Zheng Ren was speechless. "Why is it my turn again?"
"O great doctor, don't be cheap." Chu Yanzhi smiled brightly. "Look at his face! I told you he would have a heart attack if we asked him to pay for it."
"..."
"She's pulling your leg. We'll have dinner together and bring back some for you," Chu Yanran told Zheng Ren as she tugged her sister's arm.
Zheng Ren relaxed after hearing Chu Yanran's explanation.
"What great doctor? I'm just a measly hospital worker," he clarified.
"We gotta get Su Yun. He's in the ICU. He says the patient is more or less stable. Can you go check on him and pick him up for dinner? Get changed and we can leave soon," Chu Yanzhi said.
When did Chu Yanzhi develop respect for her seniors?
Zheng Ren pondered it for a while. He had wanted to check on the patient in an hour but now was fine as well.
He put on his white coat and went to the ICU with the four women in tow.
It was an odd combination. All four women with different personalities chatted away behind him, turning heads as they passed.
There was an indoor corridor connecting the emergency department and the inpatient wards, used to avoid having to wheel the patient through cold weather. That would be inconceivable.
The ICU was on the sixteenth floor of the First Inpatient Block. There were four elevators, one specifically for the transport of patients and three others that all went to specific floors.
A few minutes later, the elevator to the fifteenth floor opened. A few others got into the elevator without hesitation and they followed suit.
Although the elevator did not reach the sixteenth floor, Zheng Ren did not mind taking the stairs up another flight. Who knew how long they had to wait for the next one.
Ding dong~ The elevator reached the fifteenth floor. The elevator voice sounded very much like the System and Zheng Ren was momentarily startled.
They got off the elevator and went up the fire escape.
Suddenly, Chang Yue slowed down in front of him. She turned to one side and her ponytail swept across the air.
Oh? Zheng Ren had a bad feeling about this.
He was not wrong. Chang Yue's gaze was fixed on a silhouette on the fifteenth floor window ledge. The cold wind gently c.a.r.e.s.sed black locks of hair as snow danced in the air. It was truly forlorn.
Chang Yue said nothing to the others and stalked forward like a cat., approaching the person by the window.
Xie Yiren was oblivious to the situation. As she opened her mouth to speak, Zheng Ren tugged her back and placed a hand over her mouth. Xie Yiren was about to struggle when he said, "Quiet."
She hesitated, then froze.
"Look there," Zheng Ren whispered in a low voice as he released her. He pointed at the silhouette and backtracked a few steps to press himself flat against the fire exit.
Xie Yiren, Chu Yanran and Chu Yanzhi followed him. They moved quietly, afraid to startle the figure.
The person was suicidal… Zheng Ren felt panic rise in him.
Every year, the hospital had several suicides. Once, a patient diagnosed with cancer came in for a checkup, then leapt from the top floor of the building. The family was on the first floor and taped the whole incident. In the end, they tried to extort the hospital for a few hundred thousand yuan.
The hospital administration then was hard-headed and fought the family for three years in court. Eventually, the family lost interest in pursuing the lawsuit.
That was the exception. Many patients lost their will to live after learning they had cancer and took their lives.
However… Cancer was not a death sentence. As medical practitioners, they had to present the brightest prospects possible to patients.
There was no one else there. The illumination of the corridor lights was in stark contrast to the lonely darkness outside.
They huddled in the unlit corner as Chang Yue approached the figure. When she was a few feet away, she coughed softly.
This was the critical point. The consequences were dire if the person reacted badly and jumped.
The figure was not startled. Things had not escalated yet.
When it was clear that her approach was not interpreted as being hostile, Chang Yue slowly inched forward.
Throughout the process, Chang Yue was incredibly calm and collected. She reached the window ledge and sat down with her knees curled up. Her movements were relaxed as if she was simply enjoying a warm afternoon sun on a winter day from the inside of the building.
Zheng Ren was thoroughly impressed by this junior doctor.
How was she going to start the conversation?
They were meters away from the two and could only see Chang Yue's lips moving silently.
"What is Sister Yue doing?" Xie Yiren asked under her breath.
"Persuading the patient to not jump," Zheng Ren replied in an equally hushed voice. He was worried that any sudden movement might undo Chang Yue's efforts. "Watch but don't speak."
A few minutes later, Chang Yue c.o.c.ked her head to show them a gesture, fingers to her lips as if smoking a cigarette.
Zheng Ren picked up her cue and got out his packet of Ziyuns. He pushed a lighter into the half-empty pack and slid it across the floor to her.
With a surgeon's accuracy, the cigarette pack skidded silently across the floor and stopped right before Chang Yue.
She picked up the packet and lit a cigarette, then passed it to the sitting figure.
When they accepted the cigarette, Zheng Ren exhaled in relief.
Chang Yue was visibly making some headway with the woman. Zheng Ren saluted her. She was truly a capable person, one who had once managed to lower the defenses of a murderous cheater and convince him to go to jail for his actions.
Amazing!
In terms of patient communication, Zheng Ren felt that his abilities were merely acceptable.
Compared to other surgeons, he would consider himself above average, though not by much.
However, Chang Yue was in a totally different league altogether. His communication skills were puny compared to hers.
Zheng Ren was not a good liar and definitely would not be able to hold a casual conversation with murderers, let alone convince them to turn themselves in.
This current situation was another display of Chang Yue's capabilities.
On this dark, wintry night, snow piled up outside as lights flickered to life in buildings. A life was on the line.
Their bleak outlook was slowly altered with Chang Yue's ministrations. She had an easygoing and friendly smile on her face as she talked to the woman. The night seemed a little less dark.
Chang Yue was normally average-looking but now beamed with genuine compassion that made her face glow. It was a likable disposition.
Soon, a peal of laughter echoed from outside and everyone in the corner was relieved. Things appeared to be handled.
Occasionally, a patient or visitor would walk by and give Chang Yue and the woman outside an odd glance.
A few minutes later, Chang Yue helped the woman into the building. Their chatter resumed as if they were long-lost childhood friends.
Zheng Ren felt nothing but admiration for her.
Chapter 100 - A Moment Where Strangers Turn to Friends
The woman was in her mid-thirties but looked younger than that. However, she had thinning hair.
Zheng Ren assumed it to be the side effects of chemotherapy.
There was a light-hearted smile on her face as she walked over with Chang Yue.
"Hey, why are you guys hiding like rats?" Chang Yue asked with a laugh.
Zheng Ren gave them a dumb smile and stayed mum. He did not know the details and decided to play it safe.
"Let's get Su Yun and go to dinner," Chang Yue said as she returned the cigarettes to Zheng Ren. "This chief resident of ours is just embarrassing. Leaving a half-packet on the floor like that."
"You…" Zheng Ren opened his mouth, then promptly closed it.
He reigned in his emotions and berated himself for being hot-headed. Nevertheless, he was worried about the woman tagging along. What if the woman did something drastic after dinner and some drinks? Would they be safe?
Chang Yue had a bright smile on her face.
"A minor misdemeanor. Come on, I'm starving after that little breeze."
"Okay, let's get Su Yun." Zheng Ren played along with her antics. He was not going to doubt her now.
Zheng Ren usually took a light year to build relationsh.i.p.s with strangers until they were friends. Chang Yue managed it in a blink of an eye.
That was the difference between them.
Only Zheng Ren was in his white coat, so he went in to get Su Yun.
The man was a slowpoke. Perhaps he should add Su Yun in the WeChat group for convenience's sake.
Zheng Ren had qualms with the dashing Su Yun even though the man was only doing his job checking up on patients post-surgery. He could pick up surgical skills just from a visual demonstration, after all.
In the ICU, Zheng Ren saw Su Yun seated between two hospital beds, monitoring patients' vital signs.
Zheng Ren greeted the ICU nurses and approached Su Yun. "How's everything?"
In the top right corner of his vision, the System notified him that both patients were stable and the symptoms of hemorrhagic shock had reversed.
They were still connected to ventilators to aid breathing. It took some burden off their heavily-injured bodies. Zheng Ren expected the tubes would be removed tomorrow.
"They're stable now," Su Yun said. He brushed dark curls from his forehead.
"You don't need to monitor them overnight."
"The ICU has on-call doctors. I'm an emergency department doctor, so I'll monitor them for only two hours post-surgery," Su Yun said stoically. The line alone chilled the ICU.
A few people were staring daggers at Zheng Ren.
He shuddered involuntarily.
"Let's go." Su Yun stood up and dusted his coat. Without a glance back, he headed straight for the ICU exit.
Zheng Ren felt imaginary daggers cut into his skin and quickly ran after Su Yun. He wanted to get out of this bloody ICU.
As they changed their outfits, Su Yun asked, "Why were you looking for me?"
"Ah, didn't Chu Yanran tell you that we're all having dinner together? I was going to check up on the patients, so they sent me to get you."
The word 'dinner' made Su Yun's expression change. His facial muscles twitched as he tried to fight his emotions. It was comical to Zheng Ren.
"I'll tell them to hold back on the drinking. Rest assured." Zheng Ren patted Su Yun's shoulder with false concern.
"..."
They exited the ICU and found their four companions chattering animatedly with the woman from before at the lobby.
Su Yun was taken aback by the stranger.
Zheng Ren ignored Su Yun's surprise and clapped his hands together. "The pretty boy is here, so let's go."
"What do you want to eat?" Xie Yiren asked him.
"You guys go ahead, and no need to get takeaway for me. The roads are slippery, so be careful. I'll just grab a bite at the cafeteria," Zheng Ren said.
"Oh, come on! We need to bring Miss Yun back here anyways. It won't be any trouble, any trouble at all," Xie Yiren insisted as she deemed good food to be the best thing in the world. She was not about to let Zheng Ren pass up this opportunity.
How troublesome. Zheng Ren had few opinions on food. He could go without eating were it not for his own hunger and need for sustenance.
In the end, the women ignored Zheng Ren and carried on their conversation in the elevator. Zheng Ren got off on the second floor while they went down to the bas.e.m.e.nt parking lot.
As the elevator door closed, Zheng Ren put an arm to stop it. "Whose car are you guys taking? Does it have snow tires on?"
"We're taking mine," Xie Yiren piped up. "Volvos are the safest car out there and I never took off my snow tires."
Zheng Ren went silent and allowed the elevator door to close.
He was not dumb enough to ask Xie Yiren if snow tires in summer would use up more gas. The woman owned a few properties in the central business district, so gas money was the least of her concerns.
Zheng Ren walked back to the emergency department alone.
The wind howled as snowfall continued. The lonely sound of his footsteps echoed in the hospital corridor.
If his life was a horror movie, this would be the part where something jumped out.
His path back to the emergency department was quiet, unlike the earlier journey to the ICU.
The chattering women and Su Yun were out for dinner along with Miss Yun, who worried Zheng Ren.
He hoped Chang Yue's words were enough and that the woman was in a stable mental state.
Back in the emergency department, Zheng Ren made his routine rounds to check on patients.
The patient with gangrenous appendicitis was already awake and was taking small sips of his porridge.
Based on the severity of his appendicitis, it was not recommended to start eating too early. However, relying on glucose infusions alone would lead to slower recovery. Hence, Zheng Ren had decided that as long as the patient had passed gas, he was allowed to eat actual food.
He spoke with the man and found out the porridge was from this afternoon. Before Chang Yue left for dinner, she had heated it up for the patient. Zheng Ren was pleased with her quality of her care.
It was just a bowl of porridge, after all.
'Chang Yue… is really a good person," Zheng Ren thought.
He returned to the office. The room was silent as he entered. The on-call nurses were not familiar with Zheng Ren, so they minded their own business.
Zheng Ren was not Su Yun, so he garnered little interest from them.
He was fine with that. Picking up the Sciences of Hepatopancreatobiliary book, he started reading.
Zheng Ren once believed in the saying, "hard work pays off".
Now, with the System, Zheng Ren had no right to say it. To the real world, his skills would seem like magic.
Despite that, reading was a habit of his for many years, so Zheng Ren still kept to it.
The emergency department was uncharacteristically silent. The strong winds likely deterred people from leaving their homes.
The peaceful night was a welcome one after a busy day.
At 9:00 pm, Su Yun came in with a box of food. A night shift nurse followed him.
The nurses had no interest in Zheng Ren, but Su Yun was another case altogether.
As the night grew, Zheng Ren became the third wheel.
He could feel the pointed glare from the young nurse and shook his head at this superficial world. How was an average-looking man to survive?
Zheng Ren ate his dinner with Su Yun's voice regaling the story of Miss Yun as accompaniment.
Chapter 101 - The Human Realm, Unworthy
The woman's name was Zheng Yunxia and she was twenty-eight years of age this year. She had once been a kindergarten teacher in Sea City.
During a clinical checkup half a year ago, she had discovered a space-occupying liver lesion, and after a detailed analysis had been carried out in Sea City General Hospital, it was determined to be liver cancer requiring surgery.
Zheng Yunxia was from a small farming village and was not wealthy. She would often allocate 500 yuan of her meager pay to her family and would also be obligated to hand some money over to her own brother for him to buy lottery tickets every month.
Any normal patient from Sea City would not choose to have their surgery done thereafter finding out they had liver cancer.
This was especially since Imperial City was not far and had higher medical standards. Hence, most people would travel to Imperial City for treatment; as long as they could be admitted there, most people would not mind the extra cost.
However, Zheng Yunxia could barely afford her surgical fees in Sea City, and the money she had used
to pay for her treatment were savings she had scr.a.p.ed up over a very long period of time.
After being informed of her current ailment, her husband disappeared without a trace for two whole days. He did not even come by to sign her pre-operations acknowledgment form.
Zheng Yunxia had been on the brink of a breakdown after being relentlessly rushed by the doctor.
Two days later, her husband finally showed up. Unfortunately, when he did, it was with neither compassion nor support but a divorce agreement.
The impact of this single action had greatly broken her.
However, she persevered and fought on. Her post-op recovery was slow, but she began working again before she had even fully recovered.
Due to her cancer, she was no longer able to work as a kindergarten teacher.
The principal's excuse was that if any of the parents found out their children were in contact with someone with liver cancer, they would undoubtedly cause a huge argument.
Hence, she was only able to work jobs within her abilities.
However, fate was not through with her series of unfortunate events. There was no compromise or poetic justice. Life was tragic for her.
During a routine checkup a few months later, her doctor reluctantly informed her that her cancer had recurred.
This news was earth-shattering and absolutely devastated her. She was no longer fit for surgery and her only option was chemotherapy in the oncology department.
There was no localized drug available for liver cancer and her only choice was chemotherapy similar to that used for gastrointestinal cancer.
The effects were...limited. However, she was out of options.
Even though the treatment was the most basic and possessed the highest rate of side effects, Zheng Yunxia was only able to afford a single treatment and was forced to roam the city with a cancer-stricken body after that.
She scr.a.p.ed by for every single meal and would save up the rest in order to afford a cheaper brand of Capecitabine. She knew that Capecitabine was used to treat gastrointestinal cancer and would have no effects on liver cancer.
However, she had no other options left.
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