When I'm on the night shift, all the department heads can't sleep.

When the phone rang again the second time, Lin Ye did not immediately answer it.

He turned his phone screen towards Jiang Xiaoning.

"It's still your mom. You nodded just now, I'll ask again, are you sure you want me to answer?"

Jiang Xiaoning lay on the bed, an oxygen tube pressed against her face, her eyes never leaving the word "Mom".

She nodded slightly.

Lin Ye then answered the phone.

He did not turn on speakerphone.

"Feed?"

The woman on the other end of the phone was in a hurry and spoke quickly.

"Ningning? Where are you? Why aren't you answering your phone? A man just texted me from his own phone saying you've had too much to drink and told me not to call you anymore. Tell her to answer the phone!"

The person in the white shirt moved slightly by the door.

The security guard didn't touch him; he just leaned against the doorway.

Lin Ye held the phone to his ear, keeping the sound steady.

"Auntie, I'm Lin Ye, an emergency room doctor at the First Municipal Hospital. Jiang Xiaoning is currently in the emergency room, feeling unwell, and is receiving oxygen and under monitoring. Please come to the hospital first."

"What do you mean by 'not feeling well'?" the woman exclaimed anxiously. "Is she drunk? She's never been like this before. Who was she with? Where's that guy from earlier?"

Lin Ye was standing close to the bedside, and Jiang Xiaoning still heard the faint sound coming through the receiver. Her lips moved, as if she wanted to speak.

Nurse Li pressed down on the oxygen tube and whispered a reminder to her.

"Don't grab the phone yet, catch your breath first."

Lin Ye didn't ask about the private room on the other end of the phone, nor did he explain the details to Jiang Xiaoning.

"She has been drinking and taking medication. She can be woken up, but her breathing is slow and her blood circulation is poor. Please bring your ID card and go to the emergency triage desk to find her."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

When the woman spoke again, her voice was lower.

"Take medicine? What kind of medicine? Who gave it to her?"

The man in the white shirt couldn't help but lean forward, his words almost directed at the phone in Lin Ye's hand.

"Auntie, I'm here. I'm telling you, she is herself..."

Qin Hai intercepted him directly.

"You stay outside. The call wasn't for you."

The second half of the sentence, "white shirt," stuck in his throat.

When I heard his voice on the other end of the phone, his tone suddenly rose.

"Was that you? Don't touch my daughter's phone! You just wait, I'm coming right now!"

Jiang Xiaoning's breathing became noticeably erratic, and her heart rate on the monitor started to rise.

Lin Ye took over the conversation.

"Auntie, please don't yell at her over the phone. She can hear you, and her heart rate has already increased. We can discuss whose fault it is when you get to the hospital. Let's check on her first."

The woman took a breath.

You could hear the barely suppressed emotion in his voice even through the phone.

"Can she say a word to me?"

Lin Ye turned his head to the side.

Qin Hai lowered his voice.

"Only one sentence."

Lin Ye held the phone to Jiang Xiaoning's ear.

"Just say one sentence, don't say anything more."

Jiang Xiaoning opened her eyes, her voice hoarse and soft.

"Mom, I'm at the hospital."

There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone.

She added another sentence.

"Don't go through my phone."

This time, the woman didn't immediately retaliate with insults.

After two seconds, she said, "I won't turn over. Listen to the doctor first, don't fall asleep. Mom is leaving now."

Jiang Xiaoning closed her eyes briefly and didn't rush to speak again.

Lin Ye took the phone back.

"Auntie, don't drive yourself. Take a taxi, and don't turn off your phone. She needs guardianship right now, and you can't let anyone else take her away."

"I know, I'll take a taxi." The woman's voice trembled slightly. "Doctor, please watch over her for now. As for her father..."

She didn't finish the second half of her sentence.

Lin Ye did not respond to her family's conversation.

"When you arrive, find the triage desk. If anyone contacts you on the way and says they can take her back, don't agree."

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xiaoning kept staring at her phone.

Lin Ye didn't put the phone away immediately; instead, he asked her, "Should I put it back in the storage bag, or give it to your mother?"

"In the bag."

She answered very quickly.

"Don't give it to her yet, even when she arrives."

This time, Nurse Li didn't laugh at her; she simply resealed the temporary storage bag.

"Okay, leave your things here with us for now. Even if your mother comes, it's not like just anyone can take them."

The man in the white shirt was still standing by the door, one foot on the inside of the threshold.

"Doctor, I didn't say I was going to take her away, did I? Her mother is here, I have to explain."

Qin Hai didn't let him steer the conversation toward the bed.

"If you want to explain, go outside. The bedside is not the place for you to explain."

Before the man in the white shirt could say anything, the security guard pointed to the row of chairs outside the door.

"Sit over there first. I've left your ID number and phone number; I'll call you if I need to find you later. Don't sit around the bed now."

The short-haired girl stood on the other side, her jacket sleeves crumpled into a ball.

She asked softly, "What about me? Do I have to wait for her mother too?"

Nurse Li looked up.

"If you're willing to wait, sit outside. If you're not, leave your phone number clearly and don't turn it off. We might need to ask you about those things we just said and the video later, so we don't want to be unable to find you later."

The short-haired girl nodded and then looked at Jiang Xiaoning on the bed.

"Will she blame me when she wakes up?"

Lin Ye had already turned back to the bedside, but upon hearing this, he stopped again.

Whether it's strange or not is a matter for later.

He looked at the short-haired girl and spoke softly.

"If no one had mentioned those two pills tonight, she might have already been taken away."

The short-haired girl tucked her phone into her clothes and didn't ask any more questions.

The second-line emergency room doctor came over and called Jiang Xiaoning's name again.

"Jiang Xiaoning, open your eyes."

Jiang Xiaoning opened her eyes a beat late.

"Where are you now?"

"Hospital."

"Do you know who just made the call?"

"My mom."

The second-line doctor scanned the respiratory rate on the monitor.

"You can still answer, but your breathing is still slow. Don't lay the bed flat, keep the suction device usable, and don't push the airway cart too far. Have your blood gas checked again at the scheduled time to see which way the carbon dioxide and pH levels are trending. Toxic screening results are slow, so don't wait for the results before seeing the patient."

Nurse Li responded and checked the bedside table again.

Qin Hai asked Lin Ye, "What did they say on the phone just now?"

Lin Ye put the phone back in the storage bag, sealed it tightly, and handed it to Nurse Li to put in the storage cabinet.

"Just say she's in the emergency room at the First Municipal Hospital, feeling unwell, had been drinking and taking medication, and is currently on oxygen and under monitoring. Tell her mother to take a taxi here, and not let anyone else take her away."

Qin Hai hummed in agreement.

That's enough.

He sat on a chair outside in a white shirt, head down, his phone screen lighting up several times, but he didn't dare answer.

The short-haired girl sat far away from him, her phone resting on her lap, the screen still showing the video. She didn't press play again, but simply covered the top half of the screen with her palm.

A dozen minutes later, the security guard peeked in from the door.

"The family has arrived. It's a woman, she says she's Jiang Xiaoning's mother, and the last few digits of her phone number match."

Nurse Li went out first to verify her identity.

The woman who entered was in her forties, her hair casually tied back, her jacket zipped up a little, and she was still wearing her usual cotton slippers. As soon as she entered, she saw the white shirt on the chair outside and stopped in her tracks.

"You're the one who messaged me?"

The man in the white shirt stood up.

"Auntie, I can explain."

"Shut up."

The woman's voice wasn't loud, but she enunciated each of the three words very clearly.

Qin Hai looked up from the bedside.

"Family members, come in first to hear the patient's condition. If you want to argue, go outside; don't argue near the monitoring station."

The woman stopped, her chest heaving twice, and then she turned her feet toward the bedside.

When Jiang Xiaoning saw her, her voice became nasal.

"mom."

The woman stood by the bed, her first words lingering in her throat for a long time.

Finally, only one question remained: "Are you cold?"

Jiang Xiaoning shook her head.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Don't talk about that yet."

The woman's voice suddenly broke. He reached out to touch her, but was afraid of touching the tube, so he could only keep his hand at the edge of the bed.

"Stay awake. It's fine if you can argue with Mom, but don't sleep so soundly that you can't be woken up."

Nurse Li handed over the caregiver registration form.

"Write down her name, phone number, and ID number. She still needs to remain under guardianship; she can't be taken away, and don't feed her water or anything. Leave her phone and personal belongings at the nurses' station for now, and we'll decide who to give them to her once she's more awake."

The woman's hand trembled slightly when she picked up the pen.

"I won't take her phone."

She lowered her head and wrote two lines, then looked up at the woods.

Did you answer the phone just now?

"Um."

"Thank you for not giving the phone to that man."

Lin Ye did not respond to the thank you.

"She nodded to us herself, telling us not to touch the phone. She also said not to let him touch it."

The woman looked at her daughter on the bed.

Jiang Xiaoning closed her eyes and turned her face towards the pillow.

There was a creaking sound from the chair outside, and the man in the white shirt stood up.

This time, the security guard didn't wait for him to get close to the door.

"Sit back down."

He paused, then sat back down.

The second-line emergency room doctor handed over the new follow-up appointment time to Nurse Li, and Qin Hai added from the side, "The family has arrived, keep an eye on them. Don't let your guard down just because they can talk."

Upon hearing this, the woman paused for a moment on the registration paper with her pen.

She lowered her head and finished writing down the remaining numbers, only looking at Jiang Xiaoning on the bed when she finished the last one.

Suddenly, Ma Hao called out from the triage desk.

"Teacher Qin, there's a student outside with a nosebleed. He's been plugging his nose with paper for twenty minutes and it's still bleeding."

Qin Hai turned his head.

Ma Hao's voice became a little more urgent.

"It wasn't just his nose; his gums were bleeding too."

The nurses had just locked the temporary storage lockers when the boy in the school uniform by the door looked up; the front of his uniform was already stained red.