Chapter 9 Mad Dog Hotel
Lu Qi paused for a moment when he entered the lounge.
A small bouquet of roses was placed on her cabinet.
The anesthesiologist walked by with a glass of water, winking at her, "Someone gave it to me."
This bouquet of flowers, placed on the table, is quite eye-catching.
Lu Qi was unwilling to accept the bouquet, but she didn't know how to return it without hurting anyone's feelings. Being returned the bouquet in public by a girl would make Lu Shi'an lose face.
Just as I was pondering this, I heard footsteps behind me.
Lu Qi turned his head and met Lulu's beautiful face.
He smiled at her, his eyes crinkling, and said, "Good morning."
All the sunlight seemed to blend into that smile.
Lu Qi unconsciously smiled and said, "Good morning."
Ever since I saw Lulu's shadow in Xiao Lu, this sense of déjà vu has become stronger and stronger.
For example, his expression at this moment is exactly the same as Lulu's when she smiles.
He was Lu Shi'an's assistant, and they had already had a conflict due to a mismatch. She should keep her distance from him, but because of Lulu's shadow, she could never bear to deliberately be cold to him.
Lulu sniffed Lu Qi's scent, tilted her head, and looked at him suspiciously, "Haven't you had breakfast yet?"
Lu Qi's heart skipped a beat; the way he tilted his head to look at her was more and more like Lulu's.
“I got up late,” she said, “and I’m not hungry.”
Lulu said, "I'll go buy it for you, okay?"
Lu Qi was taken aback.
Their relationship was far from the point where they would specifically buy breakfast together.
The female anesthesiologist smiled and said, "Oh dear, why hasn't anyone asked me if I've had breakfast?"
She was just joking casually, but the young man actually turned around and gently asked her, "Do you need one too? I can buy it for you."
The female anesthesiologist was surprised, "You treat everyone the same."
"Buying breakfast? I haven't eaten yet either." Dr. Qin heard this as soon as he entered the door. He took out twenty yuan. "Xiao Lu, can you buy some for me too?"
Lulu looked at Lu Qi, waiting for her reply.
Dr. Qin shook the banknotes in her hand, thinking he hadn't heard her, and called out twice more, "Xiao Lu, here."
There was no response. Lu Qi quickly gestured to Lulu to answer Dr. Qin's question.
Her attention was entirely focused on the man behind her, and the smile on Lulu's face faded.
He turned around, his expression a mix of indifference and curiosity, and asked, "Why me? Why don't you go yourself?"
Dr. Qin paused.
The female anesthesiologist was also somewhat bewildered.
She thought Lulu liked Lu Qi, but she didn't expect him to be happy to buy her breakfast.
However, judging from Lulu's attitude towards Dr. Qin right now, he is not exactly a warm-hearted young man.
Dr. Qin's hand, holding the banknotes, froze in mid-air.
The atmosphere was tense and awkward. Lu Qi quickly took out a small bread roll from her bag and handed it over, saying, "Dr. Qin, I happen to have a bread roll here. Please have this to tide you over."
The old doctor, with a dark expression, glanced at her and Lulu.
He chuckled coldly, refusing to take the bread from Lu Qi, and said slowly, "Nice flowers, another one from Xiao Lü? It's been over a year, how long do you plan to keep him hanging on?"
After saying that, he picked up his water glass and left the lounge.
Lu Qi pursed her lips, her cheeks burning, feeling extremely embarrassed.
Lulu's eyes darkened slightly.
He glanced at the bouquet of flowers out of the corner of his eye, then fell heavily behind Dr. Qin.
The female anesthesiologist glanced at the group and awkwardly comforted Lu Qi, "Let's go, it's time."
Lu Qi tightened his grip on the bread, and after a long while, nodded gently.
She placed the bouquet in the consultation room and distributed the flowers one by one to the patients.
This unpleasant morning seemed to be a harbinger of a busy and urgent day ahead, with no respite from morning till night.
At 8 p.m., just before leaving get off work, a golden retriever was rushed to the emergency room.
It was hit by an electric scooter, its internal organs were ruptured, and its ribs were shattered. Its condition was extremely dangerous, and to make matters worse, it was a 16-year-old senior dog.
Lu Shi'an communicated with the owner and advised against anesthetizing a dog of this age.
At the owner's insistence, Lü Shi'an signed a risk agreement on one side, and the surgery began immediately on the other.
In order to save time for anesthesia, two doctors performed the surgery at the same time. Dean Lü personally performed the surgery, while the other doctor selected Lu Qi.
Upon cutting open the golden retriever's abdominal cavity and seeing what was inside, Lu Qi was suddenly stunned.
Comminuted fractures of the 9th to 12th ribs, gallbladder punctured by the left 13th rib, spleen ruptured...
The same golden retriever and the exact same scene were replicated before her eyes, and she was almost frozen in place, forgetting how to breathe.
"Lu Qi? Lu Qi!" Dean Lü called her several times before she finally snapped out of her daze and continued the resuscitation efforts.
She was cleaning up the broken bone fragments from the ribs above, with anesthetized dog heads inserted into her lower abdomen, and her gaze was down at the lifeless face of the golden retriever.
It fell in front of her.
The surgery was not completed; the elderly golden retriever did not survive the anesthesia and died on the operating table in less than five minutes.
Dean Lü took off his surgical cap, exhaled a tired breath, and saw Lu Qi push aside the assistant next to him, cover her mouth, and run out of the operating room.
She didn't even take off her gloves; her hands, covered in blood and tissue fluid, were tightly covering her mouth and nose. Various bodily fluids mingled and smeared all over the lower half of her face.
She rushed into the toilet and vomited into the squat toilet.
Not content with emptying her stomach, she leaned against the wall, her upper body hunched, vomiting bile repeatedly as if trying to bring out her internal organs.
Comminuted fractures of the 9th to 12th ribs, gallbladder punctured by the left 13th rib, spleen ruptured...
She vomited violently, and the sounds of Lu Shi'an and the host explaining and apologizing came from the corridor.
The sound was distant and indistinct, separated by a door, accompanied by the owner's weeping.
Faintly, one could hear the sirens of police cars and ambulances.
Lulu stood at the toilet door.
After the doctors finished their shifts, only a few assistants remained on night duty. Half of the lights in the corridor were off, and a faint, sparse white light, like a pale veil, gently draped over his shoulders.
A violent retching sound came from inside the door. He took two quick steps forward, but stopped after hearing a breakdown and sobbing.
The young man lowered his eyes and stared at his toes. The shadow beneath his feet writhed and twisted restlessly, as if trying to slip into the doorway and touch Lu Qi in his place.
Nearly half an hour later, when Lu Qi came out of the bathroom, the operating room had been cleaned up and the heartbroken owner had left.
She spotted Lulu standing not far away.
Meeting her reddened eyes, Lulu immediately walked towards her, her face filled with worry.
Lu Qi could see his concern, but she really didn't have the energy to deal with it.
She brushed past him before Lulu could speak, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, I'm going home now."
Lulu was taken aback.
He looked back at Lu Qi's hurried departure, leaving her in the desolate and gloomy corridor.
When the receptionists saw Lu Qi, they asked in surprise, "Sister Lu, are you not feeling well? You look so pale."
Lu Qi shook his head, "It's nothing, I'm going back."
Her voice, barely audible, was hoarse and weak, tinged with the harshness of stomach acid.
Before leaving, Lu Qi went to the temporary morgue.
The golden retriever, lifeless, lay in a funeral bag.
The surroundings were completely silent, with only the faint glow of the safety lights.
A deathly silence enveloped the place; not a trace of life could be seen.
She crouched in front of the corpse, the sound of her owner crying as she vomited filling her ears.
After a while, when his legs were numb from squatting, Lu Qi slowly got up and left.
The road home was completely dark, and only two of Lü Shi'an's flowers remained.
She walked back to her rented apartment, opened the door, and placed the remaining flowers in the entryway.
After changing her shoes, she looked up and was faced with the display case in the living room.
Behind the glass cabinet door are two photos: one is a family portrait of the girl, and the other is an adult golden retriever sitting on the grass.
Lu Qi stopped.
She stood in front of the photo for a long time before finally opening the cabinet door and placing the two roses in front of it.
Apart from her, none of them had seen flowers in a long time.
The rose touched the corner of the photo frame, and behind the photo, a pristine white urn was revealed.
A large black swallow was perched on a branch outside the window.
Swallow tilted her head, her scarlet eyes fixed on the young man under the tree.
Lulu coldly warned it, forbidding it from taking another half step forward.
The swallow opened its beak, giving a sly, inhuman laugh.
It was mocking him, urging him, questioning him: Why haven't you opened the domain yet? Why leave her in a world of suffering?
A note from the author:
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