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

Around 3:20 a.m., the boy in the school uniform was brought by Ma Hao to the entrance of the treatment area. His head was tilted back, and two wads of paper were stuffed into his nostrils. The paper was soaked through, and blood smeared down his upper lip, leaving a deep red stain on the chest of his school uniform.

The female teacher who accompanied him supported his back with one hand and held a tissue in the other, speaking in such a hurry that she could barely speak.

"I don't know what happened. He said he had a nosebleed in his dorm, so I told him to tilt his head back and stuffed tissue in his nose, but it's still bleeding after twenty minutes. He has an exam tomorrow morning, and he's so scared his legs are weak."

The boy added something vaguely.

"My legs didn't go weak."

Nurse Li turned around from beside the treatment cart.

"Don't look up yet, look down."

The teacher didn't react in time.

"Won't it just leak out if you bend your head down?"

"You have to let it flow out." Nurse Li had already dragged a chair over. "If you swallow the blood, you'll vomit it all over the floor later, and that will scare you even more."

After the boy sat down, he tried to lift his head up again.

Lin Ye patted his shoulder.

"Lower your body and lean forward. Pinch the sides of your nose, not the bridge. Spit the blood in your mouth into the curved dish, don't swallow it."

The boy did as instructed, his voice leaking through his fingers.

"I didn't eat spicy food, and I didn't pick my nose."

Ma Hao handed over the curved plate and glanced at the bloodstain on the chest of his school uniform.

"Your flow doesn't seem like it started at the beginning."

The boy was a little unconvinced.

"I didn't have that much at first. The dorm supervisor told me to stuff it with paper, so I kept stuffing it in."

Qin Hai had just come over from Jiang Xiaoning's monitoring station when Nurse Li had just removed half of the wad of paper from the boy's nostril.

Before Qin Hai could speak, she gave him some instructions.

"I'm keeping an eye on Jiang Xiaoning. I just checked on her. She can be woken up, but her breathing is still slow. We'll have her blood gas checked again at the scheduled time. Her mother is sitting by the bed, and the suction device is there too."

Qin Hai hummed in agreement, his attention returning to the boy in the school uniform.

"What's your name? How old are you?"

"Lu Jiashu. Sixteen."

Which school?

The female teacher quickly responded.

"He's a second-year high school student at No. 3 Middle School, and he lives on campus. I'm his homeroom teacher, and my surname is Tang. I haven't been able to get through to his parents yet; the dormitory manager called me first."

Lu Jiashu corrected him in a low voice.

"It's not that the call didn't go through, it's just that my phone was charging in my dorm."

Teacher Tang was taken aback by his words, her eyes still fixed on the nosebleed.

"You're in charge of cell phones too?"

Lin Ye didn't continue asking about the exam and the phone.

He moved the wheelchair closer to Lu Jiashu's knees.

When did your gums start bleeding?

Teacher Tang paused for a moment, then looked down.

Lu Jiashu himself paused for a second.

"Gum?"

"There's blood in your mouth," Lin Ye said. "Not just the little bit that dripped from your nose. Has your gums been bleeding lately when you brush your teeth?"

Lu Jiashu pinched his nose and spoke in a muffled voice.

"It took two days. I thought the toothbrush was too hard."

Qin Hai looked up at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye continued to ask.

"Do you have any bruises or welts on your body? Like, even if you didn't bump into anything."

Lu Jiashu said no first.

But then Teacher Tang remembered.

"He had several bruises on his legs after PE class the day before yesterday. I asked him if he hit the railing, and he said he didn't know."

Do you have a fever?

"You have a slight fever." Lu Jiashu sniffed, and Nurse Li patted the back of his hand.

"Don't suck, the blood should flow backwards."

Lu Jiashu quickly lowered his head and spat out the blood in his mouth.

That one bite wasn't much, but it made Teacher Tang's face turn pale.

"Isn't he just suffering from a sore throat? Lots of kids at school have had sore throats lately."

Lin Ye did not directly deny her.

"Having internal heat won't cause your gums to bleed. Ask first."

The pale blue lettering lit up at the edge of his field of vision.

Emergency Room Early Warning System

[Possible risk: Systemic bleeding tendency.]

[Misdiagnosis: Common nosebleed, caused by internal heat.]

[Key gaps: ecchymosis, fever, medication use, history of bleeding.]

Lin Ye only glanced at it before his gaze returned to the drop of blood at the corner of Lu Jiashu's mouth.

Lin Ye looked at Lu Jiashu.

What medicine have you taken recently? Cold medicine, fever reducer, painkiller, or medicine your classmate gave you?

"I took one fever reducer." Lu Jiashu thought for a moment. "Ibuprofen. The infirmary gave it to me."

Teacher Tang will fill in the gaps immediately.

"Last night, it was 37.8 degrees Celsius. The school doctor said to observe it first."

"Have you ever had nosebleeds last this long before?"

"no."

"Does anyone in your family have a history of bleeding disorders, low platelet count, or a history of blood disorders?"

Lu Jiashu shook his head.

"I don't know. My parents are in good health."

Nurse Li had already changed the gauze, but her hands didn't stop.

"Teacher Qin, it's still oozing even after applying pressure. There's also a bit of it on my gums."

Qin Hai handed the thermometer to Ma Hao.

"Fill in the vital signs first. Blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, and oxygen saturation."

Ma Hao responded and, faster than he spoke, put the sleeve on.

"Lu Jiashu, loosen your arms. Don't tense them, or you won't be able to count accurately."

Lu Jiashu looked down at his school uniform.

"I need to wear this outfit tomorrow."

Teacher Tang felt a lump in her throat.

"What time is it, and you're still thinking about school uniforms?"

"There's a group photo for the whole grade tomorrow," Lu Jiashu said softly. "My mom said this set has been washed."

These words hurt Teacher Tang more than blood.

She pulled out her phone and frantically scrolled through her contacts.

"I'll call your mom."

Lu Jiashu looked up, but Lin Ye pressed him back down.

"Don't move. What do you want to say? I'll say it for you."

"Don't mention how much blood I've lost." He pinched his nose, his voice hoarse and muffled. "My mom cries when she gets anxious."

Qin Hai took over the conversation.

"Teacher Tang, make the call. Don't scare her, and don't hide anything from her. Just say the child is in the emergency room at the First Municipal Hospital, her nose is still bleeding, and her gums are also bleeding, so her parents need to come over. Don't rush her to drive fast on the way."

Teacher Tang nodded, dialed the number, and hung up after only two rings.

"I'm afraid I won't say it well."

Nurse Li placed the blood collection tubes into the tray.

"Then let's read it like what Teacher Qin just said. If the teacher can read the text aloud in class, then we can read this too."

Teacher Tang's eyes reddened from what she said, but she still dialed back.

Qin Hai looked at Lin Ye.

"You don't think it's a normal nosebleed?"

Lin Ye did not go around.

"My nosebleed lasted for twenty minutes and it didn't stop. My gums are also bleeding, and I have unexplained bruises on my legs. I had a low-grade fever yesterday. I can't just treat it as dryness and internal heat."

Qin Hai didn't wait for him to continue.

"Then let's start by checking the most basic ones."

He turned and gave instructions to Ma Hao.

"A complete blood count is urgently needed, with a focus on platelets. Also, draw coagulation function, liver and kidney function, and electrolytes, and establish an intravenous line. The lab called to say it's urgent; the patient is sixteen and has persistent nosebleeds and bleeding gums."

Ma Hao ran to the nurses' station with the label, but turned back halfway there.

"Teacher Qin, should we bring your blood type information with us?"

Qin Hai glanced at him.

"Yes. That's a good question."

Ma Hao then ran away.

Upon hearing "blood type," Lu Jiashu's grip tightened slightly, and his nostrils loosened a little.

"Do you need a blood transfusion?"

Lin Ye slowed down his speech.

"Let's check first, not that we need a blood transfusion right away. Hold your nose closed for now. If anything really needs to be done, Teacher Qin will talk to you and your parents."

Lu Jiashu lowered his head and after a few seconds hummed in agreement.

Teacher Tang answered the phone.

"Is this Lu Jiashu's mother? This is Teacher Tang. The child is in the emergency room at the First Municipal Hospital. Please don't panic. The nosebleed hasn't stopped, and there's some bleeding from the gums too. Yes, he's right next to us, conscious. Please come over by taxi, don't rush to drive yourself."

The voice on the other end of the phone suddenly rose in volume.

Teacher Tang closed her eyes and swallowed her words back.

"It wasn't a fight, nor was it a fall. The doctor is checking."

Lu Jiashu kept his head down, still pinching his nose, but his eyes kept glancing at the teacher's phone.

Nurse Li saw it.

"Don't answer the phone. You only need to do one thing right now: pinch it. If you can't pinch it, I'll pinch it for you. Don't blame me if it hurts."

Lu Jiashu immediately tightened his grip.

"I'll do it myself."

The vials of blood were quickly sent away.

The monitor on Jiang Xiaoning's side beeped twice. Nurse Li turned to look, but returned less than half a minute later.

"It's fine over there, the electrode pads just came loose. Her mother is nearby, but she's not making a sound."

Qin Hai hummed in agreement.

In the treatment area, only Lu Jiashu's breathing, which was being suppressed by his nose, could be heard, as he repeatedly explained to Teacher Tang on the phone that "there was no fight."

Fifteen minutes later, the landline at the nurses' station rang.

Ma Hao answered the call, listened for a couple of minutes, and then stopped writing on the label.

"Teacher Qin, the lab says the blood routine test results came back first, but the machine alarmed and they're manually verifying it now."

Qin Hai asked, "Which one?"

Ma Hao held the receiver and looked at Lu Jiashu.

Platelets, fourteen.

Teacher Tang didn't understand and kept asking the parents on the other end of the phone where they were.

Lu Jiashu raised his head.

Blood seeped from the edge of the paper again, dripping next to the second button of his school uniform.

Nurse Li quickly helped him put his head back down.

"Keep your head down. Don't look up."