Chen Ke gently rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open to enter the office.
Su Qing was reading "The Idiot," Gu Ran flipping through files while humming a song by Li Zongsheng.
"I'm going to... visit the ward," Chen Ke said a bit awkwardly.
"Hmm," Su Qing responded.
"I'll come too," Gu Ran closed the file, "Been looking at files all morning, time to try my hand with the patients in the ward."
Then, he turned and delivered a line they all knew he would say, "Team leader, please cover for me."
According to the script, Su Qing sighed and put down her files.
"Are you a baby who can't do without mommy, baby?"
Uh, the lines weren't exactly as planned, in fact completely different, but the meaning was more or less the same.
The two got up.
"That—" Chen Ke spoke up first.
Su Qing and Gu Ran both looked at her.
Chen Ke bit her lower lip and raised her right hand slightly like a shy college girl.
"—I'll come with you," she said.
Su Qing knew about their conversation, so she couldn't pretend to be unaware and foolish, accepting their good will to join them in pouring emotions into someone who was bound to leave.
She decided to accompany them, shifting between different patients, not focusing too much on Liu Xiaoting.
It was for Gu Ran and Su Qing, but also a form of protection for Liu Xiaoting. Staying too long with her would inevitably arouse sympathy and could stimulate her mentally.
It was also a form of self-protection.
"Mmm-hmm," Su Qing naturally had no objections.
"Never noticed you had such a competitive streak," Gu Ran said, assessing Chen Ke, dressed somewhat mature yet petite and competitive.
"Not to mention who volunteered to do the night shift, I haven't even started on you yet," Chen Ke couldn't resist saying.
The remark seemed like a complaint but indicated that their relationship was becoming closer, causing Gu Ran to pause.
Was he really that handsome? Did Chen Ke, who had a boyfriend, become so close to him in just two days?
And Chen Ke thought Gu Ran was doubting that she had overheard their conversation outside the door.
She swept her hair behind her ear, showcasing the charm of a demure woman, "Shall we go then?"
As soon as the three left the office and were in the corridor, they were met by facilities staff delivering their work badges.
Before they arrived at Jinghai, they had sent their passport-sized photos over the internet.
Imitating Su Qing, they clipped the work badges to the breast pockets of their white coats, suddenly feeling the ceremonial sense of officially becoming part of the workforce.
"Got a car?" the facilities staff inquired, "If you do, give me the license plate number. I'll enter it into the system so you won't have to pay for parking."
Neither of them had a car.
"If you get one, let me know. My ID in the clinic's large group is Xu Fu." The staff member instructed, then with restrained respect, nodded slightly at Su Qing before leaving.
Perhaps the badges were meant to be picked up by them on their own, but because of Su Qing, they were delivered.
"Your status in Jinghai seems pretty high," Gu Ran remarked.
"Not that high, at least I can't make you bark like a dog."
"You have too high expectations of Jinghai. Even if Mrs. Jing retires and you become the director, you can't make me bark like a dog, unless you're lying on a hospital bed," Su Qing said, unfazed.
Picking up on the side effects of medications, she began, "Risperidone: apathy, difficulty waking up; Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride: breast enlargement in men; Flupenthixol: breast enlargement in men; Carbamazepine: blurred vision..."
Gu Ran remembered, the director couldn't make people bark, but using some special medications without others knowing wasn't an issue.
"Su Qing," Chen Ke laughed, "if you keep this up, Gu Ran will be too scared to eat or drink anything in the clinic."
Su Qing glanced over at Gu Ran, "I also have ways to prove I am insane, you could die and I wouldn't be breaking the law, still living in Jinghai, and my mom would even allow me to go out for fresh air anytime."
Far from being dissuaded, she continued to threaten!
"Qing, stop joking, I know you're not that kind of person," Gu Ran was a man who wouldn't take immediate losses.
"Promising, from now on you're my true follower," Su Qing said with an admiring look on her enticing face.
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Would you steal medication from the clinic for me?"
"...Let's go back to discussing the dog barking thing. It seems more feasible and safer," Gu Ran diverted the topic.
Chen Ke chuckled on the side, thinking these two were likely to awaken [Spiritual World].
The three left the office building and entered the residential area.
All the patients were gathered in the hall, with a slogan written on the wall: [Have the courage to share - Daye Yu (Psychiatrist, pioneer of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Japan)].
Group therapy sessions were occasionally held here.
But this time wasn't one of those occasions. Six patients were playing cards.
"The doctors are here!" Elder Bahe panicked as if he had seen the police.
"Afraid of what!" the Illusory Smell Author didn't care, "Hit me with another!"
The real estate auntie, acting as the dealer, dealt another card, and the Illusory Smell Author immediately cursed, "Damn!"
His hand had busted.
Gu Ran glanced over, the six were playing Blackjack, or 21.
They used a 52-card deck, excluding jokers, aiming to get a hand with a value as close as possible to 21 without going over.
The real estate auntie promptly collected the Illusory Smell Author's bet—three pumpkin seeds.
Chen Ke looked at Liu Xiaoting; it was her turn to decide whether to take a card. She was concentrating hard, much like Cheng Xin in "Three-Body" deciding whether to activate the gravitational wave emitter.
Gu Ran to the Illusory Smell Author, "Why do you always swear so much?"
"I'm a damn rural author, can I even call myself that if I don't swear?"
"..."
This gave the two new doctors quite a shock, its impact comparable to a powerful Pokémon move with a strength of 120, [Future Sight].