One of them finally said, "I'm not his family, but I'll call and notify them."
He left in a hurry right after.
He was the first in a row of dominoes. As he reached the exit of the emergency rescue room, the others followed suit and began to leave as well.
Zheng Ren was used to such a situation and did not pay it any mind.
"Inform the medical staff on duty to come to the emergency ward to record the pre-op briefing," Zheng Ren ordered before getting another paramedic to help him push the patient to the emergency operating room.
Professor Rudolf Wagner did not understand what had just happened. The standard protocol here was different from that of Germany.
How strange.
Chapter 287 - Fix His Eyes (Part 3 of 4)
As they reached the elevator, a figure appeared at the front entrance and ran at them.
They were not yelling, instead sobbing silently in shock.
It was a girl in her early twenties with a pretty face covered in tears.
The young man on the stretcher trolley struggled to take her hand with his, saying with the last of his strength, "Don't tell my family."
The girl nodded her head repeatedly, clear teardrops flying everywhere as she did.
"How is he, doctor?" she asked Zheng Ren hoarsely, staring at him misty-eyed.
Zheng Ren was emotionless. "We're sending him to the OR. Are you his wife?"
"I'm his girlfriend."
"Call his family to come here and sign the papers for surgery." The elevator arrived and Zheng Ren and the other doctor pushed the stretcher trolley in.
Professor Rudolf Wagner followed them into the elevator.
He was curious as to how emergency rescue worked.
After hearing Zheng Ren's words, the girl lowered her head, large tears falling from her eyes to the elevator floor like pearls breaking loose from a necklace.
When they reached the operating room, Chu Yanran took over and pushed the patient in.
"Don't move that knife," Zheng Ren reminded her.
Chu Yanran shot him a scornful expression. "I know that."
The segment of knife in the body obstructed the blood vessels it perforated, reducing blood loss. Were it to be removed, the emergency rescue would take on a whole new direction.
Zheng Ren led the girl back to the emergency ward. Su Yun was already there and was stunned when he saw a foreigner following Zheng Ren around while he processed admission procedures.
Without looking at him, Zheng Ren said, "Go and check the OR. I need to handle some things first."
"Okay." Su Yun took a second glance at Professor Rudolf Wagner before heading to the operating room.
"You need to pay the fees. This page is the blood transfusion request form for surgery." Zheng Ren passed the hospital admission form to the girl and asked, "Can his family come?"
"Doctor… he told me not to inform his family."
"You can't sign," Zheng Ren answered coldly. He hated dealing with such foolish sentiment during an emergency rescue.
The man was on the brink of death. Would she prefer to break the news of his death to his family?
Based on his choice of company, he did not seem like a man of virtue, either.
"Doctor, I can sign it. I really can. I'll be held responsible if anything happens," the girl said determinedly.
Hmm? Zheng Ren's impression of the girl changed.
On many occasions, the significant others of car accident or weapon assault victims refused to acknowledge their relationsh.i.p.s to the patient, but this girl was willing to take full responsibility for him.
Interesting.
Zheng Ren was not worried since Su Yun was supervising the operating room, so he followed up with a few more questions.
"Brother Kai is a good man. He has worked hard to support his family since his father passed away early and his mother was bedridden," the girl said, collecting herself, "We've been together for two years already. If everything goes according to plan, we're going to get married next spring. He has made a lot of friends since he has a strong sense of justice and is always willing to help others. This time, he was about to lend his friend 30,000 yuan that we had saved up for our wedding."
Zheng Ren nodded.
This was common among youth. They usually learned from experience as they got older.
However, the man had to have been blind to call those folk his friends. Perhaps a visit to the ophthalmology department to fix his eyes was in order.
"I was angry at him and refused to talk to him for several days. I didn't know that he had been egged on by that group of friends and… this happened." The girl kept her head lowered and continued wiping the tears streaming down her face. "I was in the wrong, I shouldn't have fought with Brother Kai."
Zheng Ren printed the preoperative doc.u.mentation and other forms requiring signature.
He explained each one to her quickly but systematically.
The girl signed them without hesitation and addressed herself as his spouse in the relationship box.
What a decent girl, Zheng Ren thought.
"I'll give my best to save him and try to reduce the cost of surgery," Zheng Ren said seriously.
The girl bowed deeply before leaving with the admission form for payment.
The paperwork complete, Zheng Ren made a phone call as he headed towards the operating room, notifying Su Yun to hold off preparing the operating table and anesthetic until his arrival.
Despite being unable to comprehend its reasoning, Su Yun carried out the order.
Professor Rudolf Wagner was still following Zheng Ren. Curious, Zheng Ren asked, "Professor, are you going into surgery with me? This is just an ordinary general surgery, there's nothing to see."
"No, no, Zheng. I just want to understand your beliefs and motivations." The professor shook his head, looking artsy as usual. "I was deeply moved by the doc.u.mentary and would like to know more about you."
Zheng Ren was fine with that. He could not possibly dismiss a world-renowned professor, anyway.
If the man wanted to watch him perform surgery, so be it. He had nothing to hide.
The young man was the problem. Zheng Ren quickly outlined a proposal in his mind.
These situations were superfluous burdens to a surgeon. Nevertheless, Zheng Ren liked helping out occasionally, like the traffic officer that had come to the emergency department last time…
After changing, Zheng Ren and Professor Rudolf Wagner entered the operating room
Su Yun was surprised to see the professor. As he was about to question Zheng Ren, the latter approached the patient instead of scrubbing in, saying regretfully, "What a waste, he's still so young."
Uh… Su Yun was stunned. Was this not just a gastrointestinal perforation? What was so unfortunate about that? Was the patient going to die?
However, he understood Zheng Ren's intention immediately after.
"Yes, the chances of his survival are grim. What about his family? Does he have anybody?" Su Yun's reaction was lightning-fast and he played along with Zheng Ren.
Zheng Ren made a hush motion to Chu Yanzhi to signal her to prepare for anesthesia before saying, "He has a sick mother at home and his fiancée's outside panicking. Sigh, even his gaggle of 'friends' has left. You tell me, why would he do this?"
"So unfortunate. If he dies at such a young age, who will take care of his mother?"
There'll be no one to take care of her, so she might die of a heart attack after a few weeks," Zheng Ren said, "A good family destroyed just like that."
"Young man, keep your eyes open in the next life." Su Yun stared closely at the patient, whose eyes looked lifeless. Although his vitals on the monitor were fine, he resembled a corpse.
Zheng Ren gave another signal and Chu Yanran started administering the anesthetic.
A few seconds later, the patient was completely out.
"Chief Zheng, what are you trying to do?" Su Yun asked disdainfully as he scrubbed in.
>
"I felt sorry, not for him, but for his mother and fiancée." Zheng Ren sighed. "Let's just try our best. It'll be great if he's able to get out of this. If he continues down his path, what we just said will come true sooner or later."
Su Yun could not agree more.
Thus began another emergency surgery.
Chapter 288 - I’m Sorry! (Part 4 of 4)
After scrubbing in, they went to the operating table.
Su Yun was one step ahead, having already sterilized and prepared the sheets. After putting on his gown, Zheng Ren continued with the second layer of sterile sheet and started the surgery.
A sterile glove was placed on the handle of the knife in the patient's abdomen. After a laparotomy, Chu Yanzhi removed it.
The moment the knife left the abdomen, Zheng Ren pressed a sterile cotton pad into the wound.
Blood did not hit the ceiling.
After repeating sterilization a few times, Zheng Ren and Su Yun changed into a new pair of sterile gloves before opening up the patient's abdomen.
There was no actual need for such a process as perforated intestines would result in leakage of intestinal juice and fecal matter. The surgery would fall under class IV of a contaminated surgical wound.
However, as usual, Zheng Ren still wanted to try his best to perfect his craft.
He made a 10 cm incision at the left rectus abdominis muscle.
Then, he slowly made his way into the abdominal cavity. Xie Yiren quietly passed him the tools required for each step.
Professor Rudolf Wagner observed them in a daze. The ongoing surgery was just a simple, ordinary procedure.
However, something was off about it
It was as if those performing the surgery were not humans, specifically the surgeon, assistant, scrub nurse and anesthesiologist.
The entire team operated so seamlessly that they resembled a machine.
No one even spoke a word.
There seemed to even be a fluent rhythm to it.
The flow was so smooth that those in the know felt relaxed and calm.
"Boss, you're getting more and more nosy these days." Although Su Yun had played along with Zheng Ren's act earlier, he was back to his acerbic self once the patient was unconscious.
"It's just a few words, it's no trouble." Zheng Ren found the perforation as he spoke.
"Tsk, if you're that thoughtful, why don't you take some time to visit the veterinary hospital that you're not interested in? Also, who's that foreigner?"
"Foreigner? Are you referring to me?" Professor Rudolf Wagner asked.
Su Yun was startled. How had this foreigner understood him without an interpreter? This was awkward.
Zheng Ren was unaffected by the exchange. He extended his hand and Xie Yiren passed him a needle holder.
The suture needle was fine, attached to a thin thread.
As usual, Su Yun asked shamelessly, "Yeah, who are you? Why did you follow Boss Zheng into the OR?"
"I'm Rudolf Wagner, a professor from the interventional department in Heidelberg University," the professor said, introducing himself.
Even though Su Yun had guessed his identity, it felt absurd to hear it confirmed in person.
Most foreign professors were extremely snobbish and much more difficult to deal with compared to the local chiefs.
After completing the suture on the perforated intestine, Zheng Ren put the needle holder on a sterile sheet on the patient's t.h.i.g.h.
Su Yun did not express any astonishment.
When he extended his hand again and an appendix retractor was passed to him. He pulled the peritoneum apart to widen the surgical field, allowing Zheng Ren to check for any remaining hidden injuries.
As he did that, he asked, "Are you going to be Mr. Zheng's assistant in interventional surgery?"
"..." Zheng Ren stopped moving.
Professor Rudolf Wagner was also stunned. His sole purpose of coming to the East was to recruit Zheng to be his assistant.
Xie Yiren was unaware of what Su Yun was doing, unbothered by anything unrelated to the surgery.
She was entirely focused on the surgery, holding a pair of blunt scissors in one hand with the aspirator, aspirator cover and sterile wet bandages beside her, ready to be handed over at any moment when required.
Chu Yanzhi was shocked and snorted with laughter.
Su Yun's biting tongue knew no limits, but this German professor was not just anyone. Truly incredible.
"I've invited Zheng to form a research lab in Heidelberg University to study prostate interventional surgery.
"However, he refused me. I think only a person of conviction will give up such an attractive offer and choose to stay in a basic operating room to endure heavy workloads and radiation," Professor Rudolf Wagner said seriously, "I wish to see what drives his determination and beliefs so that I can communicate with him better."
Tsk tsk, this professor was indeed honest.
Su Yun laughed and said, "Boss Zheng, kudos to you for rejecting such an offer."
Zheng Ren tapped the appendix retractor in Su Yun's hand with the hemostatic clamp to signal him to exert more force.
"You don't have to explain yourself if you don't feel like it, there's no need to pick on me," Su Yun grumbled, directing his attention back to the surgery.
They finished the surgery quickly. The scalpel wound on the ascending colon did not exceed one centimeter. After stitching it up, they continued to search for other lesions and rinsed the abdominal cavity repeatedly. Then, they administered antibiotics and began to close the abdominal incision.
The System did not announce any mission, but Zheng Ren could understand why.
Even if the System had assigned a mission for this, the rewards of such a simple procedure would be so little that it was better to not have any at all.
He wondered if the act he and Su Yun put up would frighten the young man into understanding the depths of despair and regret of those who had gone down similar paths.
Hopefully, the man would change his ways for the better.
After finishing the last stitch of the abdominal closure, the patient recovered from anesthesia.
Although Chu Yanzhi had a cheeky personality, she was still very reliable when something serious happened. In such situations, she was similar to her sister, Chu Yanran.
The patient had not fully regained consciousness. He started to react restlessly and babble.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he mumbled.
"My goodness…" Chu Yanran was speechless. She looked at Zheng Ren and Su Yun. "Look at what you guys did to this poor man."
"Glad to know you've realized your mistakes," Zheng Ren said with a smile.
"Give me a chance!" the patient said, then passed out.
He was probably shaken by their charade. Zheng Ren and Su Yun exchanged a glance before leaving the operating table.
Zheng Ren had once met a patient who requested a professor to perform surgery on him. Upon waking up after surgery, the patient's first sentence was, "Have I paid the professor?"
There was another who woke up in the ward after his surgery, took the matron's hand and requested to bed her…
The matron had been so furious that the patient checked out of the hospital three days later.
The words spoken during this fugue state were actually their deepest d.e.s.i.r.es.
It was a good sign that he was rueful.
Hopefully, he would cherish this 'chance', or the scenario that he and Su Yun had envisioned would soon become reality.
Zheng Ren left the operating room to change into his regular clothes after removing his sterile surgical gown.
He had not even bothered to take notice when Professor Rudolf Wagner had left.
The man was a world-renowned professor and not one to steal things from an operating room in Sea City, after all.
When he entered the changing room, he heard Professor Rudolf Wagner's voice.
It was in German and beyond Zheng Ren's comprehensio
n.
Still, Zheng Ren did not stop moving, knowing that standing outside and waiting for the man to finish his call could be misconstrued as eavesdropping.
He walked in without hesitation to see an agitated Professor Rudolf Wagner waving his left hand in the air.
"Professor Rudolf, what happened?" he asked.
Professor Rudolf Wagner waved Zheng Ren to be quiet and began to speak faster, more authoritatively, before finally hanging up.
"Zheng, if you're not following me back to Heidelberg, I would like to ask your permission to stay in Sea City for a while," Professor Rudolf Wagner said resolutely.
Chapter 289 - Stay (Part 1 of 4)
Stay in Sea City? Why?
Zheng Ren was stunned for a moment. Had Su Yun's jibe come true? Did this professor want to stay behind and be his assistant?
Impossible.
Smirking, Zheng Ren chuckled at his own thoughts.
Normally, such a professor would be leading a dozen ongoing research projects with each team working their fingers to the bone every day. Leaving the projects unsupervised would make it very hard to move forward.
And all to watch him perform emergency surgeries?
Did the man think he was Mr. Bai1 from The Grand Mansion Gate?
Professor Rudolf Wagner observed Zheng Ren's expression closely; he noticed a distinct lack of agreement, instead catching surprise and even amus.e.m.e.nt.
An international student had once told Professor Rudolf Wagner that the Chinese people were very reserved and reluctant to express their emotions.
At least, that was what Professor Rudolf Wagner had thought.
Zheng Ren thought the professor's request a joke but the professor misconstrued it as agreement. They both stopped talking; Zheng Ren changed his clothes in silence and left the operating room.
The emergency operating room, unlike many of its kind, was on the same floor as the changing room.
Zheng Ren saw the fiancée pacing back and forth anxiously as he exited the latter.
"Doctor, how's Brother Kai?" she asked desperately when she spotted him.
"He had a gastrointestinal perforation and will need to be on antibiotics for a few days after surgery to prevent any further complications," Zheng Ren said, "You can save on the surgery fee, but the antibiotics might be a bit expensive, it'll cost…"
The Surgeon's Studio c1-799 Page 138
