Chapter 23: A Pool of Blood

◎ She never thought that medical disputes would come so close to her. ◎

The next day, Yu Ran woke up early, but Shen Suhui was so tired that she didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon.

Since it was her day off, Yu Ran wasn’t in a hurry. She silently stared at Shen Suhui’s sleeping face.

Although it wasn’t the first time Yu Ran had seen Shen Suhui asleep, she found it intriguing. She felt like Shen Suhui looked particularly different this morning.

Yu Ran leaned in and kissed Shen Suhui’s face.

The motion finally stirred the person under her. Shen Suhui moved slightly and slowly opened her eyes.

“Good morning! Are you hungry? I’ll have the service bring breakfast up.”

“……”

Shen Suhui didn’t respond. She looked at Yu Ran seriously for a moment, then suddenly realized something. Her face turned redder and redder until she buried it in Yu Ran’s chest.

Yu Ran laughed inside and decided to tease her.

So, she leaned close to Shen Suhui’s ear and whispered, “Last night…”

“Don’t mention last night!”

“Why not?” Yu Ran wasn’t going to let her off the hook. “Did you feel good or excited? How did I do…”

Before she could finish, Shen Suhui, with messy hair, sat up and started looking around. “Where’s the menu? I want to order breakfast!”

Yu Ran shook her head with a smile, unable to do anything about her. She got out of bed and walked to the coffee table in the living room, grabbed the menu, and returned to bed.

After placing the order over the phone, they snuggled back under the covers and played on their phones.

Yu Ran replied to some work messages and tossed her phone aside, resting her head on Shen Suhui’s shoulder while watching the screen of her phone.

“What are you looking at… I’m sure you’ve seen my WeChat Moments many times already.”

Shen Suhui replied, “Some things are always new, no matter how many times you look at them.”

Yu Ran nodded. “The scenery I took is indeed beautiful.”

“You know,” Shen Suhui said, “I don’t just look at the scenery.”

“……”

Yu Ran’s WeChat Moments had no time limit set, so everything from high school to the present was visible. However, her moments from high school to undergrad were few, or perhaps she had deleted them all. What remained were posts from after she went abroad to study.

The posts included records of various competitions and academic life, as well as photos from her travels.

When she was abroad, Yu Ran traveled whenever she had free time. She had visited many places around the world.

Yu Ran rested her chin on Shen Suhui’s shoulder as they both looked at her phone.

“If I had known I would meet you, I wouldn’t have chosen to study abroad. Maybe our fate would have come a little earlier.”

Yu Ran’s words surprised Shen Suhui, so she asked in return, “Why?”

“Don’t you think so?”

Shen Suhui shook her head. “If it were like that, where would we have met again? If there were no café, would you have fallen in love with me at first sight if we were in a different place?”

Yu Ran firmly said, “I would, it has nothing to do with the location.”

“Then why didn’t you fall for me back then?” Shen Suhui joked.

“…”

Yu Ran was stunned. This question caught her off guard.

“So, I don’t think so,” Shen Suhui flipped through the photos on her social media. “I think everything now is the best arrangement.”

“…”

“Yu Ran.”

“Mm?”

“From the first time I saw you many years ago, I truly felt that you and I were from different worlds. You were destined to read many books and walk many paths, experiencing a colorful life. I should thank you for coming to my side after accumulating so much.”

Yu Ran looked at her and couldn’t help but pinch her face. “What are you saying? I’ve been by your side all along.”

She looked at Shen Suhui’s serious face, and her mind wandered. After last night’s kiss, her lips still had marks from being bitten, even more red than usual.

Yu Ran looked at her lips, unable to resist lowering her head…

“Excuse me, your breakfast is here.”

At that moment, a sudden interruption broke the silence.

Yu Ran clicked her tongue in frustration, disappointed with herself, and opened the door to let in the breakfast.

The hotel breakfast was quite rich and delicious. Shen Suhui quickly finished washing up and was ready to eat.

“By the way, you just mentioned seeing me many years ago, when was that?”

“…”

As she was about to eat a shrimp dumpling, Shen Suhui nearly choked. She awkwardly smiled. “This question isn’t important. Eat quickly. It’s getting cold. I’m starving.”

Yu Ran narrowed her eyes and scrutinized her. “I always feel like there are many things you’re not telling me.”

“It was in high school,” Shen Suhui said casually. “Although we didn’t have any interactions, we saw each other every day. I remember thinking you were a very extraordinary person back then…”

“…”

Yu Ran wasn’t sure if she was deceiving her, but she nodded seriously.

“I must have had bad eyesight in high school.”

Shen Suhui curved her lips.

After the winter break, they both officially returned to their respective positions.

Yu Ran got busy with a packed schedule full of surgeries.

After finishing one surgery, she received a message from Shen Suhui.

14th year: What time do you get off tonight?

Yu Ran: There’s surgery, probably until 8 or 9.

14th year: So late?

Yu Ran: Mm, at least I managed to win you over.

14th year: What do you mean?

Yu Ran: Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to go to the café, I’d be restless…

Shen Suhui sent a cat-eye emoji in response. “As if you used to come to my place so often before we got together…”

Yu Ran, still in her surgical attire, leaned on the sink and sent a playful dog-rolling emoji.

Yu Ran: By the way, have you had any contact with Jiang Shiluo recently?

14th year: Guess.

Yu Ran: Good wife, tell me now!

—–

After a long silence, what Yu Ran didn’t know was that Shen Suhui was holding her phone, smiling like a silly girl.

14th year: She seems busy recently, hasn’t been to the café or ordered flowers.

Yu Ran: Okay.

—-

After closing her phone, Yu Ran felt reassured.

At 5:30, the last major surgery began. Guo Fan had just been promoted to associate director, and he was the lead surgeon, with Yu Ran and Jian Ming assisting.

14th year: You probably haven’t eaten yet, I’m closing up, I’ll bring you something.
Yu Ran felt bad for Shen Suhui, who was going back and forth, but agreed, wanting to see her.

She didn’t know why, but after falling in love, she found herself craving her presence, very much so.

“What are you laughing at so happily?” Jian Ming asked as he approached, cleaning up. “I never thought I’d see Yu Ran staring at her phone and smiling like this.”

“Hey…” Yu Ran put her phone in the locker. “I guess I’m a bit love-brained.”

“Huh?”

“When I haven’t met someone I like, I’m very indifferent, but once I do, I become clingier than you’d expect. I can’t even believe it myself.”

After finishing the cleaning process, Yu Ran’s smile deepened.

“I really want to meet your girlfriend, I’m curious what kind of person could steal you away.”

The patient for this surgery had a very complex condition. They were brought in from the ER with severe traumatic injuries from a car accident. Due to multiple fractures and pre-existing cardiovascular conditions, the surgery was particularly challenging for the doctors.

After three hours of intense work, sweat poured down Guo Fan’s face. During the suturing stage, he kept losing focus.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Ran noticed something was off.

Guo Fan shook his head. “I don’t know, I feel very anxious.”

“Are you too tired?” Jian Ming asked. “Isn’t the surgery going well?”

“I hope so. Maybe I’ve been staying up too much these past few days…”

“You’ve been putting too much pressure on yourself lately. Your blood pressure and heart rate are stable,” Yu Ran said. “Now the main thing is to send the patient to ICU.”

“Mm, later Xiao Yu and Xiao Jian will take the patient to ICU. I’ll talk to the family.”

Yu Ran added, “The family is a bit unstable emotionally. They seem quite radical, so be careful.”

Guo Fan waved his hand.

The door to the operating room opened, and Shen Suhui was sitting on a bench in the hallway. It was a bit far from here, but Yu Ran saw her from a distance.

“Wait here for a moment.”

“Okay.”

They pushed the patient into the ICU, gave the duty doctor the details, and prepared to find the patient’s family.

Just as the elevator arrived, they heard arguing coming from inside. It was intense, and there were many people gathered around.

Jian Ming said, “Not good.”

They rushed toward that direction, and Shen Suihui stood up and grabbed Yu Ran’s hand.

“There’s a medical dispute over there. I’ve called the police. It seems someone’s been injured…”

Yu Ran grasped her trembling hand and said, “It’s my colleague. Promise me, no matter what happens, you can’t come over.”

“Yu Ran…”

“Listen to me.”

Shen Suihui’s gaze was filled with fear and reluctance, but she could only nod. If she acted impulsively, not only would she fail to protect Yu Ran, but she would also distract herself.

“Be careful.”

The two rushed over, pushing through the crowd, only to see that Guo Fan had been stabbed in the chest and was lying in a pool of blood.

He was convulsing on the ground, his eyes wide open—unwilling, in pain, disappointed… but there was no anger in them.

At that moment, Yu Ran felt like the world had become unreal. For an instant, she felt like she was dreaming.

She had never felt so close to a medical dispute before.

“Quick, get him to the emergency room!”

The family went crazy. The man even tried to charge over to grab the knife, attempting to stab more people.

Security came over and tried to subdue his arms, but they couldn’t hold him down.

He didn’t manage to get the knife out of Guo Fan’s body. The next second, he pulled a fruit knife out of his pocket.

Yu Ran punched him twice, gripped his wrist tightly, and as she took the knife from him, her palm was deeply slashed.

“You bunch of quacks! You charge so much for surgery, and then send him to the ICU? You just want to make money!!”

The attacker screamed hysterically, “He’s not even going to make it! I’m about to lose a family member, and you’re still trying to make money off us poor people! I’ll die with you all!”

He was like a mad dog, attacking anyone he could. Even with more people, they couldn’t subdue a person who had lost control.

When Jian Ming tried to intervene, she was punched in the mouth and started bleeding, “We went over everything with you during the surgery. You even signed the consent form…”

“It’s all fake! Your hospital just wants to make money…”

Yu Ran’s eyes were bloodshot. She grabbed the suspect by the collar, forcefully pushed him against the wall, and kneed him between the legs. The attacker was in pain for a moment before getting back up and continuing to fight her.

Finally, he got tired. Several people had been injured in the process. Jiang Shiluo arrived with a few police officers in a hurry.

“Arrest all of these people and take them away!”