The Anesthetist’s Arcane Gift

Chapter 4: The Anesthetic Dose

Qibo had to force himself to calm down. He opened his eyes wide, focused carefully on Lin Ruoying’s surgical area, and after struggling to pry it open and confirm the correct position, he finally reluctantly inserted the speculum, fixed it in place, and twisted it open.

Such a simple operation, yet it made him sweat profusely.

“Successfully used the speculum on the patient. Reward granted: 10 anesthetic ampoules…”

Another electronic prompt sounded inside Qibo’s mind. He looked around again, seeing no one talking to him, only Dr. Cao finishing a phone call and walking over from behind the privacy screen, putting on gloves.

“You didn’t wear gloves when inserting the speculum?” Dr. Cao muttered lowly after seeing Qibo’s clumsy operation. She probably knew the anesthetic wouldn’t last long, so after quickly finishing the call, she hurried back. Otherwise, Qibo would also have to do the vaginal irrigation afterward.

“Gloves? Ah… I forgot…” Qibo answered awkwardly and quietly.

“Deliberate, huh? When she wakes up, I’ll tell her you molested her without gloves,” Dr. Cao teased him with a mischievous smile. Teasing the new young guy was their biggest fun amid tense, boring, and busy work.

As a female doctor, dealing with female patients’ private parts all day was indeed unpleasant, but unavoidable. So, whenever possible, they pushed such tasks onto others.

Men, on the other hand, seemed naturally less repelled by women’s private parts. The eternal truth of nature: opposites attract, likes repel. For example, if Qibo worked in urology, having to clean male patients’ genitals every day, even touching male private parts with his hands — he’d be ready to resign within an hour.

But when facing Lin Ruoying’s surgical site just now, besides excitement and nervousness (and a little accident downstairs), he felt no disgust at all.

“Uh… I didn’t…” Qibo almost had the impulse to pull the speculum out of Lin Ruoying and stuff it into Dr. Cao’s mouth to silence her when he heard her words.

“Forget it, I’ll let you off this time. Take me out to dinner later!” Of course, Dr. Cao was joking. While Lin Ruoying was still under anesthesia, she quickly started the surgery.

As for Qibo’s flustered state, Dr. Cao didn’t think much of it—just assumed he realized he’d forgotten the gloves. Of course, answering a phone during surgery when the patient was anesthetized was also a mistake, so no one should laugh too much.

“Qibo! Come help quickly!” Dr. Zhong from the other surgery table shouted urgently.

“Coming!” Qibo rushed over. Dr. Zhong was a female university student doing a manual abortion surgery. Because she lacked money, no anesthesia was given, and from the moment Qibo arrived, she had been screaming miserably and twisting her body in pain.

Nurse Sun Xiaomei couldn’t hold her down. Dr. Zhong had no choice but to try again, but forced handling risked injury or perforation. Only someone strong could hold her still.

Some people were naturally sensitive to pain. This patient was especially so, and yet she couldn’t afford anesthesia. After Qibo held her down, tears streamed down her face, and she looked at him helplessly, like a lamb to the slaughter. Everyone else around was cold as ice, like the surgical instruments—only in Qibo’s eyes did she find a glimmer of human kindness.

“If you knew it would be like this, why did you even come? Why not keep your pants on? Even if you take them off, you should use contraception! You’ll know the pain once you’re on the operating table!” Sun Xiaomei scolded the girl harshly. At only nineteen, with no relationship experience, these were words she’d learned from doctors like Cao and Zhong, aimed at girls who came for abortion surgery without anesthesia but cried out in pain.

The girl dared not meet Sun Xiaomei’s fierce glare and harsh words, only looking at Qibo helplessly as if all this was his fault.

Dr. Zhong tried again, and the girl screamed painfully once more. Even Qibo, a strong man, nearly failed to hold her down. Judging by the violent struggle, the pain was probably unbearable.

Though a doctor, Qibo had never lost his compassion. He felt sad. These girls looked young, about eighteen or nineteen. In a country like China with severely lacking s*x education, they probably didn’t fully understand the consequences before making this huge mistake.

Abortion was not only painful, it destroyed their young bodies and could ruin their chances of having children in the future, shattering their happiness for life.

“Hey! If you keep struggling, we’ll have to cancel the operation! And struggling only makes it hurt more! Relax! Calm down!” Dr. Zhong stopped and angrily scolded the girl.

“She might be especially afraid of pain. Let me give her an injection of anesthesia,” Qibo suggested.

“One shot costs over 400 yuan. Do you think this hospital is a charity?” Dr. Zhong glanced at Qibo.

“Deduct it from my salary,” Qibo said. Recently things hadn’t been going well; he only had a few dozen yuan left. He could only try to prepay himself. Though just a poor loser, he still had a kind heart — but reality wouldn’t be that kind.

“Qibo, this is your first day in the OR. Where do you get a salary to deduct? Whether you can stay a month depends on your performance! Stop with the sympathy! These girls are suffering because they don’t respect themselves!” Dr. Zhong scolded.

Her words were really a form of care for the new anesthesiologist. In the hospital, if you let sympathy run rampant, how will you survive on your small salary? New anesthesiologists’ pay was very low, basically just a base salary, nowhere near what the senior doctors earned.

Many girls come in for abortions without anesthesia. Should you donate anesthesia every time they cry? That would blow your monthly pay in a day.

Qibo shook his head, unwilling to argue further. If he lost this job at the private women’s hospital, he’d only be able to work in small clinics or hospitals in other regions. Small clinics easily had accidents and troubles, and his family didn’t want him to go far. So it was better to listen to the senior doctors and not offend anyone.

He glanced again at the girl held down, seeing her helpless eyes. Somehow, he felt pity again. People with kind hearts like him hated seeing others suffer.

If only… if only he could anesthetize her without drugs.

The thought appeared in his mind suddenly. At that moment, an image of a syringe popped up before his eyes. Without hesitation, Qibo mentally controlled the syringe and injected it into the girl’s lower abdomen surgical area.

Dr. Zhong resumed the operation, but this time, no matter how hard she tried, the girl no longer struggled or screamed — as if she felt no pain at all. Yet she remained conscious and wore a confused expression.