The department chiefs were in shock when they saw Li Yun's paperwork.

"He's taking time off?" Chief Gao cried out. He thought five weeks was a joke. "What the heck is he doing for five weeks?"

"He said he's looking after his clinic," Chief Lim replied.

Chief Gao nodded, “Now that makes more sense. Once a workaholic, always a workaholic."

"Have you been to his clinic? Han said that it's becoming quite famous in that area. I knew that kid was skilled at TCM, but I didn't think he would open a clinic."

"With his ability, I wouldn't be surprised. He has been working on a case with some famous doctors in Magic City and Imperial City." Chief Gao sounded impressed, but there was a sense of disappointment in his tone.

"What’s the matter?” Chief Lin raised her eyebrow. “Are you concerned that he would quit?"

"He's at the point in his career where he could make a name for himself anywhere in the country. The world is too big for someone of his caliber to remain in Qinbei forever."

Chief Lim nodded. She also felt an impending separation. Some residents were finishing up their third year of residency and making their future plans. The ER and ACS planned to hire five from the pool, but the others must look for offers from other hospitals. People come and go, it was the natural progression of life.

The separation anxiety was especially strong around graduation, where friends separated and dispersed, either to see each other once a year, in twenty years, or most of the time, it was the final parting. Connecting through the internet was not always easy, friends easily lost touch if their only commonality was the close proximity.

While the Chief was talking, Li Yun was in his office overseeing An Luchang's surgery with Lui Jing as assistant. When the patient came in, Li Yun took a step back and supervised the residents. It was sometimes better to allow people to make mistakes so that they could learn from it. However, surgery was different, mistakes impacted the patient livelihood, so whenever Li Yun saw a mistake, he would immediately scold Lui Jing or the other residents. An Luchang and Mi Xuan rarely made mistakes.

+1 AP

As Li Yun taught the residents, he was also gaining action points. The AP for teaching weren't a lot, 1 AP= teach 10 students a skill. Maybe a better teacher would find that to be an easy task, but it wasn't so easy for Li Yun. He needed time to groom the residents. It wasn't technically his job, but the residents found it easier to ask him for help.

Li Yun entrusted An Luchang to lead the surgery like how the chiefs and senior attending had entrusted him. He had installed the hospital app in order to be connected to the OR's camera feed. He could always rush in if there was a problem.

As he supervised the surgery via a monitor, he sketched out the clinic courtyard with planter boxes. Unfortunately, the courtyard was partially shaded by the willow tree, so he could only attempt to plant some medicinal suited for the shades.

"What are you planning to do with so much time off?" An Luchang asked as he incised the appendix. He was obviously asking Li Yun through his phone.

"Working, why?" Li Yun responded from his office.

"Kinda obvious Boss would be working," Lui Jing remarked.

"How your girlfriend has managed to put up with you is beyond my knowledge," An Luchang remarked.

Lui Jing was a bit shocked that Li Yun even had a girlfriend. "Boss! You have a lady boss?"

"Focus on the patient Doctor Lui!" Li Yun noticed that the camera for the camera scope had shifted a bit. Although he had the ability to see into the CV system, he didn't have such vision over the cellphone.

An Luchang also glared at him, so Lui Jing adjusted the camera back into view. The rest of the surgery went smoothly.

After the surgery, Li Yun refocused on planning his garden. The area was located in hardy zone 9, but it didn't mean Li Yun was restricted to just those types of plants. Greenhouse technology allowed him to grow anything he wanted. The courtyard wasn't an adequate space, but he could easily add a greenhouse on top of his residence for yang based plants and grow plants inside the spare bedroom for yin based plants.

It would be a bit pricey to add humidity and temperature control, but it was important to recreate an environment for the plants to grow. Once Li Yun drew up his requirement, he messaged a couple of contractors to provide him a quote for the materials. Within a few hours, Li Yun selected one and immediately contacted Zuiba to assist.

Feeling that everything was settled, Li Yun returned back to the ER. Lui Jing was handling a patient with minor cuts, Yang Kang was chatting with a woman about how to reduce pimples, and An Luchang was talking to a woman complaining about a migraine. Mi Xuan was absent as she had requested to come in late after visiting her grandparents over the weekend.

She returned during the evening. Everyone was surprised that her "boyfriend" was dropping her off. Qi Sho took off shortly in his motorcycle.

"If you ever use the term again, I will cut you off!" Mi Xuan glared at Yang Kang.

"But I didn't say anything!" Yang Kang felt offended.

"You thought of it, which is completely untrue," Mi Xuan explained. "My parents wanted to show Little Sho, so they insisted that he came. Since he lived nearby, it was only reasonable for him to drop me off."

"Gee, aren't you guys taking this a bit too far?" asked Lui Jing. "Has it been two months already? Just date the guy."

"No. If I were to date him, I would have already dumped him. There's no point."

"Ouch! I feel bad for the guy," Yang Kang was serious. "Well, you missed the news, but after this week, Doctor Li will take a sabbatical."

Mi Xuan shrugged. She liked Li Yun, but she didn't worship him like some of the other residents. More opportunity to perform surgery was her first thought.

Li Yun shook his head seeing her reaction. He also felt bad for Qi Sho. But then again, Mi Xuan's ambition was rooted in her desire to prove herself to her parents. If she was born as a male, she wouldn't be facing such pressure.

At the end of the week, he treated everyone to dinner. He wasn't going to see them in a while. Although they were always connected via the group chat, physical connections created a different type of bond.