Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 94 - : Man-made Disaster

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Man-made Disaster

Noon, when school let out.

Jiang Ning went to push his mountain bike, with Xue Yuantong following behind him.

“Jiang Ning, tomorrow is Friday already. I’ll treat you to something delicious in the evening. Have you thought of a place?”

“You’re the host; you decide the place,” Jiang Ning replied.

“I want to eat hotpot, but I also feel like having barbecue,” Xue Yuantong said, conflicted.

“Then let’s find a place that has both hotpot and barbecue,” suggested Jiang Ning as he unlocked his bike.

“Wouldn’t that kind of restaurant be too fickle? Could it possibly taste good?” Xue Yuantong wondered aloud.

After she spoke, her phone vibrated twice. She took it out and saw a call from her mother.

Xue Yuantong answered the phone with a cheerful tone:

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“Hello, Mom, what are you looking for me for? Did you buy me snacks?”

However, the gentle voice she imagined from her mother didn’t come through; instead, it was somewhat weak:

“Tongtong, can you come to the orthopedics department of the Third Hospital for a moment?”

Jiang Ning’s brow furrowed. Even though the phone was against Xue Yuantong’s ear, he could hear everything.

The Third Hospital was the abbreviation for Yuzhou Third Renmin Hospital, and the orthopedics department was famous in Yuzhou.

Xue Yuantong’s expression changed in an instant, and she asked anxiously:

“Mom, what happened? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, just come to the Third Hospital for now; we’ll talk when you get here.”

“Get on the bike; I’ll take you,” Jiang Ning said, pushing his bicycle.

Xue Yuantong’s expression was one of concern; she didn’t delay and jumped onto the back seat.

“Hold on tight,” he instructed.

Xue Yuantong obediently wrapped her arms around Jiang Ning. She knew what he was about to do; it was dangerous, but she was too worried about her mother.

Jiang Ning released his Divine Sense, scanning the crowd around them. With Spiritual Power propelling the mountain bike, he stepped on the pedal, and the bike shot out immediately, nimbly weaving through the crowd.

The Third Hospital was about five kilometers from Fourth Middle School. Jiang Ning avoided the crowd all the way, darting through streets and alleyways, and in less than ten minutes, they reached the entrance of the Third Hospital.

He pulled Xue Yuantong into the Third Hospital. The orthopedic inpatient department was on the first floor of the east wing.

As soon as she entered the hospital, Xue Yuantong felt a chill, oppressive atmosphere. The thought that her mother might have had an accident made her heart wrench, and she wished she could appear in front of her mother immediately.

“Do you remember which room?”

“Ward number five.”

Jiang Ning had never been to the Third Hospital; he didn’t look at the signs but instead pressed down with his Divine Sense into the building. An influx of information entered his mind, and he located ward number five, quickly leading Xue Yuantong in that direction.

They entered the lobby and walked down a long corridor; some patients were limping along, twisting and turning, and others were carrying milk and fruit for visits.

The door to ward number five was open, and as Xue Yuantong entered, she immediately saw her mother and couldn’t help but let tears fall.

Aunt Gu was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, her right arm suspended in front of her with a bandage, thickly plastered on the surface.

Her left hand had a needle in it, and a bag of IV fluid was hanging above her head, dripping.

“Mom, what happened?” Xue Yuantong approached with a tearful voice.

Jiang Ning’s Divine Sense swept toward Aunt Gu’s arm and clearly detected the bone broken in the middle.

“Mom accidentally broke her arm; it’s not a big deal,” Aunt Gu said, her face pale. She tried to reach out to touch Tongtong’s head but then remembered that her arm was broken and she couldn’t use it.

“Mom, does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Jiang Ning, it was you who brought Tongtong here, wasn’t it? Thank you so much,” Aunt Gu was as kind as ever.

A doctor in a white coat came in from the doorway, holding a stack of materials, and said:

“Let me see the X-ray.”

Aunt Gu said it was at the head of the bed, and Jiang Ning handed the X-ray envelope to the doctor.

After reviewing the X-rays for a moment, the doctor asked:

“Is your hand numb? Try making a fist.”

Aunt Gu nodded and attempted to make a fist, but it appeared to be particularly difficult.

“You have a mid-shaft fracture of the humerus, with some numbness in your hand,” the doctor said. “It is generally considered that the radial nerve is damaged.”

Xue Yuantong asked, “Doctor, what is the radial nerve, and can it recover if it’s damaged?”

“The radial nerve runs along your arm, and if it’s injured, it can affect the function of your fingers and cause symptoms like numbness and wrist drop.”

“Whether or not it can recover depends on the extent of the injury.”

The doctor said, “I’ll write up a few orders for you to get some tests done in the next few days. Given your current condition, you must have surgery to fix a steel plate to your bone so that it can properly heal.”

“Your arm is quite swollen, so we’ll have to wait a couple of days for the swelling to go down before we operate.”

The doctor gave some instructions for care and left the room.

Jiang Ning, seeing the IV drip had finished, pressed the bell by the bed to call a nurse over to change it.

After the nurse had changed the IV, Xue Yuantong asked:

“Mom, how did you break your arm?”

“I fell by accident; it’s nothing serious,” Aunt Gu didn’t want to elaborate.

Ward number five has six beds, and opposite was a woman in her fifties with her foot wrapped in a bandage. Hearing Aunt Gu’s reply, she chimed in:

“How did you manage to break your arm there? It’s not a typical spot for a fracture.”

“The guy in the bed before you, whose break was in the same place as yours, he broke it arm-wrestling and spent over thirty thousand. If it’s from a fall, you’ll be the one paying over thirty thousand. Do you have any insurance?”

All color drained from Aunt Gu’s face upon hearing “over thirty thousand”:

“I have rural health insurance.”

“That won’t do much. Even after reimbursement, you’ll still end up paying over twenty thousand.” The woman clearly spoke from experience.

Over twenty thousand was nearly Aunt Gu’s annual income. At first, she only knew the fracture was severe, but had not realized it would be so costly. Her mood instantly plummeted.

Seeing Aunt Gu seemed troubled, Jiang Ning asked:

“Aunt Gu, what exactly happened?”

No longer concealing the truth, Aunt Gu explained how she got hurt.

After finishing her work at the restaurant today, she rode her electric scooter home and reached Xingda Road. Suddenly, a car burst from an intersection. Realizing she was about to be hit, she swerved to avoid it and accidentally fell, her arm striking the curb and breaking.

“Is there a camera on that road?” Jiang Ning asked.

Aunt Gu, who frequently traveled that way, replied, “No.”

“It’s going to be difficult then,” Jiang Ning said, noting that without camera footage, it’s hard to hold anyone accountable, even if it was the car’s fault.

Although Aunt Gu’s injury was caused by dodging a car, the lack of direct collision meant that if the driver denied responsibility and claimed she simply fell over, it was unlikely anything could come of it.

“Did the driver see you fall?”

“Yes, she saw, then drove away,” said Aunt Gu.

Without evidence collected at the moment, the situation was even more challenging.

The woman in the opposite bed interjected, “Some drivers have no conscience! They didn’t even bother taking you to the hospital. From Xingda Road, it’s not close.”

“Mom, how did you get here after you broke your arm?” Xue Yuantong asked since Tongda Second Road was over a kilometer away.

Aunt Gu replied, “I took a taxi.”

Tears formed in Xue Yuantong’s eyes again; her mother must have not wanted to spend on a taxi. Thinking of her mother dragging her broken arm all the way to the hospital…

Seeing this, Jiang Ning looked at Xue Yuantong: “You stay here with her. It’s noon already, I’ll go buy something to eat. By the time I get back, this IV bag should have finished.”

“By the way, Auntie, do you remember the license plate number?”

“I can’t remember it well, but the last two digits seemed to be 6 and 2.”

“Okay, wait for me to come back.”

The lady in the opposite bed praised, “Your son is very handsome.”

Aunt Gu replied, “He is my daughter’s classmate.”

The woman reacted with surprise: “That’s a good classmate, coming to accompany you here.”

Aunt Gu didn’t answer, having grown increasingly pleased with Jiang Ning of late, so independent and sensible, with good grades too.

Her daughter was happy every day being with him, looking healthier than ever.

She had also found a job; everything had been going well until this sudden mishap. Maybe the heavens just couldn’t bear to see her family prospering like this.

Aunt Gu sighed inwardly, ‘Over twenty thousand, and I’ll be recovering for several months…’