Before Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu could make any sense of the matter, it was probably because the two of them were standing too conspicuously at the entrance of the inpatient department that a passing woman suddenly grabbed Jiang Xu and asked,
“Hey, doctor, do you know how to get to the obstetrics and gynecology department?”
Jiang Xu froze for a moment. Shen Fangyu slipped Jiang Xu’s phone back into his pocket, subtly blocking the woman’s movement, and stepped slightly in front of him in a protective stance, though his habitual smile remained unchanged.
“This lady, is there something I can help you with?”
Even his tone was warm and courteous, the sort that made you want to spill all your troubles the moment you heard it.
That was exactly how Shen Fangyu was: a master at appearances. If you put it nicely, you’d say he had high emotional intelligence; if not, you’d say he was adept at pleasing everyone. It made people think they were all his friends, and even patients said he had a certain warmth, talking to him for a few minutes was more effective than taking medicine.
It was, in its own way, a skill.
Sure enough, the woman before them looked as though she’d just found a savior, completely unbothered by Shen Fangyu’s not-so-friendly initial interception.
She smiled ingratiatingly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and pulled forward a young woman standing beside her, who was staring down at her shoes.
“I’m looking for Jiang Xu, Dr. Jiang from OB-GYN,” she said, patting the girl beside her and adding, “This is his younger sister.”
“Younger sister?” Shen Fangyu looked at Jiang Xu. “How come I never knew you had a sister?”
And a heavily pregnant sister, no less.
One glance told Jiang Xu she was about nine months along, nearly full term.
The older woman seemed to pick up on something from Shen’s tone and looked at Jiang Xu with an awkward yet emotional smile. “Rong Rong, it’s me, your aunt. I held you when you were a baby!”
As if to prove to Shen how close she and Jiang Xu were, she reached for his wrist.
Jiang Xu stiffened visibly when she caught his sleeve, so much so that he didn’t immediately register the “aunt” title.
“Rong Rong?” Shen teased with a smirk. “So Dr. Jiang has such a cute little nickname?”
“…,” Jiang Xu shot him a silent look, and Shen wisely shut his mouth.
Jiang Xu discreetly pulled his hand back. Her words reminded him of their earlier phone call, and a certain unpleasant, messy morning.
He glanced at Shen, who gave him a baffled look as if to say, I haven’t said anything, why are you glaring at me?
Jiang Xu looked away and politely addressed the woman before him. “Aunt.” Then, turning to the young woman beside her, who seemed ill at ease, he greeted, “Lili?”
The last time, this never-before-mentioned aunt had suddenly called him, saying she wanted him to deliver her daughter’s baby. Later, hospital work had kept him busy, and he’d never had a chance to meet this “aunt” for a meal, he’d only asked his own mother to explain things.
Like many parents, his mother loved to show off that her son was a doctor. Jiang Xu had told her many times to stop, but it was obvious the words went in one ear and out the other.
After that, the aunt had never contacted him again. Jiang Xu had been busy and had forgotten all about it, until now, when she showed up at the hospital.
“Oh my!” Seeing Jiang Xu greet them, the aunt beamed and pushed her daughter forward, brushing aside the earlier awkwardness of them not recognizing each other. “Of course it’s your cousin Lili. You used to play with her when you were little.”
Jiang Xu glanced at this “cousin Lili” and was certain their supposed connection was either fabricated or from before he was three years old because from as far back as he could remember, he’d never seen either of them.
Completely unconcerned about being in front of the hospital entrance, the aunt cheerfully pulled a bright red envelope from her pocket and tried to stuff it into the pocket of his white coat. The glaring red made Lili lower her head almost to the ground.
“When I called you last time, your voice was so hoarse it scared me. Glad you sound better now. This is just a little something from your aunt, buy yourself something nice, and don’t go hurting your voice again.”
At the mention of his hoarse voice, Jiang Xu seemed momentarily caught off guard and couldn’t help but cover his mouth with a couple of coughs.
From the side, Shen Fangyu pried, “When were you hoarse? How come I don’t remem—” He cut himself off, as if something had just clicked. It seemed that after that particular day, Jiang Xu had spoken far less for several days before returning to normal.
He hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now… he might know exactly why Jiang Xu’s voice had gone hoarse.
Shen’s gaze turned evasive, unable to focus for a long moment.
Luckily, Jiang Xu was too busy pushing the red envelope back to notice Shen’s abrupt silence.
“Aunt, if you have something to say, just say it. We can’t take this.”
He gave Shen a look, and Shen obligingly chimed in, “She’s really his aunt.” He addressed her accordingly. “If he took money for this, never mind the fine, he could lose his job here altogether. If that happened, even if we wanted to help you, we wouldn’t be able to, right?”
His smile was sincere, yet for some reason it carried just enough weight to make the aunt feel a hint of pressure.
She gave an awkward laugh and pulled the red envelope back, sighing, “Your hospital here is much stricter than ours.”
Seeing her reaction, Shen Fangyu spoke up: “Your aunt is really understanding, much better than my mom. You can tell she’s someone who knows how things work.”
Though the words were aimed at Jiang Xu, every sentence was clearly meant for the aunt. Sure enough, her expression improved considerably, and she turned her attention back to the young man she’d already found likable earlier. “Are you a friend of our Rong Rong?”
Shen Fangyu raised an eyebrow at the word friend. Seeing no reaction from Jiang Xu, he smiled and replied, “I’m Jiang Xu’s colleague. My surname’s Shen, just call me Xiao Shen.”
Glancing around, he lowered his voice slightly. “Auntie, this is a hospital, people passing by are all colleagues. Best not to keep calling him ‘Rong Rong,’ or someone’s bound to start teasing Dr. Jiang about it.”
The aunt had originally meant to use the childhood nickname to close the distance between them, but hearing Shen Fangyu point it out so directly, she realized her slip and quickly corrected herself with a smile. “Yes, yes, Dr. Jiang. I’m getting old and muddled, said the wrong thing.”
She turned to Jiang Xu. “It’s still about what we discussed last time. Your mother told me that since Lili hasn’t registered with your Jihua Hospital, she can’t give birth there. I didn’t know about this registration rule in City A before, so we had taken her back home.”
She paused. “But yesterday, the girl next door said she transferred to a big hospital halfway through her pregnancy. As long as you have the right connections, there’s no hospital you can’t get into. So I thought I’d come find you to see if you could help transfer our Lili to your hospital for the delivery.”
City A receives countless patients from all over the country every day. Delivery beds and labor rooms are in such short supply that the pregnancy registration rule was set a long time ago.
Generally, the hospital where a woman registers is where she will deliver. This allows the hospital to have complete patient records and make better arrangements for the delivery.
While there is no explicit rule against transferring, the Affiliated Jihua Hospital of A Medical University, the top hospital in City A, requires an appointment for registration, which must be completed before twelve weeks of pregnancy. Beds are long gone by then, and except for emergency referrals from lower-tier hospitals for difficult cases or urgent deliveries, they do not accept last-minute transfers.
Jiang Xu had already explained all this to his mother over the phone and asked her to relay it to his aunt. Hearing it brought up again now gave him a headache.
Medical resources are limited, hence the reservation system. He had reviewed all of Lili’s reports: appropriate maternal age, singleton pregnancy, no complications, and all maternal and fetal indicators were good. There was not even a medical need for a C-section, let alone a reason to transfer hospitals.
“This really can’t be done,” Jiang Xu said, breaking down the rules and regulations again for his aunt, he’d never spoken this much in one go even when teaching students.
Patients are free to change hospitals, but there are only so many beds and resources. If he used connections to let Lili cut in line, it would be at the expense of other pregnant women who followed the rules and registered properly, harming their legitimate rights and fairness.
“…And besides, transferring means the hospital won’t have the complete records, which increases the risk of complications,” Jiang Xu concluded, his mouth dry as he swallowed.
His aunt looked at him eagerly and, when he finished, added, “Oh, but your mother said your teacher is your deputy director. A teacher helping a student isn’t a big deal, is it?”
Jiang Xu choked on his words.
Great. He’d just spent all that effort explaining, and she clearly hadn’t listened to a single thing.
He wasn’t like Shen Fangyu, who could navigate social situations effortlessly. For him, dealing with this kind of thing was more painful than pulling an all-nighter in surgery.
While he was racking his brain for what to say, Shen Fangyu suddenly gave a small laugh, nodding toward Lili, then said to the aunt, “Auntie, which hospital was Lili originally going to deliver at? Who’s her doctor?”
“Suqu First Hospital,” the aunt replied. “The doctor… the doctor was…” She thought hard for a while but couldn’t remember.
“It’s Dr. Wang Jiancheng,” Lili said softly from behind her, barely above a whisper.
“Oh, Wang Jiancheng from Suqu,” Shen Fangyu curved his lips. “I know him. Auntie, Dr. Wang is really skilled, you’re very lucky. I had a cousin who wanted to see him, and he wouldn’t even take her as a patient, said she had to follow the appointment schedule.”
His sudden interjection left the aunt a bit dazed and even made Jiang Xu glance over at him.
Shen Fangyu naturally switched to a slightly exaggerated tone. “With Dr. Wang, why would you transfer to our hospital? His skills are better than many doctors here at Jihua. Jiang Xu and I have even watched him perform surgery, right, Jiang Xu?”
Jiang Xu looked at him without speaking for a long moment. Under his aunt’s expression of cautious delight, as though she’d stumbled upon a treasure but didn’t dare be too openly thrilled, he coldly maintained his silence.
“So you’re saying both you and Rong, no, Dr. Jiang, have to learn from him?” his aunt asked, her voice tinged with excitement.
“Exactly, of course we exchange expertise,” Shen Fangyu said. “Don’t worry, Auntie, I know Dr. Wang well. I’ll give him a call tonight and tell him to take extra good care of your daughter’s pregnancy.”
“Oh my,” his aunt clapped her hands. “How can I ever thank you, Dr. Shen! Are you free after work today? Let me buy you dinner.”
Shen Fangyu waved it off. “No need to be polite, Auntie. We’re all good brothers. It’s just a matter of saying a few words. Really, think nothing of it.” He smiled lightly. “You’d better take Lili home to rest, keep up with your checkups, and when the time comes, just head to the hospital.”
“Ah!” his aunt responded, then added warmly, “Our Jiang Xu really is lucky to have a friend like you.”
The corner of Jiang Xu’s mouth twitched as he heard his aunt say to him, “When Lili gives birth, you must bring Xiao Shen over for the banquet. Auntie will boil eggs for you both.”
Under her earnest, expectant gaze, Jiang Xu stiffly nodded. Only then did his aunt leave contentedly, saying, “I won’t disturb you any longer, go on with your work.”
His aunt had come with a face full of worry but, under Shen Fangyu’s coaxing, left beaming. As she went, she even gave Shen Fangyu a special smile.
Even Lili, who hadn’t lifted her head once since they met, breathed a small sigh of relief as they left, giving the two men a nod of thanks and apology.
Clearly, watching her mother so blatantly try to pull strings had embarrassed the shy young woman.
Jiang Xu cast a glance at Shen Fangyu. “Who’s Wang Jiancheng?”
“No idea,” Shen Fangyu said casually.
Jiang Xu: “…”
“Don’t give me that look,” Shen Fangyu said as he tapped at his phone like he was typing something, then held it up for Jiang Xu to see. “Dinner with the Suqu OB-GYN department this weekend. Wang Jiancheng will be there. I’ll personally work the connection for your cousin. Satisfied?”
Suqu First Hospital was a lower-tier hospital, so it made sense they’d be happy to stay on good terms with Shen Fangyu. But regardless of the hospital, doctors were always extremely busy, and to put together a gathering on such short notice, only Shen Fangyu could manage that.
“Don’t worry,” Shen Fangyu said. “If I feel Dr. Wang isn’t up to par, I’ll come up with another solution.”
“When you tell your aunt about the downsides of transferring or that deliveries are handled by midwives, she won’t take it to heart. She clearly came looking to use your connections, and deep down, she believes that only a doctor she’s connected to can be trusted.”
“To her, whether it’s Dr. Wang or Dr. Zhang, the best doctor is the one she knows personally. Dr. Jiang, you’re usually good at prescribing the right medicine, how come you can’t do the same here?”
The truth was, they both knew that apart from a few with no professional ethics, the vast majority in this field, whether at big hospitals or small ones, genuinely wanted the best for their patients. Even without red envelopes or connections, no one would treat patients perfunctorily.
An average-skilled doctor wouldn’t suddenly improve because of a gift, and a highly skilled, experienced doctor wouldn’t suddenly perform poorly because there wasn’t one. Anyone who dared slack off in front of patients was basically asking to be fired.
If Lili really had a complicated, high-risk condition, both Jihua Hospital and Jiang Xu himself would be the first to bring her in and do everything possible to help. But she was perfectly healthy, with excellent prenatal test results, so there was no reason to let her jump ahead of others who’d booked their slots on time.
Jiang Xu nodded toward Shen Fangyu. The word thanks swirled on the tip of his tongue, but before it could come out, Shen Fangyu had already changed the subject. “So,” he said, his gaze flicking meaningfully to Jiang Xu’s lower abdomen, “shall we discuss it?”
And so the thanks went unsaid.
“Stay out of it,” Jiang Xu said.
Shen Fangyu’s expression shifted. “What do you mean?”
“When I need you for surgery, I’ll call you,” Jiang Xu said, giving him a look. “Otherwise, stay away from me.”
“Stay away from you?”
It was as if Shen Fangyu didn’t immediately grasp the meaning in his words. He froze for a moment, then suddenly let out a short laugh, one touched with coldness and a hint of self-mockery.
“Fine. No problem,” he said. “Dr. Jiang always gives orders, never discusses.”
With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets, expression blank, and walked past Jiang Xu straight into the inpatient building’s revolving doors.