Life Plan

Chapter 2, Clinical Coordinator

On her last day of internship, Liu Chichi was even more anxious than on her first day in the pharmacy. She kept thinking about how she could deceive her mother after today. On the bus to work, she kept browsing the recruitment information on the official websites of several hospitals in the city, but none of them had any job openings in the pharmacy department.

Sitting heavily preoccupied in front of the computer, her excellent work ethic, cultivated over ten months, remained intact. Taking the patient's prescription, she instinctively asked, "Name?"

"Hao Jia".

The hoarse voice came through the mask, piercing straight into Liu Chichi's mind. At the same moment, her gaze fell on the prescription, and after confirming the name, she suddenly looked up.

The girl in front of me was wearing a black baseball cap, a mask, a sun-protective shirt, and even a full-body glove. She was completely covered up, with only her eyes and hair peeking out from under her hat visible.

"Date of birth?"

September 20, 1999.

Thirteen years had passed since Liu Chichi first heard this answer. The moment she recognized the person before her, she felt a mixture of anticipation and embarrassment; she hoped the other person would recognize her, yet she was also afraid to face them.

She was in a daze for a while, and the girl next to Hao Jia stepped forward and tapped on the table: "Please hurry up, thank you."

Liu Chichi looked down and picked up the medicine box, simultaneously seeing herself reflected in the computer screen—a hat covering her hair, a mask, and a white coat; she probably wouldn't have been recognized. She routinely checked the prescription, printed out the doctor's order, and handed it out along with the medication.

Hao Jia quickly turned around and disappeared into the bustling crowd. The line at the hospital's outpatient pharmacy was longer than at a vegetable market, and Liu Chichi's work seemed endless; she didn't have time to take another look.

During lunch, Sun Ying sat down next to her with a pleasant surprise: "You stayed on?"

"No, I have a few patients who have exceeded their time limit to deal with," Liu Chichi casually mentioned. "Do you know who that girl with the bun hairstyle is?"

"A slicked-back bun?"

"Yes." The girl who was with Hao Jia. Liu Chichi had seen her a few times at the hospital. She had an unforgettable appearance—her forehead was combed as smooth as a braised egg, without a single stray hair, and she wore a bun.

"It seems to be someone from the pharmaceutical company, doing clinical trials."

"Clinical trials..." Liu Chichi bit her chopsticks. She was a pharmacy graduate and knew what clinical trials meant. But this kind of work, which she saw as skirting the line of ethics and morality, had never been within her options; she had only learned about it as knowledge in books. "What is she doing here?"

"I heard there's an SLE patient here, quite unlucky. The anti-inflammatory drugs she's been prescribed have very serious side effects and aren't very effective. It just so happens that her treatment coincided with this, so she's probably here to contact the patient today. Oh, you know her?"

"I don't know him."

"Oh, right," Sun Ying, a social butterfly, suddenly remembered, "I heard her colleague resigned. Do you want to work for her?"

"Forget it, I don't want to do clinical work, I'm afraid it'll be too tiring." Liu Chichi swallowed the word "experiment".

"Come on, you're afraid of being tired? Everyone knows that you're the one who works the most night shifts among the interns. I'll ask around for you later."

"Really, no need. That job..." Liu Chichi frowned awkwardly, but couldn't find a neutral word to express her dislike. She wasn't good at making sharp comments.

Sun Ying ignored her final refusal. She knew that Liu Chichi was the type of person who didn't like to trouble others, but her mother was rather extreme.

She was a few years older than Liu Chichi. More than ten years ago, she had sneaked out of the house and seen Liu Chichi, a primary school student, crying and screaming outside. Sun Ying coaxed her gently, "She works at the Central Hospital, you know."

Liu hesitated for a moment, then did not refuse.

Sun Ying's status as a social butterfly is not something she boasted about; the question was asked at noon, and she was seen by Sun Ying after get off work that same day.

Standing inside the hospital entrance, Liu Chichi could clearly sense that the woman with the big, slicked-back haircut was waiting for her outside. For a moment, she felt so guilty that she wanted to run out the door.

Although she hadn't done anything wrong.

Shen Shuyi walked up to her. She was very tall, 175 cm, and had a bun hairstyle. She looked like a head teacher and had a sense of pressure. Liu Chichi subconsciously took a step back.

Shen Shuyi took another step forward and asked naturally, as if they had known each other for a long time, "Have you eaten yet?"

"without……"

"I'll treat you to dinner. How about Sichuan food?"

"No...no need, my mom is waiting for me to come home for dinner."

It's a lie; actually, I'm going home to cook for my mom.

"Make a phone call."

"what?"

"Make a phone call and ask."

The tone shifted rapidly from discussion to a slightly commanding one, causing Liu Chichi to instinctively obey. By the time she came to her senses, Liu Chunhong's impatient voice was already on the other end of the line: "I'm still busy. Why are you calling? Don't you know what to cook?"

"No..." Realizing what was happening, Liu Chichi wanted to hang up, but she subconsciously looked up and saw Shen Shuyi's lips curl up and her hand outstretched in front of her.

Liu Chichi obediently handed over her phone, which Shen Shuyi took. She turned on speakerphone and spoke in a tone that perfectly balanced politeness and respect with a touch of aloofness: "Hello, Auntie, I'm Chichi's supervisor. We're having a department dinner today. Would Chichi be able to come?"

Liu Chunhong's enthusiasm rose rapidly, and Liu Chichi could almost imagine the fine lines popping up at the corners of her eyes: "Oh, it's Leader Chichi! Of course, of course, you even called me. It's such a bother for you, Leader. In the future, just let me know about these things."

"Thank you for your understanding, Auntie. I will take her home safely after the meal."

"I can't trouble you, boss. I'll just take a taxi later."

"No trouble at all, it's on my way."

"What a coincidence! I must thank you for your kindness, boss."

A customer's voice came through the receiver, and Shen Shuyi exchanged pleasantries appropriately before hanging up.

Sitting in the passenger seat with Shen Shuyi the whole way, Liu Chichi kept thinking back to what she had asked at noon. She shouldn't have said anything bad, right?

Seeing her nervousness, Shen Shuyi took the initiative to break the ice: "You didn't lie, did you?"

"I did say that." In her mother's eyes, Liu Chichi had always played the role of the perfect daughter, but there are no perfect children in this world, unless they are lying.

She knew that the message would gradually change over time, but she didn't know how it would sound to Shen Shuyi. She could only try to show her sincerity in order to end the dinner as soon as possible.

While in Shen Shuyi's car, Liu Chichi was thinking that if it was a small restaurant, she should be able to afford it using her secret savings. Upon arriving at the restaurant, looking at its antique-style facade, she didn't even want to get out of the car. After opening the menu, she immediately said she wanted to leave.

Shen Shuyi noticed her embarrassment and proactively closed her menu. "This Sichuan restaurant has a strong local flavor, using several kinds of chili peppers. You locals prefer sweeter flavors, so you probably aren't familiar with it. Let me order."

"Yes...it's too expensive." Two dishes would wipe out all her savings.

"Don't worry, I'm inviting a friend over in a few days. He's also a local, but he wants to eat some local specialties. Consider it a favor to ask you to help me out. Please let me know if there's anything wrong with the dishes."

It was just right, watertight, protecting her fragile self-esteem. Liu Chichi shrank back, then couldn't help but glance at her again, wondering how long it would take her to become such a dignified person.

"Don't be too nervous. I don't mean anything by it. I heard you wanted to know about my work, and I happen to be very interested in you, so I'd like to meet you."

For a moment, Liu Chichi didn't know whether to explain her "inquiry" first or to be shocked by the other party's "curiosity."

"I?"

"I've heard of you."

To be precise, it was Shen Shuyi who inquired about it. Every intern has different characteristics, but Liu Chichi's characteristics are very prominent, and everyone agrees that "she is very obedient and hardworking."

Shen Shuyi was very satisfied with the result.

"Huh?" Liu Chichi asked curiously what she had heard, but Shen Shuyi didn't say anything more.

"I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Shen Shuyi, and I am a clinical coordinator. If you'd like, I happen to have a vacancy here."

People with experience in the pharmaceutical industry have a much higher chance of passing the interview, and Shen Shuyi was very confident in her.

The Mapo Tofu slid from the spoon into Liu Chichi's dazed mouth, burning her so much that she gulped down cold water. Shen Shuyi had arrived too quickly; she wasn't mentally prepared.

"I know you didn't finish your internship and haven't found a job yet."

"Not found yet."

"No rush," Shen Shuyi said, showing the QR code. "Take your time to think about it."

As Liu Chichi got up to scan the QR code, Shen Shuyi suddenly asked, "Do you know Hao Jia?"

Liu Chichi didn't answer directly, muttering something vaguely, but after a moment she couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with her?"

Shen Shuyi observed every change in Liu Chichi's expression, then gave a polite smile: "I'm sorry, we don't disclose the privacy of the test subjects."

Liu Chichi was speechless. If she couldn't say it, then why did she bring it up?

After dinner, Shen Shuyi offered to drive her home. When they were about an intersection away from her house, she told Shen Shuyi to stop. As expected, when they reached the entrance of the residential compound, they saw Liu Chunhong standing there, wearing her cherished little leather shoes, looking expectant. Seeing her coming home alone, her face instantly fell. "Where's your boss? Why didn't he invite you in for a chat?"

"She's very busy."

"You're so stupid!" Liu Chunhong poked her head with exasperation, the force so strong that she stumbled, leaving a red finger mark on her forehead. "The leader personally brought you back, how come you didn't seize the opportunity to build a better relationship? How long is your internship? Have you secured a permanent position yet?"

"It hasn't been announced yet."

"Did your boss give any hints? Did your classmates give you gifts?"

"no."

"They definitely have gifts, but they're keeping them all from you. You're so dense, you can't even give them away."

At the beginning of her senior year, when choosing an internship, Liu Chunhong asked someone to buy a can of tea and have Liu Chichi give it to her counselor, hoping that the counselor could help her find a good job, preferably a respectable one like staying at the university to teach.

Liu Chichi knew this was impossible, but under pressure from her mother, she still forced herself to go to the counselor's office. Before she even entered, she heard the counselor making a phone call.

From the fragmented conversation, she roughly understood that someone had placed a large shopping card on his desk.

Fearing being labeled as a "corrupt and bribe-taker," the counselor immediately reported it. At this moment, she was earnestly clarifying her situation. Liu Chichi glanced at the tea leaves in her hand, decisively turned around and left, only saying to her mother, "I didn't give them away."

This incident led to her being nagged by her mother for a long time for being useless. Fortunately, with Sun Ying's introduction, she finally passed the internship recruitment at the Second Hospital.

"At your age, you not only need to know how to be a good person, but also how to do your job. Did you offer to pay for dinner with your boss tonight?"

"no."

"How can you not understand basic social etiquette...?" "Mom, I only have 41.53 yuan left this week."

Is it her fault that she doesn't have money?