Pinhole

Li Xiaomei knelt on the ground, her head buried deep between her legs, like an ostrich hiding all her fear and grievances in the darkness. Her body trembled slightly, and her white nurse's uniform spread out on the cold hospital tiles, like a helpless flower.

"Please, I beg you, forgive me! I really didn't mean to..." Li Xiaomei's voice was choked with sobs, repeating the words she had said countless times.

In front of her, patient Wang Daye, his face ashen, still had a trace of blood on the back of his hand. It was a tiny pinhole, a seemingly insignificant wound on Wang Daye's rough skin. But this tiny pinhole had plunged Li Xiaomei into the biggest crisis of her career.

"Didn't mean to? You can draw blood without meaning to? You're disregarding human life!" Wang Daye's son, Wang Qiang, a tall and sturdy middle-aged man, roared beside him. His voice echoed in the empty corridor, attracting a crowd of onlookers.

Li Xiaomei didn't dare to look up. She knew that if she did, she would see Wang Qiang's angry, distorted face and the cold glint in Wang Daye's eyes. She was even more afraid of seeing the onlookers, their eyes filled with sympathy, disdain, or schadenfreude, like sharp knives, cutting into her dignity.

The cause of the incident was simple. When Li Xiaomei removed the IV needle from Wang Daye after the infusion, a little blood came out. This was a perfectly normal occurrence, something every nurse might encounter. But Wang Daye wouldn't let it go, insisting that Li Xiaomei's technique was poor and her attitude was bad, and he threatened to file a complaint against her.

Li Xiaomei was terrified. She knew all too well what the word "complaint" meant. In this hospital, the patient was God, and a complaint was the Sword of Damocles hanging over the nurses' heads. A complaint could lead to a deduction in bonus, a written self-criticism, or even the loss of one's job.

She kept apologizing and explaining, but Wang Daye's family wouldn't listen. Wang Qiang even took out his phone and started recording Li Xiaomei, claiming he would post it online and make her "famous."

Under immense pressure, Li Xiaomei broke down. She knelt down with a thud and began to "kneel and beg for forgiveness."

This scene was captured by a passing patient and posted online. Soon, the video of the "nurse kneeling and begging for forgiveness" went viral, causing a huge uproar.

Public opinion was divided. Some people condemned Wang Daye's family for making a fuss over a minor issue and bullying the nurse; others believed that Li Xiaomei's kneeling was a "loss of medical ethics" and a disgrace to the entire medical profession.

The hospital leadership couldn't sit still either, and they held an emergency meeting overnight. To quell public opinion, they decided to take serious action against Li Xiaomei: suspension pending investigation, a public apology, and compensation to Wang Daye for emotional distress.

Li Xiaomei became the target of public criticism, pushed to the forefront of the storm, and became the victim of this absurd farce.

A few days later, Li Xiaomei resigned. She left the hospital that had exhausted her, and she also left the nursing profession that she had once loved.

Before leaving, she sent a text message to Wang Daye: "Wang Daye, I'm leaving. The pinhole on the back of your hand should be healed by now, right? Actually, I have a pinhole in my heart too, and it will never heal."

Wang Daye didn't reply.

A few months later, Wang Daye was admitted to the same hospital again due to a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. The person who gave him the infusion was a young male nurse.

The male nurse's technique was very skilled, and not a drop of blood came out when he removed the needle. Wang Daye was very satisfied and praised him repeatedly.

The male nurse smiled and said, "Uncle, do you know? Actually, whether or not there's bleeding when removing a needle doesn't have much to do with technique. It mainly depends on the elasticity of the blood vessels. Your blood vessels are relatively fragile and prone to bleeding, which is normal. The nurse from last time, she was actually quite wronged..."

Wang Daye was stunned. He looked at the healed pinhole on the back of his hand, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

The male nurse packed up his things and prepared to leave. When he reached the door, he suddenly turned around and said to Wang Daye, "By the way, Uncle, my name is Zhang Qiang, Wang Qiang's younger brother."

Wang Daye's eyes widened suddenly. He looked at Zhang Qiang's seemingly smiling face and suddenly understood something.

He wanted to say something, but his throat felt like it was blocked by a ball of cotton, and he couldn't utter a word.

Zhang Qiang left, and Wang Daye was left alone in the ward. He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. A pinhole seemed to appear on the ceiling, growing bigger and bigger, eventually turning into a black hole that swallowed him up...