Chapter 20 : The Surgery

Building One.

Chi Yuqin was in a meeting here.

Outside the window, between the two buildings, where the sun was at its brightest, there was a figure running at full speed.

In less than five minutes, she reached the main meeting hall.
With a whoosh, the thick, reddish-brown door was forcefully pushed open.

“Director Chi!”

The meeting room was silent.
A person had suddenly burst in, and with such a commotion, everyone turned to look at her in unison.

Tang Zhen’s face instantly flushed red!

Seeing this, Chi Yuqin gestured to everyone—

“Please wait a moment.”

Then she stood up and went out.

“What’s wrong?”

Tang Zhen had run all the way here.
She hadn’t caught her breath yet and was panting heavily.

“Bed… bed six has agreed to the surgery!”

Chi Yuqin looked at the sweat on her forehead.
Her skin was also flushed red from the sun, and her whole body was radiating heat.

“Why are you running?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you have my WeChat? In the future, for things like this, just send a message.”

Tang Zhen’s earlier excitement dissipated in Chi Yuqin’s calm tone.

That’s right.
There was no need to make a special trip for this.
At most, after Chi Yuqin finished her meeting, the news would have reached her anyway.

Coming here like this seemed a bit superfluous.

“I forgot… I’ll know next time.”

Tang Zhen’s restrained demeanor returned.
She lowered her head. “I won’t disturb your meeting anymore. Goodbye, Director Chi.”

When she had walked two or three meters away and looked back, Chi Yuqin had already gone back inside.
As soon as she had said goodbye, Chi Yuqin had re-entered the meeting room.

Tang Zhen wasn’t as anxious as when she had arrived.
She was a little worried… Chi Yuqin probably thought she was reckless again, and maybe a little rude, not even knowing to knock on the door.

Sigh…

Why is it always like this…

Why is it always like this in front of her…

The matter of the surgery was settled.
This time, it wasn’t through the family.
The patient himself agreed and signed the consent form.
The old man had spoken—if they secretly went back on their word again in the middle of the night like last time, without his knowledge, then he would be discharged now, and it wouldn’t matter if he lived or died!

With words like that, who would dare?

And so, the matter of the surgery was back on the agenda.

Although they had temporarily backed out before, for a new surgery, the necessary procedures still had to be done.
After all, for an elderly patient like this, their physical functions were changing at any moment.

On the day of the surgery, Chi Yuqin was the first to arrive, followed by Director Wang.
Liu Renzong was the last to come.

Everyone looked calm on the outside, but they were all more or less nervous on the inside.

However, Tang Zhen felt she was probably the most nervous one.

In just this short while, she had already drunk three glasses of water.

Liu Sisi was puzzled when she saw her. “Are you that thirsty?”

“I… I ate something salty this morning and didn’t drink any water.”

“You haven’t drunk any water? This is your fourth glass.”

Tang Zhen didn’t want to argue with her about how many glasses of water she had drunk.
She looked down at the time—

“When do you think this surgery will be over?”

“If it’s fast… one or two hours. If it’s slow… three or four hours. If there are any unexpected situations… even longer.”

“What kind of unexpected situations could there be?”

“Who knows? But—”

“But what?”

“You saw the pre-operative evaluation form from the anesthesiology department, didn’t you? Severe aortic calcification, aortic valve stenosis, and regurgitation… actually, Chi Yuqin is in a tough spot too. If she doesn’t do the surgery… Liu Renzong will definitely laugh at her. If she does… this is—”

Before she could finish, Liu Sisi immediately changed her tune—

“But!”

One moment it’s ‘but,’ the next it’s ‘but.’
Tang Zhen’s blood pressure was about to skyrocket—

“Can you finish your sentence in one go?”

“What I mean is, I definitely believe in our Director Chi! It’s best if there are no unexpected situations. Even if there are… she will definitely have a way to solve it!”

After hearing her say this, Tang Zhen didn’t ask any more questions.
Liu Sisi was an unreliable speaker, always saying whatever came to mind.
If she asked any more, this person would probably start shaking her head and going on about metaphysics.

Don’t ask me how I know.

If you ask, it’s metaphysics!

“Hey, where are you going?”

“To change a dressing.”

The surgery started at ten in the morning and ended at four in the afternoon.
The surgery was very successful.
The patient was pushed into the ICU for observation.
Chi Yuqin gave instructions for post-operative care and then left.

When Chi Yuqin returned to her office, Wang Qiugin was already waiting for her.

“Why are you here?”

“To see you. You’ve worked hard.”

Hearing Wang Qiugin say this, Chi Yuqin smiled. “You’re too kind. I’ve done so many surgeries before, but I’ve never seen you make a special trip.”

“That’s different.”

This time, Chi Yuqin was under a lot of pressure, and Wang Qiugin had seen it.

“The hospital plans to compile the process of your surgery this time into a video and put it on our intranet for the doctors to learn from.”

“Don’t—”

“You’re not willing?”

“It’s not that I’m not willing. It’s just too early. How about…”
Chi Yuqin glanced at the time. “Tomorrow morning.”

“It’s better to be safe than sorry, but I still have to say, you did your best, and the surgery was already successfully completed.”
“And I believe that the most difficult part during the surgery is over. Relax a little post-op.”

“Mm.”

The news of the successful surgery had already spread throughout the inpatient department.

“Six hours is not easy.”
Zhang Pei sighed. “Sometimes, you have to believe that besides skill, there’s also a bit of luck involved in this.”

“Aiyo, you’re being so sour. Before she succeeded, you thought she couldn’t do it. Now that she has… you’re attributing it to luck. Is it that hard to admit that Director Chi is outstanding?”
Ge Weiwei shot him a look.

“See, see, what did I say? Alright, alright, I can’t out-talk you.”
Zhang Pei made a gesture of surrender. “I’m going to go like our Director Chi’s post on the forum!”

Liu Sisi nudged Tang Zhen under the table.

“You can relax now.”

“?!?!”

“Sigh! You’re pretending again. Weren’t you worried all day~”

“I was not!”

Tang Zhen wouldn’t admit it to Liu Sisi, but she admitted it to herself in her heart.
She had indeed been worried all day.

Her heart had been in her throat all day.

Why couldn’t she admit it?

Perhaps it was because she couldn’t find a suitable qualification.
She was neither someone who fought side by side with Chi Yuqin, nor was she a benefactor like Director Wang who had recognized her talent.
And she certainly didn’t have the kind of friendship with her that Zhao Qin had from their early days.

She was just one of her subordinates, at most a colleague.

This status…

No matter how Tang Zhen thought about it, it felt inappropriate.

And the applause for Chi Yuqin didn’t need hers.

Tang Zhen wasn’t on the night shift today, but she didn’t leave.

When Chi Yuqin came over from the ward, she saw the person buried in front of the computer, her keyboard clattering away.

A little strange.

“Are you on the night shift?”

“No.”

“Then you’re not going home?”

“I…”

Tang Zhen’s mind had never worked so fast before. “Aren’t you not going back either?”

“Are you comparing yourself to me?”

When it came to rhetorical questions, Tang Zhen was no match for Chi Yuqin.
One second she thought her mind was working fast, the next she was crushed to pieces.

Chi Yuqin was teasing her, but this person was too easy to tease.
She couldn’t even distinguish a joke.

“I’m waiting for bed six to stabilize. I’m getting ready to leave now.”

“Oh.”

Chi Yuqin looked at that small head that had lowered again and, after a thought, asked, “Do you still have things you haven’t finished?”

“I’ve finished.”
She always wrote her case histories in her spare time.
This was what Liu Sisi had taught her.
If you wanted to get off work early and go home, you had to save time from these fragmented moments.
Everyone did it.

“Then did you mess up again?”

“No!”

“This and that, you like working overtime for free?”

Tang Zhen wanted to say that she was also waiting for bed six to stabilize, but that didn’t make sense.
She was neither the attending physician nor the chief surgeon.
Why would she need to wait?

“Pack your things and leave. You won’t be missed when it’s your turn to be on duty. Don’t join in the fun when it’s not your turn.”

“Oh.”