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

Even after the door to the duty room closed, the sounds from the emergency room didn't disappear.

It was just that the door panel made it thinner.

The alarm from the monitor was still ringing in the distance. The sound of the bed wheels rolling over the floor tiles drifted in through the crack in the door, like someone tapping their knuckles against Lin Ye's ear.

Lin Ye stood there for a few seconds, holding the thin blanket.

There was a light yellow medicine stain on the edge of the thin blanket that couldn't be washed off. The fabric had been washed repeatedly until it became stiff and felt a bit prickly against the back of my hand.

Qin Hai pulled off his mask and threw it into the medical waste bin by the door.

He didn't take off his white coat, but simply slapped his phone on the table.

"Lie down."

Lin Ye was still standing.

His fingers were curled up, as if they were still resting on the keyboard.

There was another sound of a flatbed cart wheel hitting the floor tiles outside the door.

Lin Ye subconsciously turned his head.

Qin Hai kicked the foot of the narrow bed.

The iron bed frame made a muffled thud.

"Does one need to be taught how to sleep?"

Lin Ye placed the thin blanket beside the bed.

The phone vibrated again in the white coat pocket.

He reached out to touch it.

Qin Hai pressed down on his wrist first.

"I really can't handle the day shift, I'll make a phone call."

Qin Hai's palms were very hot, and there were shallow marks on his fingertips from the gloves.

"You rush in the moment there's a noise? Do you think the emergency room won't open without you?"

Lin Ye's hand stopped.

Someone at the nurses' station outside the door called out the bed number, and the voice was quickly picked up by another nurse on the day shift.

"I'll take over the observation and blood transfusion for patient in bed 2 during the emergency treatment. Don't call the night shift."

The words came through the crack in the door.

Qin Hai released his grip.

Lin Ye slowly sat down on the edge of the narrow bed.

The bed was too hard; as soon as his lower back touched it, his shoulders slumped down first.

He closed his eyes.

The monitor still shows green numbers.

Heart rate 128.

Blood pressure is 98 to 60.

7:26.

Those few lines of text flashed through my mind for a moment, then were drowned out by the footsteps outside the door.

Qin Hai sat on the old chair next to him, leaned his head against the wall, and didn't say anything more.

In less than half a minute, his breathing became heavy.

Lin Ye opened his eyes and glanced at him.

Qin Hai's white coat cuffs were stained with dried iodine, and the imprint of his mask was still visible across the bridge of his nose. His cell phone sat on the small table between the two beds, ringing with the screen facing upwards.

The emergency room alarm was still ringing outside.

But no one pushed the door open and called to them anymore.

Lin Ye's eyelids slowly drooped.

When I woke up again, the light coming through the crack in the duty room door had changed.

The morning light has disappeared, and a patch of yellowish sunlight is leaking in through the curtains.

The phone screen is lit up.

Thirteen forty-two.

Lin Ye stared at the time display for two seconds before picking up his phone.

There was no emergency call number.

There are three messages from the day shift.

The first message was sent by the deputy director of the day shift.

"Lu Yifan is still in the monitoring position, and Tang Zhendong won't let him get out of bed. The ultrasound was done, and the ventricular septum is indeed thickened, but there's nothing urgent at the aortic root for now. The Holter monitor is on, and he'll have to check it again himself this afternoon."

The second one comes from the day shift nurse.

"The elderly patient who was bleeding had just finished the third bag of blood. His blood pressure was 96/58, and his heart rate was still fast. He had stopped vomiting, but his stool was still black, and his hemoglobin was 71. He was on fasting, medication, and monitoring without interruption. The gastroenterology department was keeping an eye on him, and I also kept the contact information for general surgery and interventional radiology."

The third message was sent by Nurse Zhao.

"Liang Shumin is still in the intensive care unit. The vasopressors haven't been stopped, the coagulation is still being investigated, his temperature has risen slightly, and he's just starting to urinate. The deputy director on the day shift has taken over from the family, but they still haven't dared to say he's alright."

Lin Ye finished reading and his finger remained on the screen.

Lin Ye turned off his phone and glanced at the crack in the door again.

No one outside called him.

There was a soft knock on the door.

The deputy director of the day shift didn't push the door open; instead, he slipped a folded handover sheet under the door.

The paper edge brushed against the ground and stopped beside the shoes in the woods.

"Just take a look when you wake up, no need to come out."

His voice came through the door.

Where is Qin Hai?

Qin Hai shifted slightly on the chair next to him, but kept his eyes closed.

"He won't die."

There was a moment of silence outside the door.

The deputy director on the day shift lowered his voice.

"Then keep sleeping. You two shouldn't rush out every time you hear the sound of wheels."

The footsteps faded into the distance.

Lin Ye bent down and picked up the handover paper.

The paper had the words "Deputy Director of the Day Shift" on it.

Lu Yifan's entry was circled.

The section on the formal color Doppler ultrasound was underlined: thickened ventricular septum, left ventricular outflow tract needs further observation.

Aortic root: No acute problems have been observed so far.

Myocardial markers: No clear evidence of acute myocardial infarction has been found.

Magnesium and calcium: basically stable.

Recommended course of action: Continue monitoring, keep the patient on dynamic electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings, restrict activity, continue consultation with a cardiologist, and perform a cardiac MRI if necessary. Please request further evaluation from a higher-level physician.

There is a handwritten supplement below by Tang Zhendong.

It's not enough to just find one indicator and call it a day.

Post-exercise syncope plus a family history of sudden death should be treated as high-risk.

Lin Ye stared at the line of words, his fingertip pausing on the edge of the paper.

He didn't take the paper out.

He didn't get up either.

My phone vibrated again.

This time, it was a message from the nurses' station group chat for the day shift.

"The general clinic is crowded in the afternoon. People with fever, headache, and abdominal pain are called separately. The short list on the wall is still the same; we'll take out the ones who don't fit in first."

Qin Hai opened his eyes.

He glanced at the screen, then closed it again.

Who posted this?

"Deputy Director on the Day Shift"

"Then let him send it."

Qin Hai raised his hand and pressed his temples.

"How many hours did you sleep?"

Lin Ye glanced at the time.

"More than six."

"Enough to keep you alive, not enough to make you run around."

Qin Hai straightened up, leaning back in his chair, and looked a little more presentable than he had in the morning.

He picked up the water glass on the table and found that there was only half a mouthful of cold water left. He frowned after drinking it.

A brief argument suddenly broke out outside the door.

It wasn't the kind of sound you hear calling out bed numbers in the emergency room.

It was more like a regular clinic area, with family members speaking while trying to keep their tempers down.

"She just has migraines, it's a chronic problem. Could you please prescribe some painkillers for her? She's been waiting in line for half an hour."

The other voice sounded weak.

"My head is throbbing unbearably."

Lin Ye's fingers paused.

Qin Hai also raised his head.

The voice of the day shift nurse outside the door immediately followed.

"Don't help him onto the chair yet, push the flatbed cart over here."

The family members were panicked.

"She used to have headaches, which would go away after a good night's sleep, but today her blood pressure is a bit high."

He hadn't finished speaking.

A sound of vomiting came from outside.

The metal trash can was kicked and hit the wall.

Lin Ye had already stood up.

Qin Hai also stood up, but did not rush out immediately.

He first glanced at the time on his phone.

1:51 PM.

The voice of the deputy director of the day shift outside the door was lowered.

"Who let you two out?"

Lin Ye opened the door.

The afternoon light in the emergency room was brighter than in the morning, and a crowd of people was gathered at the entrance of the general ward.

The flatbed cart has just been pushed in.

A woman in her forties was huddled beside the flatbed cart, her hands covering her head, her forehead covered in sweat. The back of her short-sleeved shirt was soaked, and her face was pale as a bluish-white.

Her husband held the registration slip in one hand and put his other hand on her shoulder, explaining as he did so.

"She really does have migraines, and she has medication at home. It's just that the pain was worse today, and she vomited twice."

The woman suddenly took her hand down from her head and her fingertips gripped the edge of the flatbed cart.

"Don't turn on the light."

Her voice trembled.

"It's too bright."

Lin Ye's gaze fell on her neck.

She tried to lower her head, but it was as if something was stuck in her neck, making it stiff.

The day shift nurses have already wrapped the blood pressure cuffs on.

The sound of the cuff inflating rang out.

The electronic blood pressure monitor displays numbers.

192 to 106.

Heart rate 118.

The woman gagged again and slumped to the side.

The day shift nurse caught her.

"Pupil flashlight"

The deputy director of the day shift took the small flashlight and swept the beam of light across the woman's eyes.

The woman suddenly closed her eyes, her fingers digging into the edge of the flatbed cart, making a cracking sound.

"pain."

She gripped the bark of her fingers tighter, her voice trembling violently.

"Headache."

Lin Ye looked at the registration slip.

The corner of the registration slip was soaked with sweat, and five words were written on it.

Follow-up appointment for migraine.

Lin Ye pressed the paper against the flatbed cart.

"When did the pain start?"

Her husband was stunned for a moment.

"Before lunch, she said she suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and before she could even put her bowl down properly, she vomited."

"Did you have migraines like this before?"

The man opened his mouth.

"I wasn't in such a hurry before."

"Can you lower your head?"

The deputy director of the day shift had already supported the woman's head and gently guided her chin towards his chest.

The woman tensed up completely.

My neck was so stiff it felt like something was holding it up, and I couldn't lower it no matter what I did.

The deputy director of the day shift's expression changed.

Qin Hai handed over the monitoring cable from the side.

"Put the child under guardianship."

Lin Ye lowered his voice.

"My head suddenly started to hurt violently, and I vomited, was sensitive to light, had such high blood pressure, and my neck was stiff."

The deputy director of the day shift twirled his flashlight in his palm.

He put the flashlight back in his pocket and turned to look at the nurses' station.

"Don't treat this like a regular migraine. First, get a cranial CT scan to check for any obvious bleeding. Call both neurologists and neurosurgeons."

The woman's husband's face turned pale instantly.

"It's just a headache, why call it surgery?"

Qin Hai looked at him and spoke in a short voice.

"A normal headache wouldn't come on this suddenly."

He looked toward the CT room.

"Bring her there in a wheelchair with a guardian. Don't let her sit up on the way."

The flatbed wheel started turning.

A corner of the sheet got caught in the fabric, and the day shift nurse bent down to pull it out, her glove brushing against the metal bed rail.

The woman was curled up on the flatbed, her eyes tightly closed.

Her husband stood beside her, his registration slip crumpled into a ball.

Lin Ye stood there, his phone screen still lit up.

On the screen, Lu Yifan's message about working the day shift was at the very bottom.

The patient was not transferred to a regular ward.

The call screen beeped again.

In the general outpatient area, someone asked how much longer they would have to wait.

No one responded to him.

About ten minutes later, the door to the CT scan area opened again, and the sound of the gurney wheels being pushed came back first.

The day shift nurse is peeling off the previous IV patch.

The landline at the nurses' station rang.

The day shift nurse answered the phone, and her expression changed after only two seconds.

"The CT room said that they glanced at the scan of the patient with the headache earlier and it looked like there was blood in it."

She looked up at Qin Hai.

"The neurosurgery department has already been contacted."