Cheng Liang

Ward rounds are the most anxious time for every inpatient. During this time, patients get to see the doctors who were usually very busy, and it was during this time when patients could get a clear idea of the next treatment plan, when the surgery will be performed, the details of the surgery, and what is going to be done next.

It is the time when many anxious patients and their families get answers.

For Sheng Xia, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder for planning, ward rounds are the most important time of the day.

So even though she had a low fever again when she took her temperature this morning, her spirits lifted the moment she saw the doctors enter in an orderly fashion.

The order and procedures of hospital rounds were regulated. Director Lin stood in the middle, next to him was Deputy Director Li of the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department, and next to him stood Cheng Liang, followed by the residents and a bustling group of interns.

Sheng Xia’s cholecystectomy is one of the most common surgeries performed by the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department, so there are not many questions asked during the ward rounds. Cheng Liang, holding the reports from yesterday afternoon, mentioned that her gallbladder condition was okay. The current issue is waiting for the inflammation in her body to subside before proceeding with the surgery. For the next two days, she’ll be on IVs, and optimistically, the surgery can be performed in about three days.

Clear and concise, the entire ward round process took less than five minutes. The group of doctors then turned and went to Aunt Liu’s bed.

The young doctors stood on one side of the bed, and the other senior doctors stood on the other side. Cheng Liang looked much more formal than his lazy appearance yesterday afternoon. All the buttons of his white coat were buttoned up. Because of his height, he was quite conspicuous among the group of white coats.

But throughout the ward round, Sheng Xia kept staring at him.

There was a tuft of silly hair on his head……

Perhaps because doctors were very busy, no one would care about this kind of detail, but in Sheng Xia’s eyes, this tuft of silly hair really stood out too much—Cheng Liang was already tall, and this raised clump of hair added a few more centimeters to his height, making him look like a lone Teletubby standing in the crowd.

Now, this Teletubby was frowning and listening to the resident doctor standing opposite him inquiring about Aunt Liu’s health. The doctor’s voice was very recognizable, Mandarin with a Southern Fujian accent. This was probably Doctor B, who chatted in the green belt downstairs yesterday evening.

He was wearing a name tag, with the last name Sun, called Sun Lin.

Sheng Xia remembered the climax of this Doctor Sun’s chatter—he said that he went to Medical Affairs to complain about Cheng Liang’s problematic teaching, and he suspected that Cheng Liang had deliberately delayed his research project as a personal revenge.

Sheng Xia looked at Cheng Liang again.

He must know that Sun Lin was the one who talked behind his back yesterday, but…

He didn’t seem to be targeting Sun Lin.

Cheng Liang’s style was always quite consistent. He seemed indifferent to everything, and during the whole ward round, he didn’t take the initiative to speak unless necessary.

But this Doctor Sun was obviously weak, speaking with a lack of confidence and stammering. When Director Lin asked him several questions in a row, he answered them all very vaguely. Even a layman like Sheng Xia could feel that if this kid was taking a spot test, he would have failed by now.

“How has the urinary situation been for the patient in Bed 15 from yesterday until now? How many times did they urinate? How many milliliters each time?” Director Lin’s face was cold as he closed the medical record in his hands with a snap.

Aunt Liu fidgeted. When it came to urinary problems, she and the nurse kept a close eye on it, so she would know.

Doctor Sun, who once again failed to answer, muttered unconvincingly in a low voice, “This is not Dr. Cheng’s patient.”

If it wasn’t his mentor’s patient, how could he possibly know such details?

Cheng Liang coldly raised his eyelids and glanced at Doctor Sun.

“What about bed sixteen?” Director Lin pointed at Sheng Xia and looked at Doctor Sun. “Bed sixteen is Dr. Cheng’s patient. She has recurrent cholecystitis. She has been to our hospital outpatient clinic, and she has been also to other hepatobiliary hospitals. What medications has she taken in the past ninety days? You should know that, right?”

The ward fell into a dead silence.

Although Doctor Sun had his head down, Sheng Xia could still see a trace of resistance from his stiff back.

“Xiao Zhou, you answer this question.” Cheng Liang immediately spoke under Director Lin’s increasingly grim face.

Xiao Zhou, the resident doctor who was ordered, stood next to Doctor Sun, and answered without any hesitation. “I don’t know the patient in bed sixteen’s medication history for the past ninety days. However, I do know about the prescription issued when she came to our hospital.”

Then followed a long list of drug names, her outpatient records, and her medication allergy history.

The stifling atmosphere in the ward finally eased a bit. Director Lin snorted, turned his head, and vented his anger on Cheng Liang, “Xiao Zhou is a student of Old Li, not yours! It is your turn to call?”

“That’s why I’m not as good as Deputy Director Li.” Cheng Liang immediately followed up.

He was smiling cheekily.

Deputy Director Li, who had been watching the show, patted Cheng Liang on the shoulder and took out Aunt Liu’s medical record: “Who can tell me about the treatment plan for hepatorenal syndrome^[1]a type of progressive kidney failure for people with severe liver damage from last month’s CC^[2]Critical Care (CC) – medical care for people who have life-threatening injuries and illnesses.?”

Cheng Liang gave his student a chance to perform, so he casually helped Cheng Liang out of a predicament, and the matter of the morning ward round was finally put to rest.

However, after leaving the ward, Director Lin stared at Sun Lin, whose face had already turned the color of a pig’s liver, and asked seriously, “You’re going to rotate department next quarter, right?”

Sun Lin lowered his head even further.

“Write a good summary before your rotation!” Director Lin said this while glaring at Cheng Liang.

Although he was unable to do anything about it, Cheng Liang’s face did change. Instead, he pulled Xiao Zhou to a corner and whispered, “Am I very strange today?”

He asked out of the blue.

The patient in bed sixteen had been staring at him since he entered the room, and he felt like flowers were about to bloom on his head.

Pushing his glasses up, Xiao Zhou, very seriously, asked, “What kind of strange?”

“Looks.” Cheng Liang ran his hand down his face from top to bottom.

Xiao Zhou quieted for a second, then, with extreme seriousness, scanned Cheng Liang from head to toe and concluded, “Your hair is messy.”

Cheng Liang: “……”

Xiao Zhou: “Your shirt isn’t clean.”

Cheng Liang: “……”

Xiao Zhou: “The white coat is dirty.”

Cheng Liang: “……”

Xiao Zhou: “The soles of your shoes are worn out and leaking.”

Cheng Liang: “……How the hell did you notice that?”

Xiao Zhou: “You said it in the duty room yesterday.”

……

Cheng Liang waved his hand tiredly, ignored Director Lin’s glare, and, before entering the next ward, tidied his messy hair.

He had done his best in teaching his students.

No matter how much Director Lin glared at him, he wouldn’t be able to glare out a flower.

***

“The topic you chose is not the direction I specialize in. There are only two months left, and I won’t be able to teach you much.” On the rooftop of the inpatient building, Cheng Liang looked at Sun Lin. “I asked Deputy Director Li for you. For the next month, just follow him to learn.”

After the ward rounds and returning to the office, Director Lin exploded with anger but he didn’t bother to scold Sun Lin, instead, he sprayed Cheng Liang from beginning to end. While Director Lin was about to have high blood pressure from scolding, Cheng Liang, with his thick skin, could still leisurely pour him a glass of water to soothe his throat.

He used a disposable cup.

And cold water.

After being scolded, Cheng Liang called Sun Lin to the rooftop alone.

The rooftop of the old inpatient building had an abandoned helicopter pad. The green paint on the ground had peeled off, leaving only some gray-green spots. The old and quaint setting gave the people standing and chatting there a feeling of shooting a movie.

Therefore, if doctors in the hospital needed to discuss serious matters, they all liked to go to the rooftop to talk.

For example, this matter now.

One of the assessment criteria for teaching at the hospital was the performance of the students, and Cheng Liang took the initiative to change the mentor for Sun Lin just before his rotation, which was equivalent to Cheng Liang’s teaching assessment directly becoming zero.

But when Cheng Liang said it, there was no hesitation in his tone. His tone was very relaxed, and it sounded very casual.

Sun Lin remained silent.

Since he was targeted by Director Lin during the ward round, he never spoke again.

“Are you unsatisfied?” Cheng Liang asked.

Sun Lin clenched his fists.

“Then let’s blow off some steam before going down.” Cheng Liang didn’t intend to dwell on it. He had a night shift yesterday and could go home to wash his clothes this morning.

“What else can I learn if I transfer to Deputy Director Li like this?” Sun Lin asked Cheng Liang.

Being targeted by Director Lin in public and with his mentor actively applying for his transfer, what future could he still have in this hospital?

“That’s your business.” Cheng Liang was still very calm.

“I’ve been learning from you for five months. I’ve done all the dirty and tiring work. I was so tired from working the night shift, and yet, I still had to be dragged by you to the gym to lift weights. You’ve been suppressing my research project and not approving it. I couldn’t take it mentally and physically, so I spoke a few more words when the people from the medical affairs office asked.”

Sun Lin’s eyes were red.

“Just because of that, you want Director Lin to target me in front of everyone and ruin my future?”

Cheng Liang stopped in his tracks.

“The one who wants to change the mentor now is you, not me.”

“I transferred you to Deputy Director Li simply because my teaching style is not suitable for you. The two of us can’t work together to maximize your strengths.”

Sun Lin sneered: “What a nice thing to say.”

Cheng Liang frowned, then turned around and walked back to Sun Lin.

“You can leave now.” He changed his mind. He didn’t want Sun Lin to have this place to himself.

Sun Lin was stunned.

“You can go down and flatter Deputy Director Li. Maybe you’ll gain something good,” Cheng Liang’s tone was somewhat sarcastic.

Sun Lin’s face turned various shades of blue and red. He clenched his fists and left without looking back.

Leaving Cheng Liang alone on the rooftop, on the desolate and dilapidated abandoned helipad, he took out two lollipops.

“Come out.” He felt like he was really suitable for filming movies as he said this with the air of a big shot.

Xiao Zhou, the resident who had demonstrated his scholarly demeanor during the ward rounds, crept out from behind the door and took the lollipop that Cheng Liang handed over.

“He’ll hate you to death, and you’ll be the stain on his career in the future.” Xiao Zhou wiped his glasses. “If something happens to you, he’ll be the first to step on you.”

“He’s going to rotate to another department at the end of the quarter,” Cheng Liang felt that Xiao Zhou’s thinking was too rigid. “With his performance, no matter which department he goes to, it will be the worst. He definitely won’t be able to stay in the hospital, and whether other hospitals in Lucheng will take him is uncertain. Whether he can even be a doctor is also uncertain. How can I be a stain on his career?”

“Then you’ll be the first one to ruin his career,” Xiao Zhou put it differently.

“Hiss!” Cheng Liang hissed, feeling upset. “If you can’t speak well, don’t speak.”

Xiao Zhou gathered the white coat in his body. The early morning breeze at the end of April still carried a chill: “Actually, you can explain. Say that the medical affairs office won’t reveal the informant to the person being reported, that Director Lin targeted him not because of you, and that he can’t get along simply because of poor grades and unwillingness to work hard.”

Cheng Liang placed the lollipop against his cheek and spun it around. “Do you think he doesn’t know that?”

Xiao Zhou turned to look at him.

“His grades can’t keep up, and his mind is not on it, he’s well aware of it himself,” Cheng Liang smiled, pulling up one corner of his mouth, “but blaming others is always simpler than blaming yourself.”

Xiao Zhou chewed on the lollipop in his mouth and changed the topic, “My lease is expiring.”

“What’s that got to do with me?” Cheng Liang was puzzled.

“Deputy Director Li said your place has plenty of rooms, and it’s close to our hospital,” Xiao Zhou said with a deadpan expression.

“There’s no room available,” Cheng Liang impatiently waved his hand.

He was most annoyed in renting a place to a colleague. They’d bother him over trivial matters. Considering Xiao Zhou’s performance, he’d probably stay in the hospital in the future. It’s best to avoid this kind of person.

“301 is empty,” Xiao Zhou didn’t even bat an eye, “Director Lin told me.”

Cheng Liang racked his brains, recalling the leasing contract the intermediary gave him before, “……302 seems to be occupied by a single girl, so it’s not suitable for you to live across from her.”

“Why?” Xiao Zhou asked very sincerely.

Cheng Liang: “……”

There was no reason. He simply didn’t like men and women living on the same floor to avoid trouble. However, this reason didn’t hold water for surgeons like them. If they had time to go home and sleep, that would be great.

“Fix any broken furniture and appliances yourself, pull your own water pipes, power lines, and network cables, don’t drill holes in the walls, don’t make trouble, and don’t cry like a ghost in the middle of the night.” Cheng Liang accepted.

Xiao Zhou took out the stick from the lollipop and waved it at him, signaling agreement.

Cheng Liang smiled, twirling the lollipop in his mouth again, watching the hospital gradually become lively.

Time to go home and do the laundry, he thought. The sun is out today.