The family members who had been watching the commotion from the stairwell were startled and reflexively reached out to grab!
Xu Huiqing was caught by a quick hand from behind as someone grabbed the collar at the nape of her neck and yanked her back hard.
Facing Xu Huiqing, Zhao Zongbao had his back to the stairs but was struck head-on by her. He felt a piercing pain shoot through his nasal bone, followed by a torrent of blood, snot, and tears flooding from his nose.
He was slammed backward down the stairs, landing with his back against the steps!
He didn’t even have time to reach for the blood gushing from his nose. His hands flailed wildly in the air, trying to grab the railing.
But he was standing too far from the railing—well beyond arm’s length—and couldn’t grasp it.
He instinctively tried to reach for Xu Huiqing, but she had been yanked backward by the bystander who grabbed her.
She fell backward with momentum, caught by the person behind her, and then her body went limp against that person’s support as she fainted.
***
Both male and female family members had come to the hospital to accompany their loved ones.
Seeing Xu Huiqing pass out, they were all shocked and worried she might get cold on the floor.
They supported her upper body, too afraid to let her lie flat on the floor, and shouted loudly toward the Head Nurse station: “Doctor! Doctor! Someone’s fainted!”
Their ward was just a short distance from the stairs, right beside the Head Nurse station.
The nurses saw Xu Huiqing lose consciousness and hurried over to support her, shouting: “Someone, come quickly!”
A young man in the hallway saw the unconscious mother lying on the ground and didn’t hesitate over gender boundaries.
He rushed forward and lifted Xu Huiqing up.
The nurses quickly led him to an empty bed in the ward that had just been cleaned and prepared.
“Here! Put her here!”
As they laid Xu Huiqing down on the bed, a loud wail rang out from outside.
Zhao Zongbao’s mother screamed in grief: “My son~”
Her cry was so piercing and desperate that it startled the family members and mothers in the ward.
Some babies were frightened and began to wail loudly.
Everyone able to move rushed to the ward door to see what was happening.
The nurses were just as shocked, fearing someone might have died.
From the Head Nurse station’s vantage point, they could only see Xu Huiqing fainting but not the moment she knocked Zhao Zongbao down the stairs.
One nurse stayed behind to look after Xu Huiqing, while another rushed out to see what had happened.
On the floor lay a pool of blood.
Zhao Zongbao’s nose kept pouring blood.
His mother struggled to lift his neck; because his nose was blocked, the blood was flowing out of his mouth, making it look as if he was vomiting a lot of blood.
Zhao mother was so shocked she almost lost her mind.
She reflexively cried out in a rural mourning wail: “My so~n~~”
This kind of wail was common at rural funerals when female family members, unable to cry naturally from grief, would force out such theatrical cries.
Zhao mother looked so pitiful that anyone who saw her couldn’t help but feel sympathy.
She nodded frantically while her hands and even the baby’s swaddling cloth were smeared with Zhao Zongbao’s bloody nose.
It wasn’t just his nose—his arms and legs were also covered in scrapes and bruises.
***
The doctors who arrived were shocked by the pool of blood.
They quickly examined Zhao Zongbao and found his nasal bone was fractured.
Reassuring the nearly fainting Zhao mother, one doctor said, “It’s just a nosebleed, nothing serious. Grandma, please don’t panic. Take care of the baby first, then step aside so you’re not in the way.”
They didn’t dare lift him up themselves, worried about possible spinal injury.
They had to bring a stretcher.
Zhao mother was completely distraught, nodding vaguely without really hearing the doctors.
They gently moved her aside.
Only when several doctors and nurses came to carry Zhao Zongbao away did she snap back to her senses and chased after them, trembling and crying, “Son! Son! My Zongbao!”
Her voice was no longer the exaggerated wail but a soft, instinctive whisper from deep in her throat.
To Zhao mother, Zhao Zongbao was her precious life, her very eye.
Seeing him injured, it felt like the sky was falling.
Only after he was taken into the Emergency Room, with her locked outside, did she collapse weakly at the ER door.
Suddenly, she pressed a hand against the door and let out a heart-wrenching scream as if Zhao Zongbao were already dead: “My God Why don’t you just strike that bitch down with lightning! Why did you let my Zongbao be pushed! If anything happens to him, I won’t live either!”
The doctors inside, still trying to stop Zhao Zongbao’s nosebleed, heard such a piercing cry.
If it weren’t for the patient lying on the stretcher, they would have thought he had died.
They exchanged a tired glance.
The attending physician helplessly said to a nurse, “Go outside and get her away. How are we supposed to work with all that noise?”
The hospital’s emergency conditions were basic, and soundproofing was minimal, so Zhao mother’s wailing was clear even inside.
Zhao Zongbao’s injuries were mainly two serious ones.
First, when he fell, he supported himself with his elbow on the stair edge, fracturing the bone.
Second, as he tumbled down, his head hit the wall, causing a head wound.
They didn’t know if he had a concussion yet—it still needed examination.
Also, he fell backward from the stairs, so they were unsure if his spine was injured.
If the spine was affected, that would be serious trouble.
Soon, a doctor from the Orthopedics Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the neighboring building was called over.
He entered the Emergency Room and asked, “What happened? Isn’t this the Obstetrics Department? Why is a trauma patient being sent here?”
The man was in his forties, speaking and acting with a calm, composed, and deliberate demeanor.
As he spoke, his hands were already busy preparing.
The doctor treating Zhao Zongbao’s nosebleed said, “He fell down the stairs. His arm is broken, but we don’t know if his spine was injured. His leg also seems badly hurt. He’ll need to be transferred to your Orthopedics Department soon.”
Because of the severe head impact on the concrete wall, Zhao Zongbao had fainted temporarily.
The middle-aged doctor noticed Zhao Zongbao’s arm bent at a sharp 120-degree angle.
“How did his arm get bent like this?”
Zhao Zongbao had spent every night these past few days dancing disco in the club, skating at the rink during the day.
He was flashy and loved to show off.
He wasn’t skilled at skating but that didn’t stop him from flaunting his style.
He’d fallen countless times at the rink.
Young and strong, his recovery was fast.
He didn’t care about falls and always got up to skate again.
He’d fractured his arm before but paid it no mind.
Two doctors and a nurse cleaned and bandaged his wounds simply in the Emergency Room, then pushed the door open and had a nurse wheel him over to the neighboring building.
After all, this building was Obstetrics.
The General Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Orthopedics Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine were in the adjacent building.
As Zhao Zongbao was wheeled out, Zhao mother hurried to his side, anxiously murmuring, “Son! My son! Doctor, how is my Zongbao? He can’t be seriously hurt! If anything happens to him, I won’t live!”
Tears flowed down her face again, so pitiful.
The middle-aged doctor followed the stretcher to the other building.
A nurse tried to comfort Zhao mother, “Grandma, don’t worry. That doctor just now is our surgery expert. It’s only some injuries from a fall, nothing too serious.
If you can’t take care of him alone, call some family members to come over.
Do you have a phone at home?”
In this day and age, private landlines were still rare.
The poor old woman nodded: “Yes! We have a phone!”
“Come with me and I’ll help you call home.”
The nurse led her to the service desk.
There was a landline at the Head Nurse station, but Shuibu Town and the neighboring city were in different areas.
You had to dial the area code first.
Zhao mother was illiterate, so she didn’t understand area codes.
Her first call didn’t go through.
A bystander, recognizing her accent wasn’t from the city, asked, “Where are you from?”
Zhao mother wiped tears and snot from her face in panic. “Shuibu Town.”
“Shuibu Town belongs to Wucheng, right? I know the Wucheng area code!”
The kind stranger added the Wucheng area code before the number, and the call connected.
The Zhao family was one of the earliest in Shuibu Town to have a phone.
When Zhao Laotou heard his son had fallen down the stairs, he was shocked.
“Is he okay?”
The nurse put the call on speakerphone.
“He’s okay, but you need to send someone else to help care for him.
Also, your daughter-in-law is unconscious.
You should let your mother-in-law know and see if she can send someone from her family to help as well.”
Zhao Laotou had only one son, Zhao Zongbao, born after he turned forty.
Hearing about his injury, he was anxious but nodded quickly.
At that moment, he had no thoughts about the mother-in-law and hurried to call his five daughters.
The Zhao family always called on his five daughters and their husbands for help whenever something happened, big or small.
The eldest son-in-law never came no matter how many times he was called.
The second son-in-law lived deep in the mountains and couldn’t be reached by phone.
The third daughter lived in Wugongshan Township.
Calling the village office there, the message was delivered.
When Zhao Pan Di, the third daughter, heard her brother was injured, she was shocked and hurriedly asked, “What happened? How did he get hurt?”
Just moments ago, Zhao Laotou was still meek before the nurses.
Now he suddenly roared at his third daughter like a fierce tiger descending the mountain: “I told you to come, so come! Why so many useless questions? What good does asking how he got hurt do? Can you treat him or what?”
Zhao Pan Di’s eyes reddened from the scolding.
She pretended nothing had happened and hung up the phone.
Her maternal family never showed her any respect in front of her in-laws.
They would call and scold her whenever they pleased.
If her maternal family didn’t treat her like a person, her in-laws treated her even worse.