Chapter 15

Zhou Wenyun was asleep at the moment, and her condition hadn’t worsened. So Tang Feiwai asked Zhang Yan, who was lying beside her, and learned that she had accompanied Zhou Wenyun to the flower and bird market to sketch half a month ago.

Zhang Yan spoke intermittently, “On the first day of hospitalization, the doctor asked if I kept birds or had any contact with them. I said no, completely forgetting about the sketching trip with Yun Yun it was so long ago.”

“We now highly suspect that you and your daughter have contracted ornithosis, also known as psittacosis, so further testing is needed.”

Considering Zhang Yan’s current weak state, Tang Feiwan directly instructed the nurse to draw blood for an mNGS test. When the results came out later, sequences of Chlamydia psittaci were detected in both of their blood samples. Tang Feiwan immediately administered tetracycline antibiotics. With the correct treatment, Zhang Yan’s breathing difficulties significantly improved the next day, and on the third day, Zhou Wenyun’s fever subsided. With a bit more treatment, both would be ready for discharge.

That day, Tang Feiwan was on the day shift. After finishing her rounds, she was organizing patient records at her desk, preparing to transfer stabilized patients to general wards. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door behind her, and someone asked, “Is Dr. Tang here?”

Three or four doctors turned their heads simultaneously, including Lin Ye and Tang Feiwan.

Zhou Wenyong appeared at the door with Zhou Wenyun, smiling. “My mom and sister are being discharged today, and we wanted to bring Dr. Tang a banner as a token of appreciation.”

Liu Zhinan clapped his hands, a smile spreading across his face. “Xiao Tang, come on, accept the banner!”

Tang Feiwan felt a little embarrassed. Her right index finger instinctively adjusted her glasses as she replied, “There’s no need. This is just my job.”

Zhou Wenyong spoke sincerely, “No, we must. My mom felt much better the day after she was transferred to your ICU, and my sister too she said you checked on her often and even drew pictures for her.”

Hearing about the drawings, Liu Zhinan became interested. “What did she draw?”

Zhou Wenyun opened the sketchbook she carried with her, pulled out a sheet of paper, and smiled brightly. “A heart. Dr. Tang told me my heart is strong and will keep beating for many years.”

They say many doctors are artists at heart, and Tang Feiwan was no exception. Back when she was abroad, some of her medical illustrations had even won awards.

“This is really good!” Liu Zhinan praised sincerely. He handed the drawing to Lin Ye, who had been glancing in their direction, grinning. “Lin Ye, take a look too.”

Lin Ye held the paper and examined it carefully. For a few seconds, her thoughts drifted far away, back to the past. She remembered Tang Feiwan, during their senior year, sitting in her dorm room studying for finals, sketching anatomical diagrams and joking, “If I ever quit being a doctor, I can make a living as an artist.” Lin Ye had complimented her talent, only for Tang Feiwan to steal a quick kiss at the corner of her lips and smile, “I think so too.”

“Hmm, not bad,” Lin Ye said, pulling herself back from the memory. She returned the drawing to Zhou Wenyun, ensuring she didn’t linger in nostalgia long enough for other emotions to surface.

Tang Feiwan caught the faint curve at the corner of Lin Ye’s lips. It lasted only two seconds, but that was enough to make her heart bloom with happiness. She gladly accepted the banner Zhou Wenyong had brought. Unlike the typical banners patients give doctors ones with phrases like “Medical Skills Like a Miracle” or “Exceptional Healing Hands” this one was different. When Zhou Wenyong unfolded it, the red silk fabric read: “Dr. Tang Feiwan,” followed by two bold characters in the center: “Awesome.”

Liu Zhinan burst into laughter. “This is great. Straight to the point.”

Tang Feiwan felt even more embarrassed but agreed to take a photo with them. She stood in the middle, with Zhou Wenyong and Zhou Wenyun on either side. Liu Zhinan, holding the camera, shook his head. “Xiao Tang, smile! Don’t look so serious.”

“Yeah! Let’s take another one, this time with a smile.”

Zhou Wenyong was pleased with the two photos and then turned to Lin Ye. “Director Lin, we’re also really grateful to you. You patiently convinced us to continue treatment. Would you mind taking a photo with Dr. Tang?”

Tang Feiwan assumed Lin Ye wouldn’t agree. To her surprise, she nodded.

So, Lin Ye and Tang Feiwan stood in the center, holding the banner. Liu Zhinan directed from behind the camera, “Xiao Tang, move a little closer to Lin Ye. Why are you standing so far apart?”

“Oh.” Tang Feiwan shifted slightly to the right, and their arms brushed against each other lightly.

Liu Zhinan pressed the shutter button. “Three, two, one say cheese!”

After the photo, Lin Ye politely acknowledged the siblings’ gratitude, then turned and walked toward her desk. As she passed by Tang Feiwan, she lightly brushed against her arm just for a second, a fleeting touch of warmth.

Tang Feiwan froze, her face instantly turning red. She exchanged a few more words with Zhou Wenyun and Zhou Wenyong before returning to her seat. Resting her face on her left hand, she tilted her head toward the wall and smiled to herself.

The day had been busy, but thankfully, every emergency case was successfully treated. Some patients were transferred to other departments, while others remained in the EICU for further monitoring.

Around 5 p.m., Lin Ye sat at her desk browsing medical literature when a call from Lu Yuqing came in. She answered.

“Director Lin, I thought you’d be too busy to pick up.”

“If you had called ten minutes earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to,” Lin Ye replied, scrolling through her screen. In 2015, she had followed Director Gao’s advice to pursue further studies and was now in her third year of an in-service PhD program in Internal Medicine at Shujiang University Medical School.

“I know you’re always busy,” Lu Yuqing said over Bluetooth. “Hey, I just found out today that Tang Feiwan moved in across from you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Lin Ye glanced at Tang Feiwan’s desk but didn’t see her, guessing she was in the ward. She responded calmly, “It wasn’t anything special. If you didn’t ask, I wouldn’t have mentioned it.”

Lu Yuqing clicked her tongue. “Why did she move across from you? What’s her motive?”

It had been twelve days since Tang Feiwan moved in. Aside from a few brief greetings at the door before and after work, nothing particularly unusual had happened. Lin Ye’s expression remained unchanged. “Shouldn’t you ask her that?”

Lu Yuqing huffed in frustration. “Talking to you is like hitting a dead end.”

“Mm. Maybe,” Lin Ye replied.

Just as she finished speaking, there was a loud crash on the other end of the line. Concerned that something had happened, she immediately asked, “Lu Yuqing, what just happened?”

“Someone fell off their electric scooter at the intersection.” Lu Yuqing unbuckled her seatbelt, “I’ll talk to you later, I’m going to take a look.” After saying that, she hung up the phone, turned on her hazard lights, and ran towards the person who had fallen.

“Hey, are you okay?” The middle-aged man who had fallen was lying on the ground, clutching the handlebar of the electric scooter, he was unconscious. Lu Yuqing wanted to turn him over so he could lie flat, she had just straightened him out when, with a “poof,” the man vomited all over her.

Lu Yuqing frowned, she didn’t immediately deal with the dirt on her, but instead, she hurriedly reached out to unbutton the man’s collar to allow air circulation. She observed the patient’s face, made a preliminary judgment of his condition, then shook off the dirt on her hands, ran back to her car, took out her phone, and called the emergency number, “Hello, this is the intersection behind the Guiyun Road Fire Brigade, someone has fainted, suspected acute cerebral hemorrhage.”

18 minutes later, the fallen man was wheeled into the emergency room. The nurses and resident physicians stabilized him first, Lin Ye pulled open the curtain and walked in, after a simple examination, she immediately said, “Draw blood for emergency lab tests, contact radiology to do a head CT.”

Lin Ye finished her instructions and turned to leave, she happened to see Lu Yuqing standing by the emergency room door. She got closer, smelling the stench emanating from the other party, she pointed at the bed where the man had been.

Lu Yuqing, covered in dirt, rolled her eyes, “Yeah, you guessed it.” Her brows furrowed tighter, “No, I have to go wash up.”

After a while, the results of the head CT came out, showing acute cerebral hemorrhage, located in the posterior cranial fossa. Lin Ye looked at the report and made arrangements, “Use mannitol to reduce intracranial pressure, contact neurosurgery for consultation, they’ll probably need to do a ventriculostomy.” She handed the CT report to the attending physician and asked, “Where’s the family? Have you contacted them?”

The resident physician next to her helped answer, “We’ve contacted them, the patient’s son is on his way to the hospital.”

Lin Ye nodded to indicate she understood. At this time, the night shift doctor came over after changing his clothes, and asked her, “What’s the situation inside?”

Lin Ye turned back and looked. She said, “Posterior cranial fossa hemorrhage, I’ve notified neurosurgery for consultation.”

“Leave it to me, you can go off work early.” The night shift doctor, like Liu Zhinan, was an old attending physician, his experience was no less than Lin Ye’s.

“I’ll leave after he goes into surgery.” Lin Ye first did a bedside handover with the night shift doctor, then consulted with the deputy director of neurosurgery, confirmed the patient’s surgery time, and then went back to her office.

In the office, Gu Yan was holding her notebook and asking Tang Feiwai questions, “Doctor Tang, respiratory and circulatory systems…”

Tang Feiwai interrupted her, her tone was a bit cold, “Gu Yan, I believe your theoretical knowledge is already solid enough, now you need more clinical practice, so why were you hesitant when I asked you to establish multiple intravenous lines for the patient this afternoon?”

Gu Yan stammered, “I, I…”

Tang Feiwai continued, “Also, when I asked you to answer how to give an order after establishing intravenous lines for a patient with atrial fibrillation accompanied by myocardial ischemia and pulmonary dysfunction, why were you so slow to react?” She saw that Gu Yan was stunned, and said again, “Finally, you said to give 5%GS 20ml + digoxin 0.2mg intravenously, the answer is correct, but if the patient we were checking on at that time had actually had atrial fibrillation, every minute you were slow in giving the order, her condition would have become more serious, understand?”

Gu Yan swallowed, she nodded heavily.

Outside the office, Lin Ye listened to their conversation. The new resident doctor was supposed to be under her guidance, but Gu Yan liked to ask Tang Feiwai, and Tang Feiwai was willing to teach, which saved her some trouble. She walked past them, summarizing, “Gu Yan, if you only take notes, don’t do anything, and don’t think proactively in clinical work, you will never improve.”

“Thank you, Director Lin, thank you, Doctor Tang, I understand.” Gu Yan thanked them repeatedly, then took her notebook and went out.

After Gu Yan left, only Lin Ye and Tang Feiwai were left in the large office. As expected, they fell silent again, each packing up their things, preparing to leave work. It was Tang Feiwai who broke the awkward atmosphere, asking her, “Director Lin, I heard that Doctor Lu saved a patient with acute cerebral hemorrhage on the road.”

Typical small talk.

Lin Ye was facing away from her, she couldn’t see her expression, she replied, “Yes, posterior cranial fossa hemorrhage, neurosurgery consulted, they’re going to do emergency surgery.”

Tang Feiwai stared at her back and continued, “It’s a good thing she met Doctor Lu, she saved a life.”

“Yeah.”

Then, there was silence again.

Tang Feiwai was about to shut down her computer and go home when Lu Yuqing suddenly pushed open the door.

 She probably didn’t see her sitting to the left of the water dispenser, she said excitedly, “Lin Ye, let me tell you, Officer Jiang heard that my clothes got dirty, she sent her own clothes over after work.”