Chapter 314: There’s Only So Much I Can Do (Part 2 of 4)
It felt rather nice not having to work through the night in the hospital.
Ding dong! The bell of mission completion went off.
[Emergency Mission: Sump Cleaner completed.
[Mission content: Complete surgical treatment of a sump syndrome patient.
[Mission Time: 4 hours. 1 hour and 14 minutes spent, remaining 2 hours and 46 minutes.]
Not too bad. Zheng Ren smiled.
He turned around, saw Chief Xia and asked, “Chief Xia, do we send the patient back to ICU or gastroenterology?”
Such patients could be transferred to the gastroenterology department right after surgery as this emergency operation had been an interdepartmental consultation.
Of course, if gastroenterology was not confident at handling postoperative care, they could also transfer the patient to ICU and take her back when she had stabilized.
Without hesitation, Chief Xia responded, “Why the need for ICU?”
Such a strong comeback. Zheng Ren laughed and did not push the matter.
“Little Zheng, your surgical skills are better than Old Sun’s.” Although Chief Xia was slight, her words were so powerful that they stunned Zheng Ren.
She was able to pass judgment on another department chief without much consideration.
He had no clue how to respond.
“Little Zheng, if the patient recovers well after the TIPS surgery, can you make some room in your schedule for the other patient with refractory ascites?” Chief Xia asked.
Her classmate was healing so fast, his progress was almost visible to the naked eye.
He was very clearly vomiting less blood after surgery.
It was why Chief Xia acknowledged Zheng Ren’s skill and was continuing to invite him to treat other patients suitable for TIPS surgery.
“If I don’t have any emergency cases, I can do it at any time,” Zheng Ren chuckled.
“Okay, we’ll wait until you remove the stent. If the effects are promising, we can do it immediately. If we keep on delaying the matter, the patient might not survive past a few days.” Her straightforwardness was admirable.
At least they could save time on guessing games.
There was nothing to guess, anyway, since she was not Xie Yiren.
Zheng Ren went to change his clothes. Su Yun followed him into the changing room and said while laughing, “Looks like someone’s progressing.”
“Hmm? This surgery was still okay. All of them had been standard procedures, and I’m just carrying them out accordingly,” Zheng Ren said.
“I’m referring to Xie Yiren. She asked you out to dinner. Too bad you guys can’t make it today. Otherwise, this would have been a great opportunity.” Su Yun closed in on Zheng Ren, his tone becoming conspiratorial and hushed. “Let me tell you a joke; it’s a true story of one of my university friends.”
“Go on.”
“I have this friend. We share the same dorm, and he was so dense and stuffy that he wouldn’t budge even if you hit him,” Su Yun said as he changed, “He was courting a girl, but he was so passive. Watching him made me so anxious.”
“Yeah, and the same applies to me,” Zheng Ren said nonchalantly. He knew Su Yun was about to mock him.
“Look at your temper. You’re being more and more irritable, that’s not good.” Su Yun was in one of his rare good moods. “With my help, he finally asked the girl out on a movie date. She had been interested in him for quite some time and had just been waiting for him to make the first move.
“As expected, the girl agreed when he asked.
“I told him that it was his best opportunity to hold hands during the movie. He had to pretend unintentionally to remove the handle between the seats after entering the cinema to reduce the distance between them.”
“What happened next?” The thought of holding hands sparked Zheng Ren’s interest.
“If the girl isn’t interested, she’ll put down the handle. If not, congratulations, everything will go according to plan,” Su Yun smirked.
“This isn’t a joke.” Zheng Ren was confused, but Su Yun’s words seemed to make sense.
He had already put himself into the situation and considered taking Little Yiren to a movie.
“Listen to me,” Su Yun said, “He followed my directions and entered slightly late. When the movie started, they searched for their seats in the dark and he took the chance to lift up the handle. The girl didn’t say anything and they continued to watch the movie.”
Zheng Ren continued imagining himself in their shoes. It seemed to be the start of something good.
“About half an hour later, the coward finally gathered enough courage to extend his arm along the back of the seats and gently put it around the girl’s shoulders.”
“That’s nice,” Zheng Ren’s eyes were shining. Su Yun’s plan seemed feasible.
However, would Little Yiren take his hand away? That would be awkward.
“The girl whispered into his ear, ‘Stop it, my heart’s beating incredibly fast, touch it if you don’t believe me’,” Su Yun’s smirk grew larger as he watched Zheng Ren.
“One’s pulse rate is similar to their heartbeat,” Zheng Ren mumbled. Suddenly, he said excitedly, “Was she implying that he ought to touch her radial artery? That way, they could hold hands.”
He was completely immersed in a scenario where he and Xie Yiren were on a movie date.
“Bwa ha ha ha…” Su Yun burst out into laughter, tears rolling down his face.
Zheng Ren could not for the life of him figure out what had been so funny that Su Yun was roaring with laughter.
“My friend said the exact same thing and the girl got angry.” Su Yun continued to laugh loudly. “Didn’t you think of touching her chest?”
Stunned, Zheng Ren was at a loss for words.
The clear, blue sky above his head was obscured by a huge rain cloud and it started pouring.
“If only you had one-tenth of the talent you show in surgery, Xie Yiren would have been yours long ago.” A hint of mockery appeared at the corners of Su Yun’s mouth, his expression knowing.
Zheng Ren kept quiet.
“Anyway, I’ve told you the story. Just treat it as a learning experience,” Su Yun said, “There’s only so much I can do.”
“Thanks.” Zheng Ren recalled what just happened and felt like an idiot. “What happened to them in the end?”
“They have a three-year-old now. You need to make a move. The worst Xie Yiren would do is to slap you or call you a hooligan.”
Zheng Ren was stunned.
After he finished changing with a heavy heart, Zheng Ren returned to the emergency ward.
It was in order and Professor Rudolf was busy following Chang Yue around. Zheng Ren truly had no idea what the German professor was thinking.
As usual, though, he put the thought aside as he could not make sense of it.
More importantly, he was not concerned with Professor Rudolf. His mind was still reeling from Su Yun’s story.
He was truly lucky that Su Yun had given him the reminder, or he would have definitely said something stupid.
It seemed rather reasonable, especially for a medical student… okay, not many medical students would have said such a thing.
He was just too dumb. Zheng Ren was self-aware enough to know that.
His heart tied itself into a thousand knots and he kept thinking, losing interest in reading for the rest of the day.