It turned out that they were still hungry and had invited Chang Yue to have supper together.
Young people were usually outgoing and being on-call in the emergency department, which demanded zero alcohol consumption, could not stop them from enjoying a hectic lifestyle.
Since someone was on duty in the emergency department, Zheng Ren made use of this opportunity to enjoy himself like a prisoner being rewarded with free time.
Xie Yiren drove straight to the designated location.
The weather was getting cold. It looked like snow would fall within the next few days.
Food stalls could not operate, but the chilly wind failed to extinguish the insatiable fire that gnawed at their stomachs. If they could not enjoy supper at the roadside, they would move their battlefield indoors.
The Chu sisters had chosen a location—the crayfish restaurant near the hospital.
According to them, the crayfish would soon be gone and they would have to wait until next year for the next batch to arrive.
Soon, all of them gathered in front of the restaurant.
The Chu sisters excitedly took a group photograph of this medical "family".
This was the first group photograph involving Zheng Ren, Su Yun, the Chu sisters, Chang Yue and Xie Yiren.
"You guys are so boring." Su Yun habitually brushed back his wispy bangs while waiting for the crayfish and added, "Those old guys aren't here, so why don't we have some beer? Haven't you guys heard of the phrase 'enjoy life to the fullest'?"
"There might be emergency cases at night." Xie Yiren politely refused the offer.
She failed to detect the provocation in Su Yun's tone. Perhaps, to her naive self, everyone was a good person, and negativity such as contempt or mockery did not exist at all.
The Chu sisters made eye contact before one of them said that she could have a sip.
Zheng Ren ignored Su Yun's taunt and rejected him immediately.
Su Yun then glanced at Chang Yue, who had been silent all along, and asked, "How about you?"
"No," replied Chang Yue coldly.
Some people were unaffected by appearances but would still treat others with courtesy, unlike Chang Yue, who was frank and direct in her approach. This sort of intense boredom made Su Yun feel very uncomfortable.
"Now I know why they had chosen you to be the scapegoat," Su Yun said with a wicked smile, "What a boring girl."
Chapter 85 - Drinking With A Foot On The Box
Su Yun's words were vicious. Zheng Ren, who noticed the sorrow in Chang Yue's eyes, suddenly had the urge to stand up for her and rebuke the idiot before him for his arrogance.
However, before he could open fire, Chang Yue put on a warm smile as if her initial sadness had been simply an illusion.
The Chu sisters quickly stood by her side and reprimanded Su Yun.
Su Yun seemed to be accustomed to such situations. His gaze was empty as it flew past the Chu sisters and landed on two other girls sitting a short distance away.
The two had finished eating and were simply chatting while tapping away at their phones. This was common these days and not out of the ordinary.
Otherwise, why would the phrase, "the greatest distance in the world is not between life and death, but the gap between you and I with a phone in your hands," exist?
The girls, who sensed that they were being watched, quickly looked up from their phones and vigilantly scanned the area.
The moment they noticed Su Yun, one of them immediately lowered her head, pretended to see nothing and continued stealing glances at him through her bangs. Meanwhile, the other girl's cheeks flushed red as she summoned up her courage to meet his gaze.
Two seconds later, she admitted defeat.
"Su Yun, right?
"You want to drink, yes?"
The stony-faced Chang Yue sat up straight and stared into Su Yun's eyes.
It was the first time she was radiating this aura, which surprised Zheng Ren, both Chu sisters and Xie Yiren.
"What?" Su Yun withdrew his gaze and smiled disdainfully.
This slightly sassy expression accentuated his attractiveness.
"Waiter!" Without making any response, Chang Yue waved her hand and called the waiter.
A waiter trotted up to the table and greeted her enthusiastically, "What can I do for you?"
"What beers do you have?" asked Chang Yue.
The waiter rattled off a list of names, but she frowned, obviously dissatisfied.
"Do you have old-fashioned Snow?" questioned Chang Yue.
"Snow" was a general term for beers made more than a decade ago. After a large company had entered the mainland's market and purchased most of its stakes, these cheap beers had almost disappeared and only a few places still stocked them.
Unlike ordinary cartons of a dozen, Snow beers were packed in large plastic boxes of two dozen bottles.
The legendary drinking pose with one foot on a box referred specifically to Snow beers as ordinary cardboard boxes were not practical to put one's weight on, especially while drinking..
"Yes, we do," answered the waiter professionally, despite the wind visibly leaving his sails. Although Snow was cheap, he could not possibly chase his customers out.
"I'll have four boxes for now," said Chang Yue lightly.
Su Yun's expression remained unchanged. It was just four boxes, and he assumed Chang Yue was showing off.
The Chu sisters quickly tried to stop her, but she smiled. "Do you know why I don't drink?"
"Huh?" Chu Yanzhi was puzzled.
"Because my habits scare even myself." The smile on Chang Yue's face was relaxed and pleasant. "Romeo wants to get drunk today; that's nice."
Zheng Ren did not understand why she would say that.
It was completely out of context.
Further attempts to persuade her against it ended up in vain as they were met with a silent smile. The Chu sisters were helpless and Xie Yiren, who was looking forward to her crayfish, seemed to be the only one who had no idea what was going on.
Soon, the crayfish was served alongside the four entire boxes of Snow, stacked like a small hill.
This table was occupied by incredibly good-looking people—with Zheng Ren as the exception—attracting the attention of other diners having their supper in the restaurant, but what caught their eyes the most were the four boxes of beers beside Su Yun and Chang Yue.
The slightly courageous girl who had met Su Yun's gaze just now proceeded to pick up the tab at the counter. Then, she came over and whispered with embarrassment, "I've paid for your bill."
She put a piece of paper, damp with nervous sweat,, in front of Su Yun and fled the scene.
With his rich clinical experience, Zheng Ren guessed that she had a heart rate of over 130 beats per minute.
"You're really a ladies' man." With a bright smile, Chang Yue cracked open a bottle with her teeth and said, "I feel happy in the emergency department. Cheers."
She then proceeded to drink directly from the bottle.
The rate at which the beer disappeared sent a chill down Zheng Ren's spine.
Despite his love for booze, he hardly ever consumed it due to alcohol intolerance, so he particularly admired those who were able to binge-drink but had enough self-control not to.
Such people were legends in the making anywhere.
Chang Yue's manner, assuming she did not get into a fight with Su Yun after getting wasted by the first three bottles, suggested that she was actually a heavy drinker.
Su Yun's smile radiated an evil charm.
After pocketing the note he had just been given, he magically opened the beer bottle with a flick of a finger and gulped it down like Chang Yue.
His moves were ten thousand times more elegant than hers.
Zheng Ren and the Chu sisters were too dumbstruck to speak as empty bottles began piling up one after another, the crayfish no longer of any importance.
The exception was Xie Yiren, who paid them no mind and started gorg
ing on her favourite food.
Occasionally, she would glance at the ongoing drinking contest when pausing to take a sip of water, but lost interest almost immediately and focused on devouring her crayfish instead.
She was a pure-hearted foodie.
An hour later, all four boxes of Snow had been consumed, but neither of them showed the slightest hint of drunkenness or the need to go to the bathroom. They ordered four boxes of beer and the competition continued.
Curious, Zheng Ren thought, 'How did they drink all these beers? It doesn't comply with the law of conservation of mass.'
Historically, a grand secretariat1 of the Ming dynasty was said to have a massive capacity for liquor. Out of curiosity, the emperor invited him for a drink and even prepared an urn of booze for the man to refill his bowl directly.
In the end, the urn had been completely emptied, but the grand secretariat was still as sober as a judge with no signs of abdominal distention.
Zheng Ren had always known that there were many types of strange people in the world, but the fact that he was face-to-face with one right now still unnerved him.
Su Yun, who seemed to eliminate alcohol from his system through perspiration, began to sweat after the third box of Snow. Meanwhile, Chang Yue looked perfectly fine apart from a few hiccups.
The manager of the restaurant approached them alongside the fourth box and politely presented them a large portion of crayfish—on the house—that he had personally prepared.
Su Yun and Chang Yue were uninterested, though, and Xie Yiren was the only one who appreciated it.
Suddenly, Zheng Ren's phone rang.
"Chief Zheng, a patient with an unclear diagnosis is currently causing trouble in the emergency department. Can you come and have a look?" said the emergency doctor on duty.
A doctor's life was that of misery, and a chief resident had the most f*cked-up life of all.
Zheng Ren tried to explain the reason for his departure, but Chang Yue and Su Yun were unperturbed and merely waved their hands as if chasing away an annoying fly.
Thus, Chu Yanzhi stayed behind to watch over the two drunkards in case they were unable to even return home. Chu Yanran, Xie Yiren and Zheng Ren could drive back to the hospital as the three of them were more than enough to handle any surgical emergency.
Zheng Ren took one final glance at the drinking competition before leaving. Empty boxes stacked up to a man's full height beside them, but the two rivals were still gulping down the remaining beers one after another with one foot on a box each.
'They're really drinking with a foot on the box.' The sight was truly enriching in a way.
…
…
Xie Yiren and Chu Yanran rushed to the operating theater upon their return to the emergency department.
If surgery was required, they could start preoperative preparations as soon as they were informed of such.
Zheng Ren arrived at the department as well and saw two girls standing in the hall. One of them was crying and the other had a pair of smoldering eyes.
This was a common phenomenon in the emergency department and Zheng Ren had gotten used to it.
From the looks of it, the problem was rabble-rousing rather than an uncertain diagnosis. Zheng Ren understood that the emergency department received hundreds of patients daily, and there was only one doctor on duty in each division—internal medicine, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. If they wasted any time handling disputes, actual treatment would be delayed and the backlog of patients would just lead to even more arguments in the end.
Therefore, they would generally pass on these annoying issues to their superiors.
Zheng Ren glanced at the girls, but strangely enough, the System did not provide any details on them, which suggested that they were perfectly healthy. Was this a deliberate medical dispute? It seemed unlikely.
He quickly changed his attire, approached the girls and asked politely, "I'm the chief resident in the emergency department. What can I do for you?"
"You're a superior doctor? I want to lodge a complaint!" the girl howled furiously.
"Please keep your voice down. This is a hospital," Zheng Ren said calmly, "What happened?"
"The doctor in the ECG room harassed my sister!"
A bomb instantly went off in Zheng Ren's ears.
What the f*ck, which pervert did this?! The Grand Secretariat was nominally a coordinating agency but de facto the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty.
Chapter 86 - A Misunderstanding
Zheng Ren calmed down and pondered the situation.
Something did not sound right. Female doctors were generally assigned to night shifts in the ECG room to prevent this sort of bullsh*t from happening.
A woman harassing another woman? It sounded unlikely.
There must be something wrong.
"Please come to my office." Zheng Ren tried to get the situation under control after noticing the gathering crowd of onlookers.
"You want to make things worse?" Frustrated, the girl raised her eyebrows and said coldly, "What kind of attitude is this?! I'm telling you, this ain't over yet!"
"..." Zheng Ren felt helpless.
Sc.u.mbags existed everywhere, be they doctors, teachers or… it had nothing to do with professions, and was related only to personal character.
Perhaps he should throw this issue to the medical administration division.
However, he had to understand what had actually happened before doing so.
"Please calm down." Zheng Ren tried to pacify the grumpy girl with a polite smile, but he had inadequate skill points in this category. It would probably be better if Su Yun was the one handling this.
The growing crowd fuelled the girl's courage. Wrapping her arm around the sobbing girl and frantically waving another hand in the air, she said, "We came to the emergency department because my sister has c.h.e.s.t tightness. I asked for the result after she had undergone an ECG, but the doctor told me that my sister has a flat c.h.e.s.t! Is the consultation and b.r.e.a.s.t size related in any way?! People with small b.r.e.a.s.ts can't visit the doctor? I'm warning you, if you don't give me a proper explanation, I'll definitely unleash hell on you!"
"..." Zheng Ren was left speechless.
"Haha, the doctors in Sea City General Hospital are interesting men. Are they treating the diseases or judging b.r.e.a.s.t sizes?"
"Well, that lady is indeed flat-c.h.e.s.ted."
"F*ck, why did you even comment on that? She came here to consult a doctor, they can't deny her just because of her small b.r.e.a.s.ts."
This was indeed ridiculous, but there was nothing Zheng Ren could do about onlookers' comments.
Honestly, it sounded unreasonable no matter how he looked at it. Would the female doctor in the ECG room comment on the patient's b.r.e.a.s.t size? The probability was shockingly low, so what the hell actually happened?
A lightbulb suddenly went off in Zheng Ren's head as he realized the potential reason for all this trouble. He quickly asked, "Can I look at your ECG report?"
"What do you want with it?" The girl stared vigilantly at Zheng Ren and held the ECG report firmly in her hands, as if it was concrete evidence that he sought to destroy.
"..." Zheng Ren was inexperienced at putting his thoughts into words. He really missed Chang Yue, who was still having a drinking contest with Su Yun right now.
Even though Chang Yue was not friendly toward him, she was at least able to waltz through this sort of situation with her strong communication skills.
What a pity… That brat Su Yun was so annoying!
Grudge +100.
"I think this is just a misunderstanding, but I can't confirm my speculations if you don't show me your ECG report," Zheng Ren tried to persuade the girls.
With Zheng Ren's earnest expression, the girl hesitated for a minute before doubtfully giving him the report.
The ECG report findings included a flat T wave in V41, with sinus
rhythm noted.
Sighing heavily, Zheng Ren dispelled the grievances in his heart and forced his emotions to stabilize before speaking more gently, "Lady, look, it says flat T wave in V4. Normally, patients with hypokalemia or myocardial infarctions will be presented with this ECG finding. The doctor in the ECG room probably meant this instead of… a flat c.h.e.s.t."
Everyone on the scene burst into laughter.
This careless girl had only heard the terms "flat" and "c.h.e.s.t" and automatically perceived it as having a flat c.h.e.s.t.
However, it was not surprising as laypeople generally did not understand medical terminology.
This was just a simple misunderstanding and not a malicious medical dispute.
The tetchy girl froze for a moment and recalled that the doctor in the ECG room seemed to have spoken at length about something that sounded similar to the explanation provided by the chief resident before her.
However, who could understand the details of the matter? That was precisely why she mistakenly assumed that the doctor had been commenting about her b.r.e.a.s.t size.
The girls' faces turned red instantly.
That was stupid. They had been the only ones who were aware of their flat c.h.e.s.ts, but now everyone on the scene knew about it as well.
Fortunately, they were reasonable. Medical disputes were not exactly common, and most arguments directed against doctors and the hospitals arose due to a lack of free time for detailed explanations and the patients' lack of medical knowledge.
Since a clear explanation had been provided, the girls began to calm down.
The initially crabby girl apologized with a red face.
Zheng Ren quickly waved his hands and said, "It's okay, but I suspect that your sister's condition is caused by fatigue instead of hypokalemia or myocardial infarction."
"Fatigue?"
"For example, staying up late or a stressful working environment will lead to this condition," Zheng Ren patiently explained without expressing any resentment, "Make sure you get adequate rest and don't stay up late in the future. Also, don't use your phone in bed for too long. If there isn't any improvement, you can come to the hospital for a lung CT and a 256-slice CT coronary angiography, but I don't think they're necessary for now. After all, you're still young and are less at risk of any health issues."
The Surgeon's Studio c1-799 Page 48
