The Game of Life

“How did your foot get like this? What smashed it?” Dr. Cao asked.

“I twisted it on the stairs,” Ji Yue said.

“Twisted?” Dr. Cao suddenly became alert, a swelling this bad from a twist was unusual, “When did you twist it? Did you use hot or cold compress afterwards?” “This morning just after 8 o’clock, I used cold compress after twisting it,” Ji Yue said.

“8 o’clock? That’s just a few hours ago, how did it swell up so much?” murmured Dr. Cao, “How did you twist it? What did you do after you twisted it? Tell me in detail.”

It was this morning when going downstairs, the heels of my shoes were probably a bit high, I accidentally twisted it, and then I rolled down the stairs, probably five or six steps,” Ji Yue narrated.

“How high are the heels?” Dr. Cao inquired.

“4-5 centimeters, the ones I’m wearing,” Ji Yue lifted her left foot, took off the shoe and held it with the heel facing up to show Dr. Cao.

Ji Yue’s right foot was as swollen as a pig’s trotter, unrecognizable, and now that Dr. Cao saw Ji Yue’s left foot, he noticed she had flat feet.

“You have flat feet. Do you often twist your ankle when walking?” Dr. Cao inquired.

“Yes, pretty easily,” Ji Yue replied.

“It’s likely due to ligament laxity, you still need to apply ice, Zhang, prepare the ice for her, you need to ice it for 24 hours after a sprain, and continue to do so when you go back. Did you ice it immediately after twisting it?” Dr. Cao continued.

“No, after twisting it, I went downstairs to buy two green bean buns, then I went to work, helped move a cabinet, carried two baskets of vegetables, one basket of meat, and only started icing it around 930,” Ji Yue explained.’ Dr. Cao: ???

Doesn’t it hurt?” Dr. Cao echoed Jiang Feng’s thoughts.

It’s okay, just a little pain, I didn’t pay much attention to it,” Ji Yue said.

“Wow, you’re quite tolerant.”

Ji Yue: ???

“80% chance it’s a bone injury, maybe even a fracture, let’s take an image to check it out, and if you’re unlucky, you might even need a minor surgery, Jiang, she’s someone you know, you handle this,” Dr. Cao said.

“Alright, Dr. Cao,” Jiang Shoucheng appeared very docile in front of his superior.

“Dr. Cao, Dr. Cao, come quick and look at this patient!” a few nurses rushed in a patient whose chest was stained with blood, with a pair of scissors sticking out of it.  ^&

“What happened here?” Dr. Cao hurried over.

A couple fighting, in a fit of anger the wife stabbed him in the chest with the scissors. He was still conscious in the ambulance,” the nurse said.

“Call the thoracic surgery down for a consultation, the location of this scissors stab isn’t good.”

Jiang Feng: S(°A‘^,|||)|

Ji Yue: !!!j(°fl°Z)/

Crazy times in the emergency room… Why is it so thrilling???

“It’s nothing, just a pair of scissors, it’s not too deep but the location is tricky. If it were a kitchen knife at this location, that would be troublesome. Yesterday, a patient came in with a knife sticking out of his head, even came in by himself scared the nurses and other patients half to death.” Jiang Shoucheng, having ’ seen a lot in his time, was pushing Ji Yue’s wheelchair to go get the imaging done, “Kid, you go register and pay the fees.”

‘Til take him to get the imaging done, I have another colleague who came with us, he’s already taking care of the fees. You get back to your work, older brother,” Jiang Feng said.

“No worries, no worries, I’m pretty familiar with the imaging department, but since you’re free, how about you go to the orthopedic canteen and cook a meal for me?” Jiang Shoucheng gave a genuine and simple smile.

Jiang Feng: ???

“The Orthopedics cafeteria?” Jiang Feng was bewildered.

“Yeah, kid, you don’t know, ever since I started rotating in the emergency department last week, I haven’t had a bite of hot food, it’s been instant noodles meal after meal, I’m about to turn into instant noodles!” Jiang Shoucheng complained bitterly.

“Speaking of which, it’s damn strange, every time it’s mealtime, the emergency department inexplicably gets really busy. Today at lunchtime, a whole family suffering from gas poisoning was brought in. Last night at dinner time, a few cases of food poisoning, and yesterday at lunchtime some people who almost drowned while swimming in the wild. The day before was even more incredible, a series of car accidents, during the morning rush hour there was a nine-car pile-up on the second ring road, a total mess, I was busy from morning till night, only ate 5 pieces of bread, and each was only as big as a fist.” Jiang Shoucheng looked dejected, “The hospital cafeteria is no better, they stop serving after mealtime is over, don’t they know we in the emergency department are busy!”

“Seems like there are small restaurants at the hospital entrance.” Jiang Feng said.

“Kid, do you know how much we resident trainees make in a month?” Jiang Shoucheng asked.

“How much?”

“2400, and with the master’s degree supplement, it’s just 3000.”

Jiang Feng fell silent, not expecting that Jiang Shoucheng had fared worse than even Ji Yue.

“Of course, it’s not just about the salary, after all, we get other allowances and the dormitory doesn’t cost anything, we could still afford takeout, but the main issue is the takeout from those restaurants nearby tastes terrible, even worse than the cafeteria food! And what’s more outrageous is they’ve plastered their ads and menus with their takeout phone numbers all over the offices. You can see them at the entrance of any department, charging 28 for a serving of braised pork rice, like they’ve gone mad. One meal for me needs 4 servings, I’d go bankrupt eating like that!”

“Dr. Jiang, there’s someone here who has cut their hand while chopping vegetables, could you come and stitch it up?” a nurse called out.

Alnghty.” Jiang Shoucheng is like a wandering brick, heading wherever he’s needed, “I’ll go stitch the hand real quick and I’ll be back. You just wait here for me, kid, and I’ll show you how to get to the Orthopedics cafeteria in a bit.” Ji Yue, sitting in a wheelchair, sighed, “I thought doctors made good money. I didn’t expect they make less than I do.”

“They mainly rely on the later stages, the early stages are all about growth.” Jiang Feng analyzed calmly.

No more than two minutes later, Jiang Shoucheng came back after finishing the stitching and gestured to Jiang Feng how to find the Orthopedics cafeteria. Lastly, he reminded him that if he still couldn’t find it, just grab any nurse and ask, everyone knows where the Orthopedics cafeteria is because it serves the best food.

“Can outsiders come in to cook in the hospital’s cafeteria?” Jiang Feng expressed great puzzlement and disbelief.

“Only at the Orthopedics cafeteria they can, it’s close to the inpatient department, and behind the cafeteria there’s a dedicated area full of stoves, and they have all the pots, too. They charge based on the stove used, and if’ you’re making soup, they charge based on the pot size, they have all different kinds. It’s for the families of inpatients to cook meals.” Jiang Shoucheng explained, “Next to the Orthopedics cafeteria is a small market where you can buy vegetables, meat, rice, and all sorts of stuff, you don’t have to bother steaming rice, I’ll just order delivery.”

‘Alright, big brother, what do you fancy eating?” Jiang Feng readily agreed, after listening to Jiang Shoucheng’s description, he felt that his brother had suffered enough lately.

It was time to eat more meat and replenish.

Only having four bread pieces as big as fists per day is pure torment!

Jiang Shoucheng smacked his lips, his mind filled with images of braised pork, Dongpo’s pork elbow, West Lake vinegar fish, sweet and sour pork, Nine Turns Intestine, roasted lamb chops, potatoes stewed with beef, eight treasure duck, and braised chicken. He could almost smell the aromas.

“Just make whatever, I haven’t eaten meat in several days already” Jiang Shoucheng said politely, “The braised beef noodle soup doesn’t have any meat flavor at all.”

“Do they sell any meat in the market next to the cafeteria?” Jiang Feng asked.

“They should have chicken, duck, and pork, I heard they brought in fresh beef this morning, it should not be sold out yet.” Jiang Shoucheng strongly hinted.

“Okay, I’ll go take a look.” Jiang Feng turned and left.

Jiang Shoucheng, pushing Ji Yue, went to get an X-ray, thanks to his good relationship with the radiology department and the bonus of Ji Yue’s Wheelchair, they quickly got the X-ray done and he wheeled Ji Yue back to the emergency department.

“Jiang, are you up for lunch? Let’s order delivery. Call Tan Family and get their braised beef, Beijing sauce shredded pork, and marinated pig trotters.” A resident trainee about the same age as Jiang Shoucheng lit up at the mention of food.

“Have the gas poisoning cases been transferred out?” Jiang Shoucheng asked. “Yeah, they just left. We wouldn’t have time to eat otherwise.” The trainee said, “Mr. Zhong said he’s craving the marinated pig trotters from Tan’s. You’ve been eating Zhao’s braised pork for the past few days. How about you change it up today and have lunch with us from Tan’s? Their spicy pig trotter and braised beef are really good!”

“Why eat Tan’s when my kid brother is here? I’ve asked him to cook for me over at the Orthopedics cafeteria, you guys should hold off on ordering too, save your appetites for the feast later. You know Taifeng Building, right? Last month I brought food for you guys from there, my kid brother is a chef at Taifeng Building!” Jiang Shoucheng said.

“Braised pork?” Ji Yue looked at Jiang Shoucheng in astonishment.

Didn’t he just say he hadn’t had meat in days? Claiming to survive on instant noodles and complaining that braised beef noodle soup lacked any meaty taste, he made it sound so tragically sad, it was enough to bring tears to one’s eyes.

“Ji Yue, you don’t understand, my kid brother has a soft heart. If you give him a sob story, he’ll definitely go cook for you.” Jiang Shoucheng grinned, “No matter how tasty the food from those places at the hospital entrance is, how could it compare to my kid brother’s cooking skills!”

Jiang Shoucheng smacked his lips again, as if he could already taste the food Jiang Feng was going to make, “I just don’t know if there’s still any beef left at the market. I heard this morning’s beef was really fresh..”