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

"Open the operating room."

The moment Zhou Mingyuan's name was uttered, everyone at the entrance of the CT room sprang to a halt.

Nurse Zhao pushed aside the stretcher by the corridor and shouted towards the emergency room, "Aortic dissection, prepare for transfer! Don't disconnect the monitor, bring oxygen!"

Chen Jianguo's wife, still leaning against the wall, stared straight at Lin Ye: "Doctor, is my husband going to die?"

Lin Ye glanced at the countdown timer in his field of vision.

23 minutes 46 seconds.

He didn't rule out the possibility of a diagnosis, but instead said in a low voice, "Now that it's been discovered, there's still a chance. The surgery needs to be done immediately. You should come with me to sign the consent form; don't delay."

The woman nodded, her legs almost giving way and she nearly knelt down, but Nurse Zhao reached out and pulled her back.

Sun Zhiqiang stood at the door of the operating room, his face alternating between pale and flushed. The aortic CTA image was displayed on the screen, the torn intima resembling a thin thread, glaringly obvious before his eyes.

He just said that "acute gastritis and pancreatitis are common," but now he can't continue the conversation at all.

But not being able to connect doesn't mean everything is fine.

He turned to Lin Ye and said, "Complete the application form and medical records."

"I'm going to the operating room with the patient now."

"Write it down clearly first." Sun Zhiqiang's voice was very low. "Resident trainee Lin Ye insisted on applying for an emergency aortic CTA and insisted on contacting the head of the cardiac and vascular surgery department directly. You were the one who pushed this process forward, so you need to keep a clear record of the application basis and signature."

Lin Ye gripped the medical record folder tightly, the edge of the paper leaving a mark on his palm.

He knew what those words meant.

If the patient survives, it's because of his sharp judgment. If the patient dies, his name will be the first one on the application form.

The countdown is still ticking.

22 minutes 31 seconds.

Lin Ye picked up a pen and wrote down the time, symptoms, blood pressure difference between the two upper limbs, tearing pain in the back, and CTA findings on the medical record. He wrote each stroke quickly, but when he wrote "Contact Dr. Zhou Mingyuan, Director of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery," the pen paused for a moment before continuing to write.

Nurse Zhao pushed Chen Jianguo out of the CT room.

Chen Jianguo was in so much pain that he couldn't speak coherently; his lips were turning purple, and his heart rate on the monitor was skyrocketing. The woman stood beside the stretcher, her hand on the signature board, her fingers trembling so much that she couldn't sign her name.

"Sign here." The circulating nurse handed her a pen. "The risks of the surgery have been explained; the aortic dissection could rupture at any time."

The woman stared at the words, tears splattering onto the paper: "I don't understand, I really don't understand. Doctor, please save him, I'll sign, I'll sign everything."

Lin Ye held the signing board steady.

"Written about Chen Jianguo's wife, Li Guilan."

The woman was writing along when the elevator doors opened before she could finish the last word.

Zhou Mingyuan strode out from inside.

He had one button on his coat wrong, his hair was messy, and he was wearing sneakers that weren't fastened properly. Before he could stand up straight, his eyes first swept over the transfer bed, then over Lin Ye's face.

"You're Lin Ye?"

"Director Zhou."

"Standardized residency trainee?"

"Yes."

Zhou Mingyuan looked at him for two seconds, his lips taut: "The First Municipal Hospital is quite well-off now. They can directly transfer the head of the Department of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery to a resident doctor in the middle of the night."

Sun Zhiqiang quickly stepped forward: "Director Zhou, the situation is urgent, he's just worried about the patient..."

Zhou Mingyuan ignored him, reached out and took the aortic CTA image from the phone, and swiped his finger across the screen.

The only sound in the corridor was the gentle creaking of wheels.

A dozen seconds later, he looked up: "What's the blood pressure in my right arm?"

Lin Ye held the guardianship record up a little higher: "One hundred and eighty-nine, one hundred and two."

"Left arm?"

"143, 88, weak left radial artery."

"What is the nature of the pain?"

"Upper abdominal pain accompanied by tearing pain in the back, cold sweats, onset less than two hours ago."

Zhou Mingyuan's eyelids twitched.

He handed the phone back to Lin Ye, then turned and shouted towards the operating room door: "No need to wait for me to change before we start. Assess the anesthesia first, prepare blood from the blood bank, and get extracorporeal circulation ready."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Jianguo was wheeled into the operating room.

Just before the operating room door closed, Li Guilan suddenly rushed over: "Old Chen! Old Chen, don't sleep!"

Through the crack in the door, Chen Jianguo's fingers twitched weakly.

Lin Ye stood outside the door, his palms sweaty.

The countdown in my field of vision stopped at 17 minutes and 09 seconds, and then a new message appeared.

[High-risk status has been confirmed.]

The patient has entered the effective treatment process.

The words faded away slowly.

Before Lin Ye could even catch his breath, Sun Zhiqiang handed him a blank instruction sheet.

Write it down.

Lin Ye looked up.

Sun Zhiqiang's voice was harsh: "Write clearly why you bypassed your superiors. The department will ask about it at tomorrow's morning meeting, and the medical department might also ask."

Nurse Zhao frowned beside her: "The person is still on the stage."

"It's precisely because the person is still on the field that we need to leave a mark first." Sun Zhiqiang looked at Lin Ye. "The emergency room isn't a place where you can just rush through in one breath."

Lin Ye took the paper.

The red light on the operating room door was on.

He sat on a bench in the corridor, his knees resting on his medical record folder, and wrote down everything that had just happened.

When he got to the second page of the instruction sheet, he realized that his handwriting was getting smaller and smaller.

It's not that I'm afraid others won't see it clearly.

Every line seemed to be a reminder to him: if Chen Jianguo hadn't come down, these words would have become a series of questions to be raised during the accountability process.

As I was finishing writing, the operating room door suddenly opened a crack.

Zhou Mingyuan leaned out halfway, his gloves still stained with blood.

Are the family members here?

Li Guilan suddenly stood up: "Yes! I'm here!"

Zhou Mingyuan's voice was deep: "The breach is in a very dangerous location, and we've already taken it to the front lines to deal with it. We delivered it not too late; there's still a chance."

Li Guilan covered her mouth, crying so hard she couldn't make a sound.

Zhou Mingyuan then looked at Lin Ye.

He didn't praise or laugh; he just pulled his mask down a little.

"Linye."

"Director Zhou."

"Don't hang up your phone tonight."

Lin Ye was stunned for a moment.

Zhou Mingyuan stared at him: "After the surgery, I have a few questions for you."

The operating room door closed again.

The instruction sheet in Sun Zhiqiang's hand was crumpled at the corner.