Chapter 53 — Man Proposes, Heaven Disposes
Years of Heartflutter · Page 7 of 13
A long moment passed, and there was no sound from the room. Su Xiaomei found it odd. The child couldn't have fallen asleep, could he? she murmured to herself.
With that thought, she pushed the door open and went in, calling, "Zhitao?"
Su Xiaomei let out a scream, for she saw her son Wang Lin lying on the bed, twitching without pause, white foam bubbling from his mouth like a crab. "Xifan, come up here quick—Zhitao, Zhitao's having a fit!" Su Xiaomei shouted as she ran quickly to Wang Lin's side, shook her son's body, and called, "Zhitao, wake up, don't scare your mother, what's wrong with you?"
But Wang Lin showed no reaction at all, just lying there foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled back, his hands and feet twitching without cease. Wang Pu heard his wife's scream and, not knowing what was happening, hastily set down the plate in his hand and ran upstairs two steps at a time, only to find his wife cradling Wang Lin and calling to him over and over. The sight of his beloved son gave Wang Pu a terrible fright. All his hopes now rested on this son of his; if anything happened to the boy, how could he go on living?
Wang Pu was, after all, a veteran of many years in business. Seeing his son's condition, frightened as he was, he did not lose his head the way his wife had. He recovered his composure at once. "Get him to the hospital, now!"
With that, Wang Pu scooped Wang Lin up and strode downstairs. Su Xiaomei hurried after him. When they reached the garage, Wang Pu laid his son on the back seat, then quickly started the car and sped toward the Municipal People's Hospital.
The whole way there, he paid no heed to red lights or green, racing breakneck to the hospital, where Wang Pu delivered Wang Lin to the emergency room.
A preliminary diagnosis confirmed food poisoning, though exactly how he had been poisoned would have to wait for a stomach pump. So Wang Lin's mouth was stuffed full of tubes and he was put through a good deal of rough handling. By the latter half of the night, between IV drips and a ventilator, Wang Lin was at last out of danger—though whether there would be aftereffects, nobody could say.
Because Wang Lin's brainwaves had not yet returned to normal—they were still in an abnormal state.
Overnight, Wang Pu had aged considerably. Looking at his son on the sickbed, he was utterly bewildered. The lab report was already out: there was no food in Wang Lin's stomach, so it could be confirmed that Wang Lin's poisoning had been caused by medication.
"Doctor, what kind of poison is this?" Wang Pu asked the doctor beside him, holding the lab report.
"Several different medicinal substances were found in the patient's stomach, but what caused the illness was tetramethylene disulfotetramine," the doctor explained, pointing at the report.
"What is tetramethylene disulfotetramine? How did something like that get into my son's stomach?" Wang Pu asked with a frown.
"Tetramethylene disulfotetramine is the scientific name. In plain terms, it's a drug called tetramine—commonly known as 'rat's bane' or 'smell-it-and-die.' Mild poisoning presents as headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, numbness of the lips, and a drunken sensation. But the patient took a very large dose—this is severe poisoning. Severe cases present with sudden collapse and grand mal epileptic seizures; during a seizure the whole body convulses, foam comes from the mouth, there is incontinence of urine and feces, and loss of consciousness." The doctor explained: "As for how this substance got into the patient's stomach, that I cannot answer. You'll have to wait until the patient wakes up and ask him yourselves."
"Thank you, doctor. So after my son recovers, there won't be any aftereffects, will there?" That was what Wang Pu cared about most now.
"That's hard to say. The patient hasn't woken up yet—let's wait until he does before we discuss it," the doctor said with a shake of his head.