Chapter 126 - 115: Dawn
After a moment, he took a deep breath and looked up at Jiang He, his eyes slightly red.
"Just now... when I finished those thirty-six stitches, I felt like every book I’d ever memorized, every all-nighter I’d ever pulled, was worth it. The feeling of pulling someone back from the brink... it’s more real than publishing ten papers in core journals."
He paused, his voice now completely devoid of its former defensiveness and sharp edges.
"Jiang He, let’s put the past behind us. From now on, at school, we’ll start our competition over."
"This time... we’ll compete to see who can save more people, and who makes fewer mistakes."
With that, he extended his hand to Jiang He.
Jiang He’s expression softened, and he took Xu Chen’s outstretched hand.
"Alright. A new competition."
’Xu Chen will become an excellent surgeon one day. Keep it up.’
Leaving the debridement room, Jiang He finally made his way outside the main entrance of the emergency department.
The rain outside had stopped completely.
A breeze blew past, carrying the fresh scent of the recent rain, which did much to disperse the hospital’s lingering smell of blood.
Jiang He found a bench and slowly sat down.
The pain in his right ankle had gone numb. He stretched his leg out, leaned back against the bench, and let out a long, heavy breath.
On the distant horizon, the pale white of dawn was beginning to spread.
The gray-blue clouds slowly parted, allowing the faint light of morning to shine through.
As dawn threatened to break, the response to the massive traffic accident was finally drawing to a close.
Jiang He closed his eyes.
He had accomplished a lot tonight.
Drawing on twenty years of clinical experience from his past life, he had diagnosed and saved over a dozen critically ill patients with an almost unfair advantage.
He had witnessed Chen Hao overcome his inner demons and Xu Chen’s transformation. Finally, he and Yang Xu had demonstrated textbook-perfect teamwork on the operating table.
Patients’ families were thanking him, nurses respected him, and veteran doctors acknowledged his skill.
These were all things he had gained tonight.
But Jiang He knew in his heart that the greatest reward wasn’t the fame and accolades.
It was the profound sense of fulfillment that came from his actions.
"Dr. Jiang."
A soft voice interrupted Jiang He’s thoughts.
There, in the morning light, he saw Teacher Shen.
Shen Yu was walking toward him, holding an ice pack wrapped in a towel.
She looked at him with a pained expression. "Are you trying to get rid of that leg?"
Jiang He froze on the bench.
He looked at the girl before him.
She wore a light-colored trench coat, her hair was tied up casually. ’So beautiful.’
"Teacher Shen? What are you doing here?"
"It’s your birthday in a few days! Of course I came to be with you!" Shen Yu huffed. "And what happens? You go and get yourself injured. You don’t care about yourself at all!"
Jiang He reached out, wanting to take Teacher Shen’s hand.
But he couldn’t touch her. There was no substance to his vision.
He blinked.
And Teacher Shen vanished.
In his past life, his wife would always scold him just like that whenever he’d overworked himself.
’So... it’s because I miss her too much, isn’t it?’
’If, and this is just a big if... it would be so wonderful if my wife could really come celebrate my birthday with me at the end of the month.’
’I would be so, so, so happy.’
’My love, I miss you.’
As the vision of Teacher Shen dissipated in the morning light, the smile on Jiang He’s lips slowly faded, but his gaze grew deeper, more resolute.
The South China Competition was about to begin.
His LNR paper, fast-tracked for publication in the Chinese Journal of Surgery, was about to cause a storm in the academic world.
The content Zhiyu was publishing would also slowly change the world.
Wang Kuan’s two million in funding would soon be available, and the 2008 stock market crash was due to hit rock bottom any day now.
Capital, academic standing, a top-tier network... all these threads would finally converge at the end of October.
And for him, all of it was just for her.
To build the world’s top laboratory.
To force the miRNA early-screening technology into clinical application.
To snatch the "king of cancers" from the hands of the Grim Reaper himself.
A cold wind gusted past the entrance to the hospital lobby.
Using the armrests for support, Jiang He pushed himself to his feet.
The future was still too far away.
For now, all he could do was take things one step at a time and handle each task as it came.
He dragged his injured leg back into the emergency building, intending to go to the orthopedics department to get his ankle put in a cast.
The moment he entered the lobby, Jiang He saw Yang Xu standing by a window at the far end of the corridor.
He was holding a phone, a peculiar look on his face, and it seemed he was waiting specifically for him.
And just as he’d thought, upon seeing Jiang He, Yang Xu beckoned. "Over here."
Jiang He limped over. "Professor, what is it?"
Yang Xu looked him up and down, deliberately staying silent.
Jiang He was well aware of his professor’s habits.
Whenever there was great news, he loved to drag out the suspense.
Jiang He sighed. "I’m dying of curiosity. Come on, Professor, just tell me."
Only then did Yang Xu let out a sly chuckle. "A moment ago, a top official personally called to ask about this evening’s rescue efforts."
Jiang He asked, "How high-ranking?"
Yang Xu replied, "The Provincial Department of Health. The hospital director then called me in to give a report."
Jiang He’s heart fluttered. "What did you report?"
In truth, Jiang He was well aware that while his performance in the emergency department tonight had miraculously saved over a dozen lives, his actions were a clear violation of hospital regulations if someone decided to go strictly by the book.
Performing triage without authorization, issuing medical orders independently, even performing punctures and directing suturing himself...
If the higher-ups decided to investigate, Zhao Yumin, the senior attending physician who had gone against the grain and given him free rein in the red-tagged critical zone, would be in serious trouble.
Yang Xu knew this as well. "The official was stunned by our record of zero fatalities among the critically injured and specifically commended Affiliated Hospital No. 1’s emergency response. I used that as an opening to report everything that happened tonight—your paper, the posterior approach you proposed—I told him everything, down to the last detail."
Jiang He asked, "And what did the official say?"
Yang Xu’s eyes were intense. "After he heard everything, he was silent on the phone for a full half-minute. In the end, he only said sixteen words to me—"
"Life is paramount; special circumstances demand special measures. For such exceptional talent, we will grant a one-time exception!"
Jiang He understood.
"A one-time exception" meant that he was in the clear, this time.
Yang Xu chuckled. "The director said that with the official calling you ’exceptional talent,’ as long as you don’t burn the whole place down, the hospital will have your back from now on. Kid, as soon as that competition is over, you get yourself over to Hepatobiliary Surgery and report for duty."
Jiang He nodded. "That’s the plan."