Is This Reporter Also Paying Off Debts Today? Chapter 9
byLu Huaichu Cannot Heal His Own
“We trust your medical skills. We’ll only feel at ease leaving my wife’s surgery to you. Next month is fine; we can still wait! Dr. Lu, please put her on the schedule!” The man looked at his bank card balance and seemed to make a major decision.
The surgery was scheduled for a month and a half later. The man was very satisfied, as if his wife was finally saved.
Lu Huaichu watched the man’s departing back with sympathy, a sense of irritation rising in his heart. He had a surgery this afternoon; he decided to head to the wards to check on his patients’ conditions.
Thinking this, Lu Huaichu stepped out of his office. He looked at the overcrowded corridor. Some of these patients were only there for common heart surgeries, while others were waiting for a suitable donor heart.
If a donor heart didn’t come, they would have to endure constant suffering, just like Huainan.
The gazes of the patients and their families fell upon him one after another. Lu Huaichu found it a bit overwhelming and quickened his pace.
Inside a ward, a ten-year-old girl was leaning against the headboard wearing an oxygen tube. Her parents sat by the bed, cutting a peeled apple into small pieces and feeding them to her.
“Once Hanhan finishes her surgery and recovers, she can go back to school! Don’t you love dancing the most? Your teacher told me that if Hanhan returns before Children’s Day this year, she’ll arrange a dance performance for you. You can dance for all the teachers and students!”
“Really, Mommy?” The thin girl’s eyes flashed with a hint of joy.
“Of course it’s true. When the teacher called me, Daddy was listening right beside me. Right, honey? I’m not lying to Hanhan!”
The man smiled as he watched his wife and daughter, speaking gently, “Mommy is telling the truth. Hanhan, don’t be afraid of the surgery. The doctors are all very capable! They will definitely cure you so you can go back to school soon.”
“Xu Han, did you listen to the nurses today?” Lu Huaichu put on a smile and pushed the door open.
Seeing it was Lu Huaichu, the couple stood up. “Dr. Lu is here. It’s going to be hard on you today. Our Hanhan has waited so long for this donor heart… Thank you so much!”
Hanhan’s father tried to stuff a cigarette box into Lu Huaichu’s pocket, but Lu Huaichu managed to stop him.
Not taking a single cent from patients was his principle.
Early this morning, Lu Huaichu had received a call. A car accident had occurred twenty minutes prior. There was a severely injured patient, a student who had just started college, who couldn’t be saved. The family had signed the organ donation agreement but wanted to wait for other relatives to see him one last time. Therefore, he was on a ventilator to maintain vital signs. It was expected that the donor heart would be delivered to the First People’s Hospital this afternoon or evening.
“The ones you should really thank are the family members willing to donate the heart. Hanhan’s matching is suitable, and her ranking in the system is fine. I will do my best for this surgery.”
“Dr. Lu is truly a benevolent physician!” Hanhan’s father could only shove the cigarette box back into his own pocket, moved to tears as he shook Lu Huaichu’s hand.
Lu Huaichu exchanged a few more words before leaving the ward. He still felt very troubled, but he didn’t want to look for Wen Di. He didn’t want to infect Wen Di with his negative emotions.
Stomach problems were often tied to emotions, and he didn’t want his baby to feel unwell because of him.
The couple watched Lu Huaichu leave the ward and exchanged a look. The father took out the cigarette box and opened it. “Sigh, I couldn’t give it to him.”
Inside the cigarette box lay several bundles of red banknotes.
Lu Huaichu went to the garden and found a deserted spot to sit down.
He stared at a few ants crawling past his leather shoes—so weak, yet so resilient.
In fact, according to the ranking, that heart should have belonged to Huainan.
However, Huainan’s matching was unsuccessful. There would be a high risk of rejection after the surgery, and Lu Huaichu didn’t dare gamble with his brother’s life.
The world was about to lose a vibrant life, while another life was about to become vibrant again.
Meanwhile, his Huainan still had to struggle and wait in the agony of illness.
A physician’s inability to heal his own went far beyond the literal meaning.
After sitting in the cold wind for over twenty minutes, Lu Huaichu’s agitated heart finally calmed down. Just as he was about to return to his office, he received a call from Wang Deming.
“Hello, Director Wang?”
“Xiao Lu, push your transplant surgery this afternoon back. There’s an emergency. Come to Operating Room A6 in twenty minutes. Hurry.”
Before Lu Huaichu could respond, Wang Deming hung up.
Lu Huaichu was full of doubt. Operating Room A6 was a special room in the hospital, usually reserved for organ transplants. He was the only one who had booked it for this week…
But he didn’t think too much of it. He hurriedly asked his assistant, A Ke, to delay Xu Han’s surgery until early the next morning. Then, he sent a voice message to Wen Di. His instincts as a doctor made him start running. He quickly finished the disinfection process and arrived at A6 to stand by.
Entering A6, Lu Huaichu found several people already there. Director Wang and President Liu were already in their surgical scrubs.
“President Liu? Director Wang?” It was one thing for the director to be there, but what kind of person’s surgery warranted the president’s personal presence?
President Liu nodded and signaled for Lu Huaichu to get dressed first. “Xiao Lu, you will be the lead surgeon for this. It’s a heart transplant.”
A heart transplant?
“The donor heart is…?” Lu Huaichu couldn’t help but wonder. If there was a new donor, the organ center couldn’t possibly have skipped contacting him. As the primary contact for the patient Lu Huainan, he should have known about these things.
“The donor passed away early this morning. You shouldn’t ask about the rest.” Wang Deming coldly interrupted Lu Huaichu.
“Sorry, Director.” Lu Huaichu immediately shut his mouth.
However, an unsettling suspicion formed in his heart.
[Baby, an emergency surgery was added today, and there’s another one in the early morning. I won’t be able to come home. Eat well and go home to rest after work. Love you.]
When Wen Di received this message, he was lazily slumped in his seat, browsing travel guides for St. Mary’s Island. Lu Huaichu had already booked the tickets for ten hours before his birthday. When the plane landed on St. Mary’s Island and the midnight bell rang, he would welcome his 28th birthday in a brand-new country with the person he loved most.
The first decade of his adulthood could be summarized in four words: the hardships were over.
From now on, he would be the Wen Di who lived every day happily with Lu Huaichu.
His colleagues were busy, and some hadn’t arrived yet. That was how media units worked; everyone had their own schedule and working hours. Even in the same office, one might not see the colleague sitting across from them more than a few times a month.
Wen Di was bored staying in the office, so he decided to go to the group office to pick up his Arabic textbooks and then go home to study.
Wen Di liked learning languages. He once felt he had a high talent for them, at least when it came to learning various local dialects.
That was until he saw five books that were even thicker than Lu Huaichu’s medical texts.
“Two months to finish learning these?” Wen Di held the stack of books with a look of disbelief.
“Yes! Good luck, Brother Wen! You can do it!” The young girl in the office thoughtfully placed two notebooks and a box of pens on top of the stack. “The online courses have been sent to your email. You can start the offline classes after you return from your annual leave!”