Chapter 6: CH 6

Two months later.

The last page was projected on the big screen in the conference room, and Shen Fangyu, holding a laser pointer, smiled, “That is my report, do you have any questions?”

Director Cui commented on a few things and then said to the other participants, “Shen Fangyu’s series on post-cesarean uterine pseudoaneurysm is great; you can all say anything you want.”

Almost tacitly, all eyes converged on a figure sitting at the front of the room.

“Why are you looking at me?”

Juang Xu noticed the gazes from all sides and raised his eyes inexplicably, completely unaware of how deeply traumatized his colleagues were from his past with Shen Fangyu.

“Dr Jiang, you… don’t have anything to say?” The attending doctor next to Jiang Xu asked him in confusion.

Every time Shen Fangyu or Jiang Xu gave a report, these two people were able to give each other a bunch of questions in an articulate manner, and if they didn’t study the cases or literature they were supposed to report on thoroughly, they simply wouldn’t be able to withstand each other’s attacks.

So everyone agreed that it would be another long meeting today.

However, Jiang Xu just turned his pen for a while and then said to Shen Fangyu, “Last Thursday, a case of pseudoaneurysm after double uterine and double vaginal cesarean delivery was reported in C City; you can add it to your case studies.”

After saying this, he closed his notebook and clipped his pen to it, as if he had nothing more to say.

Even Shen Fangyu on the stage was puzzled.

Director Cui glanced at Jiang Xu, then said, “So that’s it for today’s meeting. There’s one more thing, about the academic conference in H Province that everyone was so concerned about,” her gaze went back and forth between Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu before settling on Shen Fangyu’s face, “Fangyu, prepare well and arrange some people who will go with us. ”

When the meeting broke up, Director Cui was always the first to leave, and once she left, the conference room instantly became lively.

The conference that Director Cui mentioned was considered the top academic exchange meeting in obstetrics and gynecology, and almost every country’s top experts in the field would attend to exchange ideas.

“You and Dr. Jiang have been fighting for this conference for a long time, right? I remember both of you applying two months ago.”

Shen Fangyu’s friends and students were overjoyed, partly because they were happy for Shen Fangyu, and partly because they had an extra chance to go themselves, as Shen Fangyu would definitely pick the people in his group.

“I’ll pay for your morning coffee tomorrow,” Shen Fangyu said to his group, “remember to come to my office to pick it up.” He then tapped Jiang Xu’s desk and raised his eyebrows, asking, “So are you coming?”

Jiang Xu didn’t want to pay any attention to him; he took the folder and walked out. Yu Sang was busy following him, and behind them came a whoop of cheers. Yu Sang rolled his eyes and said, “What is there to be happy about? Director Cui took us last year; this year he took them; it is only logical.”

However, after he finished, he still said to Jiang Xu, “Brother Jiang, I don’t think you’ve been in great shape lately.” He originally wanted to say that even Director Cui could see it.

Jiang Xu didn’t know what was wrong with him. It started with drowsiness, as long as he was slightly free, he could fall asleep standing up, and then there was a loss of appetite. He went back and forth to the brain department and the gastroenterology department for MRIs and gastroscopies, respectively, and later even went to the psychiatric department, fearing that he was suffering from anorexia.

However, the test results showed no problems.

Although Jiang Xu usually stayed up all night and ate chaotically because of his profession, he always paid attention to any abnormal physical symptoms that arose.

Dr Jiang’s motto was that no disease could not be cured as long as it was detected early enough.

At first, he was able to keep drinking coffee to refresh himself, but later on, the smell of coffee made him want to vomit. Except when he was in surgery or seeing patients, he could still rely on his steel will and career to stay calm and awake, but at other times he was too sick to even get up.

Whenever he came home from work, he didn’t even want to eat dinner if he wasn’t on night duty, and he would fall asleep as soon as he got home, and wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night.

This kind of illness with bizarre symptoms but no cause runs to two extremes: either nothing is wrong, or it is a serious illness that can’t be cured.

Although Jiang Xu didn’t want to live a pessimistic life, he couldn’t avoid his thoughts leaning toward a terminal illness, so he didn’t even have the energy to fight with Shen Fangyu anymore. If he doesn’t spend the last few months of his life arguing or fighting with Shen Fangyu, then he will die in peace.

But in life, there are always happy people and others who are sad. At the end of the day, one of the attending doctors, who was a few years older than them, looked at his phone and exclaimed to the whole office, “Don’t rush back tonight; I’m buying everyone McDonald’s. The ones next door can come up to the lounge and eat with us. Those on duty can tell me what they want; I’ll buy it for them and send it to their seats.”

“Brother Wu, is there a happy occasion?” Shen Fangyu asked.

Wu Rui used to be a student at Medical University A. Although he was not as fast as Sheng Fangyu and Jiang Xu in ranking up titles, he was patient and had given them a hand in the early days, so both Shen Fangyu and Jiang Xu had a good relationship with him.

“It’s a secret for now,” Wu Rui smiled so hard that they could hardly see his eyes, “I’ll tell you later.”

He took out his mobile phone and said, “Tell me what you want to eat. If you miss the chance, it’s gone.”

Doctors were physically active, especially those who perform surgeries, standing for hours without eating or drinking, so they were particularly fond of junk food like fried chicken and cola, which are heavy on salt and oil and high in energy.

Wu Rui tapped Jiang Xu’s shoulder, and the latter jerked awake. Wu Rui didn’t know he was sleepy and thought it was because he didn’t want to eat with Shen Fangyu, so he smiled warmly and said, “Do me a favor and don’t argue today.”

Jiang Xu was confused for a moment before he remembered that they had just been discussing dinner. He didn’t know what had happened, but he had only been distracted for a moment and had fallen asleep again, as if he had been possessed.

Although it was true that he didn’t want to see Shen Fangyu, Wu Rui was a kind person, and he wouldn’t refuse when his senior brother asked sincerely, “Okay, senior brother, I promise as long as he doesn’t provoke me.”

“……” Wu Rui thought to himself, ‘I’m afraid that’s a bit difficult.’

He glanced at Shen Fangyu, who was jokingly ordering with the people around him. He was handsome, but it was a pity that he had a sharp tongue. Dr. Shen was not usually harsh with others; he was only interested in Jiang Xu. He was sweet to everyone else, so he didn’t know what he was thinking.

There were a lot of people at this dinner party, and several people came over just to get takeout. They set aside what was for the doctors on duty first, and then put the rest in the lounge. The red boxes were all over the table, and the rich aroma of golden fried chicken and grilled wings, and refreshing sodas filled the lounge, making people’s fingers tingle.

Shen Fangyu was sitting next to Wu Rui, and he took a fried chicken leg out of the red paper bag in front of him without a moment’s hesitation. The crispy skin matched the tender chicken meat, he took a bite and asked Wu Rui, “So what’s the good news anyway?”

Wu Rui smiled mysteriously, “It’s a happy occasion, my wife is pregnant.”

“Wow-”

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

The group of doctors, who had been bored for a long time, clapped their tables and applauded. Jihua Hospital had a conscience and had made a separate building for the entertainment lounge, gym, and all that, so they were not afraid of making noise for the patients and maintaining the image of doctors.

Despite being used to seeing new lives being delivered, it was still a joy to hear such news every time, especially when it came from the colleagues they spent their time with. They genuinely looked forward to that lucky baby coming into the world.

“Congratulations!”

“Congratulations to Brother Wu!”

……

The sound of uproarious blessings rose.

“Thank you, thank you!” Wu Rui rubbed his hands together, his face red with excitement, as he excitedly accepted everyone’s blessings.

Jiang Xu also picked up a cup of Coke and toasted Wu Rui, “Congratulations, senior brother,” he said, “If you get too busy, just tell us.”

Jiang Xu was a cold man with few words, but he was very thoughtful and touched Wu Rui’s heart right away.

Wu Rui looked at him gratefully and said to the group, “Actually, there’s another reason for inviting everyone to dinner today,” Wu Rui was a bit embarrassed to say, “My wife works hard too, I want to spend more time with her, and in the future, with how things are in the department… I’d like to spend more time with my wife, so I…I may have to trouble everyone, so I’d like to apologize in advance.”

This matter was actually a bit sensitive, after all, no one wants their workload to increase, but fortunately, the relationships in the department have always been harmonious, and Wu Rui usually helps everyone. So as soon as he opened his mouth, everyone smiled and waved their hands and said, “Don’t worry, if you can’t take care of it, just call us.”

“I just ……huu ……” Wu Rui saw his colleagues being so enthusiastic; the atmosphere was just right, and he became emotional for a moment. He suddenly couldn’t help but cover his face; even his voice was a little choked up. “I’m usually too busy… and don’t have time to accompany her properly.”

Seeing the atmosphere suddenly go in the direction of melodrama, Shen Fangyu was quick to unwrap a chicken wing and stuff it directly into Wu Rui’s mouth, patting him on the shoulder and saying, “It’s okay, Brother Wu. We all understand that work is important, but the wife is more important, isn’t it? But at this moment, nothing is as important as the fried chicken in your mouth.”

As he finished speaking, he noticed that Jiang Xu was looking at him.

Wu Rui’s sadness was abruptly interrupted by the fried chicken, his eyes were still red, but his mouth couldn’t help but let out a laugh, so he reached out to pick up the fried chicken from his mouth while scolding him with a laugh, “Brat.”

The banquet that was almost in embarrassment was restored due to a burst of laughter. When Jiang Xu saw that Shen Fangyu had caught him staring, he casually averted his gaze and commented, “Quite a quick response.”

This was a compliment on his ability to regulate the atmosphere.

Shen Fangyu felt so blessed that he took another chicken wing and passed it directly into Jiang Xu’s mouth.

The thick and greasy taste came over him, and Jiang Xu took a step back with a jerk, his face changing.

In fact, he felt uncomfortable since he first came in. He usually liked fried chicken, but the slightest smell of grease made him sick to his stomach these days, so he only drank some cola and ate one French fry.

However, the oily chicken wing was now pressed against the tip of his nose, and the strong smell of oil and meat was sweeping through Jiang Xu’s vulnerable nostrils.

He glanced at Shen Fangyu and suddenly lowered his head to cover his mouth.

“Bler—”

A suppressed dry heave.

Dr Jiang didn’t want to embarrass himself, but he couldn’t help it. He went straight to the bathroom while covering his mouth, leaving Shen Fangyu, who was holding up a messy chicken leg, in place.

“Is this his new way of insulting me?” Shen Fangyu spoke stiffly while holding up the chicken leg.

After a long time, he asked Yu Sang, who was sitting next to Jiang Xu, “Do I look that disgusting?”

“You’ll have to ask Dr. Jiang; maybe you stole his spot at the conference and he was too angry to see you.”

‘Never mind, I knew the people around Jiang Xu were all the same, Dogs can’t spit ivory out of their mouths.’

*The saying means that people who speak poorly can never say good things.

He silently withdrew his hand from holding the chicken leg and pretended that nothing had happened, but Wu Rui said thoughtfully, “My wife was like that too, she used to retch quite a lot, but couldn’t throw up most of the time. We didn’t think much of it at that time, we thought it was some kind of illness, but it turned out that she was pregnant.”

Shen Fangyu thought about it, so after Jiang Xu returned from his third trip to throw up, he fervently leaned in and approached Dr. Jiang, who looked a little weak, and said, “Jiang Xu, throwing up like that, you’re not pregnant, are you?”

Brother Wu: I’m happy to say that my wife is pregnant.

Shen Fangyu: I also have a happy thing, my wife is also- Shit, don’t hit people in the face, thank you.

Jiang Xu: I’m your father.