Liang Xiaolin would never miss a chance to "fleece" Liu Banxia. Regardless of his previous lifestyle, he was now earning a lot of money with his "flying knife" work. Moreover, he was now a regularly employed staff member and frequently performed surgeries. He was living a comfortable life, so she felt obligated to help him spend some of it.
The three of them ordered four dishes and a soup. According to Liang Xiaolin, this was to "welcome" Qing Kewa.
During the meal, Liu Banxia listened attentively to the two girls' conversation. Apparently, Qing Kewa had, at some point, promised to give Liang Xiaolin some small gifts—authentic Russian specialties. Throughout the meal, the two girls chattered away, while Liu Banxia's role was simply to be the wallet.
"Seriously, has my role as your supervising doctor come to this? I'm supposed to be your leader, yet I feel like a lowly servant," Liu Banxia said with a wry smile.
"We're eating now. Drop the leader act," Liang Xiaolin said, rolling her eyes at him.
"Alright, alright. No one wants this chicken foot, right? I'll take it. Eating feet strengthens the hands; mine will become even more nimble," Liu Banxia muttered, picking up the chicken foot with his chopsticks.
"I'm so full. I'll need to exercise more tonight," Qing Kewa added.
"Qing Kewa, your Chinese is excellent. How long have you been in China?" Liu Banxia asked curiously.
"This is her first time in Binhai City. The furthest she's been before was Harbin," Liang Xiaolin chimed in, answering for her.
Liu Banxia gave a thumbs up. "No wonder you speak so well! When you have some free time, maybe you can tutor me in Russian. I only know how to say 'good' in Russian, and absolutely nothing else."
"Dr. Liu, are you planning to visit Russia? You could stay at my house," Qing Kewa said cheerfully.
"Don't listen to him; he's just talking nonsense. He can't go anywhere this year. He'll be lucky to get a good night's sleep," Liang Xiaolin said.
"Why is that?" Qing Kewa asked, a little confused again.
"I have to be on duty at the hospital. My current position requires me to be on call at the hospital twenty-four hours a day," Liu Banxia said, then transferred the remaining sweet and sour pork ribs to his plate. "I'm not familiar with how things are in Russian hospitals, but here, the workload is very high. We have a lot of patients. A day like today, with fewer patients, is quite rare."
Qing Kewa nodded. She had noticed this too when she toured the hospital with Liang Xiaolin. There were so many patients; it seemed the hospital was about to burst at the seams.
"Alright, you two should head home. Qing Kewa, you're still not familiar with the area, so Dr. Liang, please make sure she gets home safely. I have to get back on duty. Both of you will be in surgery with me tomorrow," Liu Banxia said after they finished eating.
Hearing this, both girls nodded obediently. As surgeons, especially during their training period, they truly had to cherish every opportunity to be in surgery. In Liang Xiaolin's opinion, if Liu Banxia hadn't dragged her into all sorts of surgeries and constantly put pressure on her, she doubted she would have achieved her current level of skill.
Having eaten and drunk his fill, Liu Banxia returned to the Emergency Department. Wei Yuan was on shift with him in surgery that night, while Xu Hui was handling internal medicine.
"Shoutian," Xu Hui began, "that patient with intestinal tuberculosis is about to be discharged after this period of treatment."
"I've been so swamped I'd completely lost track; I thought he'd already been discharged," Liu Banxia said, stretching lazily. "Dr. Wei, could you cover a bit more for me tonight? I need to check on a patient upstairs periodically—a diabetic foot case. Surgery is likely tomorrow."
"Sure thing. We heard about that patient when we came in," Wei Yuan said with a grin. "By the way, I have some good news: we're both officially part of the Emergency Department now! President Liu, we'll be counting on your guidance."
"Holy crap! Why didn't you two tell me such great news sooner? Come here, group hug!" Liu Banxia exclaimed, and without waiting for their consent, pulled both Wei Yuan and Xu Hui into a warm embrace.
"Shi Lei even warned me this might happen, and I still walked right into it," Xu Hui said, looking utterly exasperated.
"My boss knew too? You guys are too much! You absolutely have to treat me to a great meal tomorrow at noon," Liu Banxia complained playfully.
"Haha, consider a chicken leg added for you! We did our homework; we hear it's a traditional perk in the Emergency Department," Wei Yuan said. "Besides, you were swamped today. We got here quite early, but you were busy with your two apprentices and didn't see us."
Liu Banxia felt a bit embarrassed by their teasing, especially with their mischievous grins that clearly hinted they were up to no good.
"So, are you officially on duty starting tonight, or are you waiting for the transfer orders to be announced?" Liu Banxia asked.
"We still have to wait a couple of days; the orders will probably come through together. The staffing should be mostly sorted out in the next few days. Everyone will officially be on duty once we move to the new building," Wei Yuan explained. "Otherwise, the current Emergency Department is too small, and there aren't that many patients. Assigning too many people here right now would be a waste of resources. But we've thought it through—we'll really have to rely on your support, President Liu."
"You've got to be kidding me. I... Hold on a second, I need to get this," Liu Banxia started to say, but his phone rang.
He pulled it out and, to his surprise, saw it was Qiaoqiao calling. Oh no, he thought, a wave of helplessness washing over him. She isn't going to insist on treating me to a meal again, is she?
"Qiaoqiao, what's up—"
"Don't say anything! We'll be there in a few minutes. Someone cut their hand. You can stitch it up, right?" Qiaoqiao interrupted sharply.
"Well, that depends on the injury. I'll have to see it when you get here," Liu Banxia replied, feeling resigned.
Qiaoqiao hung up before he could say anything more.
Liu Banxia felt even more exasperated. Why is this girl so impulsive? She's a world away from the adorably innocent girl I first met.
Sure enough, about five minutes later, a noisy group of people burst into the ER. Among them was a man, battered and bruised, clutching his hand. He was wearing a bathrobe with "Langtaosha" printed on it. To Liu Banxia's surprise, two police officers were also with the group.
"It's this shameless bastard! Can you stitch his hand up properly?" Qiaoqiao demanded.
"Let me take a look first," Liu Banxia said, putting on gloves. After a quick examination, he continued, "It's an open wound on the right wrist, with tendon involvement. How did it get this bad? We'll only know if any nerves are severed once I start suturing."
"This creep got drunk and tried to take advantage of one of our girls! Thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he has a bit of money?" Qiaoqiao declared fiercely. Turning to the police, she added, "Officers, don't you worry. We're the ones who hit him. Deal with us as you see fit. We stand by what we did."
Her words weren't many, but they were delivered with such fierce conviction that the two police officers looked somewhat taken aback and helpless.
"First, get him registered and pay the fees. We'll need to do a pre-operative blood test, and then I can take him for surgical repair," Liu Banxia instructed.
"Even though he's a scumbag, make sure you stitch him up well," Qiaoqiao added. "Otherwise, we'll end up having to pay more in compensation. It's not about the money; it's just infuriating."
This exchange made the nurses in the Emergency Department chuckle. They were quite familiar with Qiaoqiao, as she had been there several times recently. Given the current scene, they could easily piece together what had likely transpired.