The middle-aged woman glared at the nurse with displeasure. "This is my daughter-in-law. I paid the bride price for my son to marry her. She was born into my Zhang family, and she'll be a ghost of my Zhang family when she dies. What business is it of yours?"
"In any case, she's not allowed to have a CT scan. Anything that harms my grandson is forbidden!"
Seeing the middle-aged woman's stubborn attitude, all the doctors and nurses were speechless.
However, without the family's consent, they couldn't forcibly take the pregnant woman for further examination.
"What's going on here?" Just then, Chen Fan and Xia Yiting appeared in the emergency room.
"Dr. Chen!" Seeing Chen Fan, the emergency doctors quickly stepped forward.
A female doctor, with a displeased expression, looked at the middle-aged woman and explained to Chen Fan, "The pregnant woman has abdominal pain. We planned to perform an abdominal CT scan, but her mother-in-law refused and kept obstructing us."
The middle-aged woman, with a cold face, tightly gripped the pregnant woman's hand, afraid they would take her for a CT scan.
Chen Fan approached the pregnant woman and used his penlight to examine her pupils. He frowned slightly. "The patient is in shock. Have you administered any medication?"
An emergency doctor responded, "Not yet. Because she's pregnant, we're hesitant to use medication. We've only given her some saline and performed a blood count, but the results aren't out yet."
Chen Fan nodded, then pulled up the pregnant woman's pant leg and discovered some bloody mottling on her leg.
"Master, are those lower limb petechiae?" Xia Yiting asked in surprise.
Chen Fan's brow furrowed. He placed his hand on the pregnant woman's abdomen and gently pressed a few times.
However, as Chen Fan's fingers touched her lower abdomen, he felt what seemed to be a hard mass.
Seeing this, the middle-aged woman slapped Chen Fan's hand. "Hey, you're such a young male doctor, what are you touching my daughter-in-law's stomach for!"
Xia Yiting, displeased with the middle-aged woman's unreasonableness, said, "Madam, please do not interfere with our treatment of the patient!"
A female nurse also chimed in, "This is a renowned expert from our hospital, whom we've painstakingly invited to the emergency department. Please speak respectfully!"
"Hmph, him, a kid who hasn't even grown all his hair? An expert? I think your hospital just wants to bully a country bumpkin like me and cheat us out of our money! I'm telling you, we don't have much money; it was all spent on the bride price for her!" The middle-aged woman said with disdain, as if she had seen through the doctors' tricks.
"You are simply unreasonable!" the nurse retorted angrily.
The middle-aged woman remained stern. "Anyway, he's a man. Men are not allowed to touch my daughter-in-law."
Chen Fan looked at the middle-aged woman. "To doctors, gender is irrelevant. Furthermore, your daughter-in-law has colon cancer and a severe intestinal perforation. If she doesn't have surgery immediately, she won't survive three days."
"What did you say? Lingling has cancer?! How, how is that possible!" The middle-aged woman clearly didn't believe him.
Chen Fan said again, "We respect the family's wishes. If you wish to be discharged, we can arrange it now. But let me be clear: if she leaves the hospital, she will surely die."
The middle-aged woman seemed a bit startled and quickly asked, "Then, what about my grandson? Can, can he survive?"
"If the mother is dead, do you think your grandson can still survive?" the male emergency doctor responded coldly.
"How, how did she get cancer? She was fine during previous check-ups. How did she get cancer?" The middle-aged woman, having received such a definitive answer from Chen Fan, looked flustered.
She then turned to Chen Fan and asked, "What are the chances of saving my daughter-in-law? Will my grandson be alright?"
The male emergency doctor said, "The mortality rate for the pregnant woman is thirty percent, and for the child, it's seventy percent."
"That high? We want to save the baby! We want to save the baby! As long as the baby can live, anything else is fine!" The middle-aged woman made her decision immediately.
Chen Fan's brow furrowed upon hearing this.
The other doctors and nurses were also filled with indignation. They had never encountered such a mother-in-law.
"Mom, Mom!" At this moment, a young man rushed into the emergency room.
The man was still in his work uniform, clearly an air conditioner repairman. He was followed by a middle-aged couple.
Seeing the middle-aged woman, the three of them hurried over.
"Mom, what happened to Lingling?" the man asked, looking at the unconscious pregnant woman.
"Lingling, what's wrong? Mom and Dad are here." The middle-aged couple were the pregnant woman's parents.
"The doctor said Lingling has something called colon cancer and a severe intestinal perforation, and she needs surgery. But don't worry, I've already told the doctor that we must save my grandson," the middle-aged woman replied.
The young man looked at the middle-aged woman with confusion. "Mom, how could you decide that?"
The middle-aged woman retorted, "What's wrong with me deciding? She's sick because her body isn't strong enough. Are you blaming me? She took the bride price, so she's part of our family. She should give our family a son! Otherwise, if she dies, won't our family lose out big time!"
She said these words without considering that the pregnant woman's parents were present.
"What did you just say?!" The pregnant woman's mother looked at the middle-aged woman with fury.
The middle-aged woman responded, "I didn't say anything wrong. You took a hundred thousand yuan for the bride price and married off a sick daughter to our family. What's wrong with your daughter giving our family a son?!"
"Slap!" The pregnant woman's mother, tears streaming down her face, raised her hand and slapped the middle-aged woman directly.
"If anything happens to my daughter, I'll fight you to the death!" the pregnant woman's mother said angrily, pointing at the middle-aged woman.
The middle-aged woman also became aggressive, pointing at the pregnant woman's mother and launching into a tirade. The two families had completely fallen out.
"Enough!" Chen Fan suddenly shouted as the two families were about to come to blows.
"This is a hospital, not your home. If you want surgery, sign the papers. If you continue to argue here, I'll have security escort all of you out!" Chen Fan said coldly again.
Only then did the two families quiet down, though they were clearly still seething with anger.
"Thump!"
The pregnant woman's mother knelt directly in front of Chen Fan. "Doctor, we'll have the surgery. We'll save the mother. We can have another child if the baby is lost, but if the mother is lost, she's truly gone."
"No, we must save the baby," the middle-aged woman immediately objected.
Seeing the two families about to argue again, the young man suddenly said, "I am her husband. The decision should be mine to make."
Instantly, all eyes turned to the young man.