The Surgeon's Studio

Chapter 244: A Solid Reason (Part 3 of 5)

Had he finished the surgery in such a short time?

How had he done it?

It was impossible, it had to be a hallucination. Chief Kong rubbed his eyes and looked at the screen once more to make sure that it was really the last radiographic image of the surgery he was seeing. Embolization of the hepatocellular carcinoma nodules was complete, as well as administration of chemotherapeutic drugs.

He raised his head and saw Zheng Ren removing his gloves, having already left the table.

The nurse opened a sensor-controlled door and retrieved a compression device, unpacking it and passing it to Su Yun.

“Chief Kong, I’m done,” Zheng Ren said jovially as he entered the operating console room sans sterile surgical gown and gloves.

“...” Chief Kong was still in a daze. He was about to check on the radiographic images of the embolization.

It was awkward examining them in front of Zheng Ren.

Zheng Ren was not aware that he had finished the surgery within the brief window of Chief Kong’s distraction. Prime rank interventional surgery was not to be underestimated. With a smile, he pointed at the two nodules on the screen and said, “I diagnosed that the nodules from the 3D-Image reconstruction of the 64-slice CT scan prior surgery were of cancerous origin. That surgery confirmed that it was indeed true.”

Chief Kong was lost for words. He had missed the entire surgery; how was he supposed to engage in any sort of discussion with Zheng Ren about it?

Zheng Ren was eager to share his Prime-rank skills with Chief Kong, but was perplexed by Chief Kong’s lost expression. Had he done something wrong in the middle of the operation?

It was impossible. He knew his execution had had a perfect balance of speed, precision, and steadiness. What could be the problem?

They stared at each other for a long while. Finally, Zheng Ren gave up and said, “I’ll go ahead and change.”

Hurry up and leave, Chief Kong thought, anxious to rewatch the whole surgery.

Zheng Ren walked towards the changing room in silence, feeling a little disappointed. He thought that he had nailed this particular surgery. Why did Chief Kong look so indifferent?

Had he grown accustomed to Zheng Ren’s surgeries after watching so many of them?

That was impossible!

There were still a few flaws in Zheng Ren’s work when he was still at Master level in interventional surgery. Even though he had been able to complete his surgeries successfully, they were all incomparable to the one that he had just finished.

Something was truly off.

Zheng Ren entered the changing room and tore off his sterile surgical gown[1]. He sent the special lead vest back into the System and let out a long sigh.

Right after he finished changing, Su Yun came into the room.

The man threw away the surgical scrub cap into the waste bin, looking a little worse for wear with his hair balled up by the cap, but also appearing less obnoxious.

Su Yun stared at Zheng Ren strangely and silently.

“What is it?”

It took ten seconds for Su Yun to break the silence. “The surgery today. It was peculiar.”

Zheng Ren grinned and did not bother explaining himself.

“Are you on steroids today? How did your technique improve so much from yesterday?” Su Yun gave Zheng Ren a death stare as if trying to sniff out his secrets.

However, Zheng Ren’s expression was calm and composed, giving nothing away.

After a while, Su Yun shook his head and sighed.

What a peculiar being. Why was the gulf between them widening despite his best efforts? Su Yun lowered his head and mulled it over.

Back then, there was no one he could not eventually and quickly surpass if he deigned to put in the effort, be they his peer or mentor.

There was no hurdle he could not overcome.

However, he had tried several times to catch up to this man to no avail. Had he finally met his match?

Impossible!

As Su Yun remained deep in thought, Zheng Ren approached him. Fiddling with a Changfeng micro guide wire in his left hand, he patted Su Yun’s shoulder with his right and said cheerfully, “I’ll go check on Chief Kong.”

Su Yun clenched his fists, the flame of competitiveness flaring up within him.

Zheng Ren reentered the operating console room with a smile on his face.

Chief Kong seemed to be deep in thought, sitting in his chair as if in meditation with his eyes half-closed.

The old chief must be too tired. Zheng Ren muffled his movements, wondering whether or not to leave or wake the chief.

“Zheng Ren.” Chief Kong opened his eyes suddenly, looking enthusiastic. “Are you sure that the prostate interventional embolization will succeed?”

“Chief Kong, you must be joking. No doctor can predict the outcome of a surgery. I’m only 90% sure...” Zheng Ren began casually, but Chief Kong interrupted his standard spiel of potential risks.

“Excellent!” Chief Kong said without hesitation. “I’ve just received news that the patient from Sorcery Capital started showing postoperative symptoms of a weak bladder and urinary retention.”

“Did they remove the urinary catheter the day after the surgery?”

“Yes.” Chief Kong nodded.

“The symptoms will worsen on the third day post-surgery.” Zheng Ren seemed to realize something and hesitated, his lips moving wordlessly.

For his age, Chief Kong’s eyes were sharp. “What were you going to say?”

Zheng Ren let out a sigh and said, “I was just thinking that, if possible, the patient could come in for dredging and I could redo the embolization. If his symptoms worsen, he would need at least half a year to recover.”

Chief Kong let out a muffled laugh.

What a noble heart Zheng Ren had. Throughout the entire conversation, he had been kneading the micro guide wire between his fingers to feel its subtle texture.

How pure.

Nevertheless, Chief Kong had no control over the things that Zheng Ren had just proposed.

How could a hospital from Sorcery Capital own up to their own mistakes? The phone call would never end well.

Chief Kong shook his head and did not comment further.

Zheng Ren knew the truth of the matter and gently shook his head, sighing.

Seeing Zheng Ren’s expression, a sudden realization dawned on Chief Kong and a chill shot down his spine.

Zheng Ren’s suggestion was based on the assumption that he could accomplish prostate interventional embolization. The reason Chief Kong had decided to proceed with livestreaming was Zheng Ren’s splendid job on the hepatocellular carcinoma nodules, plus the news from Sorcery Capital that their surgery had failed.

What made Zheng Ren so sure of himself?

Chief Kong was left puzzled. The surgery today had been perfect, vastly different from the one the day before. Su Yun had had a firsthand view of that change, while the chief’s years of clinical and surgical experience also handily picked out that massive leap in skill.

Zheng Ren was taken aback by Chief Kong’s expression. Did the chief not sleep well yesterday? Why was he acting weirdly?

“You did a great job earlier. In fact, you have improved by a few orders of magnitude from yesterday,” Chief Kong said.

“Yeah,” Zheng Ren replied as if it was nothing. “It was a simple procedure. I did four rounds of the same surgery yesterday, and after that, I went back over them and had some new ideas. That’s why it went much smoother today. You flatter me, Chief Kong; it was not that big of an improvement.”

Unwilling to create new excuses, he decided to just quote Su Yun directly.

It did seem quite solid a reason, after all. He would probably have use for it again in the near future.

Chief Kong closed his eyes, his own exhaustion kicking in.

The youth of today were amazing, incredible!

“Prepare yourself for the livestream of the prostate interventional embolization tomorrow. I’ve staked my entire reputation on you, so don’t you fail on me.”

[1] The author repeated mention of the removal of the sterile surgical gown, possibly because they simply forgot they had mentioned it earlier.