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

When Lin Ye rushed back to the emergency room, it was just past two o'clock. Ma Hao was sitting at the triage desk drinking water.

The triage nurse was calling out numbers at the other end, and her voice could be heard across half the hall.

When Ma Hao saw Lin Ye, the first thing he looked at was his hands.

"Where's the meat?"

Lin Ye placed the wedding candy in front of him.

Ma Hao looked down for two seconds.

"Brother Lin, I've been covering a four-hour shift, can you give me this little bit of candy?"

"My mom gave it to me," Lin Ye said. "Thanks in advance."

Ma Hao collected them very quickly.

"The amount Auntie gives is separate. You still owe me the meat."

The triage nurse walked by and glanced at it.

"You get candy for covering someone else's shift?"

Ma Hao stuffed the candy into his pocket.

"Personal matters are not covered by hospital bills."

The triage nurse ignored him and turned to call the next patient.

Lin Ye placed the snack box next to the nurses' station.

"For everyone."

He then took out a few packets of wedding candy from his pocket and placed them next to the box.

"To share in the joy."

"That's more like it. I thought only Ma Hao had it." She flipped the call number slip next to the machine. "Put the good luck here. By the way, Teacher Qin is looking for you."

Lin Ye first went to the locker to put his things down, and then took the residency training manual out of his bag.

Qin Hai is in his office.

The door wasn't closed properly, and several documents were spread out on the table, with a stapler on top.

When Lin Ye handed over the residency training manual, Qin Hai was flipping through the materials on the table. His finger stopped on a certain page of the manual.

Lin Ye placed the wedding candy from his pocket on the corner of the table.

"Did you eat your fill at the wedding banquet?"

"I ate something."

"A little something is enough." Qin Hai turned the manual over. "You seem to have quite an appetite even though you're all empty."

Lin Ye looked down.

The emergency room rotation learning record is filled with dense writing in the first few cells, but the last two cells are left blank.

Lin Ye stared at the two empty spaces without saying a word.

"Fill these two blanks by tomorrow," Qin Hai said. "Don't write fancy words, just write what you did, who mentored you, and who signed off on it."

Lin Ye nodded.

"Know."

"Don't just know," Qin Hai pulled out another form. "Zhou Min will be here tomorrow afternoon. Liu Zhenhua might come too. The emergency department needs to give their opinion before the residency training ends."

Lin Ye looked at the table.

The header of the form is "Rotation Evaluation Comments".

A crease was pressed into the corner of the paper, indicating it had been turned over several times.

Qin Hai didn't rush to continue; he first moved the stapler away.

"Don't overthink it. It's not up to you today whether you stay or leave."

Lin Ye's finger paused on the edge of the manual.

"That is?"

"Finish up what you have first," Qin Hai said. "You've done a lot lately, and the emergency room appreciates it. But the manual is blank, the teaching comments are blank, and it's hard to say who will speak up for you later."

Lin Ye didn't reply.

He flipped to the last two blank pages; the first few pages were densely written, but the pages became increasingly empty as he went on.

"Is this what we're watching tomorrow afternoon?"

Qin Hai put the pen on the table.

"It's not just about this," he said. "This is the bottom line. What you've done, who guided you in those tasks—don't leave that blank."

Someone outside the office called for the triage nurse, followed by the sound of wheelchair wheels scraping against the floor tiles. Qin Hai waited for the noise to subside before continuing.

"The question I'm going to ask tomorrow afternoon is something else entirely."

Qin Hai tapped the evaluation form.

"Why do you think this person can't wait, and why can that person sit and be observed first? Don't talk about mystical things, and don't talk about how many seriously ill patients you've encountered. Just tell me what you saw at the time, who reviewed it, and how it was handled afterwards."

Lin Ye looked at the evaluation form.

He remembered Ma Hao's notebook with the word "meat" written on it.

That debt is easy to settle.

This one in my hand is different.

Qin Hai closed his residency training manual.

"There are some rumors circulating outside that are a bit strange," Qin Hai said. "Some people think you're amazing, while others are afraid that you'll treat every patient as if they're in the most dangerous situation. Don't go along with what they say tomorrow."

Lin Ye raised his eyes.

"Should I say it in my own words?"

Qin Hai glanced at him.

"Speak in terms that everyone can see," Qin Hai said. "Why was the dizziness initially investigated? And why was the abdominal pain later referred to as general surgery? Explaining these two points is enough."

There was a knock on the door.

Zhou Min stood outside, holding a stack of printing papers. She went inside and handed the papers to Qin Hai.

Her gaze fell on the wedding candies on the corner of the table, and she picked one up casually.

"Show him this first. Don't let him be completely lost on the spot tomorrow."

Qin Hai took it.

"Isn't Director Zhou off today?"

"Just came to get a signature; you guys in the ER group casually pulled me in." Zhou Min looked at Lin Ye, "Went to the wedding?"

"I've gone."

"It's good that you've gone." Zhou Min adjusted her bag strap over her shoulder. "The emergency room needs staff; we can't let you only have hospitals to do in the future."

Lin Ye glanced at her.

Zhou Min added another sentence.

"But now that the person is back, the manual still needs to be updated."

Qin Hai handed the stack of papers to Lin Ye.

Lin Ye took it.

The first page only has a few questions.

Why do you think this person cannot be treated as an ordinary person?

In what situations can we postpone putting it forward?

Who should we call to come and see?

What should we look at in the next few points?

The questions are all short.

Lin Ye glanced at it once, then rubbed his fingertip against the edge of the paper.

Zhou Min didn't stay any longer.

"Demonstration room, tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM. Don't be late."

Lin Ye nodded.

"Know."

"And don't dress like you're going to a wedding," Zhou Min said, then turned and left.

Qin Hai pulled the office door a little further in.

"You see, news travels faster than medical records."

Lin Ye looked down at his dark short-sleeved shirt.

"I'll wear a white coat tomorrow."

"A white coat is a white coat; don't switch your mindset back to that of the night shift," Qin Hai said. "Tomorrow isn't an emergency, so don't rush to answer. Think for two seconds after someone asks a question before you speak."

Lin Ye took this to heart.

He put those pages into his residency training manual.

"Teacher Qin."

"Um?"

"What if we can't stay in the end?"

Qin Hai paused for a moment, his pen still in his hand.

The lobby was noisy; a child was crying, people were asking about the restroom, and others were asking for their turn. The office was quiet for a few seconds.

"Then let's follow the path we're meant to take," Qin Hai said. "Go wherever you're supposed to go, take whatever exams you're supposed to take. You're still young, not at the age where you think there's no way out if one path is blocked."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Lin Ye.

"But the fact that you asked this question means you want to stay."

Lin Ye held the manual.

"think."

After uttering that word, he paused for a moment.

"If you want to stay, make up for what needs to be made up. The emergency room may like people with spirituality, but in the end, those who stay cannot rely solely on spirituality."

Lin Ye nodded.

"And one more thing," Qin Hai glanced outside, "Don't try to fool Ma Hao with a couple of candies for those four hours he did for you."

"He told on me?"

"He doesn't need to complain," Qin Hai said. "He was just waving candy at the door, practically wearing his 'I've done something great' on his sleeve."

Lin Ye couldn't suppress the urge to smile.

Qin Hai pushed the manual back.

"Go out. Don't post anything in the red zone today. You just got back, so finish catching up on the manual first."

When Lin Ye walked out of the office, the triage nurse was unpacking a snack box.

Ma Hao stood to the side, saying he didn't eat sweets, but his hand had already reached over and picked out a piece.

"Don't you dislike sweets?" Lin Ye asked.

"This isn't sweet," Ma Hao mumbled, stuffing a pastry into his mouth. "It's a favor."

The triage nurse looked at him with disdain.

"Stop being so ungrateful."

Lin Ye sat down next to the triage desk and opened his residency training manual.

Before putting pen to paper, he glanced at Zhou Min's paper.

The first question is still at the top.

Why do you think this person cannot be treated as an ordinary person?

Lin Ye did not write immediately.

He first flipped through the first few pages of the manual. The handwriting on the first few pages was different, and some places even had Qin Hai's signature added later.

If it's actually written in this booklet, it can no longer be vague.

Ma Hao leaned closer.

"Brother Lin, what are you writing?"

Lin Ye pulled the manual a little closer to himself.

"Debts owed."

Ma Hao's spirits lifted.

"Meat?"

"It's not yours."

"That's pointless."

Lin Ye lowered his head and wrote the date on the first line of the blank space.

He paused for a moment after writing the date.

Then write:

During nighttime triage, assist superiors in checking patients whose symptoms and on-site conditions do not match, and write down the time for re-examination and follow-up reminders as required.

The handwriting isn't pretty, but the meaning is fairly straightforward.

The triage nurse walked by and casually placed a new triage slip on the table.

"Don't get too engrossed in writing. The next one is waiting."

Lin Ye looked up.

The triage slip reads: Follow-up visit, change of dressing.

A line of small print follows.

The family said the stitched wound was bleeding yesterday.

Ma Hao had already swallowed the snack and reached for the blood pressure cuff.

"This can't be something serious, can it?"

Lin Ye closed the manual.

"Check the wound first."

After he finished speaking, he put the pen in his pocket and stood up.