Peerless Beauty – Chapter 100

Hell (2)

Descent into Hell

Is this really medicine

            

When in love, happy moments pass in the blink of an eye.

Before they knew it, it was early September. Lu Yinxi was in her room preparing registration materials for the new school year. While organizing and tidying up, she muttered softly, “At my age, I still have to go to school…”

She hadn’t really had much formal exposure to performance theory studies. After entering the industry, she attended training classes, and later found a good mentor who guided her into the field and taught her acting techniques.

            

Jian Qing stood on the balcony outside, enjoying the night breeze while holding an iPad and going through practice questions.

She had a regular medical exam next week.

Lu Yinxi finished tidying up and ran out to find her.

            

Her personality was cool and reserved; she didn’t like to express her emotions and never spoke sweet nothings, let alone cling to others.

After falling in love, apart from becoming more intimate and slightly more cheerful, there didn’t seem to be much change in her.

Lu Yinxi, on the other hand, liked to cling to Jian Qing.

            

In the past, when she was sick, she loved to cling to and depend on her. When lucid, she would restrain herself and maintain a certain distance. Now that they had confirmed their romantic relationship, she became increasingly uninhibited in her clinginess.

When Jian Qing was working in the study, she wanted to follow; when Jian Qing was enjoying the breeze on the balcony, she wanted to keep her company. On rest days, she would insist on going out together to swim, have picnics, climb mountains, bungee jump, skydive… Taking her along to try all sorts of activities.

Now, seeing Jian Qing still practicing exam questions at her age, Lu Yinxi felt much more at ease.

            

She walked out and sat on the swing chair, looking at Jian Qing with a beaming smile.

Jian Qing looked up at her and asked, “What are you smiling about?”

Lu Yinxi swayed on the swing chair and said with a laugh, “I’m smiling because even when your hair turns white, you’ll still be doing practice questions and taking exams.”

            

Doctors in clinical practice have to take a regular medical assessment every two years.

In the hospital, there were many retired experts who had been rehired. With their heads full of white hair, unable to use smartphones, they would still be cornered in classrooms by young staff from the medical education and medical affairs departments, who would repeatedly urge them to complete the exams, otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to see patients.

“You get used to it,” Jian Qing said, lowering her head to continue with the practice questions.

            

In this profession, if you want to advance, you have to keep learning until you’re old.

Especially in the field of oncology, one must constantly stay informed about cutting-edge research and understand the latest treatment options.

Even if one doesn’t actively seek information, every week there are pharmaceutical representatives who come to the department with the latest literature and data to recommend new drugs.

            

Lu Yinxi asked, “I’m reporting to school tomorrow. Do you have time to take me?”

“I can’t. I have a shift,” Jian Qing replied.

Lu Yinxi let out a dissatisfied grunt.

            

Jian Qing looked up at her and said, “I have to go to University Town for classes every week. After class, I’ll come find you.”

Lu Yinxi asked, “Teacher Jian, can I not go to school?”

The teacher, unable to bear seeing a student give up on their studies, continued practicing questions while saying, “At your age, if you don’t go to school, what will you do? Even if your performance industry doesn’t care much about academic qualifications, having a foundation in professional knowledge will help you in the future.”

            

“Alright, alright, I’ll go. Don’t be so serious,” Lu Yinxi said with a smile, then asked, “Do you still think I have a dissociative identity disorder?”

Eight months had passed, and she had maintained only this one stable personality throughout.

Jian Qing looked at her, reached out to pinch her earlobe, and asked, “Where did you come from?”

            

“From the sky.”

“A Lin Daiyu​¹ who fell from the sky?” Jian Qing raised an eyebrow and said with a faint smile, mocking her, “You do love to cry.”

Lu Yinxi took off her slippers, and with bare feet, stomped hard on Jian Qing’s foot.

            

“If you cripple me, you’ll have to pay compensation,” Jian Qing said, keeping her head down and continuing to practice questions.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re crippled, I’ll take care of you.”

“Sing a song for me to hear.”

            

“What do you want to hear?”

“Anything is fine.”

“Then I’ll sing you an English song.”

            

“How’s your English pronunciation? If it’s not good, I don’t want it.”

“Hmph, being so picky. Even if it’s good, I won’t sing for you now.”

Jian Qing closed the question bank, not looking at Lu Yinxi but at the screen, her fingertips randomly tapping here and there on the screen. She said softly, “Then I’ll sing for you.”

            

After saying that, she began to hum gently.

She didn’t sing the lyrics, just hummed the melody with her cool, clear voice.

It was a familiar love song.

            

《The Moon Represents My Heart》.

Lu Yinxi looked at her, listening to her soft humming, her gaze as gentle as water.

She was subtly and indirectly expressing her love.

            

She only hummed a short part, about ten seconds.

After finishing the hum, Jian Qing finally moved her gaze away from the screen and looked at Lu Yinxi.

Lu Yinxi sprang up from the swing chair, wrapped her arms around Jian Qing’s neck, and planted a firm kiss on her cheek.

            

“Dr. Jian, the family of the patient in bed 21 sent you several fruit baskets at noon.”

When Jian Qing arrived at the department for her afternoon shift, a nurse brought out a few fruit baskets from the break room.

“Open them up and share them with everyone.”

            

The patient in bed 21 was that young female patient surnamed Li.

After taking the new medication, her condition had improved significantly, with pain and coughing reduced.

Her husband tried to give Jian Qing a red envelope, which she didn’t accept. Then he said he wanted to send a banner of appreciation.

            

These banners aren’t worth much, but doctors are always pleased to receive them.

Jian Qing went to bed 21 to thank them for the fruit and took the opportunity to remind them: “It’s been a month. Next time you return to the hospital, we’ll need to do an assessment. Also, the new drug can’t guarantee long-term effectiveness. There might be drug resistance in the future, so you should be mentally prepared.”

She wasn’t trying to dampen their spirits, but with stage IV cancer, the hope for a cure was extremely slim. All measures were essentially just to prolong life and alleviate pain.

            

Mrs. Li’s husband said, “Doctor, we understand. This is difficult to treat. You’ve done your best, thank you.”

Jian Qing nodded in response: “You’re welcome. It’s my duty.”

Back in the office, before the official work hours began, it was a rare moment of relaxation. Everyone gathered together, eating fruit while chatting about patients, students, family, research, and various combinations of joint treatment methods…

            

Compared to other disciplines, the field of oncology faces too many challenges and unknowns – causes of disease, mechanisms, treatment plans… It’s like a blank sheet of paper where humans have only explored a few corners, with vast areas still waiting to be discovered.

Zhang Yue sighed and said, “If I had money, I’d start my own clinical trial to see if this way of using drugs or that way of using drugs would work.”

Unfortunately, young doctors can hardly scrape together any money. Initiating a clinical study often requires tens or even hundreds of millions in funding. They can only cooperate with pharmaceutical companies, or wait until they climb to higher positions and gain reputation before they can have some autonomy in their ideas.

            

A doctor next to him nudged his shoulder: “When you become Director Zhang or President Zhang, you can give it a try.”

“Ah Qing, how’s that patient of yours who’s using the new drug?” asked the director from the neighboring gastroenterology group.

Mrs. Li, who had refused post-operative chemotherapy and insisted on giving birth, had gained some notoriety in their hospital.

            

Jian Qing said, “Her condition has stabilized a bit. She’s not in as much pain, and her markers have come down. We’ll evaluate her next week. Actually, she already has multiple metastases throughout her body. It might just be buying a little more time.”

Wei Mingming interjected: “Ah, if only she had started treatment earlier. A lost child can be born again, but now, we’re at a point where we might lose the person altogether.”

“Everyone has their fate,” the director of the gastroenterology group sighed. “Today we admitted a gastric cancer patient, also very young, just over thirty. He asked me why he got this disease at such a young age when he doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t stay up late, and has a regular diet. I told him he has a family history, that he was born carrying these genes. Isn’t that just fate? There’s nothing we can do!”

            

“Dr. Jian, what are the indications for Tibolo? If it’s effective, I have a bladder cancer patient in my group. There’s basically no medication available on the market for him. I wonder if we could let him try this new drug.”

“The FDA has approved it for second-line treatment of lung cancer and thyroid cancer. In China, Deputy Director Hu’s team is conducting a Phase II trial for second-line treatment of lung cancer. Bladder cancer hasn’t been approved domestically or internationally. There’s a Phase III clinical trial abroad, but the data hasn’t been disclosed yet. Let’s wait and see.”

Their department has led quite a few clinical trials. The doctors in the department more or less keep up with the latest research developments. Occasionally, they recommend new drugs to patients with no other treatment options. These drugs are not yet on the market in China but have been certified by the U.S. FDA.

            

These new drugs will basically all enter the Chinese market, but they still need to go through a domestic clinical trial process.

Patients don’t have the time or life to wait for the process to be completed, so doctors recommend they purchase the drugs abroad.

Patients often help each other too. They form groups to encourage each other, consult with each other, and help each other buy medications.

            

In oncology, there are actually many patients from rural areas, townships, and poor families. They might even buy generic drugs from India.

This is not compliant or legal, but basically everyone turns a blind eye.

Even ants try to survive; the lives of the poor are still lives. They too are struggling painfully, wanting to live on.

            

These patients are like pitiful people hanging on a cliff, about to fall. Doctors try to save as many as they can.

In the past, they were already struggling to survive, with no extra financial resources for health check-ups or insurance. Accustomed to enduring pain, they would grit their teeth and bear any ailment, rarely going to hospitals. At most, they would visit roadside clinics or pharmacies. As they endured, minor illnesses became major ones, early stages progressed to late stages, beyond the help of medicine.

A week later, Jian Qing measured Mrs. Li’s lesions and evaluated the treatment effectiveness.

            

“SD, stable disease. No progression, but also doesn’t meet the criteria for remission.”

Hearing this, Mrs. Li’s emaciated face showed a glimmer of joy.

“You’ve lost quite a bit of weight. Has your appetite been poor recently?” Jian Qing inquired about her diet.

            

She nodded, “I can’t eat much. My parents-in-law often argue about my illness. My mother-in-law wants to take me back to the countryside to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, but I don’t want to go. I still want to be treated in the provincial hospital.”

Her parents-in-law didn’t support her continuing treatment here, thinking it was a waste of money.

In the end, it would result in losing both person and wealth.

            

“For traditional Chinese medicine, I recommend going to a proper TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) hospital,” Jian Qing said, handing back her medical card. “You should call your parents and ask them to come keep you company.”

She vaguely agreed.

Her parents were teachers in a small town. She was their only child in their lifetime. They lived frugally to send her to a top university.

            

After graduating, she joined a big internet company. The work was busy, but the income was considerable.

She wanted to use the money to buy her parents a new house, but her parents used their money to buy her a house first, saying that a daughter should have her own place before marriage, so she’d have somewhere to go if she were mistreated by her husband’s family.

Back then, when she chose to have a child instead of accepting treatment, her parents didn’t support this decision. They were so angry they cried and stomped their feet, but still gave her a large sum of money.

            

The money she used to send home, her parents hadn’t touched a cent of it, saving it all for her. They even sold their house to raise money for her treatment.

Even so, her in-laws were gossiping behind her back, saying she was hiding money, transferring her husband’s money to her parents’ home.

That year, when she came out of the delivery room, her in-laws, including her husband, rushed to see the baby first. Only her parents came to see her first.

            

She felt she had lived up to many people’s expectations, but had let down her own parents, failing to repay their kindness in raising her, and causing them, with gray hair, to see off their black-haired child.

Lu Yinxi went to school for her major courses and grew increasingly passionate about acting. This manifested specifically in her coming home on holidays with nothing to do, draping herself in a bath towel to impersonate Guanyin Bodhisattva, pointing her finger at Jian Qing’s forehead and dramatically scolding: “You mischievous monkey.”

Jian Qing grabbed her finger, held it in her hand, and looked at her with disdain.

            

So she changed her style.

As Jian Qing entered the study, Lu Yinxi leaned against the bedroom doorway, lifting her red dress to reveal slender, straight long legs. Like a lady soliciting customers in the red-light district, she beckoned: “Beautiful, come in and play.”

Jian Qing casually tossed aside the document in her hand, looked at her, and commented seriously: “Not quite right, you’re not letting go enough.”

            

Lu Yinxi was bewildered for a moment, then pulled her dress down a bit, exposing her fair shoulders, and earnestly asked: “How about this? Is it enough?”

Jian Qing shook her head: “Not enough.”

Lu Yinxi tugged it down further, revealing most of her chest: “Then how about this?”

            

Jian Qing stared at her and said coolly: “Still not quite enough.”

Lu Yinxi suddenly realized, her cheeks turning slightly red. She pulled up her dress, covering her chest and shoulders: “You’re pretending to be proper, tricking me again. I’m not playing with you anymore.”

Jian Qing smiled without a word, bent down to pick up the document, and went into the study to write her paper.

            

At night, Jian Qing took a black eye mask and covered Lu Yinxi’s eyes: “You like to play, so let’s play hide and seek.”

Lu Yinxi obediently stood still: “Then you hide well, and I’ll come find you. If I catch you, I’ll eat you up.”

After silently counting to ten, she turned around: “I’m coming to catch you!”

            

She stretched out her hands and groped forward. After just a few steps, she bumped into a soft, unclothed embrace.

Her hands caressed over cheeks, neck, shoulders, arms, waist…

Nothing was worn…

            

Heat instantly spread throughout her body. Lu Yinxi stammered for a moment, but before she could speak, her words were blocked by soft lips.

Kissing and pushing, they fell onto the soft bedding, with her being pressed down.

“One particularly important point to note is that during doctor-patient communication, don’t make promises to patients, not even for the smallest surgeries. All medical procedures carry certain risks. You must be cautious in your words and actions. In clinical work, caution comes first! Protect yourselves, and ensure your operations are legal and compliant. You never know when a patient might turn against you. The patient kneeling before you today could take you to court tomorrow. I’ve seen this far too many times.”

            

The Medical Affairs Department organized training on preventing doctor-patient disputes. Director Jiang from the Medical Affairs Department personally took the stage to teach the doctors.

The directors in the front rows listened attentively, while the doctors in the back rows secretly played with their phones.

This kind of training didn’t command the same serious attention as professional technical training; everyone was just there to earn credits.

            

Only when discussing dispute cases did they listen a bit more attentively, just like students in class who enjoy listening to stories.

The risk of doctor-patient disputes in the surgical system was significantly higher than in the internal medicine system, especially in emergency, obstetrics and gynecology, and orthopedics departments.

So people from those departments listened more seriously.

            

Jian Qing wasn’t playing with her phone, but she wasn’t listening attentively either. She sat with her arms folded, resting with her eyes closed.

Their hospital’s oncology department had hardly ever experienced doctor-patient disputes. At most, there were some doctor-patient frictions, complaints to the Medical Affairs Department or the Health Commission and such. Occasionally, there would be troublemakers who, after being diagnosed with cancer, wanted to take revenge on society and die together with the doctors. But most of the time, the doctor-patient relationship was relatively harmonious.

Because here, a patient might be treated for several years. Even with cats and dogs, spending two or three years together would create emotional bonds, let alone between people.

            

After a few years, those old patients would gradually stop appearing. Some passed away at home, some in the hospital, and some could no longer afford treatment.

Halfway through the training, Jian Qing received a call from her department.

She went outside to take the call, then sent a message to the director of the Medical Affairs Department explaining there was an emergency rescue in the ward, and hurriedly returned to her department.

            

It was Mrs. Li in bed 21, suffering from respiratory failure.

She organized the emergency rescue, which continued until midnight. When the vital signs finally stabilized, the family members arrived at the hospital with exhausted faces.

Jian Qing looked at the imaging report from the radiology department and said to Mrs. Li’s husband, “We need to stop the medication. It may have already developed drug resistance. Taking more won’t help.”

            

He couldn’t believe it: “Doctor, she’s only been taking it for two months!”

Jian Qing explained, “It’s unpredictable. Some people can take it continuously, while others might develop resistance even after just one month.”

“Then… are there any other options?”

            

“Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy… We’ve basically tried everything recommended in the treatment guidelines. To be honest, it has already metastasized to many places. It’s essentially beyond recovery. Would you consider transferring her to our palliative care ward? Or taking her home?”

In fact, two months ago, it was already an irreversible state. The new drug only extended life a little and improved the quality of survival somewhat. The current medications and technologies simply cannot stop the progression of the disease.

“Then I’ll take her abroad for treatment. There’s a famous Anderson Cancer Center overseas. I want to take her there for a look.”

            

“You need to consider first: can her current physical condition withstand the long journey? I don’t recommend it.”

“Is there really no way at all?”

“What I can tell you clearly is that her condition will continue to deteriorate. We can also consult the traditional Chinese medicine department. Would you like me to request a TCM doctor for a consultation here, or would you prefer to take her to a TCM hospital?”

            

These words were tantamount to announcing a death sentence. The man lowered his head, fell silent, and began to wipe away tears.

Jian Qing said, “Go and stay with her for now. She was calling your name repeatedly this afternoon.”

The man said, “My child is also sick. I just took him to the hospital, and as soon as I sent him home, I rushed over here.”

            

Jian Qing didn’t say anything more. She watched him leave the office, then finally showed a weary expression. She lay on her desk for a moment, then picked up her bag and headed home under the moonlight.

The man leaned on the bedhead, holding his wife’s hand, his face covered in tears.

His parents, having heard about the situation, also hurried to the hospital. Looking at their daughter-in-law on the sickbed, they angrily said, “We told her not to come here! To go see that old friend of mine instead, but she wouldn’t listen! Now lying here, money’s gone, and she’s about to be gone too! Don’t you know? Many patients don’t die from tumors, they die from the doctors’ chemotherapy!”

            

The man cried and pleaded, “Dad, please stop! My wife can still hear!”

His father, leaning on a cane, sat down heavily in a chair. Seeing the medication on the bedside table, he picked it up, examining it closely: “What medicine is this? I’ve never heard of it.”

The man said, “It’s a new foreign drug recommended by the doctor. She’s been taking it for two months. The first month it worked very well, so I bought another bottle. In the second month, the effect wasn’t as good. The doctor says it’s drug resistance.”

            

“What resistance, non-resistance, I don’t understand. I’ll take it to someone tomorrow to check if this is real medicine. Don’t let it be that the doctor took money from drug dealers and tricked you with fake medicine!”

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