127. The new challenge is surrender
Ling Ling, feeling disheartened, dragged her luggage as she wandered through the desolate and dilapidated alleyways. At the end of the narrow alleyway, she found herself on a wide road, but she still had no idea where to go. Looking up, she saw the hospital where Zhong Mingtong worked, and suddenly felt the urge to send him a message, to call him out. She just wanted to see him, to see if her day could get any worse. This strange, childish thought evoked a secret rivalry within her, the pain numbed by the desire to win, and the pain seemed to fade. "Are you in the hospital?" she sent him a message. "Yes, where are you?" he replied almost instantly. "On the steps of the inpatient wing of your hospital." As Zhong Mingtong ran down, she was surprised by Ling Ling's precise description of her location. She was indeed sitting steadily on the steps. He calmed his breath, walked over to her, and asked, "Aren't you cold sitting here?" Ling Ling raised her red, swollen eyes, gave a wry smile, and said, "Not cold at all." Zhong Mingtong glanced at the massive backpack beside her, but without questioning, he simply sat down with her. "Are you busy now?" Ling Ling asked first. "No, it's lunchtime. Let's have a meal together at the small restaurant next door?" Zhong Mingtong said gently. Seeing her tired look, it was unknown what she had been through this morning. Ling Ling said weakly, "I don't want to eat." "I'm a doctor. I'm most afraid of seeing people abuse their bodies, even though I don't treat myself well myself." He persuaded her in a joking tone. Ling Ling was grateful for his concern, and her tone brightened. "I'll go find something to eat later. I just came here to see you. I went through a devastating breakup today, and then I found out my best friend cheated on me with an old classmate who's married with kids. She called me a slut, and I happened to be walking downstairs at your hospital, so I thought I'd come see you and see if my day would be better or worse." Zhong Mingtong looked at her in silence for a moment, his gentle eyes melting with comfort. Then he slowly said, "I have two surgeries today. This morning, I assisted a teacher with a liver transplant. The operation wasn't successful, and the patient might not make it to tomorrow. His family is making a scene in the hospital. This afternoon's operation is on a pancreatic cancer patient. When he came in last month, the tumor was only the size of a broad bean, and the location and indicators of his blood vessels were perfect, making it suitable for surgery. However, he insisted on meditation and fasting, a natural treatment method, and now his condition has deteriorated dramatically. I don't know how dangerous this afternoon's surgery will be. Today, I also visited a patient who's having a liver transplant tomorrow. He's a little boy of seven or eight. His organ...
Ling Ling, disheartened, dragged her luggage as she wandered through the desolate and dilapidated alleys. At the end of the narrow alleyway, she found herself on a wide road, but she still didn't know where to go. Looking up, she saw the hospital where Zhong Mingtong worked, and suddenly wanted to send him a message, to call him out. She just wanted to see him, to see if her day could get any worse. This inexplicable childishness gave her a feeling of secret competition, but the pain was numbed by the desire to win, and the pain seemed less severe.
"Are you in the hospital?" she texted him.
"Yes, where are you?" He replied almost instantly.
"On the steps of your hospital's inpatient department."
When Zhong Mingtong ran down, he didn't expect Ling Ling's description of the location to be so accurate. She was indeed sitting steadily on the steps.
He calmed down his panting, walked over to her and asked her, "Isn't it cold sitting here?"
Ling Ling raised her red and swollen eyes, smiled bitterly and said, "I don't feel cold."
Zhong Mingtong looked at the huge backpack beside her and didn't ask anything. He just sat down with her.
"Are you busy now?" Ling Ling asked first.
"It's not busy, it's lunchtime. Let's have a meal together at the small restaurant next door?" Zhong Mingtong said gently. Seeing her tired look, it was unknown what she had been through this morning.
Ling Ling said weakly, "I don't want to eat."
"I'm a doctor. What I fear most is seeing people abuse their bodies, even though I don't take good care of my body myself." He advised her in a joking tone.
Ling Ling was grateful for his concern, and her tone brightened. "I'll go find something to eat later. I just came here to see you. I went through a terrible breakup today, and then I found out my best friend cheated on me with an old classmate who's married with kids, and then she called me a slut. I happened to be walking downstairs to your hospital, so I thought I'd come see you and see if my day would be better or worse."
Zhong Mingtong looked at her in silence for a moment, his gentle eyes melting with comfort. Then he slowly said, "I have two operations today. This morning, I assisted a teacher with a liver transplant. The operation was unsuccessful, and the patient may not survive tomorrow. His family is making a scene in the hospital. This afternoon's operation is on a pancreatic cancer patient. When he came in last month, his tumor was only the size of a broad bean, and the location and indicators of his blood vessels were perfect, making him suitable for surgery. However, he insisted on natural therapies such as meditation and fasting. Now his condition has deteriorated rapidly, and I don't know how dangerous this afternoon's operation will be. Today, I also visited the patient who will undergo a liver transplant tomorrow. He's a little boy of seven or eight. His organs and blood vessels are much thinner than normal, and his liver is probably as hard as dried rock. I hope everything goes well tomorrow, and I hope this child can have a life long enough to accommodate the joys and sorrows of a normal person. People always say that doctors need to be as brave as women, but in every battle of life and death, I just want to think of myself as a delicate instrument that unplugs the emotional power source."
After Zhong Mingtong finished speaking, they both fell into silence for a long time.
"Thank you." Ling Ling said in a low voice, as if she was only talking to herself.
"If you have nowhere to go, you can stay at my place temporarily. I live alone anyway." Zhong Mingtong tried to make this invitation sound as calm as possible, but his hands rubbing on his pants betrayed him.
Ling Ling stood up, shook her head, and said sadly, "I will never stay at someone else's house again because I have nowhere else to go. Today I just felt that this world was too disgusting, so I wanted to try my luck with you, who I now believe is the purest."
"Will you come to see me again in the future? Or what if one day you feel that I am not so pure anymore?" Zhong Mingtong stood up and asked.
Ling Ling smiled with relief and said, "Maybe by then I won't find this world so disgusting anymore!"
Zhong Mingtong stood on the steps, watching Ling Ling walk down one step at a time, and then leave in a leisurely manner.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ling Ling has always felt that pain is a deeply personal matter. The sleepless nights, the deep nights of tears, the discomfort of suddenly losing someone—these are all personal to her. Passionate love is personal, as is heartbreak; she doesn't flaunt her happiness when in love, nor does she seek comfort when heartbroken. She needs no comfort from outsiders; she simply wishes to entrust everything to time. On the branches of time, bitter fruits wait to shrivel and then fall. They emerged from the dazzling light of time, and will vanish in the mist of time.
Having lost her love and friendship, Ling Ling's world is left with only work. She works day and night, and has received unanimous praise from the company. Everyone agrees that Mr. Fang has good vision.
Seeing that she was working overtime every day and was almost going crazy, Gu Chuqi couldn't help but persuade her, "Boss Ling, do you know what "Buddha-style" means? It means to put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha. What you put down is the butcher knife that butchered you. If you keep going like this, you'll almost turn yourself into a relic. I don't want you to become the shortest-lived director in history."
Ling Ling refused to listen. "Team A is short on manpower right now. I've already mentioned adding more people to Mr. Fang. We can just shoulder the burden together."
"Sister Ling, Mr. Fang is looking for you. It seems like he's talking about a new person." Shaoyao walked into Lingling's office and interrupted their conversation.
"Look, good news comes as soon as it's spoken!" Ling Ling proudly raised her head towards Chu Qi.
When they arrived at the office, Mr. Fang said to her, "You said earlier that Group A was short of people. Now the company has a new person. I heard that he studied design in the United States. He is just the right person for you."
"You said, 'I heard'? Then I'll ask the HR department for a copy of your resume." Ling Ling said seriously, as seriously as she treated her other work. She already had a complete new employee training manual in her mind.
Mr. Fang hesitated and said, "No, don't worry about her education or ability."
Ling Ling had already picked up the phone to contact the head of the human resources department, but she didn't expect Mr. Fang to say this suddenly. She looked at him in confusion.
He slowly said, "The newcomer is called Delina. She's the daughter of Desheng Group. She's in Group A. Take good care of her."
Ling Ling instantly understood that this was a relative. Not only could she not be expected to work, she might even have to hire two maids to wait on her. She quickly acted humbly, saying to her boss, "Boss Fang, don't be fooled by the names of the three of us in Group A—Ling'er, Chuqi, and Shaoyao—that sound like servants. Each one is more discerning than the last. Don't let the eldest daughter of the De family suffer any injustice."
"Don't worry about that. I don't just leave such an important client relationship somewhere. You are my most trusted subordinate in the company now, so I'm entrusting you with such an important matter."
Well, now that the boss has said so, Lingling has no chance of resisting. The upside of a promotion is a pay raise and more resources, but the downside is greater responsibility. The first challenge of becoming a manager is learning to yield, to make compromise aesthetically pleasing. Lingling naturally understood that.
"I understand, Mr. Fang. Don't worry, I will take good care of Lina so that she can learn things and work easily and happily." Ling Ling put a professional fake smile on her dry face, which didn't seem to stick to her real face.
When Ling Ling first met Delina, she thought her makeup was a bit too elaborate, making her natural appearance look even more unattractive than the layer of makeup. Of course, Ling Ling didn't dare assign her to Chu Qi, fearing he'd snap in ten minutes and start another fight. She also didn't want to assign her to Lu Chong. Although Lu was good-tempered, she was the only artist in the group, and losing her was a huge loss.
So Ling Ling had no choice but to let Shaoyao take care of this hot-headed Delina. But within two weeks, Shaoyao, who had always been submissive, made a rare complaint to Ling Ling. Chu Qi brought her to Ling Ling's office.
"Sister Ling, can you please stop asking me to take care of Delina? No matter how much work I had before, I could finish it by working overtime. Now she messes with me during the day, and I have to clean up the mess at night. Let alone innovative work, I can't even complete basic work." Shaoyao sat across from Ling Ling's desk and complained to her.
Ling Ling could only put on a forced smile and comfort her, saying, "Just give her some simple tasks to get started. After all, she graduated from a regular undergraduate college, so she should be able to do whatever she can."
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