CH 29.1

Downstairs in the community, Shen Fangyu put his phone back into his pocket after sending the message, his head full of hot sweat, having just gone for a morning run.

He drove straight to the hospital and took a shower, changed into his white coat and sat in his office just before seven o’clock.

After the nightmare last night, he had another dream when he went back to sleep. Although he didn’t wake up scared this time, and didn’t even remember what was in the dream when he woke up, he knew that he had dreamed about Jiang Xu, and the content was more or less ambiguous.

This realization made him almost jump up the moment he woke up and saw Jiang Xu.

He immediately took a cold shower, and without waiting for Jiang Xu to get up, directly changed into his gym clothes and went out to buy breakfast and fix the broken phone. He then left the house before Jiang Xu woke up, intending to run a few laps around the neighborhood.

Shen Fangyu surmised that he might have been a bit on fire recently, and chose to fight off his urges with exercise. But when he sat in his office, he was still a little distracted.

He felt that something might be wrong with his functions.

Even if Jiang Xu was his first sexual partner and he liked it, he was too old to have such a fledgling complex that one look at Jiang Xu would make him go crazy.

In all his years as a doctor, he had seen more bodies than he could count, old and young, male and female, living and dead, but he had always been clear minded and had never had this problem before.

Why was Jiang Xu different?

Although Jiang Xu had a nice body and the moles were really attractive, Shen Fangyu was a straight man, so even if Jiang Xu was a fairy, he should sit still and not make a mess.

When he thought of this, Shen Fangyu’s expression suddenly stiffened, and a question that had never crossed his mind in all his years of life popped up.

‘I’m not fucking bent, am I?’

This thought was so overwhelming that it overturned Shen Fangyu’s perception of his past, and with horror, tried to remember his roommates who had been running around naked in the dormitory during his studies. However, he never felt any temptation toward them, so he firmly and indifferently wrote the word “misdiagnosis” in large letters on the diagnosis he had just given himself.

‘A misdiagnosis,’ Dr. Shen thought. ‘It’s definitely a misdiagnosis.’

There shouldn’t be any difference between Jiang Xu and his roommates in the dormitory, except that they had switched from a six-person dormitory to a two-person dormitory, and the area per person had increased.

Avoiding Jiang Xu only made him look guilty.

Shen Fangyu was now firm. Even if Jiang Xu could bewitch him for a while, could he bewitch him for life? Sooner or later, his body would be as lucid as his brain, and even if Jiang Xu was a reincarnation of a siren, he could be an Odysseus.

Unfortunately, Jiang Xu was unaware of Shen Fangyu’s teen-like feelings, which were over ten years late. He came to the office and didn’t even greet Shen Fangyu. Soon a phone call from the pathology department called him away.

“Dr Jiang, this Ruan Xufang is your patient, right?”

Jiang Xu took the test report from the pathology department. After the security guards had taken Ma Hao away that day, Jiang Xu had ordered several more tests for Ruan Xufang. He felt that Ruan Xufang’s condition during the consultation was not so simple. Sure enough, the cervical screening examination of the pathology department further confirmed his judgment—

A high suspicion of squamous cell carcinoma.

He walked briskly back to the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department and opened the door to office number three, “Shao Le,” Jiang Xu handed Shao Le the test report, “call her and tell her to hurry to the hospital, I want to do a cervical biopsy. I’ll also give you a colposcopy checklist later.”

“Okay, Mr Jiang.” Shao Le took the test report and suddenly remembered that this was the patient she had seen yesterday, although the final test results were not yet available and the exact severity of the condition would require a cervical biopsy to classify and stage her condition, she still sighed silently.

Unlike yesterday, when he had been so reticent to his wife being examined, Ma Hao barged straight into the office not long after she had made the phone call, “Dr Shao!” His eyes were red and his hands were shaking, probably wanting to say something, but remembering that he had almost hit the doctor in front of him not long ago, he didn’t know what to say for a long time.

Ruan Xufang, who was beside him, was already in tears, and for a while, Office No. 3 was extraordinarily noisy.

Shao Le did not want to talk to Ma Hao, she handed the checklist issued by Jiang Xu to Ruan Xufang and said comfortingly, “Go for the classification first, don’t panic.”

As soon as this sentence came out, Ruan Xiufang cried even harder. This kind of sadness and happiness was often seen in Jihua Hospital of A Medical University, and although Shao Le had seen it many times, she was still a bit upset every time.

Jiang Xu was the first to get the results of the further tests from the pathology department, “Contact the patient for hospitalization,” he said, lowering his eyes to look at the test report and asking Shao Le on the phone, “Are there any beds left?”

“One just opened up this morning.” Shao Le said, “But the patient is not in a good mood and is not listening to me at the moment.”

She was comforting Ruan Xufang, but the other woman’s grief was not easing in the slightest, and she was getting anxious as people had now gathered around.

“Doctor Jiang,” the nurse from the operating theater came out and saw Jiang Xu on the phone, urging, “The anesthetic for the next operation has been given, you need to go over as soon as possible.”

“Okay,” Jiang Xu responded, “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

He turned his head to Shao Le on the phone, “Can you calm her down?”

“I ……” Shao Le was a little hesitant to say anything, she wanted to ask Jiang Xu to help, but she just heard that Jiang Xu was very busy, so she shook her head and said, “It’s alright, Dr Jiang”

“Get her admitted to hospital first,” Jiang Xu said, “I’ll come tonight to explain the situation to the patient.”

Dr Jiang was usually very busy so unless the patient’s case was complex, it was Shao Le and the others who did such tasks as admitting patients, helping them understand their condition and communicating surgical options, including pre-operative talks.

Although Ruan Xufang had cancer, her condition was the mildest kind, so the main surgeon didn’t have to accompany a student to do such things.

But when it’s a difficult situation, there is nothing more touching than a mentor saying, “don’t worry, we’ll figure it out together”.

Shao Le held the phone and her nose suddenly became sore, while Dr Jiang on the other end of the line smoothly hung up.

Shao Le put the receiver back on the landline, took a deep breath and turned around to walk towards Ruan Xu Fang again.

The bed was covered with brand new white sheets and the heavy smell of disinfectant filled the ward. By the time Ma Hao helped Ruan Xufang to lie down on the bed, the two of them had already recovered a little from the sadness of the sudden news under Shao Le’s explanation and comfort.

The other two beds in the same ward both looked like they were occupied. The patient on the left bed was not there, but the bedside table was full of things. On the right bed sat a woman in a red floral short sleeved dress. She was on an IV and had a big bushel fan in her other hand, fanning herself while greeting the new patient, “What’s wrong sister,” she asked Ruan Xufang. “Why are your eyes so red?”

Ruan Xufang rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, “The doctor said …… I have cancer.”

“So is it early or late stage?” Sister Cai asked.

“It’s early stage, Sister Cai.” Yu Sang happened to come in through the door when he heard her question and answered it.

“Doctor Yu,” Sister Cai greeted Yu Sang with a smile and handed him an orange, “Have an orange, my husband brought it from his hometown today, it’s sweet.”

Yu Sang habitually squeezed the disinfectant by the bedside on his hands and smiled at Sister Cai, “You are too kind,” he waved his hand and politely declined, “I have to go to the next room to see a patient, I don’t have time to eat now,” he said and asked Sister Cai how she was doing in passing. “How are you today, are you feeling any discomfort?”

Sister Cai shook her head and said, “I’m fine.”

“You’re the only one in our ward who has the best attitude,” Yu Sang complimented with a smile, then turned his head to ask about Ruan Xufang in the next bed.

He was in charge of Ruan Xufang’s bed, and belonged to the category that visited the wards and interacted with the patients the most.

Shao Le reported to him directly after the admission was completed.

He roughly confirmed the hospitalization process and payment of fees, and after looking at the examination report, he said to Ruan Xufang, “Then you can settle in here first, and if you have any discomfort, you can find the nurse.”

Seeing that he was about to leave, Sister Cai brought up another bag of oranges and said, “Dr. Yu, if you are not free at the moment, you can take them to the office to eat later. It’s just a few oranges. I heard that Dr. Jiang also loves them.”

Yu Sang took a glance at the plastic bag and saw that there were only a few yellow and orange oranges in the transparent plastic bag, nothing else was put in it, so he took it with a smile. “Okay, I’ll take some to Dr. Jiang and inform him it’s your gratitude.”

Seeing this, Ma Hao also picked up some bananas and handed them to Yu Sang, “Doctor Yu, a little token of my appreciation.”

The story of Ma Hao’s intrusion during a consultation had long spread through the obstetrics and gynaecology department. Yu Sang glanced at him indifferently and without even looking at the bananas, smiled at Ruan Xufang and walked straight out of the ward.

Ma Hao withdrew his hand with some embarrassment and looked at his wife.

Sister Cai was an outspoken and talkative person. Once Yu Sang left, she immediately struck up a conversation with Ruan Xufang, “Early stage cancer is not a big deal, sister, you don’t know, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer three years ago and had an operation to cut off half of my stomach.”

“I’ve been having a re-examination every month for the past three years, just in case it comes back, but the stomach cancer didn’t recur. However, I got some kind of endometrial cancer, and the doctor said the stage is worse than the stomach cancer.”

She slapped her thigh and said, “Life is tossing me around but I’m still alive and well.”

“Don’t let this cancer scare you, you won’t know who is fighting this disease out in the street, but if you go around the corridor, you’ll see many people without hair, all of them have lost their hair after chemotherapy, and they’re still living well. “

Like a ward Bai Xiaosheng, she pointed to the empty bed on the other side of Ruan Xufang said: “The girl next to you is only 20 years old, young and beautiful, but I heard she has a molar pregnancy, don’t you think it is strange? Fortunately, the doctor said it was a benign tumor, which is easier to treat than malignant ones like ours.”

*Bai Xiaosheng means someone who knows everything about a particular matter.

She was lively, and her voice was as loud as a bell, and when she finished, Ruan Xufang’s face no longer looked so despondent, “So according to you ……I’m not so seriously ill?”

“You should just relax, whether it’s a major or minor illness, just listen to the doctor.”

She added, “Let me tell you, in the hospital of my hometown, the doctor said I cannot be cured, he didn’t even let me stay in the hospital and just discharged me to go back to wait for death. I was not convinced and ran to A city. I met Dr. Jiang and after reading my test results, he said I can be treated, but there are risks, and asked me to go back and consider whether to have an operation.”

“I knew then that I was not going to die,” Sister Cai said with such vigor that she forgot to wave her fan, “Without hesitation, I rushed to get hospitalized so that Dr Jiang could arrange an operation for me.”

“My husband said that my operation took nine hours and Dr. Jiang didn’t even eat until he finished. The tumor in my stomach was cut out neatly, and when I woke up, I was only happy in heart, knowing that I was very lucky.”

“At that time, Dr. Jiang was worried they’d be a recurrence and told me to come to the hospital on time for my chemotherapy re-examination.”

She pointed at the bottle and said, “This is the last course of my chemotherapy, and the results of the review are so good that Dr. Yu said I might live for another 30 or 40 years. If I hadn’t met Dr. Jiang at that time, I would probably be buried in a pile of earth by now.”

Ma Hao hesitated but then asked, “But this Dr. Jiang …… is a man, how can he be a gynecologist?”

“What’s wrong with being a man?” Sister Cai said, “Whether he is a man or a woman, it doesn’t change the fact that is a good doctor.” Ma Hao’s doubts about Jiang Xu apparently made Sister Cai very unhappy, “You don’t know but Dr Jiang and Dr Shen are the two most powerful doctors in the department yet they are both male.”

At those words, Ma Hao’s face turned blue and white, and he said in disbelief, “Do you think that Dr. Jiang is really that powerful? Can he be better than Director Cui?” He had purposely looked up some information and saw that the director of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Jihua Hospital was surnamed Cui and was a female doctor.

“You don’t know a thing, don’t blindly believe things because of the director’s title.” As a regular visitor to Jihua Hospital and a particular fan of gossip, Sister Cai already knew the internal situation of the department very well.

“Director Cui is great, especially when she was young, or she wouldn’t have become the director and teach such great students.”

“But Director Cui is getting older and is about to retire. Director Cui’s body can’t handle the long hours that major surgeries demand. I heard that Dr. Jiang and Dr. Shen are the main surgeons for the highest level surgeries in the department now, and Dr. Cui will watch from the side at most, but she just lets them do their own thing most of the time.”

“Don’t look down on male doctors,” said Sister Cai, “don’t you see that most of the surgeons in other countries are male, that’s because men are stronger which is an advantage in surgeries, they can stand for hours without their legs shaking. Some female surgeons are not that strong.”

Sister Cai pursed her lips, as if Ma Hao had scolded her own son, “You’re looking down on Dr. Jiang but your wife’s attending doctor may not be as good as Dr. Jiang.”

Ma Hao’s expression turned pale. He and Ruan Xufang exchanged glances and he asked cautiously, “Then can my wife have Dr Jiang operate on her?”

Sister Cai was a bit indignant at his change of heart and deliberately rolled her eyes and said coolly, “I don’t know, Dr Jiang is very busy.”

Ma Hao remembered that it was Shao Le who had informed them to come to the hospital and given them a preliminary explanation of their condition. So, perhaps Shao Le will be the one operating on Ruan Xufang. He gave Sister Cai some bananas and asked with curiosity, “How about Dr. Shao?”

Sister Cai rolled her eyes at Ma Hao and replied for the sake of the banana, “I don’t know about Dr. Shao.”

The person who contacted her at the time was another of Jiang Xu’s students, so Sister Cai didn’t know much about Shao Le.

Ma Hao looked at Ruan Xufang’s bed sign and saw that the doctor in charge was “Yu Sang”, “What about Dr. Yu?”

“I did ask Dr. Yu, but he said he was not qualified enough to operate on malignant tumors.”

She then recalled Yu Sang’s attitude earlier, “How did you offend Dr. Yu? He is so good-tempered and always has a smile on his face, but it looks like he didn’t like you.”