Chapter 55: Blind Date After Blind Date

After the exam results were released, the hospital heavily promoted Zhang Fan's success in passing with a high score among the younger doctors. The general sentiment was: if he could score over five hundred, why couldn't you even score three hundred and sixty? Subsequently, the medical affairs department awarded Zhang Fan a one-thousand-yuan bonus. A score above five hundred was the highest in Chasu City, and looking back at previous years, hardly anyone at the city hospital had ever scored higher than Zhang Fan.

After spending a month in the hepatobiliary surgery department, he only managed to perform a few surgeries in the final days. Following the rotation, the hospital uniformly granted three days of vacation to the rotating doctors. Rotation is exhausting; take surgery as an example: morning rounds depend on the number of patients, and at the city hospital, a single doctor manages about ten beds. Rounds take half an hour. Writing medical orders takes another half an hour, signing consent forms and talking to families takes half an hour, changing dressings depends on the size of the surgeries and generally takes another half an hour, writing progress notes takes two hours, and writing discharge summaries and admission check-lists take an hour each. This already consumes six hours, and this is just routine work squeezed in between. Major tasks include surgeries—three operations a day, covering both the procedures themselves, anesthesia, and an hour and a half for recovery. This adds up to nearly five hours. Just handling these tasks requires working overtime. Encountering emergencies means pulling all-nighters. Yet hospitals are filled with emergencies; not having ER cases would be abnormal.

If you happen to be assigned to a teaching doctor with a heavy patient load and you wish to go home? Keep dreaming; finding an empty ward to catch a quick nap is the best you can hope for. Wanting to skip work is fine, but then you can forget about staying in this department in the future. Although the hospital granted a three-day break, it did not mean you would be left idle. Those rotating were young doctors who had only entered the hospital for a year or two, mostly single, along with some young nurses. The hospital's Party and Youth League organizations were simply waiting for your holiday to start.

Even if you are not a Party member, it does not matter; you are surely a Youth League member. If you are not in the League either, it still does not matter; you are at least a youth, which means you fall under the jurisdiction of the Youth League Committee. The secretary of the Youth League committee was a young guy from the hospital administration office rather than a clinical worker. Through the municipal committee's subordinate youth league, he contacted young people from numerous work units and organized a matchmaking event. Nearly two hundred people attended. Before the professional qualification exams, Zhang Fan had no mind for such things. Now that the results were out, the certificate would arrive in March, and his state of mind had grown much calmer. Organizing or participating in collective activities was fine.

Wang Yanan, Li Hui, and Wang Zipeng all went to attend. Each table seated six people—three men and three women—almost all from different work units. With melon seeds, drinks, and White Rabbit candies, being young people and with the gathering organized by their workplaces, they became familiar within moments. At Zhang Fan's table, a young man from the Education Bureau possessed extraordinary eloquence, making the three young women bloom with smiles. Zhang Fan was far behind; lacking eloquence, he could only sit honestly in his seat and listen. When it came to the dancing segment, he was even more lost. In university, he had been busy selling instant noodles; where would he have found the time to learn how to dance?

A young nurse from the hospital came over to invite Zhang Fan to dance, but he genuinely didn't know how. Yet, with so many people watching, he couldn't refuse to give the young woman some face. He bit the bullet and stepped onto the dance floor. Zhang Fan was exceptionally careful, terrified of stepping on her feet. By the end of a single song, he was drenched in sweat, feeling more exhausted than after performing a surgery. Zhang Fan held not a single advantage at this kind of matchmaking event. His appearance was average, his skin dark, and his clothing ordinary. His most valuable asset was Li Xiao's car, but he certainly couldn't carry the car inside to show off.

From start to finish, a few young nurses did approach Zhang Fan, but upon seeing him sweating profusely from nervousness, they laughed until they grew weak. Just as the event ended, Zhang Fan didn't even wait for Li Hui and the others; he bolted ahead of everyone else, simply unable to adapt to the environment.

Out of the three-day holiday, the first day was spent on matchmaking. On the second day, Chief Ouyang, having just taken office, decided to organize a New Year's Eve gala before the Spring Festival to showcase the hospital's spiritual civilization and the mental state of the medical staff. Veteran doctors were certainly not going to dance, leaving only the young people. On the second day, led by Director Li of the General Affairs Department, rehearsals for the programs began. Those capable of performing solo acts were spared from group items, but if someone lacked a performing talent, well, apologies—it was time for the chorus.

On the third day, Zhang Fan planned to tidy up his dormitory. The room enjoyed exceptionally good sunlight, and soaking in the sun during the dead of winter was quite pleasant. However, the phone call from Miao Juan, the head nurse of the First Department of Orthopedics, broke the peace. "Zhang Fan, what are you doing? Where are you? I'm at the hospital entrance. Spruce yourself up and get over here right now."

Miao Juan was a shrewd woman with a straightforward, brisk personality, her words firing like bullets. Before Zhang Fan could even open his mouth, she hung up the phone. She had a close friend who worked at the Tax Bureau, whose husband was a minor official at the Development and Reform Commission. Their family conditions were quite good, and they had a daughter who had graduated from university two years ago, working at China Mobile in a permanent, secured position—seemingly considered some sort of cadre. Usually, after getting off work, she stayed strictly indoors, which worried her family.

Miao Juan worried that Zhang Fan might be unwilling to come, so she hung up immediately after speaking. Her friend had repeatedly urged her to keep an eye out and introduce any suitable, outstanding young doctor to her daughter. Zhang Fan's performance in the First Department of Orthopedics, combined with passing his exams, pointed toward a very bright future. She had decided to drag Zhang Fan along for a blind date. She could also tell that Zhang Fan's family background was nothing special, but the girl's family didn't mind. As long as a person was honest, reliable, and had a good job, whether the family was wealthy mattered very little.

Zhang Fan hurried to the hospital entrance. Miao Juan looked him up and down and decided his clothes and appearance were passable. She walked over, grabbed his arm, and said, "There's a good thing today, and I'm letting you benefit from it. Go eat a meal and meet someone."

"What kind of person?"

Miao Juan pulled his arm and said, "A blind date with a pretty young girl. It's already been settled, and you've already agreed to it. Hurry up and go; no backing out now." When had he ever agreed? Zhang Fan couldn't remember. But being pulled by Miao Juan left him no choice, so he just went along.

Grand Restaurant, the only chain Western restaurant in Chasu City. Uyghurs and Kazakhs particularly loved Western cuisine, and business was booming. Tables required advance reservations, and upon arriving at the restaurant, they found that the person they were supposed to meet had already arrived—not just the pretty girl, but her mother as well. After mutual introductions, they took their seats. The girl was Jia Suyue; her family originally came from southern China, and her name carried the deep longing of her grandfather's generation.

Jia Suyue's mother was quite satisfied with Zhang Fan. The impression he gave her was steady and unflustered, with average looks and decent height. After sitting for a while, her mother and Miao Juan found an excuse and left. Before leaving, the head nurse deliberately pinched Zhang Fan's arm and threw him a fierce glare, implying that he better behave and not disgrace her. Miao Juan had already disclosed all of Zhang Fan's details to her friend: a core department backbone, hardworking and diligent, who didn't hang out in bars or clubs, with a solid reputation. Middle-aged and elderly women cared deeply about such traits.

Once they left, Zhang Fan felt awkward, as the girl opposite him ignored him completely, and he had no idea what to say. Jia Suyue had dated someone in university, but the guy moved abroad, and that was the end of it. Many men pursued her at work, yet none caught her eye; Jia Suyue was a hardcore appearance-obsessed snob. Zhang Fan's dark complexion made her dislike him on first sight. To avoid giving him the wrong impression, she simply gave him the cold shoulder, also worrying that he might be like sticky plaster—the kind you couldn't shake off once given a little encouragement.

After a few minutes of silence, the food was served. Zhang Fan met with another tragic fate: he couldn't eat Western food! The meal made him extremely uncomfortable, yet he couldn't just leave. No matter what, he had to give the head nurse face. He would just endure it until the girl left, pay the bill, and consider it fulfilling his obligation to the head nurse. The girl ate in silence without speaking. Although she looked good, Zhang Fan had already abandoned any expectations; when things were this obvious, why bother making oneself annoying?

Once he figured that out, he felt a sense of relief. Since he couldn't eat the Western food, he simply stopped eating and sat there waiting.

"Why aren't you leaving?" the girl asked, her attitude having already frightened off numerous previous blind date candidates.

"I have to pay the bill, or the head nurse will eat me alive when I get back," Zhang Fan answered honestly, wanting to make it clear that he wasn't clinging like a dog-skin plaster.

"And if your head nurse wasn't in the picture?"

"Then I wouldn't have come here in the first place."

Silence fell again. After the meal, Zhang Fan paid the bill, wincing slightly as it cost over three hundred yuan. "Care to take a walk together?" the girl said.