During the year he was abroad for training, Shi Miao quickly completed a major life event—from being single to a flash marriage, even setting the wedding date.
"Only five days off—is that enough for you to handle Shi Miao's wedding?"
Shi Wenli: "It was a bit tight originally, but the director gave me an extra two days off."
In typical families, the parents organize a daughter's wedding, but Shi Wenli's family was different.
His parents divorced when he was very young, and then both remarried, forming new families, leaving him and his sister to be raised by their grandparents.
Their grandparents passed away early, so he took on the responsibility of caring for his younger sister.
Xu Qinghe didn't know the specifics of his family situation, but she knew that during the Spring Festival, a time for family reunion, only the two siblings spent it together.
For them, family was only each other.
Since his sister was getting married, he had to take on the role of the parents, so there was definitely a lot to do.
Back at the office, there was only one orange left on the desk.
Someone passing by had taken one.
Shi Wenli smiled. "I owe you one."
"It's okay. One is enough." Xu Qinghe casually asked him, "Are you still going to work overtime?"
"Yeah, there are a few medical records that still need—" Shi Wenli looked at the desk. The records were gone.
Probably Ding Qihang had taken them back to supplement, and he also grabbed an orange.
He smiled at Xu Qinghe. "I can get off work now." Then he glanced at her white coat. She still had to go back to the office to change clothes, so he said, "I'll wait for you in the parking lot."
He told her where his car was parked.
They hadn't seen each other for a year, and it was rare to run into each other after work. In her heart, Xu Qinghe actually wanted to ride in his car and talk to him, but she still had things to do.
"Can't get a ride from you today. I need to go back to the office to complete the anesthesia record and follow up on two patients."
As she spoke, she shook the orange in her hand. "Thanks."
Back in the office, the first thing Xu Qinghe did was wash her hands and peel the orange.
Before she met him, she didn't like oranges that much.
Whether sour or sweet.
--
Early the next morning, after the shift handover, Xu Qinghe went to the hybrid operating room of the neurosurgery department.
Zhang Xun followed along to assist.
He had a good night's sleep last night and had calmed down a lot.
It was just a trembling hand when drawing medication, not the end of the world.
"Senior sister, let me draw the medication again today."
Xu Qinghe smiled. "Sure."
When drawing the medication, Zhang Xun tried hard to steady his wrist to avoid trembling again.
Although a bit slow, at least it was steady throughout.
At 7:30, the patient was sent into the operating room.
Upon entering, his blood pressure was 155/88. He had no history of hypertension, and yesterday's measurement was 130/75.
Clearly, it was caused by preoperative anxiety.
Xu Qinghe diverted the patient's attention. "Teacher Zhang, I heard you're a math teacher. Do you teach middle school or high school?"
"I teach grade eleven and I'm also the homeroom teacher. With this illness, I'm worried I'll affect my students' grades."
Ding Qihang, the attending physician, chimed in to comfort him. "You won't miss teaching them for their senior year. If recovery is quick, you won't miss much of the grade eleven second-semester curriculum either."
He was about to relay the patient's wife's message when he was interrupted.
The patient said helplessly, "A few students in my class are quite unruly. The other teachers can't control them at all. Usually, they only fear me. With me not at school, they're bound to go wild."
Ding Qihang took over, "Your wife just sent me a voice message, asking me to tell you before the surgery that those students knew you were having surgery today and asked the Chinese teacher to relay a message: they'll behave well in school and will definitely get good results in the college entrance exam to show you. They told you to rest assured about the surgery."
The patient had never felt so comforted.
People are easily moved at their most vulnerable moments. He laughed, but tears welled in his eyes.
Once all preparations were complete, Xu Qinghe began anesthesia induction.
The sliding door of the operating room slowly opened, and Shi Wenli entered after scrubbing.
Among the disposable blue surgical caps, the dark blue one with a penguin pattern that Xu Qinghe had bought herself stood out the most.
The patient felt more at ease seeing Shi Wenli.
After anesthesia induction, the patient's vital signs were stable. The head frame was fixed, and disinfection and draping began.
The nurse helped Shi Wenli put on his surgical gown. He looked at Xu Qinghe and asked, "Dr. Xu, how was the patient's mood before anesthesia?"
Xu Qinghe turned from the monitor. "Not bad. He's looking forward to being discharged and returning to school as soon as possible. He wasn't as scared as last night."