Dimples, caused by a defect in the facial muscles, are indentations that appear when multiple muscles pull against each other as one makes an expression.

For surgically created dimples to look natural, with no tell-tale signs of intervention, this same muscular defect must be recreated.

For someone like Yan Feifan, whose understanding of facial muscle anatomy was practically microscopic, this was a simple matter.

Chen Lingxin was on the operating table for a total of thirty-eight minutes.

The actual time Yan Feifan spent with a scalpel to her face was, all told, just twenty-nine minutes.

Because it was only a local anesthetic for the muscles, Chen Lingxin was conscious throughout the entire procedure.

After the surgery, she got off the operating table and walked out of the operating room on her own.

However, as she left the operating room, her facial muscles were still numb, so Chen Lingxin had to hold her own chin up.

If she let go, her mouth would hang open uncontrollably, and she would start to drool.

Around four in the afternoon, Yan Feifan finished the surgery, left the cosmetic surgery center, and prepared to head home.

He had promised Tian Yu he would get back as early as possible to have dinner with her.

As Yan Feifan walked towards the hospital’s south gate, he passed the Emergency Department and heard a man’s suppressed sobs.

Hearing crying in the Emergency Department was a common occurrence.

It was common for patients to be rushed to the ER, only for resuscitation efforts to fail.

Yan Feifan casually glanced in the direction of the sobs.

He was surprised to see that the person crying was an acquaintance.

It was Tong Yu, the medical intern from the ambulance crew involved in the incident a few days prior, when Yan Feifan had knelt on the ground to perform emergency aid.

He had his forehead pressed against the side of the ambulance, crying his heart out, his shoulders wracked with sobs.

His partner, attending physician Gao Linxian, stood beside him, leaning back against the ambulance with an equally somber expression.

Yan Feifan hesitated for a moment before changing course and walking over to them.

“Couldn’t save the patient? Is this his first loss?”

Gao Linxian met Yan Feifan’s gaze and shook his head gently. “This isn’t the first time he’s lost a patient,” he explained. “It’s just that today’s case was such a terrible shame.”

“A child? A young person?” Yan Feifan asked.

Gao Linxian nodded, his voice tinged with pain. “Just a seventeen-year-old youth. A senior at the Affiliated High School.”

“He and his girlfriend were playing around in a landscaped garden on East River South Road. While they were roughhousing, he accidentally pushed her into a cactus.”

“To console his crying girlfriend, and also to punish himself, he deliberately threw himself onto a large cactus.”

‘Holy crap…’

‘I can’t believe someone would be that impulsive.’

‘That’s just…’

For a moment, Yan Feifan was at a loss for words.

Cactus spines contain a toxic sap.

When a person is pricked, it not only causes severe pain but can also easily trigger allergic symptoms like redness, swelling, and itching of the skin.

Getting stuck by many spines at once can lead to a severe allergic reaction.

The intense pain can also trigger a dangerous stress response.

Yan Feifan asked, “Anaphylaxis? A severe reaction?”

Gao Linxian sighed softly. “He had a severe allergic reaction first. By the time we arrived, we found the youth’s head had swollen up like a pig’s.”

“But he was still conscious at the time, and he kept reassuring his girlfriend that he was okay.”

“But then he suddenly crashed. He went into cardiac arrest.”

“We gave him five successive shots of epinephrine and shocked him ten times with the defibrillator, but we couldn’t restart his heart.”

“Tong Yu performed CPR on him the entire way here without stopping. But just now, the youth was pronounced dead by Dr. Gao Jin.”

Yan Feifan let out a long sigh.

He was reminded of his own reaction when he’d discovered that chubby boy had died. He reached out, patted Tong Yu on the back, and said comfortingly, “Dr. Tong, some things are just out of our hands. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We’re only human; we can’t save everyone.”

Tong Yu turned around, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. His voice was thick with tears. “His girlfriend was in the ambulance… she just kept begging me, over and over. She kept blaming herself, saying she shouldn’t have yelled at him or hit him.”

“He was so young. The college entrance exams were just over a month away.”

“I’m… so useless…”

Just then, the ambulance driver suddenly stuck his head out the window and shouted, “Mr. Gao, Dr. Tong, dispatch just sent another call. We have to go again!”

At the driver’s shout, Gao Linxian and Tong Yu quickly waved to Yan Feifan and scrambled into the ambulance…

Watching the ambulance speed away from the hospital, sirens wailing, Yan Feifan’s previously good mood grew heavy.

Sometimes, life is just so unexpectedly fragile.

He walked silently out of the hospital’s south gate, unlocked a random share bike with his phone, and started pedaling back to Zuimo Court…

About ten minutes later, Yan Feifan arrived at the entrance to his residential community.

As he was parking the share bike, he spotted a familiar Mercedes van parked on the side of the road.

The van’s side door slid open, and Song Yan and Song Yi stepped out one after the other.

Yan Feifan noticed that Song Yan’s complexion hadn’t changed much since the last time they’d met. He still looked a bit pale, and his eyelids were still slightly puffy.

His spirits, however, seemed decent enough.

As for Song Yi, she still had the same cold, aloof beauty that warned strangers to keep their distance.

Yan Feifan walked over. “Out shopping again? Clearing your head, looking for inspiration?”

Song Yan chuckled. “Not this time. We came specifically to see the house. We’re going to be living here from now on!”

“We’re neighbors now.”

“Speaking of which, I have you to thank for being able to buy this place.”

It dawned on Yan Feifan immediately. He asked, “You bought the house the Sun Family was selling?”

Song Yan nodded. “Signed the papers and paid yesterday.”

Yan Feifan didn’t quite understand. “Mr. Song, with your wealth and connections, you could buy any house you want.”

“Surely you didn’t buy it just because it’s in the school district for the affiliated schools, right?”

Song Yan chuckled. “That’s actually one of the main factors.”

He added, “My company has a research and development partnership with Binhai University, and living here makes it easier to connect with the professors at Bin University.”

“And another thing, it’s close to the Affiliated Hospital…”

Song Yan tapped his left chest. “If something goes wrong in here, it’s easier to get to the hospital.”

Yan Feifan just grunted in acknowledgment and admonished him, “Get enough sleep, don’t stay up all night, watch what you eat, and get some moderate exercise. Then you won’t have any problems.”

“With your current work habits, you could be living inside the Affiliated Hospital and it wouldn’t make a difference. What’s bound to happen will happen.”

Song Yan gave a helpless smile. “Mr. Yan, I’m already making changes, step by step.”

“It’s just that some of the company’s projects are at a critical stage of development. I can’t just drop everything…”

Song Yan and Yan Feifan walked into the community together.

Song Yi and the Mercedes van followed slowly behind them.

After they had taken a dozen steps, Song Yan asked, feigning curiosity, “Mr. Yan, about that photographic memory of yours… have you ever tested its limits? What’s the most information you can memorize at one time?”

“Like, reciting the digits of pi?”

Yan Feifan shook his head. “Tests like that are boring. They have no practical value for me, just a total waste of time…”

He parted ways with the Song siblings at the community’s second intersection. Before he even made it home, he received an unexpected call from Zhao Dongsheng.

Zhao Dongsheng was on the line, enthusiastically inviting Yan Feifan to dinner. He said it had been a while since they’d last gathered and that they should catch up…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep