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Join the ServerThe doctor looked at her silent expression, her voice deepening.
“Do you think you are who to her? A parent? A guardian?”
Lin Qingxue shook her head with a hint of confusion.
“Doctor, didn’t you ask this before? I am… a friend.”
“A friend?”
The doctor took the X-ray down from the light box and placed it back in the paper bag, her voice carrying an unmistakable seriousness.
“A college student, taking care of a disabled child with no identity and no guardian?”
“Do you know what these injuries mean?”
“It means someone is abusing her.”
“Just now I had a rough guess, but after the examination, it’s worse than I imagined.”
“This is not an accident, not a fall. It was intentional.”
“If I don’t report this, she might not make it next time.”
Lin Qingxue’s face turned pale.
She opened her mouth but couldn’t speak.
The doctor took a deep breath, her tone softening slightly but still serious.
“Here’s what we’ll do.”
“I can see that child is quite resistant to going to a welfare home and still wants to stay with you.”
“Provide a copy of your ID, and I’ll keep it on file.”
“At the same time, you need to sign a consent form for regular home visits.”
“We will arrange for a social worker or nurse to come check on her condition once a week.”
“If new injuries are found, or if her condition does not improve, I will directly call the police.”
“And contact welfare agencies.”
“At that point, you will not only lose her but also face legal liability.”
Lin Qingxue was stunned.
Regular home visits?
Someone coming to check every week?
She nodded. “Okay, I’ll sign.”
The doctor pulled a document from a drawer and slid it in front of Lin Qingxue.
Lin Qingxue took the pen and wrote her name on the signature line.
The doctor shook her head, her voice flat.
“Not just signing your name.”
“I need a copy of your ID.”
“Go to the front desk, make a copy, paste it here, and then press your fingerprint.”
Lin Qingxue froze.
Press a fingerprint? She looked at the doctor’s stern expression and knew there was no room for negotiation.
She stood up, holding Su Yutao, and went to the front desk to copy her ID.
The nurse at the front desk glanced at her ID.
Then glanced at Su Yutao in her arms, her expression complicated but she didn’t ask.
Lin Qingxue brought the copy back, and the doctor attached it to the document.
Then she took out an ink pad from the drawer and had Lin Qingxue press her fingerprint on the copy and the signature.
The bright red fingerprint on the white paper was startling.
The doctor put the document away and said, “Starting next week, someone will go to your home.
I will come personally the first time.
If her injuries don’t improve by then, or if you can’t explain them, I will call the police directly.”
She paused.
“You’re a college student. You can’t take care of her.”
“She needs professional medical and psychological help. She needs someone to help her find her family.”
“Think it over. The welfare home is not a monster.”
Lin Qingxue lowered her head, holding Su Yutao, and said nothing.
Su Yutao curled up in her arms, clutching Qiansui, trembling all over. She had heard it, “welfare home.”
The doctor mentioned it again.
She wanted to go. She really did.
She wanted to leave here, leave that person, leave the nighttime person.
She just had to endure a few more days.
She could endure.
The doctor glanced at them, sighed, and wrote out some prescriptions and a rehabilitation plan, then said, “I’ll examine her eyes and throat too, since you’re here.”
Lin Qingxue nodded.
The doctor walked up to Su Yutao and said softly, “Little one, let Auntie look at your eyes. It won’t hurt.”
She shined a penlight into Su Yutao’s eyes. The pupils reacted to light, but her eyes didn’t track.
She then used an ophthalmoscope to examine the fundus, frowned, turned off the light, and said to Lin Qingxue, “The eyes are congenital optic nerve hypoplasia. No signs of trauma.”
“This condition means she has been blind since birth, not acquired later.”
“There is currently no medical cure.”
Lin Qingxue was stunned.
“Congenital?”
“Blind since birth?”
She thought of Su Yutao fumbling in the dark, huddled in corners trembling.
She didn’t go blind later. She had always been blind.
From birth, this world had been dark.
The doctor then had Su Yutao open her mouth, pressed down her tongue with a tongue depressor, and looked at her throat.
“Ah…”
Su Yutao made a hoarse airflow sound. Her vocal cords vibrated, but no sound came out.
The doctor asked her to cough. She coughed once, with strong airflow, but the sound was still muffled.
The doctor put down the tongue depressor and said, “As for her throat, there is a possibility of recovery.”
“From the laryngoscopy, the vocal cords themselves have no organic damage. It should be neurogenic mutism caused by trauma.”
“Possibly from smoke inhalation or severe stimulation.”
“With systematic speech therapy, combined with acupuncture and nerve repair treatment, there is hope for restoring vocal function.”
Lin Qingxue’s eyes lit up. “It can be treated?”
The doctor said, “There is hope, but no guarantee.”
“It requires evaluation by a professional speech therapist, and the treatment period is long, at least six months to a year.”
“And the cost is not low.”
Lin Qingxue nodded. “I will take her.”
The doctor looked at her, said nothing more, wrote a few lines in the medical record, and then said, “Go pay and pick up the medicine first.”
“Come back next week for a shoulder checkup, and also make an appointment with the ENT department for a detailed examination.”
Lin Qingxue took the medical record, bent down, and lifted Su Yutao from the bed.
Su Yutao leaned against her, holding Qiansui, still trembling slightly.
She had heard what the doctor said, her eyes couldn’t be cured, her throat might recover.
She didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.
She had been blind for so long, she was used to it.
Mute for so long, she was used to it.
But the doctor said there was hope for recovery. She didn’t dare believe it. She feared that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
Qiansui whispered in her ear, “Your throat can be healed! You’ll be able to speak in the future!”
Su Yutao hugged Qiansui tighter.
Able to speak.
She could speak.
She could curse back, call for help, tell the daytime her what the nighttime person did.
No no, I shouldn’t think about winning her over. I need to go back.
What’s the use of telling him? Then the nighttime person will just alter my memory again.
Once this damn task is done, I must redeem an item to kill her.
Better just destroy Black Snow.
For now, she could only pin her hopes on the way back.
Lin Qingxue carried her out of the consultation room to pay and pick up the medicine.
Then they walked out of the hospital gate. The sunlight hit their faces, warm.
Su Yutao leaned in her shoulder, eyes closed, her mind in a mess.
Her shoulder would be ruined. Her eyes couldn’t be cured. Her throat might recover.
She didn’t know how much longer her body could hold out, whether she could last until the day she went back.
…
Coming out of the hospital, the sunlight felt warmer.
Su Yutao leaned in Lin Qingxue’s arms, holding Qiansui, still curled up.
Her right shoulder was fixed with a bandage, her arm pressed against her body, not daring to move.
The gauze on her ear had been changed, white, very noticeable against her white hair.
Lin Qingxue looked down at her. The little blind girl’s face was as pale as paper.
The collar of her oversized T恤 had slipped to one side, revealing the thick bandage on her shoulder.
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