I feel like you're so moved you'll love me forever...
She dropped Ada off at the airport just in time, barely before seven.
Jiang Ruoqi didn't bother with false pleasantries. On New Year's Eve, the roads to the city center were always jammed. If she lingered any longer at the airport, she might end up spending New Year's in the car.
After seeing Ada through security, Jiang Ruoqi immediately headed back. The traffic was indeed a bit congested. According to Xinhai's holiday arrangements, roads leading to crowded areas in the city center were either closed or had restricted access, so many people had to detour.
Jiang Ruoqi checked the navigation. The airport wasn't far from Meng Shang's hospital, and it was even closer to their home.
She wanted to surprise Meng Shang, but wasn't sure if he was still working overtime at the hospital or at home. So she had to go back on her vow from the day before about not making the first call, and tried to subtly probe by calling him.
But Director Meng didn't answer.
Two calls went unanswered, so Jiang Ruoqi figured it out and drove straight to Meng Shang's hospital.
Director Meng was lucky on the last day of the year. A few hours before his shift ended, he received an emergency surgery—a highly difficult acute type A aortic dissection.
The patient's aortic dissection involved the ascending aorta, aortic arch, and brachiocephalic vessels. The condition progressed rapidly with high mortality.
After diagnosis, immediate surgery was needed to resect the diseased aortic tissue, replace it with a synthetic graft, and reconstruct the aortic arch and related branch vessels as necessary. Due to the urgency, doctors usually didn't have enough time for a comprehensive preoperative evaluation, placing high demands on the lead surgeon's skill and experience.
This wasn't Meng Shang's first time performing a similar surgery, but previously a department head had supervised. This time, he was leading the team on his own, and the pressure was palpable.
The surgery began at 4:10 PM. Cannulation of the ascending aorta and right atrium, establishment of cardiopulmonary bypass. Median sternotomy, opening the pericardium, cross-clamping the ascending aorta to induce cardiac arrest.
Incising the ascending aorta to explore the extent of dissection, then resecting the diseased aortic segment and performing end-to-end anastomosis with a synthetic graft.
Finally, checking the brachiocephalic vessels, completing vascular reconstruction, unclamping the aorta to restart the heart. Checking, achieving hemostasis, placing pericardial and mediastinal drains.
After surgery, the patient was transferred to the ICU. Meng Shang changed out of his surgical gown, communicated with the ICU doctor on duty about postoperative care, and when he finally picked up his phone, only half an hour remained until the New Year.
Seven and a half hours of surgery, but for an acute type A aortic dissection, it was considered a relatively short duration without too many complications.
"Xiao Meng, you're still here?" The head nurse happened to be on the night shift and was surprised to see Meng Shang heading to his office.
"Just finished surgery, about to leave." Meng Shang looked exhausted but still lifted his head from his phone and smiled at the head nurse.
"Oh, my memory. I remember now, that afternoon type A aortic dissection was your case." The head nurse shook her head, marking something on her clipboard as she spoke. "Hurry home then. Don't stay here to ring in the New Year with us night-shifters."
"You know, since you're not dating or married yet. If you had a girlfriend, on a day like today, what girl would be okay with not being able to reach you? You've been in surgery for seven or eight hours, and that's if it went smoothly. Sigh."
Meng Shang was thinking about Jiang Ruoqi. While listening to the head nurse's rambling, he checked his phone again. Messages were pouring in, mostly from Jiang Ruoqi and Su Yansheng, with red numbers indicating about a dozen or so.
If both of them were messaging him at once, it must be urgent. But the family group chat with Yun Dan had no new messages, so it probably wasn't about Grandma.
Meng Shang relaxed a little, naturally ignoring Su Yansheng for now, and planned to call Jiang Ruoqi first.
"Xiao Meng, let me tell you, people in our line of work should find someone in the same field. Only colleagues can understand our work schedule and why we can't be around on holidays." The head nurse kept talking like background noise. "Oh, I have a friend's daughter. She's not at our hospital but at the Second Hospital's obstetrics department. She's 28 this year, perfect match for you..."
"It's fine. She understands my work very well and doesn't mind if I can't be with her." Meng Shang's answer deliberately skipped the latter part, while he was multitasking by sending a message to Jiang Ruoqi.
The head nurse didn't catch on: "Huh? Who? Who understands your work?"
"My wife..."
"Huh? Really!" The head nurse was obviously startled, interrupting Meng Shang before he could finish.
Meng Shang looked up and explained apologetically, "We just got our marriage certificate a few days ago. There were some family matters, so I haven't had time to hand out wedding candy. When she's free, I'll bring her to meet everyone."
"Really?" The head nurse still couldn't believe it, even after Meng Shang's confirmation.
"How could I lie about something like this? Of course it's true." Meng Shang laughed. "Head nurse, I'll be off now. My wife is waiting for me. Happy New Year in advance, and all the best."
"Oh, okay." The head nurse still looked dazed. "Happy New Year to you too."
Meng Shang said goodbye to the stunned head nurse, thinking that given how fast gossip spread in their department, by tomorrow morning everyone would know he was married.
But his mind wasn't on that. He dialed Jiang Ruoqi's number, and she answered quickly.
"Hello? Sorry, I had a complicated emergency surgery this afternoon. Just finished now. Have you been waiting long?" Meng Shang briefly explained his situation.
"A complicated surgery... Was it successful?" Jiang Ruoqi's voice echoed slightly over the phone. After a pause, she asked a question Meng Shang never expected.
"It was an acute type A aortic dissection surgery. My case went smoothly—no dissection rupture or arrhythmia during the procedure. It took seven and a half hours, which is quite successful."
Jiang Ruoqi didn't understand the medical terms, but she caught the key points: "I don't understand, but for such a complex surgery, Dr. Meng, you did a great job. And compared to saving lives, which is such a noble thing, me just waiting is nothing. Why are you apologizing?"
Meng Shang suddenly stopped walking, lowered his head, closed his eyes, and rubbed his sore temples. Behind the arm blocking his face, his lips curled up uncontrollably.
He took a deep breath before asking, "I saw that both you and Su Yansheng called me many times. Did something happen?"
"Nothing major. He probably called about the same thing as me. Today, Ada had a conflict with his family about having children. Su Yansheng didn't handle it well and made it worse. Ada reached out to me and said she wanted to go back to Gangcheng. She can barely speak Mandarin, so I wasn't comfortable letting her go alone. I drove your car to take her back to Xinhai."
Jiang Ruoqi seemed deliberately casual: "I came back early, didn't follow the plan to stay with Grandma and Mom. Sorry about that."
"Are you doing this on purpose?" Meng Shang countered.
Jiang Ruoqi was even more straightforward: "A little."
"Where are you now? Airport or home? I'll come find you." Meng Shang wasn't focused on Su Yansheng's marital issues.
He had always been worried about Jiang Ruoqi driving long distances. Even though she had a mainland driver's license, the driving habits in Gangcheng were different from the mainland. Having been accustomed to driving on the left for so long without enough time to adapt, he feared she might have an accident at any moment.
"Not at the airport or home." Jiang Ruoqi paused and lowered her voice deliberately. "Meng Shang, can I come to the hospital to find you? You're off work now. If I come, it won't affect your work, right?"
"Of course you can." Meng Shang's heart softened at her question. "It's almost midnight. There will be heavy traffic on the roads. Don't hang up. Drive over slowly. I'll wait for you at the hospital entrance."
"No need to go through all that trouble." Jiang Ruoqi paused again. "Dr. Meng, look over here~"