Chapter 145: 147: Minor Surgery

Tang Yuxin suddenly jolted awake and sat up. She hurriedly put on her clothes and got off the heated brick bed. She didn’t even have time to put on her shoes, and ran out of the house barefoot.

Outside, the house’s lights were already on. When she came out, Tang Zhinian was also running out, his clothes put on backward in his haste.

“What happened?” He asked Tang Zhijun, “Everyone was fine during dinner.”

Tang Zhijun wiped his face, “Everything was fine during dinner. But, she started having stomach pains at night. I went to the village doctor and got her pain relief pills. She fell asleep after the pain subsided, but now it’s unbearable. She’s nearly fainting from the pain.”

On hearing this, Tang Yuxin rushed inside the room closely followed by Tang Zhinian.

Inside the room, Sisi was still asleep. Even the noise didn’t wake her up. Thankfully, if she woke up, no one knew how distressed she might become.

Zhang Xiangcao’s forehead was drenched in sweat. She looks deeply pained. She gripped the quilt tightly, moaning with discomfort. Her face was pale, with no hint of color. Large beads of sweat trickled down her forehead.

Tang Yuxin rushed over and reached out to take Zhang Cha’s wrist.

She then furrowed her eyebrows and placed her hand on Zhang Cha’s stomach.

“Does it hurt here, second aunt?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

She asked.

Perhaps because Zhang Xiangcao was in so much pain that she was delirious, she didn’t know where it hurt. Everywhere hurt. The ripping pain was unbearable for her.

“Dad, take Sisi away,” Tang Yuxin called Tang Zhinian over. With all the commotion, it wasn’t suitable for a small child, in case it frightened her.

Okay, Tang Zhijun quickly walked over, scooped up Sisi along with the blankets, and lifted her. Sisi rubbed her eyes, probably still half-asleep. Tang Zhinian placed her head on his shoulders and patted her small shoulders.

“Good girl, keep sleeping, Sisi.”

“Okay…” Sisi responded weakly, and then fell back into sleep.

Tang Yuxin’s fingers moved down until she reached a certain spot. Zhang Xiangcao writhed in pain, her whole body spasming. Even her muscles stiffened and twitched.

Tang Zhijun stood by the side, his eyes reddening from anxiety.

He knew that Tang Yuxin had always been studying medicine. Regardless of her expertise, at the very least, she knew something. Otherwise, he really wouldn’t know what to do.

“Second uncle, help second aunt get dressed.”

Tang Yuxin stood up and immediately began packing things – cups, towels etc., stuffing them all into a bag.

“What’s happened?” Tang Zhijun quickly moved forward and hastily helped Zhang Xiangcao get dressed.

“Acute appendicitis; she needs surgery.”

Tang Yuxin spoke without stopping her packing.

“What’s acute appendicitis?” Tang Zhijun might not know what the disease is, but the words “needs surgery” brought a drop of cold sweat on his forehead. He froze on the spot.

“Uncle…” Tang Yuxin turned and saw that Tang Zhijun was still frozen. She reached out with her foot and kicked him on the leg, “What are you standing there for? Hurry up!”

Having said that, she put the things she had packed to the side. They would take these for now and anything else needed could be figured out later.

Tang Zhijun finally managed to pull on Zhang Xiangcao’s clothes, but seeing how much she was suffering, he looked like he was about to cry.

How much must a man love a woman to react this way? How much must he care for her to allow tears?

Zhang Xiangcao tried to open her eyes to reassure them that she was alright, but the pain was tormenting her nerves so severely that she wished for relief, yet couldn’t find it. All she could do was curl up her body and endure wave after wave of pain.

Tang Yuxin quickly gathered the blankets and other things from the heated brick bed, ran outside and spread them out on the electric tricycle.

“Uncle, hurry up.”

Tang Yuxin urged Tang Zhijun. Thankfully, they had an electric tricycle at home. Otherwise, it would take over an hour to get from their house to the hospital. In an hour, who knows if a perforation might occur?

She was a doctor in her previous life. This kind of symptom indicates acute appendicitis. They didn’t need to say anything else. Direct surgery is needed. No medicine could relieve it. Acupuncture and other treatments couldn’t cure it either. The simplest and most direct approach was surgery.

However, she was unsure. In her past life, her second uncle died early and Zhang Xiangcao, with a child, got no one to marry her. She wondered how Zhang Xiangcao then survived. Or, did she die from appendicitis?

Tang Yuxin shook her head. She dared not think about it, truly dared not think about it. She did not grow up in Li Tang Village, so she was not very clear about what happened there. She only knew what she heard from people in the village; rarely anyone mentioned Zhang Xiangcao. All she knew was, during her dad’s illness, kind Sisi took care of him for some time.

Perhaps she could assume that Sisi, a three-year-old child left alone, was taken care of by Tang Zhinian then.

Zhang Xiangcao had already been placed on the tricycle. Tang Zhinian followed. He put his hands on Tang Yuxin’s shoulders, “Xinxin, stay here and watch Sisi, your second uncle and I will go.”

“Alright,” Tang Yuxin nodded in agreement. It didn’t matter whether she was there or not. When they got to the hospital, the doctors would take care of everything. Somebody needed to be at home. Sisi was still small.

Tang Zhinian hopped onto the electric tricycle, asked Tang Zhijun to look after Zhang Xiangcao and, in the middle of the night, started towards the city hospital.

Tang Zhijun used his body to block the cold wind rushing towards them. He held on to Zhang Xiangcao’s hand all the way.

“Don’t be afraid; we’ll be at the hospital soon.”

Zhang Xiangcao was in so much pain that she was almost unconscious. She wanted to nod but could not. She wanted to speak but could not say anything.

Tang Zhijun didn’t know if Zhang Xiangcao had the disease that Tang Yuxin mentioned, but whether she did or not, going to hospital was the right thing to do.

She was in so much pain; where else could they go if not the hospital?

Tang Zhinian drove the tricycle at high speed. The streets were almost empty, so he could go very fast. It usually took around half an hour, but this time they reached the hospital in less than twenty minutes.

Upon reaching the hospital, the doctor on duty rushed over to help as soon as he saw how much pain Zhang Xiangcao was in.

“It is acute appendicitis. Prepare for surgery immediately.”

After a quick check, the doctor identified the cause and instructed the nurses to prepare for surgery.

It hadn’t been even five minutes since Zhang Xiangcao arrived at the hospital, and she was already wheeled into the operating room.

“Doctor, is acute appendicitis serious?”