Five Years of Studying Medicine, Three Years of Flirting With Guys - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Tang Linsheng felt that he had already humiliated himself in front of his senior to the point of “flinging his face all the way to the South Pole.” However, while those penguins at least looked cute when they hopped, his own hopping was simply an act of pure stupidity.

He felt that if there were a hole in the ground, he would jump in without hesitation—anything would be better than making an exhibition of himself here. Tang Linsheng’s heart was filled with shame and indignation; hanging onto Tang Linsheng’s wrist, he felt that it was neither right to stand up nor right to stay down.

Tang Lincheng leaned back slightly, and looking down, he saw Tang Linsheng’s red ears and profile. His original smile hadn’t fully faded, and now he was amused again; how could this kid act like an ostrich burying its head in the sand to deceive itself?

The air was awkward for a few seconds before Tang Linsheng hurriedly straightened his body and flashed a huge smile at Tang Lincheng: “Th—thank you, Professor Tang!”

Tang Linsheng’s face wore a fake expression of “Hey, we meet again, oh, and thank you.” He thought he was hiding it well, not realizing he was completely exposed in front of Tang Lincheng. Tang Lincheng’s eyes held a smile: “No need for thanks.”

As soon as the words ended, Tang Linsheng felt flustered again. Luckily, Teacher Fang called him from outside; he ran out as if grabbing onto a life-saving straw, failing to even say goodbye to Tang Lincheng.

Tang Lincheng glanced at the bento box sitting properly on the food cabinet, closed the cabinet door, and went back to his office.

During that night shift, there was an episode with an elderly lady with Alzheimer’s, two or three new patients admitted through the emergency department, and someone who wouldn’t cooperate with the morning blood draw. Because there were many patients for blood draws, Tang Linsheng told one patient to press down for five minutes to stop the bleeding after he finished. However, the moment Tang Linsheng left, the patient let go and went to the bathroom; the blood then “gushed like a spring,” and the patient ran to the nurse’s station clutching the needle site, shouting loudly, “Help, help!” There was also a patient who refused to go for an examination early in the morning, shouting at the nurse’s station that the hospital was making them do various tests just to cheat them of their money.

All in all, it wasn’t until past seven in the morning that the ward finally quieted down for a bit. Finally waiting for the shift handover, Tang Linsheng decided that he would definitely be as “quiet as a chicken” on his night shifts from now on and absolutely stop talking nonsense.

Taking advantage of everyone being busy in the early morning, he quietly ran to the pantry to retrieve his lunch box, stuffed it into his bag, and turned to run. To his surprise, he almost bumped into someone as he turned around.

Liu Junxian was startled and said, “Tang Linsheng, acting all sneaky—something’s not right!”

As she spoke, she tried to look into Tang Linsheng’s bag, scaring him into retreating a few steps. He stammered, “No, no… I just want to hurry home!”

Liu Junxian clearly didn’t believe him and looked determined to see exactly what was in his backpack. The two went back and forth until Liu Junxian, seeing no hope, stopped persisting: “Alright, alright, I don’t care to see what’s inside the bag of a hikikomori (shut-in) like you.”

Seeing that she had finally stopped trying to grab it, Tang Linsheng breathed a sigh of relief and retorted indignantly, “I’m not a shut-in, I’m a ‘Sunshine Boy,’ okay?”

Liu Junxian burst out laughing: “You, a Sunshine Boy? Does a Sunshine Boy have fair and tender skin like yours?”

Tang Linsheng said righteously, “Envy is useless; I got it from my parents!”

Just then, Liu Junxian took advantage of his lowered guard to steal a glance. Tang Linsheng was startled, but it was too late to pull the zipper. Liu Junxian pointed at his backpack and said in surprise, “Hey! Isn’t that the lunch box Professor Tang asked me about last night?”

Tang Linsheng shook his head rapidly: “No!”

“How do you know it isn’t?” Liu Junxian raised an eyebrow. “Confess the truth!”

Should he tell the truth or a lie? If he told the truth, wouldn’t his secret crush on his senior be exposed? What if Liu Junxian detested that kind of thing… what if word got out? Tang Linsheng’s palms were sweating a little; it was only after entering university that he realized his true sexual orientation. In middle and high school, he had been a “good boy” focused on studying. After he got into university, his parents told him that as a boy, he could start dating. He didn’t expect that even though he was studying in the Nursing Department which had the most girls he felt absolutely nothing for any of them.

He had also tried to hint to himself to pursue a girl, but the result was very clear: no feeling meant no feeling. No matter how much he forced it, it was useless. That was until he went to fill a seat at a university science and innovation project defense and saw Tang Lincheng standing on the stage, speaking with confidence and composure. That feeling of a sudden electric current instantly spread through his whole body, making it impossible for him to look away…

Later, he would intentionally or unintentionally learn news about Tang Lincheng. Tang Lincheng was simply too famous; he didn’t even need to go out of his way to ask anytime, anywhere, just a simple mention would lead to a pile of people gossiping. At that time, his feelings were still vague and muddled until one night when he dreamed of Tang Lincheng.

Waking up the next day and looking at the ceiling, he knew clearly in his heart: I’m done for. But in his heart, besides the panic over his sexual orientation, there was also a trace of excitement and nervous tension.

Pulling himself out of the memory, Tang Linsheng looked at Liu Junxian nervously. He had done stupid things when his brain was acting up before; he wouldn’t repeat the same mistake now!

Liu Junxian didn’t expect that her casual remark would make Tang Linsheng so nervous. She hurriedly waved her hand and spoke in a deliberately light tone: “Hey, I’m just joking with you! Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous!”

As soon as she finished speaking, she clearly saw Tang Linsheng breathe a sigh of relief. The two stopped discussing the topic and went their separate ways after work.

This incident did stick in Liu Junxian’s mind; she vaguely felt that there was some kind of mysterious relationship between Tang Linsheng and Tang Lincheng.

….

Over the next few days, Tang Linsheng was always a bit jittery whenever he ran into Liu Junxian or Tang Lincheng. First, he was afraid Liu Junxian would discover the bento was from him; second, he was afraid his senior would find out what if he loathed him?

That little demon of insecurity in his heart often popped up to make its presence known.

Fortunately, the next few days followed the usual work rhythm with nothing special happening, so Tang Linsheng felt relieved.

It wasn’t until two weeks after arriving at Ward 8-West that Tang Linsheng met the other director of the department: Deputy Director Gao Linshan. It was said that Director Gao had gone abroad for an international conference, and after returning to the country, he went to a local branch hospital to provide support for a few days, which was why he was back late.

While Tang Linsheng was doing morning nursing care with the teachers, Director Gao came in with several junior doctors for rounds. Since he hadn’t seen this director before, he took a couple of extra looks. Unexpectedly, he was caught by Director Gao; when their eyes met, Director Gao actually gave him a smile. Tang Linsheng thought to himself that this director seemed quite amiable; he was laughing heartily during rounds and interacted with the junior doctors like friends.

…

After finishing morning rounds, Gao Linshan instructed the junior doctors on how to write medical orders and helped correct some inappropriate ones. The junior doctors were naturally moved to tears and repeatedly expressed their gratitude to Director Gao.

Gao Linshan enjoyed the adoration of his subordinates for a moment before suddenly asking one of the doctors: “Dr. Zhu, you still need to study more lately.”

Dr. Zhu, whose medical orders had just been modified by Director Gao, took it seriously when she heard this: “I will study hard, Director Gao.”

Gao Linshan acted like an elder giving earnest guidance to a junior, patting her on the shoulder and saying meaningfully: “When you learn something, you have to know how to use it. That way, I can receive good feedback from other teachers, instead of how it is now, right?” After saying that, he left.

Dr. Zhu felt uneasy after hearing Gao Linshan’s ambiguous words. What did he mean by “how it is now”? Did Director Gao receive some bad feedback about her? But she had only been following Professor Tang these past two weeks. Could it be that Professor Tang said something about her to Director Gao?

Dr. Zhu was made unhappy by Gao Linshan’s unclear words. For a while, she wondered if it was because she had been a bit distracted during the last few imaging surgeries, or if it was because she accidentally wrote the wrong medical order last week… She thought through everything that had happened in the past two weeks, and the more she thought, the more she felt she had committed many errors. No wonder Professor Tang went to Director Gao to report her!

Dr. Zhu didn’t think in the direction Gao Linshan had hoped at all. Instead, she felt that Tang Lincheng’s feedback was very timely; only when mistakes are pointed out can there be progress. Moreover, this opportunity to come to Mingzhu Hospital for further training was hard-won, so she had to seize the chance to learn more!

If Gao Linshan knew that his intentional attempt to create a rift was “misinterpreted” like this, he would probably be so angry he’d vomit blood. However, even without knowing this, he already felt like he was going to vomit blood now.

Director Wei was sitting in the demonstration room, leisurely adjusting the PPT he was going to present in half an hour, completely ignoring what he was saying.

Gao Linshan walked back and forth in front of him a few times. His expression was no longer the amiable and hearty one from ten minutes ago; he repeated his previous question in an anxious and irritable tone: “Wei Yun, tell me clearly what you mean! The department already has me as a deputy director. What do you mean by bringing Tang Lincheng here?!”

Director Wei looked up as if glancing at him, or perhaps at the large screen behind him, and said in a light tone: “What do you think it means?”

Gao Linshan had waited for an answer, only to be choked by the response. He spoke out with some exasperation: “You’re leaving soon, so why are you starting this trouble?! Must you have one of your own people in Cardiology before you can feel at ease?!”

This time, Director Wei’s gaze truly landed on Gao Linshan. Seeing the hidden pursuit of power and profit in Gao Linshan’s eyes, he couldn’t help but sigh deeply, saying with helplessness and disappointment: “Linshan, you’ve changed.”

Gao Linshan looked at him in silence for a few seconds before speaking again: “Director Wei, people change. You’ve changed too.” The previous anger and exasperation vanished like a flash in the pan; he said with a calm expression: “What should be mine is mine. You can’t change that.” After saying that, he turned and left decisively.

Wei Yun rubbed his aching head and shook his head as he watched Gao Linshan walk away.

Such things… there is no “should” or “shouldn’t,” only whether one is suitable or not.