“Qi Yue!”

Hearing the shout as she walked into the cafeteria, Qi Yue looked over to see several familiar doctors waving at her.

“What? Are you treating me to a meal?” Qi Yue smiled and walked over.

“Come on, you’re treating us,” they laughed, sitting down haphazardly at the dining table.

“I’m broke right now,” Qi Yue said, also sitting down. “You have to consider that I’m a patient!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

“You’re a patient, yet you’re so eager to come back to work,” someone laughed.

They got their food amid the chaos and crowded around one table to eat.

“A patient really does need nourishment,” one doctor said, looking at Qi Yue’s lunch box with a smile. “All meat dishes.”

Everyone leaned over to look.

“Wow, pig’s head meat.”

“Little Qi, don’t you usually not like eating these greasy things?”

Don’t eat them?

Qi Yue was stunned for a moment.

Of course you eat meat when you eat – pig’s head stewed until tender, one big bite at a time…

The man laughed, picking up a piece with his chopsticks.

Qi Yue closed her eyes and shook her head.

“For nourishment,” she smiled, pointing to her head. “I did injure my head, after all.”

Everyone laughed again, their laughter drawing looks from others in the cafeteria.

“Look, the moon of thoracic surgery is back.”

“Yes, it’s much livelier now.”

A woman and a man walked into the cafeteria at that moment.

“Jianfeng, what do you want to eat? How about hot pot?” Cui Xiu asked, then turned to see the man beside her looking inside, seemingly not hearing what she said. She followed his gaze and immediately pulled a long face.

Listening to her colleagues’ jokes and laughter, Qi Yue kept her head down, eating her meal.

“Qi Yue.”

A female voice rang out above her head.

The laughing crowd all looked over, their expressions immediately souring.

Wu Jianfeng’s expression also looked unpleasant.

“Cui Xiu,” he said through gritted teeth in a low voice, once again tugging at Cui Xiu’s arm.

Cui Xiu shook him off.

“What?” she said. “We’re all colleagues. Qi Yue had such a big thing happen and got better – can’t I come say hello? I used to visit all the time when she wasn’t well.”

The people around looked very uncomfortable.

“Cui Xiu, coming all this way to eat here? Isn’t the third cafeteria very close to the Traditional Chinese Medicine department?” a female doctor said with a half-smile.

“Sister Zhou, who can resist the fragrant food in your thoracic surgery cafeteria?” Cui Xiu also replied with a half-smile. “Once you’ve eaten here, you can’t forget it.”

While they were talking, Qi Yue kept her head down eating, as if she hadn’t heard.

This appeared deliberate to Cui Xiu.

“Qi Yue,” she called again, reaching out to tap the table.

Only then did Qi Yue come back to her senses and look up.

“Oh, Cui Xiu,” she said.

“Congratulations on your recovery,” Cui Xiu said.

Qi Yue nodded with a smile.

“Thank you,” she said.

Just as Cui Xiu was about to say something more, the pager on Qi Yue went off. She stood up without even bothering to take her lunch box.

“Help me bring it back,” she said.

Everyone quickly waved at her.

“Oh, by the way, Cui Xiu.” Qi Yue paused and looked at Cui Xiu again.

In that dream, traditional Chinese medicine injections…

She couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you for doing me such a big favor,” Qi Yue said.

She finished speaking and hurried away.

Cui Xiu was completely baffled.

“What favor?” she asked, looking at Wu Jianfeng.

Wu Jianfeng didn’t look at her and pulled her away.

“What favor did I do her? Pick up your ex-boyfriend? Is she laughing at me?” Cui Xiu said angrily.

“Just say less, will you? I’m not eating this meal,” Wu Jianfeng was truly angry this time. He shook off Cui Xiu and strode away.

Everyone in the cafeteria looked over. Cui Xiu bit her lower lip, stamped her foot, and chased after him.

“Really, bringing shame on herself.”

“Exactly, why bother?”

Qi Yue’s colleagues shook their heads.

Many people were standing in the hospital room, looking at the patient on the bed with slightly anxious expressions.

“Dr. Qi, this just started happening,” the nurse said with slight perspiration on her forehead.

Qi Yue had already bent down to begin the examination.

“The eyelid trembling when closed has disappeared, and the heart rate has reached 120,” she said, standing up. “Oxygen therapy.”

The nurses responded and hurriedly complied.

“Doctor, what’s wrong? Everything was fine… didn’t you say the surgery was very successful?” the family members cried nearby.

The patient’s condition didn’t improve with oxygen therapy.

“Dr. Qi, let’s go for lab tests,” the nurses suggested.

At this point, they needed to rely on instruments for diagnosis.

Qi Yue frowned without speaking, looking at the patient on the bed. Her gaze fell on the patient’s wrist.

She instinctively reached out to feel the pulse.

The nurses looked at her in surprise.

As she felt the pulse, Qi Yue felt some terms naturally appearing in her mind.

Those things she shouldn’t know – traditional Chinese medicine diagnoses…

Shocked, she quickly withdrew her hand.

“Dr. Qi!” the nurse urged again.

Lab tests? These symptoms…

As long as it’s an illness, there are external symptomatic reactions…

Miss Qi, although we don’t have the things you want, I think we can see and find…

Who was speaking in her mind?

Such clear dream scenes…

Qi Yue closed her eyes again and sat down.

“Dr. Qi?” The nurses had already prepared to wheel the bed and asked in surprise seeing this.

“Has there been anything unusual these past few days?” Qi Yue asked, carefully examining the patient’s facial features.

“Unusual?” the family members asked in confusion, looking at each other and shaking their heads.

“Has he felt uncomfortable anywhere?” Qi Yue asked.

The nurses watched the patient’s reactions.

“Dr. Qi,” they reminded her softly again.

“Uncomfortable?” The family members looked at each other, and one of them said “oh.” “A few days ago, Xiao Qiang said he felt uncomfortable with wind blowing.”

Wind?

Qi Yue turned to look at the window.

Three days post-surgery, this room was sealed, and besides, the person was covered very tightly.

“Right, right, said there was wind blowing on his face…” another family member said. “He even called the caregiver to check the windows…”

Wind…

“Dr. Qi, the patient’s eyes are rolling back!” the nurse shouted, her voice somewhat panicked.

Qi Yue stood up abruptly, her gaze sweeping over everything and finally landing on the IV drip.

She reached out to check the medication card.

“It’s cephalosporin allergy,” she said, reaching out to remove the needle.

The nurse was startled.

“That’s impossible, he’s been on this medication for days,” they said, also looking down at the patient. “And he didn’t have any allergic reactions.”

Qi Yue had already skillfully removed the needle.

“IV push dexamethasone, intramuscular promethazine,” she said.

She was the doctor, she had the final say. The nurses responded.

Qi Yue wrote a prescription, and everyone hurried to execute it.

Qi Yue didn’t leave the room, watching everyone bustle about.

After the two medications were administered, the patient indeed showed improvement.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Dr. Qi! It really is an allergic reaction! There’s a response!” a nurse suddenly pointed at the patient’s ear.

Everyone looked and saw red rashes spreading around the patient’s ear.

Everyone couldn’t help but pat their chests in relief.

“Thank heavens…”

If they had still been running the IV while going for tests, the person probably wouldn’t have survived by the time they got downstairs.

“Although we all learned in textbooks that some allergic symptoms can appear within two to three days, when you suddenly encounter it, you really can’t think of it,” the nurses said.

“Good thing, good thing, we made it in time,” Qi Yue said. “Be more careful next time.”

The nurses quickly responded.

After observing the patient for a while longer, work hours arrived and other doctors came. Qi Yue handed over the patient’s condition and returned to her office.

The lunch box she’d eaten only half of had been brought back by colleagues and was sitting on the desk.

Qi Yue put the lunch box in the microwave. Looking out the window, her office was on the third floor, directly facing the street. She stared blankly until someone knocked on the door.

“Haven’t eaten yet?” Huang Ying walked in and asked.

Qi Yue smiled and took the lunch box from the microwave.

“I was on duty this morning,” she said.

Ward duty was the busiest, so not eating on schedule was normal. Often they couldn’t spare time to eat.

“Are you off work?” she asked while opening the lunch box and picking up a spoon, gesturing for Huang Ying to sit.

Huang Ying nodded.

“Want to get together tonight?” she asked.

Getting together meant going to Qi Yue’s place for dinner.

This was their old habit.

Qi Yue smiled and nodded.

“But my refrigerator is empty. Buy whatever you want to eat yourselves, and I’ll go home and cook for you,” she smiled, eating large mouthfuls of food.

“What were you thinking about just now?” Huang Ying asked.

“What?” Qi Yue asked with her mouth full.

“Little Yue, you’ve been spacing out a lot lately. Is there something on your mind?” Huang Ying asked.

Qi Yue smiled and shook her head.

“Not at all,” she said. “I’ve been discharged, I’m no longer a patient in your neurology department. Don’t conduct follow-up investigations on me.”

Huang Ying pursed her lips.

“Did you receive that guy’s wedding invitation?” she asked hesitantly.

Qi Yue was stunned, then remembered something and rummaged through the papers on her desk, pulling out an invitation from under a pile of medical files.

“Really…” Huang Ying was very angry, snatching it away and slapping it on the desk. “I’m really fed up with this shameless thing… saying they were waiting for you to get better before they got married. What? Were they waiting for you to get better so they could slap you in the face?”

Qi Yue shook her head and smiled.

“Little Yue, it’s nothing, don’t take it to heart. There are plenty of good men. Hey, in our neurology department, there’s a new one, returned from overseas…” Huang Ying hurried to comfort her, raising her eyebrows.

Qi Yue laughed even harder, reaching out to snatch the invitation from her hand.

“Hey, don’t go, it’s not worth it. Why give them gift money…” Huang Ying said with wide eyes. Before she could finish, she saw Qi Yue casually toss it.

The invitation landed precisely in the waste basket.

Huang Ying gave her a thumbs up.

“Dr. Qi!” someone called from outside the door. “Are you scrubbing in for Director Zhou’s surgery?”

Qi Yue quickly swallowed the food in her mouth and didn’t finish the remaining half box.

“Yes, yes,” she said, standing up.

“Surgery this afternoon,” Huang Ying also stood up.

“Oh, there’s a total pneumonectomy,” Qi Yue said.

“Then you’ll be late after surgery, let’s get together another day,” Huang Ying said.

Qi Yue nodded.

When Qi Yue walked out of the hospital office building, night had already fallen.

“Dr. Qi, getting off work.”

Passersby greeted her, and Qi Yue smiled at each one. The north wind blew snow pellets down, and soon the concrete road was covered with a crystalline layer.

The rented place was very close to the hospital. Going out the west gate, there was a bustling night market.

“…Is this fish still fresh?”

“…Miss, do you want pineapple?”

“…Just two pounds of ribs…”

Soon, Qi Yue was carrying three or four bags. The snow was getting heavier, and there were fewer and fewer people on the street. She pulled her coat’s hood over her head and quickened her pace.

The sound systems of the shops along the street were still playing loudly.

“…What will I do without you… going to work alone… getting off work alone… alone in the big big city… no one to say goodnight… accompanied by loneliness all night long…”

Qi Yue couldn’t help but stop and turn to look.

The music was still echoing.

Beep beep – car horns behind her.

Qi Yue came back to her senses, got out of the way, and continued walking.

The lights in the room came on. Qi Yue kicked the door shut, threw off her shoes, and ran barefoot on the warm floor into the kitchen. She threw her things on the dining table, pulled the curtains, and went to change clothes.

She started the stove to heat water while stewing ribs. The rice in the rice cooker was also giving off a fragrant aroma, but there was no sign of Qi Yue in the kitchen. Her cheers could be heard from the bedroom.

“That’s right, this is it,” she said to herself, carrying a laptop out and placing it on the coffee table. She clicked it, and tinkling music began to play.

The sound of boiling water made Qi Yue hurry over, turn off the heat, and taste the fish soup.

“Oishi,” she muttered, opening the cupboard.

A plate of soup, a plate of side dishes, and a bowl of rice were set on the table.

“Alright, time to eat,” she said, tapping her chopsticks.

Under the orange light in the dining room, a woman in gray home clothes ate quietly. The song from the laptop echoed repeatedly throughout the room.

What will I do without you…

Eating alone…

Washing dishes alone…

Alone in the big big room…

Facing the ceiling…

All scenes are heartbreaking…