Shi Wenli turned and left.
She looked away and continued with the preoperative preparations.
For the rest of the afternoon, a smile lingered on Xu Qinghe's face.
But Zhang Xun grew more worried.
He had been interning under Xu Qinghe for over a month. Although he didn't know her very well, he could tell something about her temperament.
On a normal day after being reported, her face would be expressionless, with only a faint smile when she was giving him instructions.
But this afternoon, she acted as if nothing had happened, and her smile was even deeper than usual.
It looked exactly like she was forcing a smile.
After the surgery, Zhang Xun waited to leave with Xu Qinghe: "Senior Sister, give me any tasks you have. You should go home early."
"Still worried about me being reported?"
Zhang Xun didn't deny it.
Xu Qinghe smiled: "Do I look like anything's wrong?"
Zhang Xun thought to himself: You don't realize how unusual you are.
But he couldn't say that directly.
"Senior Sister, getting reported ruins anyone's mood. Please don't bottle it up. If you keep it inside, it will eventually become a problem."
He was worried about tomorrow: "Tomorrow you have an orthopedic surgery. The lead surgeon is still Wu Xiaofeng."
Xu Qinghe: "..."
She smiled: "It's fine."
She had had some disagreements, big or small, with almost all the chief surgeons in orthopedics.
The chief resident had deliberately assigned her to Wu Xiaofeng's surgery.
Many in the anesthesiology department reasoned that no matter how big the conflict between her and Wu Xiaofeng, Shi Wenli was there to back her up. Rather than teaming up with other orthopedic directors, it was better to work with Wu Xiaofeng.
It was hard on these colleagues; they were all worrying about her.
Tomorrow morning, the first surgery was cardiac anesthesia, followed by the orthopedic one.
Xu Qinghe put on her white coat and told Zhang Xun to go on ahead, as she still had to do a preoperative visit to the cardiology ward.
Zhang Xun: "Senior Sister, I'll go with you."
The cardiac patient scheduled for surgery tomorrow was a 58-year-old man named Tao.
He had been scheduled for surgery two weeks ago, but he secretly smoked, exacerbating his already poor lung function, so the surgery had to be postponed.
It was only when the surgery was called off that the patient realized how serious the problem was.
When Xu Qinghe arrived at the ward, the patient's daughter was scolding him angrily: "Dad, are you trying to make me mad?! How could you smoke again!"
The patient insisted he was wronged: "I didn't smoke."
"You're lying! If you didn't, why do you smell like smoke?"
"...How should I know? The surgery is tomorrow. Am I tired of living?"
"You said the same thing last time, and you only admitted it when you couldn't fool the doctor. Dad, do you even..." The daughter's voice choked with grievance.
"Doctor, perfect timing." The patient saw Xu Qinghe like a lifeline: "I really didn't smoke. If you don't believe me, check the surveillance cameras. I just went for a walk in the hallway. I didn't go anywhere."
The daughter turned around. She recognized the anesthesiologist, a Dr. Xu, who was pretty and very gentle.
Last time her father was hospitalized and scheduled for surgery, Dr. Xu was also the anesthesiologist.
But then her father infuriated them by smoking secretly.
After evaluation, Dr. Xu recommended postponing the surgery; otherwise, given his condition, he might need a second surgery after the first, which would be especially harsh.
The cardiac department also evaluated, concluding that with such poor lung function, even if he got through the surgery, the postoperative ICU stay would be tough, so they had to delay by two weeks.
Since then, she had barely left her father's side, not even trusting the nursing staff.
After two weeks of careful recuperation, his vitals had finally recovered enough for surgery, and then he did this again.
"Dr. Xu, my dad he..." She couldn't finish; tears streamed down her face.
Her father's heart surgery couldn't be delayed any longer, but he wouldn't listen to the doctors.
"Don't cry, don't cry." Xu Qinghe first comforted the daughter.
Over the years, she had seen many elderly patients who didn't follow medical advice, sometimes driving their children up the wall.
After calming the daughter, Xu Qinghe asked the patient what was going on.
The patient said helplessly: "I'm in a single room. I don't even have a roommate. Even if I wanted to smoke, no one would give me any."
He admitted it was wrong to smoke last time. After a few days of quitting, he felt terrible and called his secretary to bring him cigarettes.
The secretary didn't know that heart surgery required quitting smoking and, following orders, brought two packs.
But then the smell of smoke was too strong, and his daughter caught it.