79... 78... 80... 78... 78... 80...
Dr. Xi Zhen stared at the numbers on the monitor, which were now fluctuating steadily between those three values. She then looked at the ridiculously young face and was suddenly overcome with a profound sense of unreality.
It felt like she was in a dream.
The intractable problem that plagued every obstetrician had been solved so effortlessly by this young doctor?
She had never believed anyone could treat umbilical cord torsion.
It was only because she couldn’t refuse the desperate pleas of the pregnant woman and her family, and also to make them give up all hope, that she had agreed to contact that so-called colleague who had been making shameless, fraudulent claims online.
Dr. Xi had thought the person would find all sorts of excuses to back out.
Unexpectedly, he had agreed.
Even more unexpectedly, he had actually shown up.
And he was surprisingly young, with no sense of reverence.
Since that was the case, Dr. Xi hadn’t put up much of a fight. She hadn’t verified his true skills, and had even pushed things along to let him enter the operating room and show what he could do.
Dr. Xi had to admit it.
Her motives had been a bit dark, driven by a fair bit of pique. Who could blame her, when the patient and her family had so stubbornly refused to listen to her expert advice?
Dr. Xi secretly felt that a woman going through menopause had every right to be willful.
Besides, with her there as a backstop, no matter how bad things got, there was a limit to how terrible the outcome could be.
The fetus’s actual condition was what it was; the chances of survival were infinitesimal to begin with.
Dr. Xi had wanted to use the cruel reality of the situation to make the patient and her family understand, clearly and viscerally.
That so-called "folk remedies for major illnesses" and "hidden masters among the common folk" were nothing more than self-deceiving platitudes.
In modern society, there were no forgotten sages in the countryside or reclusive masters—only charlatans.
But the truth was, she was wrong. She’d been completely and utterly proven wrong.
When Dr. Xi saw Yu Zhiming stop his hand movements, she knew the treatment was complete and felt compelled to raise her hands and applaud lightly.
With her taking the lead, the other observers unreservedly broke into enthusiastic applause.
Inside the operating room, the applause was like a rising tide.
An excited Su Tong skipped over to Yu Zhiming and gave his chest a playful little punch.
"Zhiming, how did you get to be so skilled?"
"The saying ’one should be seen with new eyes after an absence of three days’ doesn’t even begin to describe how much you’ve changed."
She then patted her own chest, looking as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her heart.
"Zhiming, you have no idea."
"When I saw it was you walking into the operating room, I was shocked. And terrified."
Su Tong gave Yu Zhiming another playful little punch.
"Tell me, how are you going to make it up to me?"
Yu Zhiming chuckled. "How about a big meal?"
Just then, a voice cut in.
"You two know each other?"
Su Tong flinched slightly and answered cautiously, "Director, we were university classmates."
Dr. Xi let out a cool, indifferent "Oh," then looked at Yu Zhiming and said in a serious tone, "Dr. Yu, let’s go outside."
"The treatment is over. We shouldn’t keep the family waiting in suspense for too long."
"Alright, Dr. Xi. After you..."
Yu Zhiming replied politely, then said to Su Tong, "You should stay with us too."
"I have to drive back overnight soon, so I can’t stay in Jinling for long..."
When Father Xiao learned that the treatment was successful and his unborn grandson was completely out of danger—a fact he confirmed with Dr. Xi—he was so overcome with emotion that his eyes immediately turned red.
Mrs. Xiao was even more emotional, covering her mouth as choked sobs escaped.
When Yu Zhiming tried to take his leave, an emotional Father Xiao grabbed his arm.
"Dr. Yu, absolutely not!"
"You drove all this way through the night to get here! You must at least stay for one night and rest properly. Let us show you our sincere hospitality before you head back!"
"If you leave right away like this, you’ll be making me lose face."
His arm was starting to hurt from the grip, so Yu Zhiming deeply felt the sincerity of the man’s desire for him to stay.
He continued to decline, saying, "Mr. Xiao, the main reason is that I have patients waiting for me back at the hospital. I can’t stay."
This was a powerful enough reason that Father Xiao couldn’t force him to stay, so he settled for the next best thing.
"Dr. Yu, you must at least stay for a late-night snack, right?"
"I’ve already had it all prepared. A late-night snack won’t take much time."
Yu Zhiming did indeed feel a bit hungry, so he nodded and agreed.
He then pointed to Su Tong beside him.
"This is my university classmate, Su Tong. She’s now a Ph.D. student at Jinling University Medical College."
"We haven’t seen each other in a long time..."
Father Xiao replied heartily, "Together, together."
"Dr. Yu, do you have any other classmates or friends here? Call them over, too."
Yu Zhiming shook his head. "Just her!"
Su Tong, however, felt a bit awkward and was about to decline when she heard Dr. Xi say, "Just go together."
"Yes, Director!" Su Tong replied obediently...
Yu Zhiming changed his clothes and quickly washed up. Then, along with his sister, Su Tong, and Dr. Xi Zhen, he followed Father Xiao and his son out of the obstetrics and gynecology building.
"Hey, Su Tong..."
Yu Zhiming asked her with feigned casualness, "You’ve been out for so long. Don’t you need to let your boyfriend know?"
Su Tong waved a hand and said, "No need."
"I already told him when I came over that I’d probably be back very late."
CRACK...
Yu Zhiming thought he could hear the sound of his own heart breaking. An indescribable, aching sorrow washed over his entire body...
The dining location was inside a luxury RV, converted from a large passenger bus, parked on the hospital grounds.
The late-night meal consisted of Jinling specialties: duck blood and vermicelli soup, salt-cured duck, Mingzhu-style stewed eel, and lion’s head meatballs, among other delicacies.
The food was delicious, which offered a small measure of comfort to Yu Zhiming’s wounded heart.
Halfway through the meal, Dr. Xi couldn’t hold back any longer and asked, "Dr. Yu, forgive my forwardness, but this massage technique of yours for treating umbilical cord torsion—is it a family secret?"
"Or is it..."
Not wanting outsiders to know too much about his situation, Yu Zhiming answered vaguely, "My father was once a rural barefoot doctor who studied traditional Chinese medicine."
"Later, he failed to obtain a medical license and resigned himself to being a farmer."
"My father always said that his grandmaster was once an Imperial Physician who later fell from grace and lived among the common people."
"We never knew if it was true or not."
What Yu Zhiming said wasn’t just a story he made up on the spot.
His father had indeed been a barefoot doctor for a few short years and had indeed claimed his medical lineage could be traced back to an Imperial Physician.
It was just that no one in the family believed him.
His father’s medical skills were... hard to describe. Whenever his mother felt unwell, she adamantly refused to let him treat her.
His skills had grown so rusty that now, his father couldn’t even take a pulse properly.
All he knew how to do now was prescribe three remedies: one to induce sweating, one for indigestion, and one to purge heat and cause diarrhea.
After Yu Zhiming finished, Dr. Xi sighed wistfully. "The policies back then—promoting Western medicine while suppressing Chinese medicine—were too simple and brutal. They wiped out at least several hundred thousand grassroots TCM practitioners across the country in one fell swoop. You could say so much talent was buried."
After a moment’s pause, she asked tentatively, "Dr. Yu, would you have any interest in developing your career here in Jinling?"
Yu Zhiming politely declined. "Dr. Xi, thank you for the offer. If all goes as planned, I’ll be going to Binhai to work in a little while."
Hearing this, Dr. Xi understood. Someone with a discerning eye had already scouted him. She said no more...
After the late-night meal, just as Yu Zhiming and his sister were saying their goodbyes, they received a token of gratitude from Father Xiao and his son.
It was a men’s handbag stuffed full, and a large, embroidered tote bag that was quite heavy.
Yu Zhiming exchanged a few brief words with Su Tong, promising to keep in touch, and then drove away from Gulou Hospital...
"Fifth Brother, try to look on the bright side. Heartbreak makes a man mature. This just means you’ve grown up a little more."
Yu Zhiming, who was driving, shot his sister a sideways glance and grumbled, "What do you mean, heartbreak? It was over before it even began."
Yu Xiangwan insisted, "A secret crush is still a kind of love."
Yu Zhiming snorted through his nose and changed the subject. "Sis, why don’t you see what gifts they gave us?"
As expected, the allure of gifts was stronger. Yu Xiangwan placed the handbag and the large tote on her lap and began to rummage through them.
First, the handbag. Yu Xiangwan pulled out stack after stack of brand-new "Chairman Maos."
"Eight... nine... ten!"
"Fifth Brother, there are ten bundles in total. A full one hundred thousand! The Xiao Family has good credit; they paid exactly what they promised."
"You need to keep in touch with a major client like this, Fifth Brother."
Yu Zhiming shot his sister a huge eye-roll.
Yu Xiangwan started pulling things out of the large tote bag.
"Vacuum-packed salt-cured duck, two of them!"
"Premium Yuhua tea, two boxes!"
"And these are... exquisite folding fans, two of them!"
"There’s also a wooden box with... red wine, two bottles. Looks like it’s from France. It seems quite old, so it should be pretty valuable."
"And that’s everything..."