On the day the new nurses joined the department, Shen Nanxing was changing the dressing of an elderly patient in the observation area.
The head nurse walked into the nurses' station with two young women, one named Lin Xiao and the other Tang Yue. Both had graduated only recently. They wore brand-new nurse's uniforms, their hair neatly tied back, their eyes bright, and their smiles bright as well. Standing there, they were like two fresh sprouts that had suddenly appeared beneath the cold white lights of the Emergency Department.
“From now on, learn alongside everyone else,” the head nurse said. “Young people adapt quickly, so everyone should provide them with more clinical preceptorship as well.”
When Shen Nanxing heard this, she looked up.
Young people adapt quickly.
It was meant as praise, yet it felt like a tiny needle pricking her heart.
Lin Xiao was assigned to Shen Nanxing's group. She was very polite, addressing her as Teacher Shen at every turn while constantly taking notes in a small notebook. Shen Nanxing showed her around the treatment room, the resuscitation cart, the observation area, medical-waste sorting, and the computer system. Lin Xiao followed closely and reacted quickly as well.
“Teacher Shen, this high-risk medication label needs to be marked with dual labels, right?”
“Right.”
“The resuscitation cart seal is checked every morning shift?”
“It has to be checked during every shift handover. The morning shift check is more thorough.”
“Understood.”
Watching her nod earnestly, Shen Nanxing remembered when she had first arrived at the Emergency Department. She had been the same back then, afraid of missing every detail and of being considered foolish by the veteran nurses. She had always carried a small notebook in her pocket and still had to memorize procedures after returning to the dormitory.
Being young was wonderful.
It was not youth itself that was wonderful, but what youth represented: countless opportunities still ahead. Make a small mistake, and people would say, “You’re new and don’t understand yet.” Work a few night shifts, and people would praise you for “being able to endure hardship.” Even a low salary could be explained away as being part of the “development stage.”
But a middle-aged nurse like her could neither make mistakes nor move slowly.
That afternoon, Lin Xiao inserted a needle into a patient for the first time on her own. The elderly patient's veins were thin. She missed on her first attempt, and her face immediately flushed red.
“Don’t rush.” Shen Nanxing stood beside her. “Withdraw the needle first, then reassess the blood vessel.”
Lin Xiao bit her lip. “Teacher Shen, why don’t you do it?”
“Try one more time. I’ll be right here.”
The second attempt was successful, and the elderly patient praised the young woman for having a gentle touch. Lin Xiao visibly relaxed. After returning to the nurses' station, she quietly said to Shen Nanxing, “Thank you, Teacher Shen. I was so nervous just now.”
Shen Nanxing smiled. “Everyone has gone through this.”
She sincerely trained newcomers. The Emergency Department could not rely on one person to hold everything together; once the young nurses grew capable, everyone would have an easier time. Yet when the shift schedule came out that evening, she still froze for a moment.
Lin Xiao and Tang Yue had very full schedules, with many night shifts as well. Shen Nanxing's night shifts had been reduced, but her day shifts and duty shifts had not. Instead, she had been assigned more clinical preceptorship and paperwork.
When Xiao Zhou saw it, she said, “Teacher Shen, is the head nurse taking care of you? You have fewer night shifts.”
Shen Nanxing said nothing.
“Taking care of someone” was sometimes just a dignified way of putting it. Fewer night shifts meant less night-shift pay; fewer core shifts meant her irreplaceability in her position would also decline. The young people were being assigned night shifts, which showed that they were being trained into the people the Emergency Department needed. As for her, she had been moved slightly farther back—not necessarily because people felt sorry for her, but perhaps because she had been reclassified.
When she returned home that evening, her mother-in-law heard that new nurses had joined the department colleagues and casually said, “Isn’t that great? Let the young ones do more, and you can take it easier.”
Shen Nanxing was washing Xiaobao’s cup when her hand paused.
“If things get easier, my salary might also decrease.”
Her mother-in-law immediately frowned. “That won’t do. With so many expenses at home, what will we do if your salary decreases even further?”
Shen Nanxing found it amusing.
In her mother-in-law’s eyes, the ideal situation was for her not to be so busy, to take good care of the family, and yet not earn less or affect the household income. Ideally, the hospital would also be sensible enough to let her return home on time while continuing to pay her the same salary as before.
Gu Cheng'an also mentioned it during dinner. “Now that the newcomers are here, you won’t have to work so hard.”
Shen Nanxing looked at him. “If a young doctor joined your department and the director gave all the surgery opportunities to them, would you feel relieved?”
Gu Cheng'an's hand holding his chopsticks paused.
His mother-in-law was displeased. “How can that be the same? Cheng'an is a doctor; he has to practice through surgery. Aren’t you nurses just taking care of patients?”
The dining table suddenly fell silent.
Shen Nanxing lowered her head and picked up food for Xiaobao, saying nothing more.
She knew that in this family, a doctor’s growth was called a future, while a nurse’s experience was called proficiency. When young doctors arrived, it was team development; when young nurses arrived, it meant she ought to take it easier.
No one realized that she, too, was being replaced.
Or rather, they realized it.
They simply felt that it was not as important as Gu Cheng'an's future.