Seeing that Xu Ze seemed to have finished the acupuncture, Zhang Jiangyou finally relaxed his curiosity, which he had been forcibly suppressing. He looked at Xu Ze, hesitated for a moment, and then asked nervously, “Xu Ze… are you done? Well… how is he?”
Seeing Zhang Jiangyou’s tense expression, Xu Ze smiled and nodded, then said, “I managed to fulfill the task. Let’s do a follow-up ECG in two hours… He should be fine now.”
“Should be fine now?” Hearing these words, Zhang Jiangyou was stunned. His mouth hung open as he stared blankly at Xu Ze, his heart full of doubt and astonishment: “He’s fine just like that? How is that possible?”
Zhang Lide blinked. Although his experience told him that what Xu Ze said was impossible, he subconsciously felt that Xu Ze’s words probably weren’t false. This kid had already given him too many surprises and shocks these past few days; one more wouldn’t matter.
He then turned to Hu Xiaojiang, who was standing nearby, looking like he wanted to laugh but didn’t dare after hearing Xu Ze’s words, and instructed, “Xiaojiang, closely monitor the patient’s condition for these two hours. Do a follow-up ECG exactly two hours from now.”
“Ah… yes!” Hu Xiaojiang, upon hearing Director Zhang’s instruction, was startled for a moment but quickly agreed. Although he couldn’t understand why Director Zhang trusted Xu Ze so much, since the chief of the internal medicine department had given the order, he naturally didn’t dare disobey and quickly made a note of it.
Zhang Jiangyou heard Zhang Lide’s words and looked at his serious expression, then fell silent. He knew his superior and old friend’s personality very well.
Zhang Lide also came from a cardiovascular medicine background. He had worked with Zhang Jiangyou for over twenty years and could be considered both a mentor and a friend. It was Zhang Lide who had been promoted to Chief of Internal Medicine, which allowed Zhang Jiangyou to move from Deputy Chief of Cardiology to Chief.
So, Zhang Jiangyou understood Zhang Lide’s character very well. Since Zhang Lide only hesitated briefly before following Xu Ze’s suggestion and asking Hu Xiaojiang to do an ECG in two hours, it naturally meant that Zhang Lide truly believed Xu Ze’s words.
However, although Zhang Jiangyou greatly admired his old superior and friend’s professional skills and judgment, he really couldn’t go along with Zhang Lide’s thinking this time. How could a patient with a massive myocardial infarction, with such insignificant results from thrombolysis, possibly recover just through so-called acupuncture? It was absolutely impossible.
Moreover, Xu Ze’s so-called acupuncture had only involved inserting one needle. Although there were some strange phenomena, Zhang Jiangyou, who had always been extremely rigorous, absolutely refused to believe it could have such a good effect.
But since Zhang Lide had expressed his belief in Xu Ze’s words, as a subordinate doctor, he could only remain silent and wait two hours to see if this was just hot air… or…
Zhang Linyun and her mother were quite excited when they heard Xu Ze’s words. For Zhang Linyun, if Xu Ze said it was fine, then it was naturally fine… So, she ran over and, forgetting herself, hugged Xu Ze tightly. Burying her face in his chest, she cried tears of joy, repeatedly saying, “Thank you… A Ze… thank you!”
Feeling his chest dampened by Zhang Linyun’s tears and smelling that familiar faint fragrance, Xu Ze sighed softly. After comforting her for a while, he pulled out a tissue and, using the action of handing it to her, gently but imperceptibly pushed her away.
Although Zhang’s mother still didn’t know how her husband was doing since there were no changes yet, since Xu Ze said he should be fine and a follow-up ECG was scheduled in two hours, his confident words meant he must have some confidence. Seeing her daughter’s excited expression, she couldn’t help but feel happy too.
Watching her beautiful and adorable daughter throw herself onto the chest of that handsome and bright young doctor, the two looking very compatible, and then seeing him gently push her away without changing his expression, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret, sighing inwardly: “Such a good young man… why couldn’t my daughter cherish him back then? Sigh…”
During these two hours, Zhang Jiangyou, who had already eaten lunch, remained somewhat restless. He simply couldn’t believe that this heart attack patient would recover as easily as Xu Ze claimed.
If it were really that simple, why would the world need thrombolysis? Why would it need surgical coronary artery bypass grafting? Just sticking a needle in like that would do the trick, right?
However, he was also aware of Xu Ze’s recent streak of miraculous performances. Coupled with the fact that even the great Director Zhang Lide trusted Xu Ze so much, his own confidence began to waver.
So during these two hours, many doctors noticed that their director, who rarely left his office, was pacing around the doctors’ office repeatedly, constantly checking his watch, and asking Hu Xiaojiang now and then, “How’s that patient doing? Any changes?”
Finally, when his watch pointed past two o’clock, nearing the two-hour mark, Zhang Jiangyou estimated that Hu Xiaojiang should have already sent someone to do the ECG. Suppressing his anxiety, he sat in his office for another two minutes before getting up and walking towards the doctors’ office.
Just as he entered the doctors’ office, he found it empty. Finally catching an intern writing a medical record, he asked, only to learn that several doctors, along with Director Zhang, had followed Hu Xiaojiang to do an ECG on the patient named Zhang Lizhi.
Hearing this, Zhang Jiangyou couldn’t help but shake his head, smiled wryly, and sighed. He thought he was the only one anxious, but it turned out these people were even more anxious than him. So, without further hesitation, he quickly headed towards bed 35.
But when he reached bed 35 and saw it wasn’t Zhang Lizhi, he slapped his forehead, silently cursing his own impatience. How could he have forgotten that Zhang Lizhi had been transferred to the VIP ward…
He quickly turned around and, under the bewildered gaze of the patient in bed 35 and their family, hurried towards the VIP ward.
Just as he approached Zhang Lizhi’s ward, he heard exclamations from inside, and vaguely heard Hu Xiaojiang’s voice: “Ah… what’s going on? How did it become like this?”
Startled, Zhang Jiangyou quickened his pace and entered the ward. He saw a crowd gathered around Hu Xiaojiang, Zhang Lide, and Xu Ze, all craning their necks to look at the ECG in Hu Xiaojiang’s hand.
“How is it? How is it?” Zhang Jiangyou circled around the outside but couldn’t find a spot to get in, so he could only stare wide-eyed from the periphery, asking anxiously.
“It’s the director?” Hearing Zhang Jiangyou’s voice, the people in front came to their senses and quickly made way for him to enter.
Finally squeezing in, Zhang Jiangyou immediately reached out and snatched the ECG from Hu Xiaojiang’s hand, eagerly looking at it.
Seeing the ST segments in leads V3, V4, V5, and V6 on the ECG, which had already dropped several millimeters compared to the initial reading… Zhang Jiangyou couldn’t help but gasp.
“How is this possible? How is this possible?” Zhang Jiangyou stared at the ECG in his hand, his eyes full of disbelief. He truly found it hard to believe that this patient’s ECG could have undergone such a dramatic change in just two short hours.
He couldn’t help but turn his head and look at Hu Xiaojiang, asking in a deep voice, “Xiaojiang, was this just taken?”
“Yes… Director, this was just done for the patient. Looking at the ECG, his myocardial ischemia has indeed improved significantly…” Although Hu Xiaojiang also found it somewhat unbelievable, as a doctor, he had to be practical and realistic, so he reported what he saw to Zhang Jiangyou truthfully.
“But… how is this possible? Two hours ago, his ECG clearly showed signs of a major infarction, and now it’s completely reversed…” Zhang Jiangyou looked at the ECG in his hand and snorted, “Two hours, absolutely impossible… absolutely impossible…”
Seeing that Zhang Jiangyou was still stubbornly holding this view, Zhang Lide beside him smiled helplessly and said, “Old Zhang… Old Zhang, this ECG is exactly as it is. You have to accept it even if you don’t want to…”
“But… Director, how… how is this possible?” Zhang Jiangyou looked at Zhang Lide’s face, full of frustration and unwillingness, and said solemnly, “Two hours… two hours, do you believe it? There must be something wrong with this ECG…”
“Old Zhang… Old Zhang, I saw Xiaojiang do this ECG with my own eyes…” Zhang Lide understood Zhang Jiangyou’s feelings very well, but said very seriously, “Old Zhang, Xu Ze’s acupuncture really worked… Although it’s indeed a bit… a bit much… it is effective…”
“I think… this will be a major breakthrough for our cardiology department…” Zhang Lide summarized solemnly, “Let’s continue to observe the situation next. If this patient wakes up within twelve hours, then the effect of this treatment will be enormous!”
Hearing Zhang Lide’s words, Zhang Jiangyou looked down at the ECG paper in his hand, then looked at Zhang Lide and Hu Xiaojiang beside him. Seeing their serious and excited expressions, he finally confirmed that his own judgment had indeed been wrong. Xu Ze’s acupuncture treatment just now had indeed produced excellent results.
Although he still couldn’t understand how such a severe heart attack could recover so well under Xu Ze’s simple acupuncture technique, the fact was that this patient had significantly improved. In this cardiac condition, it could be said that he was completely out of danger. The patient’s awakening should be a matter of the near future.
Therefore, he had to admit that Xu Ze’s acupuncture was indeed effective and remarkably miraculous.
Compared to Zhang Jiangyou’s skepticism and disbelief, the other doctors were now filled with amazement and admiration. These doctors were very clear about the danger and difficulty of treating such a massive infarction, yet Xu Ze, with just a simple acupuncture treatment, had managed to bring about such a change in the patient’s condition. It was truly astonishing…
“A Ze… thank you…” Seeing the expressions of the doctors, Zhang Linyun understood clearly that her father’s condition had significantly improved. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at Xu Ze, her gaze full of gratitude.
