On that bright afternoon on December 30, 2010, a chilling tension permeated a special care ward at Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing.
The patient on the hospital bed, Shi Tiesheng, was already on the verge of life and death, his body was spasming violently, and his skin showed a strange scarlet hue due to excessive blood penetration.
At the same time, the various medical devices hanging from his body endlessly emitted a high-pitched warning sound, and the numbers on the blood pressure monitor fluctuated like a roller coaster.
At such a grim moment, a puzzling scene appeared - Shi Tiesheng's relatives only quietly clasped his hands, and did not send a signal for help to the medical staff.
What was even more shocking was that the doctors present were indifferent and watched the dying patient's life die in agony.
Just when everyone thought that Shi Tiesheng was about to say goodbye to this world forever, there was a rush of footsteps in the corridor outside the ward. In an instant, a group of staff members dressed in Red Cross uniforms rushed to the scene, but it was too late, and Stetson had already lost signs of life.
It is hard to understand why the families did not do this, and on what grounds did the doctors choose to ignore it? It was only later that it was learned that it was due to a personal belief in Stetson's decision to donate his body after his death to give hope to those in need.
Shi Tiesheng has been suffering from diseases since the day he fell to the ground, and congenital spina bifida, kidney disease, uremia and other stubborn diseases have accompanied him like a nightmare, enough to destroy the will of any ordinary person.
However, with his perseverance, he spent more than 30 years of spring and autumn in the torment of illness.
In 1971, Shi Tiesheng, who was in the prime of his youth, suffered a recurrence of congenital spina bifida. In just two years, he went from being an able-bodied young man to a disabled person who had to rely on a wheelchair to get by.
"Fate waited for me to come to earth, waited for me to enter the prime of life, and then suddenly and cruelly took my legs. Shi Tiesheng was full of emotion. Since then, his life has been locked in a cramped living room.
The young and vigorous Shi Tiesheng was full of anger, his temperament became extremely irritable, his emotions fell to the bottom, and he constantly questioned why he was born into this world.
Just when he was in the middle of endless gloom, fate opened new windows to him! Ditan Park, where boundless silence and hustle and bustle coexisted, was like a unique picture, quietly waiting for him to savor.
The wild flowers and weeds there grew silently beside the roadside stones, the ants and ladybugs seemed to revel in the warm sunlight, and the morning dew fell happily from the green leaves, playing a subtle and moving movement.
In 1981, Stetson was again diagnosed with severe kidney disease and had to quit his job to recuperate at home. However, it was this period of forced stagnation that gave him more time to devote himself to the world of literary creation.
In 1983, his novel "My Distant Qingping Bay" came out as scheduled, with its true and vivid brushstrokes, delicately depicting the charming customs of the Loess Plateau, like a majestic picture scroll in front of the world.
Let's go back more than a decade. At that time, a Shaanxi girl named Chen Ximi happened to read Shi Tiesheng's debut novel "The Fate of Love".
Chen Ximi was amazed by Shi Tiesheng's outstanding literary talent in the work, and she was fascinated by it, so she mustered up the courage to take the initiative to approach her literary idol, and the two began to exchange letters and quickly established a deep friendship.
A few years later, when Chen Ximi learned that her idol Shi Tiesheng's condition was deteriorating day by day, she resolutely made a decision - to leave her hometown of Shaanxi and cross thousands of mountains and rivers, just to be able to witness the character who only existed in words.
On a quiet night in 1994, when Chen Ximi first stepped into Shi Tiesheng's hospital room, she did not hesitate to choose to spend the rest of her life with the person she had met in writing.
Since then, Chen Ximi has been getting up every two hours to turn over Shi Tiesheng and change his medicine and nutrient solution. Despite all this hard work, she persevered for more than 20 years and never flinched.
It is precisely because of her selfless love and care that Shi Tiesheng was able to spare precious time to create such popular prose masterpieces as "Me and the Altar of Earth".
As his condition gradually deteriorated, Shi Tiesheng, who had reached the age of no doubt, had to undergo dialysis therapy on the advice of his doctor. After each long and painful dialysis process, the hideous and protruding veins always make Chen Ximi feel endless distress.
Faced with such a tragic situation for her lover, her eyes are often full of affectionate tears. However, even in such a difficult moment, Chen Ximi never complained in the slightest, but redoubled her care and patience to take care of her seriously ill husband.
Whenever he returns to the warm family, Chen Ximi will always take care of Shi Tiesheng's daily life in strict accordance with the doctor's instructions. Despite the countless challenges and difficulties in life, they showed the great power of love with practical actions, and wrote a moving story between life and death.
On the afternoon of December 30, 2010, Stetson went to the hospital for dialysis treatment once a week as usual. After a short rest, he set out on his way home.
Everything seems to be as calm as water, but no one expected that fate would show a cruel face to him on this day.
Not long after stepping into the house, Shi Tiesheng suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, like a sharp knife cutting wildly inside his brain.
When night fell, he fell into a deep coma.
Faced with such an urgent situation, Chen Ximi and other relatives immediately sent Shi Tiesheng to Chaoyang Hospital for rescue.
After a meticulous examination, Professor Ling Feng, a well-known brain surgeon, revealed the real cause of Shi Tiesheng's headache - he unfortunately suffered from the fatal disease of "cerebral hemorrhage".
At this critical moment, Shi Tiesheng's life was already in an extremely dangerous situation, almost on the verge of death.
Hearing this bad news, Chen Ximi burst into tears, but she quickly recovered from her grief and had an in-depth exchange with Professor Ling Feng. In the end, under the joint decision of both parties, Shi Tiesheng was transferred to another hospital with more advanced equipment to continue his treatment.
It turned out that many years ago, during the long and arduous struggle with uremia, Shi Tiesheng had foreseen that his life might come to an abrupt end at some point.
Therefore, he once confided in his wife Chen Ximi a wish: I hope that after his death, Chen Ximi can sign a donation agreement on his behalf and donate his body to bring hope to others.
After a lot of hard work, Professor Ling Feng finally found a patient who was in urgent need of a liver transplant, and Shi Tiesheng's liver undoubtedly has great potential to save lives! However, unfortunately, the distance between Tianjin and Beijing, where the patient is located, is relatively far away, and it seems that there is no guarantee that Shi Tiesheng will be able to support the liver transplant until the moment when the liver transplant operation is officially launched.
Faced with such a serious challenge, Ms. Chen Ximi, after a moment of contemplation, unswervingly expressed her belief to Professor Ling Feng: "I believe deeply in Tie Sheng and beg the hospital to prolong his life at all costs.
As a result, Shi Tiesheng was immediately transferred to Beijing Xuanwu Hospital for treatment. There, his brain hemorrhage had reached an extremely severe level, and the severe pain caused by the blood pressing on the fragile brain tissue caused him to convulse from the pain even though he was in a coma, and his face was unusually red and swollen due to overfilling with blood.
Although the hospital has done its best, whether it can successfully extend Shi Tiesheng's life until the arrival of Tianjin Red Cross rescuers ultimately depends on his own tenacious will and perseverance.
Ms. Chen Ximi clasped her husband's hands, hoping that the warmth transmitted between the palms of her hands would inject endless courage into her lover who was on the verge of death.
In Shi Tiesheng's long and bumpy life journey, in addition to the deep love of his wife Chen Ximi, his mother's selfless care is also a powerful driving force to push him forward.
When he was young, Shi Tiesheng suffered from a variety of serious diseases such as congenital spina bifida, kidney disease, and uremia, which tortured him mercilessly like a demon.
In those most difficult and difficult years, the only person who gave him warmth and care was his poor but affectionate mother.
His mother worked hard day and night, taking care of her disabled son, changing his medicine, turning over and changing his position, and taking care of Shi Tiesheng's daily life.
Whenever he saw his mother's bloodshot eyes, Shi Tiesheng could always feel the warmth of his mother's love and her deep concern for himself.
However, fate never seemed to be kind to Shi Tiesheng, and just as he was about to face the future positively, his mother died of the fatal disease of cirrhosis.
This heavy blow was not until many years later, when his sister Shi Lan revealed it, for Shi Tiesheng, he felt deep guilt and self-blame for his mother's death, perhaps it was because of his long-term worry and anxiety that his mother was finally ruthlessly killed by cirrhosis.
Since then, Shi Tiesheng's literary creations have always been full of deep nostalgia and longing for his mother, and he expresses his endless attachment to her in a unique way.
Shi Tiesheng is undoubtedly painful for the death of his mother, but at the same time, this deep maternal love has also become a powerful motivation for him to devote himself to literary creation and use words to explore the meaning of life.
As he says in his work, "It inspired me to set a kind of purpose in life. Despite suffering from illness, Shi Tiesheng wrote an immortal literary chapter with perseverance and optimism, and won the respect of future generations.
After a long period of dialysis, Shi Tiesheng spent four years to complete a collection of essays with a length of 200,000 words - "Broken Pen in the Sick Gap".
This work records in detail his profound insights in the process of fighting the disease, hoping to find the courage and strength to survive in the difficult situation for future generations.
At that time, Shi Tiesheng's physical condition was extremely weak, but he still firmly recorded these precious experiences, as if he was using words to engage in a life-and-death contest with death.
Over time, the manuscript accumulated and finally came out four years later, in 1993.
In addition to "Broken Pen in the Sick Gap", Shi Tiesheng's other works have also received widespread acclaim. As early as 1983, he became a household name literary giant with his novel "My Distant Qingping Bay".
With affectionate and delicate brushstrokes, this monumental work vividly depicts the intoxicating customs of the Loess Plateau, as if leading the reader into a magnificent and vast picture.
It is true that, as Mo Yan, an outstanding contemporary literary giant, said in his comments on Shi Tiesheng: "I am full of deep admiration for Shi Tiesheng, because he is not only a talented writer, but also a great man with noble qualities!"