CHAPTER 178: 178 PROFOUND GRATITUDE

(Thanks to my friend Anonymous Qianxi for her generous support)

The heavens were quite merciful. During the night, apart from the peak season for drunkards, there weren’t any patients needing emergency treatment. The most that happened was the emergency room was left smelling a bit unpleasant, but otherwise, all was fine.

"Banxia, go eat first. Once you’re done, we can both get off shift and rest," Chen Jianxin said with a smile, seeing Liu Banxia walk out of the break room.

"No need, I got plenty of sleep last night. You two go ahead and leave in a bit," Liu Banxia replied with a chuckle.

"Still thinking about that kid from last night? That won’t do," Chen Jianxin said.

"It will likely take at least half a day more for news on him. We’ll see if there’s any surgery today. Scrubbing in on one might lift my spirits a bit," Liu Banxia said.

"Honestly, for someone of his standing to still be so dedicated to surgery..." Chen Jianxin shook his head.

He knew Liu Banxia’s situation; if it were just about money, Liu Banxia wouldn’t need to work this hard. This was purely to improve his professional skills. Chen Jianxin himself no longer had such intense drive.

Just then, Liu Banxia’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out to see a message from Qiu Mingyuan, asking if he had eaten.

"What are you up to, kid? Getting up so early isn’t easy for you," Liu Banxia texted back.

"Brother Liu, you have no idea! Today is a very important day—my sister is having her surgery. Have you eaten? I can bring you burgers," Qiu Mingyuan replied immediately.

"Three burgers and a cup of coffee," Liu Banxia shot back without hesitation.

Qiu Mingyuan responded with an "OK" emoji, and the exchange was complete.

What Liu Banxia didn’t expect was that Qiu Mingyuan arrived surprisingly quickly. In less than twenty minutes, he dashed into the emergency room, burgers in hand.

"Do you have superpowers now?" Liu Banxia asked curiously.

"Brother Liu, my dad told me to come to the hospital early to get things ready. But what am I supposed to get ready for?" Qiu Mingyuan said with a wry smile.

"Haha, if there’s nothing else, you can go upstairs and keep your classmate company later. Will Xiao Yue be able to come today?" Liu Banxia asked, giving a slight wink.

"I’m not sure yet. I told her, but she hasn’t replied. Brother Liu, give me some advice," Qiu Mingyuan said.

Liu Banxia opened the bag. Just as Zhou Li approached, he handed her a burger too, saying, "You’re asking me for advice? I’m still a lonely old bachelor myself. Anyway, times have changed. There’s nothing wrong with you being a bit more proactive."

"But remember one thing: Xiao Yue’s grades are excellent. You can’t let dating affect her studies. She’d regret it for the rest of her life, no matter how much money you have."

"Brother Liu, you don’t even need to say that. If it really affected her studies, my dad would skin me," Qiu Mingyuan said morosely, biting into his burger.

"My dad isn’t formally educated, but my aunt is. I’m a lost cause in that department, so he’s set on my sister and his future daughter-in-law being educated. Our family, well, you should know it’s a bit special."

Liu Banxia chuckled. It really is quite special. He hadn’t really interacted with wealthy people before, so he had no idea what their families were supposed to be like.

"Banxia, there’s a patient asking for you," Zhou Li called out at that moment.

Liu Banxia looked up and saw Lu Gang, the patient suspected of having lymphoma, standing at the triage station.

"Why are you here so early? Are the pathology results out today?" Liu Banxia asked as he walked over.

"I’m on edge. I haven’t slept well these past few days. Dr. Liu, do you have any advice?" Lu Gang said, rubbing his face.

"First, sit down. Have some coffee; I haven’t touched mine yet," Liu Banxia said, handing the coffee to him.

"My advice is to face it calmly. Your state of mind plays a very important role in illness. Your current anxiety and insomnia are definitely not good for your body."

"Soon, you’ll likely undergo further treatment. During the treatment process, whenever you feel troubled or down, come find me for a chat," he added.

"Dr. Liu, can I ask why you’re being so good to me? I was quite rude to you at the beginning," Lu Gang asked curiously after taking a sip of coffee.

"This counts as being good to you? I’m like this with all my patients. Yesterday, there was an eight-year-old patient, and I even bought him a chicken drumstick. You’re an adult, so I won’t buy you a drumstick," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"Although I’ve never had such an illness, so anything I say is just theoretical advice, I’ve seen a lot. And from seeing so much, I do have some feelings and understanding."

"Normally, all the patients I treat are just passersby in my life. I need to be as detached as possible; otherwise, I might become depressed before long."

"Getting sick is an unfortunate thing. When we encounter misfortunes we can’t fight, what else can we do but face them positively? Your condition is in its early stages. I judge it hasn’t reached stage three, so the prognosis should be very good."

"A student from that young fellow’s school was also diagnosed with cancer of the pancreatic head here. Just a teenager. I saw him the night before last; he was very optimistic and ready for chemotherapy."

"I won’t say more. If there are things you can’t talk about with your family, come to the hospital and find me. As long as I don’t have a patient on hand, we can always chat for a while."

Lu Gang nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Liu. This is it, then. If the heavens really want to take me, I can’t fight it. Anyway, however many years I get to live, that’s how many it will be. As long as I can spend some good time with Tiggie, that’s enough."

"Dr. Liu, thank you. I’ve never told my family; I’m afraid they wouldn’t be able to take it. I’ll probably have to rely on your help for the rest of this life. If there’s a chance in the next, I’ll repay you."

After speaking, Lu Gang bowed solemnly to Liu Banxia. Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, he strode towards the oncology department.

This gratitude weighed heavily on Liu Banxia’s heart.

"Brother Liu, what was that about?" Qiu Mingyuan asked curiously.

"Sigh... lymphoma. It can’t be surgically removed, only controlled with medication and radio-chemotherapy," Liu Banxia sighed, feeling a bit heavy-hearted.

"My god, Brother Liu, you deal with patients like this every day. Can you handle it?" Qiu Mingyuan asked in surprise.

"My department is still relatively okay. Go take a look at the nephrology department, at those undergoing dialysis. Then take a tour of the ICU; the pressure there is immense," Liu Banxia said.

"Our line of work is really not easy. So when you asked me back then, I actually wanted to advise you against even thinking about it. But then I figured you’d be going back to manage the family estate anyway."

"Brother Liu, you might as well just say I wouldn’t pass the exams," Qiu Mingyuan said with a bitter smile.

"Hehe, for the sake of the hamburgers, I couldn’t say that to your face," Liu Banxia said with a chuckle.

"Brother Liu, sometimes I really don’t like being around adults, but being with you relieves my boredom," Qiu Mingyuan said.

"You might as well just call me oblivious," Liu Banxia said, rolling his eyes at him.

"Hehe, considering how much my sister clings to you, I couldn’t say that either," Qiu Mingyuan also replied with a grin.

For Liu Banxia, two hamburgers were really no different from eating two steamed buns. His appetite was much larger than before—a "side effect," you could say, of his strengthened physique.

"You wait here. I’m going to the cafeteria to get a bowl of congee to wet my whistle. Want a tea-leaf egg? Our cafeteria’s tea-leaf eggs are pretty good too," Liu Banxia said.

"Sure, bring me one to try. I’m heading upstairs first," Qiu Mingyuan said.

Liu Banxia was quite fond of this kid, Qiu Mingyuan. Now that he wasn’t in his school uniform, he really looked like a spirited young lad. A kid from a genuinely wealthy family, yet without any of those unpleasant airs—pretty good.

He arrived at the cafeteria, drank millet congee as if it were soup and, while he was at it, ordered four tea-leaf eggs.

"Dr. Liu, Dr. Liu."

He was about to head back when he heard someone calling him. Turning his head, he saw it was the wife of the patient for whom he had debrided a flesh-eating bacteria infection on the finger.

"Is he about to be discharged?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Yes, we’re handling the discharge procedures today. For the parts that haven’t fully healed, he just needs to come back for dressing changes," the patient’s wife nodded.

"That’s good. Being discharged means there’s no more inflammation. Being in the hospital doesn’t do much for one’s mood; he’ll recover faster at home," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"Dr. Liu, I have a small request. Do you think you’ll have some time? Could you talk to him?" the patient’s wife asked hesitantly.

"What’s wrong?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Sigh... although his finger was saved, his workplace has adjusted his job duties because of its current state. Plus, we don’t know when his finger will fully recover. He gets agitated every day, and no matter how I try to persuade him, he won’t listen," the patient’s wife said.

Liu Banxia frowned. This is a phase many patients go through. But counseling people isn’t exactly my strong suit.

"How about this: take down my phone number. I’m a bit busy today. Let’s schedule a time for tomorrow," Liu Banxia said after a moment’s thought.

"Okay, thank you, Dr. Liu," the patient’s wife said cheerfully.

"He’ll probably only listen to you now; he doesn’t listen to anyone else. When I talk to him, he just hums and haws noncommittally, and then he’s back to how he was."

"I’ll do my best to help, but I’m not a psychiatrist, so I can’t say for sure how effective it will be," Liu Banxia said.

"Sigh... if he could just take in even one sentence, that would be enough," the patient’s wife said with a bitter smile.

This matter was a small interlude in the day. After returning to the Emergency Department, Liu Banxia didn’t rush to give Qiu Mingyuan the tea-leaf eggs. Instead, he peeled one while lost in thought.

Although he hadn’t performed any actual surgeries in the past two days, these events had still touched him deeply.

For patients to truly recover, it’s not just about healing their physical ailments; their psychological wounds also need to be mended. It sounds simple, but how could the actual process be that easy?

Take Lu Gang, for instance. All he can manage now is a brave face. He must have researched a lot about his condition these past few days and already reached his own conclusions.

Then there was the patient from just now. His finger injury itself was no longer an issue, but the recovery period was too long. This added to his psychological burden and could potentially affect his entire life.

Being a doctor is really hard.