CH 11

Tang Ke seriously suspected that if the words “Jiang Xu is pregnant with Shen Fangyu’s child” were posted in their eight-year clinical group, it would definitely invite countless question marks about his mental state, and those in the psychiatry department would even come and take him away that very day.

He stood up slowly, holding his back that hurt from the fall, and looked at Jiang Xiu with eyes full of accusation, “You’re not teasing me, are you?” He said while patting his own mouth, “Forget what I said about donating, that was a joke, don’t take it seriously.”

Jiang Xu put down the file in his hands, hugged his elbows and tilted his head to look at Tang Ke who had his hands propped up on the table, “Would you believe me if I told you that we got drunk and ended up in bed?”

“Yes,” Tang Ke said firmly, “otherwise I can’t think of any reason why you two would have slept together.”

Jiang Xu took a deep breath, “Come on, I said I’d buy you dinner.”

Tang Ke had not yet recovered even after they were seated in the restaurant. He used the cover of the menu to peek at Jiang Xu, who endured Tang Ke’s stare in silence for a long time before finally lifting his eyes and interrupting, “Stop looking, I’m not crazy.”

“What are you going to do then?” Tang Ke was like a worried mother, “Shen Fangyu doesn’t look gay either.”

The more he thought, the more distraught he felt, “Fuck, if I had known, we should have given him the boot back then, so he wouldn’t have had to come out and harrass people.”

As much as Jiang Xu wanted to agree with Tang Ke, the last bit of his conscience as a doctor restrained him from the urge to agree with him.

“So are you going to tell him?” Tang Ke asked.

Jiang Xu did not answer directly.

He lowered his eyelashes and slowly stroked the edge of the white porcelain plate. It was obvious that he didn’t know what he should do, which was why he told Tang Ke about the child’s father.

They were friends so there was no need for Jiang Xiu to save face in front of him.

Jiang Xu was at the centre of the whirlpool, and he was worried that he would not be able to respond objectively and rationally enough, so he wanted to hear Tang Ke’s thoughts on the matter.

However, Tang Ke, whom he had high hopes in, was making up a series of dramas and novels about a damsel running off with a cub, “If you can’t find someone to perform an abortion on you, you’re not planning to secretly go to Country M to have the baby, are you?”

His thoughts were like wild horses off the leash, and the more he talked, the more vigorous he became, “Then in another ten years, when you two are competing for the director’s post, you’ll tell Shen Fangyu that he’s your baby’s real father use it to hold him hostage.”

Jiang Xu: “……”

“It’s really condescending that you’re a doctor with that imagination.”

“To tell you the truth,” Tang Ke said with a smile, “Lu Xun who abandoned medicine for literature is my idol in life.”

Jiang Xu rolled his eyes, and Tang Ke became serious, “I think you need to tell him.”

He said, “If you’re going to have surgery, you’ll have to take a long leave of absence. I’ve also spent time at Jihua Hospital, I know how hard it is to take time off work in public hospitals, and I know how much work you have to do, not to mention your unique situation.”

As long as Jiang Xu still wanted to stay in the hospital and didn’t want a social death, he couldn’t use pregnancy and abortion as a reason to take a leave of absence.

But if he wanted to hide his situation from the rest of the department, then taking leave would only become more difficult.

If he resigned, Shen Fangyu would light firecrackers and explode them around his family’s ancestral grave for three days and nights, perhaps even thinking that Jiang Xu had lost and left after admitting defeat.

When he thought of Shen Fangyu’s gleeful face, Jiang Xu’s face darkened a bit more.

“Shen Fangyu is much more tactful than you when it comes to dealing with leaders.” Tang Ke said, “Besides, Shen Fangyu also has to take responsibility, you don’t have to bear the pressure alone.”

If he didn’t have a knife to his neck, Jiang Xu would have preferred not to tell Shen Fangyu something he sounds unbelievable.

There was a reason novels and dramas on running away with a cub existed, evasion was shameful but useful.

Jiang Xiu lifted his hand to push back his glasses, “I’ll think about it.” He glanced at his phone, he had emailed Dr. Kenn before coming to dinner but still hadn’t got a reply.

Although he knew that there was a time difference and he was a renowned expert in his field so it was unlikely that he would reply so quickly, Jiang Xu still could not help but feel annoyed.

He hadn’t checked his messages this often even when he was submitting articles.

Tang Ke saw his movements and said deliberately, “If Dr. Kenn is really willing to share the surgical indication plan and video with you, I can help arrange for our hospital’s operating room, but who will be the chief surgeon…… for you?”

Jiang Xu immediately picked up his phone, he suddenly didn’t want to talk to Tang Ke anymore.

Every word Tang Ke said tonight was to the point, all of which were the most difficult problems he was facing, he really wanted to cover his ears md wish he could just quit everything.

The surgery was the first of its kind in China, and skilled surgeons who are not familiar with obstetrics and gynaecology would not dare come over to do it, moreover, the obstetrics and gynaecology at Jihua Hospital was already the top in the country.

But there was no way he would get someone from the obstetrics and gynecology department of Jihua Hospital to do it. First, they were colleagues he see on a regular basis. Leave alone how embarrassing it wa, Jiang Xu knew his colleagues’ abilities very well. There were even fewer of them who have the guts and courage to be the “first”.

But he couldn’t blame them, if a patient with the same case approached him, he would still have to weigh carefully as to whether to do it or not.

Jiang Xu could only think of one person who had both the ability, the guts and his approval, but it was the one person he didn’t want to mention.

“We can ask Shen Fangyu.” Tang Ke directly pointed out the name he had in mind.

Jiang Xu frowned.

“He may look like a casual guy, but he has the ability. You’ve already slept together, so where’s the shame in letting him do the abortion? If he refuses to do it, you can go to the Discipline Committee and report him for playing both men and women, and being a contemporary *Chen Shimei.”

*A heartless and unfaithful man

Jiang Xiu: “……”

If he wasn’t pissed off by Shen Fangyu in the future, he would definitely be pissed off by Tang Ke.

Jiang Xu even wondered if everyone around him was not talkative because he didn’t like talking.

The dishes were slowly brought to the table, and Jiang Xu directly picked the biggest chicken leg in the pot amd put it into Tang Ke’s bowl, and when Tang Ke wanted to say something else, Jiang Xu directly put one hand to his lips, “Shhh, eat.”

However, before he could take a few bites of the meal, Jiang Xu put down his chopsticks. The nausea always appeared on different occasions, he looked at the table of brightly coloured meals and couldn’t muster up any appetite.

Pregnancy was indeed exhausting.

He had never been seriously ill for as long as he could remember, and even colds and fevers were rare. His body had always been energetic enough to support his work and study schedule.

But now, Jiang Xu felt like his energy was being eaten away, and the discomfort was like a forced shutdown system of a mobile phone, often making him feel powerless.

As much as he wanted to bury himself like an ostrich, he had to think about Tang Ke’s words.

He was in the middle of the puzzle, so many things would be obscured by his emotions and tinted glasses, but Tang Ke was on the sidelines so he would see things more clearly and thoroughly than he did.

Jiang Xu was silent for a while, he wasn’t sure what would happen after telling Shen Fangyu, or even how he would face him afterwards, but Tang Ke was right about one thing, whether it was the abortion or the birth of the child, trying to force himself to take on the responsibility would only make the outcome worse.

Jiang Xu was a man who demanded a lot of himself and could hardly bear the thought of his work efficiency dropping because he had already put too much energy into this unexpected child, whether by his own accord or by force.

If it kept going on like this, the consequences might be more than just a loss of face and social death.

‘Never mind,’ thought Jiang Xu, ‘soldiers come to block, water comes to cover. As long as I’m not embarrassed, it’s others who will be embarrassed.’

So he took a deep breath, clicked on Shen Fangyu’s dialog box, and sent a message, “I’ll be waiting for you at the office tonight at nine o’clock. /smile.jpg.”