CHAPTER 440: CHAPTER 439: CLOUDS SURGING

"Come on in, why did you arrive so early?" Shi Hongxing opened the door and entered the Chinese medicine department room 2, inviting Beisitian inside.

Beisitian walked in, the faint scent of Chinese herbs inside inexplicably calming her heart.

"It’s my first day reporting in, so I came a bit early," Beisitian replied.

"Please take a seat; the place to check in is on the seventh floor of the surgery building in the personnel department. Do you know where it is? If not, I can have Xiao Zhou take you there later," Shi Hongxing said.

"I’ve been there before, but they start working at eight," Beisitian sat down.

Shi Hongxing picked up two thermos bottles and said to Beisitian, "Wait here; I’ll go fetch some water." Without waiting for a response, he grabbed the thermos and left.

There’s a boiler room on the first floor of the surgical building, not far away, so Shi Hongxing returned shortly after.

Shi Hongxing placed a glass with a blue daffodil print in front of Beisitian, filled it with hot water, and asked, "Your name is Beisitian, right? Where did you transfer from?"

"Transferred from the 119th Division in Anding City," Beisitian replied.

Shi Hongxing showed a surprised expression, "So, you’re a military doctor. No wonder you’re wearing a military uniform."

Now it was Beisitian’s turn to be surprised, "Aren’t you a military doctor?"

Shi Hongxing laughed, "Not everyone who works at the military hospital is a military doctor. Like us, who were recruited externally, actually less than one-fifth of the whole military hospital’s staff are military doctors. Most are either external hires or recruits from medical schools."

Some experts or professors carry military ranks; they are the backbone of the military hospital.

Military doctors generally have better benefits compared to regular doctors, but the difference is limited to avoid unfair advantages since there are more regular doctors, and too big a difference could have negative effects.

"In our Chinese medicine department, you are the only military doctor," Shi Hongxing laughed.

Beisitian suddenly understood, glancing at the time, she prepared to report. Having arrived at a new place, she should not act too casually and needed to be conscientious, so she planned to go to wait at the personnel department ahead of opening time.

Beisitian exchanged a few words with Shi Hongxing before heading to the seventh floor of the surgical building, where the registration window was already open, but the queue in the registration hall was not reducing; instead, it was gradually increasing.

This time, Beisitian took the elevator, and to be honest, it was her first time using an elevator; she had never been in such a tall building before...

The first time in an elevator, Beisitian unavoidably felt slightly dizzy, frowning as she stepped out, but the feeling of being lightheaded only lasted a moment before dissipating rapidly.

She adjusted a bit and continued walking forward, just as she heard a ’ding’, the elevator on the other side opened, and out rushed a group of people, pushing a stretcher with an IV stand on top, running towards the emergency room as they shouted to make way.

Beisitian quickly stepped aside, watching a nurse half-squatting on the stretcher performing emergency rescue.

After the emergency room doors closed, many people moved their gaze away; such scenes were common in hospitals. Beisitian sighed and was about to walk outside when she realized something was off; the seventh floor was where the administrative departments were, with personnel and discharge procedures handled there, not the emergency room.

She turned back, realizing she had gotten off on the wrong floor, and hurriedly tried to return to the elevator, but the elevator doors had already closed.

Just as Beisitian was planning to give up, a hand blocked the elevator door, causing it to reopen.

"Come on up." A handsome man inside said to Beisitian.

Beisitian stepped into the elevator, thanked the man, who merely nodded without saying further.

She glanced at the man, noticing he was wearing a white coat, suggesting he was a doctor there; typically, surgeons tend to be younger, and compared to the Chinese medicine department, doctors in other departments generally tend to be younger on average.

The man got off on the sixth floor, while Beisitian rode one more floor down to the seventh.

When Beisitian arrived, the personnel department had just started working; she presented her transfer order, and they quickly processed her paperwork.

"Take this document to the sixth floor to collect your employee ID card and uniform. With the ID card, you can access the building freely," the staff handed a document to Beisitian.

Beisitian nodded, seeing there was no further task, she headed to the sixth floor.

After searching for a while on the sixth floor, she finally found the management department and collected her ID card and clothes.

The ID card had a white background with blue edges, hanging on a broad blue strap, displaying Beisitian’s name and photo.

Wearing this ID card allowed access throughout the military hospital.

After collecting her things, Beisitian prepared to head downstairs to officially report to the Chinese medicine department, unexpectedly noticing the man she had seen in the elevator earlier in the hallway.

Currently, the man was standing by the hallway window, his gaze fixed somewhere distant; his expression was indifferent, his eyes stormy, seemingly pondering something complex, yet also appearing as if thinking about nothing.

The man seemed quite perceptive, as only after Beisitian glanced at him twice, his sharp eyes directed toward her.

When the man saw Beisitian, he looked surprised for a moment before his gaze fell onto the ID card and uniform in her hands, saying faintly, "So, you’re a doctor here."

Beisitian nodded, "Yes, thanks for earlier."

"It was nothing," the man said, turning back to continue gazing outside.

Beisitian didn’t add more, heading toward the elevator, passing by some nurses who were whispering amongst themselves.

"Doctor Zhao is so handsome!"

"Yes, indeed, he’s performed numerous major surgeries at such a young age, quite impressive!"

Beisitian noticed their gaze was directed toward the man, suspecting that the Doctor Zhao they mentioned was likely the same man.

She’d never witnessed a surgical operation before; she had seen an open human body but not the process of stitching it back together, which she heard involved stitching layer by layer, many layers.

With this thought, Beisitian boarded the elevator.

As the elevator doors gradually closed, Zhao Yilun turned to look at the closing elevator doors, his eyes holding a meaningful glow.

When Beisitian reached the Chinese medicine department, almost all the doctors meant to work today had already arrived; the doors to the three consultation rooms were wide open, and the three were gathered in room 2, chatting away, likely discussing with great interest the new arrival, which was her.

"Come on, Xiao Bei, let me introduce you to the pillars of our Chinese medicine department!" Shi Hongxing, despite a somewhat stern appearance, was an outgoing person who would occasionally make harmless jokes after familiarizing with someone.

Beside Shi Hongxing stood a woman in her thirties and another in her forties; both had smiles and were looking at Beisitian.

What surprised Beisitian was that the woman in her forties looked extremely familiar!