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

Zheng Deyong, lying on the emergency bed, gasped sharply, his chest rising and falling heavily as he suddenly regained consciousness.

The chaotic ventricular fibrillation waveform on the electrocardiogram monitor screen was abruptly flattened after a 200-joule electric shock.

After a brief pause of a few seconds, a sinus rhythm peak, though not perfect, reappeared.

"I'm back."

Head Nurse Zhao let out a long breath, her tense shoulders slumping slightly.

Lin Ye stared at the heart rate on the screen; the number was stuck at 95 beats per minute.

"His heart rate has stabilized for now, but there is still unabsorbed medicinal wine in his stomach. The source of the poison has not been cut off, and he may experience ventricular fibrillation again at any time."

Before he finished speaking, Ma Hao had already pushed the half-meter-tall fully automatic gastric lavage machine back to the bedside.

"I've brought the machine over. I'm going to find the family to sign the consent forms for the critical condition and gastric lavage!"

Ma Hao parked the gastric lavage machine at the foot of the bed and immediately turned around and strode towards the door.

"Sister Zhao, prepare for intubation."

Lin Ye looked at Nurse Zhao.

As Nurse Zhao deftly tore open the sterile packaging of the large gastric tube and applied paraffin oil to the tube wall, she habitually launched into her usual rant mode, typical of the emergency department.

"Lin Ye, you've only been on the night shift for less than an hour, are you planning to wear out all the machines in our emergency room?" Nurse Zhao said, holding the lubricated gastric tube in her hand and glancing at Zheng Deyong, who was still twitching slightly. "This is really hard work."

Zheng Deyong's heartbeat returned, but due to the brief lack of blood and oxygen to his brain, coupled with the continuous stimulation of his nervous system by aconitine, he was in a state of agitation and delirium.

He closed his eyes, his hands flailing erratically in the air, and his head twisting from side to side in resistance.

"Fang Rui, come over and hold his hands down."

Lin Ye explained to Fang Rui, who had just finished writing the previous medical order and rushed over.

He stepped forward and stood directly behind Zheng Deyong's bedside.

Lin Ye steadily supported the patient's chin and neck with both hands, using a skillful approach to fix Zheng Deyong's head, which was resisting twisting, at the most suitable slightly tilted angle for intubation.

"Come."

Lin Ye gave him a look.

Without any hesitation, Nurse Zhao pinched the tip of the feeding tube with her right hand and quickly and gently inserted it into Zheng Deyong's nasal cavity. She stopped immediately when she encountered resistance in his throat.

Swallow your saliva, then swallow!

Nurse Zhao shouted loudly in Zheng Deyong's ear.

Stimulated, Zheng Deyong, who was in a semi-comatose state, instinctively swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. In that extremely brief moment of swallowing, Nurse Zhao flicked her wrist, and the gastric tube slid smoothly through the esophagus and into the stomach.

This kind of unspoken understanding, requiring little verbal communication, can only be developed by those who have endured countless night shifts in the emergency room.

Nurse Zhao quickly pulled out the syringe to prepare to inflate the air, while Lin Ye handed the stethoscope to Fang Rui: "Listen to the stomach."

As air was introduced, Fang Rui, wearing a stethoscope, nodded vigorously: "I heard it! A clear sound of air passing through water!"

"Inside the stomach. Secure it, connect the gastric lavage machine."

Lin Ye patted Fang Rui on the shoulder and straightened up.

The adhesive tape was used to secure the gastric lavage machine across the nostrils. The two tubing of the gastric lavage machine were connected to the clean water tank and the waste fluid tank, respectively. The machine was started, emitting a regular humming suction sound.

A few seconds later, the first stream of dark yellow stomach contents was forcibly extracted through a transparent tube and discharged into a waste container.

An extremely pungent odor instantly filled the emergency room.

It was the pungent smell of strong liquor mixed with fermented herbs and stomach acid.

"My God." Nurse Zhao frowned in disgust and instinctively leaned back. "How much strong medicine must have been used to soak this? The smell is too intoxicating. No wonder it could send the person away so quickly."

"It's aconite soaked in alcohol, and it's very likely raw aconite that hasn't been processed at high temperatures to reduce its toxicity." Lin Ye looked at the increasingly turbid liquid in the waste container. "Aconitine is insoluble in water but highly soluble in alcohol. This medicinal wine is practically purified poison."

At the same time, in the observation corridor outside the emergency area, Ma Hao, along with resident trainee Tang Wen, found Zheng Deyong's son.

"Doctor, how is my dad?"

The young man immediately came to greet Ma Hao upon seeing him, his eyes red-rimmed.

"He was just resuscitated by defibrillation, his life is temporarily saved, and he's currently undergoing gastric lavage." Ma Hao handed the critical condition notice and gastric lavage informed consent form to Tang Wen behind him. "Tang Wen, tell the family where to sign."

Tang Wen took a deep breath and handed over the form: "Here, sign your name and the date in this spot."

The son's hand was shaking so badly that he couldn't put pen to paper for a long time.

"Doctor...was it really that medicinal wine that made him sick?" The young man's voice was trembling with barely concealed sobs. "I bought that wine at the market in the countryside. The seller said it was a special treatment for rheumatism and bone pain, and that it contained dozens of precious medicinal herbs. My dad's legs hurt, so I thought I'd buy it as a filial gesture..."

Looking at the distraught family members before him, Ma Hao sighed: "Folk remedies often use aconite and aconitum carmichaelii to promote blood circulation and relieve pain. These herbs contain the highly toxic aconitine. Regular TCM hospitals use these herbs only after strict processing to reduce toxicity and to control the dosage. But you went and directly soaked the raw herbs in high-concentration liquor, forcing out all the medicinal properties."

"I don't know... I really didn't know it was poisonous..." The young man covered his face and squatted on the ground, tears streaming down his face and falling to the ground.

"Alright, crying won't help now. Hurry up and sign the papers; there's still follow-up treatment waiting inside." Ma Hao shoved the pen into his hand, then turned to Tang Wen and gave her a verbal instruction, "Remember, when explaining the patient's condition to the family, your tone should be serious but tactful. It's a miracle we managed to save him; from now on, no matter what kind of folk remedies or miracle drugs you try, if the ingredients are unknown, don't put them in your mouth."

Tang Wen nodded vigorously.

The young man wiped his face and forcefully signed his crooked name on the form.

Inside the emergency room, the gastric lavage machine was working regularly.

A full 20,000 milliliters of warm water was poured in and then drawn out.

As time went by, the liquid in the waste container gradually changed from a murky, dark yellow color to clear, transparent water, and the pungent smell of medicinal liquor finally faded away.

"It's just water now, it has no taste."

Nurse Zhao turned off the gastric lavage machine.

Lin Ye looked at the monitor.

Zheng Deyong's heart rate stabilized at 88 beats per minute, and his blood pressure was 120-75. The premature ventricular contractions that had occurred earlier did not reappear during the half-hour cleaning process.

The source of the toxin has been completely cut off.

"Contact the EICU (Emergency Intensive Care Unit) to pick him up." Lin Ye took off his gloves and threw them into the yellow medical waste bin. "His stomach has been cleaned, but the toxins absorbed into the bloodstream will need time to metabolize, and we also need to prevent secondary aspiration pneumonia. It'll be safer for him to stay in the ICU for a couple of days."

Twenty minutes later, the transport bed for the EICU arrived. Zheng Deyong was gently wheeled out.

The emergency room was empty. The cleaning man came in with a mop and sprayed a thick layer of chlorine disinfectant on the floor. He also pressed the air freshener button twice, trying to cover up the lingering smell of medicinal liquor in the air.

Lin Ye and Nurse Zhao stood by the sink. Lin Ye squeezed out a large dollop of hand soap and vigorously rubbed his hands, which were covered in rubber gloves, to get the smell of talcum powder.

After washing her hands, Nurse Zhao shook off the water droplets and looked at Lin Ye in the mirror.

"This smell is too strong." Nurse Zhao tossed down a paper towel. "Lin Ye, that last bit of cooperation just now cost me at least half a month of my life. If you're free later tonight, shouldn't you get me an iced Americano to calm my nerves?"

Lin Ye dried his hands and turned to look at her.

"Okay, Sister Zhao." Lin Ye nodded.

The two walked side by side toward the nurses' station. They had only taken a couple of steps when the familiar internal telephone at the triage desk suddenly rang shrilly with an extremely sharp frequency.

Lin Ye and Nurse Zhao stopped in their tracks at the same time.

The tranquility of the night shift is always so short-lived.

This Sunday night in the emergency room has only just begun.