Chapter 296: Late Night Kindness in the Hospital

For ordinary people, all that endless hustle is just for three simple meals a day.

Making more money and living the high life—this is what most dream of.

People spend their whole lives chasing after a better life, always longing for what they can’t have. This pursuit is what drives society forward, fueling progress and competition. Section Chief Tang assumed Zhou Can was just like him.

[Skip the ad: “Check out Wildfruit Reading for tracking books, download at .yeguoyuedu and give it a try.”]

“Section Chief Tang, you really don’t need to try so hard. I’m not leaving Tuyu Hospital, no matter how high an offer you make.”

Zhou Can said this straight out.

Section Chief Tang studied him for a moment, realizing Zhou Can wasn’t joking. His eyes were sincere and his tone firm.

“Well, I’ve learned something new today! Someone who works not for money. I guess I get it—some seek fame, some seek profit, and some crave power. I’ve noticed these past days that Dr. Zhou doesn’t really care about reputation, and money doesn’t tempt you either. So, is it power you’re after?”

Zhou Can’s indifference to fame and fortune showed clearly in everything he did.

Anyone with a bit of experience could see right through him.

“Power is a nice thing, sure. What man doesn’t like it? But honestly, being a doctor was never about gaining more power for me.”

Zhou Can had never dreamed of becoming a big shot.

As for promotions within the hospital, he’d naturally accept if the opportunity came along.

“Then what are you after?” Section Chief Tang was baffled.

Suddenly, a glimmer flashed in his eyes.

“Ah… haha! I get it now. Dr. Zhou, you’re still young, full of vigor. I bet your needs in certain areas are just as strong! Young folks who don’t care about fame or fortune usually just love beauties! Makes sense, makes sense.”

Honestly, it’s anyone’s guess what goes on in Section Chief Tang’s head.

In his view, a man spends his whole life striving for four things: fame, fortune, power, and women.

“Your way of thinking is… unique! Actually, I already have a girlfriend.” Zhou Can originally wanted to call his logic weird, but caught himself before offending him.

“Home-grown flowers never smell as sweet as wild ones! Even if you have a girlfriend, there’s always room for someone new!” Section Chief Tang carried on with his reasoning.

“Heh, wildflowers might smell sweet, but they can’t compare to the warmth and comfort of the ones at home. The flowers you raise are always yours, but wildflowers belong to the world—or to someone else. Section Chief Tang, ever heard that saying?”

Zhou Can prided himself on being loyal in love. He’d never even considered doing anything to betray Su Qianqian.

“Which saying?”

“What a man should be most proud of isn’t how many women he’s dated, but that there’s one woman willing to stay by his side for life.”

Zhou Can said this gently.

“Uh… that’s actually pretty deep. I didn’t expect someone as young as you to have such a high-minded way of thinking. Respect.” Section Chief Tang’s smile turned somewhat sheepish, and he actually felt a bit inferior standing in front of Zhou Can. “Dr. Zhou, if I can speak plainly—even if you’re too young to realize it, money really does matter in life. Food, clothes, socializing, it all costs. Staying at Tuyu Hospital gives you a fine future, but if you want money, you’ll need to wait until you at least make associate chief physician. ”

“With just an undergrad degree, the youngest associate chief at Tuyu is about 38 or older. That means you’d have to grind away another ten-odd years before earning more than five hundred thousand a year. From what I know, the main hospital’s attending physicians get as little as a few thousand a month, and the best ones don’t even hit twenty thousand. You’re twenty-five, right? Getting married, having kids, buying a car or a house—it all costs money.”

It’s not easy being a man these days.

Just the bride price alone—sometimes tens of thousands, enough to bury many under debt.

With more men than women, a lot of brides’ families want the groom to own a car and a place to live. Even a modest apartment in a small city can run you tens of thousands, and in big cities, the prices are off the charts—millions, easy.

Yet a monthly salary of ten thousand yuan is already considered high.

Plenty of folks end up newlywed and neck-deep in debt.

Life gets tight. The sweet days fade to chores and bills, and without money, small disagreements snowball. That’s why so many newlyweds split in one or two years and end in divorce.

At the heart of it, lack of money is the original sin.

Section Chief Tang really just wanted Zhou Can to focus on making more money—it came from a good place.

But if he knew Zhou Can was already worth hundreds of millions, he wouldn’t be saying any of this.

“Dr. Zhou, really think about it. If you think my offer’s too low, we can talk more! No rush on an answer; as they say, the second time’s easier than the first. I get if you have concerns—call me anytime once you’ve made up your mind. You have my number.”

With that, Section Chief Tang stood up.

“I won’t hold you up any longer. See you! Oh, and just in case you get hungry tonight, I ordered you some late-night snacks. Someone will bring it around midnight—just go pick it up.”

Non-urgent people aren’t allowed in the resuscitation room.

So delivery folks have to leave food outside.

“You’re too thoughtful, thank you!”

Zhou Can didn’t refuse.

He’d already turned down Tang’s job offer—if he also rejected a small kindness, Tang would only get the wrong impression.

Principles for big things, flexibility for small ones—that’s the way to get along.

After seeing off Section Chief Tang, Zhou Can went back to reading.

That night, the pregnant woman needed two IV drips. Zhou Can stayed by her side.

Patients on invasive ventilators—especially pregnant women with lower immunity—need careful meds to fight infection and clots.

If there are other conditions, additional meds have to be considered.

Every dose, how and when it’s given, all had strict standards.

Sure enough, around midnight, a man in his fifties showed up with the food.

Section Chief Tang had already paid for everything.

The meal was snails in spicy sauce, some flavored crayfish, two hot dogs, a few skewers of seasoned tofu skin, and a boiled corn cob with milk flavor.

Except for the corn, the rest were popular late-night snacks.

Section Chief Tang had clearly ordered the corn just so Zhou Can wouldn’t go hungry—a truly thoughtful gesture.

Once he had the food, Zhou Can knew he couldn’t bring it into the resuscitation room.

He headed straight to the small on-call room set up for him.

At this hour, Nurse Ji You was probably asleep inside.

“Knock, knock!”

He definitely couldn’t just burst in.

It wouldn’t be right barging into a room where a female nurse was sleeping, not without warning.

“Who is it?”

A lazy, slightly sleepy voice came from inside.

“Ji You, it’s me! Zhou Can!”

“Oh, Dr. Zhou! I’ll open the door right away!”

Ji You turned on the light, walked to the door, and opened it.

She slept in just a crew-neck t-shirt, now draping her nurse’s uniform over her shoulders, looking both alluring and charming.

Zhou Can was so flustered he barely dared look at her.

Ji You noticed and just covered her mouth, giggling silently.

“Wow, it’s already midnight! You take the rest of the night off, Dr. Zhou—I’ve got it from here.”

She glanced at the delicate pink watch on her wrist.

“No rush. Someone brought me a late-night snack—see if there’s anything you want to eat.” Zhou Can set the food out and opened each container.

“Wow, there are snails! And crayfish too… Dr. Zhou, are you sure I can have some?”

There aren’t many women who don’t love good food.

Faced with such a spread, her mouth watered.

“Heh, help yourself. There’s too much, I’d waste it if I tried to finish alone. Just save me the corn—the rest is all yours.”

Zhou Can cared about health and nutrition.

Most late-night food is spicy or heavy, and he hardly touched the stuff.

Watching Ji You’s pure happiness over the meal, Zhou Can found it genuinely amusing.

He always preferred natural, unpretentious people like her.

She liked to eat, so it felt like a small reward—might as well put it to good use.

“Really, I can eat all this?” She was over the moon.

“Of course! Once you’re done, come take over for me in the resuscitation room.”

Zhou Can couldn’t leave the patient alone for long.

After all, he’d seen firsthand what happened to Dr. Pang just earlier that day.

Back in the resuscitation room, he waited about half an hour before Ji You trotted in.

Her lips were flushed from the spicy food, only making her look even more attractive.

“Sorry, the food was just too good—I couldn’t help myself. You go get some sleep, I’ll handle things from here. Rest easy, I’ll be thorough.”

Ji You beamed, smiling with genuine contentment.

Clearly, she’d really enjoyed her midnight feast.

“No more meds for the rest of the night—we only need to keep an eye on the catheter output and keep monitoring blood oxygen, pressure, and breathing. If anything’s off and you’re not sure what to do, don’t act on your own—call me, okay? Just dial my cell.”

After making sure she understood, Zhou Can finally left the resuscitation room.

The moment he stepped out, his eyes caught a figure on a bench nearby—a middle-aged man.

It was the pregnant woman’s husband.

Many family members can’t bear the cost of a hotel, so they make do for the night in hospital hallways or by their loved one’s bedsides.

Zhou Can didn’t disturb the man. He first went to the restroom, then returned to the on-call room.

Some of the food was still left—corn, a hot dog, tofu skin—Ji You kindly packaged them up together in a big plastic bag to keep them warm.

All the snails were gone, and only a bit of crayfish remained.

Ji You sure could eat, even though she stayed so slim.

“Huh!”

When Zhou Can rolled the bag open, he was surprised to find a note pressed beneath.

It was written on the notepad paper all doctors carried around.

“Thanks for the snacks! The bed’s still warm—sleep well!”

But her handwriting was just as sloppy as it was sweet—crooked and messy.

Amazing—a pretty, well-educated young woman, yet her writing was a total mess.

The note was playfully suggestive, and Zhou Can felt a little flutter after reading it.

He finished off the last of the crayfish and the corn. Just as he was about to polish off the rest, he remembered the husband on the bench.

Grabbing the tofu skin and hot dog, he headed across to the bench outside the resuscitation room.

“Brother, I over-ordered. If you don’t mind, help yourself.” Zhou Can gently nudged the husband awake.

It was only then he noticed just how much gray had crept into the man’s hair.

“No, no, that’s all right…” The man waved him off repeatedly.

There was a kind of rural pride in the man’s refusal.

Even starving, he refused to simply accept charity.

“Take some, really! It’d only go to waste. It’s still hot, as long as you’re not picky.”

With that, Zhou Can left the food in his hands and walked away.

“Thank you, thank you so much!”

The husband watched as Zhou Can’s figure disappeared, then lowered his eyes to the box of food.

After a day of nothing but two dry corn cakes, he was beyond hungry.

He’d never experienced food like this in the city.

With the first bite, it felt like every taste bud bloomed. He started wolfing the food down.

Back in the on-call room, Zhou Can cleared the food trash.

But since the ventilation was poor, the aroma from the food still lingered in the air.

He shut the door but didn’t lock it.

He wasn’t worried—being a grown man, sleep wasn’t something to fear. Still, you had to stay alert; sometimes thieves slipped into hospitals at night to target patients and their families.

Even doctors had sometimes suffered theft, though it wasn’t common.

He used the hospital’s standard bedding, but he’d gotten a fresh cover.

Crawling into bed, he found it still warm, just as the note had promised.

A faint fragrance lingered—Ji You’s scent.

Stretched out in bed, his mind wandered, but drowsiness soon overtook him and he drifted into a deep sleep.

He slept especially well that night, probably because he really was exhausted.

It was around 7:30 the next morning before Ji You came to wake him.

“Dr. Pang and Sister Chen are here for their shift. They said Section Chief Tang specially told the hotel to save us breakfast.”

Ji You wore a gentle smile.

She’d spent the whole night working but still looked energetic and radiant—admirable, really.

She knew it was only thanks to Zhou Can that Section Chief Tang went the extra mile.

If not for him, she doubted a junior nurse like herself would ever get such special treatment.

Zhou Can returned to the hotel, freshened up, and ate breakfast—nothing out of the ordinary.

After breakfast, back at Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital, Director Zhang called him to the outpatient hall.

“Dr. Zhou, you look great—seems you got a good night’s sleep! I went to check on the pregnant patient earlier—vitals are stable, urine output is normal. Maybe it’s because she’s from the countryside and used to farm work, but she’s recovering faster than most. If she keeps this up, we can probably take her off the ventilator tomorrow morning.”

Director Zhang started by discussing the pregnant woman’s progress.

“Her recovery’s been remarkable. But with her femoral head fracture, after thinking it through, I believe external fixation might be our only option.”

Now that she’d passed the danger zone from fat embolism, it was time to consider treating the fracture.

Surgery wasn’t even on the table.

No doctor would dare operate on a woman five months pregnant for a fracture like this.

Even for external fixation, extra care was needed.

The injury was just too close to the pelvis.

Any mishap and she could lose the baby—a risk no doctor would want to take.

“External fixation is a good choice, but we don’t have any orthopedic specialists here at Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital. Looks like we’ll have to bring in someone from Tuyu Hospital.”

Zhang Bihua fully agreed with Zhou Can’s treatment plan.

“If you’re willing, Director Zhang, I can perform the external fixation myself.” Zhou Can was almost a generalist when it came to surgery.

He could handle most procedures in orthopedics.

“Oh! Dr. Zhou, you can do orthopedic surgery too? That’s fantastic. No need for us to call someone over from Tuyu—you and I can finish the procedure together. We’ll do it tomorrow, and I’ll assist to ensure both mother and baby are safe.”

Thrilled that Zhou Can could handle the procedure, she gave him full authority.

She didn’t even probe him further.

That’s the level of trust Zhou Can had built up with Director Zhang.

If a junior doctor can earn that much trust from a superior, it can change everything.

Sadly, many trainees are fixated on wrangling opportunities and boosting their own skills.

They forget they might not be ready for the responsibility.

One mistake could easily destroy the trust it took so long to earn.

And then, winning another shot would be nearly impossible.

It’s a classic case of going too fast and ending up getting nowhere.

“This is great! Her fracture happened days ago, and we can’t wait any longer. Plus, the fat embolism is linked to the femoral fracture—so the sooner, the better.”

Zhou Can felt genuinely happy.

There’s a special satisfaction in seeing your patients get better—each day feels full of hope for him.