Chapter 190: Sheng Wanze Was Shot and Pan Yue Fainted
But now she was being told he was unconscious. Sheng Wanze, you big liar!
“Sister-in-law, calm down,” Sheng Wanyan urged gently. “Let’s get to the hospital first.”
Pan Yue took a deep, trembling breath. The babies in her belly seemed to sense her distress, kicking against her from the inside. She gently stroked her stomach. She was a mother now; she couldn’t allow herself to break down.
“You’re right. Let’s go to the hospital right now.”
Captain Fang had already arranged a car for them. Grandma Sheng rushed back out of the house, clutching a small bundle with a change of clothes and toiletries for her grandson.
Sheng Wanyan quickly locked up both courtyards, and the family scrambled into the vehicle, speeding toward the hospital.
The moment they arrived, Pan Yue navigated the corridors of the third floor with practiced familiarity. As the head nurse, her mother, Nurse Pan, had been notified the moment Sheng Wanze was brought in and was already inside the operating room assisting the surgeons.
As soon as Sheng Wanyan rounded the corner, she spotted Gu Tingxiao sitting on a bench outside the operating doors. He had a thick bandage wrapped around his neck, and one of his arms was heavily bound and immobilized.
Hearing the rush of footsteps, Gu Tingxiao looked up. His eyes instantly locked onto the woman he had been desperately longing to see.
“Tingxiao!”
“Wanyan…”
Gu Tingxiao stood up hurriedly, his eyes full of nervous anxiety. He was terrified that his battered appearance would frighten her.
“You…” Sheng Wanyan rushed to his side, her hands gripping his shoulders. The moment her eyes fell upon his bandaged arm, they welled with tears. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, really,” Gu Tingxiao said softly, using his uninjured hand to gently wipe the tears from her face. “They’re just minor injuries… Don’t cry.”
Sheng Wanyan swat his hand away in mock annoyance. “I’m not crying.”
Gu Tingxiao caught a lingering tear from the corner of her eye, rubbing it between his fingers. He nodded solemnly, keeping a perfectly straight face. “Right. My wife isn’t crying.”
Sheng Wanyan was left utterly speechless.
“Xiao Gu, how is Wanze?” Grandma Sheng asked, her heart aching at the sight of him. Gu Tingxiao looked exhausted—his arm was injured, dark circles shadowed his eyes, and a rough layer of stubble covered his chin. His uniform was caked in dried mud, making it obvious he hadn’t rested or washed in days.
“Grandma, Brother is still in surgery,” Gu Tingxiao explained quickly. “The bullet struck near his chest, but it missed his heart. It’s slightly above it, so it’s not as dire as we initially feared. Aunt Pan is inside with him right now.”
Hearing this, Pan Yue felt the suffocating tension leave her body all at once, and she sank heavily onto the bench. As long as his heart was intact, he would survive.
Gu Tingxiao chose to keep the rest of the details to himself, as the specifics of the mission were confidential. In truth, the bullet had been aimed directly at Sheng Wanze’s heart. By a stroke of absolute luck, Wanze had bent down to retrieve something at that exact second, causing the bullet to graze higher. Otherwise, it was highly unlikely he would have made it back alive at all.
“Thank goodness… thank goodness he’s lucky,” Pan Yue muttered to herself over and over, trying to anchor her fluttering heart.
Sheng Wanyan looked at the closed doors of the operating room and rubbed her temples, trying to soothe her own throbbing headache. She sat down to keep Pan Yue and her grandparents company. Beside her, Pan Yue kept her fists clenched tight, her eyes locked onto the operating room doors.
Three hours later, the surgical lights finally clicked off, and the doors swung open. Pan Yue was the first to spring forward.
“Mom… how is he?”
Nurse Pan pulled down her surgical mask, her face tightening with maternal concern when she saw her daughter. Pan Yue was heavily pregnant, yet her face was utterly bloodless. If she collapsed, the consequences for the babies would be catastrophic.
“The surgery was a complete success!” Nurse Pan announced.
A collective sigh of relief echoed through the hallway. Grandma Sheng gripped her husband’s hand tightly, tears of relief in her eyes. “He’s alright… he’s going to be alright.”
“Yes, he’s safe,” Grandpa Sheng affirmed, his voice thick with emotion.
Hearing her mother’s reassurance, a radiant smile broke across Pan Yue’s face. But before anyone could celebrate, her eyes rolled back, and her body went completely limp.
“Sister-in-law!”
“Xiaoyue!”
“Quick! Get her onto a seat!”
The hallway erupted into chaos. One patient had just come out of surgery, and now his pregnant wife had collapsed right outside. The family was in absolute disarray.
The attending nurses rushed over to help support Pan Yue, lowering her onto a bench while Nurse Pan knelt down to check her vitals.
“Dear, how is she?” Grandma Sheng asked, trembling.
Nurse Pan completed a quick assessment. Pan Yue had been sick with worry, her nerves stretched to a breaking point for hours. For a pregnant woman, carrying that level of intense anxiety and then suddenly relaxing was a massive shock to the system.
“It’s just severe hypoglycemia. She needs an intravenous glucose drip.”
Nurse Pan barked orders to a nearby nurse to fetch the IV kit. A few nurses carefully lifted Pan Yue onto a gurney, wheeling her into a room and starting the drip.
“She’s fine. She’ll wake up in about an hour,” Nurse Pan reassured the family. “Let’s put them both in the same ward.”
Because Sheng Wanze had been wounded in the line of duty, he was entitled to a private room in the military hospital. Since they were husband and wife, keeping them together wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
“When will Wanze wake up?” Grandma Sheng asked.
“Probably by tomorrow morning, once the anesthesia completely wears off.”
Grandma Sheng nodded in relief. Nurse Pan happened to be on the night shift this week, meaning she could keep a close eye on Sheng Wanze throughout the night.
“Grandpa, Grandma, you should head back with Tingxiao first,” Sheng Wanyan suggested. She planned to stay and watch over Pan Yue until she woke up, and she needed to get Gu Tingxiao home to properly examine and treat his injuries.
“No, how can we leave you here by yourself?” Grandma Sheng protested.
“Grandma, you need to go home and cook some nourishing food to bring back. Sister-in-law can’t go without a proper meal when she wakes up.”
Realizing she could be useful, Grandma Sheng relented. They were too old to pull an all-nighter in a hospital corridor anyway; cooking was the best way they could help. “Alright, alright. I’ll go back and prepare some food right away. You keep a close eye on things here.”
Gu Tingxiao looked at Wanyan, clearly reluctant to leave her side.
“I’ll be fine. Go back and make sure Grandpa and Grandma get home safely,” Wanyan told him.
Gu Tingxiao nodded reluctantly, guiding the two elderly grandparents out of the hospital.
Turning back to her aunt, Sheng Wanyan said, “Aunt Pan, thank you for everything.”
Nurse Pan shook her head with a weary smile. “There’s no need to thank me. They’re my daughter and son-in-law.” But her eyes strayed down the hall. The hospital was currently flooded with wounded soldiers who had risked their lives for the country, and as the head nurse, she couldn’t afford to neglect her duties for personal reasons.
“We’re family, Yan’er. If anything, I’m the one who has to trouble you to look after Xiaoyue,” Nurse Pan said softly, checking her watch. Her own daughter was unconscious in a hospital bed, but she still had an entire ward of patients depending on her. “I have to get back to the floor. I’ll check on them again soon.”
Sheng Wanyan nodded understandingly, watching her aunt walk away. A head nurse in a military hospital bore an immense burden; they had to be well-versed in almost every medical discipline. When casualties arrived, the head nurse was responsible for triaging the patients, identifying their ailments, and directing them to the correct departments to maximize efficiency.
Nurse Pan had started from the bottom and dedicated her entire life to saving others. She was a woman who commanded deep respect from everyone who knew her.
Sheng Wanyan walked into the quiet ward and watched over the sleeping couple. True to her mother’s word, Pan Yue stirred and woke up an hour later.
Having slept off the worst of her panic, Pan Yue looked much calmer. She knew that for the sake of her husband and her babies, she had to stay strong and take care of herself.
Sheng Wanyan poured a cup of warm water and brought it to the bedside. “Sister-in-law, have some water.”
