After coming out of Hu Meiqiao's office, Cheng Gaowen went to the staircase on the fourth floor and directly dialed Su Kenan's phone number.
"Aunt..."
The moment the call connected, a soft voice came through.
It seemed a bit timid as well.
"Kenan, Auntie has told you many times, you need to be a bit braver. You're going to be a doctor in the future, you can't be so afraid to speak!"
Facing her introverted niece, Cheng Gaowen felt a bit of a headache: "Be braver, you're even shy when talking to Auntie; what will you do when you meet strangers?"
"You have to know that the people coming to you for treatment in the future will all be strangers. If you don't speak, how can you treat them?"
"Won't that make you a quack doctor?"
The other end remained silent for a long time before responding with a decision that made Cheng Gaowen unsure whether to laugh or cry: "I... I can dispense medicine."
Cheng Gaowen rolled her eyes dramatically, thinking, so you studied so much, got into the graduate program at Zhijiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, just to dispense medicine?
She didn't know what to say, feeling a bit powerless.
However, Cheng Gaowen knew that this was just her niece's personality, and changing it in a short period would be very difficult.
She could at least talk to her a bit, but for strangers, she probably wouldn't utter a single word.
Because of this, Su Kenan's mother, who is also her sister, asked her several times to chat more with Su Kenan, and Cheng Gaowen naturally agreed wholeheartedly, looking for chances to chat with her niece whenever possible.
But Su Kenan's introversion completely defeated her.
She was utterly impressed.
"My dear niece, can't you just..."
Helplessly, Cheng Gaowen swallowed her words halfway and got back to the point: "I heard from your mom last time, that Zhijiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine requires you to do a two-month internship before registering, is this true?"
"Yes."
"Have you found a place to intern?"
"Not... not yet."
The voice on the other end made Cheng Gaowen want to slap herself. Did she even need to ask this question?
With her niece's introverted nature, the possibility of her taking the initiative to find an internship was almost zero.
It's not that Su Kenan is lazy or anything; on the contrary, her niece is very strong-willed. She almost never bothers the family for things she can solve on her own, but her introversion does cause some concern.
Among the family and friends in the medical field, she's the only one. Otherwise, her sister wouldn't have told her about this.
The implication was clear.
Wasn't this just a way to ask her to help her niece find a place to intern?
Previously, Cheng Gaowen planned to ask a friend at the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to get Su Kenan an internship there for two months.
But now, she changed her mind.
What is the purpose of an internship?
Isn't it to gain clinical experience?
Of course, for interns like Su Kenan, they'll mostly be assistants or dispensing medicine, and if a senior doctor is willing to offer some guidance, that would be a great blessing.
Moreover, with her niece's personality, even if she goes to intern at the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, she will most likely end up dispensing medicine, and she might even choose to do that herself.
But it's different at the Qiu City Street Health Center. Although it's also about dispensing medicine, at least she would be Lu Xuan's assistant, and since Lu Xuan is also young, young people have more topics to talk about.
Besides, Su Kenan is not young anymore; it's time for her to start dating.
She thinks Lu Xuan is nice. If she could get the two of them together, she would be overjoyed.
She's well-aware of Lu Xuan's capabilities.
If they really ended up together, she wouldn't have to worry about her niece anymore.
Thinking about this, Cheng Gaowen straightforwardly said: "At the Qiu City Street Health Center where I work, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department has just reopened, and they're planning to hire. Why don't you come here for your internship?"
"Okay."
"Thank you, Auntie."
The completely agreeable and delicate voice made Cheng Gaowen momentarily at a loss for words. She even thought that her understanding of her niece was still too shallow.
She assumed that Su Kenan would refuse since no one would want to intern at a grassroots institution like the street health center, but to her surprise, not only did Su Kenan not refuse, she didn't even ask why before agreeing.
For a moment, Cheng Gaowen felt a bit deflated.
She had prepared a lot of persuasive arguments, but they all seemed unnecessary.
"Are you at home or school?"
"School."
"Can you report to the health center the day after tomorrow?"
"I can."
Su Kenan hesitated, but then gathered the courage to say: "If you're in a hurry, I can come tomorrow."
"Just come the day after tomorrow morning, I'll send you the address later."
"Alright."
Knowing that Su Kenan doesn't talk much, Cheng Gaowen didn't say anything further. After agreeing on the time and place with her niece, she hung up the phone.
Then, she sent a message to her sister, Su Kenan's mother: "I've arranged an internship for Kenan at our unit's Traditional Chinese Medicine department, she can start the day after tomorrow."
Cheng Gaowen sent this message just to reassure her sister. Unexpectedly, the phone rang shortly after sending it, it was Cheng Gaohua.
"Gao Wen, why did you arrange for Kenan to intern at a health center?" Cheng Gaohua asked, sounding puzzled, thinking the worst case should at least be the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Cheng Gaowen explained: "I had originally arranged for the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but our health center's Traditional Chinese Medicine department recently reopened. Dr. Lu there has impressive medical skills and a strong family background in medicine. I thought Kenan could really learn something. If she goes to the District Hospital, she would most likely be assigned to dispense medicine. She'd be better off at the health center."
Cheng Gaohua didn't understand much about these things, but hearing what Cheng Gaowen said made a lot of sense to her, so she laughed and said, "Okay, I'll go with your decision."
"Alright, I have to hang up now, I've got a bunch of work here at the company."
Cheng Gaohua made a remark, then hurriedly hung up the phone.
Cheng Gaowen shook her head helplessly. Just then, Zhou Liting suddenly sent a voice message: "Sister Cheng, the pediatric department is a bit busy today, could really use your help."
Cheng Gaowen quickly put away her phone and headed straight to the third floor.
...
Ninth Hospital.
Gastroenterology Department.
Xiao Boheng was busy organizing recent clinical case files when he suddenly came across one case that made him pause.
He looked at the name on the file.
Li Qinxue.
The name was still fresh in Xiao Boheng's memory.
She was a rectal cancer surgery patient he had handled.
The surgery was very successful, and no unexpected situations occurred during the procedure. However, the postoperative patient Li Qinxue experienced urinary retention symptoms. Because of this, she had come to the hospital four or five times, and he even heard she went to City First Hospital to consult other doctors, still without any improvement.
"I recall telling her to come for a follow-up checkup these days, but she hasn't shown up,"
muttered Xiao Boheng to himself.
Urinary retention may not sound like a major illness, but Li Qinxue's condition had persisted for more than half a month, putting a significant burden on the kidneys—something even non-doctors could understand.
Thinking of this, Xiao Boheng called out the door: "Wang."
"Director Xiao, is there something you need?"
Assistant Wang pushed the door open and asked, looking at Xiao Boheng.
"Check if a patient named Li Qinxue has come for a follow-up. If not, suggest to her family that she should go to Beijing for further consultation as her condition is urgent. Delaying it would risk her life," instructed Xiao Boheng.
"Are you referring to Aunt Li, who had rectal cancer surgery?"
"Yes, that's her."
Wang quickly responded: "I just checked, and it looks like she hasn't come."
"Hasn't come?"
After pondering, Xiao Boheng said, "Alright, I'll contact her myself."
He then looked at the case file in front of him, found the contact details section, and dialed using the landline phone next to him.
After a short wait, someone answered the call. Realizing it didn't sound like Li Qinxue, he asked, "Are you a relative of Li Qinxue?"
"Who is this..." Wang Shengyu neither confirmed nor denied, wary of potential scams as personal information leaks became common in society.
Openly, Xiao Boheng admitted, "You must be Li Qinxue's daughter, I'm Xiao Boheng from the Ninth Hospital's Gastroenterology Department; we've met several times."
"Oh."
"No wonder your voice sounds familiar."
Wang Shengyu laughed and said, "Dr. Xiao, is there something you need?"
Directly, Xiao Boheng said, "Your mother's situation is a bit serious. I've been thinking it over the past couple of days and haven't come up with any effective solutions, but we can't keep dragging this out. If I were to put it bluntly, it could risk her life, so I suggest you consider getting treatment in Beijing, where medical facilities are superior to Yong City, and you might find other options."
These words significantly improved Wang Shengyu's impression of Director Xiao Boheng from the Gastroenterology Department at the Ninth Hospital.
Though her mother's postoperative urinary retention was caused by the surgery under Xiao Boheng, it was an undesired situation on both sides. His initiative to call and inform them showed he was a responsible doctor.
Moreover, she had met him several times during her mother Li Qinxue's surgery period, and he seemed nice and spoke kindly.
Now, with his proactive concern for her mother's situation, though Wang Shengyu could have blamed him, she felt none of that, and honestly informed her of her mother's condition:
"Thank you for your concern, Dr. Xiao. My mother is now well."
"Your mother's condition is severe, she must go to Beijing for treatment promptly..."
Halfway through his sentence, Xiao Boheng paused, a surprised expression appearing on his face: "Well?"
"Yes."
"Well."
"When did this happen?"
Eagerly, he asked further, as he wanted to know which hospital, which doctor resolved Li Qinxue's urinary retention.
"Which hospital did they get treatment from?"