Hospital 444

His real dream was to become wealthy, so he wouldn’t have to squeeze into a tiny room with his younger brother anymore, or let his parents scrimp and save, running around for their children’s tuition fees.

As long as he could make a lot of money, any job would do. But if he wrote in his essay that his dream was to make money, he would definitely not get a high score.

So, he decided to think of a profession that sounded very noble, and that’s why he wrote... he wanted to become a doctor.

But he had never actually considered becoming a doctor. To be honest, he could have written firefighter, policeman, soldier, scientist... in the essay and it would have been just fine.

After that, the teacher read another composition.

Amazingly, that essay also dreamt of becoming a doctor!

The author was Luo Ren, who, like him, had skipped grades to finish middle school and been accepted into this high school, all the while maintaining his position at the top of their class.

During the break, Luo Ren came to his desk, beaming with excitement, and asked, "I didn’t expect that, Dai Lin, your dream is also to become a doctor! I didn’t expect such a cool exterior like yours to choose such a noble profession! How about we become good friends?"

Dai Lin had not anticipated the other person to be so overly familiar.

For years, the top student in the school had been Luo Ren, and because of that, Dai Lin could only ever be second.

"Um, okay then..." He couldn’t very well slap away a smiling face, and besides, becoming friends with this academic overachiever wouldn’t do Dai Lin any harm, so he agreed.

"Your essay was really well written; I was so moved listening to it from below!" Luo Ren completely took the content of that essay for truth, "Especially that line, ’If I can become a doctor, I will volunteer my all to eliminate human disease,’ I was truly moved."

Dai Lin couldn’t believe it himself; it was nothing but a medical student’s oath that he had copied randomly from the internet! Could Luo Ren really be so easily touched?

Back then, Dai Lin, unlike Luo Ren, didn’t have such intense sentimentality. He just wanted to improve his grades, secure a scholarship, and be accepted into a higher education institution. With a scholarship, he wouldn’t have to ask his family for a single cent.

After that day, he gained a friend named Luo Ren.

At the time, Dai Lin could never have dreamed that in the end, he would be the one to become a doctor, while Luo Ren would become an investment banker.

It was a tremendous irony.

Clinging tightly to his phone, Dai Lin couldn’t help but think: It had been many years since he and Luo Ren had seen each other. After all, both of their jobs were too busy, and a doctor and an investment banker hardly had common topics to share.

Sitting beside him, Jiang Lan asked, "Was that your family who just called?"

"Yeah," Dai Lin nodded. "My family doesn’t know about the kind of job I’m doing."

"That so... Your profession is indeed quite dangerous. Doctor Dai, rest assured, as long as my father can be treated, I will definitely not shortchange you. If it wasn’t for your hospital’s strict prohibition against private dealings between doctors and patients, I really would like to thank you generously."

The car soon arrived at the airport, and indeed, Jiang Lan had deep pockets; Dai Lin experienced first-class flight for the first time.

"You don’t have to be so formal, Miss Jiang."

"It’s nothing; you doctors work so hard, this is nothing," she replied.

After the plane took off, Jiang Lan suddenly looked at Dai Lin.

This time, her eyes were brimming with tears.

"Actually, Doctor Dai, I’m really scared... I’m afraid that one day, my father might really turn into someone else. I don’t know why this is happening to my father, and now I always feel like those people are... as if... they were killed by my father..."

She didn’t dare to let others hear her, spoke very softly, and even crying sounds could be heard.

Dai Lin wanted to say something to comfort her, but when the words reached his lips, he found he couldn’t say anything.

As a doctor, the most painful moment was being unable to promise the patient and their family that they could be cured.

...

Time flew by...

Late at night.

Dai Lin’s target, Lin Sen, was at the company working overtime, rushing to finish the latest advertising campaign plan.

The client was particularly picky this time, and several new strategies had not been approved.

Everyone felt extremely bitter about the overtime work.

Looking at his worried colleague, Lin Sen said, "In that case, you should go home first. I’ll complete your part for you."

"But, Brother Sen, isn’t that too much? Didn’t your wife just have a baby not long ago?"

"Today is your girlfriend’s birthday. If you don’t leave now, you might end up breaking up. You’ve been working overtime every day for a month; hasn’t she started suspecting you’re cheating? It’s fine for me, my wife and I have been together for years. But you young ones can’t withstand a cold war."

His colleague showed a grateful expression, "Thank you so much, Brother Sen! You’re a real lifesaver!"

"Get going! The boss isn’t here anyway. As long as the new plan is submitted tomorrow, there’ll be no issues."

After his colleague left, Lin Sen took on the work intended for both of them.

Now, he began to feel a headache. He would probably miss the last bus tonight. His child hadn’t even turned two months old, but for the sake of providing baby formula, he had to buckle down and earn some extra overtime pay.

Taking the chance to make a coffee in the pantry, he made a video call to his wife.

"Husband," his wife’s face appeared on the phone screen, and she said helplessly, "What time can you come home tonight?"

Lin Sen gave a wry smile, glanced at the coffee pot beside him, and said to his wife, "Who knows? The client’s demands are too many; us workers can only comply. Quickly, bring the baby over for me to see."

"Sigh, okay, fine."

Then, the wife moved the camera to show their child’s face to Lin Sen.

The baby was not crying or fussing, lying in the crib, seemingly asleep.

"After a day of fussing, he just had his milk, and now he’s finally fallen asleep." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"You’ve worked hard." Lin Sen sighed as he looked at his child’s sleeping face and said, "I’ll come home as soon as I can, honey."

"You ordered takeaway for dinner again, didn’t you?"

"Luckily, the delivery was quick, and the portions were enough to fill me up."

"Alright... keep it up, try to come home as early as possible."

"Mm... okay, goodbye, honey."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Sen thought to himself that if his wife knew he had also taken on his colleague’s work, he didn’t know how she would react.

"Alright, back to work..."

He then grabbed the coffee pot and prepared a cup of coffee for every colleague in the office using disposable cups.

But just then, he suddenly felt a ringing in his ears.

"Hm?"

He discovered that he could no longer hear the voices of his colleagues outside the pantry.

He couldn’t even hear the sound of the coffee pouring into the cup!