When she heard her senior brother say "no," Ye Wushu breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Ye Wushu pointed out: "Senior Brother, let me tell you—the thing people fear most in relationships is misunderstanding. If you have a mouth, you have to use it to make things clear, otherwise you can easily miss out on a lifetime together."
When Ye Wushu was little and watched TV dramas, she hated those male and female leads who wouldn't speak up—one misunderstanding could drag on for seven or eight episodes. Later, when she grew up, she realized that misunderstanding is the norm between people. If you asked her, it was because none of her best friends ever used their mouths when it came to romance.
Lu Junran didn't know how to say it.
He observed his junior sister's expression as he asked: "Junior Sister, if—just hypothetically—someone confessed their feelings to you, would you consider accepting or rejecting them?"
Ye Wushu: "You mean out of the blue? Then I might think they were playing truth or dare." She couldn't possibly imagine her senior brother having any other intentions; she just took it as casual conversation.
Lu Junran gathered his courage and pressed on: "Then would you agree?"
Ye Wushu thought for a moment: "That depends on whether I have feelings for him, I guess. If I already liked him, then of course I'd say yes. If we weren't close, I'd politely decline."
Lu Junran didn't have the courage to ask further. A courageous "mouth" wasn't so easy to grow—he chose to keep his shut.
Ye Wushu quickly added: "Though the chances are higher if he's handsome, hehe."
One sentence was all it took to leave her senior brother tossing and turning all night.
That night, Lu Junran had a nightmare. He dreamed that his junior sister was holding Zhao Hongxi's hand as she came before him and handed him an invitation. Her smile was sweet: "Senior Brother, please come to my wedding and be my witness. Thank you for bringing us together."
In the dream, Lu Junran took the invitation, was silent for a long time, then said: "Okay."
He woke from the dream at 3 a.m.
Lu Junran felt his throat aching as if it were splitting apart. He turned on the bedside lamp and went to the living room to get a glass of water. The contents of the dream slowly became clear at that moment.
His heart ached unbearably, turning into a sour plum soaked in a jar of vinegar.
And so, in that instant, it dawned on him—he had fallen in love with his junior sister.
As for whether his junior sister liked him, he didn't know. What he did know was that she liked Zhao Hongxi.
In the middle of the night, Lu Junran sent his good buddy two photos—one of himself and one of Zhao Hongxi, both found from the hospital's public account—and asked: 【Do you think he or I am better looking?】
His good buddy didn't see the message until the next morning: 【Huh? Account hacked?】
Lu Junran sent a voice message: 【It's me, Lu Junran.】
【Why are you comparing looks with someone else? What's up? Did this guy steal your girlfriend?】
Lu Junran: 【Sort of.】Sort of competing for his "future girlfriend."
【???】
In the end, his good buddy never answered the question—asking a straight man to judge which of two men was better looking was truly asking too much.
Lu Junran studied it himself but couldn't figure out where exactly he had lost.
Early the next morning, Lu Junran came to work at the ICU with two enormous dark circles under his eyes, his voice still hoarse. Ye Wushu was startled when she saw him: "Senior Brother, what happened to you? Did a family member hit you?"
Lu Junran waved his hand weakly: "Just a little cold, nothing serious."
Ye Wushu stared at his face for quite a while, which made Lu Junran wonder whether being sick had damaged his looks.
Ye Wushu looked as if she had discovered a whole new continent: "Senior Brother, you've got vocal fry."
Lu Junran: "…"
Of course, little Ye was still the same warm-hearted junior sister. "Senior Brother, if you're sick, go home and rest. Tell the teacher—I'll cover for you today."
Lu Junran refused firmly: "How could that work? It's just a slight cold." If he went back, he wouldn't get to see his junior sister.
But Lu Junran forgot one thing—by staying at the hospital, besides seeing his junior sister, he would also get to see the fully intact version of his rival in love, Zhao Hongxi.
Zhao Hongxi followed behind his mentor, He Feizhou, looking dignified and exceptionally eye-catching. Under his white coat, he wore a collared white shirt with dress pants, and he had already been praised by many: "Director He, this student of yours has quite the flair you had back in the day."
He Feizhou and Shao Hua were the "Surgical Twin Stars" of their time. Shao Hua was the senior, He Feizhou the junior, and both had fallen for their junior sister. After she chose He Feizhou, Shao Hua stepped aside and offered his blessings.
The public always loves to focus on such romantic gossip, but the truth was that by the time He Feizhou married their junior sister, Shao Hua already had a girlfriend he was deeply devoted to, and he brought her to the wedding.
Their falling-out began when Shao Hua took over their teacher's position. He Feizhou, dissatisfied with being subordinate to his senior, struck out on his own.
He Feizhou was certainly capable, but too aggressive, lacking a measure of Shao Hua's benevolence. Later, as his career soared, while his first wife was giving birth, the mistress he kept on the side came to provoke her at the door, ultimately driving his wife—their junior sister—into postpartum depression and suicide.
Shao Hua stopped associating with He Feizhou after that, not because he still harbored old feelings for their junior sister, but simply because he found the man utterly devoid of conscience.
However, He Feizhou's path to prominence was hardly honorable—he climbed through women. He used his looks and charisma to charm the daughter of a leader, and the wives he married afterward all helped advance his career.
So, if you want to choose a leader or mentor, you should look at the road they took to get there. If they rose primarily through genuine talent, they'll hold their students to high academic standards; if they rose through connections, with only their first degree being legitimate and everything else earned on the job, then the successor they cultivate will surely be someone skilled at social maneuvering.
People tend to favor those who resemble themselves.
He Feizhou was very fond of his student Zhao Hongxi, having already brought him to several "important dinners."
Hearing others praise his student, He Feizhou laughed heartily: "This student of mine is still single—any of you matchmakers out there, you'd better get on it!"
Lu Junran had no fondness for this pair of mentor and student. He turned and slipped into the adjacent ward, where he happened to lock eyes with a boy sitting on the bed playing a game.
Lu Junran glanced at the headboard card: Zhu Zian, 16 years old. His powerful memory instantly locked onto the information—the boy who had an early romance at school, was caught by his parents, and impulsively jumped off a building.
He had come to the ICU last week, undergone craniotomy, and at the time had an oral endotracheal tube with a ventilator. Who would have thought he was now fully conscious?
Indeed, kids recover faster.
But the boy wasn't completely healed—he had multiple fractures throughout his body and would still need at least three to four open reduction surgeries for the fractures. For now, his hands were the only parts of him that could move.
The sound of Honor of Kings came from his phone. Lu Junran glanced at the only finger Zhu Zian could move and couldn't help but marvel—you could never really know what your teammates in a game were going through.
Lu Junran sat down on the stool beside his bed and suddenly felt like chatting. "Kid, how did you end up in here?"
Although Lu Junran knew some of what had happened, he couldn't exactly bring it up directly.
Zhu Zian, having been through life and death, was surprisingly calm. "My girlfriend and I were dating early, and my mom caught us. She's the controlling type, and I was impulsive, so I jumped off the building."
Zhu Zian's build was fully that of an adult, but his face, his eyes, and his tone made it obvious he was still a high school student.
Lu Junran found Zhu Zian's words interesting—probably because he'd never had a teenage romance himself, so he couldn't quite understand.
"At your age, do you even know what love is?" Before you have the ability to support a life, before you can be sure of the future—isn't all that feeling too shallow?
Zhu Zian said, "So what? You adults overthink everything, don't you? I'm already a high schooler—there are even elementary school kids dating. We genuinely want to be together, so why do you all think it's just playing house, just immaturity?"
Lu Junran felt he must be crazy too, discussing love with a high schooler who'd jumped off a building. "So what do you think love is?"
"It's me liking her, and her liking me!" Zhu Zian said without hesitation. "And she can't like anyone else but me, and same for me."
Lu Junran asked, "And you still think that way now?"
"Of course!"
After a moment, Zhu Zian hesitated and added, "I shouldn't have been so impulsive. I don't know if she'll still want to be with me."
Impulse lasted only a second, yet it had caused an irreversible outcome. Zhu Zian seemed to know he would never go back to how things were.
He would be permanently disabled, which would affect his chances of finding a job he loved in the future, and would very likely affect his chances of starting a family with someone he loved.
But there was no cure for regret in this world, and he no longer had the courage to try to die again.
Zhu Zian looked at Lu Junran with envy. "You're a doctor here—you must be really capable, right? Are your parents proud of you?"
Most kids who get pushed to jump off a building by their parents have things piling up for a long time, and the last thing just becomes the final trigger.
Lu Junran didn't know how to answer. His parents had married young, built everything from nothing, and in the end, it turned into nothing but harsh words, until the legal documents read "irreconcilable differences."
When they divorced, he was sixteen. On paper, he went with his father, but in reality, he lived alone—because his stepmother didn't want to see him, and his biological mother didn't want to see a face so similar to her ex-husband's.
Were they proud of him? For as long as he could remember, his life had been spent amid endless arguments and insults. When they divorced, he'd actually felt relieved.
After that, he became the messenger between his parents, though he never understood why his mother insisted he convey her hatred of his father, and why his father made him pass along his disgust for his mother.
Lu Junran thought for a moment and said, "Every family situation is complicated. It's not necessarily true that just because you're outstanding, your parents will be proud of you. In fact, you should be responsible for your own life, and for the people who love you and whom you love."
He vaguely felt that his junior sister's life was not the same as his own. He was also somewhat afraid—afraid of repeating the story of his parents.
Zhu Zian seemed to see through his thoughts: "Doctor, is there someone you like?"
Lu Junran looked up and saw his junior sister walking in from outside. He made no move, and said nothing.
"Senior brother?" Ye Wushu saw that he had been in this ward for over ten minutes and couldn't help but wonder, "What's wrong with this patient?"
She never imagined that her senior brother, given his personality, would be chatting idly with a patient. She only assumed something was wrong with the patient.
Zhu Zian, that perceptive young boy, winked at Lu Junran. He had seen through Lu Junran's thoughts.
"Nothing." Lu Junran forced a light smile. "Just advising an impulsive teenager to cherish life."
Ye Wushu gave him a thumbs up.
Back in the office area, the ENT doctor who had come for rounds earlier was already gone. Only then did Lu Junran ask casually, "Zhao Hongxi came today. Didn't you talk to him?"
Ye Wushu: "?" She had been running around chasing after the nurse instructor's questions about medical orders. Zhao Hongxi, Wang Hongxi, Li Hongxi—she had no time to chat with any of them.
"Actually, I still think the ENT department is rotten at the core—like father, like son. An ENT doctor isn't a good match."
Ye Wushu was typing medical orders at lightning speed. Amid the noise, she looked up: "Huh? Senior brother, what did you say? I didn't catch that just now."
"Nothing."
"Bed 26's family members are here," the nurse said. "Who's going to get their signatures?"
Bed 26 was the woman from yesterday's "husband-and-wife hacking" incident.
The nurse whispered a warning: "It looks like her in-laws came. Be careful, you two."
Lu Junran stopped his junior sister who was about to get up. He first called security, then took the documents out to talk and get signatures.
The conversation couldn't even get past the first sentence.
The old woman at the door who was shouting the loudest wore a faded floral-print blouse, its collar densely patched with several mends. She stood there, back ramrod straight, chin slightly raised. "We're not treating her anymore! We want to go home!"
The woman in bed 26 had just undergone surgery and was still on the ventilator. Leaving the hospital now would be a death sentence.
Someone had apparently "coached" the old woman. She didn't mention her son, but her words were full of hatred: "You hospitals are all about robbing people blind and killing them! We want to go home—falling leaves return to their roots!"
Lu Junran paid no attention to what she said. "Legally, the only people who can sign for her are her husband, her children, and her biological parents. May I ask who you are?"
The old woman's neck stiffened: "I'm her mother-in-law—I'm her mother!"
"Ma'am, that won't do. You should notify her parents. And even if her parents do come, we would not agree to give up on a living person's life."
For terminal cancer patients or those with severe traumatic brain injury, it's one thing for direct relatives to sign and give up. But bed 26 hadn't suffered any damage to vital organs—she had a 99% chance of survival. Under such circumstances, how could the hospital possibly agree to just pull the plug on bed 26?
"If you refuse to notify them…" Lu Junran smiled slightly. "We'll have the police contact them. After all, her husband is gone, the child is underage, and only the parents are eligible to sign."
Ye Wushu stood behind him, worried the old lady might get up and attack him.
Fortunately, hospital security guards in riot gear stood on either side, holding riot forks, and the old lady didn't dare make a move.
After entering the ICU, Ye Wushu secretly gave her senior colleague a thumbs up, saying sheepishly, "I thought you might agree to let the family give up treatment." After all, she felt her senior colleague's thinking tended to be more cautious.
Lu Junran: "That won't do. It's illegal."
He had previously opposed the cardiac surgery department operating on Ge Yun because the surgical risks were too high, the prognosis too poor, the transplanted organ likely wouldn't survive, and the family's wishes weren't strong—high risk of medical disputes.
But this patient in Bed 26, though her injuries looked terrifying, hadn't damaged any vital organs. She'd be out of the ICU in a while. Pulling her tubes now would be no different from murder.
The family didn't have that kind of authority either, and moreover, they weren't even true family in the real sense.
"Besides, this isn't something I can agree to."
"What if they refuse to sign?"
"Report to higher-ups," Lu Junran said. "When you manage patients like this in the future, first notify your superiors, then file a record with the medical affairs office. In short, you need someone who can take the fall to sign."
Ye Wushu only half-understood. It wasn't until she herself became a senior physician that she realized these were truly "words of gold and jade."
"Still, I feel like patients who come in with various external injuries all have childhood trauma from their families of origin," Ye Wushu summarized. "That boy who came in last night with a severe asthma attack and cardiac arrest leading to hypoxic encephalopathy—his dad initially thought the kid was faking it, which delayed treatment. Sigh, it just shows kids these days don't have it easy growing up either."
A senior doctor passing by disagreed: "What childhood trauma from families of origin? I think kids these days are just raised too delicately. Every family has just one child, spoiled and pampered. They make a huge fuss over the slightest thing. Do adults have it easy?"
Ye Wushu immediately nodded in agreement.
Lu Junran found his junior colleague quite interesting. In today's popular parlance, she was someone with very low aggression. She was good at listening, disliked arguing, expressed her views without any intention of debating right or wrong.
Lu Junran was a bit curious. "Junior colleague, what do your parents do?"
Ye Wushu said, "Oh, my dad's an engineer, and my mom's a civil servant."
"Uncle and Auntie must have very good tempers, right?"
Ye Wushu confirmed, "Yes, my parents rarely argue with anyone."
Lu Junran could see it—only love could nurture a child with emotional stability.
Lu Junran probed subtly, "Do Uncle and Auntie have any requirements for your future spouse?"
Ye Wushu thought for a moment. "Not really… Oh! They did say, no criminal record within three generations, family harmony, no divorced families—parents must be in their first marriage."
Her senior colleague suddenly fell silent.
Ye Wushu didn't think much of it.
Love always makes people feel inferior, makes them retreat.
After lunch, the supervisor forwarded a notice about a mixer event to the group chat and tagged Ye Wushu and Lu Junran: [Xiao Ye, Xiao Lu, you're both single, right? This time the hospital and a big tech company are hosting a mixer event with plenty of high-quality single guests. Both of you should sign up.]
The hospital mentors loved playing matchmaker, especially for outstanding juniors like Ye Wushu and Lu Junran—they'd push them at every opportunity.
The supervisor said: [Big tech companies are great. Their employees earn high salaries, and the career peak periods happen to offset each other perfectly. What a great match!]
amino: [I've heard that a lot of programmers at big tech companies go bald.]
Deng Lingxiu thought he was worried there wouldn't be any attractive women at the tech company: [Xiao Lu, don't be sexist. Nowadays there are plenty of young women who are both beautiful and capable studying computer science—they're all excellent. Don't worry, the hospital's mixer events are very reliable. Many people have found partners through them. And even if that doesn't work out, it's still good to get to know the hospital's own staff and students!]
Ye Wushu had already filled out the registration form. She thought the mentor made a good point—regardless of anything else, it was an opportunity to meet more people.
Lu Junran noticed his junior sister filling out her registration form nearby and asked casually, "Junior sister, which day did you pick?""
Ye Wushu said, "October 3rd."
"OK." Lu Junran also checked October 3rd.
3 PM.
Lu Junran's head grew increasingly foggy, and unfortunately, it coincided with the afternoon visiting hours. The mixed scents and sounds made him so dizzy he wanted to vomit.
He was wearing a mask, so no one noticed his pale lips. They could only see his slightly furrowed brow and assumed he was in a bad mood.
It wasn't until the evening rounds, when Ye Wushu came to call him, that Lu Junran stood up and felt the world spin around him—he collapsed onto his junior female disciple.
Yes, that's right. He solidly knocked Ye Wushu to the ground.
Ye Wushu panicked: "Senior Brother?"" Her first instinct was to feel for his carotid pulse.
Thank goodness, there was still a heartbeat.
Then, the senior disciple opened his eyes. His voice was weak, but he still had breath: "It's fine, I'm still alive. Minor thing, no big deal."
The nurses who gathered around helped lift Lu Junran from the floor and brought over a temperature gun, scanning his forehead—39.2 degrees Celsius.
Even the ICU patients didn't run fevers higher than his.
Then they measured his heart rate and blood pressure.
Heart rate 110, blood pressure 100/40.
The supervisor who rushed over asked Ye Wushu: "How do you calculate the shock index?"
Ye Wushu said: "Heart rate divided by systolic pressure… 110 divided by 100 equals 1.1…" Ye Wushu was shocked: "Senior Brother, you're already in moderate shock!""
Lu Junran: "…"
During a fever, as body temperature rises, more water evaporates through the skin; metabolism accelerates, and the body produces more urine to dissipate heat, which also leads to fluid loss. If fluids aren't replenished in time, it leads to dehydration and hypovolemic shock.
Ye Wushu was very worried: "Maybe we should draw some blood first? It would be terrible if it's septic shock!"
Septic shock operates through a different mechanism—infection triggers systemic inflammatory response dysregulation, leading to circulatory disorders and cellular metabolic dysfunction.
In summary, hemorrhagic shock is the body lacking blood and water; septic shock is having "water," but the "water" isn't going where it should—it's a type of distributive shock.
Lu Junran said weakly, "It's not that serious." Based on his experience, it was just a viral cold. For someone his age and in good health, the immune system reacts strongly to the virus, which is why the symptoms are more pronounced.
But Ye Wushu wouldn't let him argue. She pressed him down and had the nurse give him a shot, draw blood, and hook him up to antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication first.
With a temperature of 39.2 degrees, the priority was to bring it down. Whether it was viral or bacterial, they'd administer the medication first—when it came to their own people, they always went with the heavy-duty stuff.
By the time Lu Junran finished his IV drip, it was already 8 PM. He drifted off into a drowsy sleep and only woke up to find himself leaning against his junior sister's shoulder.
And his junior sister was fully focused on trying to snag concert tickets.
Lu Junran didn't dare make a sound, afraid he might disrupt her efforts.
His phone lagged through a round, and the ticket grab failed.
"Damn it!" He heard his junior sister complain in a low voice, "Didn't grab it again."
In the office, only the two of them remained. Lu Junran felt his heart was about to leap out of his chest, probably because of the high fever.
"Can we find a scalper?"
Lu Junran suddenly spoke, startling Ye Wushu.
She turned her head, her lips brushing past Lu Junran's ear, but she didn't realize it. "Ah? A scalper? But I want to see the inner field, scalpers are really expensive…"
Ye Wushu counted on her fingers: "Ahhhh, so torn…"
Lu Junran's ears quietly turned bright red. He looked down at the IV needle on his hand, feeling for a moment that it was the blood vessels in his hand pulsing, and the next moment that it was the blood vessels in his ear pulsing.