Chapter 812

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Protagonist:

Fang Ziye

May 6th, Tuesday.

After eating breakfast in the department, Fang Ziye headed toward the Outpatient Clinic as per routine, bringing Hu Qingyuan along.

When he got off the elevator on the second floor and walked toward the Outpatient Clinic corridor, Fang Ziye asked, "Qingyuan, what do you think of that Li Qixi?"

"She looks quite down-to-earth so far, nothing special. Probably relatively honest, after all she didn't get exposed to basic research during her undergraduate years."

"Very eager to learn. The materials I sent her, she read them all carefully. She knows how to study. In just a few days she's already started culturing cells, and is currently learning the scratch assay..." Hu Qingyuan reported Li Qixi's progress very clearly and meticulously.

Hearing this, Fang Ziye nodded slightly: "What about other aspects? You two are close in age, have you asked?"

Hu Qingyuan thought for a moment, then shook his head gently: "Master, after you gave me a reminder, I actually didn't ask. Instead, she brought it up on her own, saying she had long looked forward to this kind of atmosphere."

"She also said she doesn't want to take a purely research path. If there's an opportunity, she still wants to go with me to the Training Room."

"The premise is that she can obtain our recognition!"

Fang Ziye said: "I'm asking about other aspects, like family and such."

Hu Qingyuan nodded again: "We haven't talked about family, but she told me about the previous assault incident."

"During her shift, a rich young master tried to barge into the nurses' rest room, and everyone in the department dared to be angry but dared not speak."

"He still occasionally calls to harass her even now."

"The reason Li Qixi withdrew from standardized training, besides wanting to study herself, was also to escape this harassment. It's too hard for a girl out there alone."

After understanding these matters, Fang Ziye said no more.

When Fang Ziye and Hu Qingyuan arrived at the familiar Outpatient Clinic consultation room entrance, both stopped in their tracks, looking with particular surprise at the crowd packed before them.

There wasn't even room for the two of them to pass through.

Wheelchairs, crutches, and clamor intertwined in a chaotic mass.

Guide Nurse Tang Wan's irritable voice came from inside: "Queue up, queue up. Added numbers also need to queue. No queue, no added numbers. I say no adding means no adding!!"

"I was here first, Nurse, I was here first."

"I came to Han City yesterday already."

"We're talking about who came to the Outpatient Clinic first. Who asked you when you came to Han City? By that logic I came fifty years ago."

"I came the earliest!"

Guide Nurse Tang Wan's voice was instantly drowned out.

There were also dissatisfied voices from patients who had gotten numbers circulating behind: "You add numbers if you want, but don't block the door. Those of us who queued for numbers need to queue in order..."

But no one paid him any heed. The crowd still surrounded in a semicircle, each talking over the other, more chaotic than a vegetable market.

The Hospital treated Fang Ziye well. After Fang Ziye agreed to enter the department early, they did not add extra Outpatient Clinic shifts for him.

Fang Ziye was newly married, so naturally he wouldn't voluntarily "work overtime" to bore himself. The patient volume accumulated over a month was somewhat beyond expectations.

Perhaps Tang Wan had called the Security Office in advance. Fang Ziye happened to see several Security Department colleagues in uniform walking over.

"Maintain discipline! What are you doing?" The leader approached and shouted loudly. His voice was loud and temporarily stunned the crowd into silence.

But those surrounding Tang Wan included not only family members, but also patients and people in wheelchairs with limited mobility.

Even the Security Office colleagues dared not approach easily. If someone got bumped or knocked over, whose responsibility would it be?

Seeing this, Fang Ziye took a deep breath. Taking advantage of the momentary lull in noise, he raised his hand and said: "Fellow patients and family members, could you please make way a bit and let me through?"

Fang Ziye's registration system is public, with his photo on it.

Those who came seeking treatment had all heard of Fang Ziye's reputation, so naturally they recognized him. Thus they recognized Fang Ziye at first glance.

"Professor Fang, I didn't get a number. Can you help me add one?" Someone further back in the crowd piled on a fawning smile.

Seeking treatment, seeking treatment — at this moment it seemed to have become concrete.

Hearing this, Fang Ziye stirred inwardly: "Added numbers are added numbers, but you have to let me in first, right? And added numbers need some order too."

"How about this: I'll set an order. Elderly over sixty-five, children under fifteen — after I finish all the morning Outpatient Clinic numbers, I'll add numbers for you to be seen."

"Those outside this age range, I'll add numbers for you in the afternoon. You queue up separately first, and don't quibble so much over who came first or later."

"I guarantee I'll see everyone who's here now. Okay?"

"Crowding like this isn't right either."

Fang Ziye's daily Outpatient Clinic workload is actually not small — fifty numbers.

Based on normal eight-hour work hours, he needs one hour to see six patients for initial and follow-up consultations, leaving only about ten minutes per patient.

"But I came first?" Someone was dissatisfied.

Fang Ziye replied domineeringly: "I know you came first, but you didn't get a number. I'm working overtime to see you, so let's be magnanimous and not quibble over such details, alright?"

"Seeing a doctor also requires order and rules. Patients who got numbers naturally take priority, because they queued up in advance."

"As for you, either follow what I said — elderly and children first — or go ask other professors, or go to other hospitals..."

You're here for an added number, and you still want to jump the queue?

Once Fang Ziye's voice fell, the crowd all fell silent.

They surely had opinions in their hearts, but everyone knew the reason so many people had piled up now was that Fang Ziye hadn't held Outpatient Clinic for too long.

Not everyone checks the Hospital's official Outpatient Clinic duty information before coming. They might just come directly and wait for a number.

Only after arriving in Han City did they realize: oh, Fang Ziye has no Outpatient Clinic shifts this month. The Medical Affairs Department issued an announcement long ago...

The Hospital doesn't know who will come for treatment. They only need to post an announcement on the Official Website. It's impossible to notify each individual personally, right...

"Professor Fang, I think this is good." For every dissatisfied proposal, there were naturally satisfied ones.

Fang Ziye continued, "Queue in order, that guarantees everyone gets seen — that's the best way. I don't know any of you, so I can only follow the principle of elderly and children first."

"Everyone try to understand each other..."

"Then, after this point, if any more patients come to add on, Tang Wan, you just refuse directly. I can't add any more either."

"Tell them to come back next week."

This crowd surrounding them, conservatively estimated at least forty-plus people — Fang Ziye truly couldn't add that many slots.

Only then did the crowd make way for a path.

The crowd began to disperse and start queueing.

There were clever ones too.

Tang Wan said, "Give me your ID card."

"I'm sixty-eight."

"Give me your ID card, don't delay everyone's time, and don't play smart. Professor Fang agreed to add you all on — that means no rest for him!"

"You're sixty-eight years old, let me see your ID card?"

The "elderly person" left.

After Fang Ziye and Hu Qingyuan entered the consultation room, they immediately began calling numbers and seeing patients.

Hu Qingyuan was already proficient in the consultation sequence; he immediately started the inquiry: "Hello, who's the patient? Where does it hurt?"

With his own teacher backing him up behind him, filling gaps and correcting mistakes, he could freely unleash his "knowledge system" — wrong, and someone corrects him; growing through the process of making mistakes — that was the confidence Fang Ziye gave him.

……

"Director He, why did you come personally? Oh my, such a long queue? Who's attending inside?" A professor from Surgery spotted He Qian Yong from the Security Office and curiously paused.

He Qian Yong replied, "Director Li, the one attending inside is Professor Fang Ziye from Orthopedics. I'm a bit baffled myself."

"Just about to get off work, the guide nurse here called saying she was surrounded, asked me to bring people over to maintain on-site order."

The one called Director Li clicked his tongue in amazement: "Good fellow, so it's Fang Ziye from Orthopedics — no wonder."

"Ah, this old saying still holds true: compare people and you'll die of envy, compare goods and you'll throw them away." Director Li looked at the sparse few queuing at his own outpatient door, then at Fang Ziye's consultation room door — worlds apart.

Director Li was a Deputy Chief Physician of Geriatric Surgery, had only recently adjusted his outpatient day to Tuesday. Same rank as Deputy Chief Physician, he was older than Fang Ziye, less famous than Fang Ziye, and now even his reputation among patients...

"Director Li, a talent like Professor Fang — one in ten thousand is no exaggeration. You're still very excellent." He Qian Yong said.

As He Qian Yong spoke, he suddenly saw someone giving Tang Wan a hard time, and immediately stepped forward to scold: "You want to take this to the police station to talk?"

"I've told you clearly — the hospital is a public area, the outpatient consultation sequence is a special public order!"

"If you make trouble and refuse to listen, I'll have the nearby stationed police come chat with you!"

"My mom and I really queued first!" The man wasn't old, only in his twenties, trying to appeal to reason.

A kind-hearted bystander nodded: "This leader, he really did come first. He's a young man, a graduate student, taking care of his mother alone — not easy!"

He Qian Yong didn't doubt the man's words were true, and said: "The proper consultation sequence is registration — that's legally recognized! Whether to add slots is the attending doctor's personal choice; how to order added slots is also the attending doctor's personal freedom."

"Since it's already set as elderly and children first, you can refuse added slots, you can choose not to queue, but you can't break the attending doctor's rules."

"Is that so?"

"If you got a registration number, you'd naturally have a queue sequence."

"Added slots don't have any first-come-first-served rule." He Qian Yong said.

"But I don't have that much time. I only asked my advisor for half a day off. I still have to go back to the lab tonight."

"My mother doesn't meet the age requirement. Can she see a doctor alone this afternoon?" The man persisted.

"I knew this myself, so I got up at five, brought my mother here at six-thirty to wait."

"I don't want to either..."

"Mom, let go of me!"

"I'm fine, I won't make a scene..." The man spoke halfway, grievance to the extreme, hurriedly turned away to comfort his own mother.

As long as there's illness, as long as there's a patient in the family, there will inevitably be each their own not-easy.

He Qian Yong also felt a bit helpless. Looking at so many queuing patients, he had no solution.

Fang Ziye certainly couldn't attend to this one person's unspeakable difficulty outside the door. Having stayed long in the Security Office, he knew: if you want to talk unspeakable difficulties and not-easy, grab ten people from outpatient and wards, nine have their own bitter circumstances.

But this man's situation was indeed rather special. He Qian Yong glanced at him and asked: "Did you bring test results from other hospitals?"

"We have test results, but — will your hospital accept them?"

He Qian Yong said in a low voice beside the man: "Push your mother to the Orthopedics Ward, then look at the photos on the wall. Look for the younger doctors in the same group as Professor Fang."

"Have him take a preliminary look at your mother's test results first."

Hearing this, the man was a bit confused: "I came to find Professor Fang for outpatient consultation?"

He Qian Yong continued lowering his voice, anxious: "They're in the same group as Professor Fang. If they can't figure it out themselves, don't they know to consult their teacher?"

"You're a graduate student too. When others ask you professional questions, if you can't figure it out, don't you ask your supervisor?"

The man's eyes lit up: "What if they're unwilling to look?"

He Qian Yong said irritably: "Then should I personally carry your aunt to find the Dean?"

TM, the path's already been suggested for you. Do I have to hold your hand and walk it for you?

You don't know to think of a way?

Don't understand at all the subordinate doctor's ability to pull strings in a top-tier hospital. Really!

Hearing this, the man immediately pushed his mother and left.

Some did hear He Qian Yong's follow-up words, but some thought He Qian Yong was quarreling with the man.

Someone else inquired: "Leader, what good idea did you give that young man?"

"No idea. You all queue slowly." He Qian Yong didn't dare send too many outpatient patients into the wards — that would definitely cause chaos.

……

When Fang Ziye received Lin Fangzhong's message, Hu Qingyuan was taking the history of a new patient.

After reading the message, Fang Ziye said: "Since that's the case, have Teacher Li Nuo's name put on a hospitalization certificate, but don't write today's date on it."

"This spinal cord injury is indeed quite typical; if there's a strong willingness for inpatient treatment, they can be admitted."

"Okay, Senior Brother Fang." Lin Fangzhong replied politely.

Fang Ziye didn't put on airs; anyone who could directly find the ward and find Lin Fangzhong and the others for treatment had definitely been guided by a "senior expert."

Moreover, the other party had managed to persuade Attending Physician Zhang Wenlin in the department to help confirm the diagnosis, which had indeed taken considerable effort.

After sending the message, Fang Ziye spoke up to interrupt: "No, Hu Qingyuan, his situation isn't spinal cord injury, it might be spinal nerve root injury."

"You're a doctor; from now on your descriptions can't use such definitive language. Did you read the MRI? You're just asserting it based on experience?" Fang Ziye criticized.

Hu Qingyuan hurriedly corrected himself: "Mm, based on the current physical examination results, your situation doesn't rule out nerve root injury, but we still need to do an MRI first to further confirm the diagnosis."

"Your symptoms have persisted this long, so you've probably seen many places, and you're certainly aware that a very meticulous diagnosis is needed before there's a chance for treatment..."

Hu Qingyuan was very skilled at talking with patients.

He was Fang Ziye's student; when Fang Ziye criticized him, it wouldn't make patients feel Hu Qingyuan was unreliable — on the contrary, it would make patients feel Fang Ziye was strict.

A strict teacher produces outstanding students.

Actually, Hu Qingyuan had just expressed himself too definitively, not rigorously enough, and hadn't gathered more evidence.

Diagnosing spinal cord injury cases without a clear diagnosis is no joking matter.

……

Fang Ziye and Hu Qingyuan only hastily squeezed in a meal at noon, finished in under six minutes, drank some water, went to the toilet.

It counted as a thirteen-minute rest under the watchful eyes of many queuing patients before the two continued "working."

Patients came and went, went and came.

Later on, there were even patients who saw Fang Ziye and Hu Qingyuan talking so much that foam appeared at the corners of their mouths without them realizing...

But they still had to see them.

Fifty registered outpatients, fifty-three add-on outpatients! None were particularly simple minor ailments; the orbicularis oris muscles of their mouths were practically cramping...

At 7:40 PM, another add-on patient came in carrying two boxed meals and two bottles of Dongfang Shuye Tea.

With some heartache, they said: "Professor Fang, Doctor, why don't you eat something first instead of rushing to see patients?"

Fang Ziye said: "We've already eaten. Are there not many patients left outside? Finish early, rest early."

"If I remember correctly, you're still an initial consultation patient, right? Really sorry, we might order tests for you, and you won't be able to do them until tomorrow."

"Truly sorry."

The ones who came in were a middle-aged couple, in their fifties; the patient was the wife, who said with particular heartache: "Sigh, my son is also a doctor, he also sits outpatient clinic."

"But he works out of town; I don't know if when he sees outpatients normally, he's also like you, Professor Fang."

"My husband and I came at 2 PM and have been waiting at the door until now."

"I get anxious just sitting waiting; Professor Fang you..." The aunt hesitated.

"It's fine, I'm used to it."

"Just that there were more add-on patients today." Fang Ziye said: "Auntie, where does it hurt?"

Hu Qingyuan was worked to death!

Taking a patient's history isn't a matter of a few sentences; the ordeal of history-taking for seventy or eighty complex outpatients left Hu Qingyuan's tongue practically unable to straighten out.

"..."

9:30 PM.

The latest Fang Ziye had ever gotten off work from outpatient clinic.

Three feelings.

First, buttocks soaked with sweat.

Second, butt cheeks a bit sore.

Third, didn't want to speak.

Fang Ziye looked at Hu Qingyuan, Hu Qingyuan looked at Fang Ziye; the teacher-student pair fell silent and disinclined to speak, and the two walked briskly out of the outpatient clinic together.

Guide Nurse Tang Wan had left early today and hadn't waited for the two to get off work.

Not until they exited the outpatient clinic did Hu Qingyuan say: "Master, I'll take your white coat back to the ward; you go rest first."

After all, Fang Ziye was the supervisor and Hu Qingyuan the student; even though Hu Qingyuan had done more talking and was more tired, at this moment he should be the one running errands.

"Works! ~ Rest early." Fang Ziye was sparing with words, truly disliked speaking.

Fang Ziye strolled leisurely to the parking lot, let out a long sigh, and only then got in the car and drove out of the parking lot.

But what Fang Ziye didn't know was that somewhere in the parking lot connected to the outpatient corridor, Tang Wan stood there, watching Fang Ziye leave in a daze.

Only after Fang Ziye drove away did she say: "Professor Fang, goodbye, though I suppose you wouldn't care about a little guide nurse like me."

"I'm going back to my hometown..." (Chapter End)