Chapter 401: Cannot Be Frightened
Bai Ruolan’s eyes slowly opened, dumbly staring ahead. The youthful sparkle that should have been in her eyes was gone, replaced by the murkiness akin to an ageing person on the verge of death.
What frightened Bai Ruozhu and Doctor Li wasn’t just that, but her mouth was bearing to one side, saliva slowly dripping out!
"How could this happen? It’s not a stroke, why has her mouth twisted?" Doctor Li was taken aback. In his medical practice, he hadn’t encountered many suicide cases, and even fewer like Bai Ruolan’s – who’ve been saved from hanging.
"It’s because she was choked for too long while hanging, causing injury to the brain." Bai Ruozhu pointed to her own head and said, "The human brain is very intricate. If there’s a problem here, it’s quite difficult to treat."
She herself was incapable of such treatment. Even though she had received her grandfather’s teachings in the previous life, she wasn’t a divine doctor with extraordinary skills like Huan Tuo and Bian Que.
"You mean she... she’s brain damaged?" Doctor Li reached out and waved his hand in front of Bai Ruolan’s face, noticing her empty dazed expression, with almost no reaction.
Bai Ruozhu sighed and said, "Perhaps over time, she might gradually recover a bit, but in the short term, the chance of her returning to her original state is meager." She flipped Bai Ruolan’s eyelid, but Ruolan didn’t resist, nor did her expression change the slightest.
"Her eyes have been affected too." Bai Ruozhu sighed again. She was just a seventeen-year-old girl... why was she so desperate? But considering. If she transmigrated into Bai Ruolan’s body instead of her own and inherited such a father, mother, and brother, I suppose she would have gone mad too?
Bai Ruozhu rejoiced once again that heaven had given her a loving family, with thoughtful parents and two brothers who loved her dearly.
When people outside heard noises and understood that Bai Ruolan was conscious, they came in to see her, only to be startled by her state.
"What happened to Ruolan?" Lin Ping’er hurriedly asked after seeing her daughter’s state.
"She was without oxygen for too long and suffered brain damage." Bai Ruozhu shook her head.
Lin Ping’er’s eyes turned red. Despite not liking Bai Yibo and his wife, Bai Ruolan was, after all, the girl she had raised. Even though her personality wasn’t likable, she hadn’t done anything unforgivable.
The Old Lady charged in crying and yelled, "How could this happen? Shouldn’t she be fine once she’s been rescued? Are you sure you didn’t mess up the treatment?" She was glaring at Bai Ruozhu while she was saying this. Her red, swollen eyes were glaringly wide open, looking intimidating.
Before Bai Ruozhu had a chance to respond, Doctor Li couldn’t help but say, "I was watching the whole time, how could we mess up the treatment? If you had found her hanging and got her down sooner, she wouldn’t be in such a bad state! And now you’re blaming others?"
"Ah..." Bai Ruolan, who was lying in bed drooling, suddenly screamed, then sprang up from the bed. She hugged her head and shrank to a corner of the bed, shouting in fright.
She kept yelling ’ah ah ah’, mumbling unclearly, "Don’t come over, go away, go away!"
Bai Ruozhu quickly glared at the old lady and said, "Everyone leave, she can’t be frightened now, otherwise it will get worse!"
Bai Yihong quickly pulled the old lady out, and the rest of the people also left the room out fear, leaving Doctor Li, Bai Ruozhu, and Lin Ping’er.
Bai Ruozhu gently walked over and cooed, "Ruolan, it’s me. We used to play together a lot. Don’t be scared, I’ll stay with you, okay?"
Her voice was exceptionally soothing, like that used to coax a child. There was a time when they were both babies, didn’t they play a lot together? But once they grew up, they ended up like enemies.
Bai Ruolan’s piercing cries gradually stopped, but she was still crouched in fear in the corner of the bed, refusing to look at anyone as if she was a frightened little rabbit, looking utterly pitiful.
Bai Ruozhu gently sat on the bed and wrapped her arms around Bai Ruolan, patting her back gently like she was comforting a child, saying, "Don’t be afraid. Close your eyes and sleep it off. It will be okay."
Bai Ruolan was shivering, but under Bai Ruozhu’s comforting, she slowly calmed down. Soon, she fell asleep nestled in Bai Ruozhu’s arms.
Upon receiving Bai Ruozhu’s signal, Lin Ping’er quickly came over to help. They carefully adjusted Bai Ruolan’s position and laid her back on the bed to sleep. As Bai Ruozhu was climbing down from the bed, she realized that her dress was grabbed by Bai Ruolan.
She twitched it, but Bai Ruolan had held on so tightly as if grasping at a lifeline, that it stirred compassion in Bai Ruozhu. When Ruolan had sought help from her, she probably held onto a last shred of hope.
In the end, Bai Ruozhu needed a great deal of effort to extract her dress from Bai Ruolan’s grip. She and her mother couldn’t help their tears.
Doctor Li also sighed, whispering, "Should I prescribe something to calm the nerves? Or would you rather prescribe it?"
Bai Ruozhu quickly replied, "You’re too kind. I only mastered a few needle techniques. I am certainly not as proficient as you, an experienced doctor, in prescribing medicine."
With Bai Ruolan in such a state, all she could resort to was a standard calming prescription. Doctor Li would surely be able to handle it, and she needed to give him some face as well.
Doctor Li didn’t stand on ceremony any longer. He left the room, went to write a prescription in the main hall of the old mansion, and handed it to the Old Lady, "Take this prescription for a calming medicine first, we’ll adjust the treatment according to her condition later."
The Old Lady was about to cry again. Lin Ping’er and Bai Ruozhu walked over. Lin Ping’er lowered her voice and glared at her, "Mother, calm down. Ruolan can’t be startled now. Whether you’re talking too loudly or crying loudly, it will scare her."
Finally, the Old Lady’s voice lowered, perhaps due to the shock from Bai Ruolan’s outburst earlier, but she rolled her eyes and retorted, "It happened because you didn’t treat her properly. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have ended up like this."
Doctor Li raised his hand as if to slam his hand on the table, but considering the patient’s condition, he restrained himself. Instead, he pointed at the Old Lady and said, "Bai, watch your mouth. Are you implying I botched the treatment? Fine, the next time anyone in your family falls ill, don’t come looking for me, I can’t afford you! Also, pay me the consultation fee!"
The Old Lady’s face turned pale and then flushed as Doctor Li scolded her. She opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn’t dare to say anything more. The most renowned doctor in the nearby villages was Doctor Li. She was genuinely afraid that she’d have no one to turn to the next time she fell ill.
Of course, she still refused to believe that Bai Ruozhu was proficient at medicine and completely disregarded Doctor Li’s compliment towards Bai Ruozhu’s medical skills.
The Old Lady took her time to get the money, glancing over at Bai Yihong now and then. Everyone noticed her intentions, and Bai Zehao could bear it no longer and blurted out, "Grandma, hurry up, the doctor needs to go home for dinner."
"What’s the rush? At my age, I can’t move quickly. Isn’t it too much you’re even finding faults with me now?" The Old Lady muttered under her breath as she finally counted out thirty copper coins and handed them to Doctor Li.