Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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“Xiao Lu, well, today is my daughter’s birthday, and my wife wants me to go home as soon as I get off work.”
Dr. Lin coughed lightly twice and put his arm around Lu Dangui’s shoulder: “But the patient in ward 19 just had an MECT scan and needs to stay in the room for observation, you see—”
“…Why don’t you go back first, Brother Lin? I’ll stay and observe tonight.”
Upon seeing the Barbie doll set that Dr. Lin was carrying, Lu Dangui immediately understood.
Dr. Lin’s gratitude was written all over his face: “You really helped me a lot this time, I owe you a meal!”
Lu Dangui looked up and smiled at Dr. Lin, then turned his gaze back to the computer and continued typing the ward round records.
After Dr. Lin left, only Lu Dangui and the few nurses on night shift remained in the office.
He had just finished his rounds, and there wasn’t anything else to do for the time being. The nurses sat in a corner chatting quietly, occasionally stealing glances at Lu Dangui in front of the computer, as if afraid he might overhear them.
“Dr. Lu is such a kind person. This is the third time Old Lin has asked this month. Why did he agree again?”
“That’s right, Dr. Lu has already worked two consecutive night shifts, why isn’t the head doctor doing anything about it…”
“Everyone thinks Dr. Lu is easy to bully.”
A young nurse raised her voice, but when she saw Dr. Lu looking in their direction, she quickly lowered it: “But then again, the department has been so busy lately, Dr. Lu is really the only one who has any free time… Who else would they ask if not him?”
Lu Dangui sorted the documents on the table and pretended not to hear.
Everyone in the psychiatric ward thought Dr. Lu had a good personality, was even-tempered, and was a kind-hearted person.
Only one person thought differently.
That person was Lu Dangui himself.
It had been almost a month since he finished his probationary period and became a psychiatrist.
Having endured five years of medical school and three years of internship, running between home and the hospital every day, he eagerly awaited the day when he could independently see patients.
Once he was officially promoted, Lu Dangui finally realized that the loftier his ideals were, the more skeletal the reality was.
In this well-known comprehensive tertiary hospital, newly promoted young doctors were like blank slates— no qualifications, no evaluations, and hardly anyone came to make appointments.
The psychiatry department was a specialty of the hospital, and many patients came from all over the country. The senior doctors were busy from morning till night, but Lu Dangui had been sitting on the sidelines in the department for a long time.
After Wenfei started school, she moved into the university dormitory, where her counsellor and classmates took care of her, so he, as her older brother, no longer needed to worry about her.
In order to have more contact with patients and quickly accumulate practical experience, Lu Dangui started running errands for her senior colleagues in the department again.
He was the first to arrive at the clinic at 8 a.m., when the head doctor opened for the first day of business. He retrieved the X-ray films and reports for the doctor.
He was the last to clock out and leave that night. His senior colleagues packed up and went off to meet up, while he stayed behind to do room checks for them.
The director was worried that he might have some concerns, so he called to comfort him: “Xiao Lu, take it slow and don’t be impatient. Look at our department, who didn’t go through what you are going through? Adjust your mindset, don’t be afraid of hardship, and once you build a good reputation, patients will naturally come.”
He didn’t tell the director that he wasn’t actually afraid of hardship or fatigue.
By the time the test results came out and the mental state of the patients in Ward 19 was assessed, it was already past dinner time.
After taking the elevator down to the first floor, Lu Dangui bought bread and two sausages at the hospital’s convenience store, intending to find a quiet, secluded place to eat before returning to his shift. Since his sister left home, his life had become even more hectic, often so busy that he couldn’t even eat on time.
Carrying his simple dinner, Lu Dangui stopped in front of the large iron gate at the top of the stairs as he walked out of the convenience store.
There was no one he knew around. He clenched his right fist and slammed it hard against the large iron gate.
One punch, two punches—
The dull pain emanating from the back of his fingers brought him a brief moment of peace.
After venting his anger, Lu Dangui shook his hands and left without looking back.
….
The Affiliated Hospital of S University was nestled against the city’s largest mountain forest scenic area, with all five inpatient buildings built halfway up the mountain. The surrounding area was beautifully landscaped with mountains and water.
Unlike the other inpatient buildings, the psychiatric ward occupied its own large courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by a high fence, and security personnel guarded both the front and back gates, strictly controlling access.
There was a bench next to the artificial lake in the backyard, which was Lu Dangui’s regular dining spot when he was busy.
The sun was setting, and it was getting dark. He glanced at his watch; he still had half an hour before his night shift.
After finishing his bread in a few bites, Lu Dangui leaned back on the bench, crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and tried to take a short nap before his shift.
….
Half asleep and half awake, he vaguely heard sharp arguments and crying behind him, one louder than the next.
Immediately following was a deafening burst of background music, mixed with the voices from before, creating a vibrant and varied spectacle.
Unable to bear the noise any longer, Lu Dangui opened his eyes with a frown.
He rubbed his eyes and turned to find the source of the noise. He then realized that someone else had appeared by the lake sometime during the night. The culprit, trespassing on his comfortable space and disturbing his peaceful sleep, was sitting brazenly a few meters away.
He was a man in a wheelchair.
The man, dressed in a striped hospital gown, with an IV drip hanging from the back of his hand, was sitting in a wheelchair, intently watching a tablet on his lap. The voice was coming from the tablet.
S City was a coastal city, and the early autumn weather wasn’t too cold yet. The man, however, wore a mask and sunglasses, with a thick cashmere scarf wrapped around his neck, completely obscuring his face. The two wheels cast a winding, slanted shadow behind him on the stone path, and the evening sunlight filtered through the branches, bathing the man in the wheelchair.
“Your outdoor time is over. Where is your nurse? Why are you left here alone?”
Out of professional instinct, Lu Dangui spoke up to remind the man.
The psychiatric ward had regulations regarding the time patients could go out for fresh air. It was 7:30 pm now, and the fresh air time had long passed. No hospitalized patient should be here.
The man in the wheelchair kept staring at the tablet in his hand without even lifting his head.
“Hey, can you hear me?”
Seeing that the man remained silent, Lu Dangui asked again.
He was already in a bad mood today, and he didn’t expect that someone would actually test his patience.
The arguments in the show were incessant, but the man in the wheelchair remained as quiet as a statue.
Just when Lu Dangui thought the man was hearing impaired, he finally heard him speak: “The nurse will pick me up at eight o’clock.”
The man’s voice was very distinctive. At first glance, it sounded calm and gentle, like a light breeze and drizzle, but there was a hoarse quality in his throat, as if he was deliberately lowering his tone.
Which ward nurse is so irresponsible, leaving someone outside for so long? Aren’t they afraid something might happen?
Lu Dangui glanced at his phone; there were still about twenty minutes until eight o’clock.
The strange aura emanating from this person made him quite uneasy. There were all sorts of people in the psychiatric ward, and if something really went wrong with this person, Lu Dangui would be in deep trouble no matter what.
Temporarily setting aside the unpleasantness from earlier, Lu Dangui returned to the bench and sat down, secretly observing the wheelchair-bound man’s every move.
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