Granting You A Second Life

Tuesday had finally arrived.

Li Xiuying was currently tapping away on her keyboard. She had arrived at work at 7:00 am to make a few last minute preparations for her theater list. Li Xiuying had a battle ahead with various unknown variables. In the words of the Sun Tzu "If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him". She had thought about various scenarios and had taken precautions to prevent or negate various outcomes.

Surprisingly half an hour later Jiang Huan walked through the door, her skin was glowing and she radiated happiness: "Good morning Dr. Li." Jiang Huan had thought it would be prudent to make up the hours she had missed last week. She wanted to get a few brownie points by coming in early and leaving late.

Li Xiuying briefly looked up from the computer screen before continuing her work completely ignoring Jiang Huan"s existence. She could see through Jiang Huan"s intentions.

Jiang Huan sat at her desk feeling a little out of sorts by Li Xiuying"s ambivalence to her. However she didn"t dwell on these negative feelings. She was still experiencing bliss from her romantic getaway.

Jiang Huan: "Thank you again Dr. Li for allowing me to take so many days off."

Li Xiuying remained silent. She couldn"t be bothered to waste her breathe on someone who was so stupid couldn"t even remember to act out her lie. Jiang Huan had asked for the days off in order to be with her dying grandmother; so how could she look so happy?

Jiang Huan smile faltered for a moment, she finally seemed to recall her lie about her grandmother: "Ah Dr. Li my grandmother miraculously made a full recovery. Everyone was astounded by her sudden improvement. I couldn"t believe it. I"m so happy that she recovered. "

Jiang Huan: "Dr. Li I actually came in yesterday to finish some incomplete tasks. I looked at your timetable and I saw that there was a 1st year resident shadowing you today. I recalled that you allow 2 people shadow you, so I took the initiative to add a surgical resident to today"s list. His name is Mao Yi Hui and he"s a surgical resident hoping to specialize in upper GI surgery. I thought that he could a.s.sist with your theater list. He is very competent and his colleagues speak highly of him."

It was actually Tang Tingzhe that had spoken highly of Mao Yi Hui. Tang Tingzhe had asked if she could allow Mao Yi Hui to shadow Li Xiuying a few times to gain experience and build his CV.

Li Xiuying finally stopped what she was doing and looked at Jiang Huan as if she was a scientific specimen.

Jiang Huan now was certain that something was off about Li Xiuying. A frightening thought occurred to her "Does Dr Li know why I changed her theater list? No, no that doesn"t matter the list will be constantly changed for one thing or another. There"s no way she knows I did it for Tang Tingzhe." She took a steadying breathe and bravely tried to face Li Xiuying"s scrutinizing gaze.

Li Xiuying: "No residents this week." She had already provided both written and verbal instructions regarding this.

Jiang Huan: "I realize you didn"t want any residents but I thought you were only referring to 1st years. When I saw Wu Quon scheduled to shadow you today I thought that the previous instructions no longer applied. Mao Yi Hui is a really competent budding GI surgeon you"ll be helping to develop his future career. So I think it would be great if you two could work together. I"ll page him at 8 to meet you at theaters."

Li Xiuying really doubted that she could last another month with this woman; not only was she incompetent she now felt comfortable following her own idiotic thought patterns.

Li Xiuying: "No."

Jiang Huan looked confused: "Erm sorry Dr Li? Is there something you"re unhappy with?"

Li Xiuying coldly said: "Are you dictating my actions?"

Jiang Huan: "No Dr Li, I"m sorry I didn"t mean to. I just thought that..."

Li Xiuying: "Job remit." She normally wouldn"t mind her personal a.s.sistant making changes to her timetable and giving her suggestions but Jiang Huan didn"t really work for her. She was someone with a hidden agenda and her l.u.s.tful infatuation had incapacitated her ability to reason.

Jiang Huan: "I"m sorry for overstepping." She felt indignant that Dr Li would make her feel inferior because she was a personal a.s.sistant. "So what if I don"t have a medical degree?! Does that mean I don"t have a mind and the ability to think?!"

Li Xiuying: "Cancel now."

Jiang Huan pushed down her unhappy feelings and spoke professionally: "Yes I will immediately call Mao Yi Hui and inform him."

Li Xiuying picked up her briefcase and put a few doc.u.ments inside form her desk.

Jiang Huan persisted on: "Can I put Mao Yi Hui on the list for next week instead? He"s really eager to shadow you."

Li Xiuying: "No." She left the room. Well now she knew how Jiang Huan had survived until this age, her tenacity and persistence.

Jiang Huan muttered under her breathe: "She completely ruined my mood. Well whatever I can just put Mao Yi Hui on a list in a few weeks time anyway."

....

As Li Xiuying walked towards theaters she was texting Shen Xiaosi.

[Li Xiuying message: Monitor the timetable for Mao Yi Hui.]

Li Xiuying slipped her phone into her pocket. The only reason why she allowed Jiang Huan to continue working for her was because she wanted to find out who the mastermind behind her was. Although she had her suspicions she wanted evidence before acting. Furthermore, she didn"t want the person to replace Jiang Huan with someone else. "It"s better the devil you know".

...

Li Xiuiyng had changed into a set of scrubs and went to talk to her patients who were waiting in the preoperative holding area. Wu Quon was also accompanying her as she did a quick round.

They had worked their way through the list and finally it was turn of patient No.9, Mrs Si Peijing.

Li Xiuying was looking through Si Peijing"s hospital notes and surprisingly someone had taken a history and done an examination last week. Li Xiuying checked the name of the doctor and saw that it was Mao Yi Hui, the person Jiang Huan was trying to push into her theater earlier.

Wu Quon saw Li Xiuiyng frown at the screen and kept quiet by the side. He had made a copy of the surgical list yesterday so he could look up the procedures being performed and read around the topics.

Additionally, he had looked up all the notes for patients on the theater list. From what he read about Si Peijing; she was having a routine cholecystectomy. She didn"t have any medical conditions and she hadn"t had any surgeries. She wasn"t on any medications and had no allergies. Wu Quon started panicking a little internally "Is there something in the notes that I missed? c.r.a.p is it some weird genetic condition that only two people in the world have had? Why didn"t I do more reading on genetics?!"

Li Xiuying: "Let"s go."

Wu Quon stopped berating himself internally and followed.

As they stopped by the patient"s bed, Li Xiuying"s indicated for Wu Quon to proceed.