Chapter 650: Strange Rescue

"Heh." Ji Xiang smiled, "Meng Laoshi, you're still this busy over here."

"Used to it, eating dumplings while on duty..."

"The more you eat, the more you have?" the Emergency Internal Medicine Doctor walked out and added in passing.

Meng Qingfei's expression changed, and he glared at her fiercely.

"Just joking, Old Meng, don't be so serious. How could that be, right? Although your usual shifts are busy, busy, and busy, I don't think it has anything to do with eating dumplings."

Meng Qingfei wanted to spit the dumpling out, but after hesitating for a moment, he chewed hard and swallowed it anyway.

Ji Xiang glanced at the Internal Medicine Doctor; this person really didn't know how to talk, being blunt to a fault.

But it was also possible she was intentionally teasing Meng Laoshi.

"Xiao Ji, when did you get back?"

"Yesterday. I'm on shift today, and knowing it was your shift, Meng Laoshi, I came to follow along and take a look," Ji Xiang smiled.

"The variety show was filmed well!" Meng Qingfei patted Ji Xiang's shoulder hard, "I thought you would stay out there and not come back. I tell you, your return is truly a surprise."

There was a hint of reproach in his tone, but more of it was gratification.

Meng Qingfei chatted with Ji Xiang for a long time, but since they were on duty, while there weren't many emergency patients, they kept trickling in.

They couldn't talk to their heart's content, but both Ji Xiang and Meng Qingfei were used to this rhythm.

Ji Xiang also ordered a portion of dumplings and ate them quickly during the intervals between receiving patients, showing traits carved from the same mold as Meng Qingfei.

Back at the Second Affiliated Hospital, working the emergency shift with Meng Qingfei, Ji Xiang kept looking for the "why" in every detail.

In Empathy, the patient who underwent the Painless Gastrointestinal Endoscope said the first thing she shouted after waking up was "Meng Laoshi," which Ji Xiang found particularly hard to understand.

She was very blunt, very blunt; why would she miss Meng Qingfei, a Surgeon whose white uniform was always stained black at the seat?

Ji Xiang couldn't figure it out; several hours of observation still hadn't revealed the source of the problem.

However, Ji Xiang was not in a hurry.

It was getting late, and after treating a trauma patient, Ji Xiang washed his hands, preparing to bid Meng Qingfei farewell.

A sound of wailing and crying came from outside the door, followed by the alarm sounds of various instruments from the Emergency Rescue Room.

Ji Xiang's heart remained calm.

Generally speaking, patients who wail and cry are Internal Medicine patients; surgical emergencies are either knife wounds or car accidents, and the real family members of such patients take a while to arrive, not crying right at this moment.

Since it was an Internal Medicine patient, it had nothing to do with Meng Laoshi, nor did it have anything to do with him.

After washing his hands, Ji Xiang walked out of the Treatment Room and saw at first glance that Meng Qingfei's waist was slightly hunched, standing opposite the Emergency Rescue Room watching the rescue inside.

The scene was simple, but Ji Xiang's heart went *thump-thump-thump* with a transient bigeminy.

Something was up!

He still remembered that a long time ago, Meng Qingfei had stood in the corridor in this exact posture watching the Pediatrics side, eventually helping the Pediatrician successfully rescue a young patient.

And now?

Ji Xiang walked quickly to Meng Qingfei's side, "Meng Laoshi, does the patient have anything to do with our Surgery Department?"

"Nothing to do with it. Their breathing was already fading when they were brought in. As for now, they probably can't be saved."

"Then?" Ji Xiang only said one word, not being long-winded.

"It just looks a bit strange; it reminds me of certain cases I've encountered before." Meng Qingfei's fingers moved slightly.

Ji Xiang didn't continue asking, but instead walked quickly to the Emergency Rescue Room, helping out while trying to understand the situation.

The patient was a 71-year-old elderly female with abdominal distension, suspected of having an Intestinal Obstruction, but this wasn't a major issue; the patient had already developed ventricular tachycardia accompanied by intermittent ventricular fibrillation.

Yet the family member was present in the rescue room, wiping away tears and sobbing.

Being immediate family, Ji Xiang had his own judgment.

In an Emergency Rescue, it is of course good if they survive, but if they don't, one fears the family member witnessing all this would become even more emotionally agitated.

Plus, chest compressions and defibrillation are somewhat terrifying procedures, involving things like rib fractures, for instance.

If seen by the family member, it is feared their emotions would become increasingly intense.

Therefore, at such times, family members are usually shooed out of the Emergency Rescue Room.

The Emergency Internal Medicine Doctor was performing the rescue while the family member was wailing; Ji Xiang really hadn't seen many similar scenes.

Coupled with Meng Qingfei's top-tier search-and-rescue-dog-like sense of smell and his behavior, Ji Xiang felt the crying seemed a bit fake... but he still couldn't guess what was strange here.

Because he was there to help, Ji Xiang found a moment to go to the window, facing outside, concentrated slightly, and entered the System Operating Room.

Ji Xiang quickly told the System NPC about his experience and his doubts.

"Teacher, I heard Meng Laoshi say he has experienced similar things, but he doesn't enter the Emergency Rescue Room. What do you think is going on?"

The System NPC pondered slightly.

A few seconds later, the System NPC looked up at Ji Xiang, "I don't know if I'm guessing right, but since that Meng Laoshi with rich clinical experience you mentioned has such doubts, then I have also experienced a few similar things."

"!!!"

Ji Xiang felt a slight shock in his heart.

The System NPC had the same take as Meng Qingfei, and their eyes seemed to carry an incomparably complex energy, as if they had countless words to say, but in the end, all those words turned into a sigh.

What was going on?

"Do you want to try it?" the System NPC asked.

Ji Xiang nodded.

"However, this time I refuse to let you choose," the System NPC said very firmly, "You will look at it from the perspective of a bystander."

Ji Xiang was confused, completely unable to understand what kind of medicine the System NPC and Meng Qingfei were selling in their gourds.

But he could empathize and personally experience the clinical experience recorded by the System NPC.

The answer to the mystery was right before his eyes!

Ji Xiang nodded hard.

The System NPC brought Ji Xiang to the adjacent Operating Room; a flash of light passed before his eyes, and when Ji Xiang opened his eyes again, he discovered he was performing external cardiac massage.

The Patient in the Empathy state and the Patient in reality had basically the same condition, only the Patient before him had more severe symptoms and had already stopped breathing.

Furthermore, "he" had already called the Anesthesia doctor to perform intubation.

Now, the Anesthesia doctor, wearing an isolation gown with a White Uniform draped over it and shoe covers on their feet, was squeezing the resuscitation bag.

"Gao, go tell the Family Member," the Anesthesia doctor said helplessly, "It's been twenty-five minutes, plus the time you spent resuscitating before, that's at least 40 minutes; the person is definitely gone."

Ji Xiang nodded; it was indeed so.

The Patient's chest wall had collapsed, likely due to advanced age and osteoporosis, which caused extensive fractures during the external cardiac massage.

Ji Xiang called a Nurse to take over for him, and he turned to go find the Family Member.

As he turned, Ji Xiang recalled that the Patient's daughter-in-law was a Doctor in the hospital's Digestive Medicine Department, and at this moment, she was weeping bitterly in the corner with another middle-aged woman.

(End of this chapter)