CH 49

The sun was setting diagonally, the sunlight falling through the blinds in the room. The dark red conference table was surrounded by doctors in white coats, and all eyes were on the PPT being shown.

After the speaker’s acknowledgment, the room thundered with applause. Jiang Xu gently placed his laser pointer on the table, walked away from the projector screen, and sat back at the conference table.

At the head of the long conference table was Professor Cui. Jiang Xu sat just below her, and he could meet Shen Fangyu’s eyes on the opposite side if he raised his head.

He and Shen Fangyu gave their respective reports on Dr. Kenn’s surgery and the analysis of the patient’s case. This kind of report was no different to Jiang Xu than eating and drinking; it was a familiar thing. The only difference was probably that he had the same experience as the patient being analyzed.

“You both spoke well, analyzed clearly, and prepared well in such a short time,” Professor Cui joked. “Did you know about this case long ago and prepared for it in advance?”

Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu glanced at each other for a moment and then looked away, but Professor Cui didn’t notice.

“Jiang Xu,” Professor Cui asked, “do you think that if we had a case like this in our hospital, you would be able to do this surgery?” She finished her question and then looked at Shen Fangyu and asked, “What about you? Can you do it?”

“I can give it a try.”

“No problem.”

Both of them spoke almost simultaneously.

Director Cui looked at Shen Fangyu in a somewhat meaningful way, saying, “You sound more confident than Jiang Xu.”

Shen Fangyu looked in their direction and said, “I would do my best.”

Even though both he and Director Cui were sitting in this direction, Jiang Xu knew that Shen Fangyu was looking at him and making a promise to him, a promise that had been made to him in that review letter as well.

Shen Fangyu also said that if he preferred to go abroad to see Dr. Kenn for the operation, he would pay for all the expenses.

For some reason, he was suddenly a little annoyed. Perhaps he hated Shen Fangyu’s self-righteousness and assertiveness, just as Shen Fangyu hated his bossy and irrefutable attitude.

Now that he was staying at Tang Ke’s house, Shen Fangyu didn’t ask him when he was coming home in the evening, and after making arrangements for tomorrow’s surgery, he looked at the clock and saw that it was after eight o’clock.

He could still work for a while, but he was a bit distracted today. Feeling that he wouldn’t be efficient, he simply packed his things and planned to go back.

Before leaving, he glanced at Shen Fangyu’s workstation and saw that he was not there.

He lowered his eyes and, as usual, walked to the entrance of the hospital to take a taxi, where the traffic was the heaviest. After standing at the intersection for a while, something suddenly touched him from behind.

Jiang Xu turned around with some surprise and saw a rabbit taller than him. The huge rabbit with drooping ears looked the same as the old pink rabbit on his bed.

Seeing the flyer in the rabbit’s hand, he realized that it was a promotional tactic by some merchant.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of large and small shops in A City. To grab business, businesses had come up with all sorts of ingenious ideas, and it was no longer unusual for staff to dress up like this, most of the time to attract children.

It was probably because the children had gone home at this time of the day, or because the staff member in the rabbit costume was new to the shop and didn’t know how to solicit business that he found himself before Jiang Xu. He pushed the leaflet back to the rabbit and waved his hand to indicate that he didn’t need it.

However, the rabbit seemed hell-bent on him taking it and shoved the leaflet back into his hand. Thinking that he probably had some kind of target in mind when distributing leaflets, Jiang Xu took the leaflet that was casually handed out.

Only when he saw the words on the leaflet did he realize that the place the staff member was promoting was actually Xianju Restaurant.

Xianju was one of the most expensive restaurants in a small area near Jihua. It didn’t charge by the dish, but by the person. They charged 1288 yuan per person, which was almost Jiang Xu’s income for a day.

His family was in B City, and his parents were both hard-working, small-time workers, not exactly the kind of wealthy family that could help him. Over the years, Jiang Xu’s salary and bonus were almost entirely spent on big projects like caravans, so he rarely went to Xianju.

Jiang Xu had the impression that the Xianju was doing well and there was no shortage of rich people in A City, but unexpectedly, it was now reduced to having staff soliciting business on the street.

He suddenly doubted the authenticity of the staff member in the rabbit costume in front of him.

Before he could raise his doubts, the rabbit suddenly held out lots from its hand and asked Jiang Xu to make a draw. Jiang Xu subconsciously took a step back, but the rabbit didn’t chase after him; it stood where it was, with its head bowed and holding out the lots with both hands

Jiang Xiu could not see the person inside because of the huge hood, but for some reason, he felt that the rabbit in front of him was a bit aggrieved.

Probably because the rabbit in front of him looked so much like the pink rabbit that had been with him for so many years, it made Jiang Xu feel a little bit guilty.

Anyway, he was a grown man, and he was in the middle of a crowded street. What could the staff member do to him if he drew a lot?

So he stretched his hand out to pick a lot.

The pink rabbit instantly seemed to come to life, and its drooping head immediately lifted. Jiang Xu even felt that it was happy for some reason, causing him to subconsciously relax his vigilance.

He took out a bamboo stick with a small slip of paper hanging from the end of it. He unfolded it, and after a long time, he looked up at the naïve rabbit doll.

“Shen Fangyu, are you so bored?”

The note in black and white read: Forgive a friend who recently had a conflict with you, and you can enjoy a free meal.

Jiang Xu took out a few more bamboo sticks, and the little notes hanging from them all said the same thing. He threw the sticks and the little notes back into the tube and made a gesture to wave for a taxi.

Shen Fangyu took off the hood and took Jiang Xu’s hand through a layer of pink bunny velvet. “I’m not bored, I just want to have a meal with you.”

The doll’s hood was very hot, and even in late autumn, it still made Shen Fangyu sweat. His hair was wet and looked extra thick and black, like ink. His forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, he reached out and wiped it off, squinting at Jiang Xu and smiling.

“I’ve apologized, I wrote a review, and I promised not to be angry with you in the future.” He said, “Come on, I’ve already reserved…”

Jiang Xu turned and shoved the flyer at him.

“For the sake of my hard work to save money to take you to dinner, why don’t you come and enjoy it?”

He was sure that Jiang Xu was not a spendthrift, and even if he didn’t want to see him, he couldn’t stand the thought of him just losing money to the restaurant.

As expected, Jiang Xu accompanied him into Xianju for the sake of his two days’ salary.

The restaurant’s décor was elegant, and the most comfortable part was its all-independent private room layout. It was quiet and comfortable, independent of the rest of the world, and there were roses on the table …… No, the table at Xianju would not have ninety-nine red roses, Jiang Xu looked at Shen Fangyu with suspicion.

“I bought the roses.”

Jiang Xu: “……”

“A rabbit costume, flowers, and a big meal,” Jiang Xu finished summarizing them one by one before commenting, “This is a really corny way to apologize.”

It was probably only rivaled by the heart-shaped candle confession downstairs.

“Corny?” Shen Fangyu was full of skepticism about life: “This plan was designed by the gold-medal relationship teacher I hired from Taobao for two hundred and fifty yuan.”

He said as he took out his phone to show Jiang Xu the receipt, but the other party pushed the phone back, “Did you know that it’s yellow roses that are used to apologize?”

“I know,” Shen Fangyu said, “I was going to buy yellow roses, but that gold medal teacher said he staked his reputation to guarantee that red roses would work better.”

“The two hundred and fifty yuan was worth it.”

Jiang Xu suddenly remembered that not long ago, Wu Rui complained about how he worked himself to death every day doing surgery and going to the outpatient clinic, only for his pregnant wife to turn around and buy some gold medal teacher’s fetal education class that was worth one month’s salary.

It was said that his wife even insisted that education should start when the child was still in the womb and that it was too late to start when the child was born.

Jiang Xu couldn’t understand what these gold-medal teachers were feeding people.

He looked at Shen Fangyu’s head and wondered how he had managed to become a top scholar. He was pretty sure that when he got older, he would be the type of person most favored by telecom scams.

So Jiang Xu ruthlessly answered Shen Fangyu with, “If you don’t want the money, you can just leave it to someone in need.”

“It was really corny, huh?” Shen Fangyu looked a bit depressed.

When Jiang Xu saw this expression on his face, the head that was about to nod halted in mid-air.

“But it’s okay, I finally got you to come out,” Shen Fangyu said. “I am on third shift today, so I’m afraid I might be called back to the department at any moment.”

The third line shift was not required to stay in the hospital duty room, and most of the third line shifts in hospitals were a sham, but there were many patients and many doctors on duty at Jihua, so Shen Fangyu did not dare to take it lightly, and kept a lookout for messages on his mobile phone.

“Why did it have to be today?”

“The rabbit costume only arrived today. I had it custom-made in the likeness of the rabbit on your bed, just in case you couldn’t see me …… although you still didn’t see me.”

—He watched as Jiang Xu’s gaze passed over him and ran straight for the curb to take a taxi, and he had no choice but to go after him and tap him.

“I mean,” Jiang Xu said, “you could have waited until tomorrow or the day after ……”

“I don’t want to wait another day,” Shen Fangyu said softly. “Whenever I see you not eating breakfast, I get worried that you’ll get another stomachache.”

A dazzling white mist enveloped the Chinese-style carved tables and chairs, and a courteous waiter came up with a dark brown tray, placing Shen Fangyu’s order around the bouquet of roses.

Wenshi tofu, boiled cabbage, Buddha jumping over the wall …… all nourishing foods.

Jiang Xu wanted to ask why he was worried about him, but as soon as this thought came to him, he suddenly remembered the phrase “friend” on the papers that Shen Fangyu had asked him to draw.

Did Shen Fangyu already feel that they were friends?

Or did Shen Fangyu now regard him as a friend?

He originally wanted to ask, but before he could, Shen Fangyu’s phone rang.

Jihua’s No. 1 crow’s-mouth received an urgent call from the hospital. He hung up the phone, stood up, and said to Jiang Xu while taking off his doll costume, “You eat first, don’t mind me.”

“What case?”

“The patient with triplets on bed 23,” Shen Fangyu said, “I told the person on duty to call me whether I’m on duty or not, as long as she’s in labor.”

Jiang Xu also remembered the patient in bed 23. She had a complicated case and had been presented several times at group meetings as a priority case.

The risks in multiple pregnancies were high, and the hospital had suggested many solutions, all of which the patient did not agree to. To be on the safe side, Director Cui and Shen Fangyu both advised her to have a cesarean section, but the patient still hoped to have a normal delivery, so they finally decided to let her try.

In a hospital, doctors are not overlords over their patients, and Shen Fangyu had no choice but to pay extra attention to the rebellious patient.

“I have to go now,” he said as he tucked the rabbit costume he had taken off into its head, pausing to look at Jiang Xiu. “I’m sorry I messed up today. Can you accept my apology? I’ll think of something else tomorrow.”

“No, I’m fine.” Jiang Xu said.

Shen Fangyu’s eyes lit up: “You’re not mad at me anymore?”

Jiang Xiu glanced at him and said, “Bed 23 is waiting for you.”

“Fine,” Shen Fangyu’s eyes were tinged with a smile as he walked away with his doll costume at a brisk pace, giving him a wave before he left the door, “I’ll contact you later.”

Jiang Xu withdrew his gaze, his eyes falling back to the bowl of Wenshi tofu. The extremely finely shredded tofu was scattered in the pale yellow chicken soup, spread out in the shape of a chrysanthemum flower. There was also lime green lettuce with a little red wolfberry in the center, giving everything a beautiful color.

After a moment of silence, he put down his chopsticks and said to the waiter, “Pack it up.”

Jiang Xu’s mouth twitched as he watched the unbelievably beautiful dish fall into the plain takeout box, instantly looking like a pearl in the dust, almost indistinguishable from a home-cooked dish.

Of 1288, a thousand was probably the display fee.

“Sir,” the waiter handed him the packed dishes, looked at the flowers on the table, and said thoughtfully, “Do you need a bag for the roses?”

“No.” Jiang Xiu wanted to say he wasn’t taking them with him, but then he paused. The delicate roses were in full bloom, and Jiang Xu could still smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers.

As he walked back to the office with the roses in his arms, Jiang Xu still couldn’t figure out why he had brought the bouquet back with him.

He stood at the entrance of the office for a moment and was hesitating when he saw the cleaning lady pass by. He walked up and intended to throw the roses in, but a familiar voice suddenly rang out, “Brother XU! Who gave you these roses?”

Jiang Xu’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted. The person who spoke was Yu Sang, and he raised his eyes and looked over. In that short moment, the cleaning aunt had already pushed the cart away, and he stood awkwardly in place for a moment before finally carrying the flowers back to the office.

“Restaurant promotion.”

“What kind of restaurant sends so many roses?” Yu Sang didn’t believe it and was extraordinarily gossipy. “It’s someone chasing you, isn’t it?”

“I can give them to you if you want.”

Yu Sang said, “I wouldn’t dare ask for them; I’m afraid my sister-in-law would beat me up.”

Jiang Xu swept a faint glance at Shen Fangyu’s seat, the chair was empty, his jacket and rabbit costume haphazardly slung over the back of the chair. He put down the takeout box and turned to head for the maternity ward.

The maternity ward was the busiest place in the whole of Jihua, and because of the limited medical resources, several delivery beds were placed side by side. The sounds of midwives and pregnant women swept past Jiang Xu’s ears. He scanned around but did not see Shen Fangyu and asked a doctor in the delivery room, “What about bed 23?”

“The fetus continues to be breech-first and is not doing well, so Dr. Shen has decided to switch to a cesarean section.” The doctor in the delivery room glanced outside the door. “He just sent the patient to the operating room not long ago.”

The fetal position during normal labor was head first, meaning the head of the baby enters the pelvis first and starts the labor process, while breech first is when the buttocks enter the pelvis first, a common fetal malposition that can make labor more difficult.

Jiang Xu was a little surprised. Bed 23 and her family were stubborn in the same vein, so he never expected them to agree to a cesarean.

“Having triplets is already risky, the pain was severe, and as soon as Dr. Shen persuaded the mother to switch, the mother let go,” said the doctor in the delivery room. ”

Jiang Xu nodded and went back to the office. After a long time, he calculated that the operation should be almost done, then carried the takeout box to the lounge of the operating room, ready to use the microwave oven to warm it up.

He had just untied the knot of the takeout bag when there was a sudden rush of footsteps, and a nurse’s flustered voice rang out, “Rescue team! Notify the rescue team! ”

Jiang Xu’s hand loosened, and the takeout box fell back on the table.