Chapter 69: The Awkwardness Before Surgery

  Qin Kaiyi rushed to handle all the hospitalization and surgery procedures under the doctor's urging, while I was waiting for Qin Kaiyi, I took a spare moment to call Li Songwei and asked him to rush to the hospital.

  Qin Kaiyi soon returned to the emergency room in a hurry, so I followed the doctor with Qin Kaiyi's support towards the direction of the operating room. The doctor led us into a room next to the operating room and had me lie down on the bed in the room, then walked out the door to instruct something to a young nurse. After a few minutes, the nurse stood in front of me with a strange smile on her face, holding something like a disposable razor, saying "Take off your pants..."

  "Take off... your pants? What for?" I asked curiously.

  "Shave your body hair!" The nurse said casually.

  "Shave body hair? What...body hair?" I felt even more perplexed.

  "It's... the pubic hair. To prevent bacterial infection from the pubic hair during surgery, we need to shave it clean." The nurse explained professionally to me and Qin Kaiyi, who seemed to have realized something and turned red-faced, walking out of the room, leaving me embarrassed facing the nurse holding a razor with an inexplicable smile.

  "Hurry up! I'm still waiting over here!" The little nurse urged, her expression on her face was indescribable, making me feel even more embarrassed, especially when I heard the ambiguous words that came out of her mouth, which made me naturally think of a classic porn video that was popular among our age group in high school - "Uniform Series: Little Nurse".

  "Nurse, can you wait for a moment? I want to say a few words to my girlfriend..." I wiped the sweat from my forehead and negotiated with the nurse.

  "Hmm...? Alright! Hurry up, the operating room is waiting!" The little nurse said after finishing speaking, walked out of the room and called Qin Ke in.

  "What's wrong, Kang Jian!?" Qin Ke asked as soon as he came in.

  "Excuse me, can I have a different nurse?"

  "Change nurses? This... what's going on?" Qin Ke asked strangely.

  "This... looks like he's only 15 or 16 years old, too young... there's a generation gap, not conducive to communication between us..."

  "What the...!? You... how old are you, and yet you have a generation gap with her. Besides, it's not like we're asking you to date her, what communication are you talking about? Have you gone crazy or something?!"

  "The key is that I'm embarrassed, think about it, in my place... you've never even had the chance to see her, and yet she's taken advantage of you so easily. I... feel a bit resentful on your behalf, and can't help but feel indignant... And after she's gotten what she wants, I'll be driven by my strong sense of justice to bang my head against the wall until I die..."

  "Get out of here! You're really something! No matter when, you can't be honest, right? What time is it now!? Can't you just be serious for once?! I'm worried to death! And you still have the mood to joke around! Fine! I'll go get someone else. I just saw a nurse in her 50s in the duty room, she's old enough to be your mom......" Qin Kaiyi said as he turned and walked out. But then I thought about an old nurse with wrinkles on her face, walking towards me with that same enigmatic smile from earlier, holding a razor, and suddenly I felt a chill run down my spine. Considering the potential impact on the young nurse's self-esteem and future career development if we were to switch nurses, I quickly called out to Qin Kaiyi and tactfully expressed my decision not to change nurses. Qin Kaiyi gave me a white eye at the door before calling the young nurse back in...

  Just as Qin Ke helped me change into the surgical gown, Li Songwei and Zhao Lijia rushed over. When they saw my current state, Zhao Lijia suddenly burst out laughing.

  "Are you happy to see me open the knife? Is this your attitude towards a patient who is about to enter the operating room? Can't you spare some of that abundant love in your heart from Li Songwei and give it to me instead? Thank you!" I complained to Zhao Lijia.

  "No way!? I think you look silly and funny now......, haha......" Zhao Lijia said with a smile, still covering her mouth.

  "Alright, alright, stop messing around! Kang Jian! What's wrong with you? You were fine before we went shopping, weren't you?" Li Songwei asked me after stopping Zhao Lijia who was grinning foolishly.

  "This thing is like a time bomb, it will explode when it explodes, how can I know what's going on? Otherwise, take the opportunity today, let's form a team and cut them all off together, so that you won't be nervous every day, not knowing when your belly will also explode!"

  "No way! We don't want to be like you, an incomplete person!" Zhao Lijia said with a smile. At this time, the little nurse came in again, and thinking of the awkward things that had just happened, my face quickly turned red. The little nurse, however, came in as if nothing was wrong and spoke to everyone.

  "Who is the family member? Come and sign on the insurance policy!"

  "Why buy insurance? Is this operation very dangerous?" Qin Ke asked nervously after hearing the little nurse's words.

  "Don't be silly! It's just a small operation, there's no danger, several colleagues in our unit have done it, nothing happened!" Zhao Lijia comforted her on the side.

  "Why buy insurance then?" Qin Ke still looked very tense.

  "This is a routine operation, any surgery has risks, but the probability of this minor surgery going wrong is very low, Kang Jian won't be so unlucky, it's okay!" Li Songwei also started comforting Qin Ke Yi.

  "Yes! Appendicitis surgery is the most common minor surgery here, it happens often, but I've never heard of any complications." Qin Ke felt a slight relief from his tense mood after hearing everyone's reassurance, and signed on the insurance form.

  Under the concerned gaze of Li Songwei, Zhao Lijia and Qin Keyi, I was step by step pushed towards the operating room. The moment the door to the operating room opened, it seemed as if I heard Qin Keyi's crying voice and Zhao Lijia's comforting tone...

  The operation was completed quickly and smoothly, without the tense atmosphere I had imagined. In fact, during the procedure, the doctor and nurse even discussed issues like the East China Sea dispute between China and Japan with great interest. If it weren't for the anesthesia and the pile of scissors hanging from my belly, I would have sat up to refute their political naivety and military ignorance.

  When I was wheeled out of the operating room, the three of them quickly gathered around me, all starting to ask a series of questions with concern. However, due to the anesthetic effect not having worn off yet, although I could hear their voices, my mouth wouldn't listen to commands. Qin Ke Yi's eyes still had tear stains on the corners, while Zhao Li Jia kept expressing surprise at the speed of the doctor's operation from time to time. Everyone followed the doctor and nurse who was pushing me into the ward...

  "Ke... why are you still crying... I'm fine..." I don't know how long I lay there, but gradually I regained consciousness and looked at Qin Ke who was still in tears. I hurriedly used up the remaining strength to say to him.

  "Are you okay?! You're fine now!! Why didn't you say anything earlier!? You scared me to death!" Qin Ke wiped away her tears and hastily said with a smile.

  "As soon as I walked out of the operating room, I thought... to sing praises of our great motherland... the progress of science and technology and the prosperity of medicine, but my mouth just wouldn't cooperate..." I said with a weak smile.

  "It's all right! This must be nothing! He's started to talk nonsense again! This just proves that he has now fully recovered!" Zhao Lijia patted Qin Ke Yi on the back and said with a smile.

  "Song Wei, can you do me a favor and go to my place for a bit? Can you finish that webpage on my computer that I haven't completed yet? I told you the details over the phone earlier. Just deliver it to the travel agency tomorrow after you're done..."

  "Alright! No problem! Since you're fine now, I and Jiajia will leave first. You rest well, we'll come visit you again tomorrow..." Li Songwei said after finishing speaking, then took Zhao Lijia's hand and left the hospital room together.

  "Ke Yi, why are you still crying...? I'm fine now, aren't I?" Zhao Li Jia and Li Song Wei had left for a long time, but Qin Ke Yi was still sitting by my bedside, occasionally dropping tears. Qin Ke Yi didn't react to my words at all, still staring blankly at me with tears in her eyes.

  "What's wrong with you?"

  "I'm fine..." Qin Ke Yi said to me after taking a deep breath and wiping away her tears. I just lay there silently, feeling a bit at a loss, not knowing how to comfort her.

  "Kang Jian... do you know? When I was 8 years old, my mother passed away during surgery... At that time, I was also standing in the corridor like just now, watching as my mother was pushed into the operating room... So when you were being pushed into the operating room just now, I was really scared..." Qin Ke Yi said calmly after wiping away her tears, but I didn't feel calm at all after hearing this. This was also the first time in my memory that I had heard Qin Ke Yi talk about her mother on her own initiative. Although I had long suspected that Qin Ke Yi's mother might not be around anymore, when Qin Ke Yi told me the news herself, including the cause of her mother's death, I still felt very surprised...