Chapter 20: CH 21

Probably because they were standing conspicuously at the entrance of the inpatient department, a woman passing by suddenly tugged at Jiang Xu and asked before he and Sheng Fangyu could discuss the matter, “Hey doctor, do you know how to get to the obstetrics and gynecology department?”

Jiang Xu froze but Shen Fangyu quickly shoved the mobile phone back into Jiang Xu’s pocket and blocked the woman’s movements without a trace. Although he shielded Jiang Xu, his defensive stance didn’t affect the customary smile on his face in the slightest.

“What can I do for you, sister?”

Even the voice could be described as gentle and courteous, making one just feel like saying everything that was on your mind.

–Shen Fangyu was so good at putting on an amiable face, so good at being a good friend. It could be said that he has good EQ, or that he was good at making people think they are friends with him. Even the patients say they felt an affinity towards him and that talking to him is better than taking medicine.

That’s a skill.

The woman in front of them looked as if she had caught a savior, and didn’t care about Shen Fangyu’s unfriendly block just now.

She gave a somewhat ingratiating smile, curled her hair behind her ears before pulling the girl next to her, who was looking down at her feet, and said to Shen Fangyu, “I’m looking for Dr. Jiang Xu from the obstetrics and gynecology department,” she patted the girl next to her and added, “This is his sister. “

“Sister?” Shen Fangyu glanced at Jiang Xu, “How come I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Moreover, it was a sister who was pregnant.

Jiang Xu could tell at a glance that she was about nine months old and about to give birth.

The woman understood something from Shen Fangyu’s words and looked at Jiang Xu with some embarrassment and excitement, “Rongrong, I’m your aunt, I even held you when you were little!” Then as if to prove to Shen Fangyu that she and Jiang Xu were really close, she made a move to put her hand on Jiang Xu’s wrist.

Jiang Xu visibly stiffened when she held his sleeve, so much so that he didn’t even react to the name his aunt called him.

“Rongrong?” Shen Fangyu teased him jokingly, “Doctor Jiang has such a cute nickname, ah?”

*Rongrong means soft/fluffy

“……” Jiang Xu gave him a silent look, and the latter shut his mouth obediently.

Jiang Xu drew back his hand without a trace, the woman’s words reminded him of that phone call between the two of them, along with a certain not-so-pleasant and confusing morning.

He glared at Shen Fangyu, who gave him a puzzled look, as if asking why he was being glared at when he hadn’t even said anything.

Jiang Xu silently withdrew his gaze and said politely to the woman in front of him, “Auntie.” His gaze then moved to the young woman who looked rather embarrassed at the side and greeted her, “Sister Lili?”

The last he heard from this aunt who came out of nowhere was when she called asking him to deliver her daughter’s baby. He had been too busy at the hospital to have a meal with this cheap aunt, and could only ask his own mother to explain the situation.

Mother Jiang, like most parents, loved to show off the fact that her family had a child who was a doctor. Jiang Xu explained it several times, but the words always went in her left ear and came out of the right.

After that, this aunt never contacted him again. Jiang Xu was busy with work and had long forgotten about it, but he never expected her to come to the hospital.

“Ai you!” When she heard Jiang Xu greet them, the aunt smiled and pushed her daughter in front of her, regardless of the embarrassment from not being recognized earlier, and said warmly, “This is your sister Lili, you even took her to play with you when you were little.”

Jiang Xu took one look at this Sister Lili and was convinced that either his aunt had made up their relationship or it was before he was three years old, he couldn’t remember these two no matter how much he tried.

Auntie didn’t care that she was in front of the hospital, she smiled and took a red packet out of her pocket and slipped it into Jiang Xu’s white coat pocket. The festive red colour was so striking that Sister Lili’s sister’s head was about to drop to the ground.

“Your voice sounded so hoarse and scary the last time I talked to you on the phone. Fortunately, it sounds much better. This is a gift from auntie, you can buy some delicious food, so don’t hurt your throat again.”

When she talked about his hoarse voice, Jiang Xu felt like he was choking and couldn’t help but cover his mouth and cough twice.

Shen Fangyu at the side was curious, “When did your voice become hoarse, how come I don’t-“ He paused as if he remembered something …… It seemed that after a certain day, Jiang Xu’s words became extraordinarily few, and it took a few days before he returned to his original form.

At that time he didn’t put too much thought into it, however now …… he might know why Jiang Xu didn’t speak much and why his voice was hoarse.

Shen Fangyu’s eyes drifted a bit and he couldn’t focus back for a while.

Fortunately, Jiang Xu was too busy pushing the red envelope back and didn’t notice the abrupt end to his words.

“Auntie, just say what you want, I can’t take this red envelope.”

He gave Sheng Fangyu a look and the latter quickly cooperated, “It’s true, Auntie,” he said, following Jiang Xu’s lead, “if he takes the money, not to mention the fine, he could even lose his job. Then how will he help you if he loses his job.”

He smiled sincerely, but the auntie felt a little oppressed.

She smiled with embarrassment and took back the red envelope with a sigh, “You are stricter than our hospital there.”

Seeing her actions, Shen Fangyu said, “Your aunt is really reasonable, much better than my mother, she seems to be a sensible person.”

The words were directed at Jiang Xu, but they were addressed to his aunt, who, as expected, felt much better and once again focused on the young man she had taken a liking to, “Are you a friend of our Rongrong?”

Shen Fangyu raised an eyebrow at the word “friend”, and when he saw that Jiang Xu’s face had no expression on it, he smiled, “I’m Jiang Xu’s colleague, my surname is Shen, you can just call me Xiao Shen.”

He swept a glance to the sides and lowered his voice slightly, “Auntie, this is a hospital, all the people coming and going are colleagues, you can stop saying “rongrong”, otherwise, someone will make fun of Dr. Jiang.”

Auntie had originally wanted to use this childhood term of endearment to bring her and Jiang Xu closer together, but with Shen Fangyu’s reminder, she realized her slip of the tongue and quickly changed her tone and laughed, “Yes, yes, Dr Jiang, I was confused and said the wrong thing.”

She said to Jiang Xu: “Your mother told me that Lili doesn’t have a file in your Jihua Hospital, so she can’t give birth in your hospital. I didn’t know the rules of filing in City A, so I was thinking of a solution.”

She paused, “But the girl next door said that she was transferred to a big hospital midway through her delivery, and as long as there are connections, there was no hospital she couldn’t be transferred to. So I thought I’d come to you for help and see if I could transfer our Lili to your hospital for delivery.”

Every day, countless patients from all over the country visit City A, and the demand for maternity beds and rooms exceeded the supply, so the requirement for the pregnant mother to be registered was introduced some time ago.

Generally speaking, the hospital in which the mother is registered is the same hospital in which the birth takes place. This way, the hospital has all the information about the patient’s profile and can make better arrangements for the delivery.

Although there was no explicit rule against transfers, Jihua Hospital of A Medical University, as the ace hospital in City A, needed one to make an appointment to build a file and it also had to be completed before the twelfth week of pregnancy. However, there were no extra beds left, and it would not accept any temporary transfer except for difficult referrals and temporary emergency deliveries that could not be solved by the lower-level hospitals.

He had told mother Jiang all this over the phone at the time and had asked her to relay it all to this auntie. Hearing about this issue again made Jiang Xu’s head spin.

Medical resources were limited, otherwise, Jihua wouldn’t have proposed an appointment system. He had read all of Lili’s medical reports, which showed that she was of the right age, it was the first pregnancy, there were no complications, and all the indicators of the pregnancy and the baby were good so there was no need for a cesarean section. He could not find anything wrong with her that required a temporary change of hospital.

“This matter is really impossible to do.” Jiang Xu broke down the rules and regulations and told this auntie again, he had never even spoken this much with his students.

The patient is free to change hospitals, but there are only so many beds and medical resources, and if he uses his relationship to help Lili cut in line, it will damage the legitimate interests and fairness of other pregnant women who followed the rules to build a file.

“…… Furthermore, the transfer is not conducive to the hospital since it needs the complete information on the maternal profile, they’ll be more at risk of an accident.” Jiang Xu finished with a dry mouth and gulped.

Auntie looked at him blearily, and when she saw that he had finished speaking, she interjected, “Ah, your mother said that your teacher is your vice president, a teacher helping students is no big deal ah.”

Jiang Xu had a lump in his throat.

He had explained for a long time but his aunt hadn’t listened to a word he had said.

He wasn’t as good as Shen Fangyu, so asking him to deal with such human affairs was even more painful than asking him to stay up all night doing surgery.

As he was racking his brain to think of what to say, Shen Fangyu suddenly chuckled. He pointed at Lili with his chin, and then asked the auntie, “Which hospital was sister Lili originally giving birth from, and who was the doctor in charge?”

“Suqu First Hospital,” said the auntie, “the doctor ……the doctor is ……” she thought about it for a while, but couldn’t remember .

“It’s Dr. Wang Jiancheng.” Sister Lili said in a mosquito-like voice from behind her.

“Oh, Wang Jiancheng of Suqu,” Shen Fangyu hooked up the corners of his mouth, “I know him. Auntie, this Dr. Wang is great, you are really lucky, I used to have a cousin who wanted to see Dr. Wang but she wasn’t able to. They said she had to come after making an appointment.”

He suddenly spoke up, causing the auntie to stare at him, and Jiang Xu to look at him as well.

Shen Fangyu naturally changed his tone to one of exaggeration, “Why would you switch to our hospital if you have Dr. Wang? He’s better than many doctors in Jihua, Jiang Xu and I even went to see him operate, right Jiang Xu?”

Jiang Xu just looked at him. He kept silent as his aunt looked like she found treasure, looking excited but not daring to show it too much.

“So you’re saying that you and Rong—no, Dr. Jiang, have learned from him?” Auntie’s tone was vaguely excited.

“Yes, we don’t have to compete with each other,” Shen Fangyu said, “Don’t worry, I know Dr. Wang very well, so I’ll give him a call tonight and instruct him to take good care of your daughter’s baby.”

“Ai you,” Auntie clapped her hands, “how can I thank you for this, Dr. Shen! Are you free after work today? I’d like to treat you to dinner.”

Shen Fangyu waved his hand, “You’re welcome, Auntie, we’re all good brothers, it’s just a matter of talking to each other so it’s not a big deal,” he said, smiling lightly, “Take sister Lili back to get some rest, and have the prenatal checkup on time. Just go to the hospital when the day comes.“

“Hey!” Auntie replied and then lamented, “What a blessing for our Jiang Xu to have a friend like you.”

Jiang Xu twitched at the corners of his mouth and then heard his aunt say to him, “When Lili gives birth, you must bring Xiao Shen for a drink, then auntie will cook you eggs.”

Jiang Xu nodded stiffly as she gazed at him with an earnest smile, then she waved goodbye contentedly, “I’ll leave you to it then, you guys must be busy.”

Auntie came with a sad face and was finally coaxed by Shen Fangyu to leave with a happy smile. She even made a point of smiling at Shen Fangyu as she left.

Even Lili, who had never lifted her head since they met, left with a sigh of relief, nodding to the two with gratitude and apologies.

The introverted girl was obviously a little embarrassed to see her mother climbing the ladder in such an aggressive way.

Jiang Xu glanced at Shen Fangyu, “Who is Wang Jiancheng?”

“I don’t know.” Shen Fangyu said casually.

Jiang Xu: “……”

“Don’t give me that look,” Shen Fangyu took his phone and tapped it a few times, as if he was typing, then waved it at Jiang Xu, “There’s a dinner party for the Suqu Obstetrics and Gynecology Department on the weekend. Wang Jiancheng is coming too so I’m personally going to pull strings for your sister, that should be good enough for you.”

It made sense that a lower-level hospital like Suqu No.1 was willing to befriend Shen Fangyu, but no matter which hospital, the doctors were so busy, only Shen Fangyu could put something together in such a short time frame.

“Don’t worry,” Shen Fangyu said, “if I don’t think of Dr. Wang, I’ll think of something else for you.”

“If you tell your auntie about the dangers of transferring to another hospital or that it’s the midwife’s job to deliver babies, she won’t take it to heart. She came here to ask you because of your relationship, she thinks that a doctor she is familiar with is more reliable.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Dr. Wang or Dr. Zhang, to her, the only good doctors are those acquainted with you. Dr Jiang is quite good at giving medical advice, but now he’s not.”

In fact, they all knew in their hearts that, except for a very few who have no medical ethics, the vast majority of doctors in this profession, whether they are in big hospitals or small ones, all genuinely want the patients to get well.

Those with mediocre medical skills will not improve by leaps and bounds because of a red packet, while those who are experienced and skilled in medicine will never work poorly because of the lack of red packets. Who dares to slack off in front of patients unless they don’t want their career anymore?

If Lili really had a difficult case, both Jihua Hospital and Jiang Xu would be the first to bring her in and treat her in every way possible, but she was fine and all her maternity indicators were in order, there was no reason for them to let Lili come in and cut in line when there are people who already made appointments on time.

Jiang Xiu nodded at Shen Fangyu, the word “thank you” was hesitantly playing in his mouth, but before he could say it, Shen Fangyu had already changed the subject, “So,” he pointed at Jiang Xu’s stomach with his eyes, “how about talking about it? “

So the thank you didn’t come out after all.

“Don’t worry.” Jiang Xu said.

Shen Fangyu’s face changed, “What do you mean?”

“I’ll contact you when I need you to operate,” Jiang Xu gave him a look, “At other times, you stay away from me.”

“Stay away from you?”

It was as if Shen Fangyu hadn’t understood the meaning of his words, and was stunned for a moment before he suddenly let out a slightly cold and self-deprecating laugh.

“Okay, no problem,” he said, “Dr. Jiang only orders and never consults with people anyway.”

After saying that, he put his hands in his pocket, bypassed Jiang Xu expressionlessly, and stepped into the revolving door of the inpatient department.