Chapter 18

After receiving Zhang Qiming's personal assurance, Qiu Jinbo's final concerns were finally resolved. He was eager to verify whether Wu Potian had truly mastered the knowledge he had learned over the years, so he immediately went to the ICU with Wu Potian.

Upon arriving at the ward, Qiu Jinbo first examined the patient's examination report. Although he was not a neurology expert, he could tell from the report how serious the patient's condition was. At that moment, he finally understood that there was no such thing as a free lunch and felt regret for bringing Wu Potian to the hospital.

"Potian! The patient's condition is very serious. According to the CT scan results, the patient has impaired cerebral and cerebrospinal fluid circulation, intracranial hemorrhage and hematoma formation, acute cerebral edema, and concurrent infection, leading to increased intracranial pressure. Do you really have the confidence to treat the patient's condition?" At this point, Qiu Jinbo could no longer afford to doubt Wu Potian's ability to treat such a serious illness; he only hoped that Wu Potian could successfully overcome this challenge.

Although Wu Potian had a general understanding of the patient's condition when he took the patient's pulse in the morning, treating a patient was like going to war, where the situation could change in an instant. Even in just a few hours, the patient's condition could worsen due to the delay. Out of responsibility for the patient, while Qiu Jinbo was reviewing the examination report, Wu Potian held the patient's pulse to re-examine the condition.

Although the hospital's experts had not been able to wake the patient, they had not given up. In the past few hours, while there were no signs of the patient waking up, the patient's condition had slightly improved, giving him more confidence in the treatment.

Seeing Qiu Jinbo's worried expression, Wu Potian knew that Qiu Jinbo was concerned about him. A warm feeling suddenly welled up in his heart, and he smiled at Qiu Jinbo, saying, "Teacher! Although I don't have complete confidence in curing the patient's illness, waking the patient up should not be too difficult. Just wait and see!"

Seeing Wu Potian's confident expression, Qiu Jinbo was very curious. The patient's condition was extremely serious, and death could occur at any moment due to brain atrophy. Even if Wu Potian had overcome his past difficulties in understanding medical knowledge, where did he get the confidence from?

While Qiu Jinbo was worried about Wu Potian, Wu Potian took out a small box from his pocket, pressed a small button on it, and a crisp sound was heard as the lid of the box popped open, revealing a row of black needles inside.

Wu Potian took out eight needles, slightly thicker than a hair, disinfected them with alcohol, and inserted them into several acupoints at the back of the patient's head.

After inserting the eight needles into the patient's acupoints, Wu Potian took a deep breath of the antiseptic air in the ward. Following the needle-tapping technique he had learned in the study space, he quickly and rhythmically tapped the eight long needles on the patient's head with lightning speed.

Seeing Wu Potian insert eight hair-thin needles into the patient's brain, everyone present was shocked, especially Qiu Jinbo and the hospital's experts. Although they were familiar with acupuncture, using it to treat such severe cranial injuries was something they had never seen before, let alone the unique needle-tapping technique.

Although Qiu Jinbo and the experts were unsure if Wu Potian's treatment would be effective, everyone held their breath and watched his every move intently. What they didn't know was that such seemingly simple actions, if seen by experienced traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, would have driven them to madness.

The needle-tapping technique Wu Potian used, although the simplest in the acupuncture methods he had learned, was extremely physically demanding given his current condition. After just two rounds of tapping each needle, his hands began to feel numb, and large beads of sweat started to pour from his body.

As Wu Potian's tapping speed increased, someone in the observation room outside the ICU suddenly let out a gasp of surprise, pointing at the patient's head and exclaiming, "Everyone, look at the pillow under the patient's head!"

Hearing the exclamation, everyone looked at the pillow under the patient's head and saw that the originally white pillow had started to seep with black blood. Zhang Qiming's siblings became increasingly tense.

Zhang Qifang, who was particularly anxious, kept rubbing her hands and angrily complained to Zhang Qiming, "Brother! How could you, as the health bureau director, believe a temporary worker? Didn't I tell you that this young man must have known your identity and deliberately attracted your attention? Even if you didn't believe me, you actually let this scoundrel treat our father. You're sending Dad to his death. If anything happens to Dad today, I'll never forgive you..."

"Wow! The patient's intracranial pressure is starting to drop. This is simply incredible," someone suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Zhang Qifang's complaint.

Despite Wu Potian's repeated assurances that he could wake the patient, Qiu Jinbo had his doubts due to the severity of the patient's condition. When Wu Potian began treating the patient, he felt a heavy stone in his heart, regretting that he had brought Wu Potian to the hospital.

The exclamation made Qiu Jinbo, who was anxious, suddenly feel a sense of relief. He immediately looked at the instruments and saw that the data was indeed decreasing. The heavy stone in his heart seemed to be lifted, giving him an indescribable sense of relief.

As time passed, Wu Potian felt his hands becoming increasingly heavy. A voice in his mind kept telling him, "Don't care about the patient's life, take a break!"

Recalling that when he received the prize of the secret silver needles, Qinglong had warned him that even with the instruments, he might not be able to use them, Wu Potian realized that Qinglong was not exaggerating. He regretted his overconfidence and his rash decision to treat the patient without being fully prepared.

Although Wu Potian deeply regretted his actions, the patient was at a critical moment, and he could not back down. He had to grit his teeth and persevere. However, as time passed, the continuous tapping of the needles seemed to be draining his strength, making him feel increasingly unsteady.

Seeing Wu Potian standing unsteadily by the patient's bed, everyone observing from outside was puzzled. When they noticed that Wu Potian's ruddy complexion had turned pale and he looked extremely exhausted, even though they were not traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, they realized that something was wrong.

Especially Qiu Jinbo, who was extremely shocked by the scene. Although he did not understand why Wu Potian had changed, he had a vague feeling that it was related to the treatment. He regretted it deeply and even wanted to rush into the ICU to stop Wu Potian.

However, as a medical professor, Qiu Jinbo knew that the treatment might be at a critical stage. If he rushed in, it could ruin Wu Potian's efforts and cause him significant trouble. He could only suppress his anxiety and pray that Wu Potian could hold on until the treatment was complete.