"Go straight to the right of Emergency Ward No. 3. The third room is, um, you're welcome."
After seeing off another group of anxious visiting relatives, Lin Shuang straightened the ribbon that read "Excellent Nurse" slung across her body and sighed quietly.
"Oh, the night shift has just begun, and it's already starting to feel a little overwhelming.
Am I... really suitable for this industry?"
Lin Shuang was quite proud at first when she entered the largest private hospital in Bincheng after graduating from college.
But within two months, Lin Shuang felt that she was much more haggard than before and was about to suffer a neurasthenia.
The emergency room at night was not as peaceful as imagined, and it did not match the peacefulness of the night at all.
Noisy cries, anxious pleadings, restless conflicts...noisy and chaotic, making people want to escape as soon as they look at it.
Injured patients who come eager to seek medical treatment can often bring together a large number of concerned family members to surround the hospital bed.
When there are more people, bumps and bumps will inevitably occur when people are crowded together.
From verbal confrontation to physical conflict, all it takes is eye contact.
"What are you worried about?"
"What are you looking at?"
Because of the anxiety about the injured person's condition and the feeling of powerlessness that he can't help, getting into a fight over a disagreement is not just a joke.
Of course, it usually doesn't reach the level of complete martial arts. As long as the doctor says, "If you hit me again, I'll go see other patients!", both parties will become extremely well-behaved again.
And what is even more tiring than the friction between family members...
There are always people leaving here.
The fragility of life is clearly visible here.
The tenacious life in our imagination sometimes disappears in the blink of an eye.
The walls of a hospital have heard more devout prayers and confessions than a church confessional.
Joys and sorrows are not the same between people.
Wail, quarrel, regret...
This place is like a negative microcosm of society. In this case, the restlessness in the heart is constantly stimulated.
Perhaps, to some extent, this is the same as the restlessness of the night.
As the maintainers of order, the nurses on duty at the service desk in the lobby could not adapt to the restlessness and could only fight against the atmosphere, which made people feel haggard.
But after seeing it too much, my heart inevitably begins to feel numb, and I feel a little confused about the concepts of life and death.
Coupled with the reversal of day and night schedules and the gradual decrease in social interactions with friends, Lin Shuang felt that she was about to lose touch with the world.
"I can't think about it any more. If I continue to think about it, I'm going to see a psychiatrist."
As a large comprehensive hospital, the doctors in the psychology department of our hospital are also among the best in the industry, and sometimes we can see them several times in the cafeteria.
There is nothing mysterious about it, and it is no different from doctors in other departments.
"But speaking of mystery, I seem to vaguely remember that there was a doctor in the psychology department who was always doing his own scientific research and didn't make many visits. I'm so envious! Speaking of which, what's his last name..."
"Xiaoshuang! I will take these patients to Dr. Zhang first. You will be responsible for the hall first!"
The slightly stern voice of the head nurse made the little nurse Lin Shuang snap out of her errand and replied like a reflex:
"OK!"
Lin Shuang didn't know what Pavlov's dog was thinking about the scientists' experiments, but she knew that if she was discovered to have slipped out of her account, she would definitely be punished.
The head nurse is a magical existence, and there are not many nurses who have not been beaten with love by the head nurse.
What is more terrifying than the head nurse is the head nurse in the emergency department!
Watching the head nurse walking away quickly with several injured patients, Lin Shuang patted her cheek:
"Okay, okay! No more desertions! Let's finish the work first."
Gently holding her hands on her lower abdomen, Lin Shuang tried her best to maintain her T-step and friendly smile, and used a standard communication posture to wait for inquiries from patients and relatives.
After looking around the hall, Lin Shuang suddenly felt something strange at the entrance of the hall and turned his gaze there.
A tall man wearing a mask and a baseball cap to cover his face was standing at the door, carrying a fruit basket and looking around inside, as if he was looking for something.
The shadow cast by the brim of his hat made it difficult for Lin Shuang to see his specific face clearly, but he could vaguely feel that his eyes were bright.
Although it was a bit strange to look around the emergency room entrance in the middle of the night with a mask on, there was nothing inappropriate about his clothes, and the fruit basket in his hand added some rationality to his behavior.
Most importantly, during her internship, Lin Shuang also saw all kinds of people in the hospital, including some who dressed and even behaved strangely.
It didn't feel too strange. She quickly defined this man's identity in her mind:
A relative who comes to visit a patient in the hospital may still have the same dull and inarticulate personality, which is a little weird but not worth paying attention to.
But it was not possible to keep him standing at the door blocking the door. Lin Shuang quickly walked up to the man and asked him softly with a smile:
"Sir, may I help you with anything?"
As if he didn't expect to be questioned, the man's hand holding the fruit basket tightened obviously, and he suddenly turned his head to look at Lin Shuang in front of him.
If someone looks from the side at this time, they can see that he seems very nervous.
His limbs were a bit uncoordinated, his body was tense, and he almost ran away, as if a timid person was frightened.
But the strange thing is that as long as you can see his eyes, you can feel that there is a ferocity in them that is completely inconsistent with his timid behavior.
Because of the height difference and fatigue, Lin Shuang didn't notice anything unusual in the man's eyes, and always maintained an approachable and even somewhat formulaic smile.
Don't hit the smiling person. Sometimes a well-trained and qualified smile can indeed play a big role in communication.
Sure enough, the man was stunned for a moment and then quickly relaxed. He took half a step back and looked at the nurse in front of him.
After thinking about it, he lowered the brim of his hat, lowered his head and said hoarsely to the nurse:
"...I, I came to the inpatient department to visit my friend."
His voice sounded a little unclear, like a smoker who had been smoking for many years, or his vocal cords had been injured, hoarse and dry.
After giving the man a strange look, Lin Shuang calmly maintained a friendly smile, pointed sideways to the corridor behind her and said:
"Then you're in the wrong place, ours is the emergency department.
For the inpatient department, follow this corridor to the end and turn left and take the elevator. The inpatient department is all on the fourth floor."
Nodding, the man was about to walk past Lin Shuang, but just as the two passed by, Lin Shuang suddenly said:
"By the way, there's one more thing..."
!!!
He turned around suddenly again, his body twisted strangely, and he almost fell on Lin Shuang.
It was like his front legs wanted to run backwards, but his back legs wanted to run to the left, almost doing a split on the spot.
At this time, even if Lin Shuang was in a daze, she noticed something was wrong. The smile on her face was a little stiff, and she took a half step back and asked uncertainly:
"Uh, um, sir, are you okay?"
He can't even stand firmly. Is this person...
Drinking?
Without giving Lin Shuang a chance to smell the alcohol, the man suddenly straightened his body and took a step back, then naturally lifted the fruit basket on his hand and said:
"...I was in a hurry to go upstairs and couldn't stand firm. Do you have anything else to do?"
A barely reasonable explanation.
It felt a little weird, but Lin Shuang didn't want to bother asking any more, so she had to finish half of what she just said:
"...I want to ask, have you made an appointment in advance? If you want to visit the inpatient department now, you need to make an appointment."
"If you don't make an appointment in advance, you can get a form from the service desk and fill it out."
The man looked Lin Shuang up and down with ferocious eyes, then walked forward without looking back and said hoarsely:
"I have applied and passed."
Startled by the explicit licking gaze, Lin Shuang's voice was stuck in her throat, and she stood there blankly watching the man quickly disappear at the end of the corridor.
Snapped.
"Xiaoshuang, are you free? Take this patient to Dr. Jiang, I'm not done yet."
The returning head nurse hurriedly said something to the stunned Lin Shuang, leaving one patient behind and then quickly disappeared.
The head nurse's voice made Lin Shuang nod subconsciously, and the sweat on her forehead flowed with the movement. Then she suddenly woke up and she was already covered in cold sweat.
What happened just now!?
What is that look?
Why do I feel like I’m being targeted by a wild animal!?
"……How are you?"
The patient's confused voice made Lin Shuang purse her lips. She didn't have time to think too much and showed a mechanical smile again.
Suppressing the fear in her heart, Lin Shuang stiffly shook her head at the patient, paused and said:
"...It's okay. Let's find Dr. Jiang, right? Please come with me."
Taking the patient away with small steps, Lin Shuang just wanted to get away from this place that made her a little uneasy as soon as possible.
In the eyes of the patients behind who were confused about the situation, Lin Shuang was walking faster and faster, and his limbs were becoming more and more uncoordinated.
The embarrassed movements were like a frightened little animal running away.
…
…
The man who behaved strangely did not enter the elevator after turning around the corridor. Instead, he avoided the eyes of the people around him and walked into the safety passage not far from the elevator.
After locking the iron door, he spoke in a deep voice to the empty white wall: