Chen Junnan said, "How about we admit you for observation first?"
At that moment, Liu Zhengliang noticed the stain on Kang Shuangsheng's collar—evidence of his vomiting in the ambulance earlier. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Have you been taking any medication lately?"
Kang Shuangsheng replied, "Blood pressure medication and cephalosporin antibiotics. My prostatitis flared up again, so I'm taking them to reduce inflammation."
Liu Zhengliang pressed further, "Did you drink alcohol?"
Kang Shuangsheng answered, "I had half a jin this morning."
Liu Zhengliang suddenly chuckled and said to Chen Junnan, "Case closed."
Che Mingming caught up and asked, "How is the case closed?"
Liu Zhengliang explained, "Cephalosporin with alcohol—a one-way ticket. He's experiencing a disulfiram-like reaction poisoning!"
Chen Junnan stopped Liu Zhengliang, "Wait, that doesn't explain the ST-segment elevation with upward convexity on his ECG."
Liu Zhengliang responded, "Logically, it should be concave upward elevation. I can't quite figure that part out either. But it's fine as long as it's not an acute myocardial infarction. The specific cause will have to be determined by the cardiology department. We can go learn from them later—this case is quite unique."
A disulfiram-like reaction occurs when cephalosporin antibiotics interact with ethanol, generating acetaldehyde in the acidic environment of the stomach. Acetaldehyde poisoning aligns perfectly with Kang Shuangsheng's symptoms: chest tightness, shortness of breath, facial flushing, headache, and nausea. In severe cases, it can even lead to anaphylactic shock. Indeed, Kang Shuangsheng had vomited all over the ambulance and briefly lost consciousness.
Liu Zhengliang then instructed Che Mingming and the head nurse, "The treatment is straightforward from here: intravenous naloxone, anti-allergy and anti-shock therapy, along with fluid replacement and diuresis. His condition isn't severe enough to require steroids, and gastric lavage is pointless now—I suspect the substances have already been absorbed."
Turning to Kang Shuangsheng, Liu Zhengliang advised, "You should really quit drinking. Even though this wasn't a heart attack, your heart has clearly suffered some damage. ST-segment elevation isn't normal—it should have resolved if it were an old infarction. You'd better get a thorough check-up at a major provincial hospital. Think of yourself like a car that's been in a serious accident and extensively repaired. The body might look fine and freshly painted, but the engine is prone to carbon buildup. We can't tell if it's due to using the wrong fuel grade or a clogged intake, but you need to take extra care—don't treat it like a brand-new car. A car failing to start is no big deal, but if your heart fails to 'start,' that's a different story."
Director Zhao nodded repeatedly and told Liu Zhengliang, "I'll go tease Old Zhang in cardiology. He's been in the field for over twenty years and still didn't catch this. I have to tell him what actually happened."
After receiving anti-allergy medication and diuretics, Kang Shuangsheng made several trips to the bathroom while holding his IV drip and showed significant improvement. By evening, he had largely recovered. During rounds, Che Mingming asked him, "It's so late now—are you still planning to go home?"
Kang Shuangsheng replied, "I spent over four thousand today, had scans from head to toe, and in the end, just one anti-allergy shot and one diuretic fixed me. I'm going to stay a bit longer—otherwise, it feels like a waste. Since you don't charge by the hour, I'll rest here until I'm completely better. Who knows if something might happen in the middle of the night? If I'm home, there'd be no one to turn to. Here, at least there are doctors around to handle any issues."Che Mingming said, "Fine, I wouldn't even mind if you stayed here long-term, make yourself at home. If you get bored, there's a TV in the hallway lounge."
That evening, while Chen Junnan was on duty with Liu Zhengliang, he asked him, "Do you think Che Mingming is the right girl for me?"
Liu Zhengliang, who had been writing medical records, suddenly looked up, his smile turning sly. "Tell me, what do you like about her?"
Chen Junnan said, "I think she's really tough and decisive. Someone like me appreciates a woman who gets things done efficiently. Others might not find that attractive, but to me, it's sexy."
Liu Zhengliang said, "After all these years of playing around, you're finally settling down, huh?"
Chen Junnan replied, "I wouldn't say settling down yet, but I'm starting to have a sense of direction. It's like I've suddenly figured out what kind of life I want."
Liu Zhengliang asked, "What kind of life do you want?"
Chen Junnan said, "My family isn't short on money. My mom has been running her own factory for years, and the household depends on her. My dad may have a smooth political career, but he doesn't have much say at home. You know why I play Flying Scalpel with you? I want to build my own business. I think my life should be about starting a company and being my own boss. My wife would definitely need to be sharp and capable, holding her own. Look at us doctors—making three or four thousand a month, where's the real growth? Sooner or later, when money becomes a problem, we'll have to rely on unconventional means to get by and solve issues."
Liu Zhengliang asked, "So your mind is wandering again?"
Chen Junnan said, "Don't rush me. I'm still looking into projects. When I have something concrete, I'll let you know."
Liu Zhengliang was supposed to be on the second shift today, working from evening until after midnight, but because of an emergency case, he ended up working half a day longer. Before clocking out, he went to check on Zhang Jiao again. The young girl could now slowly shuffle to the bathroom on her own and manage her grooming, though her hands weren't entirely obedient, and her movements weren't fully coordinated. Zhang Dexu found the nights alone in the hospital the hardest. While Dou Liping had gone home to wash clothes and bedding, he sat on the bench outside his daughter's room, chatting with Liu Zhengliang.
He asked Liu Zhengliang, "Dr. Liu, even if my daughter recovers well, if she ends up speaking haltingly and thinking slower than others, will anyone ever want to marry her?"
Liu Zhengliang didn't know how to respond.
Zhang Dexu continued, "If I find her a man who's missing an arm or a leg, wouldn't she suffer and struggle her whole life, never able to hold her head up? And if they have a child, how would she manage in her condition?"
Again, Liu Zhengliang was at a loss for words.
Zhang Dexu said, "I can't let my daughter live like that. If there's no suitable match, I'd rather spend money to keep her happy than let her endure such a life. My daughter shouldn't start off at a disadvantage."
Liu Zhengliang asked Zhang Dexu for a cigarette, took a drag, and said, "Rehabilitation training takes years. Her body is still improving slowly. Try to stay optimistic—it'll help your daughter's mindset too."
Chapter 14
Aunt Tian, the owner of Fushun's first Spicy Mix chain, came to see Liu Zhengliang with his mother and said, "Liangzi, you've seen a lot working as a doctor in Beijing. Can you help treat my cervical spondylosis?"Liu Zhengliang said, "I'm currently an emergency department doctor, and before that, I was in neurosurgery. At most, I know a bit about internal medicine. What you have is an orthopedic condition, and orthopedics further branches into spinal specialties, which is a highly specialized field. I haven't studied this area much."
Aunt Tian replied, "But you're a Peking Union Medical College doctoral graduate! How can you brush off my request? If you don't understand these things, how would ordinary folks like us comprehend them? I've already been to major hospitals and even paid for consultations at traditional medicine centers with senior specialists, but nothing worked. That's why I'm begging you to help me think of a solution."
Liu Zhengliang's mother added, "Your Aunt Tian has been my closest friend since childhood. You must help her with this matter."
Liu Zhengliang then asked, "Aunt Tian, how severe is your cervical spondylosis now?"
Aunt Tian said, "I had to take painkillers just to come see you today. Liangzi, you don't understand - after just a few steps, my lower body goes completely numb."
After obtaining Aunt Tian's cervical spine X-rays, Liu Zhengliang began pondering the situation.
When Aunt Tian was laid off from the steel plant back then, she had only two thousand yuan left in her savings account. When she first joined the steel plant, it was still thriving. Though working near the blast furnace was tough and exhausting, the paycheck at month's end was truly substantial.
The steel industry chose Fushun primarily because of its coal and iron ore deposits. When our country was developing atomic bombs, the steel plant provided high-temperature-resistant, high-strength specialty steel. Later, when manufacturing artificial satellites, it was still Fushun Steel Plant that produced the high-strength structural steel frames.
When market demand shifted from custom components for defense and technology sectors to bulk mid-range products, the steel plant couldn't keep up with the times. If I were a factory in Shandong, I'd naturally choose component suppliers from Hebei or Jiangsu - shorter distances mean lower shipping costs and faster delivery times. Moreover, as a Shandong factory, I'd definitely prefer suppliers with flexible payment terms. If you frequently stockpile goods and hold onto payments for half a year after receiving them, I wouldn't want to work with you again. Over time, such practices only lead to dead ends. Some Northeastern businesspeople particularly favor these petty schemes of taking advantage of others, thinking "if you got tricked, that's your lack of smarts - what's it to me?" They consider this part of their business philosophy, integral to their worldview. You can criticize anything about doing business with me, but how dare you question my worldview? This is simply how I perceive this market economy - I hope you can understand.
Now if you ask any investor about Fushun Steel's stock, those who've invested in it all grit their teeth with resentment. The stock went over a decade without paying dividends, then committed eight consecutive years of financial fraud, eventually becoming a specially treated (ST) stock, and recently appears headed for bankruptcy restructuring.
Aunt Tian didn't understand these things back then - she was just laid off. With only two thousand yuan in hand, children to educate, elderly parents needing medical care, and heating bills to pay for her home - what was she to do?Winter arrived, and since the entire building had yet to pay the heating fees, the heating company directly cut off the supply. In Northeast China, walls are typically built to a thickness of 50 cm. In extremely cold regions, they even need to be constructed to 75 cm thick. A standard red brick is 24 cm long—by laying two rows of bricks sideways, the wall reaches 50 cm thick to withstand the harsh winters of the Northeast. But in temperatures as low as -35°C, without heating, even if you built a pyramid out of bricks, it would still freeze people to death. The factory had already gone bankrupt, with talks of attracting capital for restructuring next spring. But how would they get through this winter? Who would pay this year’s heating fees? Young people reading this might ask, “Why don’t you pay for your own house?” The elderly had their reasons: the heating fees had always been reimbursed by the factory. This was a welfare agreement they had reached with the factory after a lifetime of labor and low wages. Now, there was no one to honor this agreement, and they were too old to work and earn money. All they could do was demand that someone take responsibility for this commitment. The elderly, men and women alike, organized a group of over 200 people and went to block the railway tracks near Erdaogou.
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