Gao Han was surprised out of his wits when he saw little Su Lin curled asleep on the steps. He called her name a couple of times, but she didn't wake up. Concerned, he put his hand on her arm to shake her awake, only to find that her skin was burning hot. He bent down closer to hear her ragged breathing. This was no small matter. Flustered, Gao Han quickly picked her up and put her in the car to drive to the nearby hospital. When the doctor saw the kid, he was startled as well. What kind of parent would wait until their kid's fever got this bad before bringing her in? He chided Gao Han in an angry voice about the responsibilities of parents. It was only after a while that they managed to clear up matters. When the doctor finally learnt that this man was only a games teacher and not even a relative, he was finally mollified.
This had probably already developed into a really bad case of pneumonia. Even after the doctor administered ibuprofen and injected fluid into her system using IV drip, the kid's fever still did not come down. Even though the night had been chilly and she had caught a bad cold, the medicines should still do their work. It was really inexplicable.
Gao Han worriedly paced up and down the corridor outside little Su's treatment room. He had already called each of the parents of the kids he taught and apologized that he wouldn't be able to conduct classes today due to personal matters. He had also tried Mei Lin's number, which he had recorded when completing Su Lin's guardian information during registration at the chess academy. It was to no avail. After a while, the doctor came out and said with a conflicted voice, "We didn't have the patient's history, so it got a little complicated. In short, we did not know that the kid also has a pre-existing condition of severe asthma. As you know, pneumonia becomes more severe when a child has asthma. For now, we put her on ventilator. Her immune system is really weak right now, so we can only pray for the best."
Wasn't it only a little fever? Wasn't she just fine yesterday? How did it become so bad so fast? Gao Han was shocked. He looked down at little Su's pale as paper face, and clenched his fingers. He was feeling a little disoriented from everything that happened since early morning. Although his job was teaching chess to kids and he always paid attention to both their physical and mental conditions, he wasn't really good at dealing with unexpected troublesome matters. Usually if a kid got sick, he would immediately call the parents, who would then take care of the situation. If a kid had a pre-existing condition, like an allergy, parents usually told him during registration so he would be aware of it. There were even a couple of kids with ADHD in his class; they required special care, but since he knew about it beforehand, he could be prepared. It was never an issue. But today was different. Everything was unexpected.