Five Years of Studying Medicine, Three Years of Flirting With Guys - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Tang Linsheng thought about his usually excellent sleep quality and blushed with uncertainty. Surely he wasn’t talking about him? He felt like he was usually a very well-behaved sleeper…

“Why the sudden interest in Wang Bo today?” Tang Linsheng (the senior) asked, reclining his car seat to make himself more comfortable.

Since Wang Bo was the Senior’s patient, Tang Linsheng (the junior) hesitated for a moment before tentatively telling him about what had happened at the subway station.

Tang Linsheng (the senior) listened quietly until he finished, then asked: “As medical personnel, what we must do is what we can do.”

Tang Linsheng (the junior): “Mhm…”

“Regarding patients, it isn’t appropriate for us to intervene too much in their personal lives,” the Senior’s voice came through the phone, slow and deep. “As medical workers, what is it that we can actually do?”

He continued: “Constantly strengthening your own clinical skills is the greatest help you can provide to a patient.”

Tang Linsheng (the junior) felt a sudden epiphany. Not all help is accepted with joy, especially when people only share their inner pain and needs because they trust you. What they want isn’t for you to broadcast their situation. If they had wanted that, they could have exposed their own struggles from the start.

Tang Linsheng (the junior) nodded: “I understand. It still comes down to their own wishes.”

“Correct,” the Senior said. “Your desire to help them is good, but ask them first. Having the opportunity to provide help is a good thing in itself.”

Hearing that last sentence, Tang Linsheng’s (the junior) brain seemed to spark. He asked stealthily: “Professor Tang, have you ever encountered a situation where it was too late to help?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he wanted to bite his tongue off. Was that too abrupt? If the Senior didn’t want to talk about such things, wouldn’t he be making him uncomfortable?

Fortunately, Tang Linsheng (the senior) replied: “Two years ago, something happened that made me feel my abilities weren’t enough.”

“How could that be!” Tang Linsheng (the junior) immediately went into “fanboy mode,” praising him: “Professor Tang, you are amazing! Not only are your medical skills top-tier, but you communicate so well with patients!”

The Senior’s lips curved slightly as he said, “Thank you, you flatter me.”

Tang Linsheng (the junior): “No, no! I’m telling the truth! The absolute truth!”

Listening to the young man’s crisp, enthusiastic praise, the Senior’s mood inexplicably brightened. He said with a hint of a smile, “Be specific.”

“Uh…” Tang Linsheng (the junior) suddenly got stuck. Where was he good? Where was he good? He hurriedly blurted out: “Teacher Kong from before! A patient as difficult as Teacher Kong was handled by you! And he even signed for the surgery so obediently. His son even sent a silk banner afterward; that’s a classic example!”

He rattled off a long string of words, trying his best to voice all the admiration in his heart. However, after speaking until his throat was dry, he waited for a long time without a reply. He thought to himself: Did I overdo it? Is the Senior so shy he can’t bring himself to respond?

He pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it, only to realize his phone had died. He frowned and hurriedly twisted his body to grab the charger.

Once the phone rebooted, a WeChat message popped up: Future Partner Big Tangtang: Heading to the volunteer clinic. Talk later.

Tang Linsheng sent a 【Superman Taking Off.jpg】 and turned off his phone, feeling worried. Did the Senior even hear my praise?

On the other end, Tang Linsheng (the senior) had heard the other’s hesitation, and the next second, the line went dead. He opened his eyes to see the call had ended. He shook his head with a helpless smile, left a message, set his alarm, and put the phone aside.

…

After finishing his “night-to-day” shift, Tang Linsheng (the junior) rested for a day before returning to work. The nurses in the East Wing had already given him the girl’s contact information. He had tried to be as tactful as possible in a message explaining his desire to help, but the message he sent at noon on his day off still hadn’t received a reply by the time he went to work the next day.

When Tang Linsheng finished changing in the locker room, he felt uneasy. Since he had arrived early at the department, he ran over to the East Wing to check on the situation.

While passing the Eighth Central Unit, a group of people were sitting outside the ICU. Two middle-aged women looked displeased, loudly yapping at a couple sitting on the chairs. The couple looked haggard with dark circles under their eyes, yet they were forced to listen to their relatives bombarding them.

“I told you that girl was no good! Look, Laixi has been hospitalized for several days now, has that girl ever shown up?”

“Exactly, we haven’t seen her once,” another woman chimed in. “I’m Laixi’s biological aunt, I wouldn’t lead him astray. That girl Fangfang from last time was so nice, honest and pretty. Not like this one, dressing all inappropriately and the moment Laixi gets in trouble, she stops coming.”

“That’s right, Old Ma. Think about Laixi’s situation. He’s been in the ICU for so long; by the time he gets out, it won’t be Laixi rejecting the girl, it’ll be the girl rejecting Laixi!”

“Enough!” The man who had been listening silently stood up, frowning. “You are Laixi’s aunt and sister-in-law, yet you keep talking about him being rejected. Laixi isn’t gone yet! He’s still inside the ICU. What do you mean by saying such things?”

The wife sitting beside him tugged at his sleeve and looked around nervously.

The man let out a heavy sigh, looked at the two women standing before him with sheepish expressions, and sat back down, tightly holding his wife’s hand.

Tang Linsheng was in a hurry to get to the East Wing and didn’t hear everything. If they hadn’t been so loud, he wouldn’t have even known they were Ma Laixi’s family.

When he was first hospitalized, weren’t Ma Laixi’s girlfriend and his friend waiting at the hospital the whole time? Did they really stop coming afterward?

“Xiao Tang, do you need something?” A nurse in the East Wing saw him and greeted him with a smile.

Tang Linsheng quickly stopped and leaned over the nurse’s station to ask: “What matter did I ask Teacher Zhang about last time? How is it going?”

Teacher Zhang from the East Wing was the general clinical instructor for Internal Medicine and had close ties with the Nursing Department. Tang Linsheng had approached her earlier to learn about the hospital’s procedures for handling such cases. Of course, he had used a similar hypothetical example and hadn’t mentioned Wang Bo’s case directly. He thought that if the girl was willing, Teacher Zhang could report it to the Nursing Department; if the hospital officially negotiated with charities, fundraising would be much more effective.

The nurse heard this, walked over, and said, “Teacher Zhang said the matter can be handled.”

“Really!” Tang Linsheng was overjoyed. “That’s great!”

However, the nurse sighed and said, “I hope you’re in time to help with this case; these people are quite pitiful. Weren’t you concerned about that patient Wang Bo who came up from the ER the other day? His family is also very pitiful. Did you get in touch with his daughter?”

Tang Linsheng’s heart skipped a beat: “I haven’t reached her yet. What happened… to their family?”