However,
Now,
As he laid it all b.a.r.e to Old Chief Physician Pan,
Zheng Ren had a feeling he couldn't quite describe.
Was this growth? He had no idea.
Throughout their journey, Old Chief Physician Pan kept talking to Zheng Ren, who could feel the man's palpable excitement.
Instead of heading straight to Sea City General Hospital, Old Pan drove to a restaurant.
"Even though it's not fancy, their dishes are quite tasty." Old Pan gleefully led Zheng Ren in and greeted the owner of the restaurant before entering a private room.
Su Yun, the Chu sisters, Chang Yue, and Xie Yiren arrived shortly after.
As expected, Yang Lei was holding the fort down at the emergency ward.
Zheng Ren had finally gotten to meet Xie Yiren, but the private room was not large. It would be awkward to make a move.
He had no other choice but to stay put.
Old Chief Physician Pan ordered their food heartily as the others chatted away happily.
Su Yun was fully engrossed in his storytelling. The things that Zheng Ren had just told Old Pan were transformed into a dramatic turn of events, filled with exciting plots and bizarre encounters.
Although Old Pan had already heard it from Zheng Ren, he was still captivated by Su Yun's retelling of their encounters. Even Zheng Ren gaped at him in amazement.
He could not believe that Su Yun was describing real-life events that had happened to them both within the past few weeks.
Su Yun was not being his usual self. Was he overcompensating for the flight attendants' disregard for him with his sudden charm?
This was truly something he excelled at…
They continued talking over their meal; when Su Yun reached the part where Zheng Ren dragged him to buy gifts for everyone after finishing the prostate interventional surgery, there was a shock at the table.
Someone like Zheng Ren remembering to buy everyone souvenirs? That was truly rare.
Chu Yanzhi could not hold in her curiosity and blurted out, "Chief Zheng, what did you buy?"
"Uh… It's not much." Zheng Ren was slightly embarrassed, but still made to open his bags.
Chu Yanzhi nearly threw herself into his luggage.
She was not truly interested in what he had bought. How much could someone with his salary afford?
However, they were all curious as to how much effort Zheng Ren had put in.
First to come out was the alcohol he had bought for Old Chief Physician Pan, who received it with gratitude. Since Yang Lei was not present, Zheng Ren stuffed the man's gift back into the bag before revealing the four soft toys that he bought for the girls.
Everyone was stunned.
They were a thousand times more astonished than when they had watched Zheng Ren crush the German professor's surgery.
The atmosphere in the private room froze over entirely.
This?
This was what he bought?
Was he trying to fool them?
Even if he was patronizing them, why would he also give Xie Yiren something similar?
Chu Yanran and Chu Yanzhi burst out laughing at Zheng Ren as they received their gifts. Chu Yanran managed to compose herself and did not say a word as she fiddled with her toy. Chu Yanzhi tossed hers into the air as she tried to speak, but her sister stopped her.
Chang Yue remained stoic. "Childish," she said softly as she took her plushie.
Xie Yiren's eyes brightened and she said, "Wow, it's so pretty!"
Su Yun was so frustrated that he could feel steam rising from his dome.
Would Xie Yiren be pleased if Zheng Ren gifted her a branch from the roadside?
People in love were truly devoid of all sense, logic and rationality.
Su Yun sighed inwardly as he watched Xie Yiren admiring the soft toy with shimmering eyes. Zheng Ren was so damn lucky.
After distributing his gifts, Zheng Ren hesitated for a moment.
"Why are you acting all mysterious? It's done, hurry up and continue eating." Having shopped with him, Su Yun knew that Zheng Ren had nothing else, but the man was still stuck in place.
Was he about to make something else magically appear out of thin air?
If he had bought something on his own, he would not have asked Su Yun to tag along and bully him repeatedly on the streets of Imperial Capital.
Zheng Ren suddenly stood and turned around, looking serious as if facing a major emergency rescue.
The rowdy room fell silent instantly.
It was how he looked in the emergency ward and operating theater…
"Xie Yiren, this is for you," Zheng Ren said with a determined face. , is an idiom, lit. "the fear felt when approaching (one's) hometown". It refers to a specific anxiety or uneasiness that becomes stronger upon returning home out of fear that something had happened to it after a long absence. It is used to describe the complex feelings of a returning wanderer and has its origins in the poem, "Crossing the Han River", by Tang Dynasty poet Song Zhiwen.
Chapter 262 - Great Courtship Skill (Part 1 of 5)
Zheng Ren held a small, heart-shaped object that he passed to Xie Yiren with both hands.
Under the gaze of a room full of people, Xie Yiren blushed and kept her head low.
"Tsk, tacky," Su Yun scoffed.
From Xie Yire's reaction, she was very much into such things. Su Yun lamented Zheng Ren's luck. What lady could be so easily satisfied these days?
The man could probably win the lottery with a single random ticket at this rate.
When he looked closer at the gift, his eyes focused on the object.
The heart-shaped… the heart…
It looked too strange to be something from a shop and its material was very unique.
Su Yun was taken aback and he asked blankly, "This… is this the micro guide wire you were fiddling with a few days ago?"
Zheng Ren nodded. Realizing Xie Yiren was so embarrassed that she had forgotten to take the gift, he approached her with the determination of a frontline soldier and said quietly, "Yiren, I made this myself."
Xie Yiren sniffled, softer than a hidden mosquito in winter.
Had Zheng Ren's five senses not been well-trained by the System, he would have missed it.
He held the wire heart out to her with his expression deadset, as if he would not back off until Xie Yiren had received his gift.
"Take it, Little Yiren," Chu Yanzhi said anxiously, not taking her eyes off the sculpture.
At Chu Yanzhi's urging, Xie Yiren subconsciously reached out but ended up touching Zheng Ren's hands.
It felt warm, reliable, and indestructible.
"Ah!" Xie Yiren exclaimed and bounced back like a nervous rabbit.
"Wonderful." Chang Yue took the heart from Zheng Ren. "I'll hold it for Xie Yiren."
Old Chief Physician Pan smiled as he watched the youth flirt and play mind games with each other.
It was good to be young.
Chu Yanran grabbed Xie Yiren's shoulders and whispered something into her ears while her sister ran to Chang Yue to take a closer look at Zheng Ren's personalized gift—a heart hand-sculpted from a micro guide wire.
"Wow, Chief Zheng, it looks very well-made. You really put your heart and soul into this."
Su Yun was still in a daze. Was this really happening?
Was this really Boss Zheng's first courtship attempt?
It was a great move, topped with sincere expression and effort.
Su Yun was sure that even his best could only outdo Zheng Ren by a little.
After they joked around for a while, Xie Yiren slowly calmed down and they continued with their meal.
The restaurant owner was familiar with Old Chief Physician Pan but had not yet appeared, even after two complementary dishes.
At some point through their meal, the man knocked on their door before entering.
"Little Sun, what's up?" Old Chief Physician Pan was sitting at the head of the table and drink
ing heartily with Su Yun and Chang Yue.
"Old Chief, have you looked at the TV?" Mr. Sun asked out of nowhere.
Old Pan was puzzled. "No, why would I?"
"Your hospital was on, and I think you're in it, too; it's like a doc.u.mentary," Mr. Sun answered.
"Let's see what it's all about." Old Chief Physician Pan motioned with his hand.
Mr. Sun immediately switched on the television in the room and turned to the Sea City News Network channel.
The very first thing that appeared as the TV lit up was the emergency building of Sea City General Hospital.
The camera panned in from afar and slowly focused on the signature red cross on the emergency building.
A woman's gentle voice narrated the history of the hospital's emergency department.
This was… Old Chief Physician Pan was shocked. No one had approached him to promote the emergency department. What was this doc.u.mentary trying to convey?
Zheng Ren and Su Yun were also dumbfounded. That voice…
It was familiar. Zheng Ren tried hard to recall who it belonged to.
Su Yun also dug deep into his own memory. He had managed to deter Lead Editor Tang that day; how had she come up with a doc.u.mentary? Also, why was a television network airing a doc.u.mentary made by a lead newspaper editor?
Was she trying to take revenge on Zheng Ren for neglecting her or treating her dismissively? Had she made this doc.u.mentary to turn the public against them?
The emotions in the private room were mixed.
The girls were either immersed in the gift, unaware of what was going on, or thrilled by seeing their workplace on television.
The restaurant owner kept watching the show from beside the TV.
"Near the end of autumn, there was a mass nitrite poisoning incident in Sea City," the female voice said calmly.
As the red cross filled the screen, it cut to a live, never-before-aired interview conducted by Sea City News Network during the incident.
The screeching alarm of the ambulance began in the background when the scene switched, changing its atmosphere instantly.
It was stifling and grim.
The camera followed a family from behind, bouncing up and down as they ran.
Victims of poisoning were carried on the backs of their family members, their whole bodies covered in an eerie shade of blue, resembling a scene from a shakycam horror film.
Their skin was not bright blue but had greyish undertones, as if foreshadowing the dust of the graves that awaited them all.
Sounds of frenzied footsteps and hopeless cries echoed from the television.
In the midst of the chao, a sedan broke down.
An attractive woman appeared in front of the camera, microphone in hand, and waved over the victim's family to her TV news van to get to the hospital more quickly.
"On that day, hundreds of citizens came down with nitrite poisoning. Ambulances were all over downtown. What you're seeing now was happening everywhere."
Then, the scene switched again.
The camera crew was arriving at the emergency building of the Sea City General Hospital. As soon as the car door opened, they were welcomed by an emergency stretcher trolley.
The victim was immediately transferred onto it.
As the paramedics worked in silence, the camera operator seemed to be searching for a better angle to capture the scene.
However, they were somewhat in the way of the patient, and one of the doctors roughly shouldered them out of the way.
The camera jerked strongly before finally settling between the doctor's shoulders and neck.
His white coat was drenched in sweat and his hoarse voice icier than the north winds. However, it only accentuated the impact of the scene with the greyish-blue patient in the background.
The camera operator said nothing and stabilized the camera before chasing the stretcher trolley all the way to the emergency resuscitation room.
Outside the room, the director of Sea City General Hospital and Old Chief Physician Pan could be seen busily directing the emergency rescue.
Out of habit, the camera focused on the director to prepare for a close-up, but was yanked away after only a few seconds.
The scene skipped through all of the higher-ranking personnel and immediately cut to the emergency resuscitation room.
In it, there was already an established and smooth flow of operations, in the center of which was Zheng Ren standing before the rescue table.
…
…
I'm sure you guys guessed it correctly before reading this chapter. The typical straight guy suited his character better.
Chapter 263 - The Doc.u.mentary (Part 2 of 5)
Zheng Ren watched it with his eyes and mouth wide open.
It felt strange seeing himself in the third person.
Onscreen, he stood before the bed in the emergency resuscitation room surrounded by helpers. As they lifted the patient onto the bed, its headrest tilted at a 30-degree angle, Xie Yiren prepared the needles and equipment required for vascular catheterization beside him.
Each patient took them less than ten seconds to process.
Central venous catheterization was immediately followed by an IV of methylene blue and Zheng Ren rushed to the next bed to repeat the whole procedure on another patient.
"That day, the staff of Sea City General Hospital followed their superior's orders and provided emergency rescue just in time. Their united reaction and outstanding skill led them to save one patient after another from death.
"The doctor in this scene was key to the entire rescue operation: chief resident of the emergency department of Sea City General Hospital, Dr. Zheng Ren."
This was the first name mentioned in the doc.u.mentary. Both Zheng Ren and Su Yun were stunned.
It was completely different from what they had expected!
Had the vultures who thrived on schadenfreude and sensationalism turned over a new leaf? How strange!
A snicker appeared at the corner of Su Yun's mouth.
Old Chief Physician Pan straightened his back instinctually as he watched the screen, both hands on his knees like a political commissar at his final mobilization before a battle.
Mr. Sun smiled but remained quiet, giving Old Chief Physician Pan a thumbs-up.
The doc.u.mentary continued to be chaotic and shaky. Soon, someone approached and politely asked the reporters to leave.
On their way out, the camera zoomed in on a patient who had been treated with methylene blue.
The greyish-blue color had faded, creating a momentary but stark visual contrast between life and death.
"The emergency department of Sea City General Hospital handled the emergency rescue of the nitrite poisoning excellently. Their service will set a strong standard for Sea City's future achievements."
Then, the emergency rescue was replaced by a timelapse of moving clouds to signify the ruthless passage of time.
All the otherwise-perfect doc.u.mentary lacked at this point was an interview with a survivor.
After that, the scene cut to a park full of people line dancing, doing tai chi, jogging and walking their dogs.
It was quiet and peaceful.
"It is with their protection that citizens can live their lives so peacefully," the female voice went on, "No one knows if misfortune will accompany the morrow. They are our last line of defense and protection, and they will never back down."
An old man with silver hair appeared before the camera and pointed at the tree beside him, "I remember very clearly; on the 6th of November, I had been taking an afternoon stroll in the park when I saw a few old men hitting trees1. Under normal circ.u.mstances, I would've never believed that hitting a tree can improve one's health, but that day…" The old man scratched his head in embarrassment and continued, "I was told that my body was not in good enough shape for such a practice, but I had to prove myself. I had not expected to feel a sharp pain in my stomach after a single bump. At first, I though
t it was simply a stomachache, but after a few more attempts, I lost my vision and consciousness. When I woke up, I was already in the ICU with a tube in my mouth. It was horrible."
At that, Tang Xiu revealed herself as the narrator.
Her delicate features shimmered under the camera. As it turned towards her, she seemed to be lost in thought but was shaken from her stupor. "Are we rolling?"
The outtake had not been edited out of the doc.u.mentary, making it seem more natural.
"Good day, all. I'm Tang Xiu from Sea City Metropolis Daily and the old man you saw just now is my father. I was working in my office on the 6th of November when I received a phone call telling me that he was in critical condition and being resuscitated in Sea City General Hospital."
She smiled and paused to adjust her fringe.
"There are so many scam calls these days, so I didn't believe it at first, expecting them to ask me for money. However, the caller hung up without saying anything further, so I immediately knew something was wrong. I called 114 to check the source of the call and confirmed that it was from the emergency department of Sea City General Hospital.
"I panicked and even lost my heels while running. Later, I found multiple cuts on my feet that I still have no idea the source of."
As she was willing to share such an embarrassing experience, her euphemism and openness made her seem cute.
"I reached the emergency department and met Chief Pan, who briefed me on what happened and asked me to sign the surgical consent form. When we reached the operating theater, they had already performed the emergency procedure and managed to rescue my father. At the time, I thought that…"
Halfway through her speech, Tang Xiu's memory was dragged back to that fateful night.
Her voice began to tremble.
However, she quickly regained her composure and continued, "My father received treatment just in time and was able to recover very well. Here and now, I would like to represent our family and express our sincere gratitude to all the doctors and nurses working in the emergency department of Sea City General Hospital."
After her interview, pictures of the staff of the emergency department began to roll.
Zheng Ren's simple, honest face appeared right after Old Chief Physician Pan's.
The Surgeon's Studio c1-799 Page 127
