"..." Zheng Ren had not expected the young lady to misunderstand so completely. However, he was simply a doctor who frequented only two places—his rented house and the hospital—so it was not unexpected that he knew nothing of courtship and romance.
Survival was difficult and punishing enough for Zheng Ren, and so it was impossible for him to spare time for trivialities.
He had absolutely no idea how much harassment beautiful young women encountered in public.
Whatever Zheng Ren had in his mind failed to leave his mouth.
"Sister, Doctor Zheng may lack in the looks department, but he is actually a good and skillful man." Xie Yiren tried to lend Zheng Ren a helping hand.
Critical hit x10.
The young lady made no attempt to continue the conversation. Instead, she stared at Zheng Ren coldly with an icy smirk on her face, waiting patiently for him to continue his charade.
"Lady, your mother is sick." Zheng Ren cut straight to the point after soothing his broken heart.
"Bang!" The young lady slammed the table in exasperation and yelled, "Your mother is the one who's sick!"
Xie Yiren helplessly stole a glance at Zheng Ren. His courtship skills were atrocious… Why did he initiate a conversation with a verbal assault?
She was mortified; it was as if invasive tumor cells of shame were rampaging through her body. How she wished the earth would open up and swallow her whole so that she could escape this awkward situation.
Zheng Ren apologized quickly after realizing his mistake. "Sorry, I'm terribly sorry. What I'm trying to say is your mother is having a heart attack, so stop eating crayfish and please go to the hospital as quickly as you can."
"Your mother has a heart attack!" shouted the vexed young lady, who seemed to have lost all sense of rationality.
The attention of every diner in the restaurant was drawn by her thunderous voice.
Zheng Ren waved his hands quickly and gestured for her to lower her voice. "No, please listen to me. Your mother recently suffered symptoms such as lower jaw pain, right?"
"Huh?" replied the young lady doubtfully. This hideous man was really a doctor?
"That is an atypical symptom of a heart attack, not just a toothache or random pain due to facial nerve damage. Spicy crayfish will stimulate and aggravate her condition quite a bit so it's better if she stops taking it now," Zheng Ren explained seriously.
His words convinced her to some extent. Her mother had recently visited the hospital for a consultation and, after ruling out periodontal diseases, the doctor suspected she might have neuralgia.
Still, she remained suspicious. Had a god of medicine descended to the mortal world to give her a definitive diagnosis of her mother's condition while they were eating crayfish? What were the odds?
The mother wiped her mouth with tissue after hearing her daughter's irritation and asked, "Yanran, what happened?"
"Auntie… No, older sister, can you please come over?" asked Zheng Ren.
"Yes?"
Zheng Ren explained himself once again and gave the mother a shock.
"That's one symptom of a heart attack. The symptoms aren't obvious yet due to your age and the severity of the disease, but you must go to the hospital and get yourself checked. If you experience a sudden major heart attack at home, your life will be in danger," Zheng Ren concluded.
The mother was left in a difficult position. She was merely experiencing slight discomfort rather than intense pain, so the diagnosis of a heart attack seemed difficult to believe at best and unconvincing at worst. "Where can I get myself checked at this hour?"
"An electrocardiogram, serum myoglobin, troponins, and myocardial enzymes are some of the basic tests we can do to diagnose a heart attack. I'm a doctor in the emergency department at Sea City General Hospital. Please trust me," replied Zheng Ren.
The mother was deeply perturbed after listening to his explanation.
However, the twin sisters were not entirely convinced. They both stared at Zheng Ren and said in unison:
"My name is Chu Yanran."
"My name is Chu Yanzhi."
"Oh… I'm Zheng Ren, a doctor in the emergency department at Sea City General Hospital."
After the brief introduction, Chu Yanran said calmly, "We're both postgraduate students in intensive care medicine at West China University. I have some questions that need clarification."
Zheng Ren immediately got a headache. Those who went to well-reputed universities and were completely assured their opinions were absolutely correct, despite a complete lack of clinical experience, were the most annoying people in the world. Working in the clinical field for more than five years would make them realize that the knowledge they acquired from medical institutions was just the tip of the iceberg.
"The diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction should—"
Zheng Ren interrupted Chu Yanran with a wave of his hand and said, "Fine, you're a student from West China. Now that I've given you a diagnosis and an explanation, it's up to you to proceed with the consultation and investigation for your mother."
Zheng Ren was not a saint; he was merely fulfilling a doctor's responsibility by diagnosing and advising a stranger with a life-threatening disease. Whether the patient went to the hospital or not… Well, that was none of his concern.
"How could you say that?" The twin sisters pouted in response.
"I only had a few cold dumplings for dinner and performed a surgery afterward. I'm very hungry right now. Since you're both medical students, you should have some preliminary judgment about your mother's condition. The decision is yours, that's all I have to say," replied Zheng Ren, completely disregarding their coquettishness.
"What was your name again?" asked Chu Yanzhi.
"Zheng Ren."
"A doctor in Sea City General Hospital?"
"Yes."
"Alright, we'll go to Sea City General Hospital and see if you're a liar." The twins dared not overlook the issue, though, since acute myocardial infarction was a life-threatening disease. It was better to be safe than sorry.
They were naturally aware as postgraduate students in intensive care medicine.
After the twin sisters and their mother paid their bill and left the restaurant, Zheng Ren checked the time. They had been out for forty-six minutes.
"Doctor Zheng, you were trying to consult the patient instead of courting that young lady?" asked Xie Yiren curiously after staring at Zheng Ren for a while.
"Yes, of course."
"Oh my God!" Xie Yiren expresed herself with an exaggerated gesture. "They are beautiful twin sisters! As a man, were you not interested in them at all?"
"The patient with myocardial infarction caught my attention the most," answered Zheng Ren.
"No wonder you've been single for so long. You know, I think you're actually paranoid. Poverty and ugliness aren't why you have an unattached life. You can't find a girlfriend because you don't want one. Well, poverty and ugliness are still your main obstacles, of course. Otherwise, there would be many girls surrounding you at all times," replied Xie Yiren, not giving up the chance to stab Zheng Ren's heart.
Zheng Ren figured he should start acclimatizing himself to Xie Yiren's manner of speech, or else his sanity would fall to pieces under these daily critical hits.
"Perhaps I shouldn't let her assist me in surgery anymore," he thought.
However, he discarded the idea almost instantaneously.
What a joke. Apart from Xie Yiren, who else possessed such extraordinary skill as a young scrub nurse?
Being young meant that she had enough physical strength and energy for unlimited overtime; in addition, her incredible skill increased his odds of performing a perfect surgery.
How could he possibly give up such a great asset?
For that, he would forgive Xie Yiren and her plain-spoken attitude. Besides, she spoke the truth.
Once the crayfish was served, Xie Yiren immediately switched to silent mode and focused all her attention on the food before her.
On the other hand, Zheng Ren nibbled the crayfish absentmindedly. In all honesty, he disliked shellfish as it was extremely troublesome and time-consuming to remove the shell before he could consume it. If someone could help him with that… Whatever… Suddenly, Zheng Ren's cell phone rang.
Zheng Ren quickly wiped his hands and accepted the call after realizing it was from the emergency department.
"Chief Zheng, there are two patients with acute appendicitis on the way via ambulance right now. They should be arriving soon," informed the nurse on duty.
Zheng Ren scratched his head, hung up and said, "Two patients. We'll return immediately."
Were it not for the fact that the mission had a countdown timer, who would perform a surgery in the middle of the night?
Xie Yiren nodded vigorously as she swallowed the sweet, juicy crayfish in her hands.
He could eat crayfish any time, but it was impossible to get an appendicitis case in the middle of the night.