The Surgeon's Studio

Zheng Ren slipped away from the scene.

The girl should be fine, but his date with Xie Yiren tonight was ruined again…

Too bad. Zheng Ren took out his phone as he walked.

Xie Yiren messaged him on WeChat. She had finished packing and was waiting for Zheng Ren in the car.

The ward was very quiet. Zheng Ren scurried back to the emergency ward and changed before leaving for the basement parking lot.

Life was just a cycle of repeating events; it would get boring after a while.

It was already past ten, just when the nightlife started to get going at Imperial Capital, Sorcery Capital, Chengdu, and Shenzhen City.

However, it would be inappropriate for an emergency department chief resident with a flexible shift to go out and party at this hour.

Xie Yiren had no interest in night clubs either. She joked around with Zheng Ren on the way home.

They continued to text for a while before sleeping in their own beds not too far from each other.

Just like that, the night had passed.

The sun rose as usual and life went on.

In the morning, Zheng Ren headed to the hospital, attended the pre-shift briefing and proceeded with ward rounds.

When he arrived at the emergency ward during ward rounds, Zheng Ren noticed a peculiar patient.

The patient was an 80-year-old man: healthy, with good eyesight and hearing. The System’s monitor only showed a few geriatric diagnoses; none of them were acute.

However, the old man was complaining that he was not feeling well.

Old Chief Physician Pan led the ward rounds. He mentioned a few routine checkups and treatments before leaving the others to Zheng Ren.

Since the last time he encountered the young couple who faked being ill, Zheng Ren took his time to examine and check the labs. After his diagnosis matched with the System, he told the emergency physician to put those aside for him to deal with after his surgery.

He was scheduled for two elective surgeries today: a surgery to remove a secondary stent and a TIPS surgery to treat refractory ascites.

Zheng Ren went to the gastroenterology department after he left the emergency ward.

It was the surgeon’s job to check on the patients before surgery to prevent rookie mistakes.

Even though they were simple assessments, they were important.

When he reached gastroenterology, two people walked out of the chief’s office: Chief Xia and a grey-haired, middle-aged man who Zheng Ren did not recognize.

“Little Zheng, let me introduce you to my classmate. His surname is Zhang, the supervisory deputy director of Secondary Hospital, in charge of clinical work,” Chief Xia introduced.

“Director Zhang, nice to meet you.” Zheng Ren’s attitude was slightly aloof. He had a lot on his plate today, juggling between checking preoperative patients and visiting Yang Lili in the ICU. He might not even have time for lunch today, not to mention finding time to entertain the deputy director of another hospital.

Even if he had the time, he was reluctant.

Director Zhang looked at Zheng Ren, smiling, and extended his hand enthusiastically. He shook hands with Zheng Ren and said, “Chief Zheng, I’m here to observe the surgery.”

“Observe?”

Zheng Ren glanced at Chief Xia perplexed.

“The Secondary Hospital[1] hasn’t dabbled in TIPS surgery, but they had the most patients who require the procedure.” Chief Xia chuckled and said, “The patient you just operated on was our classmate. Old Zhang heard about it and rushed over to have a look.”

“Chief Zheng, can you come over to our hospital to perform a few TIPS surgeries if you’re free? It’ll be a fly-in job, and you can fix the price,” Director Zhang said when he saw that Zheng Ren was in a hurry and his wandering eyes were not on him.

The majority of clinical physicians were like that.

When you discussed a patient’s condition with them, you would have their undivided attention. However, if you spoke about something else, especially before surgery, you would be lucky if they were even standing in front of you, pretending to listen to what you were saying.

Zheng Ren’s eyes lit up when he heard that he could perform TIPS surgeries.

He could not care less about the money. He was about to fly-in to Imperial Capital. He believed that Chief Kong would not let him down.

However much he would receive in payment did not affect his life.

Would Xie Yiren’s parents be bothered by 18,000 yuan?

On the other hand, Zheng Ren yearned for the hefty rewards from the second stage of The Crown Jewel mission, especially with the 3,000 cases of radiofrequency ablation experience.

Zheng Ren had been pondering on how to complete the mission.

Who knew the answer fell on Director Zhang and his greying temples.

“Sure, how many patients have you got?” Zheng Ren asked.

“As many as you want,” Director Zhang said smilingly.

In Director Zhang’s opinion, people like Zheng Ren were the easiest to handle. A young doctor like him worked hard to improve his techniques and skills. So long as he could provide the patients, he was not worried that Zheng Ren would be disinterested in the Secondary Hospital.

The surgical fee would not be a problem. This young doctor would probably be satisfied with 1,000 to 2,000 yuan in consultation fees.

After all, it was still in the city. Did he really think that he was a fly-in doctor?

More importantly, he needed to be able to handle all the surgeries they were about to give him.

TIPS surgery was not as simple as an appendectomy, which could be performed by anybody that worked in the hospital for a couple of years. A doctor without a strong foundation or natural talent would never dare perform it.

Director Zhang thought that Zheng Ren was forced to step up during an emergency situation and he was lucky to complete that one TIPS procedure.

This was also the reason he came to observe the surgery. He wanted to see for himself that if he managed to pull through, he would be generous enough to provide him with a ‘chance’.

By feeding him ample surgeries, he could also help many patients, killing two birds with one stone.

Director Zhang was busy plotting his scheme, mostly because Zheng Ren was quite young. If it was Old Chief Physician Pan in his place, he would already kneel down and beg him to come over.

It is said that those who could perform TIPS surgeries were Gods.

After exchanging a few words, Zheng Ren requested to visit the patients before surgery.

The patient who had the emergency TIPS surgery was recovering well. The hematemesis had subsided and there were no complications of hepatic encephalopathy.

When they checked her blood ammonia level that morning, it was within the normal range. Even if they failed to retrieve the second stent, the treatment effects were satisfactory.

The other patient with decompensated cirrhosis and refractory ascites, along with complications of electrolyte imbalance, was improving without any contraindications.

The patient’s family members were also cooperative. Most of the hospitals, including Sea City General Hospital, had given them a death sentence due to the presentation of refractory ascites.

Unless they did TIPS surgery.

However, the exorbitant cost of TIPS surgery, on top of the need to travel outstation, had obliterated their hopes. The only thing left was to wait for death.

When Chief Xia told them that Sea City General Hospital was able to perform the surgery at the cost of a higher risk, the patient’s family members agreed to do the surgery without letting them finish.

The patient would die in the end either way. At least they still had a chance if they tried.

The recovery of the hematemesis patient was especially promising, lighting the hopes of the other family members of the refractory ascites patient once again.

They had signed the forms. Zheng Ren left after seeing the patient was in good condition to receive surgery.

He bid farewell to Chief Xia, then ordered the staff in gastroenterology to the operating room while he headed to the ICU to check on Yang Lili.

[1] In most cities, the general (first) hospitals are usually community-based, offering all types of medical and surgical cases. The Secondary Hospital focuses on infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and hepatitis B.