After the surgery ended, Su Xuezhen accompanied Ling Yurong to the hospital room. As soon as the couple saw them, they stood up. “Thank you for your hard work.”
Jin Ming had specifically transferred to this hospital because of Ling Yurong’s reputation in pediatric surgery. It had taken quite a bit of effort, but fortunately, the surgery was a great success, making all their trouble worth it.
Ling Yurong said softly, “The renal artery reconstruction was perfect, but this isn’t the end. Follow-up treatment is necessary. There’s anticoagulation therapy tomorrow, and for the next six months, oral antiplatelet medication will be required.”
Jin Ming repeatedly promised, “We’ll make sure Xiaoyu follows the treatment.”
Ling Yurong gave a nod and then left the room with Su Xuezhen. On the way back to the office, a sudden thought struck him, and he asked her, “Xuezhen, why did you want to become a pediatrician?”
As far as he knew, the hospital’s department assignments back then were based on exam scores. He had seen the list in advance — with Su Xuezhen’s grades, she could have easily gone into something easier, like dentistry.
Su Xuezhen answered honestly, “It was a mix of things. Partly because I really like working with children, and also because there’s a shortage of doctors in this field.”
Ling Yurong nodded thoughtfully after hearing her answer. “A couple of years ago, the city asked me to help compile a pediatric textbook, but I really didn’t have the energy to take it on. The health ministry brought it up again recently, and I couldn’t turn them down, so I accepted it. But doing it alone is overwhelming. The hospital said they’d assign me an assistant, probably a recent graduate, but honestly, that won’t compare to your experience. If you’re willing, I can apply to the hospital to have you assist me.”
“Of course, it won’t be unpaid. There will be extra compensation.”
As soon as he said this, Ling Yurong remembered her pregnancy and felt like he might be putting her in a difficult position. He quickly added, “Forget it, I was just mentioning it. Pediatrics is already exhausting. Adding more work might be too much for your body.”
But Su Xuezhen’s eyes suddenly lit up. She nodded enthusiastically. “Teacher, I’d love to do it!”
This was a chance to help write a pediatric textbook — it might even be distributed nationwide someday. The process would certainly require reviewing tons of literature and clinical cases. It was an incredible learning opportunity.
“Really?”
“Absolutely!” she replied with great determination.
Ling Yurong smiled in satisfaction. “Alright then, I’ll apply to the hospital in a few days.”
Su Xuezhen was just as happy. Her steps were light as she returned to the office. The surgery had been intense, and now that she was relaxed, the feeling of hunger became even more noticeable.
It was already 1:30 in the afternoon. She touched her stomach and slowly opened the lunchbox that Lü Ziyue had brought back for her. Jokingly, she said, “I’ve made you and Mom go hungry with me.”
Perhaps because the baby in her belly was growing, she had been feeling hungry more often lately.
After finishing her meal, Su Xuezhen glanced at the calendar on her desk. It showed that tomorrow was the day for her next ultrasound — this time she’d be able to see the fetal heartbeat and yolk sac, and officially begin her prenatal file. She drew a circle around the 9th to remind herself.
Usually, most patients come in the morning, and the afternoons are relatively less busy—but when things do get hectic, it’s almost always an emergency. At the moment, Su Xuezhen was in the ward checking on Ma Baocheng. The anesthetic had worn off, and the child was in pain, having fussed nearly the whole day.
Suddenly, urgent footsteps echoed from outside—it was Wei Juan calling for her. “Dr. Su, come quickly! Emergency!”
Su Xuezhen immediately stepped out. “Where’s the patient?”
“An 8-year-old boy. He’s had continuous abdominal pain since yesterday.”
Wei Juan hurriedly led the way. “His condition is critical—he’s already starting to slur his speech.”
Without wasting time, Su Xuezhen began to jog after her. In a short while, she saw a small boy slumped on a sofa, with his anxious mother at his side. As soon as she saw Su Xuezhen approaching, she rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Doctor! Doctor! Please check on my son Daji—what’s wrong with him?”
The woman’s grip was so strong that Su Xuezhen winced in pain and struggled free. “Ma’am, please let go first.”
Ning Yiman quickly released her grip. “Please save my Daji.”
The boy, named Daji, was clutching his stomach, clearly in a great deal of pain. Su Xuezhen slowly crouched down and reached toward the area he was holding.
“Daji, can you hear me?”
Cheng Daji nodded weakly—he was in too much pain to speak. Su Xuezhen had to rely on his facial expressions to identify the source of the pain. When she pressed around the lower right abdomen, he visibly flinched more. She touched his forehead—he had a high fever.
She turned to Ning Yiman. “When did the abdominal pain start?”
“He said his stomach hurt yesterday. I thought it was just a bad stomach, so I didn’t take it seriously. But today, the pain got so bad he can’t even move.”
Ning Yiman was wracked with guilt, her tears threatening to fall.
There was no abdominal wall rigidity, so it wasn’t acute mesenteric lymphadenitis. The pain localized in the lower right quadrant also ruled out acute gastroenteritis. After excluding other causes, only one possibility remained—acute appendicitis.
In children, acute appendicitis progresses quickly and can become severe. Because their omentum (a protective abdominal tissue) isn’t fully developed, it’s less effective at containing inflammation. Once it develops, it can easily perforate, with a fatality rate ten times higher than in adults.
The pain had started yesterday, which meant things were likely in a dire state. Su Xuezhen’s heart tightened. She immediately ordered an abdominal ultrasound and asked Lü Ziyue to notify the anesthesiologist to prepare for surgery.
Ning Yiman watched her son being lifted onto a gurney and wheeled away, unable to hold back her sobs as she covered her mouth.
Appendectomy is not a particularly difficult surgery. Su Xuezhen calmly began performing the ultrasound on Cheng Daji. From the imaging on the screen, the appendix was swollen, with surrounding fluid buildup—this had likely progressed to gangrenous appendicitis and required immediate surgery.
“Ziyue, have the guardian sign the authorization and informed consent forms. We need to prepare for surgery now—there’s no time to waste.”
The emergency and sudden surgery had left Lü Ziyue a bit stunned, but she quickly responded, “Got it. I’m on it.”
Su Xuezhen had previously performed three appendectomies on her own, so she wasn’t flustered. She first gave Cheng Daji fluids to correct his water and electrolyte imbalance, then calmly began surgical preparations and entered the operating room.
Inside, Xie Yutian was already prepping. He had assisted Su Xuezhen and Ling Yurong with a renal artery reconstruction surgery earlier that morning. Now he’d been called back urgently to administer anesthesia for the appendectomy. He gave a helpless smile.
“Looks like you all caught me good today.”
“Thanks for your hard work.”
Exchanging light-hearted banter before surgery helped ease tension.
Su Xuezhen smiled too. She and Xie Yutian had worked together on many surgeries before—she was familiar with his personality and knew he could be a bit sharp-tongued.
Xie Yutian instructed nurse Cui Xirou to connect the monitoring equipment, start IV infusion, and monitor blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. Just as he was about to begin the anesthesia, Cheng Daji suddenly grabbed Su Xuezhen’s hand on the operating table, his eyes filled with panic. He tried to speak but was in too much pain.
“I’m not going to die, am I???”
Su Xuezhen heard his inner voice and gently replied, “Be good. Trust us.”
Once the anesthesia took full effect, Su Xuezhen carefully made a diagonal incision in the lower right abdomen. As soon as the peritoneum was opened, pus spilled out. She quickly suctioned it away. Once her view was clear, she used retractors to widen the incision.
Usually, surgeons would first locate the cecum and then follow it to the appendix. But this time, the appendix was severely adhered and couldn’t be located. Su Xuezhen had to remove the retractors and insert her index and middle fingers into the abdominal cavity, feeling along the right abdominal wall toward the cecum. After a bit of searching, she finally found the appendix—just as she suspected, it was stuck to the omentum and had to be removed together.
Before removing the appendix, the mesoappendix and the appendicular artery had to be tied off and excised. Because the mesoappendix was edematous, Su Xuezhen used a stepwise clamping and cutting technique to carefully sever it. She then used No. 4 silk thread to suture and ligate it.
The situation was more complicated than she had anticipated, but she made it to the step of removing the appendix. Using hemostatic forceps, she clamped the appendix at the distal end of the ligature. After applying pure carbolic acid to the scalpel blade, she held it blade-up and cut off the appendix, discarding both the blade and the organ.
The final steps—securing the stump and wrapping it—were much simpler. Su Xuezhen moved quickly. Before closing the abdomen, she used oval forceps to insert a small gauze ball into the abdominal cavity to double-check for any residual fluid or pus. After confirming everything was clean, she closed the incision.
What was normally a half-hour appendectomy ended up taking a full hour.
Looking at the monitor, Xie Yutian smiled and said, “Everything looks good.”
Su Xuezhen finally breathed a sigh of relief. Stepping down from the operating table, she suddenly felt hungry again. She couldn’t help but think about how physically demanding surgeries were.
At the door, Ning Yiman had been waiting the whole time. As soon as she saw Su Xuezhen, she rushed forward.
“How is he?”
Su Xuezhen’s expression was warm and gentle as she smiled. “The actual condition was worse than we expected, but everything’s been resolved. The surgery was very successful.”
Ning Yiman looked as if she had been pardoned by heaven—her entire body sagged with exhaustion.
Su Xuezhen gave her a hand to steady her and reminded, “Don’t let him move after the anesthesia. Just keep him in a semi-reclining position, and wait until bowel movements resume before feeding him.”
“Okay, okay.”
It wasn’t off-hours yet, so she couldn’t go eat, but Su Xuezhen was really starving. After saying that, she returned to her office and took two packs of biscuits from the drawer to fill her stomach.
The next day, Cen Bai specifically took the afternoon off to accompany her for her prenatal check-up. Later, Pediatrics came looking for her, and the two of them went to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department together.
This was the first time Ling Yao had seen Cen Bai. His features were tough and firm, his figure especially tall—just standing there, he practically blocked half the doorway.
Su Xuezhen lay down, lifted her clothes, and waited for the check-up. Ling Yao slowly applied the coupling gel and began moving the probe across her belly.
Cen Bai pulled up a chair to sit beside her. Watching the screen, he felt nervous, licked his lips, and tried to comfort her, “Don’t be nervous.”
Su Xuezhen laughed at him, “You’re the one who shouldn’t be nervous.”
The two of them were chatting happily when Ling Yao, looking at the imaging on the screen, froze in shock. She couldn’t believe it and carefully counted again with her hands. It was indeed two gestational sacs and two amniotic sacs.
What was going on? How did one suddenly become two???
Though textbooks did mention that twins could sometimes only be detected at around 8 weeks, this was the first time Ling Yao had actually encountered it. And from the scan, these were dichorionic diamniotic twins (two placentas, two amniotic sacs).
Unbelievable as it was, Su Xuezhen was indeed carrying two babies. Ling Yao interrupted the sweet interaction between the couple.
“From now on, remember to prepare everything in twos.”
Cen Bai was stunned for a moment and didn’t quite understand what she meant. Su Xuezhen turned to glance at the monitor. Worried she was seeing it wrong, she leaned in to look a few more times. Overwhelmed with joy, she swallowed hard.
Oh my goodness, how did it suddenly turn into twins?!
