Ye Wushu replied: "Just chatted briefly."
That single sentence was enough to unsettle Lu Junran's mind.
Chatted briefly? About what? How brief? After finishing the conversation with his junior sister, Lu Junran couldn't help but feel regret—he had an indescribable sense of losing control.
He could only attribute it to his concern for his junior sister. He was afraid she might be deceived or taken advantage of, though even he didn't fully believe that excuse himself.
Monday's shift found Lu Junran just as distracted as ever. In the morning, his senior fellow apprentice came by to check on the emergency patient from the previous night. A follow-up CT scan showed signs that the hematoma was being absorbed, sparing the patient from the ordeal of a third surgery.
As the senior passed through the office area and saw Lu Junran looking so "spiritless," he teased, "What's wrong? Having a fight with your girlfriend?"
Though he was called "senior fellow apprentice," this senior was actually more than ten years older than Lu Junran, separated by several cohorts. They simply shared the same mentor, and neither knew much about the other's personal life.
Seeing Lu Junran's striking appearance, the senior naturally assumed he was in a relationship.
Lu Junran found it baffling: "Huh?"
"No," Lu Junran said. "Just didn't sleep last night. A bit tired."
The senior laughed heartily, saying he still needed more practice. "To be a neurosurgeon, you must not fear staying up all night!"
Lu Junran: "…" He could already tell.
Lu Junran spent another lonely day at work. He discovered that the life of an ICU or internal medicine doctor was utterly dull—dealing with trivial matters every day, with some patients who would never recover, merely kept alive by medication as they approached the end of their lives.
In comparison, he still preferred surgery. Although some surgical patients began their countdown the day they were diagnosed with malignant tumors, surgeons were only responsible for the operation itself—any postoperative issues were directly transferred to the ICU or internal medicine.
Of course, Lu Junran was still too naive at this point. Internal medicine, surgery—whatever the department, as long as it was a clinical unit in a hospital, none of it was any good.
On Tuesday, Ye Wushu arrived on time.
During the morning meeting, Wu Yue asked with concern, "Feeling better?"
Lu Junran pricked up his ears on the side.
He was always the "arrive-at-the-last-minute" type, but today he had surprisingly gotten up early. The moment his junior sister stepped into the conference room, his gaze quietly locked onto her.
Her face seemed a bit thinner.
"All recovered now," Ye Wushu said apologetically. "Sorry for all the trouble I caused everyone."
Wu Yue took the opportunity to mention Lu Junran: "You should thank Junior Lu here. He's worked very hard these past two days."
So Ye Wushu's gaze turned toward him. Lu Junran met her eyes and panicked, completely losing his composure.
As for what Ye Wushu said, he didn't hear a single word. He sat there with his eyes lowered, only able to see his junior sister's white coat, with a multi-functional percussion hammer in her pocket—an essential item for neurology doctors during ward rounds.
After the morning meeting ended, everyone filed out one by one, preparing to make their rounds. At that moment, Ye Wushu walked over to Lu Junran's side: "Senior, I've ordered lunch for today. Don't buy your own."
The scent of his junior sister's hair drifted over, and Lu Junran felt utterly dizzy. He couldn't say anything at all, only managing a soft "Mm."
This "indifferent" demeanor of Lu Junran's, as seen through Ye Wushu's eyes, meant that her senior was upset.
Ye Wushu could completely understand. Because she had taken leave, her senior fellow apprentice had to cover a 24-hour shift, plus an additional day shift from 8 AM to 5 PM. If it had been her, she would have been unhappy too.
As for why her senior fellow apprentice didn't refuse to help her, it was probably out of gentlemanly courtesy, and since the attending physician had asked, it would have been awkward to decline directly.
Lu Junran hadn't thought that far at all. He just suddenly didn't know how to interact with his junior fellow apprentice anymore. Now, whenever he got close to her, he felt uncomfortable all over. He had planned to write medical histories and handle medical orders to distract himself, but…
"Senior fellow apprentice, I've already written them for you!"
Ye Wushu was also replying quickly in the group chat. Almost as soon as the nurse posted a question, she immediately responded with a solution.
Lu Junran suddenly found himself with nothing to do.
"Senior fellow apprentice." Ye Wushu moved her stool closer. "I'll pay back the shift you covered for me."
"No need." Lu Junran suddenly had a flash of inspiration, as if his brain had just started working. "If you really want to repay me, how about… you treat me to a meal?"
Ye Wushu agreed without a second thought. By the unwritten rules of the profession, asking someone to cover your shift always came with compensation, especially in emergency situations like this—it was a debt of gratitude.
Ye Wushu immediately opened a food app on her phone and started picking restaurants: "This weekend? Which place do you want, senior fellow apprentice?"
Hmm? There was a follow-up question? This stumped Lu Junran. In his mind, he never let a lady pay, but if his junior fellow apprentice treated him first, then he'd have a reason to treat her back.
After thinking it over, Lu Junran said, "How about you just treat me to the cafeteria?"
Ye Wushu was dumbfounded: "Huh?"
She suspected her senior fellow apprentice was so poor from his PhD studies that even when someone offered to treat him, he'd only eat at the cafeteria. How pitiful. Ye Wushu instantly switched to a look filled with sympathy.
But Lu Junran didn't see anything wrong with it.
"Then… okay then." Under Lu Junran's insistence, Ye Wushu added, "But I already ordered lunch for today. How about we eat at the cafeteria tomorrow instead?"
Lu Junran happily agreed.
If his mother ever found out about this, she would definitely scold this fool. He finally managed to ask a girl to eat alone with him, and instead of booking a Western restaurant, he was eating at the hospital cafeteria!
Ye Wushu had ordered clay pot soup for lunch. Having learned her lesson from the last time she ordered takeout, she ordered something light—two servings of old hen soup with rice set meals.
Last time during a family visitation, one family member had brought a pot of chicken soup, and the aroma had made her mouth water.
The ICU also had patients who were conscious. With the attending physician's permission, family members could bring home-cooked meals and hand them to the nursing staff to feed the patients.
"Wonder if this place is any good."
While Lu Junran was still "at a loss" staring at the takeout packaging, Ye Wushu had already quickly unwrapped the clay pot from inside.
His gaze began to move beyond his control.
"Back when I was at home, every time there was a big exam or an important occasion, my dad would go to the market and buy an old hen to make soup for me. It's been so long since I've had soup…"
He watched his junior fellow apprentice say this, then tilt her head back and take a deep breath, as if trying to inhale all the aroma into her stomach, like a little squirrel storing food.
"Junior fellow apprentice, where's your hometown?" Lu Junran imitated her and peeled open the foil wrapping on his own.
"A City—the A City where not even a single duck can leave alive." Ye Wushu had already scooped a spoonful of soup into her mouth. When she looked up at him, her glasses were fogged with steam, so she couldn't see his expression.
Ye Wushu continued her enthusiastic introduction, "Senior Brother, do you like duck? Roast duck or salted duck? Next time I'll have my dad send over two."
Lu Junran looked a bit troubled: "I've never eaten duck." Land-raised poultry like that—low-grade, artificially farmed—had never made it onto the Lu family's dining table.
Ye Wushu took off her now-unreadable glasses and blinked in bewilderment: "Senior Brother, you don't have some special religious belief, do you?"
"Oh, wait, no—last time you ate stir-fried pork with me, and you seemed to enjoy it plenty."
Lu Junran explained helplessly, "No, I'm a Party member. I just haven't eaten it."
Ye Wushu's gaze at him grew even more subtle. Surely Senior Brother's family wasn't so poor as all that?
Besides, the school cafeteria was subsidized, the food was cheap, and duck wasn't expensive either. Senior Brother couldn't possibly be surviving on plain white rice and steamed buns, could he?
Lu Junran had no idea what misunderstanding his junior sister had cooked up. He opened his mouth, then ultimately chose to lower his head and sip his soup.
There wasn't much to say about the takeout—it was all the taste of pre-made dishes and additives—but Lu Junran watched his junior sister drink with gusto, saying it tasted just like her father's cooking.
His junior sister really did look easy to fool.
After the meal, the work began.
First came three arterial blood gas draws. Venipuncture was done by nurses, but arterial blood gases required a doctor to stick the needle.
Ye Wushu remained eager and proactive: "Senior Brother, you sit and rest. I'll go handle it!"
The ICU was full of restless, delirious patients. Even with their limbs restrained by straps, they could sometimes hurt people. Lu Junran didn't feel at ease and followed along.
Ye Wushu gathered the arterial blood gas kit and walked to the bedside. Only when she looked up did she realize Senior Brother was right behind her.
Senior Brother wore a stern face, his expression serious: "I'll hold the patient down for you."
Ye Wushu was deeply moved. Senior Brother was truly a good man. She felt guilty for having "looked down on" him a few days ago for not knowing how to write medical histories.
The first patient had no endotracheal tube, but he was very agitated and had been placed in restraints. Last night at midnight, he'd shouted that he was a Star Warrior. Today, upon seeing Ye Wushu, he called her "Officer."
"Officer! Someone's trying to harm me! Save me!"
Then he was mercilessly pinned down by Lu Junran, and two sticks went into his radial artery.
As they left the room, the patient was still shouting: "Help! Someone's trying to kill me!"
Lu Junran said, "This is a post-thoracic-surgery patient. He's been a bit delirious for several days now. We should get a psychiatry consult."
For a moment, Ye Wushu couldn't tell whether he was making a dry joke: "Huh? Does our hospital even have a psychiatry department?"
"We do. Though we usually request an outside consult—Wanping South Road, Number 400."
Ye Wushu: Fine.
Useful new knowledge acquired.
After finishing the three blood gas draws, Ye Wushu was somewhat spent. But she glanced at her expressionless senior brother and felt that the one truly spent should be him.
Each of the three patients was bigger and more agitated than the last. When Ye Wushu stuck the needle in, the patient nearly bounced off the bed—thankfully, Senior Brother held him down firmly.
Ye Wushu let out a sincere sigh: "Good thing Senior Brother is here." And: "I need to start going to the gym."
Lu Junran frowned slightly. "Keeping fit is all well and good, but if you run into a patient who's lost their mind, it's best to make a run for it first." He glanced at his junior sister's slender frame and suddenly grew worried—what if she encountered a difficult patient at the next department? What would she do?
He cautioned her with concern, "Junior sister, whatever you do, don't get into conflicts with patients or their families. Some people have something wrong with their heads."
Ye Wushu: "…" Wait a minute—wasn't it always the senior brother who was the tough one? She swore she was completely a pushover.