They chatted for a while before changing their attire and returning to their respective clinics.
The terrible incident could not stop their clinics from operating as usual.
The chief consultant of the general surgery department's phone suddenly rang. He accepted the call.
"Yes, any news?
"...
"Okay, got it."
His expression was strange as he hung up.
The deputy chief consultant of the thoracic surgery department asked, confused, "What's wrong?"
"Did you know that the institute has been engaged in a research project recently?"
"There is scientific research every year, but I've never paid attention to them since it has nothing to do with the thoracic surgery department."
"That young man from Sea City had been invited to participate in scientific research…"
"Hiss…" A Chinese song ,, also can be understood as "many a little makes a mickle".
Chapter 187 - As Long As I’m Here, There Is Still Hope
After wound closure was complete, Zheng Ren declined a kind offer of an antibiotic infusion and quietly sat at the entrance of the operating theater.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the surgery to end.
Waiting to know whether Fang Lin had survived or passed away.
He had done his best, but…
It was still not enough.
He waited patiently. His bloodshot eyes painted his world in red.
His mind was blank. There was no sorrow or depression. He was just waiting calmly for news.
Death or life.
He was unsure how long had passed when someone sat beside him and said, "Professor Gu was diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction and is receiving treatment right now. He'll be fine."
It was Su Yun.
Zheng Ren once hated his voice, but was gradually getting used to it following the improvement of their coordination in surgery.
Zheng Ren frowned and said, "Fang Lin is badly injured and they're trying to save him now."
"I know. You did your best." Su Yun stared unblinkingly at his phone. "The thoracic surgeon has located and sutured the ruptured bronchial artery, and the general surgeon is finishing hepatic wound repair now."
"Blood pressure?"
"Slightly low, but detectable."
"How much blood has been transfused?"
"12U of red blood cells and 1000mL plasma."
"Is the ICU fully prepared to take care of him?"
"Boss, this is Imperial Capital." Su Yun was not mocking Zheng Ren, which was a rare occasion, possibly due to Zheng Ren's injuries or the fact that the incident just now had shocked him greatly.
"That's good." Zheng Ren slowly shut his eyes.
He believed everything Su Yun said without question.
Even though the sharp-tongued nancy boy did not have entirely good news, he knew that Fang Lin's chance of survival had exceeded fifty percent.
"Are you badly injured?" asked Su Yun, stealing a peek at the dressing on Zheng Ren's left shoulder.
"No, it's just a mild injury."
"Let's go back and establish a pet medical center together. I'll buy a twenty-year-old nuclear magnetic resonance imaging machine, and coupled with various technical means, it'll be the most professional pet medical center in Sea City."
"No," replied Zheng Ren coldly.
"Do you still have hope?" The contempt at the corners of Su Yun's lips intensified.
"As long as I'm here, there is still hope," said Zheng Ren calmly.
Su Yun was startled.
Who the hell gave him such a strong confidence?
Before he could ridicule Zheng Ren, he suddenly recalled the scene in the outpatient department.
The needle thoracostomy and the urgent laparotomy for hemostasis had been performed without hesitation.
The varying severity of damage,
The decisions made regardless of cost,
The first-aid measures given just in time…
Without him, Fang Lin would have had no hope for survival. Even though Fang Lin was currently undergoing emergency surgery in the operating theater, he had at least provided medical staff a chance to save a precious life.
'Have I been burying my head in the sand?' Su Yun absent-mindedly recalled someone he respected, the same man who had become disabled in the end. In his mind, the man's feet glowed a bloody red, and then came Zheng Ren walking the border between hell and the human realm.
Su Yun shook his head. It was too artsy for his preference.
"The surgery has ended. His blood pressure has stabilized and they're transferring him to the ICU now," he said calmly after reading a message on his phone.
"Ding-dong!" At the same time, an alert rang out in Zheng Ren's mind, but he did not seem to hear it.
"Okay." Zheng Ren nodded. "Let's go."
"Where?"
"The emergency department, for tetanus toxoid."
"Hey, do you really know medicine? Clostridium tetani is an anaerobic organism, so it can't survive in your wound. Besides, you've treated a patient with tetanus before, so why are you even speaking such nonsense? You've been stabbed in your shoulder, but did you get a brain injury as well? That's right, I remember you smashed your head onto the rogue just now. I think you should undergo a cranial CT scan," Su Yun grumbled, as usual.
"I'll feel more assured after the injection." Zheng Ren smiled faintly. "There is a small risk of patients with external trauma having their wounds infected with Clostridium tetani, hence the usage of tetanus toxoids. Now that I'm injured, it's best for me to receive an injection as well."
"You really care about your own safety."
"That's exactly the case." Zheng Ren nodded in agreement.
Without waiting for Fang Lin to be wheeled out of the operating theater, they went downstairs via the fire escape.
It was pointless to worry further about his safety as they had already known case's details.
…
…
They did not visit the emergency department or accept the general surgery department's help. According to Su Yun, he was unfamiliar with the general surgeons.
Su Yun brought Zheng Ren to the thoracic surgery department instead. After establishing an intravenous infusion line, he ran off to search for tetanus toxoid.
The beds in the spacious on-call room were clean, but Zheng Ren did not use them and chose to receive the infusion sitting on a chair.
The shock of his adrenaline rush during resuscitation gradually faded as he stared out of the window.
'The injury won't affect my accuracy in future surgeries, right?' He was beginning to get worried.
Zheng Ren was able to move his left fingers nimbly, and apart from the slight pain in his left shoulder, his overall condition seemed to be satisfactory.
'Oh yeah!' He suddenly remembered hearing the System's notification earlier.
A mission? When had he received a mission?
The System panel at the upper right corner of his vision trumpeted, "Mission Accomplished".
Huh? Perhaps… The System had used its powers to determine that the resuscitation was successful? Zheng Ren began to ponder what the System was trying to imply without paying attention to its rewards.
If that was the case, it was actually good news.
His mental uneasiness instantly dissipated. A few minutes later, Zheng Ren noticed the rewards.
A multiple-choice question in which he had to choose one of three? Why could he not upgrade all of them at once?
Improving his ability to read X-ray films seemed like a good idea as he would be able to quickly recognize anatomical structures during surgery.
B-scan ultrasonography could be excluded due to its limited functionality at the moment.
Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging…
NMRI…
He recalled that Professor Pei had requested a double contrast-enhanced imaging scan—NMRI and a 64-slice CT scan with i
mage reconstruction—before Zheng Yunxia's surgery.
This was the lesson learned by his predecessors after numerous failures. As long as conditions permitted, a preoperative double contrast-enhanced imaging had its own benefits.
Zheng Ren was caught in a dilemma between the ability to read X-ray films and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. After hesitating for a few seconds, he decided to choose NMRI.
When it was selected, a warm current swirled through his body as countless images assaulted his consciousness almost instantaneously.
"..." Surprised, Zheng Ren quickly shut his eyes and focused on enduring the discomfort.
After a long while, a voice reached Zheng Ren's ears.
"You actually fell asleep sitting up? Damn…"
'Why haven't I experienced this before? Is the discomfort due to a complete lack of knowledge in this domain? Still…'
Zheng Ren gave up trying to figure it out.
He now understood all NMRI films he had seen previously.
"I just received a notice about a conference in the research institute this afternoon," Su Yun suddenly said, "You look awful. Stay here for the drug infusion, I'll attend the conference later."
"What conference?"
"..." Su Yun froze for a moment. Had this idiot forgotten his purpose of visiting Imperial Capital?
Chapter 188 - Put It Down, I’ll Do It
"The infusion should be complete before noon, so we'll go together later," said Zheng Ren.
Su Yun looked at Zheng Ren as if he was a fool.
"Let's go."
"Where to?" Zheng Ren was puzzled.
"You need to undergo a cranial CT scan to rule out brain injury."
"..."
"Can you please understand your current state?" Su Yun said angrily, "You're injured, so how are you going to perform surgery in a lead apron? Do you want to lie down on the operating table again? I'll attend the conference alone and you'll get some rest here."
"It ain't that serious." Zheng Ren shook his head. "I just want to gain knowledge from the conference."
"You're crazy," replied Su Yun coldly.
Zheng Ren remained persistent despite their argument, so Su Yun left the room with the tetanus toxoid. Even though he had no d.e.s.i.r.e to do anything now, he still subconsciously fulfilled his duties as the flawless assistant.
Since Zheng Ren had decided to go, Su Yun had to prepare the necessary doc.u.ments before attending the conference.
He also felt helpless.
"Give this to Boss Zheng later." Su Yun passed the tetanus toxoid to a trainee on duty in the thoracic surgery department.
Class Three Grade A Hospitals in Imperial Capital usually had fewer doctors as tedious tasks—on-calls, medical record doc.u.mentation and surgery—were usually performed by trainees, postgraduate students and doctoral students.
The chief resident had gone to watch over Fang Lin today, leaving only a trainee to keep an eye on the house.
"Okay." The trainee on duty was a dark-skinned man in his late thirties who looked easy-going and steady.
After accepting the tetanus toxoid, he suddenly smiled and said, "Brother Yun, I've heard legends about you when I first came to the hospital. If I was half as good as you, I would have left the hospital in my hometown a long time ago."
"Which idiot with his big mouth…" Su Yun stayed indifferent and arrogant, as always.
"Yesterday, I even heard them say that you've found yourself a new boss, which makes me curious. Is there someone superior to you?" A bright smile formed on his honest face. "That person must really be awesome."
Su Yun, who was in a bad mood, pretended to hear nothing and strode out of the room.
The middle-aged man was not displeased at all. What could he possibly say about a wunderkind with superb talent, anyway?
"Old Han, why are you giggling?" asked a nurse on duty as she returned to the treatment room with a bottle in her hand.
Everyone's mood was gloomy due to Fang Lin's injury.
"Nothing." Old Han entered the room and obtained a 1mL syringe for a tetanus toxoid skin test.
The nurse was surprised. "Huh? What are you doing?"
"I'm going to perform a tetanus toxoid skin test on Boss Zheng," answered Old Han.
"Put it down, and allow me." The young nurse quickly discarded her infusion drip needle and snatched the 1mL syringe from Old Han's hand, squeezing him aside at the same time.
"..." Old Han was puzzled. He was just trying to help, but why did the nurse look like she had a blood feud with him?
"Just do your job well," said the young nurse, who then walked out of the room after putting iodophor, cotton swabs and the syringe into a kidney dish.
Upon reaching the on-call room, the nurse stood outside and took a few deep breaths before gently knocking on the door.
Knocking at the door of the on-call room, especially softly, felt so strange.
This decorum was never present when patients' conditions deteriorated during night shifts. Instead, they normally flung the door open and summoned frontliners harshly and rudely.
Zheng Ren's voice came from within. "Please, come in."
The nurse put on a smile and greeted him politely before putting the kidney dish down. "Chief Zheng, I'm here to perform a skin test on you."
"I'm sorry to trouble you," said Zheng Ren.
"That's too polite of you."
Zheng Ren's clothes had been shredded and thrown away, so he was currently wearing Su Yun's coat, which fit him oddly.
The nurse applied a tourniquet on Zheng Ren's arm and proficiently injected a small amount of tetanus toxoid subcutaneously with the 1mL syringe in her right hand.
"Let me know immediately if you feel unwell." After the procedure was complete, the young nurse smiled and said, "Chief Zheng, where is your phone?"
"Here." Zheng Ren took out his phone, somewhat perplexed.
He did not have a password lock as he considered the feature c.u.mbersome and unnecessary.
"Allow me." After unlocking his phone, the nurse launched his WeChat, brought up a QR code and added him as a friend.
It was so quick that Zheng Ren could not react in any way.
"Text me via WeChat if you need anything," said the nurse before darting out of the room.
A few minutes later, Zheng Ren was still dumbfounded as this was the first time a woman had requested his contact information.
Perhaps not the first time; in Sea City, that girl with a ponytail called… Oh, Liu Xinyu! She had asked for his WeChat as well.
The nurse just now looked a little familiar. Where had he seen her before?
Zheng Ren could not identify her even after racking his brain for a while. Thus, he gave up and began revising the local anatomy of the prostate.
The nurse came out of the on-call room and instructed, "Old Han, keep an eye on him."
Old Han agreed with a smile. He never sought dominance as the nurses in the hospital were more skillful than trainees. It was also better to stay on good terms with medical staff while furthering his studies. That way, it would be easier to request assistance from professors in things such as surgery in the future.
Offending nurses under the assumption that they would not meet in the future would make it near impossible to ask a professor to perform surgery when the need arose.
The nurse returned to the treatment room for sharp item disposal. Along the way, she recalled the incident earlier in the morning where Zheng Ren had knelt on the stretcher trolley and performed an emergency laparotomy for hemostasis, radiating a sense of calm and security in the middle of a red pool of blood. The thought subconsciously made her smile.
"Let's not attend the conference this afternoon. We should have fun in Xiangshan Park or Miyun Reservoir instead," said Su Yun upon his return, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
"Our purpose here in Imperial Capital is to gain knowledge. Besides, it's just a conference anyway, not a big deal at all," replied Zheng Ren s
lowly.
"Hey, did this slight injury not dim your fire in the slightest?" asked Su Yun, annoyed.
"I'm fine; it's just a skin trauma." Zheng Ren smiled. "Three days of antibiotics, one tetanus toxoid injection and the suture can be removed in seven days. Don't worry."
"I've informed the others in the group chat. They want to visit you," said Su Yun.
"..." Zheng Ren's hand stopped mid-air.
"Why can't you keep your mouth shut?" Zheng Ren became anxious, which was a rare sight.
"I've persuaded them not to do so." Su Yun stared at him and smirked. "Don't you check your phone at all?"
"I feel a little dizzy, that's why I didn't check." Zheng Ren was slightly relieved upon hearing the answer. He then took out his phone and checked his WeChat.
There were hundreds of messages in the department group chat. It would be a pain to read through them one by one.
Su Yun shook his head, completely out of words. He had absolutely no idea how to communicate with Zheng Ren.
Silence consumed the on-call room. Zheng Ren scanned through the text messages on his phone and put it away only when Old Han returned to report that the skin test had turned out negative.
Chapter 189 - Reporting One’s Safety
There was a knock on the door as Zheng Ren scanned through the messages in his WeChat.
The door of the on-call room then opened, and a man said, "Doctor Zheng is receiving an infusion at the moment."
A cabinet blocked Su Yun's view of the entrance and he could not see who said it. He stole a peek at Zheng Ren, who was still reading his messages intently, unperturbed by the knocking.
A thin figure appeared, followed by two police officers.
Su Yun was bewildered for a second, then realized that they were most likely here to interview and record the statements of everyone involved in the incident earlier.
He gently kicked Zheng Ren, who was deeply immersed in his phone.
"Hello, Doctor Zheng," a man in a casual outfit said grimly as he stood ramrod-straight three steps behind Zheng Ren.
"Huh?" The sudden voice pulled Zheng Ren back to reality and made him turn around.
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