After leaving the operating room, Shi Wenli went straight to the cafeteria.
It was already past one, and the cafeteria was well past the lunch rush.
Wu Xiaofeng had also just finished surgery and was eating when he looked up and saw someone walking through the entrance.
The two had run into each other in the operating-room corridor the day before, but both had been rushing to their surgeries, so they had only exchanged a few words.
“Chief Shi, over here.” Wu Xiaofeng greeted him warmly and pointed to the empty seat across from him.
Shi Wenli carried his tray over and sat down.
Wu Xiaofeng sighed. “You’re really something. You even managed to come back from your training a month early.”
Shi Wenli sat down. “I was lucky enough to have a good mentor.”
“Oh, stop being so modest.”
After chatting for a while, Wu Xiaofeng brought up what had happened during the year Shi Wenli had been away. Xu Qinghe had frequently stopped orthopedic surgeries.
“She wasn’t assigned to my operating room. She stopped surgeries in Chief Liao’s group. Now that you’re back, talk to her too. Tell her not to be so stubborn.”
Before picking up his chopsticks, Shi Wenli casually adjusted the mask hanging around his neck and said, “Stopping a surgery is her professional judgment. I don’t know much about anesthesia, so I can’t have an outsider like me telling an expert how to do her job.”
Wu Xiaofeng teased him, “I knew you’d take her side. I’m asking you to talk to her about her temper.”
Everyone in the hospital knew that, apart from his younger sister, the woman Shi Wenli was closest to was Xu Qinghe.
Shi Wenli already had an easygoing personality, and he was even more patient and accommodating with Xu Qinghe.
He was the only person in the hospital who could get Xu Qinghe to listen. Even the hospital director might not have that kind of influence over her, which was why Wu Xiaofeng wanted him to talk to her.
Shi Wenli continued, “I’m not taking her side. I just tried looking at things from her perspective.”
As for saying that she was too stubborn, he asked, “Have you guys never argued with her before? Is that why you want me to persuade her?”
Wu Xiaofeng was speechless for a moment before laughing helplessly.
Shi Wenli said, “Talking to her won’t solve the problem.”
“Then, Chief Shi, please enlighten me. How should we solve it?”
Shi Wenli sincerely offered his advice, hoping they could resolve their disagreements.
“I know her. She would never start an argument with you for no reason, and she wouldn’t stop a surgery without a reason either. Don’t argue with her. Work together to solve whatever problem comes up. Then there won’t be any conflict.”
Wu Xiaofeng smiled and surrendered. “…Fine. Just pretend I never mentioned it.”
As he ate, Shi Wenli asked, “She spent this entire year mainly focusing on neurosurgical anesthesia. How did she still have so much time to cover orthopedic surgeries?”
Wu Xiaofeng looked at him strangely. “You don’t know?”
Shi Wenli really didn’t.
He suddenly realized that during the past year, he had been so focused on finishing his training early and working nonstop on his projects that he hadn’t even had time to keep in touch with her.
Wu Xiaofeng explained, “She’s making up for her surgery numbers. Not just orthopedics. She’s also been taking cases from other departments.”
Over the past few years, Xu Qinghe had devoted herself to two highly specialized areas of anesthesia—neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. As a result, her overall anesthesia case numbers in other departments had fallen seriously short of the required quota.
During Doctors’ Day in August, her chief had spoken to her and urged her to make up the missing cases as soon as possible.
Orthopedics had the largest shortage.
General surgery was also short by quite a few cases.
Since August, in addition to handling cardiac and neurosurgical anesthesia, she had started taking cases from every department.
After working desperately for several months, she had made up a considerable number of cases, but she was still short.
After working together on Mr. Zhang’s surgery, Shi Wenli and Xu Qinghe didn’t run into each other for several days.
For the past few days, Xu Qinghe had spent every day working overtime. Before she knew it, December 30 had arrived.
She flipped through the surgical records and calculated that it would probably take another six months to make up all her missing cases.
She was still short of nearly sixty orthopedic surgeries alone.
Just the previous week, she had stopped two orthopedic surgeries, and things had ended on very unpleasant terms.
The orthopedic department accused her of deliberately making trouble and, unable to contain their anger, had argued with her directly.
At the time, Zhang Xun had been afraid she would be at a disadvantage, so he had pulled her partly behind him while taking her side.
Afterward, Zhang Xun had worried. “Sister Xu, good things might not travel far, but bad things definitely spread fast. What if it reaches the hospital leadership?”
Several days had passed peacefully.
Apparently, it hadn’t reached the leadership. Otherwise, Chief Jiang would have already talked to her about it after their last surgery.
Today, her first surgery was a thoracic surgery case, with Hospital Director Jiang once again serving as the chief surgeon.
As the surgery was coming to an end, Director Jiang stopped when he passed by Xu Qinghe.
He had wanted to talk to her last time, but a work call had interrupted him.
This time, no matter what, he had to give her a little warning.
“Qinghe, I heard about what happened last week. You were right to stop the surgeries. I’ve already spoken to the orthopedic department about it too.”
Director Jiang deliberately paused.
“Next time you run into a problem, communicate properly. Don’t be so quick-tempered.”
He only gave her a gentle reminder and didn’t elaborate.
Xu Qinghe said, “Director Jiang, my tone that day really wasn’t appropriate. I’ll definitely pay more attention in the future. Our department chief also asked me to reflect on what I did that day. I’ll submit a written self-criticism to you in a couple of days.”
Director Jiang: “…”
Her tone was gentle, and she had a good attitude about admitting her mistake.
For a moment, he didn’t know how to react.
Not only was she being cooperative, she had even volunteered to write a self-criticism.
Could it really be because Shi Wenli had returned and she had finally listened to someone’s advice?
“There’s no need to write one. It wasn’t such a serious mistake.”
But Xu Qinghe insisted. “If it should be written, I’ll write it.”
Director Jiang suddenly felt uneasy.
When someone behaved unusually, it was rarely a good sign.
A moment later, he realized the reason.
Once she submitted a self-criticism, if she was complained about again in the future, he wouldn’t have much else to say.
Zhang Xun glanced at his mentor.
Why was she voluntarily writing a self-criticism?
The two hip replacement surgeries she had stopped had been based on her comprehensive assessment that the patients’ anesthesia risks were too high. Under those physical conditions, anesthesia could easily trigger a cerebral infarction and paralysis.
But the orthopedic department insisted the surgeries could be performed without any problem.
The anesthesia and orthopedic teams had failed to communicate properly and ended up arguing.
At the time, the orthopedic doctors had given her a harsh lecture, but she had stood her ground and refused to back down even a little.
Before Zhang Xun had started his internship at the hospital, he had heard that Xu Qinghe was the doctor most frequently reported to the hospital leadership. She was also a regular visitor to the Medical Affairs Office.
Sometimes, when a patient’s anesthesia risk was too high and a surgery needed to be stopped, the surgeons refused to agree. Xu Qinghe was the only person in the entire anesthesia department who dared to stand up to them.
She even stood up to the chief of the anesthesia department and never backed down.
So whenever she insisted on stopping a surgery, the surgery was ultimately stopped.
That was why she had become famous throughout the hospital.
Compared with Shi Wenli, who was known for getting along with everyone, she was practically his complete opposite.
There was another thing everyone in the hospital knew about her:
She owned more pairs of Crocs than any other doctor in the operating rooms.
Zhang Xun had once asked her why she bought so many pairs.
She had said that every time someone complained about her, she would buy herself a nice pair of Crocs to cheer herself up.
Somehow, she had ended up with so many pairs.
……
There were six surgeries today, and they finished a little earlier than usual.
Before leaving work, Xu Qinghe went for her routine preoperative visit.
Her first anesthesia case tomorrow morning was an eighty-two-year-old man in general surgery.
The elderly patient refused general anesthesia. However, he had severe degenerative disease of the spine, with nerve compression that normally caused numbness in his legs. If spinal anesthesia were used, there would be a significant risk of nerve injury during the puncture.
Ever since he had been admitted to the hospital, he had repeatedly told his attending doctor that he absolutely refused general anesthesia.
One of his card-playing friends had undergone a minor operation under general anesthesia the previous month. After being discharged, the man had seemed noticeably slower. He couldn’t even play his cards properly.
His friend had also complained that intubation had been terribly uncomfortable and warned them all to take good care of their health.
Because of the elderly man’s condition, the attending doctor had requested a preoperative consultation and asked neurosurgery to evaluate his neurological function.
Before Xu Qinghe arrived at the ward, several of the man’s children were trying to persuade him.
Their father’s card-playing friend had only experienced temporary cognitive slowing and would gradually recover.
“Dad, if you need general anesthesia, then just have it. With your spine condition, spinal anesthesia is actually more dangerous than general anesthesia.”
But the old man was stubborn and refused to listen.
His eldest son was a doctor himself.
“Dad, general anesthesia won’t make you stupid. Don’t you trust your own son?”
“I really don’t.”
“…”
The old man waved his hand.
“Enough. I’m not having general anesthesia, and I’m definitely not getting intubated.”
Just thinking about having a tube inserted through his mouth made him nervous.
“Dad, intubation isn’t as scary as you think.”
“It’s easy for you to say when it’s not your mouth they’re putting the tube into!”
“…”
His eldest son suppressed his irritation and tried to reason with him.
“Dad, don’t make things difficult for the anesthesiologist. Sometimes you can’t just do whatever you want. It depends on your actual physical condition.”
The old man insisted, “Why did I come here for surgery? Because this hospital has excellent doctors!”
His eldest son was speechless.
Some risks had nothing to do with how skilled the doctors were.
Fortunately, his father wasn’t his patient. Otherwise, the father and son might have ended up fighting right there.
Just then, Xu Qinghe pushed open the door and entered the ward.
After briefly introducing herself, she carefully asked about the old man’s condition.
“Doctor, you don’t need to explain much. I understand the risks. I can sign the consent form right now. I only have one request. Give me anesthesia in my lower back. I absolutely refuse general anesthesia.”
His eldest son interrupted, “Doctor, don’t listen to my dad. Spinal anesthesia carries significant risks. I know.”
The old man became agitated and sat upright.
“Who’s having the surgery, anyway? I’ll sign even if the risks of spinal anesthesia are high!”
Seeing that the two were about to argue, Xu Qinghe smiled gently.
“Sir, please lie back down first. Let me take a look at your lumbar MRI.”
The old man was stubborn and refused to lie down, angrily grumbling at his son.
“Sir, whenever you get angry, your blood pressure goes up. If you make yourself sick, it’ll affect your ability to get discharged and go play cards, won’t it?”
“…”
Faced with Xu Qinghe’s gentle tone, the old man became somewhat embarrassed and reluctantly lay back down to humor her.
From the MRI, the spinal disease was indeed quite severe, but a puncture was still possible.
Xu Qinghe said, “Sir, whether we can safely perform spinal anesthesia still depends on the neurosurgeon’s assessment of how much your nerves are being compressed. We’ll make the final decision after that.”
The old man’s tone softened.
“When can the neurosurgery doctor come?”
Xu Qinghe didn’t know either.
The attending doctor called the neurosurgery resident on duty and tactfully urged him.
“Are the chiefs still in surgery?”
Because the patient was elderly and already had some neurological problems, the attending doctor had specifically requested a doctor at associate-chief level or above when he applied for the consultation yesterday.
The department chiefs were certainly busy.
The resident replied, “Chief Shi happens to be here, but there’s a patient’s family member in his office discussing something with him right now. Would ten minutes be okay?”
“Sure, sure. Thanks.”
It hadn’t even been ten minutes before Shi Wenli appeared in the general surgery ward.
He carefully examined the old man’s lumbar MRI.
Xu Qinghe stood beside him, looking at the scans on the lightbox together with him.
Shi Wenli pointed to a spot.
“Look here. The spinal canal stenosis is quite obvious.”
Xu Qinghe said, “Only the L4-L5 space is relatively good.”
Shi Wenli examined the images carefully again.
“Based on the degree of nerve compression, it isn’t particularly severe. The nerve roots aren’t being trapped. However, because he already has some nerve disease, there is still a risk with the puncture.”
Xu Qinghe nodded.
The patient’s spinal canal was in poor condition, making the puncture particularly challenging.
She made her decision.
“I’ll try. It should be fine. If the puncture doesn’t go smoothly, I’ll switch to general anesthesia.”
Shi Wenli turned off the lightbox.
“I’ve only been away for a year, and now you’re independently handling Level IV neurosurgical anesthesia. Your puncture skills have improved this much too. Did you get any rest this year?”
It was obvious that she had worked incredibly hard.
Xu Qinghe smiled faintly.
“Basically none.”
As they talked, they walked back toward the ward.
Shi Wenli carefully examined the elderly man’s neurological function. After evaluating everything, he told Xu Qinghe, “His neurological function is also acceptable.”
Xu Qinghe looked at the patient.
“Sir, if you feel a sensation like electricity shooting down your leg during the puncture, you need to tell me immediately.”
As soon as the old man heard that spinal anesthesia was possible, he agreed enthusiastically.
“Okay! Doctor, I’ll cooperate completely!”
Xu Qinghe reminded him, “Sir, from now on, let’s stay happy and don’t get angry. Keep your blood pressure under control.”
“Okay, okay, okay. I’ll follow the doctor’s orders.”
As he agreed, the old man turned around and glared at his eldest son.
“See? Look at how this doctor treats me.”
His eldest son: “…”
After finishing the visit, Xu Qinghe left the ward together with Shi Wenli.
“How is Teacher Zhang recovering?”
She had been so busy these past few days that after making the twenty-four-hour postoperative follow-up visit to Mr. Zhang, she hadn’t returned to the neurosurgery ward.
Shi Wenli said, “He’s recovering well. He should be discharged in a couple of days.”
Mentioning Mr. Zhang reminded him that he still owed her an orange.
“When you have time, come to my office and get the orange. I also have some snacks. Take them all.”
Xu Qinghe hadn’t expected him to still remember it after several days.
She didn’t refuse.
“Snacks from Shih Miao?”
There was no way he had bought snacks himself.
They were either from his colleagues or his younger sister, and usually the latter.
The cardiac surgery department was famous throughout the hospital for having an abundance of snacks, especially because of his younger sister, Shih Miao.
Shi Wenli said, “No. They were from Jiang Yang.”
Speaking of Jiang Yang, Xu Qinghe had run into him a couple of days ago when she went to the cardiac surgery department for a postoperative follow-up. He had casually stuffed a bag of nuts into her hands.
Jiang Yang was Director Jiang’s eldest son and a cardiac surgeon who jokingly claimed to be the second-best-looking man in the hospital.
Director Jiang’s precious eldest son was not only disliked by his own father; when he first joined the hospital, even the dogs seemed to dislike him.
When Jiang Yang first started working at the hospital, he had all kinds of bad habits. After going through some experiences, however, he had become extremely good at flattering people. He called everyone “brother” or “sister” and even handed out snacks.
The elevator arrived.
The two stepped inside.
He was going back to the neurosurgery ward, while she was returning to the anesthesia office.
Xu Qinghe checked the time. It was already 7:15 p.m.
“Will you be in your office later?” she asked.
“I will.”
Whenever the snacks came from him, she never stood on ceremony.
Xu Qinghe said, “I’ll go upstairs to get my bag, then come to your office to put the snacks in it.”
Shi Wenli laughed.
“…There aren’t that many snacks. You don’t need such a big bag.”
Xu Qinghe smiled awkwardly.
Shi Wenli then added gently, “I’m working overtime tonight. I’ll be in my office all night, so come whenever you want.”
Just like before he left for his training, working overtime was still part of his daily routine.
Now that Shih Miao had started her own family, he no longer needed to divide his attention, so he spent even more time at the hospital.
Xu Qinghe returned to her office, changed into her own clothes, grabbed her bag, and went to the neurosurgery ward.
There really weren’t many snacks: one mandarin orange, two bags of mixed nuts, and several packets of dried strawberries.
Xu Qinghe left one bag of nuts for him.
“One bag is enough for me.”
Shi Wenli didn’t take it. He put it back on her side.
“You know I don’t have a habit of eating snacks.”
“How many surgeries do you have tomorrow?” he asked casually.
Xu Qinghe held up her fingers to indicate a number.
She had seven anesthesia cases tomorrow, so she would probably be getting off work late again.
She put the snacks and orange into her bag but didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she sat down in the chair beside him.
It was rare for her to finish work this early, and she finally had some time to talk to him.
But before she could say anything, his phone rang.
It was a patient’s family member calling specifically to thank him. They said the patient had been recovering well since returning home.
With nothing else to do, Xu Qinghe took the mandarin orange from her bag and slowly peeled it.
The distinctive citrus fragrance gradually filled the air.
She ate the orange, which was neither sour nor particularly sweet, while listening to his voice as he spoke on the phone.
For her, it was another kind of relaxation.
By the time he hung up, she had just finished the last segment of orange.
She wanted to stay a little longer, but she didn’t want to interfere with his overtime work. She stood up to leave and casually thanked him again for the snacks.
“I’ve been so busy this year that I always forget to bring snacks from home. Usually, I have to rely on everyone else to share theirs with me.”
Shi Wenli said, “From now on, whenever Jiang Yang gives me snacks, I’ll save them for you.”
He rarely ate snacks himself. Jiang Yang simply forced them on him.
With Jiang Yang’s enthusiasm, refusing them was almost impossible.
Xu Qinghe didn’t stand on ceremony with him.
“Then thank you in advance, Chief Shi.”
“You don’t need to thank me. Working with me is hard enough. Besides, I’m just passing along something I received. Oh, right…” Shi Wenli suddenly remembered something. “I heard you had an argument with the orthopedic department last week?”
Xu Qinghe: “…”
Zhang Xun had been right.
Good news might not travel far, but bad news certainly spread throughout the entire operating room.
Shi Wenli had only just returned, yet he already knew the exact timing.
“Director Jiang already talked to me about it. It’s fine now. I’ll submit the self-criticism in a few days.”
As long as it was resolved, that was all that mattered.
Shi Wenli said casually, “Jiang Yang has a template for self-criticisms. You can ask him for a few copies.”
Xu Qinghe laughed.
Jiang Yang was frequently criticized, so writing self-criticisms was practically routine for him.
“No need to ask Jiang Yang for a template. Director Jiang only said that I was too quick-tempered and should communicate better with the surgical departments. He didn’t say anything else. I’m the one who decided to write the self-criticism.”
When she mentioned her temper, Shi Wenli said, “Everyone may experience someone’s personality differently.”
He was being honest.
“I actually think your temper is pretty good.”
Xu Qinghe merely smiled without replying.
That was only because his temper was so good.
Over the years, whenever the two of them had disagreed at work, he had always discussed the problem with her and worked out a solution together. He had never once lashed out at her.