After making the call and returning to the consultation room, Xiao Ma had already begun the next patient's consultation. Du Heng quietly returned to his seat and picked up the nearby disease record to read.

As lunchtime approached, patients began to arrive one after another. Before one could leave, the next in line would push open the door and enter, leaving the two doctors no time to talk.

About forty minutes later, the consultation room door was pushed open. A nurse from the Chinese Medicine Department entered, holding a sealed bag of medicine. "Director Du," she said.

Du Heng responded with a smile.

The nurse then placed the medicine before Xiao Ma. "Doctor Ma, this is the medicine you just prescribed."

Xiao Ma looked at the nurse and smiled apologetically. "Sister Li, why did you have to bring it over yourself?"

Nurse Li rolled her eyes at Xiao Ma. "You issued the medical advice. If our department's nurses don't deliver the medicine for you, were you expecting the Pharmacy staff to bring it? You wish! Perhaps if you had as much clout as Director Du. And don't issue medical advice for medicine delivery to the outpatient service again. If it weren't for Director Du's sake, we wouldn't be making a special trip for you this time."

Xiao Ma kept up his polite smile and thanked her profusely.

This wasn't part of the nurse's primary duties, and Xiao Ma was a new doctor. In front of Nurse Li, he couldn't afford to show any bad temper.

Of course, he wouldn't dare show any bad temper. Doctors and nurses operated on separate tracks—one under the Medical Affairs Office, the other under the Nursing Department. Furthermore, doctors frequently required assistance from nurses for many tasks. Thus, anyone claiming doctors could lead nurses was simply an ignoramus spouting nonsense.

However, the hospital's ecosystem formed a perfect closed loop. Patients might complain about and scold nurses, but they would obediently listen to doctors. If a doctor said to go east, they wouldn't dare go west. Conversely, nurses could also order doctors about, sometimes even yelling if a doctor made a mistake. And doctors, like Xiao Ma at this moment, wouldn't dare let out a fart.

However, the Department Director and the head nurse had to be considered separately; they weren't part of this particular loop.

Xiao Ma's sincere attitude pleased Nurse Li, who had delivered the medicine, so she didn't say anything more to him. Instead, she turned to Du Heng, took something from her pocket, and asked, "Director Du, I bought the item."

Du Heng glanced at the item in Nurse Li's hand, and his eyelid twitched. "Throw it in the trash bin behind the door."

Nurse Li asked, puzzled, "Throw it away?"

"Yes, throw it away," Du Heng affirmed.

Nurse Li said, a little regretfully, "Director Du, if you don't want it, I'll take it. It cost me five yuan." With that, she started to put the item back into her pocket.

Seeing Nurse Li's movement, Du Heng quickly interjected, "Wait, don't! Throw it in the trash bin. I need it."

"Huh?" Nurse Li was confused. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Seriously. Just throw it in there and cover it with some paper so it's hidden. Also, get the five yuan from Xiao Ma. This is to help him."

Nurse Li glanced at Xiao Ma, then, still puzzled, tossed the item into the trash bin behind the door.

Once everything was ready, Du Heng instructed Xiao Ma, "Go on, call them in."

Xiao Ma had an inkling of Du Heng's plan when he saw the item in Nurse Li's hand. Hearing Du Heng's instruction, he immediately stood up, walked to the door, and called the couple back in.

Du Heng picked up the bag of medicine from the table, snipped it open with scissors, and handed it to the female patient. "The medicine is ready. Drink it quickly. Your problem isn't serious; this single dose should be effective."

The female patient accepted the medicine hesitantly. She looked at Du Heng, then at her husband behind her, before tilting her head back and gulping it down.

No sooner had she downed it all in one go than she began to retch again. The "GAG! GAG!" sounds grew more frequent. Feeling like she couldn't hold it in any longer, she clutched the empty bag and started to run out.

Du Heng quickly called out, "Don't vomit in the hallway! There's a trash bin behind the door. Use that!"

The woman was obedient, or perhaps she truly couldn't hold it back any longer. She rushed to the trash bin, clutched it, and began to GAG. After a few seconds of dry heaves, she suddenly vomited. The black medicinal liquid she had just drunk gushed out entirely into the trash bin. Then she vomited again and again. Towards the end, with every "VOMIT!" sound, her body would convulse, her spine arching.

It felt as if she were truly vomiting up her own gallbladder.

By now, Du Heng had donned a mask and taken a pair of chopsticks Xiao Ma handed him. Once the woman was helped to her feet by her husband, Du Heng began to poke around in the trash bin with the chopsticks. After stirring its contents a couple of times, he straightened up and said to the woman, "Look at what you vomited. Is this it?"

The woman peered into the trash bin. There, at the bottom, she saw a large, soft-bodied black spider with several long legs.

Instantly, her eyes widened. Just as she was about to squat for a closer look, Du Heng kicked the trash bin aside. He then pulled off his gloves, tossed them into the bin—conveniently covering the black spider—and said to Xiao Ma, "What are you waiting for? Get rid of it, quickly!"

Xiao Ma grunted, "Oh!" He quickly pulled on a pair of gloves, picked up the trash bin, and headed for the restroom outside. The woman, however, was still craning her neck, trying to get another look.