Zheng Ren managed to catch him in time and guided him to a bench by the CT scan room.
"Sorry. I have high blood pressure." There was no more fight in him, only regret and shame. "She was fine yesterday. How did it end up like this?"
"What food did she have yesterday?"
"We were at a gathering yesterday, ate steamboat for dinner, then went to a karaoke bar. It was regular food, nothing special," the husband mumbled as he tried to recall the events.
The human memory was unreliable.
"Whatever it is, we'll find out after the surgery.
"Although the intussusception was mild, the situation is now critical as we lost precious time in the morning. Any further delay would likely lead to necrosis and resection would be unavoidable," Zheng Ren said truthfully, not trying to frighten the family.
However, the truth was itself horrifying.
The family obediently followed his instructions. One person stayed back to wait for the physical scans while the others helped transfer the patient to the emergency ward with Zheng Ren. - Northeastern slang for 'yes'.
Chapter 334 - Offer Up Your Face For A Slap
With Zheng Ren's reassurance, the patient's family quickly agreed to the surgery.
The patient was pushed to the emergency ward to settle the paperwork and undergo preoperative preparations.
Zheng Ren made a call to Xie Yiren and the group. The thought of getting to share a car home with Xie Yiren later put a smile on his face.
Being inexperienced, he was happy with even the slightest opportunity to spend time with Xie Yiren.
Once he was done giving orders, Professor Rudolph asked, "Boss… Chief Zheng, why do you think it's food residue?"
"Density," Zheng Ren replied.
Was there a difference in density? The professor thought back to the scans. The density of food residue ought to be lower than that of fecaliths, especially after digestion.
Zheng Ren had to have misjudged it. Professor Rudolph abandoned the thought of heading back to his hotel to rest.
He wanted to watch the surgery. Even a small victory against Zheng Ren would be meaningful.
Professor Rudolph Wagner held his tongue, though. He would wait for the truth to unfold.
Although Zheng Ren had the hands of god, there were many aspects to medicine. Perhaps he was not proficient in interpreting radiological images and could not differentiate between a fecalith and undigested material.
An expert could identify the problem from scans but anything more in-depth was beyond their expertise. The professor was sure 95% of the doctors in the world were in such a group.
However!
Professor Rudolph was at the forefront of this field.
He was sure that he would win this argument, already imagining himself going back to his hotel room and popping some champagne in celebration.
Chang Yue's presence expedited admission as she skillfully handled all the paperwork.
This brought Zheng Ren relief.
Trivial matters could be left to Chang Yue while he communicated with the patient's family and focused on getting their consent.
He did not bother to call Su Yun. The man's work in the ICU was more important.
Zheng Ren sincerely hoped for Yang Lili's survival.
A brave and responsible person like her deserved to enjoy the good things the world had to offer. Her existence ought not be limited to the memories of the living.
Half an hour later, preoperative preparations were complete. The family had signed the informed consent doc.u.ment. Zheng Ren brought the patient to the operating room.
Along the way, he called Su Yun.
Professor Rudolph trailed behind Zheng Ren excitedly. The professor had no doubt the surgery would be a success.
However, that was not his focus.
He wanted to know who had interpreted the scan correctly.
Zheng Ren changed into a sterile surgical gown and entered the operating room.
It had been a while since he had to start a surgery. Su Yun was usually the one who handled the beginning.
There was an ordered bustle in the operating room.
Xie Yiren was in a dark green sterile scrub. She inquired about the procedure and proceeded to prepare the necessary tools.
Chu Yanran was finalizing anesthesia when Su Yun arrived.
Zheng Ren was in the midst of disinfecting the skin. The surgical dr.a.p.es were already in place.
"Boss, you're too fast." Su Yun scrubbed his hands and put on a sterile surgical gown.
Zheng Ren was a man of few words while Su Yun was the opposite.
The operating room was silent, as if a terrible thing had happened.
"It's normal for me." Zheng Ren reached out for a scalpel, which he used to part the skin.
"What's the procedure?" Su Yun asked.
"Patient has intussusception. Bowel obstruction surgery."
"Why have there been so many cases of intussusception in a.d.u.l.ts recently?" Chu Yanran questioned as she knotted Su Yun's surgical gown. Once she was done, Su Yun stepped up to the operating table, picking up the sterile gauze by the patient's legs.
"Coincidence, perhaps, but this patient is a bit special. You'll see soon," Zheng Ren said.
"Oh?" Su Yun eyed Zheng Ren suspiciously. "I wonder sometimes if you have X-ray vision."
"Don't believe such nonsense. You've been reading too many novels. Was one called The Widowed Doctor with X-ray Vision?"
"Then how would you know?"
"Years of clinical experience."
"I've never met someone as c.o.c.ky as you!"
The two doctors bantered as they operated on the patient, parting the peritoneum to gain access to the peritoneal cavity.
As Zheng Ren had expected, the intestines were in a twist.
He used warm saline gauze to line the surrounding organs before cutting into the intestine.
Professor Rudolph's eyes were as wide as saucers as he watched with anticipation.
Su Yun felt a tingling sensation and looked up. "Lil Fugui, why haven't you gone home?"
Hm… How did Su Yun know?
"You know the professor's Chinese name?" Zheng Ren asked.
"Don't you read the group chat? Chang Yue was asking for opinions. I was the one who proposed that name. Not bad, right?"
"..."
"Prior to surgery, the patient had an abdominal CT scan. I believed it was fecalith causing the obstruction but Chief Zheng says it's food residue. I wanted to see for myself." The professor's eyes did not leave the organ in Zheng Ren's hand.
Su Yun instantly predicted the outcome. "Oh? Lil Fugui is offering up his face for a slap?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" The professor was confused.
"You believe Zheng Ren's judgment to be wrong and want to witness the truth with your own eyes, right? You'll probably smile in response and say it doesn't matter but your heart will be aflutter," Su Yun elaborated dramatically.
"Yes, why, that is accurate." Professor Rudolph Wagner said excitedly, "Su, you are a master of descriptions. The Mandarin language is so intricate; two characters can mean so many things."
Zheng Ren wanted to scream.
These two clowns were performing a ballad over a body.
He ignored them and requested a scalpel from Xie Yiren, making a 1cm incision on the obstructed bowel.
A moment passed and an entire almond was squeezed out of the incision.
The almond clattered onto the surgical tray with a thud, cutting through Su Yun and the professor's conversation.
The professor was stunned… It was not a fecalith, but a whole almond…
Was Zheng Ren playing a trick on him?
Su Yun frowned. "And you say you don't have X-ray vision."
"The patient's husband said they had a steamboat dinner and went for a karaoke session," Zheng Ren stated as he squeezed out nut after nut from the patient's intestine. The surgical tray was filling up quickly.
"And?"
"Between today's symptoms and the karaoke session, what's the likeliest snack they had? Almonds."
"Your explanation makes absolutely no sense," Su Yun whispered.
Professor Rudolph Wagner watched in astonishment as the almonds were removed from the patient's gut, some whole, some partially digested.
As per Su Yun's description, this was him being slapped in the face.
Chapter 335 - Overindulged in Almonds
"Chief Zheng, what do you think?" Professor Rudolph asked curiously.
"Slow intestinal strangulation is likely caused by acc.u.mulation of food. Fecaliths can also cause intestinal strangulation but that would be rapid. In line with the patient's food consumption last night, I hypothesized it was likely due to insufficient chewing of solid foods that gave rise to intussusception," Zheng Ren said.
Su Yun made a noise. He could not come up with something sarcastic to say to Zheng Ren.
"If the patient had agreed to an abdominal CT scan in the morning, we would probably not have had to resort to surgery," Zheng Ren muttered.
Su Yun wondered for a moment. "How would you prevent the intussusception?"
"By drinking cola," Zheng Ren said without missing a beat. "Large gulps of cola; if she had let the carbon dioxide bloat her intestines, it's likely this surgery could have been avoided. Unfortunately, the patient made light of her situation and refused the CT scan."
Su Yun was silent.
The professor was lost in thought.
Zheng Ren removed over 20 almonds from the patient's intestines. He probed the organ and found no more foreign solids, then reoriented the telescoping intestines and used warm saline gauze to cover it.
The root cause of this one's intussusception differed from that of their previous patient.
Strangulation and necrosis were not as severe in this case. There was a high probability that no resection would be required.
As for the cola treatment method, Zheng Ren had read about it in a scientific report.
He had no idea if it actually worked in practice.
All in all, the surgery had proven his hypothesis accurate. Su Yun was right; it was a slap to the professor's face.
Zheng Ren cared little about Professor Rudolph's pride, though.
Ten minutes later, he removed the gauze.
The organ was red and alive with its blood supply restored.
They stitched up the intestines and rinsed the peritoneal cavity. A final check was performed to ensure no foreign objects or bleeding had been missed before they began stitching the patient back up.
The surgery had not taken long. There had been no System mission, so Zheng Ren surmised that it had considered the surgery easy.
That was good. The patient would recover swiftly and be out of the hospital in no time.
"How is Yang Lili?" Zheng Ren asked as he closed the abdomen.
"So-so. She's showing signs of disseminated intravascular coagulation; we've started her on medication."
"Urine output?"
The kidneys and brain were the two major organs impacted by severe blood loss.
If there was kidney damage, the patient would have zero to reduced urine output. At that point, a thorough check would be required to mitigate the problem.
If the problem persisted, it would be an uphill battle for the patient.
No urine was often a bad sign.
"Low urine output, around 10ml per hour," Su Yun said.
"That's reassuring."
"We'll have to monitor her for longer." Su Yun's voice sounded strained.
"Thank you for your dedication."
"It's my duty."
Five minutes later, the final stitch was made. The anesthetic slowly wore off and the patient stirred.
They moved her onto a stretcher trolley. Su Yun and the professor prepared the patient for transport while Zheng Ren showed the family the contents of the surgical tray.
The family was waiting outside the operating room, their earlier hostility lost.
Patients like this were simply naive, stirring up trouble not out of malice but from ignorance. Many other patients and families were similar.
When they saw the almonds in the surgical tray, they were shocked into silence.
"I take it there were almonds served yesterday? She probably overindulged," Zheng Ren said.
"Yes… We drank during dinner before going for karaoke. I didn't notice she ate so many almonds," the patient's husband muttered.
If he had known this would happen… Ah, there was no way he could have.
Zheng Ren watched each individual expression. They would probably experience lingering trauma from karaoke.
As they talked, Su Yun wheeled the patient out of the operating room.
Zheng Ren and Chu Yanran took over and pushed the patient back to the wards while Su Yun left for the ICU to resume his post.
The surgery had been a respite for him.
In the war, the patient was hooked up to a vital signs monitor, her condition stable. She began conversing normally as the anesthetic wore off.
Zheng Ren was certain they had stepped in in time to save her.
He went to log his surgery record and left the other paperwork to Chang Yue.
Communicating with patients' families was Chang Yue's expertise. Despite the rewards and skills given to him by the System, he still found himself behind her in that regard.
She was indeed incredible.
The professor had left the hospital in resignation. His imagined victory remained so: a distant dream. He had been slapped in the face by the truth, a personal experience to associate with the Chinese term.
Zheng Ren made his rounds and found nothing that needed his attention. He texted Xie Yiren.
Seconds later, a reply came.
[Done? Zone D.]
His heart fluttered in his c.h.e.s.t. He had gotten used to the bachelor's life—toiling day and night without anyone asking about him. This was a good change.
He bid Chang Yue goodbye before heading down to the bas.e.m.e.nt to find Xie Yiren, humming a tune as he walked.
It was late at night but there was still a significant number of vehicles in the car park.
The Northeastern winter was cold and many employees did not own garages. Instead, they left their cars in the hospital's warm bas.e.m.e.nt parking.
Zheng Ren searched around the area.
He was hopeless at recognizing faces, and that weakness apparently extended to cars as well.
Zone D… Red car… Zheng Ren repeated the words in his head. There were not many red cars and Zone D was a small area to cover.
Zheng Ren searched and searched again but could not find the sleek and robust Volvo XC60.
Odd. Where was the car?
Zheng Ren sent a text.
[Where are you? Can't find your car.]
[Look up. I'm looking right at you.]
The reply was instant.
The bas.e.m.e.nt parking was quiet and devoid of life. Cars lined the pathway, cold and unmoving.
Goosebumps crawled up his skin when his phone lit up, startling him.
He looked up and saw Xie Yiren smiling at him. She was less than five meters away.
Zheng Ren was speechless at himself.
What had he been searching for just now? She was literally five meters away.
He resigned himself to his fate of being forever a victim of face blindness.
Pocketing his phone, he jogged toward the car, opened the door and got in.
"What were you looking for just now?" Xie Yiren asked.
"I couldn't find you." Zheng Ren was frustrated at himself.
"Are you hungry? Want to get a quick bite?"
Zheng Ren had spent the afternoon rescuing Yang Lili at No. 9 Elementary School. After that, he had gone to the police station and returned to find another surgery waiting for him.
It had been a busy but productive day.
He had not even noticed his hunger until Xie Yiren a
sked him about food.
Chapter 336 - Female Chef
When he had been in the first general surgery department, he would take a cab home after being paged for surgery in the middle of the night. Occasionally, he would cook himself a packet of instant noodles before going to bed.
Zheng Ren recalled that cold, lonely period in his life, smiling when he realized that there was someone that would think of him now.
"Instant noodles," he blurted directly from his mind, unintentionally.
He regretted it the moment the words left his mouth.
The story Su Yun told him was like a crow, persistently circling his head.
Xie Yiren was surprised for a moment, then smiled and said, "Sure; I can assure you that I'm an expert at cooking instant noodles."
Hmm? Zheng Ren was bewildered.
It actually worked?
Xie Yiren kicked the engine into gear and the car slowly left the bas.e.m.e.nt parking lot of Sea City General Hospital.
Within three minutes, they had reached her mansion.
Xie Yiren drove into the garage, where they alighted and entered the house from a side door.
Zheng Ren had not known about a direct link between the garage and house.
"What flavor would you like?" Xie Yiren asked, hanging her coat up with a smile. She was already poised to run towards the kitchen.
Zheng Ren was a little caught off guard. He had always eaten the same flavor of noodles, or rather, he had only tried one before—braised beef noodles.
It was not the only one, but he seldom visited the mall, choosing instead to order them from a convenience store downstairs.
He knew about other flavors but could not name them to save his life.
Zheng Ren's silence and blank expression prompted Xie Yiren to leave for the kitchen while humming a lively tune.
"Have a seat. There's water in the fridge, so please help yourself," Xie Yiren said, "Is there any food you avoid?"
Zheng Ren nearly stuttered when he saw Xie Yiren's alluring back. "No, I eat everything."
"Okay, I'll whip up something then." Xie Yiren put on an apron, instantly becoming a female chef. She then opened up the fridge and started searching for ingredients.
In a few moments, she had retrieved a whole bunch of food and put them aside.
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