socalfunplaces Chapter 4 Undercurrents
Chapter 4 Undercurrents
Shen Qiushui drew the curtains and leaned against the cold wall.
My heart is beating a little fast.
She saw it all clearly. Li Ranmo's movements were clean and efficient, far beyond the skills of an ordinary doctor. And then there were the three bottles of sulfathiazole he brought back.
Wang Qingnian.
The name went through her mind.
That slick-haired, powder-faced Section Chief Wang from the Department of Health really has a long reach.
Footsteps came from outside the door, very light, and stopped at her door.
Shen Qiushui held her breath.
"Nurse Shen, are you asleep?" It was Li Ranmo's voice.
Shen Qiushui waited for two seconds before going to open the door.
Li Ranmo stood outside the door, holding the three bottles of medicine in his hand.
"This," he said, handing over the medicine, "I found it downstairs just now."
Shen Qiushui took the medicine and looked at the label.
"Sulfathiazole," she said. "Now on the black market, one bottle can be exchanged for two gold bars."
"It's that valuable?" Li Ranmo pushed up his glasses.
"We're short of medicine," Shen Qiushui said, looking at him. "The more scarce it is, the more valuable it becomes."
She put the medicine away and turned to put it back in the cabinet.
"Dr. Li."
"Um?"
"You were downstairs just now," Shen Qiushui turned around and leaned against the cabinet, "quite quick."
Li Ran smiled silently.
"When I was in the UK, the area around hospitals was not safe, so I learned a few self-defense techniques."
"Self-defense?" Shen Qiushui laughed. "Those moves you made don't look like self-defense."
Neither of them spoke again.
The lights in the corridor flickered on and off.
"Oh, right," Shen Qiushui suddenly said, "a batch of imported penicillin will arrive at the hospital in a few days."
Li Ranmo raised his eyes.
"How many?"
"Twenty boxes," Shen Qiushui said. "They were transported from Shanghai by sea. Vice President Chen personally approved the order, saying they should be given priority to the front lines."
Li Ranmo nodded.
"Good thing."
"Yes," Shen Qiushui said, "I just don't know if it's safe on the road."
"What do you mean?"
"The world these days," Shen Qiushui walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain to look outside, "is not peaceful on the river. Gangs, river pirates, and..." She paused, "...the Japanese."
Li Ranmo did not respond.
"If this batch of medicine can arrive smoothly," Shen Qiushui said, drawing the curtains, "it can save at least several hundred wounded soldiers."
"Um."
"Dr. Li," Shen Qiushui turned around, "Do you think this medicine will arrive smoothly?"
Li Ranmo pushed up his glasses.
"It will arrive when it's meant to."
After he finished speaking, he turned and left.
Shen Qiushui watched his figure disappear at the top of the stairs before closing the door.
She took a small notebook from the cabinet, opened it, and wrote in it:
"Li Ranmo's skills appear to be trained. He showed little reaction to the news about sulfathiazole, but his eyes changed. He needs further observation."
After finishing writing, she closed the notebook and tucked it back into the bottom of the cabinet.
The next morning, more wounded soldiers were brought in.
This was an open abdominal wound; shrapnel was still inside, and a section of intestine was protruding. The stretcher was soaked with blood.
"Operating Room Number Three!" Shen Qiushui shouted.
Several caregivers carried the person inside.
Li Ranmo had already put on gloves and was standing by the operating table.
Chen Qitai was also there. He glanced at the wounded soldier's stomach and frowned.
"Visceral rupture, internal bleeding," he said. "Nurse Shen, prepare for a blood transfusion."
"The blood bank is out of blood," Shen Qiushui said. "It ran out yesterday."
Chen Qitai cursed something.
"Just sew it on," Li Ranmo said.
Chen Qitai looked at him.
"What?"
"First, stop the bleeding, clean the abdominal cavity, push the intestines back in, and then suture it," Li Ranmo said calmly. "Without blood transfusions, we can only race against time."
"Are you sure you can do it?" Chen Qitai asked.
"Give it a try."
Before Chen Qitai could speak, Li Ranmo had already picked up the scalpel.
The blade sliced through.
Blood gushed out.
Li Ranmo's hands were very steady. He quickly cleared away the shrapnel fragments, pressed gauze against the bleeding points, and then examined the protruding intestines section by section before stuffing them back into the abdominal cavity.
Shen Qiushui handed over the equipment from the side.
She stared at Li Ranmo's hand.
The hands moved so fast. Cleaning, stopping the bleeding, suturing. The spacing between each stitch was almost identical, and the thread was pulled flat and tight. She had only seen this kind of suturing once before, with a surgical professor from Germany.
But while the professor could stitch one stitch, Li Ranmo could stitch three.
"Tweezers," Li Ranmo said.
Shen Qiushui handed over the tweezers.
Li Ranmo picked up a piece of bone and threw it into the tray.
"Is there anything else?" he asked.
Shen Qiushui leaned closer to take a look.
"There's another one in the lower right abdomen."
Li Ranmo reached in, fumbled around for a bit, and then pulled his hand out.
"alright."
He began suturing the peritoneum.
The stitches are so fine they look like they were machine-sewn.
Chen Qitai stood to the side, without saying a word.
After finishing the last stitch, Li Ranmo cut the thread and looked up at the clock on the wall.
"Twenty-seven minutes," he said.
The injured person's heart was still beating, though weakly, but it had stabilized.
"Take her away for observation," Chen Qitai said to the caregiver.
The person was pushed away.
Only the three of them remained in the operating room.
Chen Qitai walked to the sink to wash his hands.
"Dr. Li."
"Um?"
"Your sewing technique," Chen Qitai said, "who taught you?"
"Britain." Li Ranmo took off his gloves. "The Royal London Hospital, Professor Harrison."
"Professor Harrison," Chen Qitai repeated, "I've heard of him. An authority on battlefield surgery."
"Yes."
"But he died last year." Chen Qitai turned around and looked at Li Ranmo. "He died in Madrid."
Li Ranmo paused for a moment.
"Really?" he said. "I don't know."
"You didn't know?" Chen Qitai walked over. "Aren't you his student?"
"I only studied with him for three months," Li Ranmo said. "Then I went to Spain."
Chen Qitai stared at him for a few seconds.
"Go wash up," he said. "You're covered in blood."
Li Ran nodded and walked out.
Shen Qiushui began packing up the equipment.
"Nurse Shen," Chen Qitai called to her.
"exist."
"Dr. Li's file," Chen Qitai said. "Have you seen it?"
"no."
"I checked," Chen Qitai said in a low voice, "His timeline in England doesn't match up."
"What do you mean?"
"The file says he was in London for three to five years," Chen Qitai said. "But I asked around and found out that there was no Chinese student named Li Ranmo at the Royal London Hospital during those two years."
The tweezers in Shen Qiushui's hand fell into the tray with a clatter.
"Then he is...?"
"I don't know," Chen Qitai said. "That's why I need to investigate."
He walked to the door, then turned back.
"Don't tell anyone about what happened today."
"clear."
Chen Qitai has passed away.
Shen Qiushui stood by the operating table, looking at the blood-stained gauze in the tray.
Li Ranmo.
Who exactly are you?
late at night.
The archives are located on the far east side of the second floor, and no one usually goes there.
Li Ranmo pushed open the door, and there was a musty smell inside.
He closed the door, didn't turn on the light, and took a small flashlight out of his pocket.
The beam of light swept across rows of shelves.
His file should be on the innermost row.
He walked over, found the cabinet that started with the character "Li", and opened it.
There were dozens of folders inside.
He searched through the list, his finger tracing over each name.
Li Dashan, Li Defu, Li...
found it.
Li Ranmo.
He pulled out the folder and opened it.
The flashlight beam shone on the paper.
Name, age, place of origin, study abroad experience...
The section on overseas study experience is very simple: "1933 to 1935, Royal Infirmary, London, England, advanced studies in surgery."
Li Ranmo took a fountain pen out of his pocket.
He needs to change a few things.
Just as the pen touched the paper, footsteps sounded outside the door.
It's very light, but very stable.
Li Ranmo immediately turned off the flashlight, stuffed the file back into the cabinet, and slipped behind the bookshelf next to him.
The door opened.
A person walked in without turning on the lights.
The flashlight beam came on.
The beam of light moved across the filing cabinet.
Finally, it stopped at the cabinet with the character "Li" on it.
Li Ranmo held her breath.
The person opened the cabinet and started rummaging through it.
Then I extracted a folder.
The flashlight beam shone on the folder cover.
Li Ran narrowed his eyes and saw the person's profile clearly.
Chen Qitai.
Chen Qitai opened the file and looked at it carefully.
I watched it for a full five minutes.
Then he closed the file, put it back in the cabinet, and shut it.
He didn't leave.
He just stood there for about a minute.
Li Ranmo could hear his breathing.
Then, Chen Qitai turned around and walked out.
The door closed.
The archives room returned to darkness.
Li Ranmo walked out from behind the bookshelf, reopened the cabinet, and took out his file.
He opened it and looked at it by the moonlight streaming in from the window.
The ink in the "Study Abroad Experience" section is very fresh.
Chen Qitai just made a mark on it with a pen.
A small question mark.
It was drawn next to the words "Royal Hospital, London".
Li Ranmo closed the file and put it back.
He walked to the window and looked down.
Chen Qitai's figure had just stepped out of the hospital gate and disappeared into the night.
The next morning, Li Ranmo had just changed into his white coat when Chen Qitai came looking for him.
"Dr. Li."
"Vice Dean Chen."
"Get ready," Chen Qitai said. "Come with me to the dock."
"pier?"
"A gang fight broke out, and more than a dozen people were injured," Chen Qitai said. "The police called and asked the hospital to send people to handle it. You, me, and two nurses are here."
"Is Nurse Shen going?" Li Ran asked silently.
Chen Qitai glanced at him.
"go."
"it is good."
Li Ranmo didn't ask any more questions and turned to get the first-aid kit.
Shen Qiushui was already waiting downstairs, with a young nurse beside her who looked unfamiliar.
"This is Xiao Zhou," Shen Qiushui introduced.
Xiao Zhou Chong and Li Ran nodded silently, a little nervous.
"Let's go," Chen Qitai said.
The car was already waiting at the door.
An old ambulance, the paint was almost completely peeling off.
The four people got into the car, the driver started the engine, and drove towards the dock.
No one spoke on the street.
Li Ranmo looked out the window.
Most of the shops on both sides of the street were closed, and only a few people hurried by with their heads down.
"We've arrived," the driver said.
The car was parked at the entrance to the dock.
A group of police officers surrounded the area, and seven or eight people were lying on the ground, some groaning and others motionless.
The blood stained the stone pavement red.
Li Ranmo jumped out of the car carrying a first-aid kit.
Shen Qiushui followed behind him.
A man in a police uniform ran over.
"Vice Dean Chen!"
"What's going on?" Chen Qitai asked.
"The Righteous Gang and the Green Dragon Gang are fighting over territory." The policeman wiped his sweat. "They used knives and fired guns. Twelve were wounded and three died."
"How many were seriously injured?"
"Over there, three." The policeman pointed to the corner.
Li Ranmo had already walked over.
Three were seriously wounded; two had been stabbed in the stomach, and one had been shot in the chest.
They were still breathing, but exhaling more than they were inhaling.
"Nurse Shen," Li Ranmo said.
"exist."
"Cut open the clothes, disinfect them, and prepare to sew them up."
Shen Qiushui moved very quickly.
Li Ranmo squatted down and examined the stomach of the first wounded soldier.
The incision was very deep; you could see my intestines through it.
He looked up and glanced at the people coming and going on the dock.
Workers were unloading goods, laborers were carrying bags, and the boss in a long gown was gesturing wildly.
A few other people were standing at the entrance of a warehouse not far away, looking in this direction.
The leader was a woman in her thirties, wearing a black silk shirt and with her hair tied up at the back of her head.
She was also looking at Li Ranmo.
Their eyes met.
The woman raised an eyebrow.
Li Ranmo lowered his head and began to sew.