Yu Zhiming held out until just after five in the morning before lying down on the small companion bed to catch a few winks.
When he opened his eyes again, he was startled to find his parents sitting watch by the little bed.
Yu Zhiming threw off the thin blanket and sat up, asking in surprise, "Dad? Mom? What are you guys doing here?"
His father, a handsome man with salt-and-pepper hair, simply grunted in response.
His mother, who was slightly plump, gently touched Yu Zhiming’s face and asked, "Does it still hurt?"
Yu Zhiming shook his head. "Not so much anymore."
"Mom, it’s just a flesh wound. It’ll be fine in a couple of days, it’s nothing. Don’t worry."
Yu Zhaoxia walked over to the companion bed. "Fifth Brother, it’s almost nine in the morning."
"Mom and Dad heard the news first thing this morning. They caught a ride into the county and got to the hospital before seven."
"Your second and third sisters already checked on you this morning before they went to work."
Yu Zhiming said, "Oh," then heard a grinding sound behind him. He turned to see Yu Xiangwan standing on the other side of the bed, her lips pursed in a pout, a look of pure grievance on her face.
"Fourth Sister, what’s wrong with you?"
His question only made her look more aggrieved. "Fifth Brother, you have no idea," she said pitifully. "I got hit this morning."
"Our mom, Eldest Sister, Second Sister, and Third Sister—they all hit me. And they didn’t hold back. It hurt so, so much."
"I’m the most pitiful, unloved person in this family."
Yu Zhaoxia shot her a sharp glare. "You deserved it. You were left here to take care of Fifth Brother."
"But what did you do..."
"When we came into the room this morning, we found you sprawled out on the patient’s bed, snoring away."
"And poor Fifth Brother was curled up on that tiny bed, without even a blanket on him."
"Getting hit was letting you off easy..."
Before Yu Xiangwan could explain, Yu Zhaoxia turned back to Yu Zhiming. "Anyway, Fifth Brother, Mom and Dad also know about the job offer in Binhai."
Yu Zhiming didn’t bother comforting his fourth sister. He looked to his father and asked, "Dad, what do you think about me working in Binhai?"
His father spoke slowly. "Li Si of Qin once said, ’The worth of a man, good or bad, is like that of a mouse—it all depends on where he finds himself!’"
"Fifth Brother, you leaving the county for Binhai, in my eyes, is like a rat moving from a latrine to a granary."
"If you want to go, I support you!"
His father, with his penchant for classical quotes, had the final say in the family. Getting his explicit support strengthened Yu Zhiming’s resolve.
"Dad, thank you for your support!"
"Once I get to Binhai, I’ll work even harder and strive for greater achievements. I won’t bring shame to the Yu Family."
His father nodded slightly. "I believe that. You’ve had a relentless, fighting spirit since you were a child."
"Fifth Brother, that Dr. Qi, he seems like a good man."
"You go with him and make a name for yourself in Binhai. Don’t worry about your mother and me."
Yu Zhiming looked at his eldest sister, slightly confused.
Yu Zhaoxia said softly, "Dr. Qi came by this morning. He talked with Mom and Dad, and the rest of us, for quite a while."
Yu Zhiming nodded. Suddenly, Yu Xiangwan’s chirpy voice filled his ear.
"Fifth Brother, Dr. Qi asked me to tell you, his niece really does have micturition syncope."
"It was confirmed this morning."
"Also, Dr. Qi and his niece left to catch the high-speed train. He left his contact information and told you to keep in touch."
As she spoke, a much cheerier Yu Xiangwan squatted down beside her father and grabbed his arm.
She rocked it back and forth, whining playfully, "Dearest Daddy, I want to go to Binhai and be a fat little granary mouse, too."
Her father’s face stiffened. "With your half-baked skills, don’t you go and make trouble for Fifth Brother."
"How would I be making trouble?"
Yu Xiangwan retorted, unconvinced, "Dad, at the very least, I can take care of Fifth Brother’s daily life, can’t I?"
"In a new place, so far from home, Fifth Brother will definitely not eat or sleep well all by himself..."
Just then, Lv Fang, a nurse from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, burst into the room, panting.
"Dr. Yu..."
Lv Fang took a huge breath and said urgently, "We have a patient in OB/GYN, over six months pregnant, with umbilical cord torsion. The fetus is in critical condition."
"Director Wang sent me to ask if you, Dr. Yu..."
Before Lv Fang could finish, she saw Yu Zhiming hop off the bed, slip on his shoes, and quickly walk toward the door.
Lv Fang jogged to keep up.
"Dr. Yu, the patient has been sent to the operating room..."
The umbilical cord is shaped like a rope.
It contains one umbilical vein and two umbilical arteries, forming a vital channel between the fetus and the mother for gas exchange, nutrient supply, and waste removal.
Umbilical cord torsion, to put it simply, occurs when a fetus is too restless, constantly turning in one direction inside the womb, causing the cord to twist excessively.
Normally, the umbilical cord twists along its longitudinal axis into a spiral shape. A physiological torsion of six to eleven twists is common.
However, once this limit is exceeded, excessive torsion can severely restrict the cord’s ability to transport blood and oxygen, leading to poor fetal development, organ damage, intellectual disabilities, and more.
In the worst cases, it can cause the section of the cord near the fetal umbilicus to thin and necrotize, leading to intrauterine asphyxiation and death.
The incidence of umbilical cord torsion is quite low.
But when a severe case does occur, with current medical technology, there are no effective treatments other than a Caesarean section or termination of the pregnancy.
But with Yu Zhiming, there was an exception.
Using his supersensitive hearing and echolocation, he could precisely determine the fetus’s position in the womb and, through manual massage, guide the fetus to effectively change its position.
It was this unique skill, which he had used to help several expectant mothers correct malpositioned fetuses, that had earned him the recognition of his colleagues and allowed him to gradually make a name for himself...
Yu Zhiming followed the nurse to Operating Room 3 in the obstetrics surgical area on the second floor of Inpatient Building 1. There, he saw a pregnant woman lying on the operating table, her face pale and covered in a fine sweat, her belly large.
Beside the table, Deputy Director Wang from the OB/GYN department was already fully scrubbed and gowned, prepared for a C-section.
When Deputy Director Wang saw Yu Zhiming enter, she took a step back, clearing the operating area.
"Dr. Yu, the fetus is only twenty-six weeks. It’s up to your miraculous hands now."
Deputy Director Wang then reassured the patient. "Ms. Xu, although Dr. Yu is young, in the field of fetal repositioning, I wouldn’t go so far as to say he’s the best in the country, but he’s definitely among the top."
"I’m not exaggerating. I can guarantee it with my twenty years of medical experience."
"Given your baby’s current situation, if even Dr. Yu can’t handle it, then surgery is the only option left."
The pregnant woman, Ms. Xu, endured her physical and mental distress, looking at Yu Zhiming with a hopeful expression.
"Dr. Yu, my baby is in your hands."
"I will do my best," Yu Zhiming replied softly.
At twenty-six weeks, a fetus is already well-formed, with active limbs, respiratory movements, and the ability to swallow.
However, its organs are still quite immature. If born at this stage, its chances of survival are very low.
Even if the baby did survive, the associated costs would be a crushing burden for an ordinary family...
Yu Zhiming placed his hands on the pregnant woman’s abdomen. The first thing he sensed was the fetus’s weak heartbeat, far below the normal level for this stage.
He gently patted her abdomen a few times and quieted his mind to listen for a moment. Once the three-dimensional image of the fetus and umbilical cord formed clearly in his mind, he had the patient lie on her left side and began to massage her abdomen...
The massage lasted for over an hour. In total, he guided the fetus to rotate thirteen full circles inside the mother’s womb.
’Seriously, what a stubborn little troublemaker,’ he thought. ’So headstrong, it only knows how to spin in one direction!’
Sensing that the fetal heartbeat had grown much stronger, Yu Zhiming left the operating room.
Just because Yu Zhiming had untwisted the umbilical cord didn’t mean the fetus was out of the woods.
The previous torsion might have already caused serious developmental problems.
The patient would need to be hospitalized for some time for further monitoring of the fetus’s growth and development.
As Yu Zhiming left Operating Room 3, he happened to see his third sister, Yu Xinyue, who was working as a surgical nurse, walking out of Operating Room 1 carrying an opaque red plastic bag.
"Someone wanted the placenta!"
Yu Xinyue explained, then pulled Yu Zhiming aside and whispered, "Fifth Brother, I know why Dean Wu agreed to let you leave so easily."
"His son is getting his master’s at Binhai Normal University. He graduates this month and wants to stay in Binhai, but he hasn’t found a job yet."
It suddenly dawned on Yu Zhiming.
’Dean Wu must want to use Dr. Qi’s connections to find a job for his son.’
This put Yu Zhiming’s mind at ease.
’With Dean Wu giving me the green light, I won’t have to worry about anyone trying to trip me up on my way out of the county hospital...’
Yu Zhiming walked out of the surgical area’s restricted doors with his third sister and saw twenty to thirty people in the family waiting area outside.
A woman hurried over and took the plastic bag from Yu Xinyue’s hand.
Yu Zhiming’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to a small boy...