Chapter 464: A Glimpse Behind the White Coats

Most doctors go out of their way to protect their families, especially when it comes to privacy. They rarely bring relatives to work, and if they do, it’s usually because someone needs medical care.

If they don’t share details, outsiders have no idea who’s a doctor’s spouse or parent.

In these tense times between doctors and patients, everyone keeps family ties secret for safety. You never know if someone’s hatred is quietly focused on you.

Zhou Can hurried over to Cardiothoracic Surgery. He was going to check in with Director Xueyan but stopped, remembering her husband’s warning.

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Sometimes you run into unpleasant people. There’s no need to butt heads with them.

“Qin, do you know where Director Le is?”

Zhou Can walked up to a nurse at the station and asked.

“I think he’s in Operating Room Two. The surgery should be nearly finished. If you want, Dr. Zhou, you can wait here for him.”

The young nurse was in her twenties, right at the age where all eyes are bright and full of life.

For a young, good-looking doctor with potential like Zhou Can, nurses were often especially warm and welcoming.

Only when faced with not-so-handsome or average doctors would they act aloof, like proud swans barely giving a response.

“No need, no need. I’ll just check in at the operating room! Got something else coming up, see you around!”

Zhou Can waved goodbye to the enthusiastic young nurse.

There’s never been a rule in hospitals banning staff from dating. As long as you have what it takes, a doctor can marry a nurse, or even another doctor.

But on the flip side, let’s be real: Nowadays, there are more men than women in the profession. Plus, most women earn a decent living on their own, so plenty of nurses have no interest in marrying doctors.

To outsiders, male doctors have stable jobs, high incomes and social prestige—definitely a catch.

But nurses, as hospital insiders, know very well how rough the average doctor has it. Look at the endless overtime—that alone is enough to scare them off.

If they did get married, and the wife fell ill, the doctor would be stuck working, busy treating other patients. There’d be no time left for his own wife.

Usually it’s just a reminder to take some medicine, drink more warm water and try to rest at home.

The same goes for raising children.

There was a nurse who married a doctor and filed for divorce two years later without a second thought.

In tears, she told the reporter: If the toilet clogged, she had to handle it alone. If the faucet broke, she was on her own. Whenever she was sick in bed, she just had to tough it out. If her husband was working overtime, forget about coming home to help—she couldn’t even get a call or a text.

When their child was born, she hoped things would get better.

But one night their baby came down with a high fever—and her husband happened to be on the night shift.

She called him more than a dozen times, but he never answered.

She struggled alone to take care of the baby, barely catching a moment’s rest.

Exhaustion and fatigue overwhelmed her.

All she wanted was for her husband to lend a hand, to take some responsibility.

In the end, she dragged her tired body and her child to the emergency room by herself. Late at night, it’s hard to even get a cab, and it was pouring rain. Still, she wrapped her baby tight and pushed through, finally reaching the hospital.

Her back was soaked through by the rain, all so her child wouldn’t get wet.

Her heart was as drenched as her clothes.

Once her child recovered, she immediately asked for a divorce.

In front of the reporter, she admitted she deeply regretted marrying a doctor. Any marriage, once the spark from falling in love fades, will inevitably have to face the ordinary struggles of daily life.

Her story isn’t unique. Many women who’ve married doctors have faced the same heartache.

At least she only spent two years married before leaving. In some ways, she was lucky.

Some women are more traditional, fiercely loyal to love.

Even after marrying, with their husbands always working late and rarely helping at home, they gritted their teeth and stuck it out. After years, when their husband finally earned a senior title, cut back on night shifts and could stay home more—

—income went up, too.

That’s when the so-called ‘get promoted, get rich, lose your wife’ rule reared its head.

First, the husband starts flirting with a young nurse from the department.

Then comes the affair with a female medical student under his supervision, ethics be damned. Worst of all, he complains his wife at home is old and dull compared to the fresh-faced med student, and insists on a divorce.

……

Not every male doctor shirks responsibility in marriage, but at least some do.

While in med school, during residency, even as an attending—their pay is low, the hours brutal, and home gets neglected. But once they make attending or get promoted to associate chief, the money’s better, the work less crushing,—and that’s the moment some decide not to go home at all and dive straight into the vibrant world outside.

Marrying a male doctor is a roll of the dice.

Unless you have absolute faith in his character and loyalty, you’d better be ready for the worst.

Nowadays, nurses aren’t naive high school grads anymore. Good hospitals require a college degree. With their higher education, female nurses have much higher standards when choosing a partner.

Ordinary male doctors don’t even catch their eye.

That’s why so many male doctors are still single well into their thirties. People assume they’re just stiff, have no social skills, and only focus on patients, surgeries and research like a bunch of robots.

But that’s really not the case.

They want to date nurses, but the nurses aren’t interested.

Take Dr. Lu, who was fired from Emergency—he’s the king of sleazeballs. He could charm nurses and female doctors with just a few words, but he never actually landed any of them.

None of those nurses ever really fell for him.

Those nurses are a sharp bunch!

As for male doctors chasing female doctors—that’s even harder. There just aren’t that many female doctors, and they’re just as accomplished, with incomes and prospects equal to the men. To win one over, you’d be battling against every other bachelor in the hospital—not to mention all the single men from the outside world. The odds are almost nonexistent.

A random e-commerce entrepreneur making three or four hundred thousand a year could sweep the floor with most resident doctors.

So, in conclusion, Zhou Can could only think of one line: If you want to ruin someone’s life, tell them to study medicine.

If you really hate someone, just tell their kid to become a doctor!

When Zhou Can reached Operating Room Two and was about to press the bell, he saw the red light flashing and then the doors slid open automatically.

Director Xueyan, the chief physician, was the first to step out.

When she saw Zhou Can, her gaze was evasive.

Even though Xueyan wore a mask, Zhou Can noticed a bruise near the corner of her eye.

She’d tried to cover it with concealer, but it still showed.

“Sis Yan!”

Zhou Can called out to her.

“I didn’t call you in to help with surgery today, did I?” Xueyan looked puzzled.

“I asked Dr. Zhou to come. After that gastrectomy for cardiac cancer, the patient’s chest pain just wouldn’t let up. We couldn’t find a reason. I was worried something serious might be wrong, so I asked Dr. Zhou for a consult.”

Director Le stepped out behind them.

“Oh, go on and check. I’ve got things to handle at home, so I’m heading out now!”

With that, Director Xueyan left right away.

There was something off about her today.

“Sis Yan, stay safe.”

Zhou Can watched her walk away, feeling worried.

After years working together, he really did treat Xueyan like a fellow disciple—a senior sister in medicine. Now, seeing her marriage hit a crisis, he couldn’t help but worry.

That bruise at the corner of her eye, and the fact that she left the OR still in her mask and cap, made it likely she was being abused at home.

No matter what, in a marriage—especially when living together—the woman is almost always at a disadvantage.

When a husband becomes suspicious, domestic violence is all too common.

“Yeah.”

She replied softly, never looking back.

Director Le watched her hurried footsteps and frowned, then led Zhou Can toward the ward. As they walked, he whispered, “Director Xue seemed out of it today. I wonder if she’s having trouble at home?”

“She really has it tough.”

Zhou Can let out a long sigh.

She carried huge pressure at work, and now her family life was falling apart, too. Some women really do draw the short straw.

He could only hope she and her husband could clear up their misunderstandings soon.

If her husband was a reasonable man, Zhou Can might be able to help brainstorm solutions. As it was, the best thing he could do was keep his distance—anything else would only hurt her more.

He followed Director Le to the ward and saw the patient who’d undergone cardiac cancer surgery.

She was a woman of about thirty-seven or thirty-eight, with messy hair, sweat across her forehead and a constant low moan as she lay in bed. Her husband sat at her bedside, caring for her.

“Director Le, glad you’re here. Please take another look at my wife—she keeps saying it hurts so much. Do you have any painkillers you could prescribe? I asked the nurse and the ward doctor but they said to wait until you checked her yourself.”

The patient’s husband stood up, treating Director Le with sincere respect.

Most family members act that way toward doctors, especially during a hospital stay when they need help and don’t want to cross anyone.

“This is Dr. Zhou from Emergency. He’s very experienced with post-op chest pain and complications after cardiothoracic surgery. I brought him in for a consult, hoping we can get to the bottom of your wife’s pain.”

As Director Le introduced Zhou Can, he set him up as an authority.

On one hand, that respected Zhou Can, and on the other, it showed the family the patient was being taken seriously.

They were already working on a solution.

“Thank you, Dr. Zhou!”

Her husband looked strong and broad-shouldered, with rough hands and simple work clothes—probably a truck driver or manual laborer. But his manners were spot-on.

He really knew how to handle himself.

It made Zhou Can feel at ease.

“No need for thanks. Doing everything we can for patients is our duty.”

Zhou Can stepped to the bedside and checked the patient’s records and nursing notes.

“Is she peeing normally? The color okay?”

“She’s going plenty, but I honestly haven’t paid attention to the color,” her husband said, a bit sheepish.

“That’s fine. As long as she’s urinating, that’s what matters. But next time, look at the color—if it’s tea-colored, bloody, or looks milky, let the nurse know right away.”

Zhou Can nodded, then moved to get a full picture of her symptoms.

“I see from the chart you had a jejunoesophageal anastomosis. Is the pain here?”

This time, Zhou Can spoke directly to the patient.

Meanwhile, his eyes discreetly watched for her reactions. Luckily, her gaze was clear—she was fully conscious.

“That’s right. That’s exactly where it hurts.”

Her voice was weak and she kept gasping. She was really in pain.

“Does the pain move upward from below?”

Zhou Can gestured at his own chest as he explained.

With the husband right there, he took extra care with any questions and gestures. Some husbands are unreasonable or jealous enough to throw a punch if a doctor gestures near their wife’s chest.

You have to stay cautious.

“You’re amazing!”

Despite her pain, the woman gave Zhou Can a thumbs-up.

“That’s exactly it! The pain is right there, just like you said.”

Her husband looked at the young doctor with new respect.

“Now that an expert’s here, I feel relieved.”

He said it cheerfully.

“Dr. Zhou is an expert with these cases. Hopefully, we’ll pinpoint the cause of the pain soon,” Director Le chimed in.

A little timely self-praise is actually key in doctor-patient communication.

But you have to pick the right moment or it’ll sound fake.

Otherwise, you’ll come off like a used-car salesman.

Director Le’s praise for Zhou Can did wonders, boosting both the patient and her family’s trust.

“You’re too kind!”

Zhou Can deflected with a little modesty, then said, “Let me describe your pain. If I’m right, you nod; if not, shake your head. The pain starts here, then slowly moves up, burns more and more, gets worse until it reaches this point, then spreads out like fireworks and intensifies again.”

He made the same gestures on his own body as he spoke.

“Yes, exactly! You got it word for word.” The woman lit up. Her trust in Zhou Can soared.

She even felt more hopeful about her recovery.

“Alright, Director Le and I will go discuss your case. I’ve got a general idea now. If needed, I’ll come back to ask more questions.”

Zhou Can and Director Le returned to the office.

“Dr. Zhou, that was uncanny! After just a glance at the records, how did you figure it out so quickly?”

Director Le looked at Zhou Can with admiration.

Age means less than ability.

In medicine, skill comes first—and whoever’s the best becomes the teacher.

Director Le just didn’t have Zhou Can’s knack, and he knew it, so his respect ran deep.