Shi Wenli went straight to the cafeteria after leaving the operating room.
It was already past one o'clock, and the cafeteria had passed the lunch rush.
Wu Xiaofeng had just finished a surgery and was eating when he looked up and saw the person entering the door.
Yesterday, they had run into each other in the hallway of the operating suite, but since both were in a hurry to get to their next surgeries, they only exchanged a few brief words.
"Director Shi, over here." Wu Xiaofeng waved enthusiastically, pointing to the empty seat across from him.
Shi Wenli walked over with his tray.
Wu Xiaofeng sighed in admiration. "You're something else, finishing your training a whole month early."
Shi Wenli sat down. "Just lucky to have a good mentor."
"Come on, don't be so modest."
After chatting for a bit, Wu Xiaofeng mentioned that during the year Shi Wenli was away for training, Xu Qinghe had frequently canceled orthopedic surgeries.
"She didn't schedule any in my OR, but she canceled surgeries for Director Liao's team. Now that you're back, you should talk to her—tell her not to be so stubborn."
Before picking up his chopsticks, Shi Wenli casually adjusted the mask hanging around his neck and said, "Canceling surgeries is her professional judgment. I don't know anesthesia, so I can't have an outsider instructing an expert."
Wu Xiaofeng teased him. "I knew you'd take her side. I'm just asking you to talk to her about her temper."
Everyone in the hospital knew that besides his own sister, the closest female friend Shi Wenli had was Xu Qinghe.
Shi Wenli had always been easygoing, and he was even more so with Xu Qinghe.
The only person in the hospital that Xu Qinghe would listen to was Shi Wenli—even the director didn't have that kind of influence, which was why Wu Xiaofeng asked him to talk to her.
Shi Wenli continued, "I'm not taking her side; I'm just thinking about it from her perspective."
As for her being stubborn, he asked, "Did you try talking to her yourselves before asking me to do it?"
Wu Xiaofeng was caught off guard and let out a wry laugh.
Shi Wenli said, "Talking won't solve the problem."
"Then, Director Shi, how should we solve it?"
Shi Wenli gave him sincere advice, hoping to resolve the disagreement. "I know her. She wouldn't start a fight with you first, nor would she cancel a surgery without reason. Instead of arguing with her, work together to find solutions to the problems you're facing. That way, there won't be any conflict."
Wu Xiaofeng laughed and surrendered. "...Fine, pretend I didn't mention it."
As they ate, Shi Wenli asked, "She's been focusing on neurosurgery anesthesia all year. How does she have so much time for orthopedic surgeries?"
Wu Xiaofeng was surprised. "You don't know?"
Shi Wenli truly didn't know.
He suddenly realized that this past year, he had been so focused on finishing his training early and working nonstop on projects that he hadn't had time to stay in touch with her.
Wu Xiaofeng said, "She's been making up for her surgery count. Not just orthopedics—she's been scheduling surgeries from other departments too."
In recent years, Xu Qinghe had devoted herself to two highly specialized anesthesia fields: neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. As a result, her total number of anesthesia cases in other departments had fallen far below requirements. During the Physicians' Day celebrations in August, the department head had talked to her and urged her to make up the numbers as soon as possible.
Among them, orthopedics had the largest shortfall.
General surgery was also short by quite a few cases.
Since August, while still balancing neurosurgery and cardiac anesthesia, she had started scheduling and performing anesthesia surgeries across all departments.
After months of working hard to catch up, though she had made up many cases, she was still behind.
After working together on Teacher Zhang's surgery, Shi Wenli and Xu Qinghe didn't run into each other for several days.
--
These past days, Xu Qinghe had been working overtime every day. Before she knew it, it was December 30th.
She flipped through her surgery log and estimated it would take another half a year to fully catch up.
Just for orthopedics alone, she was still short by nearly sixty cases.
Just last week, she had canceled two of their surgeries, which led to a very unpleasant altercation.
The orthopedics team accused her of deliberately finding fault and, out of anger, started arguing with her directly.
At the time, Zhang Xun, afraid she might be at a disadvantage, half-blocked her and tried to intervene.
Afterward, Zhang Xun worried, "Senior sister, good news doesn't always travel, but bad news certainly spreads far. It might already have reached the leadership's ears."
A few days passed, and nothing happened.
It seemed the news hadn't reached the leadership. Otherwise, Dean Jiang's surgery would have been a chance for them to talk to her.
Today's first surgery was a thoracic surgery, with Dean Jiang once again as the lead surgeon.
As the surgery wound down, Dean Jiang paused as he passed by Xu Qinghe.
He had wanted to talk to her last time, but a work call had interrupted him.
Today, he had to say something, no matter what.
"Qinghe, I heard about what happened last week. You were right to cancel the surgery, and I've already spoken to the orthopedics department."
Dean Jiang paused deliberately. "When issues come up in the future, communicate properly. Don't be so sharp."