Chapter 8 : Another Day

Just like the day before, Tang Zhen woke up before the sky was light.

It was six-thirty when she arrived at the hospital.

Just as Tang Zhen entered the elevator, holding a carton of walnut milk she had just bought at the supermarket, she happened to run into Chi Yuqin.

“Aren’t you coming in?”
Chi Yuqin raised her hand to press a floor button and asked in a faint voice.

‘Just yesterday she was advising me to change careers, and today she’s acting as if nothing happened.’
Tang Zhen really couldn’t figure Chi Yuqin out.
‘So was she just teasing me, scaring me for fun? She couldn’t be that bored, could she?’

Tang Zhen really didn’t want to go in, but it was too early.
Chi Yuqin was the only one in the elevator.
If she waited for the next one, her guilt would be too obvious.
This person would definitely think she was scared.

She didn’t want to let Chi Yuqin feel smug, and even more, she didn’t want to be disappointed in herself.

“Morning, Director Chi.”
Tang Zhen stepped into the elevator.

Like most young people who have just started working—calm on the outside, panicked on the inside.

The moment the elevator doors closed, Chi Yuqin’s eyes swept over, landing squarely on the walnut milk in Tang Zhen’s hand.

Tang Zhen didn’t understand the look in Chi Yuqin’s eyes, and of course, she didn’t need to.
Because Chi Yuqin’s mouth was definitely faster than Tang Zhen’s brain—

“That’s good.”

“Hmm?”

“Walnuts—good for the brain.”

The next second, the elevator indicator light lit up, the doors opened, and Chi Yuqin strode out.

Tang Zhen’s face turned green—

She almost crushed the walnut milk carton.

Being mocked about needing to boost her brainpower first thing in the morning, Tang Zhen’s vibrant energy deflated by half.
She was like a little cabbage in the field, wilted by the harsh ultraviolet rays.

From the time she went to bed last night until she left this morning, Tang Zhen had been constantly giving herself pep talks.
No matter what Chi Yuqin said today, aside from what was genuinely helpful, she wouldn’t let a single other word into her ears.

But as it turned out, she was greeted with an ‘auspicious start.’
A whole night of mental preparation had been for nothing.

Frustration was frustration, but the work still had to be done.
The handover was at half-past the hour.
No matter what happened later, she had to get through the handover first.

Thinking of this, Tang Zhen immediately pulled herself together and started reviewing the case histories and the PPT.

She was too nervous and too engrossed.
So much so that she didn’t even notice someone had come in.
Liu Sisi had been watching her from behind for a while, and she hadn’t noticed.

“Your PPT is pretty good.”

A sudden voice from behind startled Tang Zhen, making her shoulders jump.

“Relax, relax, it’s me, not Chi Yuqin. Relax, relax.”
Liu Sisi patted Tang Zhen’s shoulder twice.

Tang Zhen had just started to feel better, but Liu Sisi’s mention of Chi Yuqin sent her right back to square one.

“I didn’t say it was her. Why bring her up for no reason?”

Liu Sisi scoffed. “Little thing~ I’ve been through it all. You think I can’t tell? Even if the sky falls, it’s no big deal. Chi—”

Tang Zhen got anxious.

Liu Sisi immediately made a ‘stop’ gesture. “Okay, okay, I won’t say it, alright? But—even if I don’t say it, are you not going to see her later?”

That was true.

Tang Zhen fell silent.
As long as she was at Renhua for a day, she would have to face Chi Yuqin eventually.

“Liu Sisi, you…”

“Hmm?”

Tang Zhen couldn’t bring herself to actually say what Chi Yuqin had said about her.
If it were just a matter of face, it would be simpler.
More importantly, her self-esteem wouldn’t allow it.
She had always been a girl with dignity and self-love, that was for sure.

Liu Sisi poured a packet of instant coffee powder into her mouth.
Seeing that Tang Zhen had no follow-up, she quickly took a sip of water to wash it down and turned to her, raising her chin—

“Speak half a sentence, and you’ll get scallions mixed with garlic.”

She had been in Jingbei longer than Tang Zhen and had a knack for rhyming slang.

Tang Zhen took her hand off the mouse and turned her shoulder halfway. “I want to ask… what did you feel?”

“What what did I feel?”

“You said… you’ve been through it.”

Liu Sisi understood.
She glanced at the office door, which was quiet and empty, then walked over to Tang Zhen—

Serious, solemn, she enunciated three words—

“Wanted to die.”

Tang Zhen was dumbfounded.

Liu Sisi gripped Tang Zhen’s shoulders and turned her other half-body around— “To be honest with you, it’s been over half a month, and I still want to die.”

Tang Zhen was silent, a thought echoing in her mind—

‘Me too.’

At seven-thirty, it was time for the handover.

Looking around, the entire East Wing lobby was filled with people.
Almost everyone from the Cardiac Surgery Department should have arrived.

Tang Zhen wasn’t in the front row, but she wasn’t in the back row either.
She was in the middle, by the side.
Watching her colleagues finish their handovers one by one, her palms started to sweat from nervousness.

“Next, Liu Sisi—”

As soon as the head nurse’s voice fell, someone poked her in the lower back from behind.
Liu Sisi brushed past her ear and whispered quickly, “I’m going to ‘die’ first. Remember to follow.”

With that, she heroically ‘went to her death.’

Tang Zhen broke out in a cold sweat, not only for Liu Sisi but also for herself.

She secretly raised her head and glanced forward—

Chi Yuqin stood at the very front, directly facing the projection equipment.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, her posture ramrod straight.
Her face was calm and composed, with a maturity that surpassed her peers.
Her gaze radiated a unique confidence, as if at this very moment, in this place, the entire cardiac surgery area was under her control.

In reality, she was only thirty-three years old, even younger than some of the resident doctors.

But in the face of superior professional skills, all external factors had to take a backseat.
So what if you were older?
So what if you had eaten more meals than they had eaten salt?
This was a hospital.
You held a scalpel, cut open a chest cavity, sutured blood vessels.
If you liked comparing ages so much, you might as well go home and be a grand master.

Tang Zhen was a little mesmerized, her thoughts also starting to wander—

‘Thirty-three years old. In another seven years, what position will I be in? Maybe a resident doctor, maybe in the process of being promoted to attending. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll already be an attending. But no matter which it is—the position in the very front, in the middle of the first row, is something I wouldn’t even dare to dream of.’

At that time, Tang Zhen thought what she didn’t dare to dream of was that position in the middle of the first row.
Later, she realized it wasn’t just the position… but also the person in that position, that she wouldn’t dare to dream of.

Liu Sisi came down, and Tang Zhen snapped back to her senses, just in time to see the person walking toward her wink.

Next, it was her turn.

Tang Zhen took a deep breath.
Her steps were neither fast nor slow, but they clearly carried a timidity that anyone could see.

“Bed eleven, Kang Weimin, male—”

“Louder.”
Chi Yuqin said, maintaining her arms-crossed posture.

Tang Zhen faltered.
She realized her old habit had kicked in again.
Whenever she was in a situation like this, being watched by a crowd, her voice would involuntarily become quieter.
Wu Zhen had pointed out this flaw to her several times.
Old Man Tang, protective of his daughter, wouldn’t let her say anything, thinking it didn’t affect her studies anyway.
A quiet voice was a quiet voice.
Now it seemed it was a big problem.

She immediately adjusted and got back into the zone—

“Bed eleven, Kang Weimin, male, thirty-five years old, sixty-four kilograms. Chief complaint: chest tightness after activity for five years. After admission, UCG examination was performed, and he was diagnosed with Ebstein’s anomaly of the tricuspid valve. It is recommended that his diet be high in protein and high-calorie foods, and that he avoid drinking too much water to avoid increasing the burden on his heart. In terms of medication, warfarin sodium tablets, aspirin tablets, and clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate tablets should be used as prescribed to prevent platelet aggregation and thrombosis…….”

Tang Zhen had a total of eleven beds under her care.
Besides reviewing them in the HIS system, she had handwritten the medical history for each one.
There were too many things she didn’t know, and what she had was too little.
Besides the knowledge from books, she could only rely on the brain in her head.
Putting other things aside, she had to remember everything.

After reporting on all eleven beds, Tang Zhen lowered her gaze to the black shoe tips in the middle of the front row, not daring to breathe.

Chi Yuqin remained silent for a long time.
Just as Tang Zhen thought she could go down, those black shoe tips suddenly moved.
The arms Chi Yuqin had crossed over her chest… were lowered—

“What did you just say is the current situation of bed thirty-seven?”

Tang Zhen hurriedly flipped through her notes.
Before she could find it, Chi Yuqin called her out again—

“Put down the notebook.”

Chi Yuqin’s voice wasn’t loud, as expressionless as ever, but to Tang Zhen’s ears, it had an inexplicable sense of pressure.

A celestial reverb, rushing straight to the top of her head.

Tang Zhen immediately put down the notebook, not daring to touch it again.
She quickly searched her mind for the situation of bed thirty-seven—

“Fu Chunxia, eighty-five years old, female. Aortic valve stenosis was discovered during a company physical examination.”

The valve is an important part of the human heart, acting like a door.
It prevents blood from flowing backward when the heart pumps.
But as people age, the valve degenerates and becomes narrow.
If not treated in time, it can lead to heart failure.

In our country, there are over twelve million heart failure patients, with about three million new cases each year.
The five-year mortality rate is as high as fifty percent.

Chi Yuqin: “Plan?”

Tang Zhen: “Replace with an artificial valve.”

Chi Yuqin didn’t speak at first, but looked at her for about two or three seconds before asking again, “Is there anything to add?”

Tang Zhen was in a state of high tension.
She quickly went over all the analysis she had just said in her mind again, confirmed that there were no problems, and replied— “No.”

Chi Yuqin crossed her arms over her chest again— “Very good, a very beautiful textbook-style handover. Next one.”

Tang Zhen paused, feeling uneasy.

If Chi Yuqin had said this yesterday, she wouldn’t have had any doubts.
But after the defeat in the office yesterday, and what Chen Min had said about Chi Yuqin—Tang Zhen hesitated.

She looked at Chi Yuqin, focusing on every subtle expression on her face, not missing a single one, and finally came to a conclusion—

She was not praising her.

And it was very likely that she had once again submitted a failing test paper.