DSMIS CH14

Chapter 14: I’ll Pick You Up at Five When You Get Off Work

The county hospital’s emergency and outpatient departments were housed in the same building, connected internally by a shared hallway. The emergency area was modest in size, equipped with an emergency operating room, a lab, an ultrasound room, and an observation hall for patients held for monitoring.

As Jiang Lin made his way through the hallway, he spotted Shen Xing standing outside the ultrasound room. The Dr. Shen before him—decked out in a crisp white lab coat—looked a world away from the unlucky guy who had nearly slid off the embankment and didn’t even know how to swap out a spare tire. Head lowered, he was reviewing an inspection report in his hands. You couldn’t spot many superfluous emotions on his face, yet he radiated an unmistakable air of rigor and professionalism—as if merely standing there in a white coat naturally commanded a sense of reassuring calm.

While waiting for the blood test results to come back, Shen Xing took the opportunity to confer with the family members. Zhang Chumei had been brought in together by her husband and her son. Shen Xing focused his questions on the medication she had been taking at home. Her husband looked to be in his sixties, and surprisingly, spoke in a way that Shen Xing could roughly understand:

“When she was discharged, the doctor prescribed some kind of shot… some kind of hormone or whatever. At first, I was the one giving her the injections. Later on, my son’s shop got shorthanded, so I started heading over during the day to help out. She found it too much of a hassle and wasn’t really willing to get injected. Our neighbor broke a bone and had surgery last year too, and their doctor didn’t prescribe any shots that needed home administration—at most, they just took a couple of pills!”

The old man’s tone carried a clear hint of dissatisfaction.

Shen Xing had glanced through Zhang Chumei’s medical history moments earlier. Advanced age, combined with obesity and varicose veins, put her at high risk for post-operative deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Standard protocol dictated that she be put on anticoagulants upon discharge. Normally, doctors tended to prescribe Rivaroxaban due to the convenience of oral administration.

However, two of Zhang Chumei’s renal function indicators had been on the high side when she was discharged. As a result, the attending doctor had switched her to Dalteparin, which posed a lighter burden on the kidneys. The downside was that it required subcutaneous injections. Guessing that the family hadn’t understood the medical reasoning, Shen Xing had suspected earlier that Zhang Chumei hadn’t been taking her medication as prescribed—and asking now confirmed it.

“Did she finish the heparin injections prescribed when she left the hospital? Did she go back for a three-week follow-up exam?”

“There are still two doses left. No follow-up exam—she was already walking around on crutches! She was recovering just fine!”

Shen Xing remained noncommittal toward this “recovering just fine.” He noticed the discharge instructions clearly specified a three-week regimen of heparin and advised a follow-up review after three weeks. It had now been nearly seven weeks since the surgery. Shen Xing always found patients who failed to follow medical advice a massive headache. Seeing how severe the varicose veins on Zhang Chumei’s legs were, he casually followed up with another question:

“Did she wear the compression stockings as instructed by the doctor upon discharge?”

If he hadn’t brought it up, it might have been fine, but the moment it was mentioned, the old man’s face instantly soured:

“She’s getting up there in years—what’s she doing wearing silk stockings?! How scandalous! I really don’t know what you doctors have running through your heads.”

Shen Xing was taken aback by the rebuttal, having never imagined the old man’s mind would twist the concept in that direction.

In less than an hour under the expedited request, the blood tests and a series of other inspection results came back.

D-dimer levels were significantly elevated, and the arterial blood gas analysis showed an increased alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient. At this point, DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) was a certainty, but whether it had progressed to a pulmonary embolism couldn’t be definitively confirmed through supplementary tests alone.

Right now, the absolute worst-case scenario was a blood clot breaking free from her leg and surging straight into her lungs. Had this been Yuetan Hospital, they could have sent her straight to Interventional Radiology to insert an inferior vena cava filter, preventing detached thrombi from triggering a fatal pulmonary embolism. However, the county hospital lacked an Interventional Radiology department.

In the end, after consulting with the internal medicine doctor, Shen Xing agreed to initiate green channel procedures for an emergency transfer to Baoshan while simultaneously administering anticoagulant therapy to prevent the thrombus from expanding. The family, however, was reluctant to agree—partly out of fear of the expense, and partly because they simply didn’t believe someone who seemed fine a moment ago was now facing a life-threatening emergency after stepping foot in a hospital. The old man was already dissatisfied with the medication prescribed from the previous surgery, and now he was even less inclined to trust the county hospital’s doctors, claiming their medical skills were lacking and that they only knew how to scare people.

Shen Xing tilted his head to whisper a few instructions to Lobsang beside him. Moments later, Lobsang pulled Zhang Chumei’s son off to the side, subtly pointing at Shen Xing while murmuring something under his breath. The son looked somewhat skeptical at first, whereupon Lobsang pulled out his phone to show him something. Finally, the look in the son’s eyes as he stared at Shen Xing underwent a shift, and he dragged his father over to whisper a few words.

“He’s really an associate chief physician visiting from Tianjin?”

“It’s real! I just checked that hospital’s official website—it’s him! Didn’t he just say they can’t do that specialized angiography here, which is why we need to go to Baoshan? A bigger hospital definitely has the equipment, while a small place like ours doesn’t. I think we’d better take Mom to get checked out—what if we really delay her treatment?”

Before the ambulance set off, Shen Xing called the family members off to the side. Through the glass doors, Jiang Lin happened to catch a full view of Dr. Shen in action.

He watched as Dr. Shen used a blend of stern warnings and firm explanations to inform the family of Zhang Chumei’s condition and the life-threatening risks involved, repeatedly emphasizing the crucial importance of post-operative fracture medication and the extreme urgency of her current state.

Dr. Shen’s stern, solemn expression carried an extraordinary sense of authority and pressure. Having searched online moments ago and found that everything matched what Shen Xing was saying, Zhang Chumei’s son finally realized his mother’s situation might truly be critical, nodding his head repeatedly in agreement.

With an internal medicine physician aboard the vehicle to continue anticoagulant therapy, Jiang Lin only walked over after watching the ambulance pull out.

“Hero, what are you doing here?”

Jiang Lin gave the cafeteria meal card in his hand a slight wave:

“I’m here to escort Dr. Shen over to dine.”

Snapping out of his professional work mode, Shen Xing finally recalled Director Yu mentioning earlier that morning that someone would come pick him up to leech meals off the police. Turns out the designated escort was none other than Jiang Lin.

“Oh, right, right! Wait for me a second—I’ll go change my clothes and we can head off.”

He was about to dash back to his consultation room in a hurry when he caught a glimpse of his watch, realizing it was already past one:

“It’s already this late—is there still food left at your cafeteria?”

It was almost time for the afternoon shift to start.

Jiang Lin grabbed his arm, steering him gently toward the stairs:

“There’s no food left at the cafeteria, but I have food. Go on and change your clothes.”

Shen Xing was led by Jiang Lin straight into the main courtyard of the County Public Security Bureau and up to the second floor. The route didn’t look like the path to a cafeteria at all, until Jiang Lin pushed open an office door:

“Step inside.”

Shen Xing walked in, his eyes scanning the surroundings. It looked like an archive room, yet it featured an office desk alongside a small coffee table and a long sofa, giving it the vibe of an actual office space as well.

“Is this your office?”

Jiang Lin opened a bag sitting on the desk, revealing four packaged dishes and two portions of rice brought back from outside:

“Yeah. It used to be an archive room, but they cleared out half of it for me. Seeing that time was running tight earlier, I asked a colleague to pack this up and bring it up for me. Take a seat first—I’ll go heat it up.”

Noticing the two portions of rice, Shen Xing realized Jiang Lin hadn’t eaten while waiting for him either. Feeling bad about troubling him further:

“It’s fine, it’s fine! Isn’t it still lukewarm? No need to heat it up—I can eat it as is.”

Holding a stack of meal containers, Jiang Lin blinked:

“Except I can’t really—my stomach isn’t great.”

Shen Xing’s brain stalled for a second:

“Ah.”

Jiang Lin let out a slight laugh before stepping out. In under ten minutes, he returned carrying the piping hot meal. Shen Xing was certainly hungry, yet he lacked much of an appetite. Jiang Lin used a pair of clean chopsticks to place a piece of braised pork belly into his bowl:

“This is our cafeteria’s specialty—give it a try. Still thinking about the patient from earlier?”

Shen Xing ate the meat along with a mouthful of rice, giving a slight nod:

“Yeah. It takes at least three hours to get to Baoshan—who knows if any unexpected mishaps might happen on the road.”

Shen Xing’s heart couldn’t quite settle down. It wasn’t that Zhang Chumei’s condition was overly complex—post-operative deep vein thrombosis was a common complication following orthopedic surgeries, and he used to encounter a couple of cases leading to pulmonary embolisms almost every single week. Back at Yuetan Hospital, dealing with such cases was routine. Whether transferred up from lower-level hospitals or brought in directly by family members, no matter how severe the situation was, he could at least give it his absolute all to perform emergency rescue. But now, he had to hand over the patient and transfer her outward. This complete inability to control the risks gave him a sudden, hollow sense of powerlessness—as if he had all this strength but nowhere to apply it.

After the meal, Jiang Lin escorted Shen Xing downstairs. The wind blowing in front of the building was fierce, so Shen Xing pulled his zipper all the way up under his chin:

“Hero, no need to walk me out—I can find my own workplace.”

Jiang Lin wore a blue police uniform shirt underneath with a jacket draped casually over his shoulders, tilting his chin up slightly:

“Seeing how distracted you are—come on, I’ll walk you across the crosswalk.”

Shen Xing was amused by him:

“Are you taking care of a kindergarten kid? Do we need to hold hands too?”

Jiang Lin teased playfully:

“Holding hands isn’t recommended for kindergarten kids crossing the road. You need to stop, look both ways, and proceed—line up in a single file, just like little ducks crossing a river.”

The mental image was vivid enough to instantly lift Shen Xing’s somewhat downcast mood:

“Hero, did you start out as a traffic cop?”

“I wouldn’t dare boast, though I do direct traffic occasionally now. Off you go—you’re going to be late for work this afternoon.”

Jiang Lin ultimately walked him all the way to the main entrance of the hospital:

“I’ll come pick you up at five when you get off work.”

For a fleeting second, Shen Xing felt as if he were back in elementary school listening to his mother speak:

“Hero, I really can find your unit on my own.”

“Can you find the cafeteria? I won’t pick you up next week.”

And so, under Jiang Lin’s watchful gaze, Shen Xing went off to school—no, to work.

The wind blew violently throughout the afternoon, making the electric scooter shed outside the hospital rattle noisily. Perhaps due to the gale, there weren’t many patients at the outpatient clinic that afternoon. By past four o’clock, the sky had grown so gloomy that it looked like seven or eight in the evening, forcing them to turn on the lights in the consultation room. Shen Xing finished seeing all his patients before his shift officially ended. He stood up to stretch his limbs, watching the trees outside the hospital sway wildly in the wind.

Pulling out his phone, he sent a message to Jiang Lin:

“Hero, the wind is howling outside—don’t bother coming over to pick me up. I’ll head straight over after work. I promise to stop, look both ways, and proceed.”

Cat pushing the door open to decline.jpg

Inside his office, Jiang Lin’s face looked far from great. Even with a hot water bag resting on his knees, it still couldn’t suppress the waves of nerve pain coursing through him. He swallowed two painkiller tablets just as his phone vibrated. He picked it up and glanced at the message, his gaze lingering on that little cat sticker for two extra seconds:

“Alright then. I’ll wait for you at the entrance.”