When I'm on the night shift, all the department heads can't sleep.

At 5:20 a.m., the light outside the operating room went out.

Li Guilan sat on the bench for almost three hours, feeling completely drained. The hot water Nurse Zhao poured for her had gone cold, and the edge of the paper cup was warped from being squeezed so tightly.

Lin Ye didn't leave either.

He clipped the revised medical record into the patient's medical history, and also took photos of the aortic CTA examination request form, the consultation call time, and the family member's signature time for record keeping. Sun Zhiqiang passed by him twice, once wanting to speak, but ultimately swallowed his words.

The windows at the end of the corridor were already turning white, and the drowsiness of the night shift was finally creeping in. Lin Ye rubbed his eyes, his fingers touching the situation report in his pocket; the corner of the paper was already soaked with sweat.

As soon as the operating room door opened, Zhou Mingyuan came out first.

After taking off his mask, his face was even more somber than when he arrived, with dark circles under his eyes.

"Director Zhou!"

Li Guilan rushed over and almost bumped into the cart.

"The patient has been saved for now," Zhou Mingyuan said. "The wound has been treated, and the patient will need to be observed in the intensive care unit. Don't think that everything is fine just because the patient has passed the operating table; the family and nurses need to complete the necessary procedures."

Li Guilan leaned against the wall, her lips trembling for a long time before she finally managed to squeeze out, "Thank you, thank you all."

Zhou Mingyuan waved his hand and turned to look at Lin Ye.

"Come with me."

Sun Zhiqiang immediately followed suit.

Zhou Mingyuan glanced at him: "You come too."

The three people went into the small office next to the operating area.

There was only an old table and two chairs inside, with a half-eaten box of cookies on the table. Zhou Mingyuan pulled up the aortic CTA image and pointed to the ascending aorta.

"Who raised suspicions first?"

Sun Zhiqiang's throat tightened.

Lin Ye pressed the medical record folder in his hand closer to his body.

"I."

"in accordance with."

"Tearful back pain, significant blood pressure difference between the two upper limbs, weak left radial artery, cold sweats, and high blood pressure. This cannot be explained by a typical stomach ailment."

Zhou Mingyuan's finger hovered over the mouse: "What if the CTA works?"

Lin Ye paused for a moment: "I will write an explanation and accept Corey's decision."

"Explanation?" Zhou Mingyuan sneered. "Aortic CTA isn't like ordering takeout. Calling the CT room in the middle of the night, calling for consultations, going through all that trouble—no problem there—but then the family complains about excessive testing, the ER detains you, the medical affairs department questions you, and who's going to speak up for you?"

Lin Ye didn't dodge: "So we need evidence first."

Zhou Mingyuan stared at him.

Outside the office, the sound of surgical cart wheels rolling over the ground could be heard intermittently.

After a few seconds, Zhou Mingyuan turned off the movie.

"The evidence you found is decent."

Sun Zhiqiang's expression changed slightly.

This isn't an exaggeration, but it's something that's rarely seen in Zhou Mingyuan's words.

"But remember this," Zhou Mingyuan took out his phone and pulled up his contacts, "next time you call me, prepare the patient's vital signs, key signs, and scans first. Don't just drag someone out of bed with a 'highly suspected' statement."

He wrote his personal number on the back of a surgical record, tore it off, and handed it to Lin Ye.

"Call this if it's urgent."

Lin Ye took the paper.

The paper still smelled of disinfectant.

Sun Zhiqiang looked at the string of numbers and his lips twitched.

Among the young doctors at the city's No. 1 Hospital, the number of people who can get Zhou Mingyuan's private phone number can be counted on one hand. Lin Ye, a resident trainee, got it on his first night shift.

Zhou Mingyuan added, "I didn't mean for you to bother me for no reason."

Lin Ye gripped the paper tightly: "I know."

"You'd better know that," Zhou Mingyuan rubbed his temples. "My sleep is expensive."

When I returned to the emergency room lobby, the sky was already gray.

The floor outside the emergency room wasn't completely clean yet, and the lights in the CT room were still on. The night shift was almost over, and the day shift staff were arriving one after another. Several nurses listened as Nurse Zhao recounted the events of the latter half of the night while they changed their shoes.

"Is it really an A-frame mezzanine?"

"Why would I lie to you? Director Zhou of the Cardiac and Vascular Surgery Department personally stepped down."

"Who called?"

Nurse Zhao gestured with her chin toward Lin Ye: "Him."

Several nurses on the day shift all looked over.

Lin Ye was working on a medical record when he heard his name called, and his pen slid across the paper.

Sun Zhiqiang came out of the office, his face cold: "Shift change, what are you all doing gathered around?"

At the shift handover meeting, Chen Jianguo's medical record was listed first.

As Sun Zhiqiang read out the patient's condition, when he reached the line "Emergency room resident Lin Ye discovered a difference in blood pressure between the two sides and recommended aortic CTA," some people in the office looked up, some frowned, and one even whispered, "A resident?"

Emergency Department Director Qin Hai sat at the very back, holding a thermos in his hand.

He didn't speak immediately after listening, but only asked, "The patient now?"

Sun Zhiqiang pushed the post-operative record forward half an inch: "Transferred to the intensive care unit after surgery, vital signs are temporarily stable."

Qin Hai nodded, then looked at Lin Ye: "Give me a copy of the explanation you wrote."

Lin Ye handed the paper over.

Qin Hai turned two pages, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper: "You write quite fast."

Someone in the office chuckled.

Qin Hai didn't laugh: "Next time you encounter this situation, contact your superiors first. If you can't find them, keep a record of the phone number. Saving lives in an emergency is the top priority, but you also need to preserve evidence. Otherwise, you might save someone only to fall into a trap yourself."

Lin Ye responded, "Yes."

After the shift handover meeting, Lin Ye had just walked to the nurses' station when Nurse Zhao tossed him a bag of soy milk.

"I drank it, and my hands are still shaking."

"Thank you, Sister Zhao."

"What are you thanking me for?" Nurse Zhao lowered her voice. "You managed to wake up the head of cardiac and vascular surgery last night. Be careful walking around the ER from now on."

Lin Ye was taken aback: "Why?"

Nurse Zhao gestured towards the office with her chin: "Everyone wants to see if the first director in the whole hospital you woke up will come looking for trouble with you."

She had barely finished speaking when Lin Ye's phone vibrated.

It was a message from Zhou Mingyuan.

There are only eight characters.

Please post clearer videos next time.

Lin Ye was looking at the screen, about to reply to the message, when the emergency room's automatic door was pushed open again.

He put his phone back in his pocket.

Before Zhou Mingyuan could reply to his message, the next triage form was already handed to him.

Two men carried in a young man who reeked of alcohol.

"Doctor, he drank too much, fell down, and is now fast asleep and can't be woken up."

Nurse Zhao looked up and glanced at the scene, her brows immediately furrowing.

Lin Ye put the soy milk aside.

The young man was slumped in his wheelchair, a little blood hanging from the corner of his mouth.