Two knocks on the door made Dr. Qi, who had just entered his office, look up to see Qi Yue leaning against the doorframe with a smile.
“Go home on the weekend. What are you so busy with? You haven’t been home for several weeks,” Father Qi said.
Qi Yue smiled and walked in.
“I’ll go back this week. There won’t happen to be guests at home again, will there?” she asked, spinning a pen on the desk.
“Your mother is worried about you too,” Father Qi smiled. “You’re almost thirty…”
Before he could finish, Qi Yue quickly gestured at him.
“Dad, Dad, twenty-nine, twenty-nine. There’s still a year before thirty,” Qi Yue said. “Don’t make your daughter sound so old.”
“You were born in the first lunar month, the year has already passed,” Father Qi reminded her.
“Being born in the first month still doesn’t make me thirty,” Qi Yue huffed. “Anyway, don’t worry about it. I can’t get married just because my ex-boyfriend got married. What kind of comparison is that?”
“Whatever you want, I won’t interfere,” Father Qi said.
Qi Yue spun the pen for a while.
“Dad,” she called, then hesitated.
Father Qi looked at her.
“Tell me, how real can dreams be? At their most real, how real can they get?” Qi Yue asked thoughtfully.
Father Qi smiled and leaned back in his chair.
“How rare – the rational-above-all little Dr. Qi is actually talking about this topic now?” he asked with a laugh, looking curious. “What dream? Tell me about it.”
“I dreamed I won the lottery,” Qi Yue said, pushing away from the desk and standing up.
Father Qi laughed.
“Getting embarrassed now? What’s there to talk about?” he smiled, watching Qi Yue about to leave. “Did you just arrive or are you going back?”
“I’m on the afternoon shift in the emergency room today,” Qi Yue said. “I just sent a patient to your department.”
“What illness?” Dr. Qi asked.
Before he finished speaking, people were already talking in the hallway.
“…What kind of joke is this… why send an ophthalmology patient here?”
Qi Yue made a face at her father and turned to leave.
In the hallway, a doctor was looking at a medical record, with a stone-faced patient’s family member beside him.
“Director Lu, here’s the situation. We consulted on this patient during our shift – there might be some brain problems,” Qi Yue said, walking over.
Director Lu glanced at her.
“Little Qi,” he said flatly.
“We already did a cranial CT,” the patient’s family member said, shaking the bag, looking angry.
“I’ve looked at it. The CT is fine,” Director Lu said.
“Has an MRI been done?” Qi Yue asked.
“Look, look! This is just to make us do more tests! We already wasted money on one CT, and it’s still not over!” the family member got agitated and said loudly, pointing at Qi Yue. “Director Lu, how can young doctors nowadays be like this? Can’t they do anything but order tests? Are they just trying to get more commission? They can clearly diagnose the illness but insist on making us do this and that!”
This commotion attracted everyone’s attention. People in the hallway looked over, and some came out of their offices.
Seeing Qi Yue, Peng Jiahai, who had originally been about to enter without paying attention, stopped.
Father Qi also came out of his office.
“She’s doing this for your own good. Wouldn’t it be better to confirm there’s no such illness?” he quickly tried to mediate.
“Besides ordering tests, can’t you do anything else?” the family member said angrily. “Without machines, what can you do?”
“Actually, being able to do these tests is how lucky and blessed we are,” Qi Yue said.
The family member spat.
“Don’t think I don’t know the tricks involved,” he said, snatching the medical record and films from Director Lu. “Useless.”
He was about to leave, then stopped and moved close to Qi Yue.
Father Qi instinctively blocked in front of his daughter.
“Thoracic Surgery, Qi Yue,” the patient read from Qi Yue’s name tag. “I’m writing this down. I’m filing a complaint against you.”
“This comrade, this comrade,” Father Qi quickly stopped him. “Let’s talk nicely…”
Qi Yue also quickly turned to stop him.
“Scared now? Too late!” he shouted. “If I don’t teach you a lesson, you won’t know what fear is!”
“Comrade, your father’s illness is indeed somewhat problematic. It’s definitely not just a cataract causing poor vision,” Qi Yue ignored his words and said instead.
“Tell me, why do you insist on saying this? Didn’t the other doctors say there’s nothing wrong? Aren’t the routine eye exams normal too?” the family member asked with a frown.
“Has your father been having headaches recently?” Qi Yue ignored his mockery and said, pausing and pointing to the right side of her head. “Right side pain.”
“No,” the family member said impatiently.
“Think about it carefully, ask the patient carefully,” Qi Yue said.
“How do you know this? Who told you? I haven’t heard my father say anything,” the family member said.
“I…” Qi Yue hesitated. “I can tell from his pulse…”
Pulse reading.
Not only was the family member stunned, but all the other doctors were stunned too.
The family member looked up and around, reaching up to dig in his ear.
“I didn’t go to the wrong place, did I?” he said. “This isn’t the Traditional Chinese Medicine department, is it?”
“Comrade, I’m being serious, not joking with you. Although your father can’t express it clearly, when I checked his pulse…” Qi Yue continued.
“Crazy,” the family member interrupted her, threw down that comment, and walked away shaking his hands.
“Hey,” Qi Yue called out, about to chase after him.
Father Qi grabbed her arm.
Father Qi shook his head at her.
Director Lu also shook his head.
“Old Lu, about this matter…” Father Qi said to him with some apology.
“Forget it, it’s nothing,” Director Lu said. “Young people, they’re inevitably a bit impulsive.”
Father Qi smiled and thanked him.
“Little Qi, study more with your father. Come to our neurology department in the future,” Director Lu said, patting Father Qi’s arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle the complaint.”
The people in the hallway dispersed. Peng Jiahai stood still, watching thoughtfully.
“Dr. Peng?” someone called him.
Peng Jiahai came back to his senses.
He saw Qi Yue and Father Qi exchange a few words before she left.
“Does little Dr. Qi also practice traditional Chinese medicine?” he couldn’t help asking.
The doctor nearby shook his head with a smile.
“Little Qi is a top student from Beijing Western Medicine. Don’t mention TCM to her – she almost sued the TCM department’s pharmacy to bankruptcy,” he laughed. “She’s the thoracic surgery ‘little quick blade’ – she wouldn’t learn such slow medicine.”
Peng Jiahai said “oh” and looked again. The woman’s straight figure in the hallway disappeared around the corner into the stairwell.
This incident didn’t have much impact on Qi Yue. Since she was on the afternoon shift, she got off work in the afternoon.
Her phone was ringing constantly. Qi Yue answered while opening the door.
“I know, I’ll go shopping right now. Whatever you want to eat, I’ll make for you… okay, okay… play cards… fine, fine… I remember the red wine you wanted…” she said, opening and closing the door, changing shoes, and entering the house. Without stopping, she went into the kitchen to get shopping bags, changed clothes, and went out again.
Huang Ying hung up the phone and almost bumped into someone as she left.
“Sister Huang, what’s so urgent?” Peng Jiahai smiled.
“Hey, Director Peng, finished your rounds?” Huang Ying was even happier seeing him. “Are you free tonight?”
Peng Jiahai thought about it.
“I’m free,” he said. “I’m alone in the country – when one person eats their fill, the whole family isn’t hungry.”
Huang Ying laughed and patted his arm.
“Good, then come eat with us,” she smiled.
“Well, let me pay this time. It’s not good to always eat off you,” Peng Jiahai said with a smile.
“No need. It’s a gathering at Yueyue’s place,” Huang Ying smiled.
“Yueyue?” Peng Jiahai asked questioningly.
“Oh, that’s little Dr. Qi’s place,” Huang Ying smiled, winking at him. “Little Dr. Qi is an excellent cook. We often go to her place.”
Little Dr. Qi…
Peng Jiahai nodded.
“I just don’t know if it’s too presumptuous?” he said.
“Oh, what’s presumptuous about it? We’re colleagues – once strangers, twice friends,” Huang Ying smiled. “Then it’s settled.”
Peng Jiahai had just nodded when there was a commotion in the ward.
“Dr. Peng, patient from the emergency room,” a nurse called.
Peng Jiahai and Huang Ying hurried over.
The patient sent over was in his sixties, already unconscious. Oxygen and IV drips had been set up by the emergency doctor, but the person was obviously still in bad shape.
Soon the MRI report was also sent over – acute cerebral infarction.
“Looks like I can’t make tonight’s gathering,” Peng Jiahai said to Huang Ying.
“You go ahead and get busy,” Huang Ying said quickly.
Family members arrived one after another, and the ward became chaotic.
As Peng Jiahai prepared for surgery, he bumped into a family member who had just arrived. The man was obviously devastated and disoriented, stumbling and crying.
“Dad, Dad… what happened? When I went home at noon, everything was fine…”
Peng Jiahai, about to enter the operating room, couldn’t help but pause and look back. The man grabbing the patient’s bed and crying was the same man from noon!
I suspect there’s a brain problem…
Has an MRI been done?
Comrade, has your father been having headaches recently?
That woman had pointed to her head.
Right side pain…
Peng Jiahai quickly stepped into the operating room and looked at the hanging X-ray films.
Multiple subacute cerebral infarctions in the right occipital lobe and left cerebellar hemisphere…
As night fell, Qi Yue’s home was lively.
In the living room, a small movie was playing on one side while an intense card game was happening on the other. The kitchen partition was designed as a small bar, now filled with beer, red wine, champagne, and various snack platters.
Qi Yue held a beer can and leaned against the back of the sofa.
“You’re so silly, wrong, wrong…” she patted Huang Ying’s shoulder.
Huang Ying had four or five strips of paper with writing stuck to her face, shrugging her shoulders.
“Don’t make noise, don’t make noise…” she also shouted.
As her opponent finished their cards, she let out a wail.
“Come, come, let me personally stick this one on Sister Huang,” the opponent said cheerfully, picking up a strip from a nearby plate that read “I am the world’s greatest beauty” and sticking it on.
“Oh, so stupid. I slept for a year, and you haven’t improved at all,” Qi Yue laughed and pushed Huang Ying’s head.
“Go away, go away,” Huang Ying said unconvinced, reshuffling the cards. “Again, again.”
Qi Yue laughed and walked away. She shook her beer can – it was empty – so she got another bottle. Looking around the lively room, she slowly opened the door and walked onto the balcony.
The cool early summer breeze blew gently. From the eighth-floor terrace, the entire city could be seen.
Behind her, laughter and music came from behind the glass door. In front of her were the dazzling city neon lights.
Qi Yue raised her head – faint stars could be seen in the sky.
“Cheers,” she said, raising her hand.
The glass door was suddenly pulled open, startling Qi Yue.
“Yueyue, what are you doing?” Huang Ying asked.
“Oh, nothing, drinking to the moon,” Qi Yue smiled.
Huang Ying scoffed, then waved her phone.
“Well, I invited a colleague. Originally he couldn’t come, but now he can. Is that okay?” she asked.
“Of course,” Qi Yue smiled. “Your colleague is my colleague, isn’t he?”
Huang Ying smiled and nodded at her.
“Then I’ll go pick him up – he can’t find the place,” she said, turning to run out.
“Hey,” Qi Yue quickly called out, pointing to her face. “You’re going out looking like that? You’ll scare your colleague to death.”
Huang Ying laughed heartily and reached up to pull off the strips on her face.
“Hey, hey, no pulling them off! Go out just like that!”
The colleagues over there objected and shouted teasingly.
The room filled with laughter and noise. Qi Yue took a deep breath, glanced at the night sky, tilted her head back for a sip of wine. Dreams – dreams had to wake up, right? She stepped back inside.