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

When the alarm rang at 6:30, Lin Ye felt as if he had just closed his eyes not long ago.

It was already bright outside the duty room. When he put on his white coat and went out, the nurses' station was having a shift change. Nurse Zhao was leaning against the treatment cart, explaining Li Wencheng's condition to the day shift nurse, her voice already drifting towards the door, as if she was about to leave at any moment.

Upon seeing Lin Ye, she didn't even turn her head properly.

"Sun Zhiqiang will take over the shift; it's none of your business. Hurry up and get going. Hey, go wash your face first; it's so oily it's practically shining."

Lin Ye touched his face; it was indeed oily. He went to the bathroom, splashed some cold water on his face, and saw his hair was a mess, like a bird's nest, with a red mark on his temple. He rubbed his hair a couple of times, but it didn't help.

When he came out, Sun Zhiqiang was handing over the shift to his superior, flipping through the handover log with one hand.

"Last night, we had two cases, and the cardiology and nephrology departments took them on, but the emergency department didn't handle them."

The supervisor on the day shift took the notebook, flipped through it, and nodded.

Lin Ye leaned against the wall, and no one asked him a question.

Sun Zhiqiang finished his shift and walked past him, patting him on the shoulder. "Go back to sleep. Come back on Thursday."

Nurse Zhao walked faster than anyone else, closing her handover log and disappearing into the changing room. When she came out, she was already wearing her coat, carrying her thermos, and shook the bottom of the thermos as she passed Lin Ye. "What are you still standing there for? Get out."

She left. Sun Zhiqiang left too.

Lin Ye stood still and glanced at the entrance to the red zone.

Li Wencheng's heart rate was 51 on the monitor. His eyes were closed. Meng Chi's side was also quiet, the monitoring numbers were steady. The cardiologist on duty was huddled in a chair at the nurses' station, his eyelids almost closed.

He wanted to go in and take another look. He wanted to confirm whether the urine output had been recorded and whether the troponin level was due for a follow-up test.

But the cardiology doctor on duty was still watching, and the day shift nurse had just finished her shift. There was nothing he could do if he went in.

forget about it.

He stuffed his white coat into the duty cabinet and walked towards the lobby. The moment the automatic door opened, the light from outside flooded in, making him pause for a moment.

The sun was already blinding at seven in the morning. The air was cool, a completely different smell from inside. The emergency room was always filled with the stench of disinfectant mixed with blood and the smells of various people, while outside were leaves, breakfast stalls, and water-sprayed asphalt.

Lin Ye squinted and stood there for a while.

An old woman sat by the flower bed near the entrance, waiting for someone, a bag of steamed buns tucked into her arms. Next to her, a man in blue overalls was smoking, the ash flicking onto the ground and scattering in the wind.

It was a normal morning. The place he had just spent the whole night in was like a completely different world.

He took out his phone.

There are tons of unread messages. From the director's group and the work group.

Ma Hao sent the earliest message at 6:15: "Brother Ye, are you awake yet? Do you want me to bring you a pancake?"

Lin Ye typed two words in reply: "No need."

After thinking for a moment, I added, "Are you on the day shift today?"

"Yeah, I just arrived. Go back to sleep and don't worry about it."

Lin Ye ignored the messages in the work group and the director's group and scrolled down.

The last number is an unfamiliar number.

He cut it open to take a look.

"The tube of Li Wencheng that your ER collected at 1:10 last night has a barcode time that matches the time I received it, so there's no problem. I've kept a record of it, so if anyone checks it later, the lab won't lose track of it."

The time of sending was 3:42.

Lin Ye looked at the time.

He was already asleep in the duty room around 3 a.m. She was still awake, checking their blood sample taken in the early morning.

He wanted to reply with something. Thanks? Received? Or should he just ask why he hadn't left work yet?

After thinking for a few seconds, I locked my phone and put it back in my pocket.

Never mind. I'll go back to sleep first.

He passed a convenience store on the way, and a blast of cold air hit him when he pushed open the glass door. He stood in front of the shelf for a few seconds, then remembered what he wanted to buy, and grabbed a bottle of water and a sandwich.

The cashier glanced at him after scanning the code, but didn't say anything. She was probably used to seeing people walking from the hospital direction at this time.

Stepping out of the convenience store, I saw people already riding electric bikes to work. Breakfast stalls were steaming, and a woman selling egg pancakes was brushing oil onto a griddle, the smell of cooking oil filling half the sidewalk.

The dormitory door opened, and the room was dark. My roommate was gone, leaving behind a half-cold cup of instant coffee on the table.

Lin Ye placed the sandwich on the table without opening it, and paused for a moment when his back ached as he bent over to put on his shoes. He then lay down on the bed and curled up completely under the covers.

A fleeting glimpse flashed in the corner of his vision before he closed his eyes. It was very brief. It felt like something had changed, but his eyelids were already drooping.

My phone lay face down next to my pillow. The message was still in the chat box, unanswered.