Chapter 56: Regarding Marriage II

She probably wanted to go over and shake her daughter a few more times, feeling satisfied only when the girl was shaken to death.

Gu Yao simply ignored her, walked around her to the bedside, and lowered her head to examine the patient. At this single glance, her expression immediately darkened.

The young woman's hair was disheveled and her eyes were tightly closed. If not for the heartbeat still displayed on the adjacent electrocardiograph, she would have looked no different from a dead person. Clearly, her condition had not been this severe earlier in the afternoon.

"What on earth happened?" Gu Yao turned her head, spotted the ship's doctor standing nearby, and pointed straight at him. "You, explain."

"This..." The ship's doctor wore a guilty expression and lowered his head before speaking in a low voice, "The condition had been quite stable all along, and the patient was resting properly in bed. It's just that I felt a bit hungry in the evening and went out for a meal. That mother sneaked in, brought her daughter, and ran outside. As they were walking halfway, the cruise ship probably rocked a bit due to instability, and the patient took a fall."

While the two were talking, the middle-aged woman over there suddenly changed direction, catching the few people holding her off guard. She actually managed to break free and lunged forward, throwing herself at the ship's doctor's feet.

"Doctor, I beg you, save my daughter, please!" She reached out to hug the ship's doctor's thigh, crying out repeatedly.

At least she had regained some sense and stopped tormenting her daughter.

The ship's doctor was startled by her sudden move and instinctively stepped backward. However, with someone clinging to his legs, his mobility was restricted. He stumbled and fell ungracefully to the floor.

The middle-aged woman was not thinking clearly at this moment and actually took the opportunity to cling tighter, continuing her pleas. The two of them rolled around on the ground in a tangle resembling a brawl. The scene was overly humiliating, and finally, the ship's doctor lost his patience. He gave the woman a fierce push and managed to struggle to his feet.

Catching his breath, he pointed at her and shouted, "Listen here, Mother, a brilliant neurosurgeon is standing right in front of you, and instead of begging her, you're begging me? If I had the ability to save your daughter, would I have misdiagnosed her with heatstroke this afternoon?!"

As he said this, he felt quite ashamed himself, but saving lives was paramount at the moment, and he could no longer care about such things.

"The person you mentioned... is her?" The middle-aged woman then turned her gaze toward Gu Yao, her face full of disbelief. "A young girl like her, what kind of skills could she possibly have?"

"I'm telling you, this is no time for gender discrimination! Dr. Gu's medical skills rank among the best in the entire country. Normally, it's hard just to get a glimpse of her, let alone have her treat an illness!"

The ship's doctor spoke quickly and urgently, looking utterly exasperated.

"Dr. Gu! Dr. Gu, please, save my daughter!" The middle-aged woman was forced by circumstances to believe the truth now. Being someone who could bow and scrape when necessary, she selectively forgot what happened in the afternoon and instead lunged toward Gu Yao.

However, Gu Yao was not like the ship's doctor, waiting foolishly in place. With a nimble sidestep, she dodged the woman perfectly.

"How much longer until we dock?" Gu Yao turned around and directed this question to Su Yu behind her.

"At least three hours. Because of the rain, heavy fog has appeared at sea, making it impossible to dock normally." Su Yu's expression was solemn. He paused before adding, "I will inform the captain and have him think of another way."

"But the patient cannot wait any longer. She needs surgery immediately." Gu Yao shook her head, then asked the ship's doctor, "How many medical devices and drugs are on the cruise ship? Are they complete?"

The ship's doctor nodded. "Very complete. Previously, a private hospital went bankrupt, and we acquired some of their equipment. It's comparable to a small hospital."

With that, he walked out and pushed open a door opposite the medical room.

Gu Yao went inside, took a look around, and nodded. "Barely adequate."

She strode back, scanned the surroundings, and finally fixed her gaze on the still-weeping middle-aged woman. "Then there is only one last question left. If I perform this surgery, who will guarantee my interests? What happens if I get entangled in trouble or harassed afterward?"

"You—since you're a doctor, your first thought should be saving lives!" The middle-aged woman seemed extremely shocked, stuttering as she spoke.

Gu Yao glanced at her, entirely unmoved. "Although I am a doctor, it does not mean I give up my own rights and interests. I do not trust you. Judging from your previous actions, you are not a person of high moral standing, and you even possess certain flaws in character. Therefore, I believe there is a very high probability that you will act with ingratitude afterward."

She spoke candidly, believing she had already left plenty of leeway, and thus felt nothing improper about her stance.

"You..." The middle-aged woman was suddenly left speechless, her face turning pale and red in alternation.

The atmosphere stagnated right then and there.

The turning point arrived a minute later.

"President Su!" A panting man in a suit ran into the medical room, walked straight up to Su Yu, and respectfully handed over the document in his hand. "These are the items you requested."

"Take this to her." Su Yu glanced at it and pointed to the middle-aged woman standing nearby.

Not understanding what was happening, the middle-aged woman reached out to take it. When she lowered her head to look, it was a medical liability waiver.

"If you want to save your daughter, sign it. Furthermore, I can guarantee you that as long as you cooperate properly, my company will cover all the treatment costs incurred during your daughter's hospitalization." The man looked at her with a cold expression.

"Who are you?" The middle-aged woman looked up, her eyes practically gleaming.

"This is President Su, the CEO of Hangsheng Group, and this cruise ship belongs to him," someone quickly chimed in to explain.

After thinking for a few seconds and knowing she could not miss this opportunity, the middle-aged woman quickly grabbed a pen and signed her name.

"Dr. Gu." Someone took the signed agreement and delivered it to Gu Yao.

"Alright, this will do." After reviewing it and finding it acceptable, she handed it over to a designated person for safekeeping and told Su Yu, "I have one more requirement: the entire surgery must be recorded on video as evidence."

"Very well, no problem."

Once he agreed, Gu Yao said nothing more. She stretched her arms backward, her expression turning solemn. The previous languid aura vanished, replaced by a rigorous and solemn demeanor.

"You, and the two of you, come with me into the operating room." She stared at the ship's doctor and then pointed at two young nurses.

By the time she finished speaking, she had already walked swiftly to the sink to wash and sterilize her hands and arms.

"Do I... have to go in too?" The chubby ship's doctor began to break out in a cold sweat, but quickly shrank his neck cowardly. "Okay, I'll go, I'll go."

As he said this, his entire face crumpled into a bitter expression.

Ever since he began studying medicine, aside from his hospital internship days, he had rarely set foot in an operating room, let alone face an emergency situation like this one.

Although the female doctor before him looked younger than him, her aura was overwhelming, involuntarily instilling fear in him, accompanied by an even greater sense of awe and admiration for someone whose skills far outstripped his own.

Once inside the operating room, this emotion reached its peak.

She was truly a formidable woman, and a doctor of peerless skill. The operating room seemed like her battlefield; here, she exercised total control over the entire situation and ultimately secured victory.

The surgery lasted for a full three hours. The fog had not lifted, and the cruise ship remained stranded at sea, unable to dock.

When the light sign reading 'Surgery in Progress' finally went dark, the ship's doctor was the first to emerge.

His face was covered in sweat, but the excitement in his eyes could not be concealed.

"The surgery was successful, the patient is out of danger!" Facing the crowd gathered around him, he called out with a smile, his voice tinged with a slight choke.

Only those who had truly experienced it firsthand knew how breath-taking the process of this surgery had been, and what kind of miraculous rescue had ultimately been achieved.

When Gu Yao walked out, she finally realized she was on the verge of total exhaustion.

Having no time to deal with the people in front of her, she waved her hand weakly, took off her surgical gown, and collapsed into the nearest chair.

Closing her eyes and leaning back against the chair, she rested for a full ten minutes before recovering slightly. However, the lingering weakness in her limbs remained, as if all her strength had been drained away.

Pressing her brow, she felt a trace of bewilderment. She had previously performed surgeries lasting a full five hours and had only felt slightly tired; why was the toll so severe this time?

After a moment of thought, she let go of the puzzle.

Though she hadn't voiced it, she had indeed been tense. With barely adequate equipment, a crude operating room, and the location being out at sea, performing surgery under such conditions inevitably kept a person's nerves in a state of high tension.

Upon stepping out, the sudden relaxation of that tension naturally resulted in a sense of collapse.

"Doctor..." Someone called out to her from ahead.

Gu Yao opened her eyes and saw the patient's mother, the middle-aged woman, standing right before her.

Hours of agonizing waiting had finally brought a trace of exhaustion to the woman's face. She looked panicked and fragile, no different from any ordinary mother.

"Rest assured, the condition has been initially controlled. Once we reach the hospital, the patient can proceed with the next stage of treatment," Gu Yao said with some fatigue, her voice slightly hoarse.

"Thank you, truly thank you, I, I..." Tears rolled down the mother's face as she covered her cheeks, incoherent in her speech.

"It's nothing." Gu Yao looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and placed a hand over the back of the woman's hand, giving it a gentle pat as she spoke softly, "Go and see your daughter."

The mother nodded tearfully and slowly walked toward the window, gazing at the person inside through the glass for a long time.

Her head spun; she was both cold and hungry. She took out her phone and checked the time—it was already late into the night.

Gu Yao pursed her lips and looked ahead, finally spotting Su Yu not far away, giving instructions to his subordinates.

He was a very tall man in black clothes and long trousers, with rugged short hair. One hand was still casually tucked into his pants pocket, and the muscles on his arms under his half-sleeves showed clean, handsome lines. Overall, he exuded an aura that was both aloof and sharply formidable.

Looking purely at his exterior, one could hardly guess he was a businessman.

Could he have been waiting here all this time? Given his status, he certainly didn't need to do such a thing. What an odd fellow.

Thinking this, Gu Yao raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

As if he had eyes on the back of his head, the man suddenly turned and looked over. He possessed exceptionally striking eyes, though the chill within them was enough to make one shudder.

However, upon realizing it was her, that chill vanished. He raised a hand to pause the words of his subordinate, strode over to stand directly before her, lowered his head slightly, and spoke in a calm tone: "Go rest first. You must be exhausted."

"No need, please step aside." Gu Yao waved a hand, meeting his gaze candidly. Though her body lacked strength, her presence remained formidable.