The Surgeon’s Studio

Chapter 296: Actions Speak Louder Than Words (Part 4 of 4)

Chang Yue and the other nurses clocked out systematically. The mountain of paperwork had driven her up the wall.

That aside, she still had to interact with patients and their families, a task that required a lot of effort on her part.

She had to keep track of each patient’s personality and disposition. Some patients were prone to complications and required more time to double-check their medication and procedure. Some patients were talkative, so Chang Yue would ask them more questions.

Most of the staff had left when Zheng Ren and Su Yun made their rounds. The patients were all stable.

Zheng Ren sat down and picked up a thick tome titled Fundamentals of General Surgery. A few pages in, he felt a disquiet that interfered with his reading.

What was this? It was an odd sensation he had never felt before.

Zheng Ren looked up and ruminated on it. Had he made a mistake on any of the patients today?

A few minutes later, he realized what was bugging him. He had yet to text Xie Yiren…

It was a habit he had developed in Imperial Capital and brought back to Sea City. Even when busy, he could feel a nagging voice in the back of his head reminding him to do it.

Zheng Ren chuckled at his own nature and took out his phone.

“You’re only planning to text Little Yiren now?” Su Yun had been waiting for Zheng Ren to make this move the entire time. “Doing so at this hour; I’d say 90% of girls would already be pissed. The younger the girl, the likelier she would be mad.”

Su Yun’s words succeeded in making Zheng Ren anxious.

His fingers trembled slightly as he typed out his message, something that had not happened even when facing down the knife-wielding criminal back in Imperial Capital.

[Ward rounds completed. All patients stable. What are you doing?]

Zheng Ren kept it neutral.

Xie Yiren did not reply.

The grin on Su Yun’s face widened as time passed. After five minutes without Xie Yiren’s response, he said, “See, she’s mad.”

Zheng Ren stayed silent.

“This is why people don’t shit where they eat[1], yet you chose to do so. Of course, it’s convenient, but do you know what its downsides are?” Su Yun said with a smirk.

It was a rhetorical question, one that Su Yun did not expect a straight-faced man like Zheng Ren to answer.

“The convenience is a double-edged sword. See, now that Yiren is upset, would you not have to placate her? If there was an emergency surgery now that required the both of you to work together, wouldn’t it be awkward?”

Zheng Ren followed Su Yun’s line of thought… and agreed.

“Here’s my advice, young man. Girls expect quality time. Why do you think I don’t have a girlfriend? I simply don’t have the time. Just keep things casual and you’ll find life much simpler!” Su Yun continued.

Zheng Ren paid little attention to the narcissistic monologue that followed. Spending so much time with Su Yun had taught him how to tune out the man’s shameless self-praise.

The sound of footsteps caught his attention.

Was it Xie Yiren? Zheng Ren could not identify anyone from how they walked, but in his current mood, every shadow in the corner could be her.

“Stop dreaming. The only way forward is for me to take the night shift while you go to her house to make it up to her.” Su Yun squeezed Zheng Ren’s shoulder. “Think through what you want to say to her.”

Right then, a familiar silhouette appeared at the entrance of the office.

Standing there with a food carrier in her hand was Xie Yiren.

With a smile on her face, she called out in a funny accent, “Yoohoo~ It’s time for food~”

It was the iconic tagline of the actress Shen Chang in the role of the nanny from I Love My Family, a drama series from years ago.

Being related to food, it had stuck with Xie Yiren since.

Zheng Ren stood up from his seat abruptly. The haze in his heart cleared up instantly upon seeing her.

Huh. Guess I was wrong, Su Yun thought.

“Come on, let’s eat,” Xie Yiren said as she shook the food carrier and bounded off to the on-call room before Zheng Ren could say a word.

Su Yun patted Zheng Ren’s shoulder and muttered grumpily, “You… You’re a lucky man.”

Zheng Ren laughed and went after Xie Yiren.

When the two men arrived at the on-call room, Xie Yiren was already unloading the contents of the food carrier onto the table.

The carrier was tightly secured and gave off no odor, but the smell of a garlic-based fish dish filled the room as she opened it up.

Even Zheng Ren, who typically viewed meals as a time-consuming affair, felt his mouth water.

“Oh! Little Yiren’s cooking is impressive!” Su Yun noticed Zheng Ren’s awkwardness and quickly filled the silence.

Xie Yiren looked over her handiwork with pride. “I had this once when traveling with my mother. It was delicious and I begged her to stay for a week; I ate at the restaurant every day and went into their kitchen to learn how to cook this dish. Learned it on my first try.”

She truly had an immense love for food.

Zheng Ren took a seat at the table. Once Xie Yiren had everything ready and was seated, they began to eat.

Delicious!

With each bite, Su Yun wondered why he did not have someone like Yiren. How lucky Zheng Ren was.

Not only was Xie Yiren not angry, she had even made food and delivered it to the hospital.

Su Yun cared little about her affluence. This gesture alone was sufficient.

“Hey, come on. Give the girl a review,” Su Yun said, tapping his plate with his chopsticks.

The dumb*ss would not even utter a word of praise without Su Yun’s prompting. Useless.

Despite that, Zheng Ren continued to remain mum. Instead, he gave Xie Yiren a sincere smile and continued to shovel food into his mouth.

Xie Yiren did not mind it one bit and watched Zheng Ren eat with a smile on her face.

He was quick with emergency rescue and surgery and was equally fast at eating.

They went through the food like a hurricane, leaving only scraps behind.

Seeing Zheng Ren enjoying her home-cooked food brought a newfound happiness to Xie Yiren’s heart. Her eyes crinkled as her smile widened.

Was this what was being expressed through action? Su Yun felt confused.

Acts of love seemed to speak louder than words. He ought to put this to test in the future.

As soon as they finished their food, Zheng Ren’s phone rang.

He frowned, but it disappeared as soon as he picked it up and saw Old Chief Physician Pan’s name.

“Chief Pan.

“Oh. We can try. You know our hospital has no experience with TIPS[2], right? And the surgery doesn’t really have a high success rate to start with.

“I know. We’ll have to pay attention to the post-surgery hepatic encephalopathy. I’ll go have a look now.”

Although Old Chief Physician Pan was not present in the room, Zheng Ren spoke as if he was, sitting up attentively and smiling.

[1] Do not cause trouble in a place where you must be on a regular basis. Often used with workplace romances. The raw text wrote 兔子不吃窝边草.

[2] Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt surgery.