âShen! Fang! Yu!â
Jiang Xu stood up straight away, knocking over the chair behind him with a bang.
Yu Sang carefully picked up the chair, and almost all the doctors who were chatting were shocked into silence, looking at Jiang Xu and then at Shen Fangyu.
There wasnât going to be another fight today, was there? Who told them to sit face-to-face? Wasnât this tempting people?
Wu Rui glared at Shen Fangyu. He knew something bad would happen sooner or later with that stupid mouth of his. He patted Jiang Xuâs back and said, âCalm down, calm down.â He said, âItâs my brotherâs fault. I was just telling Fangyu about my wifeâs pregnancy symptoms, and he was joking with you.â
However, Jiang Xiu, who had been staring at Shen Fangyu, suddenly trembled at his words.
The words âpregnancy symptomsâ slammed into his ears, taking over his mind at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The dizziness and fatigue, the aversion to grease, nausea, and vomiting were all textbook pregnancy symptoms. He was a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology, so he was familiar with these symptoms, but he had never thought in that direction.
Wu Rui was ready to persuade him not to fight and didnât expect things to calm down with a sentence, Jiang Xu actually⦠quietly sat down.
Although his complexion didnât look good, the smell of gunfire had dissipated. Wu Rui looked at him incredulously, and suddenly said to himself: âSo my eloquence is so good? Should I quit and become a mediator at the police station?â
âYes, the next Nobel Peace Prize goes to Brother Wu.â Shen Fangyu spoke up in a very cooperative manner; he was also a bit puzzled, Jiang Xiu was too cooperative today.
However, Jiang Xu suddenly stood up again, and when everyone thought he was ready to fight with Shen Fangyu, he suddenly patted Yu Sangâs shoulder and walked out of the lounge.
Yu Sang looked at him in confusion and looked at the others for help, only to find that almost all of his colleagues looked at him with encouragement and expectation, as if they had a line written in big letters, âGo for it, you can definitely stop a war.â
So Yu Sangâs troubled eyes gradually became determined. He followed Jiang Xu out with his head held high and full of faith, like a peopleâs hero.
Then he saw Jiang Xu leaning against the wall with one leg slightly bent. His head was bowed, and he was pressing the bridge of his nose. He looked tired. The miserable white light of the corridor hit him, and Yu Shang noticed that Jiang Xu had lost a lot of weight recently, even the shirt he was wearing looked empty.
Seeing him coming, Jiang Xu beckoned and waited for him to approach before lowering his voice and asking, âIf a patient who had sex two months ago is now experiencing nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, and dizziness, what is the cause?â
Yu Sang had long been accustomed to Jiang Xuâs sudden questions whenever and wherever he wanted, but he was just a little surprised at how basic the question was. Although it was strange, he still blurted out, âPregnancy.â
Jiang Xu took a deep breath, as if he were trying to suppress some kind of impulse, and continued to press the question, âWhat if this patient is a male.â
ââ¦â¦â The question was a bit over the top.
âHow about,â Yu Sang said tentatively, âfirst getting an HCG check?â
Jiang Xiu: â?â
Yu Sang was sure that after he said that, Jiang Xiu looked like he was going to throw him into the sea and feed him to the sharks in the next second, so he changed his words at lightning speed and said, âI just said it off the top of my head, itâs probably a digestive tract disorder.â
Jiang Xu pinched his brow and waved his hand at him, âTell them Iâm not feeling too well, Iâll go back first.â
âOh â¦â¦â Yu Sang watched Jiang Xu leave in confusion.
He had been following Jiang Xu for many years, but this was the first time he had seen Jiang Xu show such a look. He looked at Jiang Xuâs thin back, as if a gust of wind could blow him away, and suddenly wanted to advise him to eat more and not work so hard.
However, the obstetricians and gynecologists, like the surgeons, were always on the move because of the large number of operations, so they walked very fast, as if they were in a hurry to be reincarnated. So by the time he opened his mouth to say something, Jiang Xu had already walked away, so he sighed and walked back to the lounge.
The office was empty as everyone had gathered for dinner. Jiang Xu was staring at the document on the computer in a daze. Ten minutes, he was still reading the first line. He turned off the computer with some annoyance and prepared to leave work.
It had gotten dark outside, and when he looked up, he could see the moon.
Outside the department was a very tall balsam fir, and deep in the fork of the fir was a birdâs nest. The mother had just given birth to a nest of baby birds and was feeding them at the moment, chattering lively.
Jiang Xuâs gaze paused on the birdâs nest, and then looked towards the hospital building behind the tree.
He closed his eyes, as if he had made up his mind, and dialed a phone number: âTest department duty room?â
His voice was faint, as if the wind was blowing in the night.
There was an âmmmâ on the other end. âWhat is it?â
âAre you busy there at the moment?â
âNot really.â
Jiang Xu turned his work badge over, and he looked at himself in the photo, âIâm sending a urine sample up now, please help me take an hcg test, and charge it to my personal account, Jiang Xu of the obstetrics and gynecology department.â
It was quite common for doctors in the same hospital to go through the back door to send either their own or their friendsâ and relativesâ samples and do tests, usually to save money.
The various departments were all colleagues, so they always turned a blind eye to this. They usually donât ask for names or record patient information for such tests, and give the results directly to the doctor who brought them in.
Although he was a bit surprised that Dr Jiang had to pay for the test himself, the doctor on duty at the testing department didnât ask more questions and just gave him an affirmative answer: âThe results may come out later, donât wait, get up in the morning to see them.â
Jiang Xiu: âMmm.â
However, Jiang Xu failed to sleep, but he didnât want to admit that he had lost sleep because he was waiting for the results of the testing department.
It was obvious since he was a man that even if he had symptoms similar to those of pregnancy, it couldnât be pregnancy.
The indicator he had the laboratory check for was the human chorionic gonadotropin, a common indicator in early pregnancy, but even if it was really elevated, it didnât necessarily mean that he was pregnant, there could be pituitary dysfunction or some kind of malignant tumor.
Jiang Xu even gave some serious thought to which was more devastating, cancer or pregnancy.
Shen Fangyuâs face appeared in his mind countless times, and even many of the details he had forgotten from that night slowly came back to his memory.
He was annoyed as he waited for the test results and felt downright sick.
A professional obstetrician and gynecologist who couldnât sleep in the middle of the night because he was wondering if a man could get pregnant, would be laughed out of the room by his peers.
Yet when his phone beeped, he still violently unlocked it and opened the file sent by the test doctor.
The fresh examination report was in black and white, with only one indicator.
Jiang Xuâs eyes seemed to burn a hole in the checklist as he stared unblinkingly at the familiar indicator and the soaring values that followed, drawing an obvious conclusion.
Either the instrument was broken or the world had gone mad.
He practically jumped out of bed in the night and dialed Tang Keâs number.