Chapter 304: A Day of Triumphs and Regrets at the Hospital

It was clear that as long as this boy stuck with the right treatment for a while, he’d surely pull through.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a severe disease. As it progresses, it can attack multiple organs and tissues throughout the body and, in the worst case, lead to a fatal outcome.

This child’s illness had already developed into a critical stage.

Fortunately, Zhou Can and Director Zhang Bihua managed to diagnose it in time.

If they’d waited any longer, the child’s life would’ve been at risk.

Having successfully treated another patient, Zhou Can felt like he’d just swallowed a spoonful of honey—pure happiness. This sense of achievement and the knowledge that he’s helping society is hard to find elsewhere.

After reminding the family of some things to watch for, he headed off to another ward to check on the pregnant woman.

The pregnant woman’s lower body was paralyzed by her femur fracture. She’d need at least two months of rest before even thinking of getting out of bed for rehab. By then, she’d definitely need crutches.

In two months, she’d be seven months pregnant.

By then, her belly would be really big and the physical strain heavy. That would make rehab even tougher.

And if she fell during rehab, or if she leaned too hard on her crutches, she could easily miscarry.

Considering these risks, the doctors would only recommend very simple rehab movements right now. Real recovery would have to wait until after the baby was born.

Ten months of pregnancy—no easy feat for any mother.

“Dr. Zhou, you’re here!”

The pregnant woman’s husband was an honest country man. Zhou Can had brought him some food that night, and the gesture meant a lot.

That’s just how folks from the countryside are—a small act of kindness is enough to move them deeply.

“How’s your wife doing today? Is she feeling better?”

Zhou Can asked, glancing over at the woman in the hospital bed.

“Much better,” the man said, his face shining with relief as he looked at his wife.

After all the rescue efforts, his wife had been pulled back from death’s door. Nothing made him happier.

When she was first brought in, things were really dangerous.

When the doctor handed over the critical condition notice, fear and anxiety kept him awake all night.

The thought of losing both his wife and unborn child was painfully frightening.

Some lessons can only be understood after you’ve lived through them.

Having come so close to losing his wife, he cherished her even more.

“Dr. Zhou, can my wife eat now? She woke up last night and kept saying she was hungry. Director Zhang told us to keep her fasting for a while, so I didn’t dare give her anything.”

He’d followed the doctor’s orders closely, taking extra care of his wife who’d escaped death.

“Let me check her temperature, blood pressure, and airway first.”

Zhou Can picked up her hospital chart and glanced through the nursing notes. Her temperature was normal, blood pressure a touch high—not uncommon for pregnant women, as their readings tend to fluctuate within a normal range. He checked her breathing and the condition of her external fixation plate. Everything looked fine.

She was alert, breathing steadily, and able to talk normally.

“She can start with some warm water and liquid foods. After a serious illness, it’s best not to overdo nutrition—just give her some plain porridge. If you’re still worried about her nutrition, you can offer a little meat porridge, eight treasure congee, or some milk.”

Zhou Can gave his recommendations.

When a patient’s just recovering, easily digestible liquid foods are always the safest bet.

“Alright! Thank you, Dr. Zhou!”

Hearing Zhou Can’s advice put the man’s mind at ease.

After checking on his patients, Zhou Can made his way to the outpatient hall for his clinic shift.

Yesterday, he’d only seen two patients the whole day—and they didn’t even trust him, leaving him a little traumatized.

Still, some things you just have to face head-on, whether you like it or not.

Today, though, there seemed to be a lot more patients—clearly, the specialist clinic event was having its intended effect.

Director Zhang and the others had cured plenty of tough cases thanks to their skills. With help from Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital’s advertising, they’d started to draw even more patients.

Looks like the number of people coming in for help will only keep growing.

Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital had a decent foundation to begin with, and getting experts from Tuyu Hospital to vouch for them was helping erase their bad reputation.

Of course, getting back to their former glory would definitely take a long time.

That’s only possible if the hospital’s senior management stays sharp and puts real effort into improving management and medical quality. If they mess up again, the place is nearly guaranteed to go under.

When Zhou Can looked over, he saw long lines forming in front of Director Zhang Bihua, Director Dai, Dr. Luo, Du Leng, and the others. Especially at Director Zhang’s table—there had to be at least thirty women waiting in line.

When specialists see patients, it’s always about precision and quality over quantity.

So for Director Zhang’s specialty clinic, they limited the number of appointments.

Experts already have secure incomes and a wealth of experience. There’s no need for them to rack up cases the way younger doctors do.

Specialists are the face of the hospital. Protecting their reputation matters most.

If something goes wrong during a consultation or an expert gets called out for a misdiagnosis, it’s not just the expert who suffers—the hospital does, too.

Hospitals will stop at nothing to prevent those sorts of incidents.

Plus, on top of seeing patients and performing surgeries, experts have research and teaching responsibilities. Their schedules are packed.

That’s why most top experts strictly limit their appointments, usually sitting for half a day in clinic per week—it’s basically the norm now.

Seeing fewer patients keeps the chance of error to a minimum.

Even so, Director Zhang rarely saw more than thirty patients in a day.

Judging by those long lines, you could say the patients were a little too enthusiastic.

Du Leng wasn’t much of a doctor, but even he had a dozen people queuing—enough to make anyone jealous.

Then Zhou Can glanced at his own desk. ‘Pathetic’ was putting it mildly.

His side of the hall was completely empty—not a single person waiting to see him.

Even Deputy Director Shi had five people in line.

Du Leng shot Zhou Can a glance, his smile shaded with triumph.

Still, maybe because he’d lost out in their argument yesterday, he didn’t try to provoke Zhou Can this time—just sent a mocking look his way, and kept quiet.

“Dr. Zhou, maybe I can work as a guide nurse today!”

Ji You saw Zhou Can sitting there alone with no patients and felt bad for him.

She wanted to do something to help.

“No need for that. We’ll be heading home after three more days on this shift anyway. Realizing my shortcomings and keeping myself grounded isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

Zhou Can knew what she meant.

If she worked as a guide nurse, every patient who asked her about appointments would get a strong recommendation for Zhou Can.

But he had his own pride. He didn’t want to rely on a woman to help bring in patients.

Call him stubborn if you like; he just couldn’t accept it.

Everyone has their principles.

Some people would rather starve than take charity.

This experience at Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital would stick with him. No matter how successful he might be in the future, he’d never let it go to his head. It would always serve as a warning.

In that sense, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.

“Hello!”

Reporter Mu Qing was dressed in a white jacket, light blue jeans, and a pink lace-trimmed top. Combined with her natural fox-like beauty, she was a head-turner for any man.

“I already told you—I’m not doing interviews. Got it?” Zhou Can was already annoyed, and now the reporter was pestering him again. No chance he’d greet her with a smile.

“Hmph! You’re like a dog biting a friendly hand—completely misjudging my intentions. I came to bring you some good news, and here you are with that icy face. Is this how you usually treat women?”

Mu Qing huffed, but there was no real anger on her face.

She knew Zhou Can’s temperament, so she didn’t take it personally.

As a reporter, she’d met plenty of interviewees with worse tempers than his.

Zhou Can was already being pretty polite by comparison.

Just don’t mistake him for a gentleman.

“Not interviewing me is the best news you could bring,” Zhou Can shot back.

Sympathy for women had never factored into his personal rules.

“You—! You’re just trying to make me angry, aren’t you? Fine, I’m leaving!”

She was a TV station reporter, not to mention attractive and talented—a woman with plenty of admirers and young men chasing after her.

She’d never met a man like Zhou Can.

Even if he was the most upright, self-controlled man alive, he could at least show a bit of respect toward a young, beautiful woman. This was her job, after all—interviewing those with news value was simply her professional duty.

—

Watching Mu Qing storm off, Zhou Can had no intention of running after her to apologize.

If anything, he felt relieved—a little peace and quiet, finally.

Ji You lowered her voice. “You’re so cruel to that reporter!”

If she hadn’t gotten to know Zhou Can after these few days—straightforward, kind, the reliable nice guy—she’d have thought he was made of stone.

Sending someone as pretty as that reporter packing like it was nothing.

“If I didn’t keep a tough face and heart, she’d never stop pestering me.”

Zhou Can was well aware of how people worked.

As time passed, the outpatient hall grew busier and busier. More new patients kept coming in.

They’d probably hit two or three hundred outpatient visits today.

Even though not all of them were here just for the specialist event, today’s numbers were an obvious improvement over that first, quiet day.

Just then, the large advertising screen in the hall suddenly switched to a satellite TV station’s live broadcast.

“And now, for a bit of news from the medical world. Tuyu Hospital, in response to directives from higher authorities to promote a more civilized medical service and improve healthcare quality for the public, has sent a twenty-seven-member expert team to Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital for a series of free specialist consultations…”

Medical news tends to come in two types.

It’s either negative—cases where a doctor or nurse makes a fatal error, hospitals engage in overtreatment, or shady clinics scam patients with unnecessary procedures and surprise bills.

Or it’s the positive kind, like this: hospitals answering the call of national campaigns, raising standards, and lowering costs for the people.

In this sort of story, both Tuyu and Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital come out ahead.

The footage changed, showing Director Zhang Bihua working to save a patient.

“Dr. Zhou, Dr. Zhou, you’re on TV!”

The news not only highlighted Director Zhang—Zhou Can got a few closeups, too, from scenes in the operating room where he helped save that sick child.

Clearly, Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital had planned this out.

Otherwise, how could they have gotten those clips?

For that severe bronchitis case, Zhou Can made the biggest contribution. But the news mainly focused on Director Zhang Bihua. That’s just the way things are.

A hospital isn’t going to focus its publicity on a mere trainee while ignoring its top-tier expert.

Messing up the order of things like that would be a big mistake.

It’d even undermine the whole goal of promoting the hospital.

It might even hurt Director Zhang’s reputation.

Just think—if the best obstetrics chief from Tuyu Hospital couldn’t save the patient, but a trainee did, what would people think after seeing that news?

That’s why most positive stories, while real, are also carefully polished.

Journalism is a deeply complicated business.

Still, Zhou Can was mentioned by name and shown in close-up during the child’s treatment—that’s great publicity for someone in his position.

Tuyu Hospital had obviously picked him as a rising star and was now packaging and promoting him. Getting on TV was probably a way to test the waters.

No wonder patient numbers were rising every day.

Being featured on such a popular satellite channel brings plenty of influence.

After watching the story, Zhou Can suddenly realized what good news reporter Mu Qing had wanted to share with him.

He couldn’t help but look at Mu Qing, feeling a little guilty.

She seemed to sense his gaze and instantly turned her face away. He’d really offended her this time.

Thinking about it, she had seen him without any patients at his desk, worried about how he was feeling, and came over to tell him the good news—to cheer him up.

Instead, he’d just snapped at her.

Anyone would feel hurt by that.

“Dr. Zhou, Dr. Zhou—look at the big screen! It’s a special segment on you!”

Ji You nudged Zhou Can’s shoulder, excitement lighting up her face.

He looked back up at that massive display.

There he was, shown calmly and confidently treating the three-year-old boy’s broken arm.

“Among the experts Tuyu Hospital sent, there are not only seasoned veterans, but also the hospital’s talented young doctors. This is Dr. Zhou Can from Tuyu Hospital’s Emergency Department. He’s treating a three-year-old boy’s broken arm. No surgery, no admission—just a gentle push and the boy’s arm is set…”

The footage even showed Zhou Can tempting the boy to use his newly mended arm to grab candy—enough to impress any viewer with his skill.

It was clear that Mu Qing put a lot of effort into this broadcast to promote Zhou Can.

Whether it was picking the right footage or the simple, affecting narration, every part left a lasting impression.

Sure, the hospital’s top brass wanted to build up Zhou Can’s reputation.

But Mu Qing’s special attention and support couldn’t be ignored.

“So that surprise she mentioned wasn’t just the earlier story, but this special segment. She really went out of her way. I was wrong to doubt her good intentions.”

Zhou Can felt both proud to see himself on TV for the first time, and even more guilty knowing he’d misunderstood her.

The purpose of the feature wasn’t to promote him, but to highlight how young doctors were shouldering bigger responsibilities and making efficient, affordable medical care available.

Still, it was obvious how much Mu Qing cared and how hard she’d worked to help him.

The guilt in Zhou Can’s heart grew stronger.

At this moment, everything he felt for Mu Qing changed. Before, he’d tried to avoid her and refused her interviews.

Now, more than anything, he wanted to find a quiet spot, treat her to a meal, apologize, and make it up to her.

People really are so complicated sometimes.

What else could you call it but fate’s little joke?

He looked over at Mu Qing again. She’d already turned away, leaving just the outline of her lovely face in his view.