The Surgeon’s Studio

As Zheng Ren and Su Yun left the inpatient department, the temperature outside began to plummet as the night wore on, with icy winds so cold that it chilled everyone it touched to the bone.

They both hastened back to their hostel and headed to their own rooms right away without exchanging a word.

When he reached his room, Zheng Ren removed his coat and hung it up carefully.

It had fit him perfectly thanks to Xie Yiren’s skillful shopping.

A smile involuntarily graced his lips as he stared at the row of hanging coats.

His gaze was fixed on them for a while. ‘Xie Yiren has probably already fallen asleep,’ he thought. A slight twinge of disappointment coursed through him, as if he was missing out on something.

Over the past few days, he and Xie Yiren had developed a habit of wishing each other goodnight.

Zheng Ren took off his cardigan and checked his bandages. The wound was itching slightly, but he ought to be able to remove the stitches after three days.

He shook his head when he thought about how he had gained a scar by simply visiting Imperial Capital.

Clouds of steam rose as he turned on the hot water; Zheng Ren carefully positioned himself so that his left shoulder was out of reach of the shower.

Stuck like that, he was unable to clean fully half of his body.

However, he had no other choice. Zheng Ren was already used to having a hot shower after a hectic day before retiring to bed for a good night’s sleep.

Hot water ran across half of his body, washing away the hustle and bustle of his day, making him feel relaxed and serene.

Zheng Ren still felt something missing inside him. It would be nice if Xie Yiren was here so they could exchange a few words.

The moment he laid down on his bed, fatigue crept up all four of his limbs. He yawned and prepared to sleep.

He turned on his cellphone out of habit and saw a small red notification on Xie Yiren’s profile picture.

When Zheng Ren opened it, multiple messages popped up in front of him.

He had texted Xie Yiren to tell her not wait up for him after he left Tang Song Restaurant as there was an emergency surgery to attend.

Thus, he was surprised to see the number of messages Xie Yiren had sent him within those few hours.

Zheng Ren’s heart dropped.

Even though he had never had a girlfriend, Zheng Ren had heard from others that women who were too busy to reply to texts from their boyfriends during work would be happy upon discovering said messages.

However, were it the other way around, the man would be in serious trouble.

A storm of thoughts churned inside Zheng Ren’s mind as he repeatedly reassured himself that he had told Xie Yiren of the emergency.

He could not gather the courage to read her messages, instead swiping the chat upwards with his fingers.

After going through the thread of messages, Zheng Ren found the one where he had informed Xie Yiren of the emergency surgery he had had to attend.

Even after confirming that he had told her about it, Zheng Ren was still unsettled.

He read Xie Yiren’s first message carefully.

[You’re attending emergency surgeries here?]

Good point. Little Yiren asked a great question: why was he attending emergency surgeries in Imperial Capital? Zheng Ren laughed bitterly

He checked the next one.

[Thanks for your hard work, Senior Chief Zheng. *smiley face*]

Senior Chief Zheng? Was she addressing him as such jokingly or was she upset?

Zheng Ren was very anxious. He was overthinking, completely at odds with his sharp and decisive demeanor during surgeries.

[Head back earlier to rest after you’re done. Do you still have surgery tomorrow?]

[Remember to have some breakfast tomorrow morning. If you go in with an empty stomach, what will happen if your blood sugar drops?]

[The temperature over here is minus ten degrees. I think Imperial Capital is about minus three, so I’ll go search for some warmer clothing tomorrow.]

[When are you coming back? It’s getting boring these days since there’s no surgeries.]

…

…

Despite the many possible scenarios that assailed him, there was nothing that made him feel awkward and guilty. Little Yiren just kept asking him about the simple things in his daily life.

He let out a long sigh after reading it all.

Thank goodness.

[I’m back now, getting ready to go to bed after taking a shower. I have four interventional surgeries for hepatocellular carcinoma tomorrow morning at 8.30 a.m. Good night.]

Zheng Ren had hesitated for a few minutes, continuously writing and deleting his message. His final text had a neutral tone without any errors but also lacked emotion.

As he put his phone down, a sweet and fluttery sensation bubbled inside his heart.

It felt nice.

His exhaustion from earlier on had disappeared completely. The smile on Zheng Ren’s face grew larger.

He plugged in his phone and turned off the bedside lamp. As he was about to sleep, he heard his WeChat notification go off.

His hands flew to grab his phone as fast as when he had performed the emergency surgery on Miao Xiaohua.

Slightly faster, even.

He practically broke his own body’s speed limiit.

[Fell asleep already. Good night. Snore~~~]

Xie Yiren included a cute snoring emoji at the end of her message.

Zheng Ren’s smile widened further.

[Good night, sweet dreams. No need to reply to this.]

Zheng Ren turned his phone off after sending the text.

Would she go against his wishes and reply, or would she listen? The question continued to confound him.

It was more difficult than any rare disease he would encounter; he had no prior experience for this, and the damned System would not tell him what Xie Yiren was thinking.

The thoughts carried him off to sleep while his phone remained silent.

He slept until dawn.

Zheng Ren was awakened by Feng Xuhui knocking on his door.

When he checked his phone, it was already 6.30 a.m.

Crawling out of bed, he got dressed before letting Feng Xuhui in.

Feng Xuhui had brought a stack of steamers filled with steamed buns. “Chief Zheng, I wasn’t what flavor you preferred, so I bought extras.”

“You’re too kind,” Zheng Ren said laughingly, “Having something to eat is already good enough, there was no need to trouble yourself so.”

“Not at all, not at all.” Feng Xuhui’s smile was more confident than before, as if he had achieved some sort of enlightenment overnight. “I’m satisfied as long as you’re eating well, Chief Zheng.”

Zheng Ren called Su Yun, telling him over the phone to get up and join them for breakfast.

Su Yun walked over with sleepy, half-opened eyes. He glanced at the food on the table and asked, “Where’s the mung bean milk[1]?”

“…” Feng Xuhui was astonished. As Zheng Ren and Su Yun were from northeastern China, he had not expected them to like a dish so distinctly from Imperial Capital.

“Be thankful you have food at all. Stop being so picky,” Zheng Ren said while passing him a steamer of buns. “Hurry up and eat. We have four surgeries today. Oh, right, are we booked for the prostate surgery?”

“It was confirmed ages ago and they also informed you, yet you still don’t know?” In his surprise, Su Yun’s barbs stopped targeting the unassuming sales manager, Feng Xuhui, and went to Zheng Ren instead.

“…” Zheng Ren could not recall being told as such. His memory had to have been hazy due to the fever he had had that day.

“The original plan was to meet the patient this afternoon, but nobody expected you to pick interventional surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma. Hopefully, there’ll be no delay. If time permits, the patient will be transferred to the interventional radiology department.” Su Yun had no qualms with the arrangements as he was not the one performing surgery.

“Oh.” Zheng Ren felt helpless; why did he feel so much busier in Imperial Capital than he did in Sea City General?

After breakfast, Feng Xuhui swiftly cleared the table behind them while Zheng Ren and Su Yun washed up.

The three of them headed to the interventional operating theater at 8 a.m. sharp.

[1] Mung bean milk or 豆汁 (douzhi or douzhir in the Beijing dialect) is a pale, sour soup made from fermented mung beans and usually a byproduct of cellophane noodle production. It is also a dish popular and commonly associated with the people of Beijing and thus Imperial Capital (the stand-in term for Beijing here).