DCH CH 3
by LinnaceThis Doctor is Hospitalized.
At the cafeteria of the Second Hospital, a group of young nurses carried their trays toward an empty table, still chatting excitedly.
“Did you see him this morning? The captain from the neighboring team—Qing Yi!”
“I did, I did! He’s even better looking in person than on camera!”
“Seriously, he shattered all my stereotypes about pro gamers. I looked up some of his matches just now—he’s so cool.”
“They say when things get dangerous, you run to the solo lane. If Qing Yi’s the one holding that lane, I’d definitely feel safer!”
“I totally agree!”
“Right? Right?” The girls giggled and bounced around, fantasizing about what it’d be like to play games with a legendary pro.
Meanwhile, Lu Jingcheng walked silently to an empty seat, expressionless as he carried his meal tray.
His back hurt so much he could barely stand upright, and they were dreaming about him protecting them?
Heh. Cute.
After getting back from the hospital, every step Qing Yi took made him wince. His back wouldn’t even straighten, and lying down didn’t help—his whole body felt out of whack, surrounded by a cloud of frustration.
Wu Mian didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly. Earlier, the captain had been lying in bed, scrolling through Weibo, reading all about how the first team had been mooching off his livestream.
Then, with a face like thunder, he called the team into his room and gave them a proper scolding. When they came out, every one of them had their head hanging low—not just because they got chewed out, but because now, during Qing Yi’s hospital stay, they had to cover his streaming hours.
Usually, Qing Yi was polite and respectful to everyone. In the professional league, social dynamics were complicated, and as a star player, he couldn’t afford to lose his temper easily. If he did, the league wouldn’t even wait for fans to react—they’d issue a warning immediately.
As the long-time captain of Team IF, Qing Yi joked around plenty with his teammates. But when he really got serious, it still made their stomachs twist.
And right now, that twisted-up feeling? Yeah… that was pretty much the whole team’s reality.
Wu Mian joined Team IF a year after Qing Yi, so apart from Qing Yi himself, he was the most senior member on the first team. And after all these years, Wu Mian had learned exactly one thing:
In Team IF, offending the manager wasn’t a big deal—but messing around when Qing Yi was in a bad mood? That was asking for it.
Because truth be told, Qing Yi’s influence in the club probably outranked the manager’s.
His parents owned a major entertainment company in Hangzhou, and even though it wasn’t openly talked about, everyone knew the club’s business partnerships were deeply tied to his family.
Serving alongside a prince is like living with a tiger—and in Team IF, that tiger had always been Qing Yi.
“You still mad?” Wu Mian handed Qing Yi a glass of water and thoughtfully stuck a straw in it before setting it on the bedside table. He mulled over his words for a while but ended up asking anyway.
“Normally, this wouldn’t be that big of a deal,” Qing Yi didn’t explode like Wu Mian feared, but his tone wasn’t exactly friendly either. “But I’m in pain and irritable as hell… sigh—once I’m discharged, I’ll treat everyone to a meal.”
“It didn’t seem this bad this morning,” Wu Mian said, confused. “Did Dr. Lu hurt you during the exam or something?”
“No, Dr. Lu’s hands were really gentle…” Qing Yi paused mid-sentence, suddenly realizing how that sounded. His face twisted in mild disgust. “Wait, what kind of question is that?”
Wu Mian gave him a blank look. Please, who’s the one with the dirty mind here? That comment didn’t come from him.
As Wu Mian left the room, he leaned against the hallway wall and shot off a message: 【The young master’s in a bad mood today. His back injury is part of it, but if you ask me, the main issue is that His Highness has a crush—but the other party doesn’t seem interested.】
Xing Gui:【?】
Wu Mian’s fingers flew across the screen:【Ugh, I wish that poor sap would catch on to what Comrade Huo is feeling.】
Wen Jing:【How do you know His Highness has a thing for him?】
Wu Mian: 【He was practically drooling just looking at him, and all his actions after that were pure peacock display.】
He finished his analysis with a hopeful note: 【Going into the hospital tomorrow—please let something happen between them. I’m begging.】
That evening, Wu Mian helped Qing Yi pack his things.
Qing Yi was lying on his side on the bed. His back felt completely locked up, and every attempt to shift positions was agony—yet staying in one position for too long was its own kind of torture.
With a deep sigh, he grabbed at the blanket, clenched his teeth, and still couldn’t manage to roll over. In the end, he had to call Wu Mian to help.
But Wu Mian, still a clumsy twenty-year-old with zero caregiving experience, made things worse. His awkward fumbling left Qing Yi stuck halfway through a turn, and even the slightest movement sent sharp pain shooting up his spine.
For a moment, Qing Yi genuinely missed how skilled Dr. Lu’s hands had been that morning—so gentle it didn’t hurt at all.
“I mean, obviously I can’t compare to Dr. Lu,” Wu Mian’s voice cut in, clearly unimpressed, “but the way you’re describing it sounds kind of creepy.”
Only then did Qing Yi realize—he’d said all that out loud.
“Dr. Lu is just the best.”
“He even asked me where it hurt, unlike someone.”
Wu Mian scowled and pressed a finger against Qing Yi’s lower back, mimicking a doctor’s tone in a fake, raspy voice: “Mr. Huo, does it hurt here?”
“Get lost.”
Unlike Wu Mian’s clueless prodding, Dr. Lu had used long, steady fingers that had gently probed along Qing Yi’s back and legs, calmly asking: “Does it hurt here? Any tingling when I press like this?”
Back then, Qing Yi hadn’t thought much of it. But now, looking back—
Yeah, there probably was some tingling.
Those cool fingertips, the way the ache bloomed under his touch—it was like a current of electricity running straight through Qing Yi’s heart.
Anyway… they’d be seeing each other again tomorrow.
Lu Jingcheng.
The next morning, Qing Yi and Wu Mian showed up at the hospital with their luggage. The nurse at the front desk had dark circles under her eyes—clearly she’d worked through the night—and two traffic officers stood nearby taking statements.
Turns out, there had been a serious accident last night just a few blocks away from the hospital.
An electric scooter had sped into an intersection, colliding head-on with a car merging onto the main road. The delivery guy had been flung several meters through the air, landing in a pool of blood that quickly spread across the pavement.
Screams from bystanders, wailing sirens, flashing lights—it was chaos.
The ambulance had rushed the victim to the hospital, and the emergency department, already busy, was thrown into total overdrive. Doctors were urgently summoned in the middle of the night, nurses were sprinting back and forth, and the ER felt like a battlefield.
Dr. Lu, who was on duty that night, was called straight into the OR and didn’t stop working until early the next morning.
“Did they save the guy?” someone asked.
“Yeah, but I heard he might lose a limb. Poor guy’s still so young…” one nurse whispered to her colleague as they handed off shifts.
Qing Yi inched closer to eavesdrop.
“You have no idea how intense it was,” the nurse continued. “When they brought him in, it looked like he’d been through a meat grinder—like, literally. I assisted Dr. Lu during the surgery for the first time, and oh my god, the man didn’t even flinch.”
“Was it just Dr. Lu doing the orthopedic work?”
“There was an intern with him,” the nurse said, then made a face, “but he bailed during debridement—ran out to throw up. It was just Dr. Lu in there, sawing and hammering away, completely unfazed. Total beast.”
“What time did you guys finish?”
“When I left, Dr. Lu was still wrapping things up.”
“That long…”
Listening in, Qing Yi couldn’t help but picture it all in his mind—
The wreckage strewn across the street. Severed limbs and twisted metal. Then, in the OR, Lu Jingcheng fully geared up, calm and laser-focused. Nurses moving efficiently, instruments passing from hand to hand.
Lu Jingcheng meticulously clearing away torn flesh, then picking up a surgical saw and working through broken bone, chips flying under the bright lights.
Even as the injured man cried out in agony, Lu Jingcheng’s expression didn’t so much as twitch. His hands moved swiftly and steadily. But one misstep—and he nicked a major artery. Blood sprayed out in an instant, staining Lu Jingcheng’s surgical gown a vivid red…
Qing Yi had just imagined his mental scene reaching a dramatic climax when a noisy group suddenly barged in from outside, snapping him back to reality.
The delivery guy was just an ordinary worker from a small town who’d come to Hangzhou to make a living. As soon as the accident happened, the hospital notified his family.
Two people in their sixties rushed in soon after, clothes dusty and travel-worn. The moment they stepped into the ward, they were already shouting, frantically asking about their son’s condition. Spotting a couple of traffic police officers nearby, they hurried over, and the usual chain of events unfolded—accusations, yelling, and before long, fists flying.
What was a barely controlled atmosphere in the inpatient lobby now exploded into chaos. Shouts and sobs echoed throughout the space, creating a suffocating tension.
The police held back a few middle-aged men from the car, while nurses tried to calm the elderly couple. One young nurse had barely started to speak when she was shoved hard by the older woman and fell back, landing heavily on the floor.
The woman’s wailing was shrill and furious, laced with helpless rage and despair. She screamed that if anything happened to her son, she’d fight the driver to the death.
No one can remain rational when their child is lying broken in a hospital bed.
Onlookers had begun to gather, murmuring among themselves, casting judgmental glances while standing on their imagined moral high ground—as if watching a spectacle.
Qing Yi instinctively backed away. He didn’t want to get caught in any commotion, especially with his injured waist.
Just as he was retreating and clutching his side, he suddenly felt a hand steadying him from behind. Then, a voice he hadn’t known for long—but which had lingered in his mind all day—spoke softly:
“Careful.”
Lu Jingcheng had come straight here after finishing surgery. He hadn’t even changed out of his scrubs; the surgical mask and gown still carried spots of blood.
Qing Yi turned around—and instantly, the image in his mind and the real person before him clicked together in perfect sync.
His pupils contracted, and he tried hard to suppress the excitement threatening to rise in his expression.
“Don’t want your waist anymore? What if you got knocked into?” Lu Jingcheng’s hand was still pressed gently against Qing Yi’s lower back, eyes filled with concern.
He was half a head taller than Qing Yi. As Qing Yi looked up at him, Lu Jingcheng took a step forward, long legs easily carrying him into the middle of the chaos. He shielded the young intern behind him and, facing the two traffic police officers, removed his blood-stained mask.
“I was the lead surgeon for the case. If you have any questions, ask me.”
The officers moved aside to speak with Lu Jingcheng about the surgery. Around this time, the hospital’s administrative director also arrived, taking over the matter from Lu Jingcheng.
Turning around, Lu Jingcheng spotted Qing Yi still standing in the same spot.
Most people around were bustling, but Qing Yi just stood there amidst the crowd, smiling warmly at him.
In this inpatient building filled with somber faces and tension, that one gentle smile struck Lu Jingcheng like a beam of sunlight piercing through thick clouds, shining directly into his heart.
He felt his heart skip a beat—then start pounding faster. The exhaustion from last night seemed to lift, swept away by some invisible force.
The corners of Lu Jingcheng’s mouth curved up involuntarily. “You’re here?”
Qing Yi waved the admission slip in his hand. “Just finished registering.”
Lu Jingcheng smiled. “Come on, I’ll take you upstairs.”
Qing Yi hesitated. “It’s okay, we can find our way. Don’t want to take up your time.”
Lu Jingcheng gave him a glance. “It’s fine. I was heading that way anyway.”
Once they arrived at the orthopedics floor, Lu Jingcheng pointed for Qing Yi to go into the nurses’ station for preliminary checks. He took the paperwork to handle the rest himself.
Lu Jingcheng asked quietly, “The patient in the double room got discharged today, right?”
“Yes, just this morning,” the young nurse responded softly. “We held the bed like you asked.”
“Good. Go ahead and process it.” He handed her the hospitalization form.
As she worked on it, the nurse couldn’t help asking, “Dr. Lu, is he your friend?”
Lu Jingcheng glanced into the nurse’s station, where Qing Yi was getting his blood drawn. Distracted, he replied, “Ah.”
Then he added, a bit too deliberately, “He’s a pro player in a game I like.”
“Oh?” The nurse didn’t play games, so she didn’t recognize Qing Yi or care much about his background. But she did love reading fanfiction in her free time and had a sixth sense for catching a good CP dynamic.
Sensing something off in Lu Jingcheng’s words, she asked with a sly grin, “So… you like the game, or you like the player?”
“Why are you gossiping about me now?” Lu Jingcheng didn’t answer directly, focusing on filling out the forms. “His back isn’t in great shape. Please take extra care of him.”
The nurse teased, “Wow, I’ve never seen Dr. Lu this attentive to anyone.”
Lu Jingcheng led Qing Yi to his room.
As soon as they stepped inside, Qing Yi’s face lit up. “Whoa, a double room! I took a look earlier—aren’t most of the rooms here triples?”
“You’re lucky,” Lu Jingcheng replied with a smile. “Only one of these. The previous patient got discharged today.”
Qing Yi raised an eyebrow. “Beds are this hard to get at your hospital, and you expect me to believe I just got lucky? You didn’t pull some strings for me?”
Lu Jingcheng kept a straight face. “Pure coincidence.”
Qing Yi hobbled over, grinning as he leaned in close. “Really?”
“Really.”
Just then, the same nurse from earlier walked in to check vitals on the other bed. Hearing that exchange, she quietly rolled her eyes.
Everyone in their gossip group already knew—Dr. Lu had gone out of his way to speak with the department head to reserve this bed.
What a tsundere—mouth says one thing, heart does another. And just a moment ago, he practically confessed he liked that pro player!
Sensing the nurse’s judgmental gaze, Lu Jingcheng scratched his nose awkwardly and quickly turned to Qing Yi, changing the subject. “Come on, lie down. Let me check your back again.”
His voice was low and smooth, and as it reached Qing Yi’s ears, the pain in his waist seemed to fade a little.
Lu Jingcheng pulled the curtain around the bed. When he turned back, Qing Yi was lying there with a warm smile on his face.
“Dr. Lu.”
“What is it?”
Just two simple words.
Qing Yi’s smile deepened. “You’ll need to help me a bit. I don’t have much strength in my back.”
“I’ve got you.”
Outside the curtain, the nurse’s rotten-girl mind was in overdrive. Everything they said just sounded more and more suggestive.
Despite the teasing tone earlier, when it came to actually lying down, Qing Yi truly couldn’t manage it alone. He instinctively reached for Lu Jingcheng’s hand, biting his lip as he slowly tried to lower himself.
But he’d barely moved half an inch when it felt like an invisible barrier locked up his waist. All strength stopped transmitting, like he’d hit a wall.
Immediately afterward, a sharp, intense wave of pain surged through him like a high-voltage current shooting up his spine. In an instant, his body froze as if hit by a paralysis spell—completely immobilized, unable to move even a finger.
Suddenly, an arm wrapped around his waist, and Lu Jingcheng’s low, calm voice sounded right by his ear.
“Relax. I’ll do the heavy lifting.”
“If I lean on you, you’ll fall too.”
“I can’t use my strength.”
“It’s fine. I’ve got it. Just relax.”
Outside the curtain, the young nurse who hadn’t yet left stared at the silhouettes cast on the curtain and thought to herself: …Am I really allowed to witness this for free?
But upholding her professional responsibility, she still asked, “Director Lu, do you need any help?”
A pleasant voice came from inside, although slightly breathy, with just a hint of exertion: “No, huuh— you can go. Close the door on your way out. It’s not very convenient for him to be seen like this.”
“Alright.” The nurse replied, all while her imagination raced far beyond professionalism, yet her voice remained perfectly composed.
Tonight’s fanfic would have fresh, first-hand inspiration.
She gently pulled the door closed and left with silent pride and a sense of duty fulfilled.
With much effort and help, Qing Yi finally managed to lie facedown on the bed, looking like a deflated dog: “Let me rest a bit… it hurts like hell.”
Hearing him say it hurt, Lu Jingcheng quickly pressed his fingers gently around his waist to test: “Here? Or here?”
“No, not there…” Qing Yi panted lightly.
“Then here?” Lu Jingcheng frowned.
“You look so tired. I feel bad for you.”
Lu Jingcheng’s hand froze on his waist. “…I’m being serious.”
“I am serious.” Qing Yi turned his head stiffly to look at him. “Serious as gold.”
The two held that weirdly intimate pose.
Lu Jingcheng was the first to speak, smiling with a bit of teasing: “With how you’re acting, I’m starting to doubt the real reason you came to the hospital.”
Qing Yi’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, and his gaze—hungry and intense—locked onto Lu Jingcheng. “It’s not like that. My back’s genuinely done for.”
“You’re only 24 and already your waist is giving out?” Lu Jingcheng lowered his voice, that smile turning a little wicked. “You’d better take this seriously.”
Qing Yi tried to suppress his grin, but a chuckle still escaped. “Didn’t expect the gentle and refined Deputy Director Lu to say something like that.”
Lu Jingcheng smiled—not that professional, polite one Qing Yi saw yesterday, but a real one. His beautiful almond eyes curved like peach blossoms, utterly charming. “That was Deputy Director Lu—always warm as spring to patients. But I’m off the clock now. Lu Jingcheng can say whatever he wants.”
Qing Yi blinked, then turned to him again with a sly smile. “Then, Dr. Warm-as-spring, can I add your patient’s WeChat?”
His eyes sparkled, like stars flickering behind his lashes.
Shameless, Lu Jingcheng thought privately—but still took out his phone from his pocket.
What he didn’t notice was that his usually calm eyes had already mirrored Qing Yi’s liveliness, undulating with each shift of emotion. Like a stone thrown into a still lake, it stirred up ripples of undeniable charm.
He tapped on his phone, pulled up the QR code, and handed it to Qing Yi.
Beep— With a scan and the familiar tone of success, Qing Yi’s lips curled into a mischievous grin. “So now I can reach you anytime, right? My attending physician.”
Doctor. Support. Cai Wenji.
Qing Yi already imagined them duo-queuing in-game, with Lu Jingcheng chasing after him in a virtual baby stroller, healing him like a dedicated little support.
Maybe… maybe he should start practicing Lan.
The seasoned top-lane warrior who normally charged through enemy lines to take out their core, for the first time, considered picking up an assassin. Like in CG animation—giant shark bared its teeth, swooping in to snatch a sweet little support…
Not bad at all.
The passion he normally reserved for competitions surged up once again. It’s him. I’m going after him.
Lu Jingcheng tapped the screen, accepting the friend request, then glanced up with his peach blossom eyes—now practically sparkling.
“Of course.”