Chapter 306 207: Xunsheng
The Affiliated Hospital No. 1 of '08 was largely the same as in later years, yet not entirely.
There were no Meituan delivery drivers to be seen, no smell of spicy hot pot from takeout, no sounds from short-form videos, and no sudden "Timi~".
The hustle and bustle of daily life had not yet encroached upon the matters of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
And Jiang He could see himself more clearly.
—Ever since time had rewound, he had sought only one thing.
—The road ahead was long and arduous, and he still had much to do.
He arrived at the patient's room, lab report in hand.
Before he even stepped inside, he heard a voice.
It was a very distinctive voice, with a Xiangnan accent, always ending its sentences with "lo."
Her name was He Qing, a young nurse on his team. She usually seemed rather quiet, but now she was grinning from ear to ear.
"Mr. Du, you're just too much of a jokester. Who describes their attending physician as Superman, lo?"
A middle-aged man who looked to be in his mid-thirties was sitting on the hospital bed.
He had fair skin and remarkably handsome features; he must have been quite the looker in his youth.
This was Du Xunsheng.
Jiang He's old friend.
Du Xunsheng was facing He Qing and happened to see Jiang He walk in.
He smiled and asked deliberately, "Hey, Nurse He, didn't you just say I was incredibly lucky? That I was assigned to our hospital's youngest, most accomplished, and most promising team leader?"
He Qing, unaware that Jiang He was right behind her, eagerly went along with it. "Of course, lo! Leader Jiang is no ordinary doctor, lo. A while back, with that huge accident on the Ring City Expressway, so many critically injured patients were sent over, but Leader Jiang didn't lose a single one. He saved them all, lo! Even the senior department heads at our hospital say he's a surgical genius blessed by the heavens—a machine! To have him as your attending physician, you must have done something great in a past life, lo."
Du Xunsheng listened with great interest. "That amazing? Is he usually strict?"
"Leader Jiang isn't strict at all, lo. He's just a man of few words, but he's incredibly attentive..."
He Qing was in the middle of enthusiastically singing his praises, chattering on and on.
She talked as she worked, and when she turned around, she came face-to-face with Jiang He in a friendly stare-down.
"!!!!"
He Qing froze. After a long moment, she stammered:
"Leader... Leader Jiang!"
Jiang He said, "Are the medications changed? Go on, get busy. Someone was just pressing the call button."
"Oh... oh! Right, I'll go right away, lo!" He Qing ducked her head and scurried out, holding her tray.
When she reached the door, she couldn't help but glance back.
She saw Du Xunsheng wink at her.
He Qing stopped in her tracks as she finally realized:
The man had done it on purpose. He deliberately brought up Jiang He and then intentionally led her to say all those words of praise.
This way, her admiration for her leader was conveyed directly to her leader's ears.
Although it was embarrassing, Du Xunsheng was essentially helping her make a good impression.
'What an interesting person. I hear he's a bartender...' He Qing mused to herself as she left.
In the hospital room.
Autumn sunlight streamed in.
Jiang He sat down by his old friend's bedside.
Du Xunsheng spoke first, chuckling without a hint of a patient's self-awareness. "Leader Jiang? I've heard so much about you."
For a moment, Jiang He's thoughts drifted.
In his past life, Du Xunsheng had been his good friend and also a patient he deeply regretted losing.
Back then, Du Xunsheng had the same devil-may-care attitude.
Even when faced with late-stage pancreatic cancer, he remained optimistic.
Of course, after Teacher Shen passed away, he didn't manage to hold on either.
In this life, due to the butterfly effect caused by Jiang He's rebirth, Du Xunsheng had appeared in his department earlier, and his current diagnosis was only a suspected pancreatic mass pending investigation.
Du Xunsheng's father had died in a sudden work-related accident, and his mother was diagnosed with cancer in the same year.
To raise money, he dropped out of school, started working in a bar, and learned bartending.
Though he desperately wanted to save his mother, it seemed fate was determined to crush him that year...
He lost both his parents in the same year.
This plunged him into immense grief.
Now, Du Xunsheng was all alone in the world, with no ties and no worries, only his optimism... Yes, he could be diagnosed as a card-carrying member of the Optimist Club.
Jiang He opened the medical chart and said, "Du Xunsheng, 36 years old, professional bartender, admitted for abdominal pain."
"To be precise, a freelance bartender. I go wherever the pay is best. Dr. Jiang, is my condition serious? If not, I'd like to be discharged this afternoon."
Jiang He asked, "How are you feeling right now?"
"I feel fine. Just an occasional pang of pain. I'm tough as nails; King Yama doesn't want me yet. I often tell my customers: live life to the fullest, because we'll be dead for a long time. And also, money isn't the problem, the problem is not having any money. The latter is my current situation."
Jiang He had heard plenty of these strange catchphrases from him in his past life.
The guy just read too many novels.
Jiang He said, "Alright, let's talk about your condition."
Seeing Jiang He's serious expression, Du Xunsheng's smile faded. "Go ahead, Doctor. I'm listening."
"Your current test results show a slightly elevated CA 19-9. While it's still within the normal range, this kind of fluctuation isn't normal. My assessment is that you're currently in a high-risk window. If left untreated, it could develop into a very serious problem later on."
Du Xunsheng blinked. "A very serious problem? You mean... the 'C' word?"
"Possibly."
Du Xunsheng chuckled. "That sounds pretty scary."
Jiang He said, "I'm going to set up a plan for you. First, a contrast-enhanced CT scan every three months. Second, I plan to enroll you in my research project on ultra-early blood screening—specifically, miRNA detection. I'll regularly collect your blood serum to build a dynamic profile. This is very important for me, and even more important for you. Finally, you must control your blood sugar."
In truth, Jiang He wasn't just doing this to save his old friend.
The miRNA early screening project he was pushing forward required complete data records tracking the transition from a healthy state to a cancerous one.
Although he would do his best to prevent this transition, he also had to prepare for the worst.
After listening, Du Xunsheng said, "Leader Jiang... Uh, are you trying to use me as a guinea pig for an experiment?"
Jiang He looked at him, exasperated. "No."
"But all this stuff you're talking about sounds like it'll cost a lot of money. I'm just a bartender. I can cooperate with your tests, but I need to get out there and work. And even if I wasn't working, I was planning to ask that little nurse out for a couple of drinks once I'm better. The cocktails I make myself are pretty damn good."
The mention of bartending made Jiang He think of the future he'd left behind.
He wasn't much of a drinker himself, but he could down a "Xunsheng," the cocktail Du Xunsheng made, in one go.
"Alright, I'll prescribe you some anti-inflammatories this afternoon. I'll have He Qing handle the admission procedures for you. Also, leave me your phone number."
Du Xunsheng paused for a second, then rattled off a series of numbers.
"Dr. Jiang, I still have to be hospitalized?"
"You do."
"But..."
"Don't worry. As for the costs, because you're participating in my project team and providing me with serum data, I'll go through the hospital's internal application process to waive all your fees."
"?"
Du Xunsheng muttered to himself, "Leader-Doctor... so you weren't trying to scam me out of my money after all?"
"I told you I wasn't."
"You're an interesting guy, then. I'm actually a little touched. Alright, I'll be your friend. When I'm better, I'll personally mix you a drink."
"Deal."
Jiang He turned and walked out of the room.
People in '08 still had a vague concept of preventative treatment.
Unless a person had been through chemotherapy, it was impossible to imagine the horror of cancer cells lying dormant inside the body.
For now, this was all he could do: keep him in the hospital.
'I have to speed things up. The miRNA project needs to produce results as soon as possible.'
'Once it produces results, I can run the early screening tests on his blood.'
'If the data comes through, I can move on to the next step...'
...
Inside the hospital room.
After Jiang He left, the smile on Du Xunsheng's face gradually vanished.
He sat on the edge of the bed, staring out the window with an empty gaze.
He remained silent like this for an unknown length of time.
Nurse He walked in. "Mr. Du, Leader Jiang said you're going to be admitted, lo. I'm here to tell you about..."
Du Xunsheng looked up, his face breaking into a smile. "Ah, Nurse He, you're finally back! Come, come, we weren't finished with our conversation. Tell me more, does your Leader Jiang really turn into Superman in the operating room?"
He Qing couldn't help but let out a laugh at his teasing.
The room was once again filled with a cheerful atmosphere...