Chapter 27: Threading the Needle, Preventing a Tremble

"Is that all?"

"This month's wages haven't been issued yet. Spend carefully."

"What date is it?"

"The tenth." A gentle, clear voice.

"You're my sister; remember to give it to me on the tenth."

Clang!

Wang Chuan turned around. In the dim alley, the door of the restaurant where they had just eaten swayed. A young woman in a long white dress rode a women's bicycle away toward the other side.

"Chuanzi, what are you looking at?"

"Oh, a beauty," Wang Chuan said.

Luo De hurriedly asked, "Where? Let me see. Is she as pretty as Wang Jia?"

"Tch!"

Li Wei and Luo De only saw the back of the woman in the long skirt as she rode the bicycle.

Wang Chuan recognized that the woman was Doctor Shen Mianshuang. Judging by the voice, the other person must be the male waitress from the restaurant; he was actually Doctor Shen's younger brother.

"Let's go back to the dormitory," Wang Chuan said, walking out of the alley.

"Wang Chuan, is my wife really Wang Jia?"

"No, Fat De, you're addicted to acting. Why study medicine instead of going to the Movie Academy?"

Luo De smiled, his eyes squinting into a slit. "My face is decent, but my figure isn't. I can't go."

Wang Chuan put aside the matter of Shen Mianshuang and said to Luo De, "Right, your wife is Wang Jia."

Hearing this, Luo De's face beamed with joy.

Wang Chuan didn't say that Wang Jia had been divorced once before marrying Luo De.

In his past life, Luo De and Wang Chuan interned in the same dormitory at Mingzhou First Hospital; their relationship was quite good. Later, he became the Surgical Department Director at a Grade 3A hospital in Jincheng, a major city in Southwest Province.

His marriage broke the outside rumor that excellent doctors have four marriages.

This rumor goes: an excellent doctor has four marriages. The first is a university classmate, the second a pretty nurse, the third a charming pharmaceutical representative, and the fourth is a female graduate student he supervised.

Back in the dormitory, the three of them finished showering.

Wang Chuan turned on the light, took out the Emergency Physician Standard Manual, and began to read.

Seeing this, Luo De opened Surgery, and Li Wei opened Pediatrics.

Because interns must arrive at the department before seven o'clock to wait for rounds to begin, once inside the ward, the Mentor Teacher or Director would ask questions at any time.

In less than half an hour, Wang Chuan had finished flipping through it.

"Go to bed early! Be energetic tomorrow. When you go to the ward tomorrow, use that small notebook to record the basic conditions of hospitalized patients, then compare them with the theories in the book. That way, you'll have a clear target."

"If you're just trying to cope with the internship assessment, then study according to the requirements in the Internship Manual."

Luo De said, "I'm still a bit worried about leaving an impression of knowing nothing to the teachers."

"You're in the Surgical Department. Maybe tomorrow you'll be pulling sutures right away. Other things are hard to remember, so just memorize the knowledge about appendicitis first."

"Li Wei, you're in Pediatrics. Just get familiar with the environment tomorrow. By the way, Doctor Shen is in Pediatrics too. If you don't understand something, ask her. She's also from Jiangcheng University School of Medicine. She's our Senior Sister, four years ahead of us."

Li Wei and Luo De both thought Wang Chuan made a lot of sense. They closed their books in unison and went to sleep separately.

Less than a minute later, Luo De got up, hurriedly left the dormitory, and returned ten minutes later carrying a bag of fruit.

"No way, Fat De, your body is too fat. You're still eating? If you can't marry Wang Jia in the end, don't blame us for Chuanzi's prophecy being inaccurate."

After Li Wei finished speaking, a huge banana suddenly appeared before his eyes, waving in front of his mouth. "Damn, it's so big. I can't finish it in one bite."

Luo De rolled his eyes at Li Wei. "What are you thinking?!"

"Wang Chuan, let's have a suturing competition. Today you received an excellent evaluation for your suturing technique. I'm not convinced."

He pulled out another large banana. "Brother Wei, help us cut the Banana Peel. You time it and record it too."

"You don't know. At Mingzhou Medical College, I'm the famous Little Prince of Suturing. Today, representing Mingzhou Medical College, I challenge you from Jiangda Medical College."

Li Wei suddenly laughed: "Little Prince of Suturing? I think 'Banana Peel' from 'Young and Dangerous' suits you better. How many innocent Banana Peels have you ruined every day..."

Wang Chuan didn't want to show off internally; the result of the competition was obvious. There was only one audience member, Li Wei, sighing. He took out the suture box. "Fine. If I lose, I'll wash your and Li Wei's clothes for a week."

Luo De said, "What if you lose?"

"Li Wei will wash your clothes for a week."

Li Wei was completely baffled. "Chuanzi, you're competing with him. If you lose, I wash the clothes?"

"Do you think I will lose?"

Wang Chuan had already put on gloves, holding the needle holder with the needle in his left hand and the suture thread ready in his right, preparing to thread the needle. "Shall we begin?"

Tap, tap. The sound of knocking on the door rang out.

"Luo De, are you there?"

Li Wei opened the door. It was Wang Jia.

Luo De was very excited. "Group Leader Wang, what's the matter? We're competing."

"A suturing competition?" Wang Jia saw two Banana Peels on the table.

Hearing that Luo De wanted to defend the honor of Mingzhou Medical College, Wang Jia sighed, "Luo De, if you can win, I'll let Wang Chuan take my surname!"

Hearing this, Luo De's desire to win clouded his judgment. He nodded vigorously. 'I must win!'

He didn't see Li Wei and Wang Chuan giggling.

"I'm ready to time it. 3, 2, 1..."

Wang Chuan threaded the needle quickly. In, out, knot, repeating continuously...

With precise arcs for entry and exit, the knots were neither too tight nor too loose. Soon, a neatly sutured large Banana Peel was presented on the table.

"I'm done."

Wang Chuan looked at the banana peel and recalled the sense of accomplishment from his first successful Suturing, as if an electric current had surged from his soles into his brain.

Now, however, he remained unmoved; as he grew older, the threshold for joy kept rising.

I don't know if he was too excited, but Luo De couldn't thread the needle after all that effort.

Wang Jia took the banana peel Wang Chuan had Sutured, glanced at it, and said, "You're so fast!"

"I'm not fast—I can't be fast! Your whole family is fast!" Wang Chuan quickly replied.

Li Wei burst out laughing: "Group Leader Wang, you can't tell a man he's 'fast'—it'll break his defense. If you say it, you must follow up with: besides fast, there's slow; fast and slow, combined."

Wang Jia paused for half a second, didn't blush, and laughed too: "It's fine! Whether it's fast or slow, words don't decide it."

Luo De spoke loudly: "Exactly, words don't decide it. It's about Suturing, not threading. I've trained only with needles already threaded."

"Fat De, the Physician Qualification Examination requires threading the needle in the practical test," Wang Chuan said, pulling out another Suturing thread and pinching it between his fingers. "Let me teach you how to thread. Remember the mantra: support, pierce, push, pull, lock."

"Use your middle finger to support the needle holder—that stops shaking."

"Aim at the needle's butt, and pierce in from its outer side."

"Press the needle's butt with your thumb to prevent a tremor…"

Wang Jia tried twice following Wang Chuan's mantra and found threading the needle truly became easy; Li Wei and Luo De also tried.

Wang Chuan said: "This is a matter of practice—just train more. No brain needed."

"From now on, I'll call you Brother Chuan. The title 'Little Prince of Suturing' belongs to you now!"

At this moment, Luo De was fully convinced.

Li Wei teased: "You should just call him Banana Peel. Wang Chuan isn't a prince—he's the Suturing Saint Hand."

Wang Chuan asked: "By the way, Group Leader Wang, why did you come over?"

"I came to ask you—do you have a girlfriend?"