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Hemostasis

Chapter 15

Notes:

I have taken a break from writing this, I'm sorry for that, but I'll try to finish it. I'm shocked about what's happening in Ukraina. As a fellow European, my heart is weeping. I hope we will recover, eventually, somehow.

Chapter Text

“Dr. Wen, I think I hit an artery” Cao Weining whispered, eyes widening in panic. He was in the middle of helping his senior out with a stoma surgery, although regretting right now of having taken too big of a bite to chew. The artery wasn’t a vital one, but the pulsating bright blood started pooling in the creases of the intestines at an alarming rate, reducing the visibility to null.

“Ah man, Weining! Move, so I can suck it up” Gu Xiang said and shoved the suction device deeper into the poor patient's stomach. Gu Xiang wasn’t allowed to operate just yet, but she was an eager assistant to both Cao Weining and Wen Kexing.
Cao Weining gasped and withdrew his instruments to make more room for Gu Xiang’s aggressive suctioning action.

Wen Kexing was working on sealing the remaining piece of colon that was being left to heal thanks to the temporary stoma Cao Weining was creating. He put down his own instruments and sighed dramatically. “Dr. Cao, what exactly is your plan? Are you going to solve this artery problem by letting A’Xiang suck mr. Xue dry? That’ll take several hours, you know”

Cao Weining glanced nervously up at his senior as Gu Xiang was busy removing as much of the blood as she could before the leaking artery filled the cavities up again.
“Uh, who’s… who’s Mr. Xue” He stammered.

“The patient, you idiot!” Wen Kexing yelled. “Come on, clip the artery before his blood pressure drops!”

“Y-Yes, sir” Cao Weining said and fumbled to find the right instrument.

“Weining, hurry” Gu Xiang said pointedly over the gurgling sound of the suction.

Although he sometimes lost his focus, Cao Weining wasn’t a bad surgeon. As soon as he found the instrument he needed, he quickly proceeded to locate the bleeding artery and clip it shut. Once the source of the bleeding was contained, it didn’t take too long for Gu Xiang to get rid of the excess blood in the stomach.

“It’s clipped” Cao Weining said with an exhale. “I’m sorry, Dr. Wen”

Wen Kexing rolled his shoulders back and yawned. “No need to say sorry, Dr. Cao. But next time, try not to freak out. That doesn’t look good in the patient’s eyes”

“The patient is asleep, sir” Cao Weining said cautiously.

“He could read the journal later in which I will describe in detail for exactly how long you didn’t try to clip the artery due to professional insecurity”

“Aish” The younger man groaned. “I promise, I won’t won’t do anything again”


Gu Xiang rolled her eyes as she cleaned the last of the blood up with some gauze. “Weining, I want to go have lunch. Hurry up, will you”.  In the corner of her eye she saw her senior yawning behind his mask. “And what’s up with you? You had the entire day off today, haven’t you gotten enough rest?”

“How rude, A-Xiang. But yes I’ve had the most tedious night. I might explain to you later. I don’t want to distract Dr. Cao any more than necessary”

“Oh, that kind of night?” Gu Xiang said and raised her eyebrow as she prepared some suture thread that Cao Weining soon would be using for fixing the colon to the abdominal wall.

“It’s a lot more complicated than that” Wen Kexing said wistfully and put down his instruments. “You know what? I’m hungry. I think Dr. Cao will be able to finish this surgery just fine without my help. I’m done"

Both Gu Xiang and Cao Weining (who looked like he was being threatened) gasped in unison, “No!” 

***

Wen Kexing agreed to supervise the last ten minutes of the surgery (it went well and Mr. Xue was feeling good after having been woken up from the anestesia)  but left the OR as quick as he could - he WAS in fact hungry, but most of all, he wasn’t in the mood to be interrogated by his feisty pupil. Wearing scrubs and a protective cap on his head, he hurried down the stairs of the hospital until he was down at the main floor of the building. The ER was the most prominent feature of the floor, and to save time, Wen Kexing decided to walk through the waiting area - although it sometimes meant that he was being stopped by some frustrated, waiting patients who obviously didn’t know he was in fact working in another department of the hospital and couldn’t help them reach the emergency doctor any faster.


Today wasn’t supposed to be any different, but instead of hearing the usual, “Excuse me nurse/doctor!” he heard his full name being said.

“Wen Kexing!”

A young, handsome man in black was seated in one of the chairs in the waiting area. His right eye seemed to be glued shut from how swollen and bruised it was, and he was holding his left arm against his body. Wen Kexing was no orthopedic surgeon, but it wasn’t hard to see that the shoulder had been displaced from its socket. The man’s wrist was also in an odd position, meaning it most likely had been broken.
Wen Kexing’s breath hitched when he realized the patient was the man calling himself Prince Xie - the Window of Heaven associate who just yesterday blackmailed Zhou Zishu in some shady corner of the neighborhood. How had he ended up in the ER? Or, well, considering his occupation, Wen Kexing somehow assumed they had their own doctors within the organization - why on earth had he sought help in such a public place?

“What…. How-” Wen Kexing began, trying to wrap his mind around how he should proceed in this odd situation.

Xie’er hissed as he tried to change the position of his wounded arm. It was obvious he was in a lot of pain. “Spare me your stupid questions, Dr. Wen. You know just well what happened”

Wen Kexing’s eyes traveled up and down XIe’er’s body, scanning for other injuries that he luckily couldn’t find. “Actually, I don’t–”

“Zhou Zishu screwed me over. He beat me up and left me on the street to die”

You won’t die from a dislocated shoulder and a broken radius, you idiot, Wen Kexing thought before he could grasp just what exactly Xie’er was trying to say. Zhou Zishu beat him up? They met because of yesterday and the promise of money?

“Where is he?” Wen Kexing asked, fairly confident that Zhou Zishu himself hadn’t been wounded too bad. He would need to process this information later though - he had hoped Zhou Zishu would be able to stay away from trouble, but apparently not. 

“I don’t fucking know, he left”

Xie’er glanced around him to make sure no-one was close enough to hear what he was saying. Luckily, he had chosen to sit in a corner a little further away from the information, and as it was only midday the emergency hadn’t yet become crowded. “I had to call the emergency number. It was humiliating” He hissed.

“Why? I’m sure you could just have called your organization’s own staff” Wen Kexing stated - although he could do nothing but assume that the Window of Heaven had their own medical staff. He decided to spice it up with a little lie as well, “Actually, I don’t think you’re even allowed here. We won’t treat people with ties to the underworld - You hardly even pay taxes” 


“No! I… I can’t tell them!” Xie’er said nervously, then continued on a little quieter, “I can’t believe I am telling you this but that crazy bastard scared the shit out of me”

“What? You can’t tell them you got beaten up by Zhou Zishu?”

“No, it’s… I’d be punished severely if the leaders knew I’ve been going after a deserter without consulting with them first” The smaller man whined. He looked thoroughly roughened up, as a couple of his braids had unraveled and he had spots of dried blood on his chin and cheek - not to mention his swollen eye. Wen Kexing realized that Xie’er wasn’t as highly ranked as he had originally thought - which obviously was something Zhou Zishu could mercilessly use to his advantage if he had to. So this stupid little pretty boy had decided to act on his own in order to earn some easy money that in truth belonged to the organization. Well, at least that’s easier to handle than having the entire Window of Heaven chasing after them.

“The Window of Heaven is not pursuing him?” Wen Kexing dared to ask.

Xie’er glanced up towards Wen Kexing’s face and blinked with his one functioning eye. “Why would I tell you?”

Wen Kexing crossed his arms over his chest, covering his nametag where the name of his department was stated. He couldn’t help but let his lips curl a little, as he felt surprisingly empowered from towering over this wounded criminal. “First of all, nothing is stopping me from calling Zishu and telling him that you are bothering me, and second of all, I can stop you from getting admitted to the hospital. Your arm seems pretty fucked up so I think you should have it fixed as soon as possible unless you want to be crippled for the rest of your life”

“You smug shit” Xie’er mumbled. “You’re really a physician, aren’t you? I refuse to let you touch me”

Wen Kexing scoffed. “And you think I’d want to touch you either? Don’t worry, I don’t work here in the emergency room. Unless you have been shot in the stomach I probably will not need to see you here anymore”

Xie’er bit his lip and turned his gaze away from the doctor. His legs were shaking involuntarily and his skin had started to turn pale. 

“You want some painkillers? It’s gonna hurt like hell when they relocate that shoulder of yours” Wen Kexing offered, tilting his head slightly.

“I want you to leave me”

“First answer my question, then I’ll leave you and make sure you are getting admitted as soon as possible. Is the Window of Heaven pursuing him?”

“Why would you believe anything I say” Xie’er whispered, seemingly struggling to keep himself composed due to the growing pain.

“I won’t. But I still want you to answer the question unless you want me to call the guards” Wen Kexing said nonchalantly and picked up his work phone.

Xie’er squeezed his eyes (eye) shut and gritted his teeth. “No, they’re not. The other leaders respect him too much. They’re still …shocked about what happened”

That makes sense, Wen Kexing thought. How would this middle-tier criminal have the guts to blackmail his former leader for personal advantage if he knew that his bosses were pursuing said man too. If the Window of Heaven hadn’t ordered him to act, he must have acted on his own just because he knew he didn’t have competition. Furthermore, Xie’er was the only one within the organization who knew about the circumstances of Zhou Zishu’s utterly brainless idea of shoving rusty nails into his chest, assuming he hadn’t told anyone about it. For all he knew, the rest of the organization’s leadership might think he actually succeeded in either killing himself or crippling himself cognitively forever - therefore respecting his decision enough not to try to dig deeper into his disappearance.

“Do they know that he survived?”

Xie’er, who seemed to be in too much pain to even refuse Wen Kexing’s questions anymore (How weak, Wen Kexing thought pitifully), shook his head. “But it doesn’t matter. Even if they knew, they would just assume… ugh… that he’s gone mad-… fuck, I think I want that drug you offered after all? I can’t use my fingers…”

Wen Kexing didn’t pity the man, per se. “Prince” Xie seemed to be just as dumb as he was antisocial, but Wen Kexing couldn’t help but silently thank the man for being surprisingily cooperative. Of course he couldn’t trust anything this douchebag said, but even potential lies were better information than nothing. He wasn’t sure how Zhou Zishu would like it when he heard how Wen Kexing had meddled with his affairs, but he’d have to deal with that nightmare later. Not to mention that he desperately wanted to hear whether Zhou Zishu had planned to beat the shit out of Xie’er already yesterday.

“Alright. I’ll go ask the nurses to give you some tramadol” Wen Kexing said.

“Thanks” Xie’er groaned and nodded, surprisingly politely. 


“And please leave us alone after this, will you?” He dared to say, although he knew he was overstepping on Zhou Zishu’s area.

“Whatever” was the reply he got, but it was enough for now. Wen Kexing turned the wounded man his back and went to inform the nurse in charge to medicate the man as he would need to have his shoulder, and maybe the wrist as well, relocated. He also asked her to have a guard search his body for potential weapons, as he most likely had some blades hidden within his clothing. 


***

Wen Kexing abandoned his original plan of having a nice lunch together with his colleagues, chatting about whether an aerobar improved your cycling performance during an Ironman race or which surround sound system was the hottest on the market. His stomach kept growling through, so he grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria before hurrying back to his own office. When he opened the door to his room he noticed how the borders of his hand had started to blur, a telltale sign of how his ability to perceive reality had started to fail. Now ? He wasn’t even that stressed - just… just a little discombobulated. Swearing to himself he realized he would need to do some grounding exercises unless he wanted to start dissociating properly, but right now, he had more urgent matters on hand - matters like Zhou Zishu. He sat down in his chair and dialed his number on his cellphone.

Zhou Zishu picked up after a good ten seconds. "Hello ?". It sounded like he was outside, walking briskly based on the airiness of his voice. 

"It's Kexing. Do you … do you have time to talk" 

" Why do you sound so weird ?"

Wen Kexing put his sandwich down and dried his mouth against his arm. "I'm eating, A'Xu. It's lunchtime"

" Oh " Zhou Zishu replied. " I usually don't eat lunch "

Wen Kexing felt a slight irritation grow behind his brow, which wasn't a feeling he liked to associate with his A'Xu. "Of course you don't. Anyway, I need to talk with you. Darling, you can't guess who I met in the emergency"

Zhou Zishu obviously picked up the sarcasm in Wen Kexing's tone, hesitating a while before replying. " Who did you meet?"

"Your pretty co-worker from yesterday. He told me you beat him up, and to be fair, he looked pretty mangled so I assume he didn't lie"

That pushed Zhou Zishu off track as he allowed Wen Kexing a nervous pause, unnatural to him, before replying. 

" Oh" , he said and some ruffling could be heard through the phone. " Yeah, that might have happened"  

"Are you okay?" Wen Kexing asked, playing with the thin paper wrapped around his sandwich.

" Of course I am ." He took a small break again. "Is he… is he okay ?" 

"Oh, you do care? Pity you didn't care enough to call him an ambulance though. You know you can do that anonymously." It wasn't that Wen Kexing cared about Xie'er per se, but as a healthcare worker he didn't like seeing people suffer from unnecessary trauma - who knew how many hours the orthopedic surgeons would have to spend on relocating Xie'er's joints. 

" What the fuck? Like hell i'm gonna let someone inferior to me blackmail me like that. It's not even about the money, but about principle, respect. That little shit deserved to be -"

"A'Xu, I don't care to hear about how you deal with your old co-workers, friends or lovers, I'm just sad I got to learn this information from his mouth and not yours"

" I was about to tell you about it face to face! How would I know you would run into him just an hour later. That's an unfair accusation, Lao Wen. Furthermore, I did try to call you - but your phone was turned off "

"It might be" the younger one said while shrugging, although that obviously couldn't be translated through the phone. Indeed, he always kept his personal phone turned off in the operating room - he couldn't have known whether Zhou Zishu had tried to call him or not.

" Lao Wen, you know about my past. Did you think I would magically change into someone… mellow and diplomatic overnight? This is how I deal with stuff, and I'm good at it. It cannot come as a surprise to you

"No, no. I like dangerous men. I love the thrill of knowing I might be unable to fight back in case it ever came to that. And that comes from someone who knows how to defend themselves." Wen Kexing simply stated, picking up his sandwich again. There were a myriad of things Wen Kexing wanted to say, but in order to keep the household calm he decided against it. Zhou Zishu was right, of course - Prince Xie had it coming after having shamelessly threatened them the day before. Zhou Zishu was also right about not having had the chance to tell Wen Kexing about what had happened face to face just yet. To be absolutely fair, Wen Kexing didn't even know what the issue was, he just felt… bad about it. He took a big bite of his sandwhich in order to swalllow down any stupid comments that might escape his mouth. 

" Pfft. That's secondary. What are you muttering about?

"I'm eating!!" Wen Kexing said.

" Why was Xie'er in the emergency by the way? We have a pretty good clinic at the Window of Heaven " Zhou Zishu asked.

Oh, he doesn't know?

"Uhm…" Wen Kexing took a break to swallow. "So yeah, he seemed very keen on not letting the Window of Heaven hear about your little dispute. I lied and said that I could throw him out of the hospital and he freaked out. He seemed sincere enough when he told me that he's been acting solo, claiming the organization doesn't even know whether you are alive or not"

"Hmm. He could be lying " Zhou Zishu said after contemplating Wen Kexing's words.

"Of course he could. But if he is not, then this is really good news, right?! Xie'er said that they respect you too much to investigate your self-mutilation further. So maybe no-one is searching for you" 

" Hmm. It is better if the consequences of taking the nails remains a mystery, as the unknown is far more frightening than absolute fact. But we cannot trust him" Zhou Zishu said firmly. "I should have killed him when I could" 

"Ah, don't talk like that. I work so hard to keep people alive" Wen Kexing whined. "We can talk about this later at home. Where are you?"

" Out " Was Zhou Zishu's diffuse answer, which already was obvious based on the sounds interfering with his voice on the phone. " I'll be back when you arrive"

"Oh, okay. Take care, will you?"

" Sure. You too ."

"i miss you already" Wen Kexing muttered. 

For the first time during this conversation, Zhou Zishu laughed - not meanly, but in that sweet way that always made Wen Kexing's legs feel wobbly. " Can't wait to kiss your irritatingly handsome face again, Lao Wen"  

"A'Xu!" Wen Kexing burst out, feeling suddenly flustered, but the call had already ended. Damn it, he thought. He thought Zhou Zishu would be elated by the tea Xie'er had spilled, but of course, of course that grumpy old man was unmovable even with these kind of news! He had hoped Zhou Zishu would take these news as a sign to start living freely again - he could probably handle Xie’er if the boy for some reason wanted to make trouble again. But did Zhou Zishu's indifference mean that he was still set on leaving the city, just in case Xie'er lied? Gosh, if only there were… like, a lie detector conveniently at hand because no-one seemed to care about speaking the truth anymore.  What other options were there? It wasn't like he, a random nobody, could strut into the headquarters of the Window of heaven and ask them to promise that they wouldn't hurt his boyfriend. That's ridicul-....

Auntie Luo.

Wen Kexing almost choked on his bread. She was a known person in the underworld, although probably just a minor contributor, but still. Although not a member, she must know about the Window of Heaven and their way of dealing with things. What if she had some contacts inside the Window of Heaven? 

He looked at the darkened screen for a while, thinking whether he should contact her or not regarding the matter… He hadn’t talked with her for several months - the last time she called was to congratulate him on his birthday. If he called, that unfortunately meant that she would find out about the nature of his own involvement in the organization. Luckily, Zhou Zishu was no longer a part of it, but he would have to explain his situation to her which is something Zhou Zishu might not appreciate. Ah, how bothersome it all seemed. 

Wen Kexing sighed loudly and threw the oily sandwich paper into the trash. Then he changed out of his scrubs and put on his civil clothes instead, which he would be wearing under his white coat at the outpatient clinic. For several reasons, he failed to achieve his regular coolness - his body felt a little odd in relation to his turbulent mind, which might affect him negatively when meeting patients. For now, he had wasted enough time brooding over his problematic man, so he ended up walking down to the outpatient clinic, swearing under his breath, although it did nothing but ease a little steam.

***

He pulled through two of his afternoon appointments by sheer will and called Gu Xiang in to cover for another two. She obviously knew he wasn’t feeling alright, but Wen Kexing made sure to sound very busy and very sick in the phone so she couldn’t start to question him too much about the events of the day before. He asked his secretary to apologize for his absence - Gu Xiang wasn’t a bad stand-in (she probably had more up-to-date knowledge about the pathology), but she had a young face and a bad temper, which sometimes made his older clients underestimate her authority. Wen Kexing made sure to praise her loads whenever he met the same client again - and almost always, the clients joined him in his praise. Gu Xiang loves to prove them wrong, Wen Kexing thought with warmth.

Wen Kexing wasn’t on his way home though. His hands were still shaking like he had drunk too much coffee, and his spatial awareness was off. He was afraid he might end up falling down the train tracks if he ventured out to the subway with his anxious mind being slowly detached from his physical body. Ye Baiyi was the only one who could help him now, and as said man didn’t answer his phone, Wen Kexing decided to head straight towards the psychiatric wards to find him there in his ward office.

The psychiatric ward was a lot different compared to the surgical wards. First of all, the doors were locked - and the aisles and the rooms lacked the sterile whiteness of the surgical ward - instead, there were soft textures, mellow colors, patients wearing pajamas watching tv or playing cards. Wen Kexing’s own key wasn’t able to access the psychiatric side, so he sneaked in with a cleaner on his way inside. As all of the wards of the hospital had a somewhat identical layout, Wen Kexing knew which way to go to reach the doctor’s office. To his surprise and disappointment, no-one, neither Ye Baiyi or his interns, opened the door when he knocked. He even tried to listen through the door, but the lack of sound indicated that the office was empty. Muttering profanities, he ventured forward to the nurses offices and popped his head in through the door opening.

“Knock knock” Wen Kexing said laconically.
Two male nurses and two female ones turned their heads towards him. They looked rather confused - like they didn’t recognize him. Why would they, though? He worked at an entirely different department on a different floor.

“Is the old monster here somewhere? He wasn’t in his room. I need to talk to him urgently or I’ll crawl out of my skin” He continued.

The nurses looked at each other for a split second before one of them replied, sounding rather perplexed by his request.

“Old monster…?” She asked. 


“Yeah, Ye Baiyi. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard him getting called old monster before” Wen Kexing said and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, where is he? I’m Dr. Wen Kexing. I don’t have all the time in the world. Do I look like someone with a lot of time to spend?” Wen Kexing felt a slight headache creeping up his scalp, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his cool for that much longer.

“Mr. Ye is busy with another patient right now-” Another male nurse started. “You need to wait-”

“Ah, fuck it. I’ll just call a taxi” Wen Kexing exclaimed and turned around to leave the office. He had had enough stress for one day, and his patience was wearing far too thin for dealing with nurses who didn’t know him.

“Sir, wait-” He heard the nurse call behind him, but he didn’t bother to wait and stop. Instead, he walked straight towards to door at the exit - which of course, was locked - it was a locked ward, after all - and Wen Kexing own key’s only worked on the somatic side of the hospital.

“Oh my god….” He whined as he tried to open the locked door.

Three of the nurses from the office had followed him to the door.

“Sir, where are you trying to go”

“If I can’t get to talk with Baiyi, I want to go home as soon as possible” Wen Kexing said and crossed his arms. Only then did he realize that he was in fact wearing his civil clothes - he always left his white coat at the outpatient clinic. Of course the nurses didn’t realize he was hospital staff as well.

“Look, I’m a surgeon here at the hospital. My key just don’t work at your wards” He said with a loud exhale and showed the nurses his set of keys.  


The nurses exchanged a look between them. “Sir, I think it’s the best if you wait in your room until Dr. Ye is ready meeting with another patient”

Wen Kexing’s brows furrowed. “My room? Which room? Well let me out then so I can go there”

The male nurse put his large hand on top of Wen Kexing’s shoulder. “Sir, you can’t go home today because of your delusions. You have to talk with the doctor before we can let you out”

“But that’s exactly what I’m wanting to do- what, delusional? WHO’S DELUSIONAL?” Wen Kexing yelled and gestured widely.

The nurses gave each other a quick look and whispered, “be ready to call the guards if he gets aggressive-”

“What the utter fucking hell…” Wen Kexing whispered and he tried to yank the door open one more time although he knew the door of a closed mental institution wouldn’t open up just that easily. He couldn’t believe that he, one of the most famous surgeons of the fucking city, was an unknown face to these dim-witted nurses!

Then, finally, a familiar voice boomed through the halls. “What’s going on here” Ye Baiyi said and he strode down the aisle with a rather slow, but powerful gait.

“Senior Ye! Thank GOD” Wen Kexing exclaimed and leaned his back against the (still) closed door.

“Kexing? You kidding me? Do you seriously want me to strap you down too?” Ye Baiyi said with genuine surprise in his voice - this was probably the first time anyone from surgery had bothered to come down to the mental department.

“Is he one of your patients, doctor?” One of the nurses asked, apparently still failing to catch the joke.

“He’s a lunatic for sure” Ye Baiyi said with a rare smile of his, “And my patient. But not on this ward”

“I’m begging you Baiyi, end my suffering already. I have no dignity left. I regret coming here” Wen Kexing muttered.

“Why did you even come here?”

“You didn’t answer your phone” Wen Kexing whined.

“I was busy strapping down a manic who was determined to kill the staff using his sandals. However, far less time consuming than having you visit my ward, it seems. Spit it out, I don’t have all day” Ye Baiyi muttered.

“I’m crawling out of my skin, and I don’t have any of my drugs with me” Wen Kexing said as lowly as he could although he knew the nurses were following their conversation with immense interest.

Ye Baiyi rolled his eyes. “You’re a damn doctor at a major hospital. Couldn’t you ask a nurse to get you some?”

“It’d look bad if I took anxiolytics at work…I swear, I usually never get these attacks at work!”

“Oh my god, you’re really good for nothing-... “ Ye Baiyi groaned and facepalmed. “Nurse, fetch this despicable man some lorazepam and let him out after that”

“Thank you Senior Ye!”

After Wen Kexing had gotten his medication he was let out of the ward by some slightly baffled nurses. Humiliated, he quickly left the hospital in order to catch the subway home. What a weird day, he thought regretfully, although he felt relieved knowing he left the hospital with more hope of his and Zhou Zishu’s future together than he had before.