Su Xuezhen didn’t think too much about it and simply reported to him about the work over the past few days, then talked about the cystic lymphangioma surgery scheduled for tomorrow. “The surgery is set for 9 a.m.”
Ling Yurong nodded, “Got it.”
“Then I’ll head back to my office first.”
Noticing that the teacher didn’t seem to be in the best spirits, Su Xuezhen quickly withdrew. As she left, she happened to see Wei Juan chatting with a child who was receiving an IV drip. Her steps paused for a moment, but in the end, she said nothing and quietly returned to her office.
Going into the operating room was still a challenge for Su Xuezhen. Even now, recalling her first time as lead surgeon still made her nervous.
The year she received her high school admission notice, she hadn’t gotten in and was assigned to work in the HR department of a printing factory in Hongjiang City. After three years there, she was recommended to enter Hongjiang Medical University under the worker-peasant-soldier program. Originally, she was supposed to graduate in two years, but since it was a medical program, the school required an extra year of practical training.
So in reality, Su Xuezhen only studied medicine for three years. Much of her knowledge remained theoretical. Practicing medicine was completely different from working in the HR department of a printing factory, which was an industry demanding high skill from the start. But each year, there were very few medical graduates, and at times recruitment was even suspended. Doctors were extremely scarce and were expected to do the work of five people. There was hardly any time to let her grow slowly. The internship lasted only two months, after which she was thrown directly into pediatrics, which at that time had only Ling Yurong as the sole pediatrician.
At first, she was truly at a loss, but luckily her father, Su Xianguo, was a surgeon. During the first year, with the help of Ling Yurong and Su Xianguo, Su Xuezhen quickly grew, gradually finding a sense of recognition and belonging in her work. But pediatrics was a vast discipline, involving many specialties; you had to know a bit about everything and ideally master it. Learning was endless, and putting on the white coat was just the beginning.
Patients had to fast for 8 hours before surgery. Considering the patient was a child and the surgery was the next day, parents might soften and feed him something. Before leaving for the day, Su Xuezhen went once more to Ma Baocheng’s ward to remind them again.
Ma Baocheng’s parents hadn’t arrived yet; only his grandparents were there, who repeatedly promised they wouldn’t feed him after midnight.
The sun had not yet set, and the air was heavy and hot. Su Xuezhen pushed her bicycle out and got on to ride home. It was rush hour, and the street was full of bicycles. The ringing of bells and the clicking of pedals formed a unique symphony.
At the intersection, a traffic officer waved a flag to direct the flow. When the flag dropped, Su Xuezhen followed the traffic and turned left. This was her route home. Going straight along this road led to her residential compound, passing by the state-run restaurant where Cen Bai often bought breakfast. Su Xuezhen suddenly felt tired.
Thinking about the tough day ahead tomorrow, she gave herself a mental pep talk. She went in and bought half a braised chicken and a cold lotus root salad, placed them in a cloth bag hung on her bike’s handlebar, and soon arrived at the compound’s gate.
Su Xuezhen got off the bike and slowly pushed it inside. Except for her and her husband, everyone cooked their own meals. At this time, everyone was busy in their kitchens, each with their own cooking aromas.
Liang Enyang and his neighbor Qian Hai were playing marbles in the courtyard. Both had just started first grade and still wore red scarves around their necks. They were squatting on the ground like two fuzzy balls. The atmosphere was peaceful until suddenly they began arguing. Qian Hai started insulting, “You dummy, you’re using too much force. There’s no way it’ll go in.”
Liang Enyang didn’t believe him. He stared at the marble, praying it would roll into the hole. Then he saw the round marble roll to Su Xuezhen’s feet. He glanced at her and got scared but since it was his precious marble he’d saved up for, he couldn’t lose it and had to muster the courage to come pick it up.
Su Xuezhen bent down and picked it up. “Here.”
Liang Enyang took it, glanced at her again, and ran off without saying a word.
Su Xuezhen smiled helplessly, knowing this kid probably still remembered the time she gave him an injection. That explained why he ran off.
“Told you, but you wouldn’t listen.”
Qian Hai was speechless.
“You think you’re so great, huh?”
Liang Enyang, angry, stuffed his marbles into his pocket to go home. Qian Hai refused to accept defeat and reached out for the marbles. “Why are you cheating? Give me back what I won!”
“This game isn’t over yet. Why should I give it to you?”
“You’re using that trick again, huh?”
Qian Hai got furious, his face turning red with anger.
The two quickly argued again, shouting at each other. What was originally a dispute over marbles turned into a volume competition—a battle of pride with each shout louder than the last. Fortunately, they were soon silenced by Xu Qingqing’s shout, “You two little brats! Stop yelling right now!!!”
Xu Qingqing had a little sister who needed peace and quiet, so the two boys immediately quieted down. They stopped arguing and started muttering under their breath, blaming each other: “It’s all your fault.”
Su Xuezhen took out her key to unlock the door. After living there for a long time, she had grown used to the lively atmosphere and no longer found it noisy. After setting the food down, she went to the kitchen to rinse some rice and put it in the pot. She took the kettle off the coal stove and replaced it with the pot, checking the state of the coal briquettes. The briquettes Cen Bai had put in before leaving for work that morning had burned down to a few glowing embers.
Su Xuezhen used tongs to remove the spent coal briquettes, stacked three new ones, and placed the pot back on the stove to cook the rice.
Just as she finished, Cen Bai returned home. The moment he came in, he looked for her, carrying not only two dishes but also a bag of fruit. “Watermelons are cheap, all locally grown. It comes out to nearly 0.95 yuan per jin.”
“I saw the bananas and apples looked good too, so I got a bit of everything.”
Cen Bai’s police station was a little farther from home, and sometimes he worked overtime. There was no fixed rule about who got home first. At first, they often ran into funny situations about buying food—like both of them buying double portions or both assuming the other would buy and then ending up with nothing. Eventually, they came to a mutual understanding: take turns. Today, Su Xuezhen had a sudden craving, so once again, they ended up duplicating their efforts.
It was stifling indoors, so Cen Bai brought the electric fan out to the courtyard. He dished the food into plates and carried them to a small table outside their door. There was a cherry tree nearby, which tended to attract bugs, so Su Xuezhen lit a mosquito coil and placed it under her feet.
On the table were four dishes, two bowls of rice, with the fan whirring beside them.
Su Xuezhen picked up a piece of soy-sauce chicken—tender, flavorful but not greasy, and deeply satisfying. Cen Bai was especially hungry today and quickly polished off half a bowl of rice.
“Why are you so hungry today?”
“Yesterday, a chemical factory in the west part of the city had its safe stolen. We’ve been investigating and didn’t even have time for lunch.”
Cen Bai used to work in the Criminal Investigation Department. A couple of years ago, it merged with the Public Security Department and was renamed the Security Division, which oversaw criminal cases.
“Shouldn’t that be handled by the Political Security Division?” Su Xuezhen asked in confusion.
“There was a fatality—the night watchman was killed. The total amount involved exceeded 2,000 yuan. The bureau took it seriously and handed it to us.”
After finishing a bowl of rice, Cen Bai finally felt less famished and explained, “It was a group operation—very serious in nature.”
Two thousand yuan was a substantial sum. No wonder it was taken seriously. Su Xuezhen winced. She and Cen Bai’s combined monthly salary was just over a hundred yuan. Saving sixty a month was already considered good, and that was only because they could eat lunch at work.
Cen Bai served himself another bowl of rice, and they cleaned all four dishes. After dinner, he did the dishes while Su Xuezhen cooled off in a chair, enjoying a sweet piece of watermelon and squinting contentedly.
Xu Qingqing came over, carrying a baby walker in one hand and holding her daughter in the other. She nodded toward the house opposite theirs and said, “The Wang family sold the place. The new neighbors are moving in tomorrow.”
Su Xuezhen handed her a slice of watermelon, recalling the moving truck she’d seen that morning. “I saw a turtle van earlier. Thought it might be for moving.”
Xu Qingqing placed Yu Beini in the walker and sat down herself. Taking a bite of watermelon, she broke off a piece to feed her daughter. “Family of three. The couple both work at the watch factory. Their son is a year older than my Beini.”
The watermelon was sweet, and Yu Beini wanted more after finishing her piece.
Cen Bai had picked a good one—very few seeds. Su Xuezhen carefully separated a seedless piece and fed a small bite to the little girl, smiling. “They haven’t even moved in yet. How do you know all this?”
“Got a mouth, so why not ask? Besides, we might be neighbors for decades. Knowing a little more isn’t a bad thing.”
Xu Qingqing had a bit of criticism for how Su Xuezhen and her husband socialized. “You and Cen Bai—if it weren’t for our warm welcome back then, we probably wouldn’t even be sitting here chatting today.”
“As the saying goes, ‘Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors.’ It’s not a bad thing to get along with the neighbors.”
Su Xuezhen thought she had a point. She and her husband weren’t exactly social butterflies. She was an only child and always busy with work, which made her a bit reserved. As for Cen Bai—he just had a naturally unapproachable aura, even when standing still.
At that moment, Cen Bai came back from washing the dishes and sat down beside Su Xuezhen. It was getting late, and Xu Qingqing, worried her daughter might get cranky, took her back inside to sleep.
After a long and busy day, both of them were exhausted. They brought the fan back inside, took a shower, and went to bed.
The next morning, while Cen Bai was out tracking a suspect, Su Xuezhen stepped into the operating room. She quietly looked at the boy, Ma Baocheng, lying on the operating table. Recalling the hopeful expressions of his family and the boy’s cheerful smile as he entered the room, she met Ling Yurong’s gaze and said calmly, “Begin the surgery.”
Ma Baocheng’s cysts were mainly located around the neck. Medication had little effect, and surgery was the only option. Su Xuezhen took a deep breath and began. The cysts were small, so she made a horizontal incision along the skin lines. After cutting through the skin and subcutaneous tissue, the cysts gradually became visible.
The cyst walls were thin and extremely easy to tear. Su Xuezhen carefully used tissue forceps to clamp and remove part of the skin for traction, then performed both sharp and blunt dissection along the cyst membrane. After separating the superficial cysts, the tricky part arrived—some were adhered to the carotid sheath.
Ling Yurong watched her reaction closely.
Su Xuezhen didn’t hesitate. Her expression was focused. She first incised the carotid and nerve sheaths and then proceeded with delicate separation. The process was slow and meticulous.
There were many small cysts, each possibly involving nerves or blood vessels—none could be taken lightly.
Time ticked by. One hour passed, then two. Anesthesiologist Xie Yutian was surprised by Su Xuezhen’s patience and composure.
Ling Yurong’s eyes gradually filled with approval. Su Xuezhen, undistracted and holding her breath, continued working. In areas where the cysts were extremely difficult to separate, she excised the majority and then cauterized the remaining inner walls with 2% iodine tincture and 75% ethanol.
The surgery took a total of three and a half hours. Most of the cysts were successfully removed; the remaining tissue could be treated postoperatively with radiotherapy.
Su Xuezhen finally breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did she look at Ling Yurong. Upon receiving an approving glance, she proceeded with closing: first hemostasis inside the cavity, then placement of a drainage tube, and finally layer-by-layer suturing and pressure dressing.
The light in the operating room snapped off with a click, and Ma Baocheng’s family surged toward the door. Su Xuezhen walked out calmly, removed her mask, and revealed her first smile of the day. “The surgery was very successful.”
Ma Baocheng’s family was overwhelmed with joy, tears streaming down their faces as they repeatedly expressed their gratitude.
For a patient’s family, nothing is more reassuring than hearing the words, “The surgery was very successful.”
Author’s Note:
The surgical procedure described in this section is based on the color-illustrated guide from Tianshan Medical College concerning the excision of cervical cystic lymphangioma.
The watermelon price is sourced from a local chronicle on commodity prices in a certain city in China. According to Section 15 on Fruit Prices, in 1976, the purchase price for watermelon was 0.054 yuan per jin, and the retail price was 0.094 yuan per jin.
