Ch. 12.1 Reluctant
That was obviously the needle hole left after removing the needle.
Shi Qinging clearly heard a “buzzing” sound in his ears, drowning out all the sounds around him.
For a few seconds, the whole world in front of his eyes faded, leaving nothing but a blank grey.
The only thing occupying his vision was the bruise extending from Bai Yexi’s arm to his elbow that was still coloured scarlet, spreading out like a sea of red.
It engulfed his entire field of vision.
“Where’s the doctor?”
Shi Qingling’s tone while asking was extraordinarily calm.
But the truth was that he couldn’t even hear his own voice as he was speaking.
“Isn’t Dr. Zhao coming to examine me today? Ask him to come and help look at this first.”
Maybe it was the Auntie, or maybe it was Sun Ming, he didn’t know which one had called Dr. Zhao.
Fortunately, the doctor was originally on his way here, so it didn’t take long for him to reach the Shi family.
“The doctor is here! Coming!”
The auntie’s plucked-up tone of voice gradually reached Shi Qingling’s ears, as he regained a little bit of hearing and got up to make room for the doctor.
Only when he was ready to take half a step back did Shi Qingling notice the strength around his waist and the stiff pain in his calf.
Because of his hasty lunge just now, Shi Qingling did not stand properly.
The front side of his calf was pressed against the corner of the chair, but he himself was unaware of it, and just continued to stand in this stiff and twisted position for so long.
It was Bai Yexi who used his other hand to cover the side of his waist, protecting him.
Shi Qingling’s brows slowly furrowed.
His hand was still grasping the other’s wrist, both of their fingers bloodless and pale white, along with similar body temperatures, one couldn’t tell whose was colder.
“What’s going on? Let me take a look.”
The doctor’s voice finally brought Shi Qingling’s consciousness back.
He stepped aside and watched as the doctor checked up on Bai Yexi’s arm.
“Yo, why is it so serious?”
Dr. Zhao was also stunned for a moment, and after carefully examining it, he said.
“This should be a bruise caused by transfusions.”
He asked, “Is it because you didn’t apply proper pressure to the area around after the extractions?”
Bai Yexi’s gaze retracted from that of Shi Qingning as he said,
“Didn’t press.”
“Oh, it’s not good if you don’t apply proper pressure to it.” Dr. Zhao said.
“The capillaries will continue to bleed after even after the end of the process of extraction, and if it’s serious, it will seep into the subcutaneous tissue 1The layer of tissue beneath the skin.”
“Looking at this, it seems your Platelet count 2The literal trabslation was coagulation ability which means the process by which bleeding stops after a wound or an injury. But since it sounded a bit odd in English, I exchanged it for platelet count which overall means the same may not be very good, remember to press it for a while longer if you draw blood again next time.”
Although he was giving very careful instructions, Dr. Zhao didn’t look too worried as he asked.
“Has it been more than 24 hours since the blood extraction?”
Bai Yexi nodded.
“Then you can apply a hot compress.” Dr. Zhao said.
“When you encounter such a situation again in the future, if you still get bruises after applying pressure, apply cold compresses within twenty-four hours, and you can apply hot compress if it’s been more than 24 hours, you can also use thinly sliced potato slices to stick on them to reduce swelling.”
The doctor instructed Auntie with a few words, and then she rushed to get a hot towel.
But then again, she was suddenly called out.
The one who opened the mouth this time was Bai Yexi, “Please also get a hot water bag.”
He continued, “Second Young Master’s hands are also cold.”
“Fine.” Auntie nodded her head.
Dr. Zhao also turned back and asked.
“Second Young Master? What’s going on, why are you so pale?” Dr. Zhao said, “Come over here and sit. Did you catch a cold?”
“No.” Shi Qingling stared blankly at the doctor and Bai Yexi, as if he hadn’t yet recovered.
“His injury ……”
“It’s not a big deal, after a while when the bruises slowly disappear, it will be fine.” Dr. Zhao said.
“Don’t do any kind of strenuous exercises these days, don’t go outside in the windy weather, don’t lift heavy things, and pay attention to rest. You can go to the hospital to check your platelet count when you have time.”
After he finished giving these simple instructions, he said to Shi Qingling.
“Alright, Second Young Master come here, I’ll give you a checkup.”
The buzzing in Shi Qingling’s ears only slightly dissipated at this point.
It’s good that nothing major….. has happened yet.
What Shi Qingling’s check-up included was still part of the regular post-operative check-ups that he had to undergo, and he had become familiar with the process a long time back.
While he answered Dr. Zhao’s questions, he was distracted by Bai Yexi’s hand again.
The boy’s hand had already returned to normal, no longer shaking, and it seemed that he had only just gotten a little tired, and had now returned back to his original state.
It was not the same as the aftermath mentioned in the story – the symptoms of neurological spasms.
Shi Qingling’s mind gradually resumed functioning.
He realized that –
He had been tricked by the novel.
The plot that Shi Qingling combed through was that the An family had found Bai Yexi when their son was seriously ill and asked him to donate blood for their son.
But at that time, Bai Yexi had already left the An family.
How did the An family know about his blood type?
…There can only be one answer to this.
The An family has known about this for a long time.
But the An family’s son had been sickly since he was a child, and even after Bai Yexi was adopted and had been in charge of taking care of the An family’s son day and night, he was simply treated as an inferior servant.
And the An family’s son’s blood type was so special.
Would the An family really wait until their son was in his teens before suddenly realizing that his blood was so scarce?
Realising all this, a coldness gradually climbed up Shi Qingling’s back.
For a person with this kind of rare blood type, would the An family really wait until there was an acute shortage of blood before taking an action against Bai Yexi?
Shi Qingling suffered from a congenital heart disease, he has been through large and small surgeries dozens of times, and although his memory is now a little confused, but on the medical side of things, he is more familiar with this than many of the older people.
Shi Qingling remembers.
… There is a kind of blood collection method, which is called pre-prepared blood.
Pre-preparation of blood is specially done for some rare blood types or people with special needs. Just in case, they will store spare blood and other body fluids for themselves in advance.
In case of regular legal channels, this backup is usually accomplished by collecting the said person’s own blood in advance.
That is autologous backup. 3Autologous blood backup refers to the collection and storage of a patient’s own blood in advance of a surgical procedure, which can then be transfused back to the patient during or after the surgery.
However, in many cases, the person who needs the backup will not be able to fulfill the conditions for blood collection.
For example, pregnant women whose hemoglobin levels drop due to pregnancy, or such as …frail patients who have been sick for years.
Thinking till here the coldness that was already penetrating into his bones was now getting colder and colder.
When Qingning looked at Bai Yexi, the other party had already put the mask back on at this moment.
The hot towel blocked his injuries, the lenses and mask covered the boy’s pale face, and the silver star-like drooping chain made Bai Yexi look noble and cold.
Anyone who saw him couldn’t help but admire him from the bottom of their heart.
What a handsome and elegant young genius.
That’s what makes it all the more incomprehensible.
Why would anyone be so cruel?
Looking at him as if he was only a…
Humanoid blood bag.
“Second Young Master…… Second Young Master?”
Dr. Zhao’s voice was barely able to called back Shi Qingling’s attention.
“What’s wrong?” Shi Qingling asked.
Dr. Zhao wanted to speak something, but instead he frowned and asked, “Is Second Young Master tired?”
Shi Qingling said, “It’s okay.”
Dr. Zhao looked at him twice more before putting away the various measuring instruments, turning over the data recorded in his hands, and said.
“The indicators are still within the normal range, just slightly fluctuating. In these two days, you must pay attention to resting well and don’t overwork yourself.”
Dr. Zhao said, still seeming uneasy, and mentioned one more thing.
“I remember that the day after tomorrow is your usual routine check up time, right? If you can, switch it to tomorrow and go earlier.”
“Okay.”
Shi Qingling responded obediently.
“I’ll discuss it with mom when she comes back.”
After two more words of advice, Dr. Zhao left.
It was also the Auntie’s leaving time, but she was still worried about Shi Qingling.
“Is this hand warmer okay? If not, I’ll find a bigger one.”
Shi Qingling looked down at his palm, he hadn’t even realised when he got the hand warmer.
The effect of this thing seemed to be pretty good, Shi Qingling’s palms were warmed up, even a little hot.
But his fingertips and the backs of his fingers were still bone-chillingly cold.
“It’s okay, Auntie.”
Shi Qingling said in a warm voice as he sent the worried auntie away, walking back again and sitting in front of Bai Yexi.
The rest of the Shi family hadn’t returned yet, and they were the only two people in the living room.
Shi Qingling reached out, along with that hand warmer, and gently pressed it against the bloodless, cold white fingertips of Bai Yexi.
He lowered his head and asked softly.
“How did this happen?”
“Drawing of blood.” As soon as Bai Yexi lowered his eyes he could see the soft swirls of the teenager’s hair in front of him.
At his fingertips was the warmth coming from the other.
He continued, “A medical checkup.”
Do you need to draw so much blood for a medical checkup?
Shi Qingling thought.
So much that it made your lips pale?
Moreover, Bai Yexi’s sleeve had been rolled up only to the crook of his elbow, but just on that thin, visible little arm, Shi Qingling saw more than one needle hole.
Shi Qingling closed his eyes.
Bai Yexi was not telling the truth.
Shi Qingling thought back to the piano shop incident a few days ago, to the first time the two had met even further back in time, the day when Bai Yexi had been surrounded by a dozen or so people, beaten up and covered in mud, but had only said to him.
“Hand, all right.”
Whose hidden meaning was,
The hand that you fancy, is not injured.
Shi Qingling at that time only felt as if Bai Yexi didn’t care much about being hurt.
Didn’t care about having to endure pain.
He seemed to not at all care about his body. Just now when Auntie was putting a hot compress on his wound, she couldn’t help but frown lightly when she covered the area with the towel over it, her movements very careful as well as light and gentle, afraid that she would do something that would make him hurt more.
Bai Yexi, however, did not even change his expression.
His face was frozen as usual.
Shi Qingling had noticed that Bai Yexi lacked the ability to express his emotions properly, so much that he couldn’t even think of anything that could cause the other party’s mood to fluctuate for even a moment.
In the eyes of Bai Yexi, it seems that in this life he has no expectations.
Shi Qingning dared not even think about it.
He even began to suspect that Bai Yexi might not even care about the piano.
If he really loved music and was obsessed with the piano, he shouldn’t have insisted on taking lessons this afternoon.
He should know that it would have a bad effect on his hands.
Shi Qingning clearly felt that Bai Yexi was already running low on energy.
Just now, when he was holding the silver spoon, he was shaking because he had used up too much of his energy.
He didn’t know how to ‘love and protect’…… or even just ‘protect’ himself.
Shi Qingning didn’t know why such a cold person who didn’t even care about himself exist.
He also didn’t know what kind of things one has to go through to drive someone to such a state.
Bai Yexi is a living, breathing person ah, he is not a humanoid blood bag.
He is just a …… child who has just become an adult.
The end of Shi Qingning’s eyes flushed red, as he wordlessly blinked hard trying to retain his tears.
He didn’t know if it’s because his body had gotten younger, his eye sockets seemed to be holding more water as well, his vision gets blurred too easily.
Strongly suppressing the acidity that was churning up, Shi Qingning spoke softly, his voice calm.
“Where did you do the physical examination?”
No matter what, no matter how difficult.
He couldn’t possibly let it go.
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T/N:- Since the Chapter is pretty long (more than 7000 English words), I’ll be dividing this chapter into 3 parts.
Regarding our schedule, since I am finally getting a break from my med-school, we will be having a regular schedule for the releases.
That will be 3 times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday/Sunday.
