Cheng Liang indeed broke a bone. At the moment he slipped backward, he instinctively used his shoulder to protect his hands, and as a result, he fractured his clavicle.

The surgeon’s hidden instinct of protecting one’s hand made Cheng Liang wish he could change careers immediately on the way to the emergency operating room, but he didn’t dare. It was because following closely behind him was Director Lin, who was sweating profusely, full of guilt and his blood pressure was rising.

“Don’t worry!” Director Lin, who was full of worry, comforted Cheng Liang but lacked convincing power. “I dug up the director of the orthopedic department out of his house. It’ll be fine as long as we get the surgery done quickly and fix it!”

“I know what you’re thinking,” Director Lin continued. “It’s my fault for the project. I didn’t think it through. I’ll go and demand justice for this. You just focus on recovering. Look, you still remember to protect your hands at a time like this. You’re a natural surgeon. I’ll protect you all the way until you become a big tree!”

Cheng Liang, who was lying on the bed and thinking about being a salted fish for the rest of his life, shivered.

“I’ve also contacted your parents,” Director Lin continued relentlessly. “Your mother said she’s coming over right away. Don’t worry, everything will be fine. I’ll give you a long vacation this time!”

Cheng Liang thought of his mother’s poisonous and tireless mouth, and closed his eyes in despair, hiding the tears in the corners of his eyes.

***

Director Lin had always been partial to Cheng Liang. This time, he felt that Cheng Liang had been wronged because of the struggle between the two departments, and had ended up in the operating room because of his recklessness. So this partiality became even more earth-shattering—the old man almost turned the second department upside down, and even five or six people from the Medical Affairs Department couldn’t stop him.

In order to appease Old Lin, the hospital also showed great sincerity this time, promising to investigate the cause of the leak of clinical data from the first department within three months. If it was found that the second department was indeed involved, all the hospital funds that the second department had obtained would be withdrawn and the responsibility would fall to every individual. They would never tolerate such behavior.

The doctors’ duty room in the old inpatient building was renovated, and both upper and lower bunks were replaced with new ones. The instant coffee in the tea room was also replaced with a capsule machine. This time, Cheng Liang’s fracture brought about a leap in the overall welfare of the inpatient department. Colleagues came to visit him in the ward one after another.

Although most of them might have come to investigate whether Cheng Liang’s fracture was caused by himself or was really beaten up by Director Lin had…

But in any case, except for Cheng Liang, everyone was happy.

This also included Cheng Liang’s mother.

“The little nurse who just came over is quite good-looking, and she is well-behaved. I really like her,” Cheng’s mother smiled like the Maitreya Buddha, and the gold bracelet on her hand was even thicker than her little finger.

Cheng Liang: “Oh.”

None of his business.

“Or the male doctor who came yesterday to ask you if you were still in pain is also quite handsome, with clear eyebrows and a soft personality,” Cheng’s mother had a new target.

This time, Cheng Liang paused for a second: “……So?”

“Isn’t your second uncle’s daughter still single? I just want to help her ask.” Cheng’s mother said happily.

Cheng Liang: “……”

“It’s really strange.” Cheng’s mother was quite puzzled. “You say that our family members are not bad-looking, so why are you all single? Let alone getting married, you haven’t even fallen in love yet.”

“Why do you care about that?” Cheng Liang looked at the ceiling lazily.

He had already forgotten what his second uncle’s daughter looked like.

“Isn’t it because of you?!” Speaking of this, Cheng’s mother became angry. “If you could bring me living person back, would I be so bored that I would want to play matchmaker?”

Cheng Liang: “……”

“There are so many beautiful female doctors and nurses in this hospital.” Cheng’s mother was full of resentment and dissatisfaction. “Son, are you not able to do it?”

“……” Cheng Liang wanted to answer yes just to be done with it, but he was afraid that he would not see the sun tomorrow if he did, so he could only choose to remain silent.

“I remember when you were a child, you weren’t as monk-like as you are now. You used to grab my clothes and say ‘Mom, Mom’ whenever you see a pretty girl……” The more Cheng’s mother spoke, the more confused she became. “Could it be that studying medicine can make you lose all your luck in love?”

If she had known this, she wouldn’t have let him study. After all, the family had enough money.

Cheng Liang: “……”

“Oh, right.” Cheng’s mother was not a person with a good attention span. When she mentioned the hospital, she thought of something else. “When I went to the cafeteria this morning, I heard other doctors talking about you. They said that your fracture this time was a play you did with Director Lin just to fight for some project…”

Cheng’s mother frowned. “If you want to do a project and don’t have enough money, just tell us. Does your hospital accept investment? In the future, if you and Director Lin want to do a project, you can just ask us to invest.”

How much money could a research project done by a small department cost?

Was it necessary to make such a big fuss?

Cheng Liang: “…Mom.”

Cheng’s mother responded: “Hmm?”

Cheng Liang: “…Do you think I’m such an ambitious person?”

Would he act in a play and end up with a broken bone for the sake of a project? Was he that kind of person?

Cheng’s mother: “…So you were really accidentally injured by the bed frame.”

Cheng Liang: “…En.”

Mother Cheng: “Oh, that’s terrible!”

Cheng Liang: “……”

He needed to be hospitalized for four weeks, but it had only been four days, and he already felt like jumping off a building.

Really, if he had known it would end up like this, he would have run away the moment he saw Sheng Xia that day, like a sprinter in a hundred-meter dash.

“Alas, son.” Cheng Liang’s silence didn’t affect Cheng’s mother’s interest in talking. She washed an apple and bit into it with a crunch, then circled back to the topic. “Why don’t you just find a girlfriend? That way, if you get hospitalized again in the future, I won’t have to run up and down, it’s so tiring and pointless.”

Cheng Liang: “……”

Why would he need such a contingency?

Why was his mother so childish?

“It’s really quite boring.” Cheng’s mother sighed. “You also know that I can’t stand seeing you look so lifeless all the time. I always want to slap you.”

……

“Other people’s children become doctors and brag about it, but my child becomes a doctor and gets himself hospitalized, and he was even smashed by a bed frame.” Cheng’s mother lamented.

Cheng Liang: “……”

Really, he swore that from now on, no matter how far away he was, he would definitely quickly jump away whenever he saw Sheng Xia.

He swore that he would never visit Sheng Xia’s live broadcast room again!!

No! He swore! He would never even spend the summer again!!

***

Because Cheng Liang was injured by the bed frame in the duty room, which barely qualified as a work injury, the hospital was generous with granting leave. After being hospitalized for four weeks, there were no major issues in his basic life, so he was discharged, and Director Lin gave him over a month’s leave.

Cheng Liang took the leave slip and quickly left the hospital. He sent his parents home and returned to his own place. As soon as he opened the door, he lay down on the floor and let out a deep sigh.

He thought that everything was over, and when he recovered and returned to the hospital, everything should go back to normal.

At that time, he still didn’t know how drastic the chain reaction of this series of events would bring to his life, he just felt physically and mentally exhausted. He, who wanted to change careers at the drop of a hat, once again began to consider whether it would be easier to be happy by becoming a landlord, eating and drinking until he died.

But he was, again, naive.

It was June when he was discharged from the hospital and summer had arrived, and on the third floor, there was no air conditioning.

“The electrician said it’s going to be a big job.” At two o’clock in the morning, Comrade Xiao Zhou knocked on Cheng Liang’s door. “The entire third floor will have to be shut down, and they’ll need to drill into the walls. It’ll probably take a couple of days.”

Cheng Liang blocked the door and didn’t let Xiao Zhou enter the room. He nodded. “Okay, just let the agent know.”

Xiao Zhou pushed his glasses up, the bottom of his eyes was covered with dark circles as usual, and he looked calm as ever. “Your agent ran away.”

Cheng Liang: “?”

“He said he couldn’t reach you, so he sent a resignation message to your deactivated phone.” Xiao Zhou stabbed him in the heart, “He ran away over a month ago.”

“Oh, by the way.” Xiao Zhou took out his Alipay. “He returned the salary you gave him before he left, I’ll transfer it to you.”

Cheng Liang: “……”

He felt like he could see the black aura of his bad luck coming towards him, bringing an even bigger whirlwind.

“I’ve arranged to meet with the electrician the day after tomorrow at eight in the morning.” Xiao Zhou yawned. “You can tell the person across from me. They might need to drill into their walls too.”

“Oh, there’s one more thing.” Xiao Zhou looked at Cheng Liang.

Cheng Liang inexplicably felt a special desire to close the door, turn off his phone, and temporarily leave this world.

“The matter of the second department’s project has escalated.” Xiao Zhou said, “Sun Lin was taken away by the police to assist in the investigation. The director said the police might look for you soon.”

“The director told you to just tell the truth.” Xiao Zhou finished his last sentence, waved his hand, and prepared to go upstairs.

“Where’s the director?” Cheng Liang didn’t let Xiao Zhou leave this time, stepping aside to let him into the room.

Director Lin hadn’t come to the ward to see him for the past week. He thought that it was just because he was busy with his daily work, but now that things had gotten so big, it shouldn’t be that simple.

“He’s been avoiding suspicion lately.” Xiao Zhou didn’t hide anything and said each word clearly. “The hospital received an anonymous report while investigating the second department’s project, saying that our director was taking kickbacks on drugs and overprescribing to patients.”

“I’m not sure exactly what the whistleblower reported, but shortly after this report, Director Lin stopped taking care of things.” Xiao Zhou continued, “Deputy Director Li has been temporarily taking over Director Lin’s job recently and asked me not to tell you about this for the time being.”

Cheng Liang was silent for a long time.

“I see.” He said.

Xiao Zhou didn’t move.

Cheng Liang didn’t urge him either.

“I thought…” Xiao Zhou paused, “you would continue asking.”

He still had a lot of gossip here, all of which he wasn’t sure if he should or shouldn’t say.

For example, that Cheng Liang had planned this with Director Lin to set up the second department, that the second department had quite a bit of evidence now, and this situation in the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department was likely going to cause a major earthquake. Also, that Cheng Liang had actually benefited from both sides, and the person who seemed to not care about anything was actually the most sinister behind the scenes.

This farce, which had started out as a big play about Director Lin beating his apprentice until he broke his bone, had long since changed its flavor and had been dyed with all sorts of rumors, becoming murky and unclear.

“What’s the point of asking?” Cheng Liang said. “The hospital will naturally investigate, and whether something was done or not, it’ll all come to light.”

Or rather, everything will be explained in the end.

He just accidentally triggered a landmine buried by the years of rivalry between the first and second departments.

Xiao Zhou appeared to be contemplating something.

Cheng Liang was so calm to the point of being indifferent, even though the eye of this storm was his mentor, Director Lin.

But this kind of Cheng Liang was also within his expectations.

He was always someone who didn’t care about anything, which was why Director Lin would be so angry all the time.

“Remember to notify the person across from me.” Xiao Zhou threatened Cheng Liang before leaving. “If there’s no air conditioning in the summer, I’ll stay at your place every day.”

Only a studious tyrant like Xiao Zhou, who was completely devoted to learning, would dare to threaten his own superior like this. The key was that Cheng Liang didn’t feel like he was being looked down upon. He just furrowed his brows and felt a chill in his heart when he heard the word “summer”.

So the next day, as dusk fell, when Cheng Liang saw the lights on in 302, he went upstairs and knocked on the door.

It was a girl who opened the door, and he felt that she was inexplicably familiar.

“Hello,” Cheng Liang said, “I’m the landlord of this building…”

He planned to finish his sentence in one breath, so his speech was fast.

But no matter how fast he spoke, it couldn’t beat the girl’s scream: “Dr. Cheng?!”

Cheng Liang: “?”

“Dr. Cheng?” It wasn’t a hallucination. It was another girl’s equally surprised voice from inside the room.

“You’re the landlord here?” Sheng Xia poked her head out from the crack in the door, looking shocked.

He was that invisible tycoon?!

Cheng Liang: “……”

This time he clearly saw it, the black streak of bad luck swirling with thunder and lightning, rushing towards him with a deafening roar.

Damn…