Chapter 40 — If He Says So, You Believe It?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
The surgeon hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Since Wei Zhao insisted on it, he had no choice but to comply. There was no danger to life in this kind of operation at all, so he would not press the matter.
"Young man, then you had better hold out." With that, the surgeon instructed the nurse to prepare for the operation.
Wei Zhao's not being afraid of pain did not mean he felt none, but pain of this degree was within what he could endure. Back then, falling from the summit of West Star Mountain had hurt far worse than this — the pain of it had jolted his organs out of place...
"Young man, how did you get hurt?" The surgeon, Sun Weimin, was an experienced surgeon. His medical skill was excellent, but his ability to read people was just as good. Although Wei Zhao had a gunshot wound, he did not seem like one of the criminal suspects the police brought in, so Sun Weimin took the initiative to chat with him a little, to distract him and ease his pain.
"At the bank. Shot by the robbers." Wei Zhao understood Sun Weimin's intent perfectly well. In truth, how could Wei Zhao's attention be so easily diverted? The training he had received since childhood had taught him never to let his guard down under any circumstances, never to let his attention wander.
"So that's how it was." At this, Sun Weimin saw that things were just as he had guessed — the young man was no suspect but a victim — and so he spoke more freely: "It must have been a tense situation at the time?"
"Not too bad," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "Actually, I could have dodged it. But there was a girl right behind me. If I had dodged, she would have been the one to suffer, so I had no choice but to take the bullet head-on. Pretty foolish, wouldn't you say?"
Wei Zhao had seen similar news reports before, back in the mountains — people who did good deeds were called fools, while cold, selfish people were called clever. So as he said this, there was a touch of self-mockery in his tone.
"What?" Hearing that Wei Zhao had actually been wounded in such a way, Sun Weimin was filled with admiration for the young man. "Young man, you're a great one! That's not foolish at all — that's a hero saving a beauty! So tell me, did the girl fall in love with you at first sight?"
"After that I was taken hostage by the robbers, so who knows what she was thinking?" Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile. "At the time, she probably wouldn't have thought I was taking the bullet for her — after all, the thug was shooting at me."
"That's still quite something, young man — knowing how to sacrifice yourself for others." Sun Weimin regarded Wei Zhao with real appreciation. "What's your name?"
"Wei Zhao. It's on the medical record." Wei Zhao smiled.
"Ha ha, sorry about that. I see far too many patients every day, and I rarely pay attention to these details," Sun Weimin said, a little embarrassed.
The operation went smoothly, and Wei Zhao neither shouted nor moved his leg about, which let Sun Weimin finish this minor surgery very quickly. Wei Zhao's reaction astonished him — without any anesthetic at all, Wei Zhao had cooperated and held out the whole way through. This young man's willpower was truly extraordinary.
After the operation, Qiu Lingshan came to the ward to take Wei Zhao's statement, and ran into the surgeon, Sun Weimin, who naturally praised Wei Zhao effusively: "Officer Song, this young man is truly a rare find — sacrificing himself for others, he ought to be a model held up by society! You people should give him an Outstanding Citizen Award for Courageous Action!"
"What do you mean?" Though Qiu Lingshan admired Wei Zhao somewhat for his calm in the face of the robbers, she could hardly call it sacrificing himself for others. When Gu Mengyao had given her statement, she had not described the details of Wei Zhao blocking the bullet at the bank so thoroughly — she had only said that Wei Zhao had been shot by the robbers, so Qiu Lingshan did not know what lay behind it.