Sheng Xia

Sheng Xia’s surgery was scheduled as the second operation in the morning. Early in the morning, a nurse came into the ward with a disinfected hospital gown, bustling around giving instructions.

After a week and a half of liquid diet and taking bowel cleansing medicine last night, Sheng Xia was feeling weak from hunger. She was so hungry that she was stunned when the nurse emphasized that the gown had to be worn backward, with the back in the front.

“It’s easier to put on and take off,” the nurse explained.

With this simple sentence, the whole cholecystectomy surgery suddenly became more concrete.

“Are you scared?” Aunt Liu looked at Sheng Xia’s pale face as she leaned on Tang Caixi’s shoulder, genuinely concerned. “Actually, there’s nothing to worry about. Once you’re in the operating room and under anesthesia, you won’t know anything. You’ll wake up, and the illness will be gone.”

Aunt Liu likes Sheng Xia.

At first, she just thought this girl looked fair and gentle, with a good upbringing, making people want to get closer to her. After spending time with her, she found that even when chatting and joking with friends, this girl maintained a straight posture. Despite being on a semi-liquid diet and feeling hungry at night, she never thought about sneaking food. Although she had already been admitted to graduate school, she still diligently studied and memorized vocabulary and watched videos every day. She was disciplined and orderly.

Aunt Liu felt that a child like Sheng Xia would have a bright future.

But such a promising child who also had a good heart.

After Sheng Xia came back from talking to Dr. Cheng last night, the first thing she did was run up to her and excitedly tell her, with bright eyes, that she could find a trusted person to be her trustee before the surgery.

“It’s okay if it’s not a family member,” Sheng Xia received Cheng Liang’s affirmative answer and was finally able to voice the thoughts she was harboring in her heart. “As long as it’s someone you trust.”

Aunt Liu was in such a complicated mood at the time that she could only hold Sheng Xia’s hand for a long time without being able to speak. She envied this child’s parents so much.

All she could do was hold Sheng Xia’s hand tightly and nod incessantly.

As soon as you wake up, and your illness will be gone.

She gave Sheng Xia her best wishes, watching as Sheng Xia was pushed into the elevator by the nurse, her good friend following nervously behind. Then the nurse stopped her at the elevator door: “Family members will have to go to the surgery waiting area on the fourth floor.”

Tang Caixi, who was stopped, had red eyes. She shouted towards the elevator, “Come out quickly! I’m scared!”

That was too absurd a thing to say. Sheng Xia laughed, and so did the nurse.

It’s so nice, Aunt Liu thought, looking at the bustling corridor.

Good people will surely be rewarded.

***

Lying flat and being pushed around was a very novel experience for Sheng Xia. She finally understood why people who went to the hospital in movies and TV shows always had ceiling shots—because when you’re lying down, all you can see is the ceiling.

The white incandescent lights on the hospital ceiling receded one by one, the automatic doors opened and closed one by one, the sound of the bed wheels squeaking on the floor, and the temperature was getting colder and colder.

Sheng Xia swallowed, the palpable feelings of nervousness and fear began to become impossible to ignore.

“This is also an experience,” she told herself.

“This is also a kind of training.” She cheered herself up, her hands clenched into fists under the blanket.

Then the nurse pushed her into a large room, where four or five other patients wrapped were lying side by side, also wrapped in quilts.

“…Are we there?” Sheng Xia was confused and propped up her head.

This operating room was not what she had imagined. It was like a big dormitory?

“Just wait here for now. Someone will push you in when it’s your turn,” the nurse smiled. “This is the waiting room.”

Sheng Xia blushed and lay back down.

This feeling was too strange. She could see the stranger lying next to her when she turned her head. The middle-aged man was also wrapped up tightly in a blanket just like her. When he saw her turned her head, he smiled at her and said, “You’re so young. What kind of surgery are you having?”

“……” It was difficult for Sheng Xia to chat in such an environment, but she forced a smile , “Gallstones.”

“I’m having my stomach opened. Intestines.” The middle-aged man was bold.

“… ” Sheng Xia looked at the room full of patients wrapped up like cocoons, all wearing their patient gowns inside out, with a nervous expression on her face. After some thought, she spoke up, “You can do it.^[1]Jia you – it’s like fighting in Korean. It can be translated as come on, do your best, good luck, etc. In this case, I opted for ‘you can do it’ ‘cause it sounds more natural??”

Let’s cheer each other on.

For a moment, everyone in the waiting room fell silent, and then someone chuckled.

Even the nurse who was waiting for the call and push the person in also smiled, and took a few more glances at Sheng Xia. When she pushed Sheng Xia into the operating room, she took the time to say a few more words, “The operating room is separate. After you go in, climb onto the operating table and wait. A nurse will come over.”

“It will be a little cold inside.” The unfamiliar nurse smiled kindly. “You can do it.”

Indeed, the operating room was very cold, just like what Sheng Xia had seen in movies and TV shows. Not long after Sheng Xia lay on the cold and hard operating table, several nurses and a doctor wearing a mask entered from the automatic door.

“Are you Sheng Xia?” the nurse confirmed Sheng Xia’s name, and after receiving an affirmative answer, she started hanging the bottles of medicine from the cart onto the IV pole one by one.

At this moment, in order to resist her nerves, Sheng Xia’s mind was full of words, including both English and Lucheng dialect.

“Do you drink?” the doctor sitting next to the instrument suddenly asked.

“Huh?” Sheng Xia’s brain short-circuited again. “You want me to drink? Now?”

There was a snicker, which came from Cheng Liang who had just entered from outside the door.

The anesthesiologist couldn’t help but laugh, “I meant, do you usually drink alcohol? How well can you handle alcohol?”

“……” Sheng Xia blushed. “I’ve never had alcohol.”

“Don’t be nervous.” The anesthesiologist didn’t seem surprised. He turned to look at Cheng Liang and said, “Why did you come in so early today?”

“The other room went smoothly,” Cheng Liang stood by and watched Sheng Xia.

Because of the small episode just now, she embarrassedly kept her eyes on the surgical lamp on the operating table, pursing her lips.

Cheng Liang chuckled. He thought this girl who was showing off wouldn’t be nervous, but now her fists were clenched.

She looked like a small and cautious creature, which was quite interesting.

Yesterday, she had said in the office that she was going to work hard for him today, and she meant it.

He watched as Sheng Xia gradually lost consciousness due to the anesthesia and stepped forward to take the scalpel.

***

It really felt just like sleeping.

The time between waking up and being fully awake was quite long. She felt like she was being woken up by someone, felt like she was being sent back to the ward and lifted onto the bed, and then all she could hear was Tang Caixi’s endless sniffles.

“… What are you crying for?” Sheng Xia, who still wanted to sleep, was so bothered by the sniffling sound, which made her head hurt. She hoarsely asked.

“I’m not crying,” Tang Caixi looked at Sheng Xia’s eyes finally opened. “The nurse said you can’t sleep for the next few hours. I cried too much outside the operating room door just now and my throat hurts, so I can’t talk. I can use my runny nose to annoy you.”

Sheng Xia: “……”

She was indeed a qualified best friend.

“The surgery went well.” The qualified best friend told the most important thing first. “The doctor just told me a bunch of technical terms, but it seems your gallbladder adhesions are not serious, and your bile duct is not short. Anyway, they cut it off beautifully.”

Sheng Xia breathed a sigh of relief and made a ‘yay’ gesture towards the ceiling as a celebration.

The big thing she had been agonizing over for more than a year was finally over.

“Let me tell you…” Tang Caixi, who had complained about her sore throat, seemed to have regained her voice and was now excited. “I did some research, and I feel like I should have my appendix removed or something, and then it will be your turn to wait outside the operating room. Oh my god, it scared the hell out of me! I really should let you experience it too!”

Sheng Xia: “……Can you speak normally?”

“Does it hurt?” Tang Caixi spoke normally.

“I don’t feel anything right now,” Sheng Xia’s throat was still hoarse, her body still numb, and she watched like in a dream the nurses bustling around her.

What was strange was that the busy nurses seemed to be suppressing laughter.

Especially that little nurse, Xiao Liu. Because of her lack of experience, she usually like to keep a serious face, but now her face was red from suppressing laughter.

Sheng Xia looked at Tang Caixi in confusion.

With the unspoken understanding of many years of sisterhood, Tang Caixi understood in an instant. She held the chair with both hands and moved it closer to the bed, saying mysteriously. “You did something big during the surgery.”

Sheng Xia: “?”

Tang Caixi continued mysteriously, “I heard from the nurse outside when I was waiting outside the operating room that when you were waking up from the anesthesia, you grabbed Dr. Cheng’s clothes and asked for his WeChat ID. It seemed like you almost ripped Dr. Cheng’s surgical gown.”

Sheng Xia: “???”

“Your grip was so strong, and you insisted that Dr. Cheng give you his WeChat ID. You also said that you were very awake and that you would definitely remember it,” Tang Caixi squinted at Sheng Xia. “Did you remember it, Dr. Cheng’s WeChat ID?”

Sheng Xia: “……He gave it to me?”

This was even more shocking.

“How could he not give it?” Xiao Liu beside them couldn’t help but interject. “You wouldn’t let go even if you die, and the collar of Dr. Cheng’s surgical gown was almost pulled down to his navel by you. “

Sheng Xia: “……Why did I do that?”

Although she was the one who did it, she couldn’t think of a motive for doing so……

Xiao Liu’s eyes narrowed into slits: “You asked Dr. Cheng to cheer up^[2]another meaning for jia you.”

Sheng Xia: “……”

“You said that after you add him on WeChat, you can continue cheering him on after you are discharged,” Xiao Liu finished setting up the vital signs monitor attached to Sheng Xia and added, “You were especially persistent.”

Sheng Xia felt like her face was about to burn.

“I can still understand if you asked for Dr. Cheng’s WeChat because he’s good-looking,” Tang Caixi added another kick, “Are you a gas station [3]? You’re still cheering him on even when you’re under anesthesia. Does the doctor really need your encouragement?”

[3] the literal translation for jia you is ‘to add oil/gas’.

Sheng Xia: “……”

“It’s a pity you don’t remember anything,” Xiao Liu continued to smile. “It seems This seems to be the first time Dr. Cheng has given his WeChat to a patient.”

But Dr. Cheng probably only did it because he knew Sheng Xia wouldn’t remember anything after waking up from the anesthesia.

Sheng Xia laughed awkwardly as she was teased.

Does Cheng Liang really need cheering up?

She wondered.

For her to be so persistent, he must have looked quite pitiful…

***

Thursday was the surgery day for the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department. Cheng Liang had three surgeries scheduled for today, and the rest were major surgeries where he would assist Director Lin.

As usual, he was exhausted. After stepping down from the operating table, he took a shower in the locker room.

Then, he thought of Sheng Xia.

The feeling of patients waking up from general anesthesia was similar to being drunk, and there were many who lost control: some spoke English, some poured out their hearts, and some said strange things.

There were also those who asked for his contact information, and there were even those who flirted with him because they found him handsome, and he had encountered them from both men and women.

Most of it was just a passing incident. The patients were not in their right mind, and he was busy finishing up the surgery at the end, then they each went their separate ways.

But Sheng Xia was different.

Her clear, black and white eyes, without a trace of shadow, stared at him and said, “Dr. Cheng, you have to cheer up.”

At that time, everyone around was laughing, but only his face, hidden behind the mask, was wooded.

“The world is not beautiful,” Sheng Xia started to talk nonsense. “But everyone will always want to live, no matter how difficult or ugly life is, people want to live.”

“So, you have to to cheer up.” She reached out her hand sincerely, trying to give Cheng Lian a high-five.

The anesthesiologist next to her was almost dying of laughter: “This is the first time I’ve seen such a positive patient. What did you do to make her so worried?”

Cheng Liang: “……”

He just didn’t suppress his irritation in front of her.

So when she asked for his WeChat ID, he instinctively gave it to her, even though he knew she wouldn’t remember it when she regained consciousness.

He just gave it out.

Even if Sheng Xia was sober at the time, he would still give it to her.