Chapter 742: Seven Up, Eight Down

Ji Xiang exited the System Operating Room and silently watched the noisy Family Member.

After experiencing Empathy once, the Family Member before Ji Xiang's eyes no longer appeared as a Medical Disturbance; their emotions were far more complex.

In just an instant, Ji Xiang matured.

There were several shifts in the man's mindset during the Empathy.

From the abnormal Tang Screening results to the amniotic fluid puncture test, and then to the Paternity Test, every single report had a powerful and irreversible impact on him.

So much so that later, when the man transformed into a devil to lure his Brother-in-law into causing his family's ruin, it was only natural.

Compared to the man who had turned into a devil, the Family Member before him who only knew how to make a scene was clearly much gentler.

They were merely venting their emotions to ease the pressure in their hearts. The man in the Empathy hadn't done anything particularly extreme either, Ji Xiang understood.

Ji Xiang's attention shifted from the Family Member to Bai Chuzhang.

Bai Chuzhang looked somewhat disheveled, but Ji Xiang always felt that Bai Chuzhang didn't take their noise seriously, letting the Family Member vent their emotions.

Combined with the perspective of Empathy, Bai Chuzhang's handling... approach was undoubtedly correct.

As a Director of Medical Affairs who started as a Clinical doctor, he should understand what consecutive abnormal Tang Screening results implied.

Watching Bai Chuzhang's slightly passive method of handling the problem, it actually contained wisdom.

Action is not as good as stillness; if they want to make a scene, let them make a scene—it is always better than explaining things clearly.

Some things are just a piece of paper; once poked through, the trick can no longer be performed.

What Ji Xiang couldn't understand before, he now saw as clearly as a mirror.

There was nothing left to see, and it had been hard on Bai Chuzhang, so Ji Xiang turned and left.

"Doctor Ji Xiang, I've heard people say there are some problems with domestic medical care, but I didn't expect it to be this chaotic." Lin Jiuze followed behind Ji Xiang.

"It's alright, it's all internal contradictions among the people," Ji Xiang said.

Lin Jiuze looked at Ji Xiang's back, feeling that this guy was too good at putting on an act; he had to keep a distance of at least one meter from him, otherwise, if a thunderbolt fell from the sky, he shouldn't let himself get dragged into it.

Ji Xiang returned to Shen Ke to continue working; every day was filled with surgeries and an endless amount of paperwork, which Lin Jiuze found very hard to understand.

A few days later.

Bai Chuzhang had scheduled an appointment with Ji Xiang and Lin Jiuze in advance to go to the Dean's office early the next morning to report on the workstation to Dean Shen in person.

It was likely that Bai Chuzhang had already reported to Dean Shen and cleared the air, so the two were just going through the motions.

Early in the morning, Ji Xiang and Lin Jiuze arrived at Jiguan Lou.

Ji Xiang explained to the guard that he was there to see the Dean, and because he was staff from the hospital, he didn't have to bend over to write down his name and other details.

Therefore, he envied Lin Jiuze, who seemed capable of turning invisible.

The security personnel acted as if they didn't see Lin Jiuze at all, ignoring him completely.

They went upstairs to the 7th floor.

"I thought the Dean's office was on the top floor," Lin Jiuze said.

"It's not," Ji Xiang said. "Generally speaking, it's on the 7th floor."

"Why not the 8th floor? It seems like people in this country are quite fond of the number 8."

"Because of 'seven up, eight down'," Ji Xiang told a joke, and even he couldn't help but laugh.

Seven up, eight down—this lame pun really made one wonder how to comment on it.

"I heard from my dad that in the early years, some leaders' offices were on the 8th floor. But perhaps because of the pun, their outcomes weren't very good, so gradually, through subtle influence, the offices are basically all on the 7th floor."

"This is too metaphysical. Doctor Ji Xiang, do you believe in it?" Lin Jiuze said.

"Whether I believe it or not isn't important; it's most important that the Dean believes it. Anyway, it doesn't matter which floor the office is on; it's just for a good omen—seven up, eight down—to seek some peace of mind."

Ji Xiang and Lin Jiuze chatted casually as they stepped out of the elevator.

Dean Shen came walking over in a hurry.

He was wearing plain clothes, hadn't even changed out of his White Uniform, and his face looked as ugly as if it had been smeared with soot from the bottom of a pot.

"Dean Shen," Ji Xiang stepped aside and said respectfully.

"Hmm." Dean Shen got into the elevator, seemingly off to attend to something.

Ji Xiang was slightly stunned. Weren't they here to report on the workstation to Dean Shen? Why did he leave instead?

The elevator doors closed, Dean Shen's expression was gloomy, and in the end, he didn't say a word.

"What's going on?" Lin Jiuze asked in confusion.

Ji Xiang shook his head, took out his phone, hesitated for a moment, and didn't call Bai Chuzhang, but instead sent a message.

Soon, Bai Chuzhang's reply came in.

The reply was very simple; he didn't explain to Ji Xiang what had happened, but only told Ji Xiang to come to the Special Ward.

The two had no choice but to hurry to the Special Ward.

There were clearly very few people here; it was quieter than the general ward, and the environment was better.

Just as they entered the corridor, a young doctor came up to meet them.

"Doctor Xiao Ji, Bai Chuzhang asked me to have you look at a Medical Record."

"What kind of Patient?" Ji Xiang asked.

The doctor from the Special Ward sighed, "A little boy, 15 years old, has been coughing for 2 years, no clear diagnosis, and has been given some treatments, but it never seems to get better."

"Is the CT scan okay?"

Ji Xiang resisted the urge to ask about the little boy's background, why Dean Shen looked so ugly, why Bai Chuzhang had asked him to come over, and other such gossip.

When he discarded these gossips from his mind, he had some thoughts about the days he had worked with Shen Lang during the Empathy.

Lang Ge was truly quite wild; if he were here, he would probably have started asking about this gossip already.

But I still have to be different from Lang Ge, Ji Xiang thought to himself.

Walking to the Doctor's Office, the doctor from the Special Ward began to briefly introduce the Patient's situation to Ji Xiang and Lin Jiuze.

The Patient is male, 15 years old, and came for a consultation due to a recurrent cough for over 2 years.

During the course of the illness, there was no fever, night sweats, palpitations, or dyspnea; the cough was primarily dry, occasionally with a small amount of white sticky sputum, no blood in the sputum, and the cough worsened with activity and changes in position.

He had been seen at outside hospitals multiple times, where cough variant asthma was considered, and he was given various treatments including anti-inflammatories, steroids, and anti-allergics, yet the cough persisted, with symptoms fluctuating in severity.

"He went to the Imperial Capital to see doctors long ago, visited all the top-tier hospitals, but in the end, it still wasn't cured."

The Doctor in the Special Ward finally sighed and said helplessly.

"Did he go to Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking University Third Hospital, Imperial Capital Hospital, and the like?"

"Yes, he went to all of them; the imaging showed his lungs were very clean, with nothing there. At first, they even said it was bronchitis caused by the dry climate in the Northeast, but he lived in Hainan for half a year and didn't get any better."

"Did he see Rheumatology and Immunology?" Lin Jiuze suddenly asked.

The Doctor in the Special Ward was startled by the sudden voice, and Ji Xiang even saw the muscles on his face twitch.

It would be better to let Lin Jiuze speak less; if he really scared an old doctor into a Myocardial Infarction one day, they would be busy with resuscitation.

"He did," the Doctor in the Special Ward replied, struggling to calm down, "but there was no diagnosis. Several treatment plans were attempted, but the results were not good."

Ji Xiang took the Medical Record and began to read it carefully.

(End of chapter)