The onlookers could hardly believe their ears.
The ox cart had already traveled some distance, leaving behind the renewed fervor of their discussions.
The road from Shishui Village to the county town was long, filling Li Jiao with deep concern for Qin Lie’s leg.
After the slow-moving ox cart reached the town, Li Jiao spent another two yuan to flag down a tractor heading to the county town to haul coal.
Black smoke from the tractor billowed in the wind and snow, its deafening noise filling the air. The open trailer offered no shelter, and the cold wind cut like knives against their faces.
Qin Lie lay semi-conscious under several layers of tattered cotton quilts. His high fever had left him somewhat disoriented, but the excruciating pain kept his brows tightly furrowed, and cold sweat had long since soaked through his inner clothes.
Amid the jolting, he could feel a soft yet icy body pressed tightly against him.
In his dazed state, Qin Lie wondered how a person could change so drastically. Had she arranged for someone to dig an even bigger trap for him in the county town?
Hah, a trap it might be. If it was a trap, he’d willingly jump into it. But once he jumped, he’d cling to her tightly, even in death… they’d die together.
At this moment, Li Jiao had fully transformed herself into a human cushion, fiercely protecting Qin Lie’s injured leg and doing her utmost to minimize the secondary damage caused by the trailer’s jolts.
When Qin Lie opened his eyes, he saw her lips purple from the cold, her eyelashes coated with a fine layer of frost. Yet she refused to retreat even an inch.
“Jiaojiao… let go…”
Qin Lie’s voice was weak, like a breath forced from his chest.
He wanted to push her away. Even though he knew he was exploiting Li Jiao’s sympathy, he couldn’t bear to see her suffer.
“Shut up! Save your breath!” Li Jiao snapped fiercely, holding him even tighter. “If you keep moving, I’ll kiss you right in front of the tractor driver!”
Qin Lie: “…!”
This woman was truly insane.
But he loved this version of Li Jiao so much. A little more, just a little more affection for him, a little more possessiveness!
It would be best if she stayed entangled with him forever, never choosing to leave again!
Two hours later, the tractor finally stopped at the entrance of the county hospital.
Li Jiao jumped off the trailer, her legs numb from the cold, nearly stumbling as she landed.
Ignoring her disheveled state, she rushed frantically into the emergency hall, calling for help.
Inside the emergency room, the strong smell of disinfectant mingled with the scent of blood.
Director Wang, the surgeon in his fifties, wearing a mask, carefully cut away the rotten strips of cloth that had fused with the flesh and blood on Qin Lie’s leg.
“Hiss—”
The young nurses around gasped in shock.
The wound was already unrecognizable, with blackish-purple necrotic flesh turned outward. Yellowish-green pus trickled down his calf, emitting a nauseating stench.
Director Wang frowned, tapped the exposed bone fragments with forceps, pressed the swollen skin around the wound, and shook his head.
“You brought him in too late. This is a classic precursor to gas gangrene. The infection has already reached the bone, and the bone is severely shattered. The nerves are likely severed as well.”
“Doctor, how do we treat it?” Li Jiao asked urgently, her fingers tightly gripping the hem of her clothes.
“To save his life, I recommend amputation,” Director Wang said, glancing at Qin Lie in his tattered clothes and sighing. “If we don’t amputate, once the toxins reach the heart and cause sepsis, he’ll be gone. Besides, conservative treatment is very expensive. With an injury like this… I don’t see the point in trying to save the leg. Even if we do, he’ll end up a cripple.”
Qin Lie pressed his pale lips tightly together, his lowered eyelids concealing a flicker of regret that flashed through his eyes. He had been careless—in his attempt to win sympathy, he had gone too hard on himself.
His original plan had only been to make himself look pitiful enough to keep her by his side, not to actually become a cripple.
If he really ended up with an amputation, he wouldn’t be able to continue doing those shady, ruthless jobs in the shadows, and he would lose his leverage over her.
However, as Qin Lie glanced sideways at Li Jiao’s pale, terrified face, a strange sense of satisfaction rose within him.
Look how scared she was—how much she cared about him.
Since she was so afraid of him dying, why not push her a little further? He really wanted to see just how far Li Jiao was willing to go for him.
“I’m not getting treated,” Qin Lie suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse but unnervingly calm.
He struggled to sit up from the hospital bed, his rough hands trying to push Li Jiao away. “Let’s go home! I’m not getting treated! Let me die at home!”
“Hold him down!” Li Jiao screamed, throwing herself onto him and pressing down hard on his shoulders, her eyes reddening. “Qin Lie, don’t you dare! Take one step and see what happens!”
She turned her head sharply, tears welling in her eyes as she glared at Director Wang. “No amputation! Absolutely no amputation! Doctor, I want him to undergo debridement and internal fixation. Remove all the necrotic tissue and piece the broken bones back together. As long as the nerves aren’t completely severed, there’s still hope!”
Director Wang was taken aback, not expecting this seemingly delicate young woman to know about medical procedures and speak so confidently.
Frowning, he said, “Comrade, you make it sound easy, but with an infection this severe, ordinary terramycin won’t be enough to control it.”
“Then don’t use terramycin. Give him penicillin,” Li Jiao gasped. “A high dose. And if there’s no imported penicillin, use cephalosporin. Also, human serum albumin—no matter how expensive, add everything that could help his recovery!”
The nurse beside her was stunned by what she had just said.
Terramycin cost just a few cents per tablet and was a lifesaving drug for ordinary people, but everyone knew penicillin was in short supply.
As for cephalosporin, that was a luxury drug only high-ranking officials could afford, let alone something as rare as human serum albumin!
Director Wang looked the two of them up and down, taking in their shabby clothing, and his frown deepened. His tone even carried a hint of impatience:
“Comrade, stop making a fuss. Do you know how much these medicines cost? This set of procedures plus imported drugs would cost at least four or five hundred yuan! And rural cooperative medical insurance won’t cover any of it—it’s all out-of-pocket. Four or five hundred yuan is no small amount. A healthy worker would have to save for two years without eating or drinking to afford that. Can you two even come up with that much money?”
In Director Wang’s eyes, these two were typical impoverished rural folk. Forget four or five hundred yuan—they probably couldn’t even scrape together forty or fifty.
“Money?” Li Jiao sneered, grabbing the patched blue cloth bag and turning it upside down over the iron payment counter.
With a clatter, a pile of ten-yuan, five-yuan, and two-yuan bills mixed with coins cascaded onto the counter, forming a small mountain.
This was Qin Lie’s 550 yuan—money he had earned by risking his life.
“I have money!” Li Jiao pointed at the pile of cash, even pulling off the gold ring she had always been reluctant to remove from her hand and slamming it onto the pile with a thud. “Is this enough? If not, I still have this gold ring. If that’s still not enough, I can borrow more. And if even that fails, I can sell my blood!”
Li Jiao glanced back at Qin Lie, who was still enduring the pain with reddened eyes, and memories from her past life flooded her mind.
Suppressing a sob, she raised her voice: “I have only one demand—save his leg. My man deserves the best medicine to heal his leg. If anyone dares to cut corners or skimp on his treatment, I’ll fight them to the death!”
The entire emergency room fell into dead silence.
Even Director Wang was stunned by this display of throwing money around.
After half a lifetime as a doctor, this was the first time he had ever seen a rural woman with such audacity!
Qin Lie stood frozen in place, staring at the scattered money and then at Li Jiao, his Adam’s apple bobbing violently.
Jiaojiao, this is your own doing. You’ve bankrupted yourself for me, willingly tying yourself to me…
Qin Lie lowered his head and gently grasped Li Jiao’s wrist. “Jiaojiao.”
His vision suddenly blurred, and a tear silently slid down from the corner of his eye.
It fell onto the back of Li Jiao’s hand, burning her so intensely she nearly wept along with him.