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

The alarm blared in the CT room.

Liu Peng's body hunched over, then he fell heavily back onto the examination bed. Nurse Zhao rushed in and held his head to prevent him from hitting the edge of the machine again.

"The oxygen saturation is gone!"

Sun Zhiqiang grabbed the walkie-talkie: "The ambulance is here, has the neurosurgery department called back?"

Lin Ye held his phone to his ear.

The phone rang for the sixth time before someone finally answered.

"Neurosurgery on-call duty."

"Emergency room, patient suffered a fall after drinking alcohol, right epidural hematoma, midline shift trend, currently experiencing decreased consciousness and convulsions."

The person on the other end of the phone, who had been sleepy, immediately woke up upon hearing "midline shift": "Send me the images. Notify Director Luo immediately."

"It's already been sent."

Lin Ye hung up the phone and turned to Nurse Zhao, saying, "Keep him lying on his side, prepare to transfer him to the emergency room, and prevent him from aspirating."

Nurse Zhao replied swiftly, "I understand."

The blushing companion stood at the door, his legs trembling: "Doctor, will he die?"

The person who was just yelling "Don't rip me off" is now trembling.

Sun Zhiqiang glanced at him, annoyed: "Now you know to ask? Contact the family, right now!"

When his companion took out his phone, he had to press the key three times to unlock the screen.

Liu Peng was wheeled back into the emergency room. The smells of alcohol, vomit, and disinfectant mingled together. While clearing his airway, Nurse Zhao shouted to the new nurse, "Prepare for transport! Neurosurgery operating room, wait for notification!"

Lin Ye stood by the bed, staring into Liu Peng's pupils.

The system indicated that no treatment plan was provided, and only a change was displayed at the edge of the field of vision.

[High-risk situation is still developing.]

The effective treatment window has been shortened.

Lin Ye stared at the line of words, his fingers tightening on the bed railing.

The card at the head of the bed also read "injured after falling while intoxicated".

The vomit that had just been cleared out was in the curved tray next to him, and the flashlight was still in the pocket of Lin Ye's white coat.

The patient presented with slow pupillary response on the right side, trauma to the back of the head, and was unable to be roused.

If these lines had been written into the medical record any later, Liu Peng might have already been placed under observation for being intoxicated.

"Linye."

Sun Zhiqiang called him.

Lin Ye came to his senses.

Sun Zhiqiang handed Liu Peng's medical record folder: "Write down the details of the discovery clearly. Injury after drinking, altered consciousness, abnormal pupils, I recommend an emergency cranial CT scan. Don't write anything unnecessary."

His tone was still harsh, but the way he handed over the medical record folder was gentler than the night before.

Lin Ye accepted it: "Okay."

A dozen minutes later, Dr. Luo Jianping, the director of neurosurgery, arrived.

He was younger than Zhou Mingyuan, but his hair was far more disheveled. He wore a white coat over his pajamas and hospital slippers. His first words upon entering were, "Who brought that intoxicated patient straight to the CT scan?"

The emergency room fell silent for a moment.

Sun Zhiqiang pointed at Lin Ye.

Luo Jianping looked at him: "You?"

Lin Ye nodded: "The patient has a head injury, vomiting, decreased consciousness, and asymmetrical pupillary response."

Luo Jianping stared at him for two seconds: "You're lucky."

That sounded harsh.

Before Lin Ye could speak, Nurse Zhao chimed in, "Director Luo, even with luck, you need someone to push the CT scan first."

Luo Jianping glanced at her, didn't continue arguing, and turned to watch the film.

He only watched half a minute of the film before his face darkened.

"Epidular hematoma, needs to be taken to the operating room. Have the family members arrived yet?"

"On the way," Sun Zhiqiang said.

"Contact your friend first, record the call, and keep a record of the medical information." After saying this, Luo Jianping pointed at his companion, "You two, don't just stand there like idiots, make the call."

The two companions nodded vigorously.

Liu Peng was wheeled into the neurosurgery operating room shortly after the shift handover meeting ended.

Emergency room director Qin Hai heard the commotion in the resuscitation room and returned from the doctor's office.

He was still carrying a bottle of soy milk he hadn't had time to drink, his coat draped over his arm. As soon as he entered, he saw gauze scattered on the floor outside the emergency room and oxygen cylinders that hadn't been put away yet.

"What's wrong now?"

Nurse Zhao said in a low voice, "He fell after drinking and has an epidural hematoma."

Qin Hai's eyelids twitched: "Who discovered it?"

Nurse Zhao didn't speak, but looked at Lin Ye.

Qin Hai followed her gaze.

Lin Ye had just finished writing the medical record, and hadn't even put the pen cap back on yet.

Someone in the office took a soft breath.

A copy of last night's aortic CTA request form was still pressed against the side of the medical record folder.

Aortic dissection occurred in the early morning, followed by an epidural hematoma in the morning.

The two pieces of paper were placed together, and no one in the office uttered the words "common disease" anymore.

Qin Hai placed the soy milk at the nurses' station and walked up to Lin Ye.

Did you sleep last night?

Lin Ye shook his head: "Not yet."

"You'd better not tell me you saved two seriously ill patients in one night, all by intuition."

Lin Ye paused for a second: "By observing physical signs."

Qin Hai looked at him.

After a while, he picked up Liu Peng's medical record and turned to the page about the physical examination. The details of both pupils, location of the injury, number of vomiting episodes, and consciousness score were all written down.

Qin Hai's expression softened a little.

"The handwriting is terrible, but the content is alright."

Nurse Zhao couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Qin Hai then turned to Sun Zhiqiang: "We'll discuss these two cases separately later. Also, whoever leaked last night's CTA and today's CT scan information, keep your mouth shut. The medical affairs department loves hearing this kind of commotion."

Just as I finished speaking, the office phone rang.

Qin Hai answered the phone, but his expression turned sour after only two sentences.

"Deputy Director Liu, so early?"

I don't know what was said on the other end of the phone.

Qin Hai looked up at Lin Ye.

"Yes, there is a resident trainee. He was the one who brought up the aortic dissection last night."

The pen cap in Lin Ye's hand fell onto the table with a thud.

Qin Hai didn't say anything more, and hung up the phone after listening for half a minute.

He placed his phone face down on the table and rubbed his temples.

"Linye."

"director."

"Congratulations," Qin Hai said. "The medical affairs department is starting to get to know you."

Lin Ye did not respond to the joke.

He glanced down at his white coat, the cuff still stained with a bit of vomit from Liu Peng. The emergency room smelled of a mix of alcohol, disinfectant, and sweat, all clinging to the fabric, and didn't smell like the words "Congratulations" at all.

Qin Hai pushed the unfinished cup of soy milk aside: "Don't just stand there. Go wash your face, and give me the timelines for the two cases in ten minutes."

"Write now?"

"While you still remember it clearly," Qin Hai said, "when the medical department asks you, they won't ask how urgent it was when you rescued the person; they'll only ask what time you discovered the person, what time you reported it, who was present, and who signed the consent form."

Lin Ye nodded and turned to go to the pool.

He only realized his hands were trembling when the cold water hit his face.