Evening Stars Chapter 21 (Part 3)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 21.3
“Sorry about that,” Fang Shiyou said again. “It was an emergency today, and I couldn't focus on you.”
“Wouldn't saying that reduce my good karma?” Xu Nanheng smiled. “I just…… wanted to come chat with you casually. I'm glad I came over.”
Fang Shiyou looked at him. “I'm glad you came over, too.”
The words were sincere and heartfelt. He truly appreciated that Xu Nanheng wasn't arrogant or reserved. Even though both of them knew the atmosphere that night had been off, Xu Nanheng had still come to the hospital on this Friday evening.
“Anyway, don't worry,” Xu Nanheng comforted him. “I don't think you did anything wrong. Rules and regulations must be followed, and maybe you'll face punishment for this, or even lose your job. But if you hadn't saved him, would you still be a doctor?”
Fang Shiyou nodded seriously. “It's okay. Similar cases have happened before. Patient survival rate is definitely one factor in an investigation, but I also trust the hospital.”
He forced a small smile at Xu Nanheng, hoping he wouldn't worry.
Soon, before Fang Shiyou could even go to the lounge for a glass of water, his phone rang. It was his mentor calling. He hesitated before answering, his fingertips gripping the edge of the phone turning slightly white.
It was only when Xu Nanheng pressed lightly on his shoulder that Fang Shiyou swiped to answer.
“Professor,” Fang Shiyou said, still sitting with Xu Nanheng in the outpatient hall, his voice hoarse and throat dry. “Yes…… the patient was conscious when he was brought in. I asked, and he agreed to the surgery himself. No, nothing was signed, there wasn't time. Family? The family arrived during surgery. By the time the patient saw them, he was being put into the ambulance. We checked his medical history: left upper-lobe lung cancer radical resection. The surgery was recorded. The nurse filmed it from three angles. Yes…… thank you, teacher. Goodbye.”
After hanging up, a paper cup was held out to him. Xu Nanheng had just gone to get the water.
Fang Shiyou took it, wanting to say thanks, but his throat was too tired. He tilted his head back and drank it all, then wiped his mouth. Xu Nanheng sat back down. “How is it?”
Fang Shiyou's voice was steadier. “Should be fine. My mentor said that as soon as he learned I was performing the surgery here, he informed the main hospital in Beijing. The hospital understands my decision and considers it an emergency situation. But they still need to review the surgical records and the patient's condition before making a final assessment.”
“It's okay. If you hadn't done this today, you'd never have been able to get past this,” Xu Nanheng said.
“Yes.” Fang Shiyou smiled. “It's fine. This was…… this was a surgery within my capability. If the patient brought in today had been beyond my ability to treat, I would have honestly just sat here and waited for the ambulance.”
Xu Nanheng reached over and patted his back twice. “Alright. Don't tremble while talking.”
“Pfft.” Fang Shiyou laughed. “I'm not trembling, I'm cold.”
“Oh.” It was only then that Xu Nanheng realized the two of them were seated directly facing the main entrance. The frigid night wind of the Southern Tibet Plateau was truly living up to its reputation, howling as it swept inside. When Xu Nanheng looked toward the entrance, he saw his car parked right outside, its front bumper pointed straight at the door. His eyes met its headlights in a silent standoff.
Fang Shiyou said, “Go move the car, Teacher Xu.”
“Alright.”
After moving the car and coming back, Xu Nanheng was about to say goodbye and leave. Although it was late, Fang Shiyou still wanted to know what he had wanted to talk about today.
Xu Nanheng said it could wait for next time. Everyone was too exhausted tonight.
After all the commotion, almost the entire night had passed. It was nearly three in the morning.
Just like after a regular surgery, the nurses in the emergency room were counting gauze and instruments. Fang Shiyou asked them to send him the surgical recordings. Once back in the break room, he organized the videos and emailed them to the main hospital in Beijing.
Xu Nanheng had already returned to the school dormitory. Exhausted from the night, he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
Fang Shiyou, however, couldn't stop worrying. He was not yet 30 years old and had already passed the exams to become an attending physician at a top-tier hospital in Beijing. By any measure, he was a young and accomplished high-achiever. After ten years as a medical student, having studied and struggled to get to this point, he wasn't quite ready to set up a Chinese crepe stall this early. That was the bold declaration once made by his old college roommate: either work in a prestigious hospital or sell Chinese crepes outside its gate, since the earnings felt about the same.
This weekend, there were no remedial classes at school. All the students had gone home for the holiday.
Occasionally, Xu Nanheng could hear the motorcycles rumbling in the village as he prepared his lessons in the dorm.
The school was empty today. Sonam Tsomo had left him some tsampa and yak jerky. He had not only grown used to having tsampa for breakfast but had also started to enjoy its taste, and his hands were now adept at rolling it into little balls.
Although the yak jerky was quite a workout for the jaw, it was very flavorful to chew on.
Xu Nanheng still felt uneasy. Deep down, he knew Fang Shiyou had made the right call by performing the emergency surgery. The mountain road from the county hospital to the village was full of bumps and potholes. On his first time driving it himself, he had taken three hours coming from the county school. The drive from the county hospital was a bit shorter, about two and a half hours.
Still, even if the trip took two hours each way, that would still mean a four-hour round trip. For a worker with a rebar lodged in his chest, enduring four hours under such conditions…… only Iron Man would likely survive that.
Xu Nanheng estimated that by driving his own car at high speed, intercepting the ambulance, and bringing the doctors back, the entire round trip had taken about an hour.
On Saturday, Fang Shiyou had called Xu Nanheng to the hospital for a meal. Xu Nanheng wasn't sure how to comfort him. After lunch, the two of them smoked for a while in the hospital's backyard. Then a patient arrived, and Xu Nanheng returned to the school
On Sunday, Fang Shiyou came to the school to see him. Again, they didn't talk much. When Fang Shiyou arrived, Xu Nanheng was preparing lessons and had a video conference ongoing with a few other volunteer teachers on his computer. Fang Shiyou had left some fruits on his desk and then left.
The main hospital in Beijing was scheduled to give a final verdict on Monday. This was because they needed to see how the patient's condition developed over the weekend.
The fundamental question was whether the patient would recover without complications.
Regardless of what caused any potential problem, Fang Shiyou would inevitably be implicated.
At exactly nine on Monday, a new email popped up in Fang Shiyou's inbox.
He sat on the edge of the bed in the on-call room, fingers hovering over his phone screen, took a breath, and opened the message.
Twenty minutes later, two knocks landed on Xu Nanheng's fragile door, and with a long ‘creak,’ it swung open on its own.
The person at the door hesitated for a moment, feeling it might be impolite to step in so quickly. But…… Fang Shiyou really wanted to share this news with him right away. He wanted Xu Nanheng to be the first to know.
“Dr. Fang?” Xu Nanheng appeared from the second floor, holding his toothbrush cup, looking at him in confusion. “So early?”
Fang Shiyou looked even more surprised. “You…… you're up this early? I saw you weren't in class, so I came up to find you.”
“Don't even get me started. I barely slept,” Xu Nanheng said as he walked over. “I was afraid I'd wake up to a WeChat message from you telling me to go back to Beijing for the New Year without you, and that you'd be staying here to continue practicing medicine without a license and dedicating yourself to the people.”
Fang Shiyou met his gaze for a second, then curved his lips. “The hospital replied to my email. They believe I correctly assessed the patient's condition and took the right treatment measures.”
He added, “The patient's fine. My mentor checked on him this morning and reviewed the pathology and imaging reports. In another two or three days of observation, the patient can be discharged.”
Xu Nanheng froze for a moment, then exhaled deeply. “Fuck, what a false alarm.”
The cursing made it clear he was truly relieved.
Then Xu Nanheng walked over and stretched out an arm. “Come here, I'll give you a hug.”
He was holding his toothbrush cup, so he hugged Fang Shiyou with just one arm. But Fang Shiyou held him tight, so tight that Xu Nanheng felt slightly squeezed, then quickly let go.
Fang Shiyou said, “The doctors at the county hospital also vouched for me. Given the situation, if the patient had been sent back to the county hospital with the rebar still in him, it definitely would have been too late.”
“It's great that everything's fine,” Xu Nanheng said, patting his arm. “We should find some time and have a drink together!”
“Absolutely. I'll treat you, especially since you also played a part in the rescue”
Xu Nanheng had just brushed his teeth and washed his face at the stairwell corner. Standing there in the sunlight of the corridor, wearing a short-sleeved shirt with his hair tips still beaded with water droplets, he looked as if his next words to Fang Shiyou would be, ‘No class this afternoon, wanna play basketball?’
“Sounds great,” he said cheerfully.
It was Monday. Fang Shiyou was heading to Shannan for a meeting, and he still had to buy a Polaroid for Xu Nanheng.
On the second floor of the teaching building, he waved goodbye. Xu Nanheng tossed him an orange. Neither of them mentioned the ambiguous cigarette incident from that day again, though Xu Nanheng had vaguely figured out some of the answers.
From the first floor came the sound of students reading aloud. Xu Nanheng leaned against the corridor railing, watching Fang Shiyou walk toward the school gate, listening to the students recite in unison.
Previously, he felt that he should, like Fang Shiyou, go all out to do what he believed was the right thing.
However, he and Fang Shiyou were different. A disease could be treated, but systemic situation was far harder to sway.
This trip to Tibet had made Xu Nanheng truly aware of how insignificant a person was within a greater situation. He had personally and deeply understood the meaning of ‘a mayfly trying to shake a tree.’
While he was lost in thought, Fang Shiyou glanced back and looked toward him.
Neither of them were nearsighted, and when their eyes met, they both saw surprise in the other's eyes.
Xu Nanheng hadn't expected him to look back.
Fang Shiyou hadn't expected him to be standing there, watching him leave.
And so, their gazes met. They looked at each other without any buffer, without time to react. It was as if their gazes collided midair, like a traffic accident. Neither of them knew what to do, nor did either know how to resolve the situation in the moment. The two of them stared at each other blankly.
The longer they looked, the stranger it felt, and the more frozen they became.
Then, the two of them simultaneously dropped their eyes, choosing the most awkward way out.
They withdrew their gazes, turned their heads, and walked away.
One fled toward the school gate, the other retreated into the dormitory.