Chapter 1: I was working in the hospital while you were skydiving on the island

It was a winter morning, still dark and slumbering. Zhou Cheng was awakened by the familiar sound of his alarm clock. He closed his eyes, struggled to reach out from under the warm covers, and fumbled for his phone. He pressed a few buttons, and the relentless, annoying alarm stopped. He closed his eyes for a moment, then struggled to open them and checked his phone. Fortunately, only two minutes had passed.

Every day he would have different, strange, and exhausting dreams. In the chaotic moment between dreams and reality, he could still remember some of the plot, but when he was fully awake, these dreams would quickly dissipate like smoke, leaving no trace.

It was still dark outside. Zhou Cheng dragged his exhausted body out of bed, washed up, and put the instant porridge in the microwave before he finally sobered up a bit. There were many new messages in the department group chat.

Looking at the vital signs of the three new patients, he sighed that it had been a busy night for Old Yang. Then he began to deduce the patient's diagnosis based on the vital signs. By the time he'd finished his analysis, breakfast was over. For him, breakfast was just a way to fill his stomach. Anything was enough; it was enough to fill his stomach quickly.

After donning a thick, warm down jacket, he looked in the mirror. He looked like a typical office worker, his eyes dull and his face expressionless. After four years of clinical experience, the high-spirited young man of those days was long gone.

Zhou Cheng took the elevator to the underground parking lot, feeling the cold air creep in through his unzipped collar. He hunched his neck slightly and quickly got into the car. It had snowed a few days before, making the already cold winter even more unbearable. Although he left for work early every day, the way to the hospital involved passing a middle school and two elementary schools. Unless he left at 6 a.m., the traffic was always congested. While waiting at a red light, he watched the high school students, like him, heading to school with expressionless faces, and his despair for the world began to build again.

From childhood to adulthood, Zhou Cheng was the typical child, everything going according to plan. He served as a study committee member from elementary school through high school, and was accepted into the then-popular seven-year clinical medicine program at Mincheng Medical University. He received scholarships every year during college, and for his master's degree, he went straight to a doctoral program under the director of the hepatobiliary surgery department at the First Affiliated Hospital. Now, a year after graduating with his doctorate, he's officially been working. But no one cares about his true feelings; his mission is to serve others. His inner world is no longer barren; it's simply desolate.

Zhou Cheng honked the horn several times. The driver in front of him, distracted for some reason, remained motionless even though the light had turned green. The driver then rolled down his window and gave him the middle finger. Zhou Cheng, furious, stepped on the accelerator to confront him, but the driver swerved and drove off. Zhou Cheng hesitated for a second, then remembered that he still had to make rounds and perform surgeries. He swallowed his anger and continued driving slowly toward the hospital.

"Doctor Zhou, you're here so early. Have you had breakfast?" As soon as Zhou Cheng walked into the department, he was approached by the night nurse.

"I see you were pretty busy last night." He refused the breakfast offered by the nurse.

"Fortunately, there were two emergency cases, so Dr. Yang slept for a while in the second half of the night." Zhou Cheng didn't understand why the nurses were so energetic and still full of energy after staying up all night.

"Hold on a little longer. Once the general surgery department is done with their vacation, we won't have to admit patients for them anymore."

"Oh, handsome Zhou is going to be a leader? You sound like a director." The nurse covered her mouth and laughed. Zhou Cheng didn't say anything. He changed into a white coat and went to make rounds.

The general surgery department is taking turns on vacation recently. General Surgery Department 1 will be on vacation soon, and General Surgery Department 2 will be on vacation next week. Therefore, all the gastrointestinal diseases treated by General Surgery Department 1 this week are admitted to their department.

"Zhou Cheng, do you know where the director is going to play?" Yang Luning, who was in the same group, immediately came over to ask him when he saw him coming back from the ward rounds.

"How should I know? Aren't you the most informed?" Zhou Cheng sat down, opened his workstation and began to write the preoperative ward rounds.

"Oh, don't write these for now, let the interns write them. I heard that the director wants to take us to the hot spring town?" Yang Luning snatched the mouse away and stopped him from working.

"Very good." Zhou Cheng took the mouse from him and continued writing the ward rounds.

"How come you are so boring? Aren't you bored living like this every day?" Yang Luning said speechlessly.

"I'm fine, why are you boring?" Zhou Cheng didn't want to waste time talking to him.

"With your personality, you deserve it that the director doesn't let you lead a team." Yang Luning sighed, "Look, you have the academic qualifications, the skills, and the looks. You should hang out with the director more often. You should have led a team since you were hired as attending physician last year." After saying that, he pinched Zhou Cheng's chin and turned his face towards him.

For Zhou Cheng, not being able to lead a team last year was a lifelong shame. Another incident on the pillar of shame was when he wet the bed at night because of a fever in his first grade.

"Brother Yang, it hurts so much when you stabbed me." Zhou Cheng punched Yang Luning in the chest.

"You're so stubborn. I should have understood long ago that if students are not allowed to write medical records, how can I expect you to smooth things over?" After saying this, Yang Luning sat back in his seat and stretched.

Zhou Cheng always adhered to the principle of hands-on involvement, never allowing interns or graduate students to help him with menial tasks like writing medical records. His colleagues in the department loved following him. In their hearts, Zhou Cheng was the only qualified teacher capable of imparting knowledge, and only Zhou Cheng treated them as students, not consumable medical supplies. However, this behavior inevitably led to isolation. Sometimes, doing everything right wasn't enough to be right in this world.

"Teacher Zhou, how many operations are there today?" When it was almost eight o'clock, colleagues in the department came one after another. Two rotating residents came over and asked him in a low voice, then put the coffee on his table.

"You should follow Director Liu's group today. The tasks in our group are not difficult and you won't learn much." Zhou Cheng spoke quietly, but Yang Luning at the next table curled his lips after hearing it and winked at the two girls.

"Teacher Zhou, can you please not be so direct when speaking to me next time?" Yang Luning patted his shoulder with the test report.

Zhou Cheng shrugged indifferently.

Within general surgery, the third department is thyroid and breast surgery, a relatively common surgical department with a high number of female doctors. Unlike orthopedics and neurosurgery, which are all male, female doctors who rotate into general surgery second often become followers of Professor Zhou Cheng, because while Professor Zhou is serious, he's also handsome.

But why doesn’t Teacher Zhou have a girlfriend?

This was everyone's question. Doctors around his age had already married and had children, and some had even divorced and remarried. A stable job, a car, and a house were just the basics, but with his tall and handsome figure, it was no wonder his female colleagues were constantly courting Zhou Cheng. But Zhou Cheng was serious and reserved, always seeming to keep people at arm's length.

"I don't want to go back now. It's too cold." Su Qingyan's voice mixed with the roar of the helicopter and was difficult to hear clearly.

"Mr. Su, it's been almost a month since you left the company. It's really hard to explain to the company." Su Qingyan's assistant placed a notebook in front of him. "There are a lot of things I need you to sign."

In order to find Su Qingyan, the assistant was forced to chase onto the helicopter. He was afraid of heights, but in order to keep his job, he gritted his teeth and got on.

"If you jump down with me, I will go back with you." Su Qingyan turned around and smiled at him, then jumped down from the hatch.

The assistant's adrenaline surged after taking a look, and his legs went weak, grabbing the seat belt tightly and closing his eyes.

The year with Mr. Su was the most colorful one in his career. He was in no mood to appreciate the tropical island scenery. He really didn't want to do this kind of job of looking for people all over the world.