“It’s all right, you can go now,” he said. Once he had stopped treating her like a patient, his tone of voice became irritated again.
Mo Chua Ya gave him a blank stare, “Can’t you just politely say, Miss Mo, please go home and rest and come to the hospital for follow-up in two days – have you ever thought that if you say it like that, I might leave willingly?”
“Boring.” He grunted from the bottom of his heart, raising his stiff, displeased chin arrogantly.
She was now certain that ‘boredom’ was his mantra, and that perhaps he had developed the habit of saying it because his life was really boring.
She wasn’t going to pity a man who made a fool of himself.
“Goodbye, Dr. Dai” She rose gracefully, her posture elegant, her smile reserved “I’ll come back for a follow-up.”
____________________
Two days later, Xiong Jianming, the chief surgeon of He’en Hospital, called his most prized pupil into his office and gave him a severe reprimand.
“Look what you’ve gotten yourself into!” The roar resonated throughout the office. “This time it’s the Vice President of Parliament? Please give me a break! Dai Xingren, can’t you behave yourself?”
Dai Xingren was speechless, standing as a frozen statue in front of his teacher, listening to his scolding. Xiong Jianming was his mentor and professor at the medical school. He was a man with excellent medical skills and a passionate personality. He was the only teacher Dai Xingren truly respected.
It was because of this old professor that he had moved from the university hospital to work in this private hospital.
“Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me in the last two years? General surgery, reconstructive surgery, thoracic surgery, brain surgery, the emergency room …… Yes, every place you’ve been training on rotation has been amazed at your performance. You are indeed very talented and are born to be a surgeon. I also want to cultivate you into Taiwan’s top cardiovascular doctor, but guess what? Every place you have been at will also come and complain to me, saying that you have no team spirit at all. You are a lone wolf and arrogant, and you do things at your own pace. Everyone hates you! Do you understand?”
Of course he understood. He knew that he was not a popular figure. Dai Xingren pursed his lips in self-deprecation.
“Now, you have even offended the future Vice President of the Legislative Yuan, who has called the director and asked her to fire you, or else we won’t be able to work in the hospital anymore!” Xiong Jianming pulled his grey hair at his temples in frustration. “Tell me, what should I do? How can I keep you if even the dean is not happy?”
“What does the professor want me to do?” Dai Xingren asked calmly. Although he didn’t have to ask, he could guess what would happen to him.
“What else can I do? The dean said that I should go with you to apologise to the legislator! If he won’t forgive you, you’ll have to leave.”
“I am not apologising.”
“What did you say?!” Xiong Jianming raised his voice incredulously.
“I won’t apologize.” Dai Xingren emphasized word by word. “I believe that my treatment was not wrong that day. The legislator only suffered minor injuries to his hand, but the other patient had a pericardial tamponade. If I had not rushed to treat him first, his life would have been in danger.”
“Of course I know that the legislator was only slightly injured, but the problem is that he is the future Vice President of the Legislative Yuan!” Xiong Jianming frowned, why couldn’t his protégé tell the severity of the matter? “Wasn’t Xiao Li there at that time? You could have asked him to do a pericardiocentesis.”
“Xiao Li didn’t think that the patient had a pericardial tamponade. He said it is a pneumothorax. How could I trust the patient with him?”
“You kid-” Xiong Jianming was at a loss for words. “You have to learn to trust your colleagues!”
Dai Xingren’s face was expressionless, “It’s not that I don’t trust Xiao Li. It’s just that he’d never performed a pericardiocentesis before and needed help.”
He was right. With Xiao Li’s fickle personality, the patient’s life would be in danger if the operation was handed over to him.
Xiong Jianming couldn’t refute his protege’s claims, he could only grit his teeth, “So you insist on not apologizing?”
“Even if I have to do it again, I would still do it.” Dai Xingren hardened. “I don’t see the need to apologise.”
“You bastard – you, you, you’re pissing me off!” Xiong Jianming hissed, almost frantically.
The master and disciple were arguing in the office, and neither of them were aware that there were ears through the wall. Someone outside the door was listening with rapt attention with a faint smile.
Mo Chuan Ya had specially come to see Dai Xingren. When she heard that he had been called to the chief surgeon’s office, she followed him quietly to listen in.
It seems that the old legislator, who had made good use of his privileges, had indeed used his influence to maliciously end a young man with a bright future.
And his resolute refusal to surrender would only make the other party even more furious and cut off all his ways of survival.
“This is not the time to be stubborn, Dai Xingren, are you a fool?” Mo Chuan Ya whispered languidly.
What a silly, naive man, but she didn’t find it annoying.
She leaned against the door, closed her eyes and thought for a long time. After looking at her right hand, which was still dangling from the scarf, she finally made up her mind. She took out her mobile phone, and awkwardly dialed a number with her left hand.
The phone rang several times before the other party answered the call.
“Mom, it’s me, Chuan Ya.” She greeted with a smile. “Let me tell you something very interesting. I heard that a powerful legislator had called the hospital director and threatened to fire a young doctor because he had offended him by refusing to give him priority treatment. …… Mom, do you know which hospital it is?”
She paused to give her mother time to respond. “Yes, it’s the He’en Hospital. I wonder what my mother, the chairman of the board is going to do about it? The reporter in me is curious.”
“You girl! Do you mean to threaten your mother?” There was a light rebuke from mother.
“Why did mom say that?” Mo Chuanya chuckled. “I am a reporter, and of course I have a responsibility to report the truth, especially the shady way politicians threaten hospitals. People must want to know, right? Also, don’t you think this kind of hospital that obeys the threats of politicians is very shabby?”
“Is it fun to expose the scars of your own hospital?” Her mother felt helpless.
“I’m not playing, I’m serious.” Mo Chuan Ya retorted sweetly. “Mom would rather I report it and make the hospital and the legislator look bad at the same time, or suppress it and I don’t report it, lest the future vice president of legislative Yuan feel embarrassed?”
“…… Give me five minutes, I’ll take care of it right away.”
After hanging up the phone, Mo Chuanya waited patiently. Sure enough, after a few minutes, the shouting in the office died down. The chief surgeon seemed to have received a call from the top management, instructing him not to expel the excellent doctors in the hospital arbitrarily.
“Now I’ve done you a favour, haven’t I?” Mo Chuan Ya smiled sweetly.
She had even threatened her own mother to repay him, and she wondered if he would appreciate it.
But of course Dai Xingren, who had no way of knowing what had happened, could not be grateful to her. When he left the office and turned around to catch a glimpse of her, his eyes flashed only with chagrin.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for a follow-up.” She raised her injured arm a little.
“Go to the outpatient doctor if you want a follow-up, I’m not an orthopaedic surgeon.” He didn’t give her a good look.
“I just want you to look at it, can’t you?” She acted like a wayward young lady.
He didn’t seem to be used to such willfulness, “I’m not free.”
With that, he walked away without giving her a second glance.
“Hey, Dai Xingren.” She chased after him briskly, “I heard you’re off tomorrow, are you free?”
“I don’t do interviews!” He refused decisively, walking around the corner and down the stairs.
“It’s not an interview.” She stood at the top of the stairs, clinging to the handrail, looking down. “It’s a date!”
“What?” He raised his face in shock.
The eyes of both were condensed, his expression was gloomy, but hers was full of smiles. Both he and her, two completely different people, shared a moment of silence that was not controlled by their hearts.
Then, she suddenly stretched out her uninjured left hand, pointed directly at his chest, and made a beautiful gesture of firing a gun —
“Dai Xingren, this is the first time I have taken the initiative to ask out a man, are you coming or not?”