“When I went out earlier this afternoon, Mum told me to be careful…
“It’s just been a few measly hours since then, why is she lying here in the hospital’s emergency room, hovering between life and death?”
One of the nurses had to restrain Bai Ran from bolting into the room. A doctor walked over to begin explaining her mother’s condition to her.
“Are you a family member of this patient?” the doctor asked. He gave Bai Ran one quick glance and began browsing through the medical records of the file he was holding.
“Yes, I’m her daughter! What’s my mother’s condition now?” Bai Ran immediately replied when the doctor, who was dressed in white robes, addressed her.
The doctor seemed fairly young and he appeared to be in his thirties. His features were delicate and refined and he wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses. At one glance, one might assume that he was a professor.
However, Bai Ran paid no heed to the doctor’s appearance. That did not matter to her right now. She was only concerned about her mother’s condition.
When the doctor heard Bai Ran’s desperate question and saw her pleading expression, he became certain of her identity and began to explain the patient’s condition to her calmly.
“Your mother has high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. According to the police and the person who reported the case, she was alone at home. Apparently, she was switching on the light when the incident happened. A gas stove exploded. We’re already trying our best to save her but the surgery she requires is very risky, so we need the signature of her next of kin. You should…
“…take some time to think through this carefully.”
“I’ll sign!” Bai Ran blurted out immediately, surprising the doctor. “There’s no way I’m going to let Mum die if I can help it!”
“Alright, I understand. Please sign the consent forms and pay the surgery fees first,” the doctor said with a practiced voice as if it was something he recited often. He pointed at the nurse and gestured for her to lead Bai Ran over to the counter to pay the bill.
The nurse nodded her head and led Bai Ran over to the payment area. “Come here and settle the payment first. The doctor can only proceed with the surgery after you’ve acknowledged the risks and signed your name.”
“How much is it? Can’t you just perform the surgery first? What if my mother dies in the meantime?” Bai Ran was stunned to hear this. She had no money with her right now. She was still studying and although she worked part-time while she studied, those menial jobs didn’t pay much. There’s no way she would be able to pay the full cost of a whole surgical procedure right now.
“This surgery costs roughly eighty thousand dollars. Besides this procedure, there are also the treatment and consultation fees. If she has to stay in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), it will cost more. But for now, you can just pay the fees for the surgery first.” the nurse explained all this while she led Bai Ran downstairs to the payment area. She spoke firmly, without giving her the chance to say anything.
Bai Ran had seen these situations on the news many times before, how patients died because, at the most critical moment, they did not have money to pay for the surgery that would save their lives…
She used to think that that sort of situation was far removed from her, that it only happened to people on the news. Humans are ultimately kind deep down inside, she thought, and it was unlikely that anyone, let alone doctors, would leave others in the lurch.
But now that these things were happening to Bai Ran before her very eyes, she was jolted by the sudden reality of her circumstance.
“So, everything I’ve heard on the news happens here too…
“How can I possibly find eighty thousand dollars right now?
“All these years, Mum’s condition oscillated between good and bad, so we’ve spent most of our money, a hefty sum of it, on her medical bills.”
When Jiang Yuanshan was still alive, he would occasionally give Bai Ran and her mother a pathetically miserable amount of money as part of their living expenses. Jiang Yuanshan had intended for that money to pay for Bai Ran’s tuition fees and her living expenses.
But Bai Ran did not use the money for her tuition. Every cent of it was used to pay for the many treatments and medication her mother needed.
After Jiang Yuanshan passed away, the Jiang siblings naturally stopped providing Bai Ran with any form of support. So, the situation turned out this way on this miserable evening, where Bai Ran counted all of the money that she had, but the total sum of everything she owned only amounted to five thousand dollars—which was barely enough to pay for just the surgery required.
“If I don’t find the money tonight, they won’t do the surgery for Mum.
“If they don’t do the surgery for Mum, then she might really die this time…”
The more Bai Ran thought about it, the more trapped she felt, as though she was backed onto the very edge of a cliff and about to fall over. “I have to find a way to save Mum!”