"I won't be able to wear a swimsuit if there's a big scar."
Once the appendicular artery was ligated, Zheng Ren removed the appendix.
"If there's a scar, I should get a tattoo to cover it."
The clanging sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the operating room as the clamp was tossed into the surgical tray. The excised appendix laid in the tray together with the surgical instrument.
"Doctor…"
The young girl's imagination had just started and the surgery was already over.
Zheng Ren took the surgical tray to show the family. This patient had been referred to him by Chief Surgeon Su and her family clearly had ties with Chief Physician Pan, so Zheng Ren figured that he should interact more with them for the sake of both department chiefs.
Outside the operating room, the four elders were pacing anxiously. None of them would take a seat.
The middle-aged woman had tried to console them but received only snapped remarks.
Criticism from decades ago were flung at her.
When the doors of the operating room swung open, they were met with Zheng Ren in his surgical scrubs, face covered by a surgical mask. He walked out with a red and swollen appendix on a surgical tray.
"The surgery is done. We'll send the appendix to our labs for some tests," Zheng Ren explained.
"Will she be okay?" one of the elders asked nervously.
During the briefing, Zheng Ren had mentioned that the symptoms of appendicitis overlapped with that of appendix cancer, though the probability was low.
"From the n.a.k.e.d eye, there's nothing to be worried about." Zheng Ren chose not to hide the truth from them.
Their anxiety and frustration was understandable to Zheng Ren.
He was not one to get even for the earlier misunderstanding, so he elaborated, "Come and look at this appendix. There is minimal inflammatory edema and its tissues show no sign of malignancy from the n.a.k.e.d eye."
"How about the parts that we can't see?" the elder asked. She had only become more riled up after hearing Zheng Ren's explanation.
"That's why we need to send it to the pathology lab, but the probability of something happening is very low," Zheng Ren clarified calmly despite his growing frustration.
"Mom, Dr. Zheng already said it's fine," the middle-aged woman said to the old woman.
"Yaya is your flesh and blood! How can you be so apathetic?" the old lady retorted emotionally. Tears sprang from her eyes.
"There is no cause for worry. The pathology tests will take three to five days but you can ask Chief Surgeon Su to help expedite the process if you're worried. Experts who have viewed many specimens can more or less judge it with their n.a.k.e.d eye."
"Are you certain?"
Zheng Ren could not guarantee it.
He shook his head and left.
Hopefully with the Two-Child Policy in effect, there would be fewer situations like this.
Zheng Ren was happy for the girl. She had family who cared and supported her, unlike himself. He had had to support himself through each stage of life.
Despite all the love and attention she got, the girl had learned to be self-reliant.
Zheng Ren could only hope for the child to continue her path to independence.
Back into the operating room, Su Yun and Chu Yanzhi were readying the stretcher trolley.
He did not follow them to the patient's room, instead passing the appendix sample to Xie Yiren and going to change.
Sitting in the smoking area of the changing room, he accessed his mission list.
The deadline for the mission, One Tree Does Not A Forest Make, had been one week. Zheng Ren had to assess each patient's case and decide who would wield the scalpel. He would not risk a patient's life just to complete the mission.
Today's patient was a referral from Chief Surgeon Su and Old Chief Physician Pan, which was why he performed the surgery himself.
Now, he had a problem.
Su Yun had bragged about his ability to learn any surgery after one observation. Zheng Ren believed him. After all, he had witnessed Su Yun perform a perfect appendectomy.
Perhaps Zheng Ren could let him try his hand at laparoscopic appendectomy or hernia repair surgery. Maybe he could let him handle a case of acute cholecystitis.
Zheng Ren mulled the thought. He should just observe for now as he was not interested in the mission reward, which was the 3D Reconstruction of CT Scans. After all, it was a supplementary skill that would mostly benefit a CT scan radiologist.
Zheng Ren put out the cigarette in his hand and pocketed the pack.
He put on his white coat and walked out of the changing room.
The emergency ward was quiet at this hour. No patient wanted to stay in the hospital any longer than required. Once their conditions met the criteria for discharge, they quickly packed their bags and left for home.
Chang Yue was talking to the girl's family while Su Yun sat in a chair, once again on his phone.
"Dr. Zheng, thank you so much," the middle-aged man shook Zheng Ren's hands in gratitude.
Chapter 134 - Red Packet
Words of gratitude poured from the father's mouth. Zheng Ren smiled politely at him.
They exchanged contacts as the father wanted to treat him to a meal once the little girl had healed.
As he left the room, the man grazed past Zheng Ren, who discovered a fat red packet in the pocket of his white coat.
The packet, which lay inconspicuously in his pocket, was of considerable thickness.
Such flawless sleight of hand suggested the father did this often.
The red packet had been slipped into Zheng Ren's coat pocket with featherlight movement. The gesture was not ostentatious but sincere.
When Zheng Ren discovered the red packet, he raced after the patient's father but the man was gone.
Zheng Ren's only intention was to visit the patient. It was improper to receive a red packet when the patient was still in recovery.
"Chang Yue, if you could take this to pay off the hospital admission charges." Zheng Ren decided to delegate the work to Chang Yue.
"Oh, sure. That's a thick packet," Chang Yue remarked. The exchange caught Su Yun's attention and he asked Zheng Ren, "It's a sincere thank you from the family. Why are you returning it?"
There were two types of red packets.
The first was given by insistent families prior to a surgery. The doctor would either accept the money or put up token resistance before doing so anyway. If the surgery had a low success rate, the doctor would hand over the money at the hospital payment counter.
The second type was given after a successful surgery.
These were usually genuine tokens of appreciation from the patient's family.
Doctors typically had a good sense of the patient's condition post-surgery. Hence, accepting the sincere gesture from the family reflected confidence in the patient's recovery.
However, Zheng Ren declined this post-surgery red packet.
"There's 3000 yuan here," Chang Yue exclaimed after counting the bills.
"How generous. I thought they were all ten yuan bills. 200 yuan would have been sufficient." The sharp-tongued nancy boy had to open his mouth and ruin everything.
"Use it to cover the patient's bills and bring back a receipt," Zheng Ren said calmly.
"Why won't you take it?" Su Yun pressed on.
"Why should I?" Zheng Ren challenged.
"After docking contributions, you would be getting around 3500 yuan per month even with overtime. As a chief resident doctor, you save on rent, but you must have plans for marriage sooner or later. What lady would want someone with no money, no time, no house and no car?" Su Yun said bluntly.
"I'm worried things may go wrong," Zheng Ren replied.
There were patients who gave red packets and recorded the incident to commit blackmail.
It was inevitable no matter how well the surgery went.
Sometimes, rejecting the red packet would backfire. There had bee
n cases where patients framed the doctor for accepting bribes and went on to protest in crowded areas of the hospital.
It was a tricky situation.
"Drama queen." Su Yun turned his focus back to his phone.
Zheng Ren had only accepted one red packet from a patient during his entire medical career.
It was a liver cancer patient under his care. The surgery was done by a professor from Sorcery Capital but Zheng Ren dedicated much of his time to care for the patient.
After the patient recovered, Zheng Ren provided him with basic counselling.
Despite not being a counselor, he had done some reading on the topic before doing so. He encouraged the patient to conquer his fear of cancer.
They had spent a lot of time talking.
Three years later, on an autumn night, Zheng Ren saw the patient at his doorstep. The patient thanked him with a few simple words and passed him an envelope containing 2000 yuan.
That was the only monetary gift Zheng Ren had ever accepted.
Zheng Ren was not willing to share this story with Su Yun.
Soon, Chang Yue came back with a deposit slip. She gave the piece of paper to the patient's family.
The family could reject the money but not a deposit slip. During discharge, a missing deposit slip would complicate the billing process.
The family took the deposit slip begrudgingly.
Moments later, Zheng Ren got a call from the patient's father.
Through the phone, the man conveyed his dissatisfaction at Zheng Ren without being overbearing. He explained how the red packet was a form of thanks from his family.
In the end, Zheng Ren allowed the man to order lunch for him.
He had no strength left to put up resistance.
Thirty minutes later, two men in Golden Spiral Restaurant uniforms arrived at the emergency department with four lunchboxes.
The dishes were magically laid out.
Herbal soup with fish maw and sea snail, fried pork strips, honey roasted pork, crispy pork belly, braised pigeon, boiled clams, spicy salted mantis shrimp…
Each dish came with a short introduction by the Golden Spiral Restaurant employees, explaining the source of their ingredients, how they were the freshest on the market and that the master chef personally prepared them.
The whole point was to trumpet the restaurant's top-tier food and service.
Zheng Ren was initially excited to watch the presentation, but as more and more dishes were placed on the table in the on-call room, he lost interest.
These dishes must have cost more than 3000 yuan.
Zheng Ren had never been to the Golden Spiral Restaurant but was aware of their reputation.
This was a heartfelt thank you from the man. Zheng Ren texted the Chu sisters and Xie Yiren to join the feast.
Xie Yiren's eyes bulged when she saw the table full of food.
On days when roads froze over, Xie Yiren had still been adamant about eating out. This banquet table was a jackpot for a foodie like her.
They were all friends, so she wasted no time dithering. After washing their hands, they sat down and started eating.
"Delicious!" Xie Yiren chewed on a piece of fried pork strip. Then, she drank the herbal soup with fish maw and sea snail.
"Yummy."
"This is good too."
"This tastes amazing."
Zheng Ren watched Xie Yiren praise each dish. He had thought a rich woman like her would have eaten them before, but she seemed incredibly fascinated by each bite.
'She is truly a food connoisseur,' Zheng Ren thought.
He had a small appetite, being full after two bowls of seafood porridge and one of herbal soup.
"Now do you regret not taking the money?" Su Yun asked.
Zheng Ren chuckled and said nothing more.
Their conversation ended there.
"Yiren, don't gorge yourself. It's bad for the stomach," Chu Yanran said. She took a small sip of soup.
"I'm not eating a lot," Xie Yiren mumbled in between bites. "I have a friend who went to a buffet a few days back. Ate so much, his pancreas acted up and now he's been admitted to the gastroenterology department."
Chapter 135 - Unfair Competition
"How did he eat?" asked Chu Yanran, surprised.
"Just a decent amount of food. I heard the dishes in that restaurant are delicious, and it even has unlimited oysters and American lobsters."
"American lobsters are smaller in size. Australian spiny lobsters are much better."
"They're almost the same. When my father hunted antelopes in Africa last time, we had seafood there and it tasted so good. The lobsters were quite big, too," Xie Yiren said seriously, "But I still prefer hotpot, especially the hotpot restaurants in Chengdu."
'This is love.' Zheng Ren could see the gleam in Xie Yiren's eyes.
She would get so excited when talking about food.
Zheng Ren sat nearby quietly and savored the peaceful moment as everyone chatted and laughed during their meal.
It was nice that they could all enjoy a meal together with a lively atmosphere.
Xie Yiren was slow and attentive in devouring her food. However, not only was adequate sleep a luxury for medical staff in the emergency department, it was also difficult for them to leisurely enjoy their meals.
An emergency case arrived before she could finish hers.
A patient clutching his stomach was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and sent to the ward.
Zheng Ren signalled for them to take their time with their food before heading out to examine the patient and confirm his diagnosis.
Chang Yue wiped her mouth with tissue, put on her white coat, took a notepad out of her pocket and went along with Zheng Ren.
Su Yun quietly trailed behind Chang Yue with his head lowered.
Before Zheng Ren could examine the patient, another patient in a wheelchair was pushed into the ward.
Generally, if doctors on duty encountered difficulties during consultation, Zheng Ren would have to go down and personally diagnose those cases. However, if the diagnoses were definitive, the patients would be directly transferred to the ward.
These two suffered from acute uncomplicated appendicitis and required surgery.
Coincidentally, both of them had been fasting after having only a simple breakfast in the morning due to abdominal pain.
They would undergo surgery soon as they had fasted long enough.
Both patients' family members quickly went to settle the admission process.
Perhaps neither of them would be in such a hurry if there had been only one patient awaiting surgery, but with two acute abdominal cases vying for attention, whoever underwent surgery first was a big deal to patients and their families.
Needless to say, everyone wanted to be the priority, especially the latter patient who had arrived a minute too late as he lost time waiting for the elevator.
If he was second on the list, he would have to endure the agonizing pain for at least another hour.
Anxious, both patients' families quickly completed the admission process, trying to outrace each other.
They paid no attention to Chang Yue's preoperative counseling and signed the preoperative informed consent doc.u.ments without the slightest hesitation.
A few family members even attempted to give a red packet to Zheng Ren in an empty room, but he smiled and rejected their offers.
What a joke. He would not even dare accept a red packet for a successful surgery with minimal risks, let alone one given preoperatively.
This was a tricky issue as both patients' families were glaring fiercely at each other and hoping to undergo the surgery first.
Smoldering embers of fury could be vaguely detected in their words.
"Let's go together." Zheng Ren made the final decision.
Su Yun and Yang Lei would operate on a patient and he would handle the other case. He had witnessed Su Yun's skill and knew the man's standard had definitely reached that of a lead profes
sor. Moreover, with the help of Yang Lei, a senior general surgeon, the surgery should end well.
If Zheng Ren was fast enough in his own operation, he could assist them if any problems arose.
The decision had been made. The multiple-choice question needed not to be answered anymore.
A.d.u.l.ts never did multiple-choice questions, anyway. They wanted everything.
The Chu sisters and Xie Yiren had gone to the operating theater for surgery preparations. Fortunately, there were adequate staff during the day, so the nurses did not complain when two surgeries were carried out simultaneously.
Su Yun's eyes shone brightly with excitement when he heard Zheng Ren's decision.
In terms of physical attractiveness, Su Yun considered himself unrivaled in the whole world; the same applied to surgery as well.
He would surely be the best general surgeon if given time to practice.
He would be truly unsurpassable.
Su Yun, who had assisted Zheng Ren in past surgeries, was aware of his surgical standard and firmly believed that he would reach the same height in the future.
Given such a chance now, he may as well give it a try.
Despite his apathy when becoming a doctor, he had always been naturally competitive. His enthusiasm fell only when he confirmed that he was in a class of his own.
Otherwise, he would not have insisted on a transfer to the emergency department.
Zheng Ren and Su Yun wheeled the patients into the operating theater after preoperative preparations—preoperative skin preparation and intravenous cannulation—were complete.
The Chu sisters went their separate ways to anesthetize both patients. As usual, Xie Yiren assisted Zheng Ren in surgery, while another scrub nurse was assigned to Su Yun and Yang Lei.
Zheng Ren chose to operate on the older patient as it would be slightly more difficult.
Geriatric patients usually had thicker, calcified iliolumbar ligaments, and so continuous epidural anesthesia needed longer to take effect.
After performing a surgical scrub, Su Yun passed Zheng Ren's operating theater and instantly became downhearted upon noticing that anesthesia was still ongoing.
Even if he won, this was still an unfair competition.
Yang Lei took the initiative to scrub up first before he began to disinfect and dr.a.p.e the surgical site.
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