Just then, Jialiang suddenly began convulsing, startling Tang Jing.
Her hand jerked back, and she instinctively took half a step away. Panic was written all over her face as she hurriedly called to the little nurse beside her, “Quick, go get Director Qi! It’s all Xiao Mandong’s fault for wasting time here.”
Even at a moment like this, Tang Jing did not forget to pin the blame on Xiao Mandong.
The little nurse took off running.
Liu Jie was so frightened that her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor.
Xiao Mandong’s expression darkened. She shoved Tang Jing aside, who was blocking her way, then bent over and positioned Jialiang properly. Using her body and the cloth bag to shield her actions, she took silver needles out of her storage space and prepared to administer acupuncture.
“What are you doing? I’ve already sent someone to call Director Qi. Stop making a mess here!” Tang Jing blocked Xiao Mandong. She could not let Xiao Mandong steal the spotlight again.
“Smack!”
Xiao Mandong strode forward and slapped Tang Jing across the face.
At a critical moment between life and death, Tang Jing was still being so unreasonable. Xiao Mandong had truly reached the limit of her patience.
Tang Jing was stunned by the blow. By the time she came to her senses, the silver needles had already been inserted into the patient’s body.
Before their eyes, Jialiang gradually settled down. Liu Jie stared at Xiao Mandong in disbelief.
Pretending to straighten her collar, Xiao Mandong took a pill from her storage space. She used a scalpel to cut it into four pieces, then slowly fed them into Jialiang’s mouth.
Just then, a tiny elderly woman supported by a girl of about twenty entered the ward.
“My grandson—how is my eldest grandson?”
The old woman rushed to the bedside, grabbed Jialiang’s hand, and wiped away her tears.
At that moment, Director Qi hurried in as well, his eyes red and swollen, clearly having just cried. When he saw that Xiao Mandong had already administered acupuncture, he finally relaxed.
Leaning against the wall and panting heavily, he turned to the little nurse and demanded irritably, “Doctor Xiao is here. Why did you call me?”
He was truly about to retire. Running back and forth all day was exhausting enough to kill him.
“Dr. Tang told me to call you,” the little nurse replied aggrievedly.
She actually knew that with Doctor Xiao there, there was no need to summon Director Qi.
“When the patient first arrived, he wasn’t convulsing. It was because Xiao Mandong delayed me that he started convulsing,” Tang Jing said.
She would never admit that she was incompetent. It was all Xiao Mandong’s fault. If Xiao Mandong had not interfered, perhaps she could have injected the patient with nitroglycerin and saved him.
“Oh? Then tell me, how were you planning to treat him?”
In the past, Director Qi would have given Section Chief Tang face and refrained from arguing with Tang Jing. But today, he did not want to show consideration to anyone.
They never studied medicine properly. All they knew how to do was scheme against one another. They did not find it tiring, but at his age, he was the one who had to deal with the consequences. He was thoroughly fed up.
“I…I hadn’t had time to inject the nitroglycerin yet. It was Xiao Mandong who delayed me.”
The moment Director Qi heard this, his face darkened. He walked to the bedside, felt the patient’s pulse, and then fixed Tang Jing with a sharp gaze.
“You were going to give him nitroglycerin?”
Tang Jing shuddered at his roar, but still stubbornly argued, “He…he has heart disease.”
“Just because he has heart disease, you think you can give him nitroglycerin recklessly?”
Director Qi was so furious that his voice cracked. Pointing at Jialiang on the bed, he drove each word home.
“Did you check his pulse? Did you take his blood pressure? Do you know how low his blood pressure is?”
“He’s on the verge of shock. His whole body is cold, and his brain isn’t getting enough blood. Yet you still dared to give him nitroglycerin? Were you trying to save him, or send him to the grave?”
The moment he said this, Jialiang’s grandmother rushed forward and grabbed Tang Jing by the hair.
“You wicked little tramp! You nearly killed my grandson! I’ll beat you to death today, you vicious little woman! You’re nothing but a menace. Let me tear that face of yours apart!”
“Who do you think you are? Ah—let go, you dead old hag!” Tang Jing shouted as the old woman yanked her by the hair. She kicked and thrashed wildly.
“Grandma, be careful!”
The girl had originally intended to break up the fight, but when she heard Tang Jing insult the old woman, she charged forward as well. Together with the grandmother, she pinned Tang Jing to the floor.
The little nurse standing nearby went white with fear and quickly ran out to call hospital security.
Only then did Liu Jie recover from her shock. She hurried over to separate them.
“Mom, stop hitting her! Please, enough!”
“Liu Xiufang, you idiot! You don’t even know how to break up a fight. Why are you pulling me away instead of her?”
The old woman was furious and slapped Liu Jie across the face.
“You useless fool!”
A short while later, two security officers rushed in and finally managed to pull the women apart.
Tang Jing’s face and neck were covered in scratches. Several buttons on her white coat had been torn off, exposing the blue cloth shirt beneath. She looked utterly disheveled.
The old woman had only suffered a few minor scratches on her face. She paid them no attention, merely smoothing the loose strands of hair beside her ear.
“Bah! You shameless slut. You reek of vulgarity. You don’t know the first thing about medicine, yet you come to the hospital to deceive people. What a disgrace.”
Director Qi took a deep breath, then looked toward the head nurse.
“Record the entire emergency treatment process in detail. I’ll report it to the hospital so the matter can be handled officially.”
Only then did he turn to Tang Jing with a cold expression.
“Tang Jing, you don’t even understand the most basic contraindications. If Doctor Xiao hadn’t been here today, you can imagine what the consequences would have been. Tomorrow, I’ll report this to the higher-ups. You should transfer to another department.”
Tang Jing’s face turned deathly pale. She could not say a word, and her entire body trembled.
How could she not understand these things? She had simply panicked because she was afraid Xiao Mandong would steal the credit. In her moment of anxiety, she had forgotten everything.
It was clearly all Xiao Mandong’s fault. Why was everyone blaming her? If Xiao Mandong had not interfered, how could she have made such a foolish mistake?
Besides, she had been beaten. Shouldn’t Director Qi have taken her side at a time like this?
He had humiliated her in front of so many people. How was she supposed to face anyone after this?
Director Qi was already irritated enough. There was still a mess waiting for him at home. He had no time to sit around arbitrating her grievances.
“Mandong, I think the patient is stable for now. Go ahead and arrange his admission. We’ll conduct a full examination tomorrow. I still have things to deal with at home, so I’ll be leaving first.”
As he spoke, Director Qi headed toward the door, looking extremely anxious to leave.
Xiao Mandong quickly nodded. “All right, Director.”
She called for a stretcher and had Jialiang taken to a ward.
After getting him settled, she took out a jar of canned fruit made with spiritual spring water and handed it to Liu Jie.
“Give Jialiang a few pieces of fruit and some of the syrup later. His blood pressure is too low, so he needs a little sugar.”
Liu Jie did not know how to thank Xiao Mandong enough. All she could do was repeat her thanks over and over.
“Liu Jie, there’s no need to be so polite. We’re not strangers.”
Now that Jialiang was out of danger, Liu Jie’s mood had improved considerably. While her daughter and mother-in-law stayed to look after her son, she chatted with Xiao Mandong in the corridor about the cotton mill.
“You have no idea how lively things have been at the cotton mill these past few months. Chu Xin is in the middle of divorcing Accountant Zhao.”
“You know, that woman you brought to the factory last time—the widow from the Zhao family. What was her name again?”
“Wang Xiumei,” Xiao Mandong reminded her.
Liu Jie slapped her thigh. “That’s right, Wang Xiumei. I heard she and Accountant Zhao had been involved for a long time. Supposedly, after Lu Hong started working there, Wang Xiumei was the one who hooked them up…”
