Five Years of Studying Medicine, Three Years of Flirting With Guys - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The next day was Tang Linsheng’s day off. Naturally, he had slept soundly and planned to get his fill of sleep before heading home to continue resting. By the time he woke up, Tang Linsheng (the senior) had already left. He got up, changed clothes, and washed up, then asked a doctor who came into the locker room to pick up some things: “Is Professor Tang not working today?”

“Professor Tang is on public leave today. I think he has a meeting to attend this morning.” The doctor took his things and prepared to head out. “He’s going to the suburbs for a volunteer clinic this afternoon. If you have something to find him for, just send him a WeChat message.”

“Oh, okay, thanks.” Tang Linsheng swiped through his phone, looking at his starred friend 【Future Partner Big Tangtang】. After thinking it over, he decided not to disturb the Senior’s meeting.

After all, the Senior had been busy with him until so late last night and had to go to a meeting early this morning. What if the Senior was trying to sneak in a quick nap and was woken up by a WeChat notification?

Tang Linsheng nodded, decisively put down his phone, organized his things, and prepared to go home.

He put back on yesterday’s clothes, and after making sure he had all his belongings, he closed the locker room door and prepared to take the elevator down.

He pressed the down button and waited for nearly five minutes before the elevator arrived. The doors opened, and a crowd of people poured out logistics workers transporting supplies, as well as patients and their families. Tang Linsheng stood to the side and saw four or five people rush out of the elevator and head straight for the Eighth Central ICU (CCU). They were moving so fast they almost collided with him.

However, since they were running toward the ICU, Tang Linsheng understood their urgency in his heart and stood further to the side to give them space.

Just as he turned to step into the elevator, his path was blocked by a burly man. He looked up to the good Lord! Wasn’t this Kong Mingzhao’s son?!

Tang Linsheng immediately took two steps back, turning around to try a different elevator. His luck seemed a bit poor today. It had been nearly a week since Teacher Kong was discharged; what was his son doing here? He looked worriedly behind the son, but didn’t see Teacher Kong returning for hospitalization.

To his surprise, his arm was suddenly grabbed. Tang Linsheng pulled a few times but couldn’t break free. Trembling inwardly but maintaining a calm and cold exterior, he said: “Is there something I can help you with?”

Hearing him speak, Kong Mingzhao’s son looked down at his hand and immediately let go, standing in front of him and looking at Tang Linsheng with an expression of hesitance.

Tang Linsheng felt his skin crawl under the gaze: “If there’s nothing, I’ll be going now.” That kind of intense staring combined with the son’s physique was truly terrifying.

“The previous incident was true!” Kong Mingzhao’s son took a step back and bowed a full ninety degrees. His tone was sincere as he handed a bag he had been hiding behind his back to Tang Linsheng. “I’ve troubled you all! Thank you for your understanding! I apologize for my previous recklessness!”

Tang Linsheng was almost poked by the bag as it was thrust toward him. He took the bag carefully, feeling a bit uneasy seeing the son still standing there bowed over. He helped the man up and said: “It’s fine. He’s your father, after all; it’s natural for you to be worried.”

Hearing his words, the son’s face was filled with both emotion and shame: “My father always taught me to be kind to others, but I… I was just too anxious before… Anyway, those are just excuses. I still have to thank the medical staff. I’m sorry for being rough with you earlier!”

“Uh… it’s fine, it’s fine. As long as your father is healthy, that’s what matters.” Tang Linsheng felt a bit awkward. “The things in this bag?”

“Oh, these are for the Cardiology Department! Please be sure to accept them! Thank you!” After saying that, he turned and ran toward the emergency staircase without looking back.

“Hey! Who is that!” Tang Linsheng was about to chase after him when he was called out by the Head Nurse passing by.

“Xiao Tang, who was that?”

Tang Linsheng said: “Hello, Head Nurse.” He turned to look again, but the person was already gone. He handed the bag to the Head Nurse: “Head Nurse Kong Mingzhao’s son just brought this, saying it’s for the whole department.”

Head Nurse Shan took the bag and peeked inside: “It’s a silk banner.” She pulled one out and untied the string the banner was written in clerical script: “Brilliant hands bring back spring; benevolent heart and virtuous character.” On the right was a row of small characters stating it was presented to the entire medical staff of the Cardiovascular Medicine Department at Mingzhu Hospital.

“I didn’t expect Teacher Kong and his family to send a silk banner.” The Head Nurse’s usually serious face softened slightly, and she smiled as she pulled out the second banner. The second banner was specifically to thank Dr. Tang. Seeing a junior doctor passing by, Head Nurse Shan had them take it to the Chief’s office.

Tang Linsheng was about to throw the bag away when he looked down and found a letter inside. The envelope read: To the entire medical staff of the West Wing, 8th Floor, Mingzhu Hospital. He opened the letter to find sincere language and fluent prose, peppered with classical allusions; it was an exceptionally cultured letter of thanks. Tang Linsheng handed the letter to the Head Nurse and happened to see a few words written on the back. He crouched down to look at those few lines of small text and almost burst out laughing.

The letter of thanks is arriving quite late, I am truly sorry. Since my father is a Chinese teacher and is very strict, any typo meant the entire thing had to be rewritten. So, under his guidance, I revised the article many times. I hope you do not mind.

Tang Linsheng found it a bit hard to imagine this burly man being lectured by his father and guided through multiple revisions of a thank-you letter.

Tang Linsheng helped the Head Nurse hang the banners and the letter on the department’s dedicated publicity wall, saying with a smile: “I didn’t expect them to be so fierce before, but they’re actually quite nice now.”

Head Nurse Shan looked at the wall, which was already full, and said: “What matters most to patients is the therapeutic effect. If the effect is good, their attitude will naturally be good.” She patted Tang Linsheng on the shoulder and said: “If the effect wasn’t good, given the personalities of Kong Mingzhao’s family, our department would be in trouble. Alright, you’re not on duty today, hurry home.”

After saying that, she turned to start her ward rounds. “You had surgery yesterday, right? How are you feeling now? Is your chest still tight? I’m the Head Nurse here, my surname is Shan…”

From the elevator entrance, one could still hear Head Nurse Shan’s voice talking kindly to patients in the wards. Tang Linsheng’s mood was a bit complex. He had been in clinical practice for two and a half years and had seen troublesome patients and families, but he always felt those were the minority. Most patients who came to the hospital believed in the hospital’s capabilities.

However, Head Nurse Shan wasn’t wrong once treatment proved ineffective, the relationship between patient and medical staff became precarious.

The elevator doors opened with a “ding.” He stepped inside and saw that everyone in the elevator, except the patients, had their heads down playing with their phones. He silently pulled out his own phone and opened WeChat. If he told the Senior about the good news just now, it shouldn’t count as disturbing him, right? Maybe the Senior had already woken up by now!

Tang Linsheng: Professor Tang, Kong Mingzhao’s family came to the hospital today to deliver silk banners, and they specially sent one to you! I’ve already helped you put it in your office.

A moment later, a WeChat message popped up.

Future Partner Big Tangtang: Thank you.

Tang Linsheng tapped away on his phone: You’re welcome, Dr. Tang is very worth it… He had typed these words when another message came from the other side.

Future Partner Big Tangtang: You also worked hard with the patient Kong Mingzhao at the time. You’re great.

Tang Linsheng quickly deleted his previous draft and replied:Not hard at all, not hard at all. Professor Tang, you are the greatest!

Tang Linsheng thought happily: I was praised by the Senior!

So the Senior really does play with his phone during meetings! The top of the WeChat screen showed “The other party is typing,” but Tang Linsheng was about to exit the elevator and the Senior still hadn’t sent a message, and the “typing” indicator vanished. He thought for a bit and decided to send an emoji to praise Tang Linsheng (the senior).

He flipped through his stored emojis. There weren’t many “cute” ones, but there was a huge pile of “trolling” ones. There were only three for praising people: one was a face-palm with a thumbs up, one was a mysterious smile with a clapping GIF that clearly didn’t look like sincere praise, and the last one was a finger-heart, but the caption was a bit problematic.

“The first floor is here, are you getting off?”

The person standing behind him spoke up to remind him. Tang Linsheng quickly said “Sorry” and walked out.

Which one should he send? Or should he ask a classmate for a cute one?

He opened WeChat hesitantly and saw that there was one more message in the info he had sent out.

His mouth fell open, and finally, he couldn’t hold it in: “…Holy crap!” Did his hand slip again?!

Below his last line of text, an emoji had appeared a big-headed little person making a heart gesture with the caption: You’re f*cking great! F*cking great, Big Jaguar, Big Brain Tiger, Big West Lake Great! (Note: “F*cking great” / Zei Bang / is used with a slang pun involving “Jaguar” / Jiebao / which is a homophone for something else).

Tang Linsheng frantically long-pressed to withdraw the message, but he watched helplessly as the “Future Partner Big Tangtang” at the top changed back to “The other party is typing.”

The Senior… probably doesn’t know the other meaning of “Jaguar,” right??