Chapter 657 — The Cause of the Coma

Yet Shen Yushu's account differed in no way from what the other students had said: they had finished their meal in the cafeteria, returned to the classroom, and before long begun to show symptoms of fainting and loss of consciousness...

At first, Dr. Li, the school physician, had also suspected that the students' comas were caused by food poisoning — after all, the symptoms had appeared only after they ate lunch. But this judgment could not withstand scrutiny, for the afflicted students made up only a tiny fraction of those who had eaten in the cafeteria; to date there were merely twenty-eight of them.

That being so, the likelihood of food poisoning shrank considerably — otherwise, why should the other students be perfectly fine? And to claim that some particular dish was to blame was equally implausible, for surely no single dish would have been eaten by exactly twenty-eight students.

The precise cause of the comas, therefore, could only be determined after they reached the hospital.

The ambulances tore down the road, sirens wailing, running several red lights in succession. Such a convoy of ambulances was a rare sight, yet the other vehicles on the road all steered clear of their own accord. To dispatch so many ambulances at once clearly meant something grave had happened.

Ding Binggong marshaled his words and dialed Gu Pengzhan's number. With an incident this serious at the school, he had to inform the chairman; and since Gu Mengyao was among the comatose students, it was all the more imperative that he notify Gu Pengzhan.

Gu Pengzhan was in a meeting at that moment. His phone rang, and he had not intended to answer, but when he saw the caller ID — the three characters "Ding Binggong" — he picked up after all. Under ordinary circumstances, apart from coming to the group headquarters every week to deliver his report, Ding Binggong seldom called him.

If it was not a matter of business, then something must have happened to Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, or Wei Zhao — only that would prompt him to call in person. At the thought, Gu Pengzhan gestured to the others to wait and answered the phone: "Principal Ding, what is it? I'm in a meeting..."

Gu Pengzhan's meaning was plain enough: if Ding Binggong had nothing important, he could call back later.

"Chairman Chu, something has happened at the school!" Ding Binggong said gravely. "During the noon break, twenty-eight students suddenly collapsed into comas in their classrooms for unknown reasons — and Gu Mengyao is among them..."

"What!" Gu Pengzhan sprang to his feet without thinking. Ding Binggong's news had already been shocking enough — more than twenty students collapsing at once was an event unprecedented since the school's founding, and if it were mishandled, it would deal a severe blow to the school's reputation and even to the group's credibility.

But what worried Gu Pengzhan most was the safety of his daughter, Gu Mengyao. Gu Mengyao was a part of his very life; with her among the comatose, how could he have any mind to continue the meeting? He waved a hand, signaling that everyone was dismissed for now: "The meeting is suspended. Li Fu, come out with me!"

"Yes, Mr. Gu!" Qing Bo nodded and followed Gu Pengzhan out of the conference room. As Gu Pengzhan's trusted aide, he had naturally sensed the man's agitation — plainly something unforeseen had occurred.

In the present Pengzhan Group, Gu Pengzhan's word was law; no one dared raise a discordant voice. The abrupt departures of Xie Guangbo and Jin Gubang were still fresh in memory — how could these newly arrived shareholders fail to tread as warily as on thin ice?

Seeing that Gu Pengzhan had business to attend to, none of them dared ask more. Only some time after he had left did they file out of the conference room one by one and return to their offices.

Gu Pengzhan, his brows tightly knit, held the phone and asked in a low voice, "Is Yaoyao all right? Is she in danger?"

"Mr. Gu, that is still unclear. We are about to reach the hospital — only a few minutes' drive now," Ding Binggong said.

"All right. Which hospital? I'll be there at once!" Anxious as Gu Pengzhan was, there was nothing he could do.

"The Municipal Second People's Hospital," Ding Binggong said.

The finest hospitals in the city were the First People's Hospital and the Second People's Hospital. But because the First had been established longer and had the more venerable credentials, many people held it in higher regard than the Second.

The Second People's Hospital, however, had been split off from the First. After the First received an injection of capital from Guan Xuemin's son and his Mingyang Healthcare Group, the Second People's Hospital was founded; its doctors had come over from the First, and its medical facilities were newly purchased, so many young people had begun to accept the Second People's Hospital as well.

"All right, I understand." Gu Pengzhan hung up and said to Qing Bo, "To the Second People's Hospital! Yaoyao has collapsed, and twenty-eight students at the school have collapsed for unknown reasons as well. We're going there at once!"

"Yes, Mr. Gu!" Hearing that Gu Mengyao had also collapsed, Qing Bo hurriedly started the car and raced all the way toward the Second People's Hospital.

Five minutes later, the ambulances pulled up one after another at the entrance of the Second People's Hospital, where medical staff were already waiting. They wheeled the comatose students into the emergency room one by one.

Shen Yushu accompanied Gu Mengyao to the door of the emergency room. Only when the doctor told her that the patient's family could wait outside did Shen Yushu reluctantly let go of Gu Mengyao's hand: "Sister Yaoyao, you have to hold on!"

Ding Binggong, Wang Zhifeng, and Shen Yushu kept anxious vigil at the door of the emergency room, waiting for the results to come out.

"Principal Ding, Director Wang, Xiaoshu!" Gu Pengzhan soon arrived at the hospital as well. Spotting the three outside the emergency room, he strode over, while Qing Bo anxiously kept pace beside him...

"Mr. Gu!"

"Uncle Chu!"

Ding Binggong, Wang Zhifeng, and Shen Yushu called out at the same time.

Ding Binggong said to Gu Pengzhan with a bitter smile, "They're all in the emergency room. We still don't know the results!"

Gu Pengzhan nodded, his face equally anxious: "How are things at the school? You must keep it steady — whatever you do, don't let unnecessary panic spread among the students!"

"That won't happen. It's already been contained within a small scope!" Ding Binggong nodded. "It's only the students' parents — do we need to notify them?"

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