Jihua Hospital, affiliated with A Medical University.
It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, but the early summer sunlight was already glaringly bright. It streamed in through the clear windows, illuminating the spotless corridor with a refreshing cleanliness.
Two groups, attending physicians, resident doctors, trainees, and graduate students, stood in clearly divided lines on either side of the corridor. The faint scent of disinfectant hung distinctly in the air.
Inside the No. 2 doctors’ office, Jiang Xu set down his teacup, put on the white coat draped over the back of his chair, and picked up a thick stack of documents from his neatly organized desk. A name badge reading Associate Chief Physician hung from his chest, and three pens, black, blue, and red, peeked out of his coat pocket.
At the farthest workstation from him, Shen Fangyu hurriedly gulped down two sips of coffee. A dark blue folder was tucked under his arm. While hastily fastening the buttons on his white coat, he reached into the pocket of the attending doctor at the adjacent desk and smoothly fished out a black pen. “Thanks, bro!”
“Hey—”
The innocent coworker, robbed in broad daylight, failed to summon Shen Fangyu back with an outstretched “Erkang hand.” Jiang Xu lowered his head slightly, glancing at Shen Fangyu who had rudely squeezed in front of him and grabbed the doorknob with one hand: “……”
“Sorry, Dr. Jiang. Gotta run first.” Shen Fangyu flashed a cheeky smile on his handsome face and swaggered as he opened the door. He snapped his fingers at the row of students on the left. “Let’s go.”
At the same moment, Yu Sang, the lead resident on the right, shot him a very unfriendly international hand gesture as he turned around. Jiang Xu, sharply dressed as always, stepped out just then. Adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose, he walked briskly forward, tapping a file folder midair toward a student at the end of the right-hand group.
“If anyone else still can’t manage to button their white coat properly,” Jiang Xu said coldly, “you can go join Shen Fangyu’s group.”
Only then did that student suddenly realize, he’d buttoned his coat wrong.
Jihua Hospital, known far and wide as a teaching hospital under A Medical University, had a high volume of patients and a complex system of medical personnel. In the OB-GYN department, several medical teams operated under a pyramid structure led by a Chief or Associate Chief Physician, with attending doctors, resident doctors, trainees, and graduate students working and learning under them.
Normally, daily ward rounds were conducted by the attending and resident doctors. The Chiefs and Associate Chiefs only led major teaching rounds twice a week. However, as newly promoted young Associate Chief Physicians, Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu led major ward rounds almost every other day.
Both of them graduated from the eight-year combined bachelor–doctoral program in Clinical Medicine at A Medical University, and from their first year, they were locked in a constant battle for first and second place, if the east wind didn’t overpower the west wind, then the west wind overpowered the east. During their doctoral studies, they both entered Jihua Hospital, affiliated with A Medical University. After completing their rotation, fate once again brought them to the same place, the obstetrics and gynecology department, under the same mentor, Professor Cui.
Professor Cui was a kind-looking middle-aged woman and also the vice president of Jihua Hospital. She was highly experienced and extremely skilled in medicine. When Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu first found out they had been assigned to the same department under the same professor, they stormed into her office together.
Jiang Xu, “Either he stays or I stay, not both.”
Shen Fangyu, “I’d rather starve, jump out the window, or drop dead than work with Jiang Xu!”
But Professor Cui simply smiled at the two of them, cradling her thermos cup and speaking gently, “You’ve both already been entered into the system. It can’t be changed. What kind of grudge can’t be resolved overnight? Take a step back and the world opens up. Come on, shake hands?”
Naturally, Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu didn’t shake hands. They exchanged a glare, snorted coldly, and stormed out together.
From that day on, Professor Cui watched with great satisfaction as her two nemesis disciples buried themselves in the lab day and night, working obsessively on research. They competed like tireless machines, scrambling to assist in every surgery she performed. During clinical case discussions, they’d each come armed with towering stacks of literature, engaging in fierce verbal battles, each determined to silence the other.
One month, Jiang Xu would submit a research paper. The next, Shen Fangyu would definitely come to her asking for edits on his own. While others say, “If the moon isn’t sleeping, I’m not sleeping,” these two were more like “If he’s not sleeping, I’m not sleeping either.”
Pulling all-nighters and back-to-back work became routine. Professor Cui, listed as the corresponding author, was raking in bonuses left and right. In truth, she enjoyed the thrill of being carried by her overachieving students, and, as the sharp-eyed biggest winner of them all, she’d look at the two of them and say leisurely, “Young people need competition, it drives progress.”
In the end, after years of intense, cutthroat rivalry, “If you don’t outdo me, I’ll outdo you,” the two of them were promoted to associate chief physicians in the same year. From then on, they each held their own authority and became the two sharpest young blades of Jihua Hospital’s OB-GYN department.
However, their rapid career advancement did nothing to change their oil-and-water relationship. Competing over everything had become their daily routine, from who left the office first during rounds to things like…
“Jiang Xu, you’ve gone too far!” Shen Fangyu yelled, looking at the OR schedule the head nurse had handed him. “You already got the lead surgery slot on Tuesday, and now you’re hogging all these other slots too? Are you planning to perform all six surgeries that morning yourself? What do you think this is, platform diving? Are you trying to keep me stuck in the hospital overnight?!”
Operating rooms were limited. Typically, the first slot, reserved for the most difficult surgeries, was scheduled in advance and rarely contested.
But the follow-up slots, called “relay surgeries,” depended entirely on seniority and personal relationships with the head nurse. No one wanted to be stuck doing surgeries late into the night, so OR slots were prime battlefield real estate.
While Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu usually gave and took with others, when it came to each other, it was all-out war.
“So what if I stacked the cases? I’m fast,” Jiang Xu replied coldly, not even looking up as he signed the schedule. The thin lenses of his glasses reflected the sterile white hallway lights.
A single surgery was rarely performed entirely by one doctor. The lead surgeon usually only handled the most critical portion; preparation and suturing were left to junior doctors.
With so many patients, it was common for lead surgeons at Jihua Hospital to jump from one OR to another, a practice known as “platform hopping.”
With a loud slap, Shen Fangyu slapped a beauty salon card on the desk and lowered his voice sweetly to the head nurse, “Zhang-jie, look at Jiang Xu. Isn’t he being way too domineering? Be a dear and reshuffle the schedule for me, please?”
He was good-looking, smooth-talking, and a master of charm. His fan-shaped peach blossom eyes were strikingly handsome. Even after countless sleepless nights, his eyes still sparkled, the kind of face girls adored.
“Zhang-jie, my mom always goes to this beauty salon. Their treatments are amazing. You already look beautiful, but if you go in for a few sessions, I guarantee you’ll look ten years younger.”
There isn’t a woman alive who doesn’t like to be complimented. Head Nurse Zhang Fang was visibly delighted by his sweet talk, but the shopping card Jiang Xu had slipped her was still sitting in her pocket. Torn between two warring doctors, she awkwardly tried to mediate, “Dr. Jiang, how about you give in just this once?”
In truth, these two didn’t usually go this hard over OR slots. No one knew what was so important next Tuesday, both of them acted like they were racing to reincarnate.
Jiang Xu shot Shen Fangyu a cold look. “Not a chance.”
“Jiang Xu,” Shen Fangyu said, pressing a hand over his pen, “If you let me have this, I promise I won’t crash your surgery next time you’re working with Zhong Lan.”
Zhong Lan, a fellow attending in their department and their junior, had been a major reason their relationship deteriorated even further, both of them were pursuing her.
Seeing your romantic rival every day was bad enough. The fact that they already couldn’t stand each other made things worse. Whenever Zhong Lan assisted Jiang Xu, Shen Fangyu, unless too busy to leave, would inevitably swing by his OR just to be an eyesore.
Some doctors liked to chat or even play music and crack jokes during surgery. Shen Fangyu, with his quick wit and easy banter, was the opposite of Jiang Xu, who was quiet and serious. Zhong Lan actually enjoyed having Shen Fangyu around to liven the mood.
Jiang Xu’s gaze slowly shifted from the pen being held down to Shen Fangyu’s annoyingly smug face. “Deal.”
Tuesday.
Jiang Xu stepped out of the operating room and glanced at the digital clock hanging on the wall.
Perfect, he could finish work on time today.
He downed the can of Coke his assistant had handed him in a few gulps, tossed it in the trash, and headed to the changing room to switch into street clothes. Today, he’d brought a freshly ironed white shirt and black trousers, buttoned up all the way, and even tied his tie.
Just then, a certain unwelcome figure appeared.
“You’re all dressed up today, Dr. Jiang,” Shen Fangyu said with a teasing tone.
He wore a silky shirt with black, white, and blue vertical stripes, the top two buttons undone. The shirt was casually tucked into his trousers, his hair swept back from his forehead, making him look particularly striking.
He hooked a finger playfully around Jiang Xu’s tie. “Where are you off to?”
Jiang Xu yanked the tie back, turned to the mirror, and began adjusting it again, his face clearly saying: I don’t have time for you.
Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, Shen Fangyu watched him fix his tie, amusement in his eyes. “Do you know why I fought you for that OR slot the other day?”
Jiang Xu couldn’t care less about Shen Fangyu’s motives. All he knew was that Shen had tried to take the slot because Zhong Lan had asked him out for dinner tonight — so he’d gone out of his way to dress up for the date.
Shen Fangyu walked out with him, full of smug provocation. “So what if you did a surgery with Zhong Lan? She chose me in the end,” he said. “To be honest, she invited me to dinner today.”
Oh. That explains why he’s dressed like a peacock in heat.
Wait—
Jiang Xu turned to him, his expression suddenly unreadable. “What did you just say?”
“Zhong Lan invited me to dinner,” Shen Fangyu said proudly. “Don’t be jealous, Dr. Jiang. Your turn will come.”
“……”
After a moment of silence, Jiang Xu replied, “She invited me too.”
Shen Fangyu’s smug smile froze bit by bit as Jiang Xu watched coldly and sneered, “Delusional.”
“Are you kidding me?” Shen Fangyu looked dumbfounded. “Why the hell would she invite you? What’s she into, your germophobia, your deadpan face, or your frigid personality?”
“You’re the frigid one,” Jiang Xu shot back. “With your tail stuck up like a showoff peacock, who’d have to be blind to fall for you?”
“Gentlemen… please,” a soft, pleasant female voice interrupted their bickering. Dr. Zhong stood beside a parked SUV, awkwardly raising a hand in a calming gesture. “Let’s all settle down and get in the car.”
The two associate chief physicians, who were just about to go for each other’s throats, instantly shifted to refined, polite expressions and nodded in unison toward Zhong Lan with smiles. “Thank you for the trouble.”
The SUV was spacious, and the back seat in particular was roomy, but the two doctors sat as far apart as humanly possible. There was easily enough space between them for a sumo wrestler. They each stared out their own window, acting like just inhaling the same air might kill them.
Zhong Lan sighed.
She had zero interest in getting caught in the drama between these two. After thinking it over, she realized the best way to reject both cleanly… was to be honest.
So, in a lavishly decorated restaurant, Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu watched as another woman, one with a sleek high ponytail and sharp, confident aura, walked over and casually took Zhong Lan’s arm. She smiled at the two doctors and said, “I’ve heard both of you take great care of our Lanlan at work. I’ve always been really grateful for that.”
“No need to thank me, it’s just what I should do,” Shen Fangyu said smoothly, assuming the woman was a close friend of Zhong Lan’s. He smiled at her, “We look out for each other.”
Jiang Xu glanced sideways at Shen Fangyu, who had just stolen all the polite words he’d been about to say. He ended up simply giving the woman a reserved smile. “Hello.”
The woman with the ponytail took in both of their reactions, then gave Zhong Lan a meaningful smile. She raised her glass. “So, as her girlfriend, I specially invited you both for a casual meal today, just a small token of thanks.”
Jiang Xu, Shen Fangyu, “???”