Chapter 18

The night was quiet, the streetlights outside the window were still on, emitting an orange glow that hadn’t changed for years. Lin Ye leaned slightly against the windowsill, her gaze passed through the sparse leaves of the tree, falling on a small figure.

Half a minute ago, she had opened the security door of her house, and before she had even changed her shoes, she received a WeChat message from Tang Feiwai. It was a short paragraph, not long, not short.

“Lin Ye, you didn’t directly refuse, does that mean I still have a chance? You said earlier, I hope I’ll be kind to the person I like, but I like you now, so in the future, if you don’t want to accept my kindness to you, you can tell me directly, don’t force yourself. We, follow our hearts.”

She admitted that after reading these words, it was like a warm breeze blowing through her heart, she was dazed for a few seconds. But soon, she recalled the past, and her rationality instantly returned. After all, the person who wrote these words could call you the first second of your birthday and stay on the phone with you, she could send you blessings on time, she could send you flowers, gifts, and cakes across the country; but in the next two days, she would disappear for a whole 49 hours, without giving any prior notice, and her replies wouldn’t explain why.

Later, she disappeared more and more often, Lin Ye found excuses for her, saying that she was busy with her studies, busy with work, and under a lot of pressure. After all, Tang Feiwai had applied for a master’s and doctoral program at Heidelberg University Medical School, and the mentor there, after screening, had made a request: during her studies, she should not return to China unless absolutely necessary, she should spend all her free time in the lab in the early stages, and later, if her clinical skills were outstanding, she should stay at the hospital.

Until the last straw that broke the camel’s back appeared, trust collapsed, and she could no longer deceive herself. However, she didn’t tell the other party about this “straw” tonight, because there was no need…

The air conditioner was running, a cool breeze was blowing, caressing the woman’s hair, her eyes darkened, she put her phone on the bedside table beside her, and turned and walked out of the bedroom.

On the bench in the parking lot not far away, Tang Feiwai, who didn’t want to go home for the time being, had been sitting silently for half an hour. The yellow light above her head was dim, attracting many small insects to fly around the light source, the air around her was hot, but at this moment, her originally restless heart was unusually calm.

She knew the reason why they broke up, she knew it was all her fault, she understood that any self-pity was in vain. So she examined herself, after reflection, she sent that message to Lin Ye. After sending the message, Tang Feiwai felt a lot more relaxed, she pulled out the photo they had taken in the office today, looked at Lin Ye in the photo, her gentle smile spread, as warm as a spring night with a gentle breeze.

After a long time, she exited the photo album, clicked on the WeChat profile picture at the top, and sent two words.

“Good night.”

She had worked a 24-hour shift, finished her night shift, and had a day off, on Saturday morning, before 7:30, Lin Ye was already sitting at her desk. Lu Yuqing, who was on the night shift, had been busy with emergency surgery all night, and now she came to her and ate breakfast.

“Thanks for the treat.” The woman ate the wontons Lin Ye had brought for her, she looked up and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong with Tang Feiwai lately?”

“Huh?”

“She’s been posting inspirational quotes on her Moments every day since Tuesday night, one in the morning and one in the evening.”

Lin Ye had actually already noticed, Tang Feiwai would send her good morning and good night messages every day, and then she would post a message on her Moments.

“The longest journey is from your body to your heart, from one person’s heart to another’s.” Lu Yuqing read Tang Feiwai’s post from 30 minutes ago, she said disdainfully, “Has she gone crazy? Or did you do something to her?”

“Maybe she’s going through a  phase.” Lin Ye browsed through her Moments, her expression was natural, she casually forwarded a health science article, and 30 seconds later, there was a “liked” notification.

She didn’t need to look to know it was Tang Feiwai. She had posted six messages in the past three days, whether it was work-related or family-related, the other party liked them all. After Lu Yuqing finished breakfast and left, the seat next to the water dispenser was filled, she sent a WeChat message to Tang Feiwai.

“Doctor Tang, you don’t have to like every post, because things you can’t keep up with for long, you shouldn’t do.”

The next second, Tang Feiwai replied, “Okay!” Then she added, “Doctor Lin, I’ll continue to send you good morning and good night messages.”

Lin Ye was helpless, she could only put her phone aside. She looked up casually and saw that Tang Feiwai had also put her phone aside and had already started working. She seemed to be more pleasing to the eye than before, when she used to like to space out before handing over her shift.

It wasn’t time for handover yet, when Gu Yan suddenly barged in, “Director Lin, a patient fell from the third floor, he’ll be sent in two minutes, Teacher Liu is busy and can’t come, we need help.”

“Okay.” Lin Ye and Tang Feiwai both got up, they briefly met eyes, Tang Feiwai motioned that she would go too. Lin Ye nodded, and they both ran towards the emergency room.

Outside the emergency room, the stretcher was speeding forward, the accompanying doctor was sweating profusely, as soon as he saw Lin Ye, he said urgently, “Male patient, 23 years old, blood pressure 65, 51, heart rate 139, hemorrhagic shock, two intravenous lines have been opened.”

Lin Ye arranged, “Bed three in the emergency room.”

The curtain was pulled open, the patient was moved to the stretcher, Lin Ye went to examine him, and Tang Feiwai helped from the side. Lin Ye listened to the patient’s heart and lungs, put away her stethoscope, and then said, “Dopamine 200mg + metaraminol 100mg + NS 20ml pump in to increase blood pressure, do a bedside ultrasound.”

Tang Feiwai worked with her, touching the patient’s abdomen, listening to the abdomen with a stethoscope, she added, “Prepare four units of red blood cells, routine four-tube blood tests must be done, because there is a high probability of abdominal organ bleeding, surgery is needed as soon as possible.”

The resident physicians and nurses got busy, Lin Ye asked the accompanying doctor, “Where’s the family?”

The accompanying doctor pointed to the direction of the door and said, “They’re outside, his boyfriend jumped off the building, he must be scared.”

“Boyfriend?” Lin Ye asked Tang Feiwai to find out the situation, if they weren’t married, they should notify their immediate family, after all, if there was internal bleeding and surgery was needed, the patient might die on the operating table.

Tang Feiwai nodded, “Okay, I’ll go.” She took off her blood-stained gloves and walked out.

The emergency room door slid open, the nurse helped call out, “Is the family of Dong Guo here?”

“Yes!”

Tang Feiwai followed the sound to find the person, two meters away, a girl in a white shirt was originally squatting in the corner, she stood up reflexively when she heard the patient’s name, the look of fear on her face hadn’t faded, she quickly walked towards her, nervously asking, “How is he?”

“Hemorrhagic shock, there should be internal bleeding, we’ll do an ultrasound, if it’s confirmed, we need to do emergency surgery immediately.” Tang Feiwai tried to describe it in language she could understand.

The family member was Dong Guo’s girlfriend, Cao Yangqiao, she hurriedly asked, “Surgery? Is it risky?”

“Any surgery has risks, especially for a patient who has fallen from a building, internal bleeding, blood pressure, and heart rate, all these indicators are not optimistic.” Tang Feiwai saw her trembling hands, she lowered her voice slightly, and asked softly, “You’re his girlfriend, right? Not married?”

Cao Yangqiao shook her head.

“Can you contact his parents?”

Cao Yangqiao answered, “His parents are out of town, there’s no airport there, it takes 15 hours to get here by high-speed train.”

Tang Feiwai reminded her, “Call them first.”

“Oh, okay.” Cao Yangqiao took out her phone, it took her two minutes to find Dong Guo’s father’s phone number, and then she dialed it.

It rang twice, and the other party hung up.

Tang Feiwai frowned, “What’s the reason?”

Cao Yangqiao told the truth, “His parents don’t agree with our relationship, they haven’t contacted me in the past three months.”

“Send a text message, saying that Dong Guo fell from the building, his life is in danger.”

Cao Yangqiao sent the text message as instructed, the text message was sent successfully, but after a short 5 seconds, the other party called back. Cao Yangqiao answered, and the other party hurriedly asked, “Guo Guo fell from the building? How could he fall from the building? Did you push him?”

Cao Yangqiao didn’t lie, she told the other party the truth, “No, no, uncle, I broke up with Dong Guo, he didn’t agree, and then he threatened me by jumping off the building.”

Dong Guo’s father said angrily, “You didn’t agree to get back together? So Guo Guo jumped off the building?”

Cao Yangqiao softly hummed.

Dong Guo’s father blamed her, “How can you be so cruel?”

Tang Feiwai had received the news half a minute ago, Dong Guo had internal bleeding in two major abdominal organs, she couldn’t stand it anymore, she motioned for Cao Yangqiao to hand her the phone. She pressed the record button, then said, “Hello, I’m a doctor from the emergency department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shujiang University Medical School, the patient, Dong Guo, fell from the building, he has internal bleeding, he needs surgery immediately, do you agree?”

“Does he absolutely need surgery? Can the surgery guarantee success?”

“The patient has lost a lot of blood, we can’t guarantee you. But if we don’t do surgery, he won’t last long.”

The other party finally agreed, “Do it, do it now.”

“Okay, this conversation is being recorded, I hope you understand.”

After Tang Feiwai finished speaking, she returned the phone to Cao Yangqiao, she had just turned around when Director Gao suddenly stopped her, “Xiao Tang, there’s an in-hospital emergency rescue skills competition tomorrow morning, are you free to participate? With Director Lin.”