Scene25Time/Morning Location/Duty Room, Department of Surgery, Guanghua Hospital, Taitung
Characters/Yang Wenhua, Su Junsheng
△Inside the duty room, Yang Wenhua and Su Junsheng are studying those two medical records.
Su Junsheng: Senior, in Case A1, there are cancerous tumors in the liver, lungs, and pancreas. Clearly, the cancer cells have already spread.
Yang Wenhua: In the lungs of Case A1, the cancerous tumor is still quite localized. We can deal with it by surgical removal. As for the liver and pancreas, we must attack on three fronts simultaneously: tissue resection, vascular embolization, and electrocautery.
Su Junsheng: But if we do that, then we must divide it into two stages, so that the surgery time does not become too long, the bleeding can still be controlled, and the patient can survive it.
Yang Wenhua: My assessment is that if we move fast enough and precisely enough, and coordinate seamlessly with each other, the liver and lungs can be operated on at the same time.
Su Junsheng: (nods) I understand what you mean, Senior. Then what about A2?
Yang Wenhua: Use ECMO first, repair the heart valve, then dilate the main blood vessel to clear the blood clot, and finally install a supporting stent.
Su Junsheng: Mm! That is the same procedure I had in mind.
Scene 26 Time/Morning Location/Operating Room, Duty Room, and Director’s Office, Department of Surgery, Guanghua Hospital, Taitung
Characters/Yang Wenhua, Shao Qingyang, Nurse, Patient’s Family
△Inside the operating room, the surgery is nearing its end. Wenhua is stitching up the patient’s wound.
△Wenhua walks out of the operating room and removes his mask. A middle-aged man, accompanied by three children, comes forward to meet him.
Middle-aged Man: Sir, my wife’s surgery...
Yang Wenhua: Your wife will recover very soon. Remember to bring her back regularly for follow-up examinations.
Middle-aged Man: Sir, thank you so much!
△The patient’s husband leads the three children in bowing respectfully to Yang Wenhua.
△Yang Wenhua returns to the duty room of the Department of Surgery. He has just sat down and taken a sip of tea when the internal phone rings.
Shao Qingyang: Wenhua, I know you just finished a surgery. There is something I want to talk to you about.
Yang Wenhua: Alright, Director. I will come over right away.
△Yang Wenhua stands up and leaves. Passing through the corridor of the inpatient ward, he arrives at the director’s office, knocks on the door, and enters.
Shao Qingyang: Wenhua, I have read the paper you recently published in an international journal. Indeed, every generation produces talented people.
Yang Wenhua: Thank you, Director.
Shao Qingyang: Over the past two years, you have shouldered most of the work in the operating room of the Department of Surgery. More importantly, you have accepted cases that other doctors lacked confidence to take on, and you have never once refused. For that reason alone, I should promote you to attending physician.
Yang Wenhua: Director, I am still young. I need more clinical medical experience.
Shao Qingyang: (smiles) Thank you for being considerate of me. In our profession, we rank people by seniority, and we have always valued the ethics of seniority and hierarchy. The president of the main hospital has asked me to recommend one colleague to go to the international medical conference in Shanghai and present an academic paper. I have carefully considered this opportunity. There is no one more suitable than you. You are the one who should go.
Yang Wenhua: Director, but my current work...
Shao Qingyang: You do not need to worry about that part. I will take care of it. In our Guanghua Hospital, when it comes to publishing papers in academic journals, you have the greatest international visibility in both quality and quantity. No colleague has any objection to that. To be able to do your regular duties well and also take care of research work is truly difficult and not easy.
Yang Wenhua: I am only learning while I work, accumulating experience in solving problems through more difficult cases.
Shao Qingyang: Learning by doing, that is exactly right. Make some preparations, choose one paper and send it to the organizers first, then set off for Shanghai at the beginning of next month.
Yang Wenhua: Thank you for your guidance and support, Director.
Shao Qingyang: There is no need to be polite with me. Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. Work hard! In the future, you will become a bright new star in the field of surgical medicine.
Scene 27 Time/Dusk Location/Qingxiu Jiaren Aesthetic Medical Clinic, Commercial District, Shanghai
Characters/Lin Xiuling, Zhao Xiaodong, Zhang Dongmei, Su Mingzhu, Nurse
△At dusk, the delivery boy from the flower shop brings a bouquet of fresh flowers, and the nurse at the reception desk signs for it.
Nurse: It is the same person again. This Doctor Zhao really is thoughtful!
Zhang Dongmei: Our boss seems neither warm nor cold toward Doctor Zhao. I will put the flowers in a vase.
△Head Nurse Zhang Dongmei unties the bouquet and arranges it in the vase beside the display window. Zhang Dongmei walks back to the reception desk.
Nurse: If this Doctor Zhao sent flowers to me, I would definitely run over to him immediately.
Zhang Dongmei: We are only maids by fate, so do not indulge in wishful thinking. Tidy up the reception desk, then it is time to get off work and rest!
△Inside the consultation room, Lin Xiuling is talking on the phone.
“Doctor Zhao, please wait a moment. I need to take a call from my classmate in Taipei first.”
“Mingzhu, it is Xiuling.”
“Oh? You said Senior Wenhua is coming to Shanghai to attend a medical conference?”
“Alright, which day and what time is the flight?”
“I have written it down. I will go to the airport to pick him up.”
“Let things take their natural course. Matters of the heart cannot be forced.”
“Come visit me in Shanghai another day! I will treat you.”
△After switching calls, Xiuling continues talking with Zhao Xiaodong on the phone.
“I am sorry, Doctor Zhao, for making you wait.”
“I see. But unfortunately, I have a friend coming from Taiwan during those days, so I may not be able to attend your birthday dance party.”
“Bring him along with me? I will have to ask him first.”
“Him? He is my senior from medical school!”
“What kind of relationship? Just senior and junior classmates. He used to take very good care of me. What? It feels as though you seem to...”
“Tonight will not work. I need to make some preparations. Another day, alright?”
“I am going to rest. Bye!”
△After finishing the call, Lin Xiuling takes off her doctor’s coat and hangs it up, then pushes the door open and comes out.
Lin Xiuling: Dongmei, check the instruments, and then you can get off work.
Zhang Dongmei: Yes, Boss. You seem to be in quite a good mood today. Are you going to meet Doctor Zhao for a date?
Lin Xiuling: No. A friend is coming from Taiwan, and I am going out shopping for some things.
Scene 28 Time/Night Location/Shopping Street, Women’s Clothing Store
Characters/Lin Xiuling, Shop Assistant, Passersby
△As the city lights come on, crowds of shoppers appear on the sidewalks of the shopping district. Lin Xiuling stops in front of the display window of a women’s clothing store and admires several new dresses for a while, then walks into the store.
△Lin Xiuling points at a rose-red dress hanging on the wall.
Lin Xiuling: Take down that rose-red dress for me to have a look.
Shop Assistant A: Certainly.
△The shop assistant lifts a long pole, takes down the dress, and places it on the counter.
△Lin Xiuling rubs the fabric with her hand and picks it up to examine it.
Lin Xiuling: I would like to try on this dress.
Shop Assistant A: Certainly. There is a fitting room in the back.
△Another saleswoman walks over.
Shop Assistant B: Miss, please come with me.
△Xiuling follows the saleswoman into the fitting room, changes into the dress, and studies herself in the full-length mirror.
Lin Xiuling: (O.S.) Will Wenhua like this color and style?
△Lin Xiuling walks out and turns around in front of the saleswoman as though walking on a runway.
Shop Assistant B: Miss, you are a natural clothes hanger. You look beautiful in anything!
Lin Xiuling: (smiles) Really?
Shop Assistant B: Of course it is true! This dress highlights your youthful beauty and brings out your elegant temperament.
Lin Xiuling: Then I will take this one.
▲Cut to another shot.
△Lin Xiuling walks out of the clothing store with an extra shopping bag in her hand.
Scene 29 Time/Night Location/Villa in the Suburbs of Shanghai
Characters/Lin Xiuling, Housekeeper Zhou Hong
△Inside the living room, housekeeper Zhou Hong is mopping the floor. Xiuling walks out wearing that new dress. When Zhou Hong sees Xiuling wearing the new dress, she pauses in her work and leans on the handle of the mop, looking at her admiringly.
Lin Xiuling: Sister Hong, does this outfit look good?
Zhou Hong: It does! Is there an important guest coming to the house?
Lin Xiuling: Mm. My senior from university is coming from Taiwan.
Zhou Hong: Then this senior must also be a handsome doctor, right?
Lin Xiuling: Yes! He is coming to Shanghai for a conference, and he will be staying here for a while.
Zhou Hong: (laughs) Then he is your boyfriend?
Lin Xiuling: (shyly) Not yet, but...
Zhou Hong: I can tell that Boss probably likes that senior very much.
Lin Xiuling: (curious) Sister Hong, how did you guess?
Zhou Hong: (points at her temple) A woman’s sixth sense. A woman dresses herself for the one who pleases her. Since Boss is putting special thought into what she wears, it is obvious that the other person is someone Boss likes.
Lin Xiuling: I really do like Senior, but he...
Zhou Hong: But his heart already belongs to someone else?
Lin Xiuling: I... I suppose so. Senior has a first-love girlfriend, and he promised to wait for her for ten years.
Zhou Hong: Wait for her for ten years? Does that mean they are not together now?
Lin Xiuling: That is right. That girl asked Senior to wait for her for ten years.
Zhou Hong: Wow! Your senior is truly devoted. No wonder you fell for a man like that.
Lin Xiuling: The ten-year deadline is almost up.
Zhou Hong: Then you should seize the opportunity. But I really do feel sorry for that Doctor Zhao Xiaodong!
Lin Xiuling: Doctor Zhao and I really are good friends who get along well, but I have never made him any promises.
Zhou Hong: (smiles) Of course I can understand that. When will your guest arrive?
Lin Xiuling: The day after tomorrow in the afternoon. I will go to the airport and bring him here.
Zhou Hong: Then I must make some preparations first.
Scene 30 Time/Day Location/Qingxiu Jiaren Aesthetic Medical Clinic, Commercial District, Shanghai
Characters/Lin Xiuling, Zhao Xiaodong, Zhang Dongmei, Nurse
△At noon, Lin Xiuling and Zhang Dongmei come out of the consultation room and see Zhao Xiaodong standing beside the reception desk, holding a bouquet of flowers. Zhao Xiaodong comes forward and offers the flowers with both hands. Zhang Dongmei takes the bouquet and walks toward the display window to arrange them.
Zhao Xiaodong: Are you free this evening? I will come pick you up for dinner.
Lin Xiuling: Xiaodong, another day, alright? This evening, Sister Hong and I need to go to the supermarket and buy some things.
Zhao Xiaodong: Xiuling, what has happened to you lately?
Lin Xiuling: Nothing has happened.
Zhao Xiaodong: In the past, you rarely rejected my invitations. Could it be that your senior...
Lin Xiuling: We have always been good friends who get along well, but my senior is rarely able to come to Shanghai.
△Zhang Dongmei tactfully stays by the display window and quietly observes the interaction between the two.
Zhao Xiaodong: You have suddenly become very cold. Is it not because of your senior...?
Lin Xiuling: Stop talking, Xiaodong.
Zhao Xiaodong: Can we find somewhere to sit down and talk?
Lin Xiuling: (impatiently) Tonight really will not work, Xiaodong.
Lin Xiuling: Dongmei, I am leaving first to eat lunch. Please help tidy things up.
Zhao Xiaodong: Then right now, let us find a restaurant and eat. I want to talk with you.
△Lin Xiuling does not want the atmosphere to become awkward, so she decides to give in.
Lin Xiuling: (with a sour expression) Fine, let us go to that Japanese restaurant nearby. I still have to come back to work.
△Lin Xiuling pushes the door open and walks out, with Zhao Xiaodong following closely behind.
Scene 31 Time/Day Location/Japanese Restaurant in the Commercial District of Shanghai
Characters/Lin Xiuling, Zhao Xiaodong, Customers, Waiter
△Inside the Japanese restaurant, in a small booth near the street window, Lin Xiuling and Zhao Xiaodong sit cross-legged facing each other. The waiter brings over the menu.
Lin Xiuling: Assorted sushi, miso tofu soup.
Zhao Xiaodong: Assorted sashimi, grilled sweetfish, enough for two people, and two small bottles of sake.
Lin Xiuling: You ordered that, so you have to finish it yourself! I only want something simple. I need to hurry back to see patients.
Zhao Xiaodong: Alright then. Just like Miss Lin ordered, and give me one bottle of sake.
Waiter: You may order more at any time. Please wait a moment.
△The waiter leaves the bill behind and departs with the menu.
Lin Xiuling: (looking displeased) Doctor Zhao, you were very deliberate just now!
Zhao Xiaodong: (gives a bitter smile) I am sorry. I really was acting emotional just now, but you should know the reason.
Lin Xiuling: Xiaodong, you are jealous, are you not?
Zhao Xiaodong: That is right! These past two days, I have felt neglected by you.
Lin Xiuling: (takes a deep breath) I have always regarded you as a good friend I can talk to, but I have made my message to you very clear. At present, we are not boyfriend and girlfriend.
Zhao Xiaodong: I know that. I have heard that several men are pursuing you at the same time. Xiuling, with your qualities, of course you can choose very carefully.
Lin Xiuling: That is not the issue. I do not want to settle my feelings so quickly.
Zhao Xiaodong: Alright then. What I am curious about is your senior from Taiwan. My intuition tells me that he seems to attract you deeply.
Lin Xiuling: (silent for a moment) Xiaodong, I admit that Senior Wenhua is the only man who has made my heart move so far.
Zhao Xiaodong: (with a teasing expression) Wenhua? Your senior’s name sounds very literary and artistic!
Lin Xiuling: (unhappy) Xiaodong, I do not like your expression and tone right now!
Zhao Xiaodong: (serious) I am sorry! That expression just now was my instinctive reaction when facing a romantic rival. Tell me about your Senior Wenhua. I want to know what qualities he has that make you so fascinated with him.
Lin Xiuling: I do not want to talk about him in front of you, Xiaodong. You and he will meet very soon.
Zhao Xiaodong: (curious) Oh? You mean...
Lin Xiuling: He is coming to attend the medical symposium organized by your hospital.
Zhao Xiaodong: (interested) Then I definitely must become friends with him and get to know him well.
△Two waiters bring over two trays of food and place them on the small square table.
Waiter: If you need to order more, please press the service bell. Please enjoy your meal.
△The two waiters bow and then turn and leave.
Zhao Xiaodong: When will your senior arrive?
Lin Xiuling: Eat. Do not talk about him. I am in a hurry.
△Knowing that it is pointless, Zhao Xiaodong picks up the sake and pours himself a glass. Holding it in his hand, he stares at Lin Xiuling.
Lin Xiuling: What are you doing?
Zhao Xiaodong: I am not in a hurry. I am just going to watch you eat.
△Lin Xiuling rolls her eyes at him and continues eating her sushi.
Scene 32 Time/Day Location/The Yang Family Home, Dabang Village
Characters/Yang Wenhua, Yang Mingda (Father), Su Yuzhen (Mother), Yang Wenqing, Yang Wenying
△Inside the living room, Yang Wenhua is packing his luggage.
Yang Wenqing: I prepared a box of tea. Xiuling likes drinking tea, so take it to her.
Yang Wenying: Brother, I specially made this outfit. Take it with you as a gift when you meet her.
Yang Wenhua: (laughs) What are you two doing? I am going to Shanghai for a conference, not to go on a date with Junior Xiuling.
Yang Wenying: (smiles) The conference is not important. What is important is that you win Sister Xiuling over.
Yang Wenqing: Little sister is right for once. I really like Lin Xiuling. On this trip, think of a way to bring her back.
Yang Wenhua: (gives a bitter smile) Sister, please spare me. Junior Xiuling has already opened her own practice in Shanghai.
Su Yuzhen: Mother also thinks that Lin Xiuling is a perfect match for you. You are both doctors, and in the future you can open a practice together.
Yang Wenhua: Mom, you really are thinking too much.
Yang Mingda: Wenhua, as the old saying goes, “First establish a family, then establish a career.” You already have your work. It is time to think about finding a good partner and starting a family. Your sisters care about you because they do not want you to miss a good marriage.
Yang Wenhua: Dad, I know you all care about me, but I have my own plans for my life.
