14 – Intern

He wanted to smash the system. He had spent nearly all of college life perfecting the Zuowang and the system had the galls to reward him with it.

Li Yun thought about all the injustices he had suffered in college. During college, he had focused on completing side quests and researching ways to achieve Zuowang. But as an extrovert, he needed to maintain an active social life; he made more friends, dated, and joined school clubs like a typical college student. Unfortunately, there weren't enough hours in a day and it meant sacrificing his grades.

The contributing factor to his unfortunate nickname, the sleeping sloth, was the mission to achieve the Zuowang, a state of absolute clarity and nothingness through meditation. He had tried many positions based on his research and understanding of Taoism. Contrary to the dignified position shown in the 7-point sitting posture, the best position was simply to rest the head on a surface. Unfortunately, to the untrained eyes, it looked like he was sleeping.

It also wasn't possible to substitute meditation with sleeping. The closer he got to Zuowang, the more it drained his jing and shen. Sleeping was the best way to recover jing, qi, and shen. Intercourse could recover a lot of jing, but no shen. Too much intercourse could drain all qi, shen, and jing. Various food could recover a bit of jing and shen, and reading helped to recover a bit of shen.

Li Yun felt a bit depressed over his reward and sighed as leaned on the old task chair in the intern's lounge area.

"Li Yun, what are you doing, Doctor Huang is waiting for you," Gu Ren popped his head into the intern's office and then immediately left.

Li Yun stretched out to reach for his white coat that resembled more like a blazer than a doctor's lab coat, and followed Gu Ren, already dashing around the hallway. Binchu University Hospital still followed the tradition of giving lab coats based on experience; the longer lab coats represented more experience.

By the time he arrived, Doctor Huang had already finished with the first patient, and headed toward the next bed. He glared at Li Yun when he arrived.

"Intern Li, so good to see you early in the morning," Doctor Huang sharply stated. "Why don't you present the patient's record."

The group of two interns and five residents turned their heads in sync and stared at Li Yun. Only Gu Ren was a step behind, as he diligently prepared to jot down notes.

Li Yun ignored their stare. He didn't care that everyone thought he was late and he didn't care that Bai Wushen intentionally gave him the wrong schedule.

"Damn prick," Li Yun grumbled in his mind, maybe he did care.

He eyed Bai Wushen's smug face, and then refocused on the 60-years old man, named Wang Tai, lying in bed. Examining the patient was more important.

"I didn't see him yesterday, so he was likely admitted after my shift," Li Yun thought to himself. "He's in working attire and it's a bit dusty, so he was rushed to the hospital while at work, which is unusual since it would have been after 8 pm. Judging by the patient's wrinkled forehead and poor coloring, he passed out from fatigue and dehydration. There may be underlying problems stemming from poor diet and smoking."

"Well?" Doctor Huang asked after a brief silence from Li Yun.

Doctor Huang already knew Li Yun had no knowledge of the patient, so his intent was clearly to embarrass and reprimand Li Yun. Whether he answered correctly or not, Doctor Huang could still find errors. If he answered correctly, he would still be missing some crucial information. Even if he had a magical medical system that showed him everything about the patient, it would still irritate Doctor Huang.

Doctor Huang had a lesson plan for the residents. Besides medical knowledge, he wanted to teach them the social hierarchy of the hospital.

In the hospital, the pecking order went from interns, nurses, then residents, senior nurses, senior residents, attendings, department heads, and finally the directors, sitting on top of the pyramid. One method to show hierarchy was by proving superior knowledge over them. If the interns or residents undermined an attending, especially in front of patients and their peers, it usually did not end well.

"Uncle Tai is suffering from kidney deficiency and gallbladder issues," Li Yun said, using the TCM route for his answer.

What he was about to say next was a bit risky, so he carefully watched the patient Wang Tai's reaction as he continued his diagnosis. It would be a bit more difficult since Wang Tai didn't look like the type who would reveal his emotions judging from the blank look on his face.

"He suffered from a serious illness around his late teens, and it had prevented him from making meaningful relationships."

Wang Tai's eyes opened slightly as he looked at Li Yun curiously.

"He grew up alone until he married due to parental and societal pressure. He's unhappy with his family life and overcompensates by working. He smokes to relieve stress rather than for social interactions, triggering many chronic issues in the early thirties. It is exasperated by poor working conditions. I suggest he spends more time with his family and retires early."

After Li Yun finished, Wang Tai's eyes lowered down toward his hands. From the side, the other interns and residents snickered while Doctor Huang grinned, revealing deep maniacal lines extending above the corner of his eyebrows.

"If you had arrived earlier, you would know that blood results revealed that Mister Wang Tai is suffering from diabetes," Doctor Huang explained. "I am impressed you have managed to come up with quite an elaborate history."

Doctor Huang then looked at Bai Wushen, and asked him to recite the correct medical history. Pretending to look professional, Bai Wushen methodically went through the patient's chief complaints, history, and physicals.

"The patient came in after a light fainting spell and experiencing headaches, most likely from fumes at the construction site," Bai Wushen read from the chart. "He is a project manager who was managing the construction site of an apartment complex. His breathing problems are likely caused by toxic fumes at the construction site..."

Bai Wushen was reading from the chart, likely filled out by the other interns, but got full marks from Doctor Huang.

The rest of the day wasn't much better for Li Yun. He had to do all the scut work with Gu Ren, the only other intern who did actual work in the surgical department. Bai Wushen was also an intern, but his father was the Deputy Chief of Cardiology, so he was treated better.

At noon, Li Yun finished writing the medical reports for the attendings. He looked across the room to see Gu Ren still working on a larger pile of paperwork. Gu Ren's report was better than Li Yun's, so most people sought him out to finish their report. Li Yun intentionally put in zero effort for the report. He would be scolded, but at least they wouldn't seek him out again.

Gu Ren's phone pinged, and he looked briefly at the message. Li Yun watched as his shoulder slumped and body tensed during that moment.

"Doctor Ping wants to discuss her report with you?" asked Li Yun.

Gu Ren stared suspiciously at Li Yun for a moment. "How do you know?"

"She has asked me to help her out before, but I turned her down. Since I am done with the report, I have some time to spare. Do you want me to go in your place?"

"She wasn't upset when you turned her down?"

"She gave me a D on the last review."

Gu Ren shook his head and walked out of the room. He wasn't going to risk his grades by getting on Doctor Ping's bad side.

chocomug

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, this is fiction. If there's anything blatantly wrong, please let me know. Otherwise, do not take anything in this novel seriously. I got all my medical information from reading webnovels, television, and researching online. In other words, please seek a real professional for any medical advice.