Chapter 4

“Didn’t you say you were getting off work at 8:10? Why did you get home at 10?” Tang Anhua, sitting on the living room sofa watching the news, but actually already drowsy, asked when he heard the sound of the key turning in the lock and the door closing.

Tang Feiwang fabricated a lie, her voice hoarse: “A new patient came in right before I left.” She didn’t tell him about her hour of solitude in the parking lot downstairs, trying to calm down.

“I see,” Tang Anhua, as a doctor’s family member, was used to this kind of thing and didn’t suspect anything. He grabbed the remote, turned off the TV, and got up to walk towards the bedroom. As if remembering something, he added, “There’s a bowl of mung bean soup in the fridge, in the crisper drawer. Drink it after you shower, it’ll cool you down.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“Get some rest early, don’t be like your mom, staying up late to study some literature.”

Tang Feiwang pulled a smile: “Got it, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Tang Feiwang went back to her room, put away her bag, turned on the air conditioner, and then walked to the living room. As soon as she pulled open the French doors leading to the balcony, a small creature rushed into her arms.

“Tomato, slow down.”

Woof! Woof!

Tang Feiwang put her right index finger to her lips, reminding him, “It’s late, no talking.”

The Shiba Inu seemed to understand human language and actually stopped barking, wagging its tail and circling around her.

“Sit.”

Tang Feiwang went to the kitchen fridge, brought out the mung bean soup, and sat down on the rattan chair on the balcony, where they usually had tea and rested. Tomato obediently squatted beside her, curving into a standard smile as he looked at her. The air conditioner fan swayed back and forth, the person leaning against the rattan chair had her eyes slightly closed, and images flashed through her mind.

In 2009, their second year together, Tang Feiwang was a senior and Lin Ye was a graduate student doing her internship. Lin Ye would complain to her when she returned to school at night.

“Kids are so annoying.”

She asked at the time, “How are they annoying?”

“They cry nonstop, no matter how much we try to soothe them, it doesn’t work.”

She comforted her, “You don’t have much experience dealing with children.” Later, they reached a consensus, neither of them liked children, and they didn’t have the opportunity to have children anyway.

How did their likes and dislikes change over the years?

Tang Feiwang sipped her mung bean soup. The cool, refreshing soup went down her throat but couldn’t suppress the unease that was stuck in her chest. She was lost in thought on the balcony, not hearing Jiang Junli calling her from behind. Only when she walked in, her shadow falling on the wooden table in front of her, did she look up.

“Haven’t you showered yet?” Jiang Junli saw that she was still wearing her outdoor clothes and asked.

Tang Feiwang suppressed her emotions: “Just sitting here for a bit, I’ll go soon.”

Jiang Junli was good at reading people and asked again, “Something on your mind?”

“No, I’m just sitting with Tomato.” She nonchalantly swallowed, lowering her head to pet the Shiba Inu.

Since her daughter didn’t want to talk, Jiang Junli didn’t pry further, changing the subject: “What shift do you have on Friday?”

The Second Affiliated Hospital’s emergency department implemented a day-night-off shift pattern, meaning day shift on the first day, night shift on the second day, night shift on the third day, and rest on the fourth day. In addition, frontline doctors (residents) had two 24-hour shifts per week, second-line doctors (attending physicians and junior deputy directors) had one 24-hour shift per week, and third-line doctors didn’t have shifts at the hospital.

Tang Feiwang took out her phone, glanced at the shift schedule, and replied, “Friday off.”

“Dinner at Juhua Lou at 6 PM.”

“With who?” Tang Feiwang frowned, thinking, “Don’t tell me it’s another blind date?” The other day, she chatted with Tang Anhua, and he subtly hinted that she was getting old and should get married soon.

Jiang Junli recalled: “A distant relative, you should have met her when you were three years old.”

Tang Feiwang temporarily put her worries aside and asked, “Three years old? Male or female? How do I address her?”

Jiang Junli: “Your little aunt, Jiang Mu, she just transferred from the traffic police detachment in the countryside to our Shatan District traffic police brigade. She’s two years younger than you, born in 1990.”

“Got it, I’m going to shower, Mom, goodnight.” Tang Feiwang picked up her empty bowl, went to the kitchen to wash the dishes first, and then went back to her room to shower. After showering, she lay in bed and wrestled with her thoughts until 2 AM, finally deciding to put her feelings aside and focus on her career.

She was thirty years old, she should calm down. If the other person is happy, maybe it’s a good thing.

On the other side, in the Shuchuan University family quarters, a three-story old building, the second room from the left on the third floor had a dim bedside lamp on. Lin Ye had just put her child to sleep, turned off the light, and tiptoed out of the room, closing the door gently.

She hadn’t had time to wash up yet, her long hair was still tied up, she was wearing a beige top and brown trousers. As soon as she turned around, a middle-aged woman appeared in front of her. Lin Ye affectionately called her, “Aunt Hui.”

Lin Wenhui was Lin Ye’s mother’s elder sister, 55 years old, a professor at the Literature Department of Shuchuan University, who had just retired in June. She had no children of her own, and because her younger sister had passed away a few years ago, she treated Lin Ye like her own daughter. She asked softly, “Yangyang is asleep?”

Lin Ye’s lips curved slightly: “She’s asleep.”

She and Lin Wenhui moved to the living room, intending to chat for a while.

“The child is very well-behaved, she can wash her face and brush her teeth by herself, and she’s not as shy as she was when she first came.”

Four years ago, Lin Ye went to Kashgar Second Hospital in Xinjiang for aid. That summer, she delivered a baby for a pregnant woman, the child was born safely, but the mother died from excessive bleeding. Later, she learned that the child’s father was from Rongcheng, a fire fighter who had been sent to Xinjiang for aid, and two days ago, he had died while fighting a fire. The pregnant woman had traveled thousands of miles from Rongcheng to Xinjiang, exhausted from the journey and experiencing a miscarriage.

Neither family had parents, meaning the martyr’s child was an orphan. Fortunately, the Rongcheng orphanage made proper arrangements, and the child was adopted by a family who couldn’t have children, and their life was considered quite comfortable. But the good times didn’t last long. Last August, Lin Ye received a call from an orphanage worker, saying that the adoptive family was planning to abandon the child, and they were negotiating with the Civil Affairs Bureau and the orphanage.

Because the worker had been in contact with Lin Ye for a long time, she was the first person they thought of.

“The child has heart disease, the family spent two or three thousand yuan on treatment but couldn’t cure it, so…”

“I’ll raise her.” Lin Ye didn’t make the decision hastily, she had already discussed it with Lin Wenhui, saying that she didn’t want to get married, and adopting a child would be nice.

Lin Wenhui also thought that forcing a square peg into a round hole wouldn’t work, and since the family was already thinking of giving up, it would be better to take the child in. So the next morning, Lin Ye took a day off, flew to Rongcheng, stayed for two days, completed the adoption procedures, and then brought the child back to Shuchuan.

The child was renamed Lin Yangyang.

Lin Yangyang was born prematurely and diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart disease, at six months old. Last September, Lin Ye admitted her to the hospital. After being diagnosed by Director Fang of the Cardiac and Vascular Surgery Department, Yangyang’s physical condition was not suitable for radical surgery yet, so she could only undergo palliative surgery first, be observed for a while, and have corrective surgery when she was older.

Lin Wenhui finished speaking, seeing Lin Ye smile sincerely, and then asked, “Xiao Ye, did your department admit a patient named Zhong Yuanzhao today?”

“Yes, Aunt Hui, do you know him?” They were both professors at Shuchuan University, so Lin Ye guessed they might know each other.

Lin Wenhui sighed: “Of course I know him, Old Zhong and Old Zheng used to live across from us, they moved to a nursing home in the west district six years ago. This afternoon, I went to pick up Yangyang from kindergarten, and on the way back, I heard the gatekeeper mention him, saying he was critically ill.”

“We’ll do our best to save him. Professor Zhong’s son and daughter are also on a plane back to China, they should arrive in Shuchuan around 7 Pm tomorrow night.”

Lin Wenhui saw that her face was full of fatigue and decided to end the conversation: “You doctors are very hard-working, saving lives and healing the wounded. Go wash up and get some rest.”

Lin Ye looked up at the vintage clock hanging on the right side of the air conditioner unit, 9:23 PM, and replied “Okay.” Then, they each went back to their rooms.

Late at night, the moon was high in the sky. After flipping through dozens of pages of literature, Lin Ye finally decided to turn off the light and get into bed. She leaned against the headboard, recalling what Lu Yuqing had said.

“Isn’t Tang Feiwang from cardiac surgery? Why did she go to your emergency department? It’s obvious what she’s up to.”

“How long did you endure before you broke up with Tang Feiwang? You thought she would try to hold on to you, but what did she do? The next day, she sent a single word in the middle of the night.”

“Good.”

“Good? Good my ass, did she know how hard you were struggling during that time?”

“Now she’s successful in her studies and career, and she wants to come back and chase you? Tell her, no way.”

Lin Ye pressed her aching temples, lay down, and forced herself to banish Tang Feiwang’s shadow from her mind.

Tell herself, it’s over, they won’t have a future.

The next day, it was Lin Ye’s turn to work a 24-hour shift. She kept an eye on Zhong Yuanzhao’s condition. Fortunately, after over ten hours of treatment, the old professor’s condition had improved significantly. At 6 PM, when she handed over the shift, Tang Feiwang, who was working the night shift, also immediately thought of Zhong Yuanzhao. She saw Professor Zheng standing outside the EICU (Emergency Intensive Care Unit), tears welling up in her eyes as she expressed her gratitude.

Tang Feiwang didn’t greet Lin Ye, she directly pressed the button to enter, walking towards bed number 5 where Professor Zhong was. The old man was wearing a respirator, his eyes half-closed as he looked at her, his fingers twitching slightly. Tang Feiwang understood, put on her mask and hat, disinfected her hands, moved closer, and heard him murmuring, “Don’t, don’t save me, don’t save me…”

As if he knew he was about to leave this world, he pleaded.

Sure enough, less than half an hour later, the nurse in charge of Professor Zhong’s care shouted, “Bed number 5’s blood pressure has dropped, the vasopressors aren’t working.”

The attending physician hurriedly called for help: “Quickly call Director Lin, the patient in bed number 5 is in ventricular fibrillation!”