It happened to be the morning rush hour. Despite Lin Jie's excellent driving skills, he was helpless in the congested traffic. What was originally a forty or fifty-minute drive took nearly an hour and a half to Limin Hospital.

As soon as Zhang Xiaoxiao and Lin Jie stepped into the emergency hall, their neighbor Zhang Li, who had arrived earlier, came to meet them.

"Xiaoxiao, Lin Jie, the test results show a brain stroke and brain hemorrhage. The doctor is currently in the operating room trying to save him."

Zhang Li sighed and continued, "These past few months, he's been drinking heavily almost every day. Mingqing and I tried to persuade him several times, but it didn't work. I didn't expect him to collapse like this last night."

Zhang Xiaoxiao nodded gently, indicating she understood. She didn't speak, just turned to look at Lin Jie.

A brain stroke refers to a blocked blood vessel in the brain, while a brain hemorrhage indicates a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.

These two conditions can greatly affect a person's quality of life, or even be life-threatening when occurring simultaneously; it seems fate could not overlook this person any longer.

With a grim look, Lin Jie sympathetically remarked, "Sister Xiaoxiao, Uncle Zhang was found in the morning, collapsed on the dining table, which means the brain stroke and hemorrhage occurred last night."

"A simple calculation suggests that from the onset of Uncle Zhang's symptoms until discovery, at least six or seven hours had passed."

"However, since the doctors are still trying to save him, to some extent, it suggests that Uncle Zhang's condition is not terribly severe yet..."

Zhang Xiaoxiao understood immediately that if it were truly severe, they would have taken him straight to the mortuary.

"But..."

Lin Jie's tone shifted, filled with regret as he said, "Only the delay of several hours suggests that some brain tissues have been without blood and oxygen for such a long time, so there must be irreversible brain damage."

Zhang Xiaoxiao paused for a moment and asked, "A-Jie, what is the best expected outcome?"

"Hemiplegia, accompanied by certain functional losses, such as aphasia and impaired consciousness."

They walked alongside Zhang Li to the waiting area outside the second-floor emergency surgery room as they spoke.

Just as Lin Jie was about to identify himself to offer help in the operating room, a doctor emerged from there.

"Ah, Expert Lin!"

The doctor spotted Lin Jie, his eyes lit up, and he excitedly ran over, immediately asking, "Why are you..."

Then, noticing Zhang Li and Zhang Xiaoxiao beside him, the doctor realized and tentatively asked, "Oh, Expert Lin, is the patient yours?"

Lin Jie held Zhang Xiaoxiao's hand and introduced, "This is my sister, and the patient is my sister's father."

"Doctor, could you please share the patient's current condition? We'd all like to know."

The doctor stood up straight and formally reported, "When the patient was brought in, he still had spontaneous breathing and heartbeat, but was unresponsive to environmental stimuli, and his pupils did not respond to light."

"A CT scan revealed diffuse local cranial hemorrhage and symptoms of brain stroke."

"An emergency craniotomy was arranged to stop the bleeding, and an interventional procedure was performed to clear the blockage. After a procedure lasting one hour and twenty minutes, we successfully stopped the cranial bleeding and cleared the main cerebral vascular blockage."

"However..."

With sympathy, the doctor said, "The patient's brain has been deprived of blood and oxygen for too long. In our postoperative examinations, we found the patient still showed no response to strong external stimuli."

"Therefore, we have determined..."

"The patient has entered a vegetative state."

Zhang Xiaoxiao muttered somewhat blankly, "Vegetative state? Vegetative state! Ah, thank you, doctor."

The doctor mustered a faint smile and offered comfort, "Though it's a vegetative state, with meticulous care, there's still a chance for awakening..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jie gave a light cough.

A vegetative state, in simple terms, is a special human condition akin to the existence of a plant.

Apart from retaining some instinctive neural reflexes and the ability to metabolize substances and energy, recognition abilities, including the awareness of one's own existence, are completely lost, leaving no voluntary activity.

The chance of awakening from a vegetative state isn't a matter of probability but hinges on the specifics of the cause, subsequent care, and stimuli, leaving fate to be the guiding force.

But no matter the causative factors, awakening from a vegetative state is deemed a "miracle."

As for Zhang Yuan, his vegetative state resulted from prolonged hypoxic brain damage, and his awakening would be considered a miracle amongst miracles.

Even if he were to regain consciousness one day in the future, Lin Jie could ascertain that Zhang Yuan would inevitably suffer from severe permanent brain function disorders, utterly unable to care for himself.

The doctor, realizing his instinctive comforting had no practical value after Lin Jie's cough, politely paused before continuing, "I'll go fetch the patient's CT scans now. Maybe with your expertise, Expert Lin, there'll be better findings."

The doctor soon returned with a few sheets of CT scans.

Lin Jie, however, waved his hand, declining to take the scans, and candidly told Zhang Xiaoxiao, "Even if I intervene and restore the current brain hemorrhage and stroke to their former state, the damage to the brain cells caused by such prolonged hypoxia is irreversible."

"Sister Xiaoxiao, I'm sorry. Given Uncle Zhang's condition, there's nothing more I can do."

Zhang Xiaoxiao forced a faint smile and said, "A-Jie, this isn't your fault."

"He got himself into this mess step by step, and it's not anyone's fault but his own."

She shook her head lightly, speaking as if relieved and comforted, "A vegetative state is just as well."

"This way, I can talk to him without ever hearing the things he used to say, which I don't want to hear from him anymore."

At that moment, Kong Mingqing hurried over, his face grave as he asked, "Xiaoxiao, Lin Jie, how is Uncle Zhang's condition?"

"He's in a vegetative state!"

Zhang Li outlined what the doctor had said a moment ago.

Kong Mingqing sighed and said, "Xiaoxiao, this morning, Boss Cai from that little restaurant reported it, saying Uncle Zhang hadn't come over for breakfast as usual, so he worried and checked, only to find Uncle Zhang was unwell."

"I can't recall Uncle Zhang going out that early for breakfast before, so I held him for questioning."

"Sure enough, I uncovered some issues through my inquiry."

Curious, Lin Jie asked, "Oh, what issues?"

Kong Mingqing said angrily, "Uncle Zhang, visiting the restaurant almost daily for drinking and dining, had become quite familiar with Boss Cai."

"Boss Cai mentioned Uncle Zhang resented Xiaoxiao for not giving him money and constantly plotted about the house."

"A few days ago, Uncle Zhang was diagnosed with nephritis during a hospital check-up. The doctors warned him that he needed to be admitted for treatment, or there would be the risk of acute kidney failure, necessitating a transplant to properly address it."

"Uncle Zhang intended to leverage this hypothetical kidney transplant to coerce Xiaoxiao into transferring ownership of the house to him. For this reason, he even arranged for a falsified medical record."

At this point, Kong Mingqing hesitated, looking into Zhang Xiaoxiao's eyes, and said, "Boss Cai also said that Uncle Zhang deliberately refrained from seeking treatment for his nephritis, thinking that if you truly refused to give him the house, he would let his condition deteriorate."

"According to Boss Cai, Uncle Zhang's plan was that since his current life was unfulfilling, he'd rather either make a large fortune to enjoy a worry-free future or die to end it all, preferably making your life difficult too."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaoxiao smiled—a smile that was both relieved and carefree.

"Brother Kong, perhaps you don't know—last night, I already agreed to give him the house."

"Who would've thought... he wouldn't live to enjoy it."

Kong Mingqing consoled, "Perhaps there's some divine intervention in all this."

"Boss Cai confessed that Uncle Zhang returned home very excited last night, having solved the issue of the house. He specifically ordered good food and wine, instructing Cai to deliver it home."

"Boss Cai said he even shared a few drinks with Uncle Zhang while advising him to drink less for the sake of his health. Afterward, he left."

"Ultimately, Boss Cai admitted that he lied this morning."

"He claimed he had intended to collect the dishes early because you only allowed Uncle Zhang to dine in and not take away, to prevent him from selling them illicitly."

Kong Mingqing frowned and said, "Xiaoxiao, I suspect that Uncle Zhang's condition occurred while dining and drinking with Boss Cai last night."

"But Boss Cai adamantly denies this, insisting that Uncle Zhang was perfectly fine when he left. I haven't found any other witnesses or evidence to substantiate this."

Kong Mingqing assured, "Xiaoxiao, rest assured."

"If my suspicions have any merit, Boss Cai will definitely slip up somewhere..."

"Brother Kong, there's no need to investigate!"

Zhang Xiaoxiao interrupted him, her tone calm and said, "Boss Cai was merely aiming to con some meal money from me; he made no significant error."

"My father could certainly conceive and execute this plot, yet the outcome did not unfold as he intended."

"Let's not drag Boss Cai into this."

Soon, Zhang Yuan was transferred to a ward.

After the visiting neighbors gradually left, Lin Jie gently asked, "Sister Xiaoxiao, what plans do you have for the future?"

Zhang Xiaoxiao looked at Zhang Yuan, his head bandaged, her expression serene as she softly said, "Well, he is my father after all. It's an inescapable responsibility for me to care for him until his last days."

"I will hire someone for twenty-four-hour care and visit him once a week to talk to him."

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