Chapter 30: The Main Culprit

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: The Main Culprit

On Friday morning, Yu Zhiming arrived alone at the Huashan Hospital Check-up Center, his stomach empty for his physical exam. The dark circles under his eyes were even deeper than the day before.

As for Yu Xiangwan and Fu Xiaoxue, those two had officially started their tour of Binhai with Yin Wenzhu.

When Yu Zhiming got his check-up form, he found that there were over a hundred items on the list, big and small.

It was the equivalent of screening a person from head to toe, inside and out, with painstaking thoroughness.

Fortunately, despite the sheer number of tests, a hospital staff member escorted him the whole way. Yu Zhiming barely had to wait in line, which allowed him to just manage to finish the entire check-up in a single morning.

Yu Zhiming paid special attention to his unaided vision score: 1.1 in both his left and right eye.

There was no corrected vision score.

His current vision was a 0.1 decrease from his previous best.

The long period of blindness caused by the blood clot in his brain had left him with permanent vision damage; he would never recover his peak eyesight.

Furthermore, the corrective effect of wearing glasses on his vision was negligible.

This made him unable to perform certain delicate surgeries that required a high-powered surgical microscope.

Of course, Yu Zhiming was still capable of performing the vast majority of surgeries...

After finishing his check-up, Yu Zhiming, whose stomach was growling, was about to go get lunch. But as soon as he stepped out of the check-up center, he was cornered by Wang Chunyuan.

"Zhiming, about that actress we talked about yesterday..."

Wang Chunyuan suddenly stopped, then asked with a grin, "Those dark circles are pretty bad. Were you too excited to sleep last night?"

"Or were you out having fun all night?"

Yu Zhiming quickly explained, "Neither."

"I have a hard time sleeping in unfamiliar beds. It takes me a long while to get used to a new place."

He then quickly asked, "Doctor Wang, has the celebrity with the persistent cough arrived?"

Wang Chunyuan didn’t press the issue of the dark circles. He nodded and said, "She’s here. In my office."

"I was thinking, if it’s convenient for you, you could take care of her problem before you go to lunch."

Wang Chunyuan added, "My treat..."

Suppressing his hunger, Yu Zhiming followed Wang Chunyuan to the nearby Cardiopulmonary Department building.

Walking into Doctor Wang’s fourth-floor office, he saw a long-haired girl in a mask stand up gracefully from a staff chair.

This was a girl whose limbs seemed a bit slender, yet her figure was quite stunning.

She was wearing a simple, tight-fitting blouse and slim-fit jeans.

But just by standing there, her large chest, slender waist, and round hips were displayed in a very alluring way.

It was enough to make Yu Zhiming involuntarily sneak a few glances.

If one had to point out a flaw, it would be her height. At around five-foot-three, she was a little on the short side.

’She really is an actress through and through,’ Yu Zhiming marveled internally. ’Even a simple movement like standing up, or just her posture, is captivating.’

Just as Yu Zhiming was silently admiring her, he heard Wang Chunyuan make the introductions.

"Dr. Yu, this is the young actress Jiang Xiyan. Our families have known each other for a long time."

"Xiaoyan, this is the man I told you about—the brilliant and handsome Yu Zhiming, our hospital’s genius with a boundless future."

Yu Zhiming was quite satisfied with Doctor Wang’s introduction.

He was just about to offer a modest reply when he saw Jiang Xiyan take off her mask and give him a slight bow.

"Dr. Yu, hello!"

With her mask off, Jiang Xiyan’s lightly made-up face wasn’t breathtaking, but it had a unique charm.

Her smile was sweet and lovely, as approachable and pleasant as the girl next door.

However, her voice was slightly hoarse, likely from her incessant coughing recently.

Yu Zhiming then saw Jiang Xiyan press her right hand lightly to her chest, her brow furrowing slightly as she let out two soft coughs, looking as frail as a tragic beauty.

Yu Zhiming replied politely, his tone neither warm nor cold, "Hello, Miss Jiang."

He actually wanted to say more to build a bit of rapport.

Unfortunately, Yu Zhiming rarely watched television.

He simply couldn’t recall which movies or TV shows this stunning beauty had starred in.

To avoid saying the wrong thing, he made an on-the-spot decision to adopt the air of a cool, detached professional, unmoved by beauty.

Jiang Xiyan spoke again. "Dr. Yu, I’ve been coughing like this intermittently for almost two weeks."

"It’s completely disrupted my work and my life."

"Uncle Wang said you could help me!"

Jiang Xiyan put on a pitiful expression. "Dr. Yu, I’m supposed to start filming on a new set next month according to my contract."

She seemed to sway her body ever so slightly, and the resulting undulation made Yu Zhiming’s head spin.

"Dr. Yu, if this cough doesn’t stop, not only will I lose the job, but I’ll also have to pay a lot of money in penalties."

"Dr. Yu, please, you have to help me!"

Yu Zhiming hurriedly replied, "I’ll certainly do my best."

He took the tablet Wang Chunyuan handed him and quickly scrolled through Jiang Xiyan’s medical records.

After reviewing them, Yu Zhiming couldn’t say he had learned nothing.

He could only say that the numerous detailed examinations Jiang Xiyan had undergone all indicated there was nothing wrong with her body.

Moreover, they had ruled out the three main causes of coughing: inflammation, organic lesions of the lungs and trachea, and allergies.

In other words, they had yet to find a pathological cause for her persistent cough.

This made Yu Zhiming inclined to agree with Wang Chunyuan’s speculation.

An unknown foreign object had entered her trachea or lungs, triggering a spontaneous reflexive cough.

Or, a malfunction in a nerve or the brain was causing an uncontrollable neurogenic cough.

After finishing his review of the various tests and lab results, it was time for a hands-on examination.

Jiang Xiyan lay flat on the office sofa.

After she lay down, her ample chest didn’t flatten out but maintained a height and curve that made it hard to look away.

Yu Zhiming made a professional assessment internally.

’Fake!’

A sense of regret arose in him. Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Yu Zhiming, now wearing a surgical glove, placed his right hand gently on the center of Jiang Xiyan’s chest.

Yu Zhiming met her gaze.

"No need for deep breaths. Just breathe shallowly."

Since the instruments couldn’t detect it and the bronchoscope couldn’t see it, Yu Zhiming reasoned that if there really was a foreign object, it must be tiny and light.

For example, something like a small piece of fuzz.

Yu Zhiming needed to carefully perceive the subtle changes in airflow to have any chance of detecting it.

In this situation, the disturbance caused by deep breathing would be too great, making it harder for him to conduct a detailed examination.

Yu Zhiming closed his eyes...

The next moment, his consciousness seemed to transform into a gentle breeze, darting into Jiang Xiyan’s nostrils, passing her throat, and rushing into her trachea...

Then it split into two streams, forking into the left and right bronchi.

Then it divided again into even finer streams of air, rushing into the smaller bronchioles without any obstruction...

In no time, a map of the airflow, shaped like an inverted tree, formed in Yu Zhiming’s mind.

With each of Jiang Xiyan’s breaths, this dry, winter-like tree became clearer and clearer...

But Yu Zhiming found nothing.

During his long period of blindness and countless sleepless nights, Yu Zhiming had cultivated sufficient meticulousness and unhurried patience.

He continued to refine the details he perceived, settling his focus to probe for any minuscule change in the airflow...

Suddenly, just when it seemed like a dead end, a new path revealed itself. Yu Zhiming had a breakthrough.

As the airflow rushed into the middle section of the left bronchus, it was as if it encountered a small, gentle slope on the upper inner wall. It met some obstruction, and its speed and sound increased slightly.

After repeatedly confirming this anomaly, Yu Zhiming concluded his investigation.

"Bronchoscope!"

Wang Chunyuan pushed over the bronchoscopy equipment he had prepared in advance...

Jiang Xiyan, who had experience with the procedure, stretched her neck and tilted her head back as far as possible to facilitate the entry of the thin bronchoscope into her trachea...

When the bronchoscope reached the specified location in her left bronchus, Yu Zhiming indeed found something.

The mucus secreted on the upper inner wall was slightly thicker than normal.

Upon careful inspection, Yu Zhiming discovered a short, grayish-white hair encased in the mucus...

Using the foreign body forceps on the bronchoscope, he extracted the hair.

It was a one-and-a-half-centimeter-long, naturally curly, grayish-white hair, thicker at the root.

Yu Zhiming glanced at Doctor Wang and saw that he had an expression of awkwardness that was hard to put into words.

"Ah, so it was this hair that’s been troubling me day and night."

"It must be from my dumb dog at home. The color is exactly the same. I’m definitely going to punish the culprit when I get back."

Wang Chunyuan looked at his old friend’s daughter, who wore an innocent and indignant expression, and said, "Xiaoyan, the problem is solved. You can head back now. I still have some medical matters to discuss with Dr. Yu."

Jiang Xiyan obediently agreed and, before leaving, gave Yu Zhiming a gift.

A hard drive containing the complete collection of TV shows and movies in which she had a leading role, personally autographed by her...