Of course, Cheng Xi wasn’t afraid of trouble. There were many patients even more troublesome than Lu Chenzhou. For example, Chen Jiaman, the patient that she had been discussing with Cai Yi during that first dinner with Lu Chenzhou, was first and foremost. Walking corpse syndrome was so rare that, even throughout the entire world, only a few paltry cases had been reported. Many of the doctors around her were interested in that patient, but those who were confident or even willing to treat her were few and far between.
But Cheng Xi was willing to take her on as a patient. She was prepared to use all her patience and skill to treat Chen Jiaman because she knew how much her patient needed it, regardless of how little time she would have left for herself.
And as for Lu Chenzhou, he clearly didn’t want a doctor. His actions of trying to trip her up and intentionally stating that he wanted to woo her were simply attempts to change the potential doctor-patient relationship into a more familiar romantic relationship.
This was, clearly and unambiguously, a refusal on his part—if you want to get close to me, then you can’t do it as a doctor. You have to be my girlfriend.
She was very curious about what would have happened if her professor had instead found him a male doctor.
After sighing about her conundrum, Cheng Xi tidied herself up, ate what she could find at home, and went to the hospital to care for Chen Jiaman.
This was Chen Jiaman’s seventh day at the hospital. Her symptoms hadn’t improved at all; she still slept in the morning and was only active at night. Cheng Xi had just arrived when the nurse responsible for her started complaining. “She caused trouble overnight again! She almost managed to get into the mortuary, and was constantly muttering about the king of hell, little ghosts, cutting off tongues, and other things like that. In fact, she scared the new nurse so much that she started crying.”
Cheng Xi closed the folder of medical records that she held in her hands, and patted her shoulder. “Thank you for all your hard work.”
She went to Chen Jiaman’s ward. The girl was only fourteen, and her figure was naturally thin and small. She was currently sleeping quietly, her posture perfect—or, more precisely, stiff and rigid. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her stomach, her legs spread straight and angled slightly apart, her eyes shut tightly, and her face covered with a white cloth that she had torn off of her pillow cover.
Cheng Xi had personally dressed her grandmother’s corpse, so she clearly knew what Chen Jiaman’s posture represented. She observed her silently for quite a while before turning to the nurse again. “Have you been able to contact her family members?”
Chen Jiaman had previously lived with just her old grandmother. When the grandmother had died, only her father was left. But since he was a fisherman, he spent more than half his life at sea.
The incident with the Chen family had taken place not long after he left.
“Yes. We’ve just gotten information that Chen Jiaman’s father has returned from his trip, and that he will be here within a week.”
Cheng Xi released a breath that she had been holding in. There would finally be somebody who could help her understand a bit about Chen Jiaman’s past.
Having made headway into Chen Jiaman’s case, Cheng Xi found new troubles awaiting her. She was supposed to be providing outpatient service this month. However, since Tuesday, none of her patients had shown up for their appointments.
This kind of situation was very rare, because Renyi’s psychiatry department was renowned nationwide. Given the high stress endemic to modern life, it was almost impossible for a doctor to have no patients during their outpatient service hours. Beyond that, it was definitely impossible that people would schedule their appointments and not show up.
The nurse on duty with her was very shocked by these circumstances. On the other hand, Cheng Xi felt an uncomfortable premonition creep over her.
She turned on her computer and looked at her list of appointments again, but found nothing unusual. The patients had all registered with their real names, so she could see that her patients came from all over the country.
Could it be that people had scalped her appointment slots? No, that was impossible—Cheng Xi wasn’t her professor Cai Yi; she wouldn’t be worth the effort.
Cheng Xi was thus left to ruminate in her own thoughts. At 10:30 AM, a somewhat familiar person finally showed up at her office.
It was one of the people she had played mahjong with that night—Lu Chenzhou’s friend, Baldy.
“Hi Doctor, it’s good to see you again.” He stood at the door and waved at her as a whole group of lackeys showed up behind him. After throwing his leather coat to them, he sat down imposingly in front of her.
“Are you here for a diagnosis?” Cheng Xi asked.
“No.” Baldy cracked a smile as he replied, “I’m here to convey Boss Lu’s message.”
“Lu Chenzhou?”
“Yes. Boss Lu wants me to tell you that he empathizes with your workload and is worried that you’ll be too tired. Thus, he had someone preemptively book all of your appointment slots for today, tomorrow, and the day after. Heh heh, Dr. Cheng, are you surprised? Aren’t you thrilled?”
"……"