DSMIS CH32

Chapter 32: Head Pat

At 11 PM, the county hospital emergency room was livelier than usual. In less than half an hour, they had admitted three patients with acute gastroenteritis, two with alcohol poisoning, and an injured delivery driver who had taken a fall.

Wearing his white coat, Shen Xing examined each patient in the ER, his eyes scanning the metrics on the cardiac monitor as he asked: “Are the blood sugar results for those two drunk patients back yet?”

“One is 3.2, the other is 3.1.”

“Give an intravenous injection of 50% glucose. Show me their electrolyte and blood gas analysis results as soon as they’re out.”

While speaking, he took the lab results for the three gastroenteritis patients, sat down at the computer, and prescribed IV fluids and medical orders. Next, he pulled up the X-rays for the delivery driver. Fortunately, there were no fractures. He changed into sterile scrubs and entered the debridement room to treat the driver’s wounds.

Just as he stepped out of the debridement room, the duty nurse hurried over: “Director Shen, the traffic police just called. There was a multi-vehicle pileup on the Fujing Expressway. Five people are injured, three of them critically. One of the critically injured has a history of coronary heart disease. The traffic police are escorting them now; they should be at the hospital in about 30 minutes.”

“Call Director Sun from Cardiology and ask her to come support us.”

For a car accident patient with a history of coronary heart disease, calling a cardiologist was absolutely necessary.

However, before the cardiologist could arrive, the wailing sirens of police cars and ambulances pierced the air outside the ER. Shen Xing immediately stood up, his demeanor calm and collected: “Prepare for intake.”

The on-duty resident doctors, interns, and nurses trailed behind Shen Xing as they rushed out of the ER building. Pushing open the doors, Shen Xing realized it had started snowing heavily. Red and blue police lights flashed in alternation. Just as Shen Xing was about to bypass the police car to reach the ambulances behind it, a figure stepped out of the police vehicle. The man was wearing a high-visibility fluorescent police jacket. Wasn’t that Jiang Lin? Wasn’t he supposed to be on the night shift at the station today? Why was he out on patrol?

Their eyes met briefly, but this was no time for conversation. Shen Xing simply nodded at him and sprinted toward the ambulances. The three critically injured patients were rushed into the ER. The patient with the coronary heart disease history had a comminuted fracture in his lower leg and was bleeding heavily. Moments after entering the ER, he went into ventricular fibrillation (VF), and the cardiologist still hadn’t arrived.

Such a severe emergency involving VF combined with a comminuted fracture was rare in a county hospital. Tonight’s on-duty attending physician was from Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the resident was from Nephrology. Both instinctively looked at Shen Xing. Shen Xing decisively ordered the attending physician to prioritize defibrillation while he worked at top speed to stabilize the wound and stop the bleeding to prevent a fat embolism, barking out orders: “120 Joules, once.”

“Epinephrine 1mg.”

The heart rate still didn’t return. Shen Xing’s hands were incredibly steady, his voice terrifyingly calm: “Hit him again.”

He glanced at the clock. After three minutes, he ordered another push of epinephrine: “Epinephrine 1mg.”

The nurse beside him administered the medication according to his orders. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the heart rate on the monitor: “Still nothing.”

“Amiodarone 300mg.”

Finally, sinus rhythm was restored on the monitor. The OB/GYN attending’s hand gripping the defibrillator paddles was slick with sweat, and the young nurse let out a long sigh of relief. Shen Xing waited until the anesthesiologist and the cardiologist arrived before beginning the surgery.

The lights in the emergency operating room stayed on all night. By the time Shen Xing emerged, it was past 7 AM the next day. When hunger pangs hit him the night before, he had downed two vials of glucose to push through. Stepping out now, his steps felt a bit floaty. He had worked a full 24-hour shift. After completing ward rounds to brief the incoming doctors on the status of the ER observation patients and those admitted to the inpatient wards, he would finally be able to clock out.

He returned to his office, tore open two small bread rolls to line his stomach, chugged half a bottle of water, and rubbed his sore, swollen eyes before preparing to head upstairs.

As soon as he stepped out of the office, he saw two familiar young police officers pushing open the hospital doors. It was no wonder they looked familiar; these were the two who had lined up for grilled squid for him. Sure enough, upon seeing Shen Xing, Du Binbin proactively waved and greeted him: “Doctor Shen, are you done with surgery? How are those people?”

Shen Xing looked at their fluorescent patrol coats, remembering he had seen Jiang Lin during the emergency response last night. He couldn’t help but peek behind them, but no one was there. He replied: “The patient with coronary heart disease is in critical condition and has been sent to the ICU for observation. The other two have rib and tibial fractures; one has diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage, and the other lost a lot of blood, but their lives are not in danger. What brings you guys here?”

“It’s about last night’s car accident. The pickup truck driver was drunk driving. We came to check on his condition; if he’s awake, we need to take a statement.”

The conditions of those patients last night had been too critical. Shen Xing only knew it was a family involved in a car accident, but he had no idea what caused it. And none of the three he operated on yesterday had been drinking, which meant the other party was driving drunk. As the three of them walked upstairs together, Shen Xing couldn’t resist asking: “Was Jiang Lin on patrol with you guys last night?”

“Yeah, Captain Jiang was originally scheduled for the night shift at the station. But with the snow yesterday and the holiday, the traffic police were severely understaffed for field duty, so he went out with us.”

Shen Xing frowned slightly. With that weather last night, he went out on field duty with that leg of his? “Where is he now? Did he go home?”

“No, there was an urgent call from the Jin City Municipal Bureau just now. Captain Jiang went back to the county bureau. He probably hasn’t left yet.”

After finishing his ward rounds, Shen Xing returned to his office, changed his clothes, and stepped outside, only to be blinded by the glaring white snow. He looked toward the county bureau. His doctor’s instinct urged him to drag the man home, but then he remembered what Du Binbin said about the urgent call from the Municipal Bureau. What if it was something really important? It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to just show up there. Thinking for a moment, he pulled out his phone and sent a message: “Hero, are you home yet? If not, I want to hitch a ride.”

The reply came back in less than a minute: “Ten minutes. Wait for me at the hospital for a bit.”

Seeing the message, Shen Xing scrolled through his phone as he walked toward the county bureau. His WeChat was full of little red dots from the night, mostly holiday greetings. He replied to a few colleagues and classmates. When he reached the county bureau courtyard, he didn’t enter the building. Instead, he went straight to Jiang Lin’s Land Cruiser and stood beside it, replying to messages while he waited. About three minutes later, Jiang Lin emerged from the building.

Shen Xing looked up, scanning the man from head to toe. Jiang Lin’s complexion wasn’t great; he couldn’t quite hide his exhaustion, and his movements as he descended the stairs were stiffer than before. Shen Xing put his phone away, and Jiang Lin smiled at him: “Why did you walk over? Didn’t you say you wanted to hitch a ride?”

Shen Xing held out his hand directly: “I meant hitching a ride to drive, not hitching a ride to sit. As the driver, of course I had to walk over. Give me the keys.”

Jiang Lin stood still: “You were performing surgeries all night.”

“Still better than someone out on patrol in the middle of a snowstorm. Hurry up.”

Jiang Lin finally took out the car keys. Shen Xing snatched them deftly and tilted his head slightly, signaling him to get in: “Have you eaten breakfast?”

Jiang Lin shook his head: “Not yet. Have you?”

“I had two small bread rolls, which is basically like eating nothing. I’m craving KFC hash browns. Let’s go eat KFC.”

Jiang Lin naturally had no objections.

Unused to the car’s built-in navigation, Shen Xing connected his phone to the car’s Bluetooth and navigated to the only KFC in the county town.

Before they even arrived, a call came in. The words “Patrick Star” (Pai Daxing) flashed on the top of the phone screen. Without disconnecting the Bluetooth, Shen Xing answered directly and joked: “You couldn’t even pay New Year’s greetings early. It’s already the 2nd.”

A cold snort could be heard through the phone: “Bullshit, who’s paying you New Year’s greetings? I have news to inform you about.”

“What’s the latest gossip?”

“Gossip my ass, this is serious business. Did your dad contact you yesterday?”

Shen Xing’s expression faltered. He suddenly remembered the little red dot on his chat with Shen Rukun yesterday, which he hadn’t opened: “Yeah, he sent a message. I haven’t read it yet.”

“My aunt came to my house yesterday and said your eldest aunt called your maternal grandfather yesterday. Your grandfather was visiting relatives and happened to go to the residential compound where your paternal grandfather lives. Guess who he saw?”

A highly unpleasant premonition was already forming in Shen Xing’s mind: “Shen Rukun?”

Patrick Star’s voice was filled with righteous indignation: “Not just him, but his mistress and her son too! They clearly went to your grandfather’s house for the holidays. Your maternal grandfather was so furious he almost went over there to start a fight.”

Shen Xing’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. He suddenly recalled that when he called his grandfather yesterday, the old man’s tone had seemed a bit off, and it sounded like there were other people in the house. His grandfather usually dragged him into endless chatter, but yesterday, he seemed rather anxious to hang up. Shen Xing had been busy in the ER at the time and hadn’t thought much of it, but thinking back now, Shen Rukun was probably at his grandfather’s house yesterday.

Before Shen Xing could speak, the know-it-all Patrick Star fired off like a machine gun: “I asked around today. Your dad’s illegitimate son is graduating from college next year. You know he chose a third-rate medical school, right? I heard he wants to take the postgraduate entrance exam. I bet your dad going to your grandfather’s place right now is because he wants to use your grandfather to borrow your connections, right?”

The mere possibility disgusted Shen Xing: “He can dream on.”

After hanging up the call with Patrick Star, Shen Xing’s face had visibly darkened. Neither he nor Jiang Lin had expected this phone call full of ‘private’ family matters, and the silence in the car became somewhat eerily awkward.

Shen Xing parked the car in front of KFC. Upon entering, Jiang Lin opened the ordering mini-app on his phone and silently placed it in front of Shen Xing: “Add whatever you want to eat.”

Shen Xing was too angry to eat right now, but he took the phone anyway. There was no need to take it out on his stomach. Seeing that he also ordered a cup of coffee, Jiang Lin couldn’t help but say: “You stayed up all night and you’re still drinking coffee?”

Shen Xing looked up: “Ah, force of habit. Just delete it.”

Jiang Lin canceled the coffee, replaced it with hot soy milk, and silently added a hash brown for him. Hearing their order number called, he got up to pick up the food.

Sitting across from each other, Shen Xing lowered his head and took a bite of the hash brown. The freshly fried hash brown was extremely fragrant. Only after finishing the hash brown in his hand did he speak: “Do you have some questions?”

Jiang Lin opened the lid of the soy milk to let it cool: “If you want to talk, I’ll listen.”

Shen Xing rested his elbows on the table. Staying up all night had left his eyes somewhat bloodshot. He gave a small, bitter tug at the corner of his lips: “You’re a clairvoyant, right? Even if I don’t say anything, you can probably guess what’s going on.”

Seeing his expression, Jiang Lin felt a pang in a certain corner of his heart: “Even clairvoyants have professional ethics. I don’t read fortunes randomly. If you don’t like it, I won’t guess.”

Shen Xing realized the man across from him truly had an impeccable sense of boundaries. No matter what the situation, interacting with him was always incredibly comfortable. Looking at that face, he even felt a little less annoyed than before.

“Actually, there’s nothing I can’t say. The ‘Shen Rukun’ mentioned on the phone just now is my dad. My parents divorced when I was in eighth grade. The reason was simple: my dad believed he made ‘the mistake that all men make’—he cheated. And he did it very thoroughly. By the time they divorced, his son on the outside was already in elementary school. When I was little, my dad was never home. I always thought he was busy with work. I didn’t expect him to be busy with another family.

After they divorced, I lived with my mom. My dad was a college student from that era, a bit aloof and arrogant, fancying himself a cultural worker and very fond of preaching. I skipped a few grades in school—two in elementary, one in middle school, and one in high school. My parents hadn’t divorced yet when I was in elementary school. After I skipped grades, he constantly told me that I wasn’t grounded in whatever I did and that I was just playing clever tricks. Even after the divorce, he didn’t forget to ‘discipline’ me. He finally shut up when I got accepted into the eight-year joint bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral program at Capital Medical University at age 14.

After my parents divorced, I didn’t have much to say to him because all my childhood illusions about my father had shattered. He is someone who makes me, as a fellow man, look down on him.”

Shen Xing picked up the soy milk Jiang Lin had been cooling for him and took a couple of sips: “My paternal grandfather and maternal grandfather are from the same county and have known each other since their early years. Because of this whole affair, my grandfather kicked my dad out of the house and severed ties with him, saying he only recognized me as his grandson and refused to acknowledge the woman outside or her son. Anyway, ostensibly, I haven’t seen them contact each other all these years. Both my grandparents treated me very well, and my mom never stopped me from going to my grandfather’s house because of my dad’s actions. When I was in school and went back to the Northeast for holidays, I would take turns staying at my paternal grandmother’s and my maternal grandparents’ houses.”

Shen Xing stopped there, but seeing his expression, Jiang Lin understood. Shen Xing had no expectations and no affection for his dad. Whatever his dad said or did couldn’t hurt him. However, he clearly had affection for his grandparents. The same grandfather who claimed to only have one grandson had allowed his dad to bring the mistress and the illegitimate son into the house for the New Year’s holiday. This “betrayal” was likely what hurt Shen Xing the most.

After finishing his story, Shen Xing silently lowered his head to eat the remaining hash brown. He looked very well-behaved, yet evoked a sense of grievance. Jiang Lin felt as if something was clutching at his heart, desperately wanting to do something to comfort him. Driven by some inexplicable impulse, he raised his hand and rubbed Shen Xing’s hair. He was stunned the moment his palm touched the strands of hair, but it was too late to pull his hand back. Equally stunned was Shen Xing, who looked up and swallowed the hash brown in his mouth:

“Hero, are you petting a dog?”

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Author’s Note:

Both of them were bewildered at the same time [Eating Melon][Eating Melon][Eating Melon]
I feel like Captain Jiang desperately wants to open a small can of dog food for Doctor Shen across from him [Starry Eyes]