It was not yet eight o'clock, but the early summer sun still shone brightly through glass windows and illuminated the clean corridors of Jihua Hospital
Two groups of resident doctors stood on either side of the corridor, with the faint smell of sterile water wafting in the air
In the doctor's office, Jiang Xu placed his teacup on his desk and put on a white coat that was on the back of his chair. He took a thick stack of documents from his neat desk, pinned the deputy chief badge on his chest and put several black, blue and red pens in his coat pocket
At the desk furthest from him, Shen Fangyu quickly drank two sips of coffee and clamped a dark blue folder under his arm. Buttoning his white coat in a hurry, he swiftly stole the black pen in his neighbouring co-worker's pocket
"Thank you, Brother Ha!"
"Hey!-"
The poor co-worker failed to grab their pen from Shen Fangyu's nimble hands. Jiang Xu lowered his head slightly and glared at Shen Fangyu, who had suddenly pushed in front of him and was holding the door handle
"..."
"Excuse me, Doctor Jiang, I'm leaving first." Shen Fangyu flashed a mischievous smile on his handsome face as he opened the door. He waved his hand to the group of students standing outside the office
"Let's go"
Yu Sang, the resident doctor in the other group, secretly raised his middle finger as Fangyu turned his back, and Jiang Xu, who was neatly dressed, pushed open the door and walked out. He adjusted his glasses and walked like the wind, picking up a folder and tapping it on a student at the end of the row of students
"In the future, if anyone can't button their coat properly, I advise you join Shen Fangyu's group."
The student, in realizing his mistake, hurriedly fixed the buttons on his coat
As a famous hospital, Jihua Hospital had many patients and various types of doctors. In the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the chief and deputy physicians lead the hierarchy, followed by attending physicians, resident doctors, and finally, graduate students.
Normally, the attending physicians and resident doctors are responsible for daily ward visits, while the chief and deputy physicians are responsible for two main teaching rounds each week. However, as Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu are young, newly appointed deputy physicians, also conducted large ward visits almost every two days
Both of them graduated from the same eight-year undergraduate program in clinical medicine at A Medical University, and had been fighting for first place since their freshman year. During their doctoral period, the two trained in Jihua Hospital, which was connected to A Medical University. After their program, they ended up in the same Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology under the chief, Professor Cui
Professor Cui is a kind-hearted, middle-aged woman and vice president of Jihua Hospital, with great qualifications and extraordinary medical skills. When Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu first learnt they were under the same professor in the same department, they rushed to Professor Cui's office together
Jiang Xu: "I refuse to work with this lunatic!"
Shen Fangyu: "I'd rather jump off a cliff than cooperate with this neat freak"
However, Professor Cui just look at the two with a smile on her face. She raised her thermos cup and remarked:
"It's already set into the system and cannot be changed. There's nothing that can't be resolved overnight, so let's step back for a moment and let the sky be the limit. Come on, how about a handshake?"
Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu obviously didn't want to shake hands, so they looked at each other, flicked their sleeves, and walked away with a cold snort
So in the following days, Professor Cui happily watched the two rivals work tirelessly on their research in the laboratory, rushing to apply to perform surgery with her as if they had unlimited energy, and arguing with each other in case study meetings until they left each other speechless
One month, Jiang Xu would hand in a paper, and the next month, Shen Fangyu would definitely contact him to revise his paper. Others say, 'I will not sleep as long as the moon is up', but these two people say, 'I will not sleep if he does not sleep"
As a corresponding author, Professor Cui gladly reaped the benefits from the rivalry and, to some extent, enjoyed the sensation of being carried by her students. The biggest winner looked at the two people with satisfaction, and said casually, "Young people are motivated by competition."
In the end, this fierce competition of "I will kill you if you don't kill me first" lead to the two of them being appointed as deputy physicians in the same year. Since then, they have been the two young and sharp knives in the Department of Obstertrics and Gynecology of Jihua Hospital
The rapid progress in their careers did not affect the incompatibility between the two. It is a daily obsession for both doctors to compete, for instance, in who leaves the office last, whose the first to ward rounds, and also...
"You're going too far, Jiang Xu!" Shen Fangyu looked at the surgery schedule given by the head nurse, "You already occupy the first operating table next Tuesday, but you still occupy is for so long, do you want to do all six operations in one morning? You can't do that much, do you want me to end up in the hospital tonight and not get off work?"
These hospitals have limited operating rooms, and in general, complex and difficult operations are scheduled in advance. As the first operation of the day, it is usually scheduled in sequential blocks and is less chaotic.
To be able to perform the first operation of the day depended on seniority and relationship with the head nurse
No one wants to perform surgery in the middle of the night, so the first operating table is always a battle of strategy. Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu were very polite to others, but when they faced each other, they couldn't wait to fight to the death
"What's wrong? I'm just too fast." Jiang Xu didn't even spare Shen Fangyu a glance as he continued to sign the schedule, his thin lenses reflecting the cold white light from the corridor
Usually, surgery is not carried out by just one doctor, the main surgeon will do the most crucial parts, while skin preparation, subsequent suturing, and other things are left to younger doctors.
With so many patients in the hospital, it is not uncommon for the primary surgeon to perform the critical part of the procedure and then go to the next operating room to perform another critical portion of the other surgery, which is also known as the jump platform.
With a snap, Shen Fangyu placed a spa voucher on the table and said in a soft voice to the head nurse, "Sister Zhang…look at Jiang Xu, he's too domineering, why don't you reschedule his schedule?"
He was a handsome, well-spoken man with a flirtatious way of being and a way of persuading people. Plus, with his fan-shaped eyes that were extraordinarily beautiful, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that he was good-looking. No matter how late he stayed up, his eyes would still be bright and sparkling, which was the kind of guy that girls liked
"Zhang Jie, my mother has gone to this spa and she told me the results are spectacular. You are already beautiful, if you do the treatment, you are guaranteed to look ten years younger."
There was no woman who didn't like being praised for her beauty, and Zhang Feng, the head nurse, was swayed by his flirtacious comment. However, she still kept the gift card that Jiang Xu gave her in her pocket, so she looked at the two doctors, who were disagreeing, with some embarrassment, and tried to persuade, "Doctor Jiang, why don't you just give it to him?"
In fact, the two of them were usually not so fierce in fighting over the first operating table, but for some reason, both of them rushed to finish their operations in order to have free time on Tuesday, as if they were in a hurry to be reincarnated.
Jiang Xu glared at Shen Fangyu coldly, "Don't even think about it"
"Jiang Xu," Shen Fangyu raised his hand to hold his pen, "I promise not to make trouble next time you and Zhong Lan have surgery together"
Zhong Lan was a doctor in the same department, like a little sister to the two of them. One of the reasons Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu's relationship became worse was because they both were pursuing Zhong Lan
The competition became so extreme that every time Jiang Xu worked with Zhong Lan, Shen Fangyu would come to Jiang Xu's operating room in his free time just to get in the way.
Some doctors enjoy chatting while performing surgery, and some even play music and tell jokes in the operating room. As such, Shen Fangyu was very talkative unlike Jiang Xu, who was quiet and boring when performing operations, so Zhong Lan liked how Shen Fangyu livened up the atmosphere.
Jiang Xu's gaze slowly moved from the pen to Shen Fangyu's annoying face, "Deal"
On Tuesday, Jiang Xu left the operating room and glanced at the electronic clock hanging on the wall
Good, he can leave the office on time today
He finished the energy drink his assistant gave him within a few sips and threw it in the trash, then went to the locker room to change his clothes. Today, he brought black trousers that were well ironed and a white shirt that he had buttoned all the way to the top. He was straightening his tie when a certain strange figure suddenly appeared
"Yo, Dr. Jiang, dressed formally today?" Shen Fangyu wore a black, white, and blue vertical striped silk shirt, with the top two buttons unbuttoned. The hem of his shirt was tucked casually into his trousers and his hair was combed back from his forehead, looking very charming
He held Jiang Xu's tie coquettishly, "Where are you going?" Jiang Xu pulled his tie and adjusted it again in the mirror, too lazy to answer him
Shen Fangyu leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Jiang Xu straighten his tie as he asked, "Do you know why I snatched the first operating table from you that day?"
Jiang Xu didn't care what Shen Fangyu did, he only knew that he (Jiang Xu) had fought over the first operation slot because Zhong Lan had asked him to dinner tonight, which was why he deliberately wore formal atire.
Shen Fangyu followed him out, his face full of provocation, "So what if you have to undergo surgery with Zhong Lan, she still chooses me," he bragged, "To be honest, Zhong Lan invited me to dinner today."
Oh well, no wonder he's dressed like a peacock in heat
Wait a moment-
Jiang Xu suddenly looked at Shen Fangyu blankly, "What did you just say?"
"Zhong Lan invited me to dinner." Shen Fangyu sighed, "Don't be jealous, Doctor Jiang, your destiny has not come yet."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Jiang Xu spoke, "She also asked me out to dinner tonight..."
He saw Shen Fangyu's proud face turn stiff with pleasure, then sneered, "Poor you"
"Jeez," Shen Fangyu was stunned, "why did she ask you out? What does she see in you, mysophobia, a straight face, or a cold attitude?"
"You're the one who's frivalous" Jiang Xu retorted, "You're like a peacock spreading its feathers, whose too dazzled by their own self to notice how ridiculous they look"
"You two...please stop arguing." A gentle and friendly female voice interrupted the argument between the two. Dr. Zhong stood in front of an SUV with her hands raised awkwardly to signal the two to calm down, "Come in"
The two deputy chief doctors who had just had a disagreement immediately changed to polite expressions, nodding and smiling at Zhong Lan at the same time, "Thank you."
The SUV was large and the back seat was big enough to accommodate the two doctors comfortably, but the well water did not disturb the river water*. The two of them sat at the far ends of the back seats, so that a large man with a pot belly could sit in the middle. They both looked out the window, as if they couldn't breathe the same air as the other
*basically a metaphor for, although there's more space in the back, Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu still won't sit near each other
Zhong Lan sighed
She didn't want to get involved in the feud between these two people anymore, and after much consideration, the best way to say no was to be blunt.
So in the luxuriously decorated restaurant, Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu saw a well-dressed woman with a high ponytail holding Zhong Lan's hand affectionately while saying to the two doctors, "I heard that you two have taken good care of my Lanlan in the department, thank you both very much"
"No need to thank me, that's what I should do." Shen Fangyu naturally regarded the woman as Zhong Lan's friend and smiled at her, "We look after each other."
Jiang Xu glanced at Shen Fangyu who had finished flattering her, and finally just smiled politely at High Ponytail, "Hello"
High Ponytail noticed the two doctors' reactions and smiled meaningfully at Zhong Lan before she raised her glass, "So as her girlfriend, I'm treating you two to a casual dinner as a token of my thanks"
Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu: "?"