"Doctor Du, over here!"

From a distance, Cao Binghe spotted Du Heng pulling his suitcase. A sense of urgency filled his heart, so he raised his hand and waved it vigorously, not caring about his appearance as he yelled out loud.

"Is that Du Heng, Doctor Du?" Director Lan, who had come with him, also saw the man in the crowd who was waving and smiling back at Cao Binghe.

Young, too young.

After Cao Binghe saw Du Heng wave back, he quickly lowered his hand and said, "Yes, that’s the young man with the silver suitcase."

Director Lan took a deep breath, his expression becoming serious, and then walked towards the exit. "Let’s go."

The three of them met, and Cao Binghe made the introductions.

However, Du Heng wasn’t in the mood for small talk and directly asked Cao Binghe, "Doctor Cao, what exactly happened to Professor Lan?"

It was Director Lan’s car, so he was driving, while Cao Binghe sat in the front passenger seat.

Hearing Du Heng’s question, Cao Binghe turned his body to face Du Heng. "To explain this matter in detail, we have to start from our trip to Jinzhou."

"That’s fine, the more detailed, the better," Du Heng said solemnly.

Although he had not yet met Lan Changhua in person, Du Heng knew who Lan Changhua was. The man could access medical care of the absolute highest caliber. But now, Lan Changhua had personally called him from thousands of miles away. Du Heng knew, even without Cao Binghe’s detailed explanation, that all possible methods in the Capital region must have been exhausted without success; only then would they have turned to him. So, it was now certain that Lan Changhua’s problem was severe and very difficult to handle. Otherwise, given Lan Changhua’s status, he would never have been called upon for treatment. And now that they had called him, it was like trying to bring a dead horse back to life—a last resort.

"After we returned from Jinzhou, the Teacher started having diarrhea," Cao Binghe said with a frown, speaking softly but quickly. "At that time, the Teacher prescribed some medication for himself. For the first two days, it had some effect, and the diarrhea lessened slightly. However, on the third day, his condition suddenly worsened, and it became somewhat unmanageable."

"Diarrhea?" Du Heng frowned directly. "Didn’t you say it was high intestinal obstruction?"

Cao Binghe shook his head gently. "There’s more; let me finish."

Cao Binghe paused briefly and then continued, "Later, when the situation became too serious, Director Wu and I took the Teacher to our hospital’s Department of Digestive Medicine. At that time, a check-up diagnosed it as viral gastroenteritis, so Director Qian administered the appropriate medication."

Du Heng was a bit confused now.

However, judging from Cao Binghe’s tone, he probably hadn’t finished speaking. So this time, Du Heng did not rush to speak but waited for Cao Binghe to continue.

Sure enough, Cao Binghe paused for breath briefly before speaking again, "After a week of treatment, the Teacher’s diarrhea was brought under control. Just over another week passed like that, and then we noticed something was wrong again. This time it wasn’t diarrhea; his bowel movements were infrequent, only once every five days, accompanied by bloating and abdominal pain. So, we took the Teacher back to the Department of Digestive Medicine. A check-up revealed high intestinal obstruction."

"Are there any signs of cancer or other lesions?"

"No, it’s just a simple intestinal torsion, but the cause hasn’t been found."

Du Heng’s fingers, resting on his knee, tapped rapidly.

Intestinal obstruction can be caused by blockages from intestinal tumors, post-operative intestinal adhesions, torsion of the intestines, or thrombotic lesions of the mesenteric blood vessels. The main causes of intestinal torsion are constipation and strenuous activity after meals, or engaging in heavy physical work. However, these three conditions didn’t apply to Lan Changhua. He had diarrhea, so how could he be constipated? Besides, he’s over seventy; he wouldn’t be doing any heavy physical work, let alone strenuous exercise.

"Do the medications have no effect at all?"

Cao Binghe shook his head. "So far, Western medicine has tried methods like decompression, regulating acid-base balance, and manual reduction, but none have been effective. Traditional Chinese medicine currently has two diagnoses: one is excessive Yangming fire, causing the intestines to be too dry and unlubricated; the other is qi deficiency, leading to weak intestinal transportation and intestinal spasms due to diarrhea, resulting in the torsion. Unfortunately, the medicines prescribed based on these two lines of thought haven’t achieved the desired results."

Du Heng felt a heaviness in his heart; he was increasingly feeling that he might not be able to handle this.

"Then what about surgery? Why hasn’t it been performed after all this time?"

"The Teacher is currently having difficulty breathing and has a slow heartbeat. Plus, the recent severe diarrhea has left him extremely weak, so he doesn’t meet the conditions for surgery. If they force the surgery, he probably wouldn’t be able to withstand it; the risk is too high."

Du Heng fell silent, turning his gaze to the car window.

This was not Du Heng’s first time seeing the Capital at night. But every time he saw it, he had a distinct feeling. Excitement and a sense of groundedness, both were present.

However, the traffic congestion on certain road sections was as bad as, if not worse than, Jinzhou’s.

In Jinzhou, traffic jams were primarily due to high traffic volume during morning and evening rush hours. Secondly, the city’s geography played a role: it’s a long, narrow area with a river flowing between two mountains; two-lane roads (one in each direction) were the standard layout, and three-lane roads were virtually nonexistent.

But the traffic jams here in the Capital, Du Heng felt, were simply because there were too many cars.

They had left the airport a little past six o’clock, but it was now almost nine, and they were still some distance from the hospital.