The Surgeon's Studio

Chapter 198: Bootlicking Gets You Nowhere

Mu Tao knocked on the door. “Boss Zheng, are you busy?”

Zheng Ren turned to face the man. He seemed familiar, but Zheng Ren could not pinpoint his identity.

An awkwardness hung in the room.

A few seconds of pin-drop silence ticked by. Finally, Mu Tao decided to crack a smile and say, “You must have met a lot of people in the past few days. I am Mu Tao, Professor Wu’s disciple.”

Realization dawned on Zheng Ren. They had met before in the research building.

The quiet spell now broken, Zheng Ren stood up and extended a hand to Mu Tao. With an apologetic look on his face, he said, “My apologies, Dr. Mu. I have a bad memory. Please, have a seat.”

The words sounded sincere, so Mu Tao let the blunder pass.

“Are you looking at scans?”

“Yes. I was studying the images—it seems like there are many cases of malignancy, but it’s hard to decipher hepatic nodules from tumors based on the scans,” Zheng Ren said truthfully.

This particular patient’s scans were similar to the ones from Bu Ruotian’s patient in Provincial Capital. After completing the reconstruction, Zheng Ren had revisited them to get some insight.

He had yet to identify a way to differentiate the markings.

“It is indeed difficult to be sure. We can only perform the embolization surgery and confirm it a month later with a CT scan,” Mu Tao said emphatically.

Zheng Ren nodded in agreement, but there was a glint of rebelliousness in his eyes.

In Mu Tao’s opinion, the man must have chosen the easiest case to parse with his limited skill but was unsatisfied, finally ending up here in the CT room looking through the scans.

The man’s dedication to his work was commendable despite his inferior skill.

The silence in the control room quickly turned awkward again. Mu Tao sighed in disappointment at the prideful Sea City doctor who lacked social skills.

‘They call this guy a boss?’

This doctor seemed pretty average. Being invited to this event was likely the peak of his career.

“Boss Zheng, you seem busy. I’ll leave you to it,” Mu Tao said, offering polite words that he did not mean.

He had nothing against this doctor from Sea City, so there was no point in offending him.

Zheng Ren was engrossed in the CT scans when Mu Tao announced his departure, but quickly stood up and sent the man on his way.

The control room fell back into an amicable silence.

The research graduate sat in the back of the room, scrolling through his phone while waiting for Zheng Ren. With an unwavering focus, Zheng Ren studied the scans from multiple angles, trying to identify any notable differences between hepatic nodules and carcinoma on them.

Each round of analysis, research and examination earned him experience.

A long time passed before Zheng Ren stood from the controls and rubbed his tired eyes.

“Mr. Zheng, you’re done?” the research graduate asked.

“Sorry it took so long.”

“It’s no big issue. The pleasure was mine.” The research graduate waved it off.

Zheng Ren simply shrugged. He was not interested in finding out how popular Su Yun was among the young professionals of Imperial Capital, so after a short exchange with the research graduate, he left alone.

The wind outside chilled him to the bone.

His jacket was ruined from the incident in the clinic and he was still wearing one of Su Yun’s sweaters. He shivered as he jogged back to his accommodation.

Feng Xuhui was standing by the lobby entrance, one hand on a package—he had bought some new clothes for Zheng Ren. He raised a hand in greeting but the man jogged past him and entered the building.

Feng Xuhui was speechless. He carried the package and followed the doctor in.

Once inside the room, he boiled some water for Zheng Ren.

Su Yun was already back despite his back-to-back gatherings with Zhao Yunlong and other people. The jiggle of the doorknob caught his attention and Zheng Ren’s lateness piqued his curiosity.

Still, he had to start their conversation with a jibe. “Look at you. You brought a number of shirts but forgot about outerwear?”

A series of responses ran through Zheng Ren’s mind but he stayed mum.

Feng Xuhui was taken aback by the sudden noise but quickly thought of something reasonable to say.

He decided to steer the conversation. “Chief Zheng, I bought two outfits for you. You should try them out—”

Zheng Ren’s phone rang.

With a sheepish smile, Zheng Ren motioned with his hand, indicating there was no need before answering the call.

“I’m in my room.

“Yes, in the north wing of the hospital.

“Sure. Thanks for the trouble.”

Zheng Ren hung up and smiled. “My friend sent me some clothes.”

Feng Xuhui was at a loss.

He always thought he had a good read of things. Throughout his career, he had learned much about social interaction and engagements with senior officers.

However, all his experience fell short when it came to Zheng Ren.

Truly, his bootlicking gestures were getting him nowhere.

What a pain.

However, the timing was suspicious. Was Zheng Ren lying to him?

“Chief Zheng, do you have a friend in Imperial Capital?”

Su Yun snorted and answered snidely, “Are you dumb? If the item was bought in Imperial Capital, shipping would take only three to five hours. I honestly thought the package would arrive when you were still in the CT room. That woman is usually quite efficient.”

Internally, Feng Xuhui wanted to cry.

He was definitely not as skilled in shopping as the average lady.

He regretted waiting at the building entrance. He should have called Chief Zheng and delivered the clothes straight to him.

If only he knew...

If only...

This line of thought had plagued Feng Xuhui multiple times today.

It was eating at his soul: Was he that bad of a salesman? He could not even complete this simple task.

Zheng Ren ignored Su Yun and Feng Xuhui. When his phone rang a second time, he went downstairs to collect his parcel.

He brought the package in and unwrapped it. There were three jackets that were identical to the one Zheng Ren brought to Imperial Capital, matching even in color.

“Xie Yiren’s worried you’ll get stabbed that many times?” Su Yun snarked even in the woman’s absence.

Feng Xuhui went to have a look. His eyes surreptitiously went to the clothing tags.

The numbers on the tags told him that each article was worth a pretty penny.

All three jackets were identical.

It must be fun being rich.

This was a losing battle he was fighting. He kicked the package he bought aside dejectedly, keeping it out of Zheng Ren’s vision.