Cheng Liang

Aunt Liu, who was seriously ill, used the internal strength she had accumulated from a lifetime of family chores to win herself an opportunity to have a peaceful discussion between her family and Director Lin. At least on the surface, her family didn’t say much more. They simply stated that they would wait until after the discussion with Director Lin to decide anything.

The ward was once again quiet. Aunt Liu’s family members, with their various expressions and different thoughts, all kept their heads down, playing with their phones, busy with who knows what.

Meanwhile, Aunt Liu, who had won a small victory, half leaned on the edge of the bed, her burnt complexion calm and serene, without joy or sorrow.

She just wanted to live, seize every opportunity, and do her best.

Even if her closest loved ones thought that the cost of saving her was too high, not worth exhausting everything for.

She didn’t ask them to give everything they had, she just took back what was rightfully hers, what she deserved as the mistress of the family, as a mother to her children, as a wife to her husband.

She missed her mother, who had passed away many years ago. After she got married, whenever she felt embarrassed about being short of money, she would go to her mother’s house and sit for a while. They wouldn’t say anything, but when she left, her mother would always slip some money into her pocket.

Now, there was no one who loved her so much anymore.

***

The second thing that happened on the 18th floor of the inpatient department happened near evening. After greeting the nurses, Sheng Xia went to the cafeteria for dinner. On her way back, she passed by the doctors’ office and found it full of people.

There were only two doctors, Director Lin and Cheng Liang, and opposite them were a dozen or so imposing strangers, holding banners with bold black letters on a white background and wearing white bands on their heads.

There were also reporters standing at the door.

A medical dispute.

Sheng Xia saw that the on-duty civilian police officers from downstairs and hospital security guards were already inside, but no matter how they tried to persuade and push, the two middle-aged men in their forties and fifties who were leading the group refused to leave, clamoring that the black-hearted doctors had killed someone.

“The day before yesterday, after the Whipple surgery Director Lin had performed that afternoon, the patient had postoperative bleeding,” a well-informed nurse whispered from behind her. “Director Lin told the family that they needed to have another surgery immediately, but the family refused, claiming that the hospital was extorting money from them. They said that they had made a mistake during the surgery, so that there would be bleeding, making them pay again for another surgery. They stubbornly refused to sign the consent form for the surgery.”

“As a result, the patient was left in the ICU for two days and then passed away,” the nurse lowered her voice. “Obviously, the bleeding point had been found, and the patient could have been saved after the surgery. Instead of consenting to the surgery, they prevented Director Lin from performing it, and the patient died as a result.”

“Now they’re causing trouble, bringing in reporters, holding banners at the main entrance, demanding compensation from the hospital.”

“What should we do now?” A new intern nurse encountered this kind of thing for the first time and, thinking of news reports, became somewhat flustered. “Should we call the police? We only have two civilian police officers on duty downstairs.”

“It should be fine. The two sons have been restrained,” the head nurse had seen this before and was very calm. “Don’t just stand around here, go and do what you need to do.”

The situation did indeed seem to be under control. The two people who had been making a scene and rolling on the ground had been pinned down by the police officers and couldn’t move. The others who had come to cause trouble didn’t make any further moves. Sheng Xia saw Director Lin and Cheng Liang standing together, Cheng Liang’s expression was indifferent, cold, and distant.

The change happened in an instant.

A young man in his early twenties suddenly rushed out from the crowd that was making trouble. He kicked over the security guard standing in front of the doctors and reached out, grabbing Director Lin’s hair.

Poor Director Lin was in his fifties, and the force of the tug almost caused him to fall to the ground. Fortunately, Cheng Liang, who was standing to him, reacted very quickly, grabbing Director Lin with one hand and reaching out with the other to try to pry the young man’s hand away.

“Don’t come any closer!” The young man’s empty hand somehow produced a utility knife, which he swung at Cheng Liang.

Cheng Liang was still holding onto Director Lin with one hand, and half of his body was completely defenseless against the young man. Even though his motor nerves were well-developed, and he moved very quickly, he only had time to dodge and avoid the utility knife. However, he couldn’t pull Director Lin back.

“Don’t come any closer!” After succeeding, the young man became extremely excited. He kept pulling back while holding Director Lin’s neck and waving the utility knife wildly at the security guards who wanted to rush forward. “If you come over, I’ll stab him to death!”

A minute ago, some people in the crowd who were just watching the show screamed. The experienced head nurse asked everyone to back away with a pale face. Amidst the chaos, only Cheng Liang, expressionless, asked the young man, “What do you want?”

The young man panted heavily with the knife in his hand.

“You were originally just causing a disturbance. Once the situation stabilizes, you can sit down and discuss your grievances with our colleagues in the medical affairs department,” Cheng Liang’s white coat had been slashed with a long cut to avoid the utility knife just now, revealing the gray-cyan shirt underneath. “But by causing this commotion, you’ve escalated the situation beyond a mere disturbance.”

The young man glared at him and still didn’t speak.

“Director Lin is old and has high blood pressure. If you continue dragging him like this and something happens, you’ll ruin the rest of your life,” Cheng Liang’s voice was not loud, and his tone was not fierce, but it made people’s backs feel cold, “If you have grievances, just say it. Don’t make things worse.”

“Xiao Sen, let him go,” the middle-aged man who was pinned down on the ground started pleading, too. “We’re just here to talk about compensation. What are you doing?”

The young man, who was indifferent to Cheng Liang’s words, reacted strongly to these two sentences from the middle-aged man, “Compensation?! My grandfather is dead, what can they compensate?!”

“I want this doctor who killed people to kneel in front of my grandfather’s funeral hall and wear mourning clothes!” The young man fiercely strangled Director Lin’s neck.

Director Lin’s face quickly turned red. Afraid that struggling would aggravate him further, he could only remain motionless and let the young man pull him around. Only his hands were hanging unnaturally in the air, afraid of accidentally injuring them during the scuffle.

Those were the hands of a surgeon who saved lives.

“Were you not present during your grandfather’s surgery?” Cheng Liang spoke up again.

This topic finally caught the young man’s attention, who said viciously, “If I hadn’t been out of town, I wouldn’t have let you quack doctors touch my grandfather!”

Cheng Liang seemed to inadvertently move a step to the side, and the young man’s gaze subconsciously followed him.

“Postoperative bleeding is one of the possible complications of your grandfather’s surgery, and it’s actually very easy to treat,” Cheng Liang continued slowly, taking a step with each word, the torn white coat swaying.

In order to hear Cheng Liang more clearly, the young man dragged Director Lin along with him.

Not far behind him, the police officer who was pinning down the middle-aged man were waiting for an opportunity.

“As long as we find the bleeding point,” Cheng Liang continued to move slowly as he spoke, “we can solve it with a small operation……”

The rest of his words were drowned by screams.

The police who had been lying in wait seized the opportunity and quickly stood up. He kicked the utility knife out of the young man’s hand and slammed his elbow into the young man’s body.

The young man cried out in pain and subconsciously let go.

Director Lin stumbled forward with his hands raised in the air, and was helped down by Cheng Liang.

The farce finally came to an end.

The young man who was subdued by the police still stared at Cheng Liang, and asked persistently, “Why didn’t you perform the surgery? You all knew there was bleeding. Why didn’t you stop it?”

Everyone thought that Cheng Liang wouldn’t answer this question. He mentioned the surgery purely to attract the young man’s attention and rescue Director Lin. He had never concealed his disgust for these people, not even bothering to give them a second glance.

However, amidst the chaos, Cheng Liang squatted down and looked directly at the young man.

“The hospital requires the patient or their family to sign a consent form for surgery,” he said. “Your family only wanted compensation, they didn’t want to sign.”

Director Lin, who had just been rescued, was busy checking if his hands were injured. He had inadvertently let go of Cheng Liang’s reins, and the back of his head was numb at this moment, and he only felt that something was wrong.

“Your family just let your grandfather lie in the ICU, preventing us from performing surgery or treatment.”

“The bleeding point in your grandfather was only this big.” Cheng Liang stretched out his hand, showing a gap of less than half a centimeter between his thumb and forefinger, “He bled for two days and eventually died from blood loss.”

The young man, with his hands restrained behind his back, trembled with his lips and face: “You’re lying!”

Cheng Liang pulled up the corner of his mouth: “They just told you they were here to talk about compensation.”

After he finished speaking, he did not say anything more, maintaining an almost smiling expression, watching the young man’s face go from red to white, his eyes filled with overturned madness and confusion after being subverted.

That person didn’t even dare to look at his elders who were lying on the ground just now. He didn’t even dare to ask.

“Don’t provoke him anymore.” The policeman holding the young man frowned, not wanting to escalate the situation further.

Cheng Liang lowered his head and smiled slightly, then straightened his back, and stood up again.

“Damn, Senior Brother really went crazy today,” whispered a young doctor who had arrived late to the office because of dinner and could only watch from the sidelines.

“How cool,” sighed another young doctor.

Sheng Xia turned around. She recognized the young doctor who sighed. Cheng Liang liked to call him to answer questions and called him Xiao Zhou.

The top student among the resident doctors.

He always answered questions smoothly, and he never hesitated.

“So there’s a reason why he keeps telling us to go to the gym.” Xiao Zhou sipped on his sugar-added milk tea and adjusted his glasses.

***

Because of the incident in the evening, the process of Sheng Xia’s preoperative communication became very meticulous.

In order to avoid the trouble of patients and their families disagreeing on the surgical opinions, Sheng Xia and Tang Caixi’s preoperative discussions were conducted separately, one-on-one. First, Cheng Liang and Tang Caixi discussed the surgical process, and only after that did Sheng Xia go to sign the consent form.

Poor Tang Caixi didn’t know anything about gallstones before. Ten minutes in, she listened with trepidation and turned pale. When she came out, she grabbed Sheng Xia’s arm. “Maybe we should have your parents come over. I’m scared.”

“……What are you scared of for my surgery?” Sheng Xia was dumbfounded.

“After all, it’s an operation. What if something happens during the operation? I’ve listed almost half a sheet of A4 paper with the potential dangers,” Tang Caixi was so nervous that she had a stomachache.

“But those are all ‘what ifs’,” Sheng Xia patted Tang Caixi’s shoulder. “It’s fine. Even if there’s a ‘what if,’ isn’t there still you outside? If anything happens, I’ll be at ease with you.”

Tang Caixi was easily moved after being stimulated, and her eyes reddened.

Sheng Xia’s words were very sincere. After seeing the family members of two different patients, it made her think that sometimes family members might not always be reliable……

Although her parents certainly weren’t that crazy.

“I’m going in,” Sheng Xia adjusted her hospital gown and prepared to go in to sign.

“Wait,” Tang Caixi still held her. “Don’t be afraid when you go in, I think that Dr. Cheng……”

“Is a bit fierce,” Tang Caixi swallowed hard. “That face with the icy tone and the bloody content…”

She retracted her previous statement about the perverted doctor being cool and emphasized to Sheng Xia repeatedly, “Don’t be scared!”

It seemed that she herself was scared to the point of peeing her pants.

Sheng Xia: “……Okay.”

***

There was only Cheng Liang in the office. The things that were knocked over and broken during the evening commotion had all been cleaned up, making it look somewhat empty.

Cheng Liang saw Sheng Xia coming in, nodded, and pointed to the seat beside him. “Sit.”

Cold, without any emotion.