(Thanks to Shuǐ Dī Shí Chuān for the monthly ticket encouragement)

The marathon started. Watching the bustling crowd slowly set off, Liu Banxia could only shake his head helplessly along with them.

He really didn't recommend that the borderline hobbyists among the running enthusiasts also take part in this kind of event. Just to join in the fun, they'd make the scene much more chaotic and add a lot of pressure to the organizing committee's work.

If you want to join in the fun, you can just watch from the roadside too.

Besides, running along in this kind of atmosphere makes it easy for your adrenaline to spike, and you might perform better than usual.

But the side effects aren't small either. It increases the burden on the body, especially on the knees. Maybe this time you play to your heart's content, but you'll suffer later. And the wear and tear on the knees can't be made up for.

"My god, Teacher Liu, guess who I just saw." Standing on the ambulance watching the crowd, Xu Yino shouted.

"Who did you see? Someone from our hospital running along too?" Liu Banxia asked casually.

"Haha, I saw shimu and Qing Kewa." Xu Yino said gleefully, even waving her arm hard.

Liu Banxia couldn't stay calm either; he hurriedly stood up. Sure enough, his precious wife with her big pregnant belly was on the other side, leisurely watching the event. The one next to her waving enthusiastically was Qing Kewa.

"Teacher Liu, you didn't know Qing Kewa was back either?" Xu Yino asked curiously.

Liu Banxia pulled out his phone. "I had no idea. Qiaoqiao hid it way too well."

"What are you doing? We're watching the marathon here." Once the video connected, Qiaoqiao said with a dead-serious face.

"Dr. Liu, Director Liu, you're the best!" Qing Kewa shouted happily from the side.

"Then I've got to be the best. Watch for a bit and that's it, then find a cool place to sit. It's a mess over here today, and I still have to run around for a while." Liu Banxia said.

"Huh? What? Aiya, bad signal. What's going on, no signal anymore." Qiaoqiao muttered a couple of lines and then hung up the video.

"Hahaha, Teacher Liu, nothing you can do now, huh?" Xu Yino said.

"Teacher Liu, someone fell, and knocked over a few others." At this moment Su Wenhao chimed in.

Liu Banxia looked up. Staff were maintaining order and carrying those who had fallen off to the side.

"What's the point of this? You're just here to play, why so anxious?" Liu Banxia said helplessly.

They didn't need to go over; other colleagues were already treating these people.

This wouldn't be an isolated case. The batch that just passed up front were basically elite runners, all here for the prize money.

The middle pack were the serious hobbyists. They usually train on their own and came to test their strength. It's just that some people lack discipline and don't follow the rules at the start.

He had just thought of this when a bit of commotion broke out not far away. This time was better than before; someone only stumbled and didn't fall.

It really wasn't that the organizing committee's management wasn't strict enough. There were lots of people maintaining order, and the loudspeakers were constantly blaring instructions. It's just that the participants were way too enthusiastic.

This was only the beginning; the real test hadn't even arrived yet.

Luckily, everyone was still moving off at a relatively slow pace, and many people were watching their footing. These few injured weren't in serious condition, but for them, there was no chance to keep playing here.

"Xu Yino, tell the organizing committee we'll just follow along at the back." Liu Banxia said.

"Got it." Xu Yino responded.

Taking advantage of the time, Liu Banxia ran across the street. He had to go check on his precious wife.

"Hello, Director Liu." Qing Kewa called out joyfully. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"You little rascal, you got here yesterday, didn't you? Why didn't you tell us?" Liu Banxia said.

"It was Qiaoqiao who said we had to give you two a surprise." Qing Kewa said.

"I actually wanted to come over a long time ago. Work at home is so boring. I'm gonna stay a few days this time. After you two get married you have to invite me over to hang out."

Liu Banxia laughed. "Looks like life at your place really is lacking passion. My precious wife, your legs must be tired from standing. Hurry up and go sit in the car and rest for a bit."

"Yanzi, you too. I even cooked for you yesterday for nothing. How come you didn't secretly give me a heads-up? Sometimes you really can't just let Qiaoqiao mess around however she likes."

"Director Liu, with a precious wife like yours, you really think someone like me can control her?" Yanzi shot back.

Liu Banxia was speechless. That was pretty much the truth.

Qiaoqiao could indeed be a bit willful sometimes. This was all to give him a surprise. It's just that it scared him a little too—he was really afraid she'd bump into something.

"Aiya, you nag like an old lady. We're leaving. You think we actually like standing here sunbathing?" Qiaoqiao spoke up.

"That's more like it. Go home and play with Tang Dou's kids." Liu Banxia coaxed.

Yanzi was already used to this, but Qing Kewa thought it was really fun, like coaxing a little kid.

And don't underestimate this kind of coaxing—right now Qiaoqiao totally buys it, happily getting into the car, and she can keep playing with Qing Kewa on the way back.

This is also one of Qiaoqiao's good points: she can be willful sometimes, but as long as you coax her, you're good.

After he was done appeasing his wife, Liu Banxia started in on today's work.

Even though the race had just started, there were already plenty of athletes having issues. Most of them were these fringe hobbyists who hadn't done any proper physical prep; after running just a little while, problems started popping up all over.

Cramping was the most common, followed by choking on water. Choking on water sounds like basic common sense, but a lot of people still manage to do it.

"Teacher Liu, this patient's shoulder is dislocated, and he's got abrasions on his face and elbow." At this moment Su Wenhao shouted.

"I'm coming right over." Liu Banxia answered, rubbing the calf of the athlete with the leg cramp.

"Go rest over there for a bit. Once your breathing's even and your body temperature comes down, then head home. You've already overdrawn your body a bit. With this kind of physique, what are you doing joining the fun?"

After saying that, he stopped fussing over this patient and ran over to Su Wenhao's side.

This patient was really unlucky. This stretch of the course was downhill, he didn't control his speed, and then he lost it. You could also say he was lucky: his wrist didn't end up with a Colles' fracture, but he did scrape a big patch of skin off his elbow, and his shoulder was dislocated.

This was small-time work for an orthopedist. He moved the shoulder a bit, adjusted the angle, then with a pull, a twist, and a lift, the joint went back in with success.

Ding! Consultation complete

You gained 20 experience points, 100 proficiency points in Orthopedic Manipulation, Glory Points +1

Not bad, at least. The few patients he'd just seen didn't even give any experience points—too low level.

"Help him clean and treat the wound carefully. Why is it so hot today?" Liu Banxia wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Teacher Liu, when the race just started the sun wasn't this harsh. Now it's really a bit uncomfortable. Don't move—there's sand and dirt in the wound, I have to clean it all out." Xu Yino, who was debriding the patient's wound, said.

"In about half an hour we should see the champion show up, and then we'll probably start getting a few heatstroke patients." Liu Banxia said.

"The full Marathon record is just over two hours, right? I saw a lot of African runners today too—they're the real main force."

"They're counting on running marathons all over the world to earn prize money, but I heard someone still takes a cut off them." the patient said.

"Huh, you know quite a bit. Just a shame you don't know how to take care of your own body. Next year you need to pay attention, all right? It's obvious you've never done systematic training—at best you're a casual jogger." Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"After you've rested enough, go to the hospital and get an X-ray. That's just for peace of mind. And don't strain your left arm these next few days, in case it dislocates again."

The young man nodded, embarrassed; he knew he was "getting a bargain" today.

Now he only needed to go to the hospital for imaging. If you added in the reduction procedure, that would be an expense.

"Sigh… hopefully things stay this easy." After finishing with this patient, Xu Yino took a huge gulp of water.

"Notice anything?" Liu Banxia asked with a smile.

"What would I notice?" Xu Yino asked curiously.

"Our national civic awareness still needs work. Look at all the cups on the ground." Liu Banxia jerked his chin forward.

Xu Yino looked over—and sure enough, paper cups were scattered everywhere, some already crushed underfoot by runners. After they finished their water at the aid station and cooled down, they just tossed them aside.

In fact, there were trash cans placed along the second half of every aid station, but maybe the participants wanted to save time, so they ended up giving the volunteers a lot more work.

The work here was pretty relaxed—at least so far they hadn't heard about any patients with cardiac arrest. That's the truly dangerous one, where you need the shortest possible rescue time.

The longer it takes, the lower the chance of a successful resuscitation. And even if you manage to save them, prolonged insufficient blood supply to the brain will cause some degree of brain damage.

The best treatment is CPR, but CPR has to be done by trained personnel. It's not just randomly pushing on someone's chest; you can easily fracture the ribs and still not save the person.

It was a bit tiring, sure, but compared to working at the emergency center, this was pretty easy. At worst you just sweat a bit; you're not racing the clock like at the emergency center, and it's nowhere near as tense.

"Banxia, are you there? Do you have any patients with you?"

At this moment, Chief Director Xu's voice came through on Liu Banxia's walkie-talkie.

"Chief Director Xu, I'm here. I don't have anyone right now, what's up?" Liu Banxia asked.

"I've got three people over here involved in a stampede, and one of them is in pretty critical condition. Preliminary judgment is rib fractures with severe intrathoracic bleeding; we're intubating right now." Chief Director Xu said.

"Got it, I'll head over immediately." Liu Banxia said.

He'd just been feeling glad there were no major issues and that today would end on a happy note; he hadn't expected a seriously injured case to show up out of nowhere.