Tao was absorbed in the examination of a child, looking down and unable to see the precipitate danger. Another child's mother put herself in front of Tao, and she and his colleague Liu were hurt while trying to protect him. Yang Shuo, another oculist, rushed into Tao's office and grabbed Cui from behind, so that Tao could escape to the sixth floor, where the attacker was finally seized after giving chase. Yang had one of his hands wounded and lost part of an ear, but resumed work the next day.

Tao, however, was not so fortunate. His operation lasted seven hours. The attacker had fractured his left hand and the occipital bone, severed the nerves, muscles and blood vessels on his left arm and inflicted severe skull trauma. He had lost 1.5 liters of blood and had to stay in the ICU for two weeks before finally being transferred to a ward.

Although he tried to comfort his visitors-his wife, parents and friends-the cleaning staff at the ICU saw him looking at his hand and crying through the night. Even with most active rehabilitation, Tao may never be able to perform precision eye surgery again.

When he began to feel better-even though his head was still swollen-he started writing the postscript of his new book, The Clinical Application of Intraocular Fluid Detection, which is based on his eight-year experience in treating uveitis.

Tao says he was surprised to learn that Cui was the attacker from his colleague Hu Xiaofeng, who visited him at hospital.

"Why did he do it? We treated him pretty well," Tao asked Hu, who didn't know what to say.

When Cui had his first consultation with Tao, he was nearly blind, despite three surgeries to fix his detached retina. Tao told Cui at the time that he needed an operation to save the eyes, but it was unlikely to fully restore his eyesight.

At the end of 2019, Tao spent two hours repairing Cui's retina and improved his eyesight to the highest degree possible, as per his professional evaluation. However, Cui was unsatisfied and, after complaining to the hospital authority, was referred to Yang Shuo, who examined him and declared the surgery successful.

Cui then returned to Tao during his recovery and was given a free laser treatment. Still unhappy, Cui complained again. When he did not receive the answer he desired, he vented his dissatisfaction in the most heinous way.

"When I performed the surgery, I endured back pain due to a previous operation on my lumbar region where I got six pins inserted," Tao recalls. "But we saved him a lot of money and improved his eyesight well enough for him to chase me downstairs."

Tao adds: "I don't want to become a hater like him. I want to show him that the world is not as dark as he thinks."

Cui was arrested after the attack and a police investigation is ongoing.

On Jan 26, not long after recovering from surgery, Tao composed a poem-My Dream-from the perspective of the kids he treated which expresses their yearning for light. He says, going forward, he wants to help blind children support themselves through poetry and its recital.

The poem and Tao's kindness has touched hundreds of thousands of people online. Many sent their best wishes. One day, he admits, he almost burst into tears after seeing flowers from strangers crowding in the corridor outside his ward.