otherwise I really couldn't have come up with this many points to buy medicine."

When the Women's Director arrived, two young men followed behind her, carrying a lot of herbs.

Su Ruo selected the useful ones from them, then said: "Some people here are seriously injured and need surgery; I need help."

"Okay, Gou Dan, Chou Zi, you two stay."

"I'll go find two women to help you decoct the medicine."

With so many wounded, just these few people are clearly not enough, but Su Ruo also understands that the village is busy rescuing people, and the Women's Director being able to give her four people is already the limit.

So Su Ruo nodded and said: "Okay!"

When the Women's Director brought the aunties who would help decoct the medicine over, Su Ruo had already sorted the herbs; she carefully instructed them on how to decoct them, making sure they understood, before returning to her room.

Because there were too many patients, Su Ruo first simply bandaged their wounds, stopped the bleeding, and gave each person a painkiller tablet.

Then she pointed to a middle-aged man whose condition was the most severe and who had already lost consciousness, saying: "Carry him into the inner room."

This man's spleen was ruptured, with bleeding, and must be treated immediately.

Su Ruo put on a white coat over her clothes to serve as protective gear, and then began performing surgery on the man.

The two young men arranged by the Women's Director were considered the bravest in the village, but upon seeing Su Ruo actually use a surgical knife to cut open the man's abdomen, they were instantly frightened, their legs trembling nonstop, and they ran out vomiting.

They didn't expect that Su Ruo, a delicate and weak little girl, could be so ruthless; seeing her calm demeanor, it seemed as if she were not cutting open a person's abdomen but slaughtering a chicken or duck.

But they didn't know that Su Ruo was far from as calm as she appeared; she had to exert great effort to overcome her inner fear.

The reality lay before her: a dozen or so lives awaited her rescue, and she had no way to retreat.

Fortunately, Su Ruo's inner self was already very strong; she quickly overcame her inner fear, and her hand gripping the surgical knife became increasingly skilled.

Li Zhaodi saw the two run out, hurriedly came in to look, but upon seeing Su Ruo's actions and the fresh blood on the bed, she was frightened to the point of almost screaming.

She covered her mouth with her hand, daring not to make a sound, for fear of disturbing Su Ruo.

After a long while, she tremblingly walked up to Su Ruo and said: "Do you need my help?"

Su Ruo also didn't stand on ceremony with her, saying: "Give me the hemostatic powder and gauze from the cabinet!"

After a period of busyness, the surgery finally ended; Su Ruo sutured the man's wound, glanced at the pale-faced Li Zhaodi, patted her shoulder, and said: "You did a great job!"

Li Zhaodi had been almost scared to death earlier, but upon hearing Su Ruo's encouragement, she immediately broke into a smile; her heart felt as sweet as eating honey, and her gaze toward Su Ruo was full of admiration.

Su Ruo is the most formidable woman Li Zhaodi has ever seen from childhood to adulthood; her dream is that one day she too can become someone like Su Ruo.

When Su Ruo came out of the room, she saw Tie Dan Er and Chou Zi standing at the doorway.

At this moment, both of their faces were filled with deep guilt and unease.

After the initial fear passed, Tie Dan Er and Chou Zi began to blame themselves, feeling they were useless, even inferior to a woman.

Tie Dan Er sheepishly looked at Su Ruo and asked: "Doctor Su, is there anything else we can help with?"

"You carry that patient over here!" Su Ruo pointed to the man in the corner and said.

Upon hearing this, Tie Dan Er and Chou Zi immediately went happily to lift the person, feeling relieved that Doctor Su didn't despise them.

The man was quickly lifted in; his entire left arm had been struck by a beam, and during rescue he was also dragged, leaving his whole arm a bloody mess of bone and rotting flesh, certainly unsalvageable.

Although she had just finished a surgery and was somewhat tired, she had no time to rest; the man needed immediate surgery, otherwise delaying would increase the risk of infection.

In this way, Su Ruo performed four or five surgeries in succession; by the time she finally rescued those several critically ill patients, it was already dark.

As she stepped out of the small cubicle, her steps were unsteady, almost causing her to fall; fortunately, Li Zhaodi steadied her.

Li Zhaodi said with heartache: "Doctor Su, you're too exhausted; take a rest!"

Su Ruo smiled and said: "Okay."

Her body had already reached its limit; even if she wanted to tough it out, she couldn't hold on any longer.

"As for that patient with internal bleeding, keep a close watch on him; if anything changes, call me immediately." After saying that, Su Ruo wanted to find a place to rest.

But just as she stepped out the door, a woman rushed toward her, grabbing Su Ruo's clothes while crying and shouting:

"It's you, this vicious woman, who cut off my son's arm; I don't care, you must return my son's arm to me—without a hand, how is my son supposed to live in the future!"

Su Ruo was already exhausted; caught off guard, when the woman yanked her, she fell directly to her knees on the ground, a piercing pain shooting through her knees.

Li Zhaodi quickly stepped in front of Su Ruo and loudly said: "How can you be like this? Doctor Su kindly saved your son; even if you don't thank her, you actually repay kindness with enmity."

"She cut off my son's arm; I don't care, you're all accomplices—return my son's arm to me."

Su Ruo waited for the sharp pain in her knee to subside, then stood up with a cold face and said to the woman: "You want your son's arm? Fine, Zhaodi, get it for her!"

Li Zhaodi's admiration for Su Ruo had now reached its peak; hearing this, she immediately ran to the small cubicle, took out the bundle containing that arm, and placed it on the table.

The old woman saw her son's arm, a bloody mess and no longer recognizable, and nearly fainted.

Su Ruo felt no pity for her, her face cold as she said: "Do you see clearly? Your son's arm is injured to this extent; even a Great Luo Divine Immortal couldn't save it. If I don't amputate it, his only option is death!"

Since you don't trust me, from now on I will no longer treat your son; whether you want to go to the county or the province for treatment, it's up to you.

If you are not willing to accept it, if you think I harmed your son, go ahead and sue me at the Public Security Bureau; whether it ends up being a financial compensation or imprisonment, I will accept.

(End of chapter)