Volume 1: Rise
Rookie
Parasite
Yu Gui changed her clothes and came out; Lu Qingshi was already out of sight. She heard that she went to the clinic. She hesitated for a moment and suddenly didn’t know what to do, whether to follow her to the clinic or stay in the office…
Before she could think for too long, Hao Renjie poked his head halfway in: “The new one, have you changed your clothes? Yes, yes, I’m talking about you; go and do a suture for the patient in bed two!”
Yu Gui responded, pulled up her mask, put it on, and quickly followed him out, beginning her afternoon as a rookie trainee.
“Hey, I say, can you sew or not? It’s obvious you’re an intern, clumsy as ever. Go, go, call your superior doctor over.” Yu Gui had no choice but to keep nodding, bowing, and smiling apologetically.
“Oh my, old man, what’s wrong with you? Dad, Dad, don’t scare me! Dad! Quickly, someone get a doctor to come and take a look!” Seeing the patient in bed four pounding his chest and coughing desperately, his face turning blue and purple, possibly because phlegm was stuck in his throat and he couldn’t cough it out, Yu Gui rushed over in a flash, placing her left hand on the old man’s back and pounding hard with her right hand.
“Wow——” The thick phlegm mixed with vomit was finally coughed out, but it was unfortunate for Yu Gui’s brand-new white coat.
The pungent smell spread throughout the emergency observation room. Yu Gui stood up quickly and rushed straight to the bathroom, vomiting until the world spun.
Before she could catch her breath, someone called out again: “The new one, the new one, go assist Dr. Sun.”
“The new one, the ambulance has arrived, go help with the transfer!”
“One, two, three” Finally, after much effort, they lifted the patient who weighed over 200 pounds onto the stretcher. The nurse urged again: “Hey, the new one, change the urinary catheter.”1
Yu Gui couldn’t bear it any longer: “Isn’t inserting a urinary catheter something you nurses can do too?!”
The young nurse, holding a syringe, retorted sharply: “Aren’t you here to learn? If you don’t do it, who will!”
Yu Gui remembered the advice from senior students: When you first arrive at the hospital, make sure to get along well with the nurses; otherwise, you’ll be bullied everywhere, and all the dirty and tiring work will fall to you.
Yu Gui said no more and silently continued her work.
The chaotic afternoon passed quickly, and by 6 or 7 in the evening, the clinic had few people left. Lu Qingshi rubbed her somewhat sore neck, got up, and went back to the ward.
Yu Gui had just sat down, and her chair wasn’t even warm when five surgery books worth of medical records came crashing down in front of her.
“Xiaoyu, you’ve had a tough afternoon. These are the medical records and patient progress notes that need to be entered into the system. Please get them done as soon as possible; the medical office will need them in a few days.”
Yu Gui quickly stood up: “Yes, Director Xu, it’s no trouble at all. This is what I should be doing.”
“The new one, the takeout has arrived. Can you go get it? We are all too busy to leave,” a colleague ordered, complaining while gesturing imperiously.
“Oh, okay, okay,” Yu Gui hurriedly ran out to get the takeout. When she returned and handed the takeout to her colleague, they didn’t acknowledge her. A few people gathered in groups of twos and threes, chatting and laughing while eating.
Yu Gui’s stomach growled at just the right moment, and she swallowed hard before returning to her seat.
Her phone screen lit up.
Zhiyou: How was your first day at work today?
Followed by an adorable kissing emoji.
“Very tiring, I feel like this job isn’t what I imagined it to be…” Yu Gui typed, but before she could send it, another message from Zhiyou came through.
“My little princess, have you eaten yet? I ordered your favorite tomato pasta for you~ Remember to come down and get it while it’s hot~”
Yu Gui showed her first genuine smile of the day and quietly deleted the line she had just typed.
“It’s okay, I’ll work hard to adapt! Just in time, your pasta has arrived, ah~ I won’t say more, I need to go down and get my takeout!”
Fang Zhiyou couldn’t help but smile knowingly at the playful emoji and the enthusiastic tone in her message.
“Net admin, add ten more yuan to machine number 9.”
“Hey, coming!” Fang Zhiyou responded, pocketing his phone and jogging over.
“Hello, can you tell me where the emergency department is?” The nurse at the triage desk looked up from her boxed meal to size up the middle-aged woman asking the question. She didn’t seem to be a patient, which made the nurse a bit wary.
“Who are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for…” The woman rubbed her hands together and chuckled twice, “Doctor Yu.”
“Doctor Yu? Which Doctor Yu? We don’t have anyone by that name in the emergency department,” the nurse said, puzzled. Her colleague beside her nudged her arm.
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“Did you forget? The new girl who arrived today, the one dressed all flashy.”
A few people chuckled, and someone called out sarcastically, “Doctor Yu~ Someone’s looking for you.”
Yu Gui had barely taken a few bites of her meal when she was called out. Seeing the visitor, her eyes widened like bells. “Mom, what are you doing here?!”
“Xiaogui, my goodness, how have you become so haggard in just one day? You must not be eating well. Come, come, I made you some soup with our home-raised chicken, the most nourishing. Drink it while it’s hot.”
Mother Yu placed the large backpack on the ground and opened it, revealing it was full of local specialties from their hometown. “By the way, how’s your boss? Are they treating you well? How are you getting along with your colleagues?”
Home was in a county next to Jinzhou City, and even the fastest high-speed train took at least three hours. Yu Gui held the still-warm soup bowl, feeling a mix of emotions.
“Mom… I’m fine… really fine…”
From a distance, Lu Qingshi approached, accompanied by a colleague from the neurosurgery department, discussing as they walked, “The patient your emergency department admitted this morning had a brain CT scan. Take a look.”
Lu Qingshi raised the scan towards the corridor’s fluorescent light for a quick glance. Before she could examine it closely, someone suddenly grabbed her arm tightly. “You must be Doctor Lu! My Xiaogui told me about you! She said you are not only beautiful but also very skilled! Please take care of her in the future, be lenient with her!”
As she spoke, she tried to stuff a heavy envelope into Lu Qingshi’s lab coat pocket.
Lu Qingshi quickly stepped back, somewhat annoyed, her brows furrowing though she maintained her composure.
“Auntie, we can’t accept this,” she said, glancing at Yu Gui. Yu Gui, feeling embarrassed and flustered, lowered her head, her face burning. She quickly stepped forward to pull her mother away.
“Mom, Mom! That’s enough! This is a hospital! Stop making a spectacle of yourself! Please go back!”
Mother Yu was stunned for a moment. After a long pause, she awkwardly rubbed her hands together, looking like a child who had done something wrong, and started rummaging through her backpack.
“Then… then Mom will leave now… These home-raised eggs are for your colleagues… Make sure to share them… And the soup… drink it while it’s hot…”
“Alright, Mom knows! Don’t worry!” Yu Gui helped her mother up and escorted her to the elevator, watching her go downstairs before turning around and discreetly wiping a tear with the back of her hand.
On her first night shift, perhaps the heavens took pity on her for the chaotic day she had; it was unusually calm. Most of the patients in the ward were asleep, the ambulance stayed quietly in the standby area, and even the annoying colleague and the hot-tempered nurse didn’t trouble her anymore.
Yu Gui sat on the stairs, facing a large and expansive floor-to-ceiling window. The starry night sky and the lights of countless homes in the city below only added to her sense of loneliness.
She ate her noodles and soup slowly, finally able to let her emotions plunge in a place where no one was around.
Yu Gui had placed a share of the eggs her mother brought on each colleague’s desk. As for the envelope, somehow it ended up in Xu Qiankun’s hands.
As he walked, he chatted with his colleague: “Young people nowadays really can’t handle any hardship.”
“It’s not like our time. Back then, during our internships, we had to run errands for the senior doctors, fetching tea, doing laundry, cooking, and all sorts of odd jobs.”
“But speaking of which, since it’s so hard to get an intern, why didn’t you put her in your own team? Even if she’s just a vase, she’s still nice to have around, right?”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that easy. You know our emergency department is a high-risk unit. If anything goes wrong, can I still keep my position as the director? I’d rather let Lu Qingshi take on this responsibility. It’s good for young people to go through more challenges, right?”
As he spoke, he pressed down on his bulging coat pocket.
Tears uncontrollably fell into the bowl as Yu Gui took big bites of her noodles, chewing mechanically.
The soup had gone completely cold, but Yu Gui still drank every last drop.
Suddenly, the touch-activated delay light above her turned on, and Yu Gui sprang up like a startled rabbit.
“Who?! Who’s there?”
A woman in a white lab coat stood quietly at the bottom of the stairs, looking at her.
“Don’t you know that emergency department personnel must keep their phones on 24/7?”
Yu Gui frantically fumbled through her coat pocket and pulled out her phone. “It’s… it’s out of battery…”
Lu Qingshi frowned, crossing her arms. If they weren’t short-handed, she wouldn’t have come looking for her.
“There’s an emergency surgery. You’ll assist as the third assistant.”
Yu Gui quickly gulped down the remaining noodles, tossed the container into the trash can, and said, “Coming… coming…”
Soon, she regretted this decision and never ate noodles again.
When they entered the operating room, the anesthesiologist had already completed the induction of anesthesia. The patient was asleep—it was the Range Rover driver from the car accident that morning.
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Yu Gui picked up the suction device and took her position as the third assistant. It was her first time standing at the operating table, and her nervousness outweighed her excitement.
Lu Qingshi stood opposite her at the first assistant’s position, while the chief surgeon was the head of neurosurgery, a professor in his fifties.
“Epidural and general anesthesia have been administered, and the patient’s vital signs are stable.”
“Surgery begins.”
“Scalpel,” the professor with graying hair, despite being in his fifties, had steady hands. After cutting through the scalp, the skull was quickly exposed.
“Cranial drill.”
For a moment, the only sounds in the operating room were those of the instruments at work. Everyone was fully focused, performing their respective duties.
“Suction,” Lu Qingshi’s voice called out.
Yu Gui quickly connected the suction device.
“You’re blocking my surgical view,” the voice grew a bit colder.
“…,” Yu Gui immediately stepped back. Seeing the brain tissue of a living person was truly shocking, and for a moment, she forgot how to be nervous. She silently held her breath, sincerely hoping that the patient would recover quickly.
“Xiaolu, be a bit more tolerant with the newcomers. Everyone has been through this stage, haven’t they?”
This was the only warm sentence Yu Gui heard today. Looking at the kind elderly professor, her eyes almost welled up with tears.
“Thank you, Director.”
Lu Qingshi remained indifferent. “Magnifying glass.”
The instrument nurse lowered the magnifying glass for her.
“Tissue scissors.”
The surgery had reached a critical moment; no one dared to be careless. A slight mistake during brain surgery could leave the patient paralyzed or disabled.
She had seen the scans of the Range Rover driver. After ruling out tumors and other factors, a parasitic infection was highly suspected. The specific type of parasite would only be determined after the pathology results came back.
“Found it.”
Under the microscope, a tiny white spot could be seen pulsating within the blood vessel.
Yu Gui, curious, leaned in closer. “What is that?”
Of course, someone who was pulled in mid-way to help wouldn’t know the full context.
Lu Qingshi glanced at her. “You’re blocking me again.”
“…Sorry,” Yu Gui shrank back like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on.
The elderly professor laughed. “Vascular clamp. It’s okay, young one, if you want to see it, go ahead. This is a rare case.”
“Thank you, Director!”
However, when the first Taenia solium (pork tapeworm) was extracted, she could no longer smile.
Taenia solium is one of the longest parasites. This one was about a meter long, with half of it lying on the sterile drape and the other half still wriggling in the waste tray. Lu Qingshi, without changing her expression, used forceps to place it back into the waste tray.
There were many more plump, white ones. Yu Gui glanced at them, her scalp tingling, feeling nauseous at the thought of the noodles she had just eaten.
After clearing the remaining nodules, they prepared to close the skull.
The professor put down the scalpel.
“You’ll complete the next part.”
Lu Qingshi nodded, and the two switched positions.
The surgical navigation revealed that the patient had more than one parasite, with many residing in the gastrointestinal tract.
General surgery was one of Lu Qingshi’s specialties.
In medical school, professors were always surrounded by students during surgeries, teaching as they worked. The cadaver’s blood wouldn’t gush out suddenly, but now the magnifying glass was completely blurred. Yu Gui was stunned, her hands and feet numb, her heart pounding. She knew she would never forget this warm, foul-smelling sensation.
(If you're not reading on littlepandatranslations.com, it means this has been stolen)
“What are you standing there for? Suction!” Lu Qingshi, unfazed by the intraoperative bleeding, calmly pressed gauze onto the site, quickly stopping the bleeding.
“Oh, oh!” Yu Gui snapped back to reality and hurriedly grabbed the suction device but ended up knocking over the instruments on the surgical table.
“Sorry, I…” She instinctively bent down to pick them up, but Lu Qingshi yelled, “Stand aside!”
Seeing her on the verge of tears and visibly anxious, Lu Qingshi shook her head, thinking it was truly embarrassing for neurosurgery.
Without her getting in the way, the surgery proceeded much faster, not that Lu Qingshi was slow to begin with.
One by one, Taenia solium worms were extracted from blood vessels and tissues, piling up densely in the waste tray. They eventually had to switch to a larger basin, which was filled with these white, plump worms, looking alive and wriggling together like a freshly cooked bowl of knife-cut noodles still steaming.
Lu Qingshi let out a sigh of relief. “Send it to pathology.”
Yu Gui, holding the waste tray, stared at it for three seconds before she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She put it down and dashed out to the restroom outside the operating room.
The anesthesiologist couldn’t help but laugh. “Hey, Director Lu, your apprentice is quite amusing, all clumsy and slow.”
“4.0 absorbable suture,” Lu Qingshi replied, stitching while half-heartedly engaging in the conversation. “If you like her so much, she can join your department.”
“Oh no, our anesthesiology department can’t afford such a giant Buddha. Better leave her with your emergency department.”
A hint of a smile appeared on Lu Qingshi’s lips as she placed the anastomosis device into the tray.
“Surgery is complete.”
LP: I’ll never survive in this kind of environment (* °ヮ° *)
Footnotes
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