Downstairs in the residential complex, after sending his message, Shen Fangyu slipped his phone back into his pocket. His forehead was damp with sweat from his morning run.
He drove straight to the hospital, took a quick shower, and by the time he was sitting in his office in a white coat, it was only just seven o’clock.
Last night, after waking from a nightmare, he’d fallen back asleep and dreamed again. This time, although he hadn’t been scared awake, and couldn’t clearly remember what happened, he vaguely knew he had dreamt of Jiang Xu, and the content had been somewhat ambiguous.
That realization had nearly made him spring out of bed on the spot when he saw Jiang Xu upon waking.
He had hastily taken a cold shower and, not daring to wait for Jiang Xu to get up, changed into sportswear, gone out to buy breakfast and get the phone repaired, then left the house before Jiang Xu woke, planning to run a few laps around the complex.
Shen Fangyu suspected he might be a little “overheated” lately, so he chose exercise to dispel these strange impulses. But even as he sat in his office, his mind was still a bit absent.
He felt that some part of his system might be malfunctioning.
He couldn’t figure it out, sure, Jiang Xu had been his first sexual partner, and yes, he had developed a bit of a taste for it, but he was a grown man, not some fledgling so smitten that one glance at Jiang Xu would send him into heat.
He had been a doctor for many years, had seen more bodies than he could count, old, young, male, female, alive, dead, but he had always kept a clear head, and had never had this sort of problem before.
So why was Jiang Xu different?
Granted, Jiang Xu had a good figure, and that little mole was indeed a bit enticing, but Shen Fangyu was straight. Even if Jiang Xu were a celestial beauty, he should have been able to remain as unshaken as Liu Xiahui sitting in a lady’s lap.
At that thought, Shen Fangyu’s expression suddenly stiffened. A question popped into his head, one he had never once considered in all his years alive:
Don’t tell me I’m actually… gay?
The notion was so utterly at odds with everything he thought he knew about himself that he sat there in horror, trying to recall the days back in school when his roommates would run around naked in the dorms all day, and it had never been remotely tempting. He then firmly and coldly stamped a huge mental label of “Misdiagnosis” on the diagnosis he had just given himself.
Misdiagnosis, Dr. Shen thought. Definitely a misdiagnosis.
There was no reason Jiang Xu should be any different from those dorm roommates, it was just a switch from a six-person dorm to a two-person one, with more space per head, that was all.
Avoiding Jiang Xu would only make it seem like he really had a guilty conscience.
Shen Fangyu refused to believe it, maybe Jiang Xu could bewitch him for a while, but no way could he bewitch him for life. One day, his body would be as clear-headed as his mind; even if Jiang Xu were the reincarnation of a siren, he could still be Odysseus.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xu had no idea about this belated teenage infatuation. When he came into the office, he didn’t even greet Shen Fangyu, just left immediately when the pathology department called him away.
“Dr. Jiang, this Ruan Xiufang is your patient, right?”
Jiang Xu took the pathology report handed over by the pathology department. That day, after having security escort Ma Hao out, Jiang Xu had ordered a few more tests for Ruan Xiufang. In fact, during the consultation, he had already felt her condition wasn’t good, and sure enough, the cervical screening results from pathology further confirmed his suspicion.
Highly suspected squamous cell carcinoma.
He walked quickly back to the obstetrics and gynecology department, pushed open the door to Office No. 3, and said, “Shao Le,” handing her the report, “Call her and tell her to come to the hospital immediately. I’ll send you the orders for the cervical biopsy and colposcopy in a moment.”
“Alright, Dr. Jiang.” Shao Le took the report and suddenly remembered this was the patient they’d seen yesterday. Although the final results weren’t in yet and the severity of the illness still needed to be determined through biopsy for staging and classification, she silently let out a sigh.
Unlike yesterday, when the patient had been evasive and reluctant to seek treatment, shortly after Shao Le made the call, Ma Hao barged straight into her office. “Dr. Shao!” His eyes were bloodshot, his hands shaking badly. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but remembering that not long ago he had nearly struck the female doctor before him, he stammered without getting a word out.
Beside him, Ruan Xiufang was already sobbing uncontrollably, and for a moment, Office No. 3 was filled with noise.
Shao Le didn’t want to engage with Ma Hao. She handed Ruan Xiufang the orders that Jiang Xu had issued and reassured her, “Let’s get the classification done first, don’t panic.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Ruan Xiufang cried even harder. Scenes of joy and sorrow like this often played out at Jihua Hospital, affiliated with A Medical University. Even though Shao Le had seen it many times, she still couldn’t help feeling a twinge of compassion whenever she encountered it.
Before the couple could get their test results, Jiang Xu had already obtained further findings from pathology. “Contact admissions and get her hospitalized,” he said, lowering his gaze to glance at the report before asking Shao Le over the phone, “Do we still have a bed?”
“One just opened up this morning,” Shao Le replied. “But the patient’s emotions are unstable right now, she’s not in a state to really listen to me.”
She was in the middle of trying to console Ruan Xiufang, but the woman’s grief showed no sign of easing, attracting a crowd of onlookers. Shao Le was growing anxious to the point of agitation.
“Dr. Jiang,” a nurse from the operating room came out and, seeing him on the phone, urged, “Anesthesia’s already been administered for the next surgery, you need to get in there quickly.”
“Alright,” Jiang Xu replied, “I’ll be right there.”
Turning back to the phone, he asked Shao Le, “Can you manage to calm her down?”
“I…” Shao Le hesitated. She had originally wanted to ask Jiang Xu to help, but having just heard how busy he was, she shook her head instead. “It’s fine, Dr. Jiang.”
“Get her admitted first,” Jiang Xu instructed. “I’ll come with you this evening to explain the situation to the patient.”
Normally, Dr. Jiang was very busy. Unless a case was particularly complex, admitting patients, helping them understand their condition, discussing surgical plans, and even pre-op talks were all handled by people like Shao Le.
Although Ruan Xiufang had cancer, hers was the mildest kind. Under normal circumstances, the lead surgeon would not take the time to accompany a student for something like this.
But perhaps, when facing a difficult situation, nothing was more reassuring than a mentor saying, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out together.”
Shao Le’s nose stung unexpectedly, and before she could respond, Dr. Jiang had already briskly hung up.
Placing the handset back on the desk phone, she took a deep breath, then turned to approach Ruan Xiufang once more.
Fresh white sheets were laid on the hospital bed, and the heavy scent of disinfectant filled the ward. By the time Ma Hao helped Ruan Xiufang lie down, the two of them had, under Shao Le’s explanation and comfort, regained some composure after the shock of bad news.
The ward’s other two beds were both occupied. The patient in the left bed was absent, though her nightstand was piled with personal belongings. On the right bed sat a middle-aged woman in a red floral short-sleeved top, getting an IV drip. She fanned herself with a large bamboo fan and greeted the newcomers, “What’s the matter, little sister? Why are your eyes so red?”
Ruan Xiufang wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “The doctor said… I have cancer.”
“Is it early stage or late stage?” Sister Cai asked.
“It’s early stage, Sister Cai.”
Dr. Yu Sang happened to walk in from the hallway just in time to hear this exchange and answered on her behalf.
“Dr. Yu,” Sister Cai greeted him with a smile and offered him an orange. “Have one, my husband brought them from our hometown today, homegrown and very sweet.”
Yu Sang instinctively pumped some hand sanitizer from the dispenser by the bed and said with a smile, “You’re too kind.” He waved off the offer politely. “I have to go see another patient in the next ward, no time to eat right now.” Then, almost in passing, he asked about her own condition. “How are you feeling today? Any discomfort?”
“I’m doing great,” Sister Cai said, shaking her head.
“You’ve got the best attitude in the whole ward,” Yu Sang complimented with a smile before turning to check on Ruan Xiufang in the neighboring bed.
He was her attending physician, the one who did the most rounds and interacted with her the most.
Once Shao Le had completed the admission process, she reported directly to him.
After confirming the admission and payment details, he glanced at the test orders and said to Ruan Xiufang, “Get settled here first. If you feel unwell, just call a nurse.”
Just as he was about to leave, Sister Cai brought up the bag of oranges again. “Dr. Yu, if you don’t have time now, take them to your office and eat them later. It’s just a few oranges. I heard Dr. Jiang likes them too.”
At her words, Yu Sang glanced at the bag, indeed, it contained only a few bright oranges and nothing else. Smiling, he accepted them. “Alright then, I’ll bring some to Dr. Jiang and tell him they’re from you. I’ll thank you on his behalf.”
Seeing this, Ma Hao picked up a hand of bananas and offered them to Yu Sang. “Dr. Yu, just a small token from me.”
The incident of Ma Hao causing trouble at the OB-GYN department had long been the talk of the ward. Yu Sang gave him a cool glance, didn’t even look at the bananas, smiled politely at Ruan Xiufang, and walked straight out of the room.
Ma Hao awkwardly pulled his hand back and glanced at his wife.
Sister Cai was a straightforward, talkative person. Seeing that Yu Sang had left, she went right back to chatting with Ruan Xiufang. “Early-stage cancer is nothing to get worked up about, little sister. You don’t know this, but I was diagnosed with stomach cancer three years ago. I had surgery and had half my stomach removed.”
“For three years straight, I went back for a checkup every month, afraid it would come back. But instead of a recurrence, I ended up with endometrial cancer. The doctor said its staging was even worse than the stomach cancer.”
She slapped her thigh. “I’m just destined to be tossed around by illness, but look, I’m still alive and well, aren’t I?”
“You can’t let the tumor kill you, only to scare yourself to death first. Everyone in this ward is seriously ill. Out on the street, you might think you couldn’t find one person with this kind of disease, but take a walk down the hallway here, there are hardly any patients with hair. Most have lost it from chemotherapy. And they’re still living their lives just fine.”
She was clearly the ward’s walking encyclopedia. Pointing to the empty bed on Ruan Xiufang’s other side, she said, “The girl next to you is only in her twenties, not like us with one foot in the grave. Young and pretty, but I heard she had some kind of molar pregnancy. Strange, isn’t it? Fortunately, Dr. Yu said it was a benign tumor, much easier to treat than our malignant ones.”
She spoke loudly and with plenty of breath, her voice booming. By the time she finished, Ruan Xiufang was staring blankly. “So… according to you, this isn’t a big illness?”
“Just relax. Big or small, listen to the doctors and you’ll be fine.”
She continued, “Back at the hospital in my hometown, the doctor there said my illness couldn’t be treated, wouldn’t even admit me, told me to pack up and go home to wait for death. I refused to accept that, so I came to City A, got an appointment with Dr. Jiang. After looking at my test results, Dr. Jiang said it was treatable, just risky, and told me to go home and think about whether I wanted surgery.”
“I knew then I wasn’t going to die,” Sister Cai said enthusiastically, forgetting to wave her palm fan. “I got admitted right away and had Dr. Jiang arrange the surgery.”
“My husband told me the surgery took nine hours, and Dr. Jiang didn’t even eat before he completely removed the tumor from my abdomen. When I woke up, I was so happy, thinking, ‘How did I get so lucky?’”
“At the time, Dr. Jiang was still worried about a recurrence, told me I had to come back on schedule for chemo and follow-ups.”
Pointing to the IV drip, she said, “Now I’m on my last round of chemo, and my follow-up results are excellent. Dr. Yu even said I might live another thirty or forty years. If I hadn’t met Dr. Jiang back then, who knows under which patch of dirt I’d be buried now.”
Ma Hao hesitated. “But this Dr. Jiang… he’s a man. How can a man work in gynecology?”
“What’s wrong with being a man?” Sister Cai shot back. “Man or woman, if they can treat the illness, they’re a good doctor.” Ma Hao’s doubt about Jiang Xu clearly displeased her. “You don’t know, Dr. Jiang and Dr. Shen are the two best doctors in the department, and they’re both men.”
That made Ma Hao’s face alternate between pale and flushed. He didn’t quite believe it. “You’re saying Dr. Jiang is really that good? Better than Director Cui?” Before coming, he had checked, Jihua Hospital’s obstetrics and gynecology director was surnamed Cui, a female doctor.
“That’s what you don’t understand. When it comes to seeing a doctor, never blindly insist on booking with the director.” As a frequent patient at Jihua Hospital and a lover of gossip, Sister Cai clearly knew the department’s inner workings.
“Director Cui is indeed skilled, especially when she was younger, otherwise she wouldn’t have become director or trained such capable students.”
“But Director Cui is getting older now, nearly at retirement age. She can’t handle those major surgeries that last several hours. From what I’ve heard, the highest-level surgeries in the department are now performed by Dr. Jiang and Dr. Shen. At most, Director Cui will supervise from the side, and most of the time she doesn’t operate.”
“Don’t look down on male doctors,” Sister Cai said. “Haven’t you noticed most surgeons are men? That’s because men have more strength, they can stand for hours in surgery without their legs shaking, while some female doctors just don’t have that level of stamina.”
Curling her lip, she scolded Ma Hao as if chastising her own son. “You’re looking down on Dr. Jiang now, but for all you know, your wife’s attending doctor might not be as good as him.”
Ma Hao looked embarrassed. He exchanged a glance with Ruan Xiufang and cautiously asked, “Then… could my wife have Dr. Jiang do the surgery?”
A little annoyed by his sudden change of tone, Sister Cai deliberately rolled her eyes and said coolly, “I wouldn’t know. Dr. Jiang is very busy.”
Ma Hao remembered that it was Shao Le who had called them to the hospital and given the preliminary explanation of the condition, and he wondered if Shao Le would be the one to operate on Ruan Xiufang. He forced a smile, picked up a banana, and offered it to Sister Cai, asking with a grin, “How is Dr. Shao in surgery?”
Sister Cai rolled her eyes again, but seeing the banana, she still answered, “I don’t know about Dr. Shao.”
Back when she was contacted, it had been another of Jiang Xu’s students, so Sister Cai didn’t know much about Shao Le.
Ma Hao then looked at the bed card above Ruan Xiufang’s bed, which listed “Yu Sang” as the attending doctor. “Then what about Dr. Yu?”
“I did ask about Dr. Yu. He said his qualification level isn’t high enough to perform surgery on malignant tumors.”
As she spoke, she recalled Yu Sang’s attitude just now. “What did you do to offend Dr. Yu? He’s usually so good-tempered, always smiling, but just now he didn’t seem too pleased with you.”
Sister Cai loved gossiping about people’s personal affairs. Her large eyes hadn’t lost their shine to age or illness, in fact, they were even brighter. She stared straight at Ma Hao, even more curious when she saw he looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t.
Ruan Xiufang, who had been listening for a while, was still angry about Ma Hao’s outburst in the hospital earlier. She had argued fiercely with him afterward and had been giving him the cold shoulder until the devastating diagnosis came from the hospital.
She had been in a daze the whole way, with Ma Hao staying by her side to help with procedures and collect test results. She hadn’t had the energy to quarrel with him. But now, after listening to Sister Cai for so long, her spirits had lifted a little and her anger returned. She couldn’t help but glare coldly at Ma Hao and say to Sister Cai, “Honestly, I’m embarrassed for him. When I was seeing the doctor, he barged in and nearly hit the doctor.”
As soon as she said that, Sister Cai’s expression changed. “So you’re that jerk who made a scene during Dr. Jiang’s consultation?”
She’d already heard about it yesterday, there are no walls without cracks, and there’s no gossip in the department that Sister Cai doesn’t know. Yesterday she’d been so angry she dragged the young woman in the next bed into cursing about it for half a day. She never expected the culprit himself to be sitting next to her today, and she’d just eaten the banana he gave her.
Angrily biting off the last mouthful of banana, she tossed the peel into the trash. “I just don’t get it, Dr. Jiang’s skills and character are impeccable. Why on earth did you have to pick a fight with him?”
Ma Hao was already wavering inside, but when faced with Sister Cai’s questioning, he stubbornly insisted,
“He’s a man, examining my wife’s body, isn’t that disgusting?”
“I only booked that appointment because it was an expert slot. Doctors are there to treat patients, not to have those filthy thoughts you imagine.”
Ruan Xiufang added, “And besides, if a doctor really had bad intentions, wouldn’t I be able to tell myself?”
Sister Cai’s face darkened even further at that. “So your wife has no problem with it, what are you, a family member, jumping around for?”
“Little sister,” she said to Ruan Xiufang, “I’m being blunt here, and it’s not aimed at you. I can tell you’re a reasonable person, but your man is really something else, in a bad way. Doctors work themselves to death on the front lines saving lives, and he stabs them in the back. You tell me, is that the kind of thing a decent person does? Good thing Dr. Jiang wasn’t hurt. Do you even know how much time and money the country invests in training a doctor?”
“Exactly,” Ruan Xiufang clearly had no intention of siding with Ma Hao, joining forces with Sister Cai to lecture him. In the past, she’d occasionally tolerated his temper at home, but now that she was sick, she had no patience for it anymore. She pointed right at his nose and said, “No wonder Dr. Shao doesn’t want to bother with you, I don’t want to bother with you either.”
“You really are,” Sister Cai’s tone was one of hating iron for not becoming steel. She didn’t want to say more, but couldn’t help adding a few more jabs. “You probably don’t even know, Dr. Shen was the one who called security that day. Now you’ve managed to offend the two best doctors in the department all by yourself. Did you even think about what that means for your wife?”
After being snubbed by Yu Sang earlier, and now being berated by the two women at the bedside, Ma Hao saw that nobody was giving him the time of day. Covering his face, he sighed, “Alright, alright, I know I was wrong.” He stood up. “I’ll go apologize to Dr. Jiang, okay?”
He adjusted his grip on Ruan Xiufang’s shoulder, his male pride and competitive streak pushing him to make a bold promise. “I don’t care if I have to throw away my dignity, I will get Dr. Jiang to perform your surgery!”
There were a lot of surgeries today, and by the time Jiang Xu finished, it was nearly dark. Coming out of the operating room, he picked up the clay-pot soup he had ordered earlier from the security desk, it was already a bit cold.
Back at his desk, he had only taken two sips when the door was suddenly flung open. With a thud, before he could even see clearly, a burly man dropped to his knees in front of him.
“Cough cough—” Jiang Xu choked badly, quickly standing up to help him.
He still vividly remembered when he first started his internship at the hospital, there had been a patient who knelt down and refused to get up no matter how they tried to persuade him. In the end, his supervising teacher had no choice but to kneel as well, the two of them bowing back and forth in the doctor’s office, leaving the freshly minted Jiang Xu deeply traumatized.
He never imagined he’d encounter such a scene himself.
“Who are you paying New Year’s respects to?” Shen Fangyu came up from behind. Before Jiang Xu could reach out, Shen stepped around to the man’s chest, his forearm muscles tightening, and with one heave, yanked him to his feet. Then their eyes met. “It’s you?” Shen let go. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have helped.”
Ma Hao: “…”
“Ma Hao?” Jiang Xu recognized him too. “What are you doing here?”
Having been suddenly hauled up by Shen Fangyu, he now felt awkward both standing and kneeling, sincerely regretting what he’d done yesterday.
Gone was his previous arrogance; his eyes were slightly red, even carrying a trace of grievance. He rubbed his face, tugged at his shirt hem, and as if speaking would cost him his life, said haltingly, “Dr. Jiang, I want to apologize to you for what happened before.”
After speaking, he dropped his head and stared straight at his toes, saying nothing else. The bold words he’d declared to his wife earlier were all swallowed back down, he couldn’t get a single one out, his face full of embarrassment.
“Is there gold on the floor?” Shen Fangyu sneered at him before stepping in front of Jiang Xu. He reached out and tapped Jiang’s lunch container with a fingertip. “Why are you always drinking soup lately?”
Jiang Xu slapped his hand away, but before he could say, “None of your business,” Shen beat him to it.
“I came to check, where’s the breakfast photo?”
“Didn’t take one.”
“I don’t believe you.” Shen held out his hand. “Phone.”
Jiang Xu gave him a sideways look.
“If you don’t hand it over, that means you took one.”
After a pause, Jiang Xu handed him the phone. Shen opened the photo album, scrolling through it with a grin. “Getting hold of Dr. Jiang’s phone is actually this easy? You’re not afraid of a privacy leak?”
Jiang Xu gave him a look reserved for idiots. “I wouldn’t give my phone to just anyone.”
Shen let out a meaningful “Ohhh.” “So I’m that special to you.”
Jiang Xu ignored him. Shen returned the phone.
“No photo?”
There really wasn’t one.
“Alright then,” he said. “Tomorrow I’ll watch you eat with my own eyes.”
If he wanted to prove his pure intentions toward Jiang Xu, he would start by supervising his breakfast every day.
“You like supervising people so much, you might as well quit and go work at a detention center,” Jiang Xu said dryly.
“Not until you’ve got your stomach back in shape.” Shen picked up the half-finished soup. “It’s gone cold. I’ll take it to the break room to heat up, you can come have it in a bit.”
“Wait—”
Shen glanced at Ma Hao, who had spoken. “Oh, you’re still here?”
“I…”
That was already Ma Hao—
The third time Ma Hao came to Jiang Xu’s office, he finally caught him in. Every other time, Jiang had been absent, either in surgery or in a meeting. Hearing the two men’s conversation now, Ma Hao was afraid Jiang might disappear again the moment he stepped out, so his tongue loosened. Forgetting his pride and embarrassment, he hurried to cut in:
“I’m here to ask Dr. Jiang to perform surgery on my wife. Dr. Jiang, you have to save her. That Dr. Shao, she’s a woman and everyone says male surgeons are better than female ones. I didn’t realize before how skilled you were. Please, have mercy and operate on my wife. I only have one wife, and I really can’t rest easy letting Dr. Shao do the surgery!”
Earlier, after Sister Cai had ruled out Yu Sang, he had assumed Shao Le was the surgeon assigned to Ruan Xiufang.
There were far too many misunderstandings in that statement, and just as Jiang Xu was about to explain, Shen Fangyu spoke first.
“You try to take a swing at Jiang Xu one moment, then want him to operate on your wife the next, you really are something.”
Setting the soup aside, his tone carried a bite of anger.
“So a male doctor can’t do your wife’s consultations and exams, but for a difficult surgery you won’t accept a female doctor either. Workplace gender discrimination, seems you’ve got that routine down pat.”
His words were merciless, the edge of mockery cutting deep. Ma Hao’s face flushed instantly. He stammered for a long time before mumbling:
“I was wrong before, I shouldn’t have… shouldn’t have…”
After the security guards had restrained Ma Hao, the reason for his disruption had spread all over the OB-GYN department. Shen Fangyu knew perfectly well that Ma Hao had gone berserk because he thought Jiang Xu, as a male doctor, shouldn’t be in gynecology and that he had sinister intentions toward his wife.
Such prejudice was nothing new in OB-GYN; back when he and Jiang were interns, they’d endured plenty of dirty looks. In most cases, Shen could understand that patients had their own considerations. But Ma Hao was only a patient’s family member. When the patient herself had no objection, for him to make trouble, especially so excessively, was intolerable. Shen couldn’t help tossing a few barbs.
Only after speaking did he notice Jiang Xu tugging at his sleeve and giving a small shake of his head.
Shen’s expression shifted slightly.
“Don’t worry,” Jiang Xu told Ma Hao, “as long as you cooperate with treatment, I’ll personally be the lead surgeon for your wife’s operation. If you’re not reassured, you can go to Director Cui to confirm.”
“Also,” he continued, “Ms. Ruan’s tumor staging is relatively favorable. I’ll come to the ward later to discuss the surgical plan with you both, and arrange it as soon as possible.”
Unlike Shao Le, who had looked at Ruan Xiufang with sympathy and uncertainty over how to comfort her, Jiang Xu’s expression was calm. His businesslike tone, oddly enough, steadied Ma Hao’s nerves, like a heart that had been dangling in midair finally touching solid ground.
Shen Fangyu, unaware of Ruan Xiufang’s condition, looked over when he heard the words tumor staging, belatedly realizing why Jiang had stopped him from talking further.
Ma Hao’s wife had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. He seemed genuinely shaken; under the white office light, his hair appeared grayer than the day before.
Jiang Xu withdrew his gaze from the man’s head.
“If there’s nothing else, go back to the ward and stay with your wife. She needs you now.”
As satisfying as Shen’s earlier words had been, there was no need to pour fuel on the fire.
“Then… doctor,” Ma Hao asked cautiously, “how long can my wife live?”
“If the prognosis is good and there’s no recurrence, no different from a healthy person,” Jiang replied. “It’s a minor surgery.”
Early-stage cervical cancer might sound frightening to a patient, but Jihua admitted countless complex cases from across the country every day. Compared with those, Ruan Xiufang’s case truly qualified as “minor surgery.”
“Really?” Ma Hao looked at him half-trusting, half-doubting. Despite Sister Cai’s upbeat talk, he was still uneasy. For every patient like her, seemingly full of life, there were countless others who swore cancer was incurable.
“I heard… cancer’s a death sentence, isn’t it? My aunt upstairs had it—she was gone in under three months after the diagnosis.” His voice grew quieter as he spoke, as if afraid the words would snatch away his wife’s life as well.
“Prognosis depends on the stage and type. Your wife’s was caught early, that’s a blessing in misfortune.”
Thanks to TV dramas and other influences, many equated cancer with a terminal illness, making it a dreaded word in everyday life. But in truth, not all cancers are untreatable. The earlier they’re found, the better the chances, and the higher the five-year survival rate.
Luck played a role, yes, but in most cases like Ruan Xiufang’s, the prognosis was good.
“So… you won’t hold a grudge against me, right? You’ll do your best on my wife’s surgery?”
Jiang Xu: “…”
“Enough,” Shen Fangyu said. “If you don’t want him to hold a grudge, just stop hanging around in front of him. Dr. Jiang doesn’t have time to argue with you.”
With that, he half-persuaded, half-shoved Ma Hao out the door. But just as it closed, Ma Hao pushed it open again, bowed formally to Jiang Xu, and said solemnly:
“Dr. Jiang, I’ll leave my wife in your hands.”
It was said he’d broken down crying in the exam room earlier, apologizing in front of his wife so loudly that other patients lodged furious complaints. Jiang glanced at his retreating back before returning his eyes to the now stone-cold soup.
Late-blooming devotion always felt tinged with regret—fortunately, Ruan Xiufang still had a future in which he could make amends.
“You know,” Shen Fangyu said, circling around to his side, “you look cold and unapproachable, but you’re actually pretty soft-hearted.”
Jiang didn’t answer.
“Soft-hearted or not, you still have to pay the fine.” Shen slapped a yellow A4 sheet down in front of him.
Jiang took one look at it, his face darkening.
“Just came from Administration. Sister Guo asked me to bring you this ticket—and warmly invites you to check the bulletin board.”
On the OB-GYN department’s board at Jihua, two notices had been posted in perfect symmetry. Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu stood side by side, each studying their own likeness pinned there, one on the left, one on the right.
The one on the left was a notice criticizing Jiang Xu for assaulting a disruptive patient, while the one on the right praised Shen Fangyu for remaining calm in the face of trouble and using lawful, proper means to stop the disturbance.
Shen Fangyu flicked the white paper on the bulletin board and read out the last paragraph:
“Violence is not the answer to violence. All colleagues, especially Comrade Jiang Xu, should take Comrade Shen Fangyu as an example and actively learn from him how to properly handle medical disputes.”
Jiang Xu shot him a glare, then directly tore the paper down, revealing the fine notice that had been hidden underneath. He read it out word by word:
“Comrade Shen Fangyu used violence to damage public property. Fine: 200 yuan.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Fangyu reached into the pocket of his white coat and pulled out a fine notice of the exact same format. Using glue, he stuck it on the other side of the bulletin board and, as if putting on a show, announced:
“Comrade Jiang Xu used violence to injure a disruptive patient. Fine: 200 yuan.”
The two violent offenders locked eyes.
“Shen Fangyu.”
“Hm?”
“I didn’t put that one of yours up.”
“I know,” Shen replied. “Sister Guo was busy, and I happened to be passing by, so I brought it over and helped her put it up. Look, you wouldn’t help me post mine, but I helped post yours. Aren’t I thoughtful?”
“…Thoughtful” was debatable, what Jiang Xu really wanted was to glue Shen Fangyu’s mouth shut.
The two fine notices, perfectly complementing each other on the bulletin board under the light, looked absurdly well-matched. Shen crossed his arms and leisurely admired both his handiwork and Jiang Xu’s expression, then put the glue away, took out yet another fine notice, and waved it in front of Jiang.
The hospital administration usually issued fines in duplicate, one copy for the fined person, and one for the bulletin board.
Right now, Jiang had one in his hand, the other was on the wall. His face darkened.
“Why do you still have another one?”
“I asked Sister Guo to print me an extra,” Shen said, winking his left eye at Jiang. “Told her I wanted to keep it as a memento.”
“Give it to me.” Jiang held out his hand.
Shen neatly folded the fine in front of him, slipped it into his coat pocket, and said,
“Not giving it to you, just to annoy you.”
Jiang Xu: “…”
Whether or not men stayed boys at heart for life, Jiang wasn’t sure, but Shen Fangyu was definitely past the stage of a chūnibyō teenager; at best, he had only completed half of kindergarten.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang said to him, “Why don’t you just go and heat up the soup.”