Don’t Go Home with Dr. Zhong After Work 25p2

Chapter 25: Jealousy p2

The next morning, Shi An arrived at the triage desk on time.

The hall was packed, not only with people of all ages, but also cats and dogs that couldn’t be treated by veterinarians, all waiting for emergency care.

Shi An had to find a way to get rid of the animals and was also responsible for looking after the human young, including but not limited to feeding, putting them to sleep, changing diapers, much more complicated than blowing up glove balloons in Shigatse.

Shi An suspected he might have been a kindergarten teacher in his past life and had to accept his fate in this one.

As he accepted his fate, he adapted.

Three weeks later, Shi An could handle all sorts of urgent, troublesome, and bizarre situations. From a ninety-eight-year-old to a one-month-and-eight-day-old baby, and various speechless creatures, Shi An could make them all leave satisfied, even if they arrived fuming.

Before the end of his shift, Zhong Yan and Chen Man passed by the triage desk.

Shi An was holding a toddler in his arms, with three more children around him, “One more piggyback ride each, then we can go have some juice, okay?”

The toddlers stood on tiptoe, raising their hands, “Okay!”

Zhong Yan frowned: “What’s he doing? Running a kindergarten?”

“Those should be the children from Bed 8.”

Two hours ago, a patient with acute intestinal obstruction was admitted. The woman had been shopping with her four children when a kind stranger called 120, and all four children were brought here.

Zhong Yan was dissatisfied, “Where’s their father?”

“They’re waiting for him to arrive.” Chen Man’s eyes flickered towards Shi An, “When they first arrived, they were crying for their mother, turning the hall upside down. It’s all thanks to Xiao Shi.”

Zhong Yan didn’t speak, staring at Shi An in the distance.

Chen Man smiled, “Xiao Shi has improved a lot, the head nurse keeps praising him. Unlike someone, who spent six months at the triage desk and still wasn’t as good as him after three weeks.”

“Now not only the nurses like him, but the children too.” Chen Man deliberately added, “Oh, I also heard that an auntie asked for his number the other day, saying she wanted to set him up on a date.”

Zhong Yan’s gaze was fixed on Shi An’s hair, the hair that required a lobster as payment to touch, now being ruffled into a bird’s nest by four children, and he was still smiling at them.

Zhong Yan’s face hardened, “Tell him to report back tomorrow.”

Chen Man: “He’s your student.”

Zhong Yan: “He likes you more.”

He was probably afraid that Shi An wouldn’t want to talk to him.

Trying to save face, suffering the consequences.

The next day.

Zhong Yan pretended to look at medical charts while Shi An was doing ECGs in the hallway. As Shi An finished the last one and turned around, Zhong Yan quickly averted his gaze.

Shi An held the stack of ECG reports, his own heart rate more erratic than any of the waveforms.

During the three weeks he was assigned to the triage desk, Shi An worked regular day shifts, seeing Zhong Yan every day, but they hadn’t spoken a word.

He even had to relay messages through someone else to call him back. Was he still angry? It had been so long, was it necessary?

Whatever, he was dead either way.

Shi An handed the ECG reports to Zhong Yan and briefly summarized the patients’ conditions.

Zhong Yan looked through them one by one and casually mentioned, “There’s a surgery tomorrow, I’m the lead surgeon, need a first assistant.”

Shi An understood, and he didn’t.

Zhong Yan looked down: “Want to come?”

Shi An’s heart fluttered, “Can I?”

“Desensitization therapy stage five,” Zhong Yan looked up, his tone serious, “You think you can’t?”

Shi An nodded vigorously, “I can, I can, I can!”

“Let’s have a nice dinner tonight to celebrate,” Zhong Yan put down the ECG reports, “We’ve saved up quite a few lobsters, want to eat them?”

Shi An’s mood was like a grand opening, “Yes!”

Zhong Yan handed him his car keys, “Wait for me in the car after work.”

Shi An was like a child who had just received candy, “Okay!”

Zhong Yan chose a different restaurant, even more upscale than the last time.

Shi An scooped a large spoonful of crab roe into his mouth, “Dr. Zhong, is there a pattern to the department rotations in our hospital?”

“Why are you suddenly asking about this?” Zhong Yan said.

“My rotation should be ending next semester, just asking in advance.”

In theory, clinical residents had to rotate through all departments, and the rotation period varied depending on the department. Small departments were one to two weeks, larger departments longer, but they had to switch by next semester at the latest.

“The school arranges the rotations, the hospital doesn’t participate.”

Shi An nodded and continued to eat his crab legs.

Zhong Yan: “In a hurry to leave?”

Shi An: “No, I’m just asking.”

“Which department do you want to go to?” Zhong Yan: “Cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, or general surgery?”

“I’m fine with any of them.”

Shi An used to think that cardiac and neurosurgery mostly involved complex surgeries, which were quite impressive. Now he knew that no department was easy, and every doctor was capable.

Shi An suddenly remembered something, “Oh right, the school notified us yesterday, there’s a final exam next cycle. I want to ask for a leave of absence, a week early, to go back to school and discuss my thesis proposal with my advisor.”

Most schools didn’t require residents to return during their internship year, but his university liked to be special.

Not only did they have to go back, they also had exams.

Zhong Yan handed him a peeled lobster, “How long?”

“About two weeks.”

The exam itself would take a week, and Shi An wanted another week to review. His university was very competitive, if he slacked off even slightly, his first-class scholarship would be at risk.

Zhong Yan: “Do you visit relatives during the Chinese New Year?”

“No, it’s just my mom and grandma.”

His aunts, uncles, and cousins all lived in other cities, they only contacted each other by phone. Shi An’s grandfather and paternal grandparents had passed away many years ago.

Zhong Yan: “We’ll be on regular shifts during the New Year.”

Shi An: “…Oh.”

Zhong Yan: “Any objections?”

Shi An shook his head, “No.”

…He didn’t dare.

No winter break.

So miserable.

Two days before the exam week, the students gradually moved back to the dormitories.

The Medical University collaborated with dozens of Class Three A hospitals in the province, randomly assigning students for their residencies each year. Those who performed well had the opportunity to stay and work at the hospital.

There were six people in Shi An’s dorm, each assigned to a different hospital. They were all busy during their residencies, finally reunited, the six brothers had a good time together, then went back to play video games.

Shi An didn’t join them. He lay in bed, holding his phone, staring at Zhong Yan’s contact information.

Should he ask if the patient in Bed 3 had stopped vomiting? If the patient in Bed 4’s indicators had returned to normal? If the patient in Bed 8 had paid their fees?

But Xiaoman hadn’t left yet, he could probably just ask her.

It was 11:30 PM now, he was probably asleep, would he be scolded if he woke him up?

The first two days after returning to school, Shi An was ecstatic. No night shifts, sleeping in, no devil in front of or nagging at him, the sky was blue, the air was fresh.

But two days later, Shi An felt an inexplicable emptiness in his heart. The bed in the dorm was too narrow, there was no private bathroom, the radiator wasn’t as good as floor heating, and the chair in the study room wasn’t as comfortable as the wool carpet.

Zhong Yan had vanished without a trace, not contacting him at all. Wasn’t he afraid he would forget everything and wouldn’t even know how to do an ECG anymore?

But it wouldn’t be long now, after the New Year, his rotation would end. Whether he forgot or not had nothing to do with him.

Time to sleep, he had an exam the day after tomorrow.

Just as Shi An was about to put down his phone, a message popped up.

Zhong Yan: “Asleep?”

Just three words, no punctuation. Shi An stared at it for three minutes.

He wrapped himself in his blanket, pressing his hand against his chest.

Damn, why was his heart beating so fast?

Should he take some heart medication?

Zhong Yan: “Are you asleep?”

The vibration numbed Shi An’s whole body. He held his breath and replied from under the blanket.

“Not yet.”

Zhong Yan: “What are you doing?”

“Lying down.”

Zhong Yan: “Okay, good night.”

Shi An read the chat log several times, confirming that it was all pointless small talk.

He sent him a message in the middle of the night just to say that? Or was he deliberately waking him up?

Zhong Yan: “By the way, good luck on your exam.”

Finally, not pointless small talk, but still kind of pointless.

“My exam isn’t tomorrow, it’s the day after tomorrow.”

Zhong Yan: “I’ll send it again tomorrow night.”

Shi An rolled around in his blanket, finally settling down before replying.

“Oh.”

Zhong Yan: “Just ‘oh’?”

“Thank you.”

Zhong Yan: “Good night.”

Seeing that the conversation was about to end, unable to think of anything else to say, Shi An blurted out, “If I have any questions about the exam, can I message you? Or call you when you’re not busy?”

Zhong Yan: “Anytime.”

The final exam ended in the morning. Shi An didn’t rest and rushed back for his night shift.

Exhausted, Shi An thought he was crazy, completely accustomed to the emergency department life.

Finally, his shift ended, and Shi An received a call.

It was Zhang Shuang, “Shi-ge, I’ll be there in twenty minutes, wait for me!”

“What for? I just got off my night shift.”

“I know, didn’t we agree in the group chat?”

Shi An had been busy all night and hadn’t checked his phone.

He looked at the group chat messages. There was a comic convention today, meeting at the entrance of the emergency department at 8:30 AM.

Shi An: “You two go ahead, I need to sleep.”

“Come on, it’s Nian Jiang’s first time at a comic con, can’t miss it.”

“Your Nian Jiang, not my Nian Jiang.” Shi An wasn’t interested, “Let Si-ge go with you.”

“Fine, then don’t come.” Zhang Shuang said over the phone, “Don’t say I didn’t tell you, they’re selling the One Piece 15th-anniversary limited edition merchandise today, and various limited edition figures, first come, first served.”

“…Damn it, wait for me.”

To get the limited edition merchandise, Shi An not only had to give up sleep but also had to accompany Zhang Shuang to Nian Jiang’s interview.

Shi An was dragged by Zhang Shuang to the front row, surrounded by screaming fans. He felt like he was about to pass out from exhaustion.

The interview ended, but it wasn’t time for the figures to go on sale yet. The three wandered around the exhibition hall. Shi An bought a lot of merchandise, his backpack full.

Zhang Shuang stopped at a stall, pointing at a wig, “This is exactly like Nian Jiang’s.”

Shi An had heard Zhang Shuang mention that Nian Jiang had danced in a JK uniform and a long, straight black wig, which drove him crazy.

But these things all looked the same, what was the difference?

The vendor handed the wig to Zhang Shuang, “You can try it on if you like.”

Shi An glanced at his otaku face, “…….”

That wasn’t necessary.

In the blink of an eye, the wig was on his head.

Zhang Shuang stroked the long hair, batting his eyes at the other two, “Brothers, how do I look?”

Shi An: “…So… ugly.”

Li Si: “If you’re happy, that’s… no, ugh… just don’t be happy.”

“Young man, want to try this one?” The vendor handed him a “golden long straight wig.”

Shi An pointed at himself, “Me?”

Zhang Shuang took it and put it on his head, “Of course you, it’s the same color as your hair.”

Shi An pulled it off, “No thanks.”

“Try it on,” the vendor urged, “It will probably look good on you.”

“Put it on, Shi-ge, you’re the only one left.”

While they were talking, Li Si also put on a “purple long straight wig” and opened his front camera, “Damn, I’m so hot! I’m in love with myself.”

Shi An: “…Are you blind?”

The vendor looked at the two of them, trying not to laugh, and said to Shi An, “Young man, your friends are all wearing them.”

Shi An turned the wig in his hand, “I’m not as weird as them.”

“It’s not weird,” the vendor looked around, “Comic-Con is about freedom, you can dress up however you want.”