Chapter 56: World Two [26]

Grandma Shao paused for a moment after hearing this, not giving an immediate answer.

Shao Qing also subconsciously glanced at her grandmother’s leg and quickly noticed something was off about the way she was sitting.

“Grandma, did you bump your leg? Is it serious?” Shao Qing asked with a frown.

“It’s nothing serious. I just accidentally bumped into the railing while going down the stairs. It hurt a bit at the time, but it’s all better now.” Grandma Shao smiled and waved her hand dismissively.

At her age, bumps and scrapes were a common occurrence, nothing to make a fuss over.

“Grandma, now that the weather’s getting colder, the time spent outdoors exercising and in the sun is much less than in other seasons. Your bones are relatively more prone to injury. Even minor bumps and scrapes should be looked after,” Jing Ke said.

Furthermore, as people age, osteoporosis is inevitable. Bumps and scrapes that mean nothing to a young person could result in a bone crack or even a fracture for someone in their seventies or eighties.

“I have a little bit of related knowledge. Grandma, how about you let me take a look at the injury?” Jing Ke followed up.

Grandma Shao was somewhat reluctant. Her leg did occasionally ache at night, but it didn’t affect her daily walking. There was no need to trouble a guest visiting for the first time.

“Grandma, let Jing Ke take a look. If you’re not willing, we’ll just go straight to the hospital to find a doctor,” Shao Qing said, clearly siding with Jing Ke.

“It’s really nothing, just a bump below the knee.” Facing the incredibly earnest gazes of both Jing Ke and Shao Qing, Grandma Shao could only pull up her pant leg, revealing a large bruise that hadn’t yet faded on her lower leg.

Jing Ke asked Grandma Shao to rest her leg on the sofa. Half-squatting, she pressed near the bruise with her fingertip. “Grandma, does it hurt here?”

Grandma Shao hesitated, then ultimately told the truth. “A little bit, not very painful.”

Jing Ke moved to another spot. “What about here?”

Grandma Shao: “A little bit.”

Jing Ke moved again and asked once more. This time, Grandma Shao shook her head directly. “No pain, it doesn’t hurt here at all.”

“No localized swelling, just a bruise. The bone shouldn’t be injured yet,” Jing Ke concluded after a simple diagnosis. “Grandma, while the bruise is still there, you shouldn’t do any strenuous work. Rest well. You can also take some calcium tablets to supplement and prevent osteoporosis.”

“Alright, so I don’t need to go to the hospital?” Grandma Shao asked.

Grandma Shao actually had some resistance towards hospitals. Every visit required many tests, and the results always pointed out a minor problem here or a minor problem there.

“Not for now. Shao Qing and I will go out later and buy some medicated plasters. You just need to put one on, Grandma. There’s no localized bleeding, and the bruise has been there for a while, so you can gently rub it. The main thing is not to do heavy work and to rest normally,” Jing Ke said, pulling Grandma Shao’s pant leg back down.

“Thank you. If you hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have even noticed that Grandma hurt her leg,” Shao Qing said with a hint of guilt. It seemed she wasn’t a very attentive granddaughter.

“I only noticed something was wrong because I studied related knowledge before,” Jing Ke said as she walked alongside Shao Qing, looking at the buildings within sight. “Is the pharmacy nearby?”

“Yes, if it hasn’t moved locations, it’s right next door to the courier station. Less than a two-minute walk ahead,” Shao Qing said, pulling her face mask up further. “The health clinic is a bit farther out, about a twenty-minute walk.”

“If you need the city hospital, you have to go to the city center. So, for minor illnesses, people living here usually just buy some medicine or go to the health clinic for an IV drip,” Shao Qing explained.

Jing Ke nodded. “If you’re worried about Grandma being home alone, perhaps you could hire a caretaker to look after her?”

A trace of helplessness entered Shao Qing’s voice. “I’ve tried, but Grandma said she’s not bedridden. She doesn’t want a stranger taking care of her; she has hands and feet and can look after herself.”

“What about relatives with blood ties?” Jing Ke asked.

Shao Qing shook her head gently. “Although my grandmother has three children, apart from my father, they all went to develop their careers elsewhere. None of them chose to stay in Mianyang. Because of certain matters, our relationship with the relatives isn’t good, and we’re not in contact anymore.”

“The friends Grandma has made were only after she moved here. They’re all neighbors around the same age. Compared to being all alone in a big city, she prefers living here. She can occasionally go to the market with friends or just chat at home,” Shao Qing said.

Some ideas held by the older generation are very hard to change. Sometimes, the actions you think are for their own good don’t get the elder’s approval and instead make it harder for them to adjust.

After a brief chat on the road, the nearby pharmacy came into view.

The physician, dressed in a white lab coat, looked quite young. She didn’t ask many questions; if you specified the medicine you needed, she just got it for you. Then you paid, took the item, and left.

Just as Jing Ke took out her phone to scan the code and pay first, a middle-aged woman in a thick padded jacket rushed in, flustered.

“Doctor Wang, the person I’m looking after hasn’t woken up since falling asleep at noon. Please come quickly and take a look. Her complexion looks very bad,” the middle-aged woman said, her face full of panic.

“Can’t wake up?” The physician in the white lab coat immediately shot up from her chair. “When did she fall asleep? How long has she been sleeping?”

“Noon. She fell asleep after lunch. She has a habit of taking afternoon naps, but usually only for an hour. She wakes up around two or three. Today, by four o’clock, she still wasn’t awake, so I went to her room to call her, and that’s when I realized I couldn’t wake her.” The middle-aged woman spoke rapidly.

From her words, one could roughly deduce she was a caregiver hired to look after someone. Her employer was clearly in trouble.

Doctor Wang didn’t waste time asking more questions. She immediately grabbed her first-aid kit and came out from behind the counter. “Lead the way, and call 120 for an ambulance on the way.”

Leaving those instructions, Doctor Wang couldn’t tend to her small pharmacy anymore. She followed the middle-aged woman, rushing with extreme speed towards her employer’s home.

“Did something happen?” Jing Ke glanced in the direction the two had left, completing the payment.

“It seems like something happened. I heard from Grandma that not long ago, someone bought a self-built house around here. Apparently, an unwell woman moved in to recuperate.” Shao Qing frowned slightly, searching her memory.

“That person doesn’t really interact with the neighbors. She spends most of her time sitting in a chair, sunbathing and daydreaming,” Shao Qing added. “She might have a mental health condition.”

Jing Ke nodded, a guess forming in her mind.

However, that sick woman had nothing to do with her or Shao Qing, and they didn’t have a hobby of gawking at patients. After helping to pull the pharmacy door nearly shut, they returned home to apply the medicated plaster for Grandma Shao.

Just as Jing Ke was applying the plaster to Grandma Shao’s leg, Doctor Wang appeared in the courtyard, walking in and calling out.

“Grandma Shao, Grandma Shao, are you home? I have an urgent matter and would like to use your family’s car. Is that convenient?”

“What happened?” Shao Qing, having taken off her mask, came out from inside.

“You—you’re Grandma Shao’s granddaughter?” Doctor Wang was visibly stunned upon seeing Shao Qing.

“Yes, you need the car?” Shao Qing asked.

“Yes, someone swallowed sleeping pills. She needs to be taken to the city hospital immediately for a stomach pump. Waiting for the 120 ambulance will take at least half an hour; we can’t afford that delay,” Doctor Wang said. “I heard your family has a car, would it be convenient to borrow it?”

“Just a moment, I’ll get the car keys.” Shao Qing didn’t refuse.

Because Shao Qing returned to her hometown periodically to visit Grandma Shao, she had bought a standard car worth about five hundred thousand for convenience, occasionally taking Grandma Shao out for a drive.

The car keys were in Shao Qing’s room on the 2nd floor. Within a minute, she came back with them and handed them to Doctor Wang. “The car is parked in the backyard. The tank should have about half left.”

“Thank you.” Doctor Wang didn’t hesitate. She quickly took the keys and went to get the car.

Doctor Wang might have seemed somewhat inattentive when selling medicine, but when it came to matters involving human life, she was more responsible than the average person.

“I’ve seen that newcomer too. Before the temperature dropped recently, she would come out for a walk every day, and we chatted a bit,” Grandma Shao said, her expression complex upon hearing that a neighbor had swallowed pills.

She couldn’t help but sigh: “The young woman looked nice, seemed to be in her early forties at most. When she first moved here, quite a few groups of people came to visit her.”

“Is Dr. Wang taking her to the hospital now? Should she be able to be saved?” Grandma Shao began to worry.

“Generally speaking, sleeping pills should be purchased by prescription, and hospitals usually only dispense a half-month to a month’s supply.” Jing Ke pondered for a moment, analyzing from a professional perspective.

“If a dosage like that is swallowed all at once, it poses a certain life-threatening risk. However, an overdose of the medication will cause stomach spasms within three to four hours, leading to vomiting. Death usually occurs only after twelve to twenty-four hours.”

“When we were buying medicine earlier, we overheard the conversation between the caregiver and the physician. That person likely swallowed the sleeping pills around one o’clock. It’s past four now. Doctor Wang presumably performed some actions to induce vomiting, so the probability of survival is very high.”

“However, damage to the body from the medication definitely exists; she may need to be hospitalized for a period.” Jing Ke’s tone was very calm.

While Jing Ke now possessed a human body, she hadn’t fully acquired the typical empathy of an ordinary person. When it came to strangers, Jing Ke only held relatively strong emotions towards death.

Grandma Shao didn’t notice Jing Ke’s overly calm tone. Upon hearing her words, she actually breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the person wasn’t in mortal danger, needing to be hospitalized for a while was, considering the circumstances, a blessing amid misfortune.

That someone had swallowed sleeping pills to attempt suicide was explosive news for this usually quiet urban-rural fringe area.

Within just half an hour of going out for an after-dinner walk, Jing Ke and Shao Qing had heard people discussing this matter from more than one place.

Besides this incident, they also heard other pieces of news from the mouths of those treating this as gossip material.

“Have you heard? That person who moved in last month seems to have been a big shot before. I heard from my nephew, who works at the hospital, that when they were doing the stomach pump, even the Chief Physician came to oversee it. The Vice President himself rushed over to understand the situation.”

“It alarmed the Vice President? They definitely aren’t an ordinary person! Could someone in her family be a government official? Could she be some retired cadre?”

“How is that possible? Why would an official come to live in a place like this? Everyone here is just former farmers, like us.”

“Is there more, is there more? Did your nephew hear anything else?”

“Nothing else. After the stomach pump, they seem to have been resuscitated. She’s in a Special Ward now. I heard there’s a dedicated nurse monitoring her condition constantly.”

“I don’t know if she’s an official, but she’s definitely different from people like us who scratch a living from the earth.”

The overheard conversations from their walk kept drifting into Jing Ke’s and Shao Qing’s ears, making them think a bit more deeply.

If she truly was a big shot, they wouldn’t come specifically to thank them just because they lent out the car, would they?

Neither Jing Ke nor Shao Qing minded doing a good deed in passing, but if they were thus thanked and publicized by some influential figure, that would go against their intentions.

Especially for Shao Qing. Due to the higher proportion of elderly people around, not many locals knew her identity as a major star. If this led to exposure, she might have to move with Grandma Shao to live somewhere else again.

“Don’t worry. When they return the car, we can just explain ahead of time,” Jing Ke understood Shao Qing’s concerns.

Shao Qing’s popularity had recently surged. If this matter were truly spread, it wasn’t out of the question that unscrupulous people seeking news might come and disturb Grandma Shao.

“I hope so. Grandma really likes living here. I don’t want her peaceful life to be disturbed.” Shao Qing sighed softly.

But she only worried about this small matter for a moment, then quickly let it go.

“Still, if someone was saved because of it, that seems pretty good too.” Shao Qing smiled. “Grandma is a warm-hearted person at heart. She’d certainly rather move again than stand idly by.”

The situation developed roughly as Jing Ke had guessed. The next day, when the car was returned, a low-key business vehicle followed along.

After the vehicle came to a stop, two people quickly got out. Their hands were laden with gift boxes, clearly indicating they had come to express their thanks in person.

“Sister Hong, Director Li?” Seeing two familiar faces standing behind Doctor Wang, Shao Qing couldn’t help but be taken aback.

“Little Shao?” Yu Hongjun and Director Li were also stunned. They hadn’t expected to run into Shao Qing here.

“Little Shao, was it you who lent the car to Doctor Wang yesterday?” Yu Hongjun asked, her expression slightly complex. She truly hadn’t anticipated such a coincidence.

Shao Qing nodded, opening the door to let the three of them inside to talk.

“Yes, I had a brand endorsement shoot in Mianyang, so I came over yesterday. It just so happened I encountered someone urgently needing a car,” Shao Qing said.

“Is the person who was taken to the hospital a friend of yours, Sister Hong?” Shao Qing asked, her tone revealing genuine concern from the heart.

If it were a stranger, Shao Qing would feel more reflection than concern, as there was no prior connection between them.

But if she was Sister Hong’s friend, then she could be considered a senior and a friend of her own; the concern would certainly outweigh the reflection.

Yu Hongjun nodded, her gaze landing on Jing Ke, who was coming down from the 2nd floor into the living room.

“Is this the friend from your Moments post?” Yu Hongjun’s memory was good, and she quickly matched Jing Ke with the photo she had glanced at a few times.

“Yes, she accompanied me here for the shoot,” Shao Qing confirmed.

“Teacher Yu, Director Li, hello. I’m Jing Ke.” Jing Ke proactively introduced herself. Seeing the items in their hands, she very understandingly went to brew tea and prepare some fruit.

Seeing that the group were old friends, Doctor Wang, who recognized Shao Qing’s identity, didn’t linger. After returning the car keys to their owner, she took her leave first.