Chapter One: The Woman in the Emergency Room

Affiliated Hospital of Lanning Medical College.

Kang Ning hurriedly entered the doctors’ lounge, slipping into his white coat as he apologized to the colleague about to leave. “Sorry, Old Tan, I’ve delayed your trip home.”

Old Tan, whose hairline had begun to recede, grinned without a trace of annoyance. “No worries. You cover my shifts often enough, don’t you? Haha, I’d better rush off—my wife at home has been getting testier by the day, God knows what’s gotten into her lately. Ah, you young folks are lucky!”

Kang Ning watched Old Tan depart, shaking his head with a wry smile as he filled out the handover log.

A week ago, the fiery head nurse, displeased by Old Tan’s stinginess when distributing apples, had scolded him. Old Tan, holding a grudge, refused admission to a patient brought in by the nurse the next day. Infuriated, the nurse played a trick: she pressed her lipstick-smeared lips onto the back collar of Old Tan’s white shirt, leaving a blurred mark, and secretly slipped a few condoms into the hidden pocket of his briefcase. That night, Old Tan’s formidable wife kicked up a storm. The incident spread among neighbors, and after being embellished by the quick tongues at the medical college and hospital, it had transformed into a rumor that Old Tan kept more than two mistresses outside.

After tidying up, Kang Ning stepped outside. He was greeted by the young nurse Xiao Pan, who smiled brightly. “Dr. Kang, we all went to watch you play soccer this afternoon. You were amazing! Scored two goals all by yourself, each one better than the last. Seeing those old women from the Treasury Department’s cheer squad slink away, us girls felt vindicated!”

Kang Ning smiled gently. “What did the ladies from the Treasury ever do to you? They don’t seem that old, do they?”

“Not old? Not one of them is under thirty! They rely on fancy makeup just to hide it. Last time, when our women’s basketball team lost to them, they mocked us mercilessly. Hmph!”

With her head held high, Xiao Pan strode away.

Kang Ning chuckled silently, about to leave when a frantic voice rang out from outside the emergency room doors. He straightened and strode out to meet them, seeing a middle-aged man clutching a child rushing forward, trailed by two elderly people and a fashionably dressed woman—all four faces etched with panic and desperation.

The middle-aged man caught sight of Kang Ning and cried out, “Doctor, please save my son… he’s lost so much blood… quickly, please!” “It’s my fault, I let him fall down the stairs…” “Doctor, I beg you, save my child, whatever it costs…”

The two breathless elders and the stylish woman pleaded anxiously.

Kang Ning and the man laid the child onto a gurney brought by the nurses and carefully examined his injuries. The boy’s fair right arm was bent grotesquely backward; stark white bone pierced through flesh and skin, protruding four or five centimeters.

Kang Ning’s brow furrowed. He immediately ordered the child taken to the operating room, instructed the nurse beside him to notify the anesthesiologist by phone, and began emergency preparations for bleeding control and oxygen.

Inside the operating room, Kang Ning and two other doctors worked intensely. Outside, the scene was entirely different.

The injured child’s parents paced anxiously, recalling the anesthesiologist who had arrived last, his mouth reeking of alcohol, and grew even more worried. Seeing that the surgeons inside were both young, their concern deepened.

After brief discussion, the woman called loudly to the nurses, “Oh God! The anesthesiologist stinks of booze, and the other two are so young! Can they even do orthopedic surgery? This is a life-and-death matter! Where are your hospital’s senior specialists?”

The man, puffing his chest, demanded loudly, “Give me your supervisor’s number. Money’s not the issue! Call in the best specialists, whatever it costs!”

Xiao Pan, patient and polite, replied, “Please, could you both keep calm? Surgery is underway inside. Loud shouting isn’t helpful. Both doctors inside are among our hospital’s finest—Dr. Zhang is our attending cardiologist, and Dr. Kang, who greeted you before, is our attending surgeon. Rest assured, you can trust them completely.”

“Attending physician? That’s not enough!” the woman cried hysterically. “That young pretty boy looks barely out of school—he might still be an intern! We demand a professor-level surgeon, at least a chief physician! What if our child ends up disabled?”

“Please, calm down…”

“No, what's your director’s number? Tell me now!” The sweating man pressed in on Xiao Pan.

At this, the elderly man among the group stepped forward, pulling the man back. “Son, lower your voice! Just ask for the director’s number—don’t make things hard for the girl.”

“Yes, dear, I’ve heard the best doctor here is Professor Kang, highly respected and renowned. His skill is second to none. Try getting his home number, asking for his help might work,” the old woman added anxiously.

At this point, Xiao Pan, frustrated, interjected, “Could you stop arguing? To tell you the truth, the Dr. Kang inside is Professor Kang’s son. He’s been steeped in medical tradition since he was five, memorizing medical texts alongside his father. If Professor Kang hadn’t ordered his son to return, Dr. Kang would have been snapped up by several top hospitals in Shanghai three years ago!”

Having said her piece, the nurse walked away, leaving the four relatives stunned and silent, finally resigned to waiting quietly.

Soon, the wailing sirens of police and ambulances grew nearer. Three vehicles quickly stopped outside the emergency room. After urgent footsteps, three accident victims were carried in on stretchers, their arrival accompanied by cries and frantic phone calls. The four parents, awaiting news, were shocked by the bloody scene, their legs trembling, unwilling to utter another word.

Half an hour later, the operating room doors finally opened. The anesthesiologist, picking his teeth, left first, claiming he had to get to the bar. Dr. Zhang and Kang Ning emerged, chatting as they walked. Xiao Pan hurriedly reported the three accident victims, and the family rushed forward, pushing past her to urgently ask Kang Ning about the surgery’s outcome.

Dr. Zhang departed. Kang Ning turned to Xiao Pan with an apologetic gesture, then addressed the four parents kindly, “Please rest assured, the surgery was a success. The boy’s arm has been reattached, no arteries or major nerves were damaged. He’ll need to stay in the operating room for observation. One of you can stay to handle the paperwork. I’m very sorry, but I have another emergency surgery waiting and can’t talk further. Please forgive me!”

With that, Kang Ning hurried to the next operating room, while the four parents moved toward the now quiet emergency hall.

After finishing their tasks, two nurses finally sat down to rest, watching two janitors scrub blood from the floor as they chatted animatedly.

“Xiao Yun, Dr. Kang is brilliant and has such a good temperament. In my opinion, he’s the most handsome of all the hundreds of male doctors here. Don’t you think? At a glance, Dr. Kang really looks like Leon Lai,” the tall nurse said, her face full of longing.

Xiao Yun cast her a scornful glance. “What are you talking about! Dr. Kang is tall and handsome, far more masculine than that pretty-boy Leon Lai. Honestly, he’s even more attractive than Zhu Shimao! Did you see Dr. Kang on the soccer field this afternoon? Wow, those old women from the Treasury couldn’t take their eyes off him. If only my boyfriend looked like Dr. Kang! Even half as good would satisfy me.”

“Look at you, lovesick! What am I going to do with you?”

“Shut your mouth or I’ll strangle you!”

The two nurses teased each other playfully. Suddenly, the sound of a door opening startled them into silence, their eyes nervously fixed on the operating room.

Eight or nine doctors and nurses shook their heads as they filed out, leaving only the surgical chief to address the two traffic police officers waiting at the door. “The first two of the three patients had stopped breathing long ago; the last one couldn’t be saved either—open skull fractures had pierced the brain. You’d best notify their families soon.”

After exchanging a few more words, the officers thanked him and departed.

Kang Ning, now cleaned up, donned a fresh white coat and took his large teacup from the attentive nurse, thanking her with a gulp as he headed back to his office.

He had barely settled in when a Wuling police vehicle screeched to a halt outside the emergency room, brakes shrilling.

Two plainclothes officers hurried in, supporting a female patient. The man on the right, in his early thirties with an aquiline nose, deep-set eyes, and a stubbled jaw, called out to Kang Ning, “Doctor, we’re from the Lakeside Station. This patient may have overdosed on injected drugs. When we arrived at the scene, she was already unconscious.”

Kang Ning helped the officers lift the woman onto a gurney. As the nurse adjusted her head, Kang Ning felt a sense of familiarity. He brushed aside her disheveled hair and, upon seeing her face, was startled. Pointing at the pale, beautiful face on the stretcher, he asked the tall policeman, “Isn’t this Zhen Qian, the former host of the ‘Night in Yong City’ program from the TV station?”