The Surgeon's Studio c1-799

by Black Ursa Prime

  "It's fine, really, as long as he's okay. I can borrow some money."

  "Alright. I also told him off. Hopefully, he'll change his ways after this," Zheng Ren said.

  "Thank you, thank you." The girl was overwhelmed with gratitude.

  Zheng Ren waved before turning and heading downstairs through the fire exit.

  Professor Rudolf Wagner silently followed him all the way back to the emergency ward.

  "Zheng, did the boy get hurt from fighting his romantic rival?" the professor asked eagerly when they reached the office.

  "Professor, if you hurt someone during a fight in this country, you'll need to bear the legal consequences," Zheng Ren answered.

  "The same applies to my country too. However, most of the great romances speak of duels, the power, and the charms of a man…"

  "No, professor. I won't comment on the traditional meaning of a duel. However, this patient is his own worst enemy." Zheng Ren sat before his computer and launched his workstation to begin writing the operative report.

  "Zheng, you're no romantic, for sure." Professor Rudolf Wagner flicked his long, golden locks. Romantic… my *ss.

  Zheng Ren could not care less about tradition and focused on his report.

  Professor Rudolf Wagner strolled around, sighing occasionally as he looked about the ward.

  He was mumbling to himself in his mother tongue. Zheng Ren neither understood nor wanted to understand him; the professor was probably thinking about how the resources here were lacking, unequipped to conduct research, or something else along those lines.

  Sea City General Hospital was undeniably incomparable to the fount of great talent that was the research center of Heidelberg University.

  Even Karl Marx was a graduate of Heidelberg University.

  The university received abundant donations from charitable foundations and other organizations every year, ensuring deep pockets for anything they required.

  Sea City General Hospital did not have the same luxury.

  Shortly after, the creak of a stretcher trolley found its way inside. Su Yun and Chu Yanzhi were sending the patient over.

  They transferred him to a hospital bed, where he was deftly hooked up to an ECG monitor by a nurse and given a quick checkup.

  Su Yun noticed that there was only one family member left and did not know what else to do; therefore, he returned the stretcher trolley with Chu Yanzhi.

  When he returned, Professor Rudolf Wagner had occupied his regular seat in the office and was observing Zheng Ren at work.

  "Is the professor staying permanently?" Su Yun asked.

  "I doubt so," Zheng Ren answered without raising his head.

  "Zheng, you'd agreed for me to stay here," Professor Rudolf Wagner said seriously.

  This… Zheng Ren froze a moment; he looked at Su Yun, then turned to the professor. He had no idea how the tiny shrine that was Sea City General Hospital had managed to attract a major deity like Professor Rudolf Wagner.

  Nevertheless, the man was free to stay and well-off enough to afford his own meals… wait a minute. Zheng Ren suddenly realized someone had to be responsible for sustaining the professor's stay.

  Xie Yiren's parents were returning soon, and he was still tight on money.

  Was the professor trying to force him to resign? Then, a thought crossed his mind: Department Chief Kong had earlier mentioned a research fund that he had not known how to spend. What was he going to do, buy a house with it?

  A meal ought to be acceptable.

  Su Yun began to smirk as he watched Zheng Ren's expressions flick by like a Sichuan opera Face-Changing performer, already guessing the man's thoughts.

  "Professor, where are you staying tonight?" Su Yun asked.

  Professor Rudolf Wagner pretended to be gracious. "Just give me a space, I'll be fine."

  "Are you able to perform surgery?" Su Yun asked.

  The question was ambiguous. Professor Rudolf Wagner could not understand its intentions.

  "If you're sleeping in the on-call room, I'll have to go back home. If you can handle surgery, by all means, be my guest. If you can't, I suggest you check into Shangri-La Hotel and rest."

  Shangri-La Hotel was the only five-star hotel in Sea City. Department Chief Kong would most likely be spending the night there.

  Professor Rudolf Wagner hesitated for a long time before saying, "No worries, I can handle these surgeries. I have a clinician's license, so common diseases shouldn't pose much of a problem. I also volunteer in the ER for 3 to 5 days annually."

  The smile on Su Yun's face only grew when he heard the professor's answer.

  Zheng Ren was unable to do anything but watch.

  This rascal was obviously exploiting the professor, but Zheng Ren was indifferent. As long as there was no major surgery required, he could handle it by himself. The professor's presence would not make any difference.

  "I'll leave then, Chief Zheng." Su Yun began whistling, now in an exceptional mood.

  "Keep your phone on. I'll call you if anything happens," Zheng Ren said coldly.

  "Oh my God! You don't have the right to call an off-duty doctor, it's his private time!" Professor Rudolf Wagner exclaimed.

  Zheng Ren smiled and did not argue.

  Su Yun saluted before briskly leaving the emergency ward.

  A routine check on the postoperative patients confirmed that the young man's condition had stabilized; if the mild infection in his abdomen did not worsen, he ought to be able to be discharged after several days on intravenous antibiotics.

  When Zheng Ren exited the ward, the girl followed him out.

  "Thank you, Dr. Zheng." She was clearly well-mannered and thanked him with a deep bow.

  "You're welcome." Zheng Ren did not put on any airs. He certainly deserved it after the surgery and his attempt to rehabilitate the patient.

  "I'll try my best to raise the money. Can you please not stop his medication?"

  "Oh my God…" Professor Rudolf Wagner cried out again.

  …

  …

  Try to hum the chapter title in Zeng Yi's 1voice~~ It's a new week already; I hope that everything goes smoothly at work and every day is happy, guys. The author used , which appears to refer to Bai Jingqi, the main protagonist in The Grand Mansion Gate (), a 2001Chinese historical television series.Zeng Yi is a Chinese pop singer and member of the Chinese popular music duo Phoenix Legend.

  Chapter 290 - The Night Shift God’s Blessing (Part 2 of 4)

  "What about medical insurance? We don't have to pay for hospitalization in my country. The insurance company would provide the sum total after discharge," Professor Rudolf Wagner said.

  Zheng Ren came close to kicking him, but resisted the urge after some thought.

  "I'll report the fee issue to Chief Pan tomorrow, perhaps some of them can be waived," Zheng Ren told the girl. "Take good care of him."

  The girl gave her thanks again before Zheng Ren and the professor returned to the office.

  "Zheng, do you people really need to pay for medical treatment?" Professor Rudolf Wagner asked doubtfully.

  Zheng Ren did not engage further with the professor and simply offered a smile.

  Finally remembering to check his phone, he realized it was already past ten in the night.

  There was a missed call from Department Chief Kong at around nine o'clock. After thinking about it, Zheng Ren decided to contact the man through WeChat.

  Chief Kong was already in Shangri-La Hotel and preparing for a return flight in the morning.

  Zheng Ren checked his schedule; he would probably need to apply for leave tomorrow to send Department Chief Kong off. The chief had come all the way here, and Zheng Ren had not even had the time to bring the man out to a meal before getting called back for surgery.

  Not sending the chief off at the very least would leave him with a bad taste in his mouth.

  As he spoke to Department Chief Kong, he received a call from the emergency department about a patient who had c
ome in with acute appendicitis.

  Zheng Ren felt troubled. His good night's sleep yesterday did not mean he deserved to be deprived of it tonight.

  Night Shift God, please be merciful.

  Still, no matter how hard he complained, he had duties to fulfill.

  He confirmed the diagnosis with the System's monitor before performing a routine check on the patient and processing admission. He then inquired about the patient's medical history and prepared for surgery.

  Half an hour passed after he completed the procedure.

  Another patient with acute appendicitis entered the ward.

  Under normal circ.u.mstances, a chief resident would have a physician on duty to handle all miscellaneous procedures. However, emigration over the last two years had bled Sea City of its younger talent; any competent doctor above thirty had left for greener pastures.

  Even the Sea City General Hospital inpatient department was short-staffed, let alone the emergency department.

  Old Chief Physician Pan had been asking for more hands on deck, but resistance had been strong enough that no amount of authority could get him the doctors he wanted.

  Chang Yue, Yang Lei and Su Yun were a few beautiful exceptions.

  Zheng Ren busied himself comforting the patients and their family members and performing surgeries.

  Tonight would probably be a sleepless night.

  Professor Rudolf Wagner had demonstrated excellent basic skill in the first two surgeries.

  He was not the main surgeon but adapted swiftly as the first assistant during the laparotomy for the appendectomy and endoscopic surgery.

  Later that night, after those two surgeries, the emergency department was called upon once more.

  Zheng Ren was numb and his heartbeat remained stable, having already mentally prepared for it.

  This time, the patient had acute cholecystitis.

  The entire procedure was familiar to Zheng Ren. There was so much to do that he set aside all the work that could be postponed to the next day for Chang Yue to follow up on. Once the patient completed their fasting, he brought Professor Rudolf Wagner along to the surgery.

  What a long night. Some people refused to sleep, while others simply could not.

  The entire night passed in what seemed like an instant.

  It was a fruitful day.

  A patient with fall injuries, a knife stab victim, five acute appendicitis cases, two acute cholecystitis cases and one gallbladder torsion.

  Zheng Ren was exhausted after performing ten surgeries and going through the tedious details with their respective families.

  Chang Yue arrived at work to a long queue of patients in front of her workstation; she jumped right into processing paperwork without any breakfast.

  Su Yun was humming a tune on his way to work and was thrilled to see two dark circles under Professor Rudolf Wagner's eyes.

  The Night Shift God stuck to tradition and had no mercy for newcomers.

  Someone new to night shifts normally faced extraordinary circ.u.mstances; either there were a lot of emergencies or unstable and deteriorating postoperative patients.

  In short, they would be put in their place on their first day with not a blink of sleep.

  "Zheng, I'll head off and take a nap," Professor Rudolf Wagner said, yawning and completely ignoring Su Yun's condescending look.

  "We need to do the handover," Zheng Ren said coldly.

  It was not spite; he simply had no energy left to smile. He did not want to take the energy elixir yet, but his body was wearing thin after staying up all night and performing so many surgeries.

  "Oh, you guys do your handover at 8 a.m., in my country… yawn…" Professor Rudolf Wagner let out another huge yawn in the middle of his sentence.

  "Chang Yue, you'll be in charge of guiding the professor through the procedure," Zheng Ren said.

  Change Yue was too occupied with her tasks to be affected by the intrusion of a foreigner.

  She checked patients' conditions, changed wound dressings, recorded symptoms and requested signatures from patients' families.

  Zheng Ren's words got through, but her mind automatically discarded everything unrelated to patients.

  Yesterday night was…

  Zheng Ren recalled the night he had attained the System. The entire general surgery department had been at work. It seemed surreal when he recalled it now.

  Old Chief Physician Pan arrived at exactly at 8 a.m. with no idea why Professor Rudolf Wagner looked on the verge of collapsing.

  He laughed and shook his head when he found out.

  After the handover, Zheng Ren did his ward rounds before heading to the ICU to check on the suicide victim.

  She was in a stable condition but still needed ventilator support. Orthopedics would take over later, but for the time being, Zheng Ren's mission remained incomplete.

  Treatment for adenomyosis was considered elective surgery. Zheng Ren did not want to disrupt the treatment plan for the sake of his mission.

  After Zheng Ren handed over his duties, he requested a few hours of leave from Old Chief Physician Pan to send Department Chief Kong off.

  Old Chief Physician Pan called Office Director Ding of the general office since he, too, wanted to be part of the farewell party and could take the same car.

  Soon after, Zheng Ren received a call from Officer Director Ding, who was in his car waiting outside the emergency building.

  Ding Zhongtai was the office director1 in Sea City Hospital. He had a rather interesting name, which had since become an awkward subject after Zotye Auto2 became popular.

  When they were all in the car, Office Director Ding checked the time and started chatting with Zheng Ren happily.

  "Little Zheng, you're progressing so fast these days. You've exceeded all our expectations."

  Zheng Ren was so tired that he was fighting just to keep his eyes open. Nevertheless, he managed to squeeze out a reply: "Not really. I'm just performing basic surgery."

  "Unnecessary humility is essentially hypocrisy." Office Director Ding shook his head as he drove to Shangri-La Hotel at 80 miles per hour, flirting with the speed limit.

  Sea City was not a tier-one or even a tier-two city. It was more difficult to reach the speed limit in bigger provinces, but here, where the population and thus number of vehicles on the road were smaller, it was nothing. During the Chinese New Year holidays, one could easily reach 120 miles per hour in the city if they were unafraid of getting a ticket.

  Zheng Ren smiled and remained quiet.

  "I know the truth about that day," Office Director Ding casually threw into their conversation. (office director) is also referred to as (director of the dean's / chief's office) in 1.0291. It is believed that the author called him in previous chapters, which translates to office manager / director. Even though the author addresses him as (Director Ding), it is hereafter written as Office Director Ding instead of Chief Ding to distinguish the position.The Chinese pronunciation of Zotye Auto, (Zhongtai Automobile), is similar to that of Office Director Ding's name, .

  Chapter 291 - Beast of Burden (Part 3 of 4)

  Was he referring to the day Professor Moriyu came to perform surgery?

  Zheng Ren did not know Office Director Ding's intentions and thus maintained a cautious silence.

  "Your skill is quite impressive." Office Director Ding grinned. "Old Chief Physician Pan has a good eye; no wonder he fought so hard with Director Fu for you."

  "Haha." Zheng Ren chuckled dryly, his laughter reflecting his lethargy and lifelessness.

  "Remember, you owe me one for that." Office Director Ding looked sideways at Zheng Ren as he drove and said half-jokingly, "Director Fu was not willing to let you go even if it meant defying Old Chief Physician Pan. It was only after I talked to Director Xiao that he agreed to transfer you to the emergency department."

  "Thank you." Zheng Ren had no intention of reading between the lines. It was a chore talking to political animals and masters of manipulation like
Office Director Ding.

  Given the choice, Zheng Ren would rather perform another ten surgeries.

  "Little Zheng, the doc.u.mentary looks good. It sculpted a vivid image of you. I've got to say, you young chaps are very talented, but from the bottom of my heart, you're a little too impatient." After the pleasantries, Office Director Ding's supposedly casual conversation finally got to the heart of the matter: the doc.u.mentary.

  "You should have done this in your forties, when you've made your name and gained sufficient credibility. People spend most of their life chasing money and fame, why are you in such a hurry?"

  "I wasn't aware of it." Zheng Ren yawned and closed his eyes subconsciously, saying half-asleep, "I only saw it after I returned."

  His voice trailed off and he fell asleep.

  Office Director Ding was stunned, and at that moment, the car in front of him suddenly hit its emergency brake as it hesitated to cross a yellow light.

  Distracted by Zheng Ren's words, he was caught off guard by the car's sudden halt; he broke out into a cold sweat and slammed onto the brakes.

  Fortunately, they managed to avoid an accident. Zheng Ren's body lurched forward from the inertia, but with his seat belt supporting his weight, he remained asleep.

  Zheng Ren was truly out of it. Office Director Ding looked at him and decided not to wake him up, continuing to ponder the doc.u.mentary.

  Any mention on the news, no matter how small, would spark a bloodbath in the office, let alone a 15-minute doc.u.mentary on the television network.

  Even if it was only on Sea City News Network.

  These youngsters were unaware of the stakes… Office Director Ding suddenly realized something. How many days had Zheng Ren been back from Imperial Capital? Yet, a department chief from there had rushed after him to Sea City to discuss matters.

  Something strange was happening outside of his control.

  Office Director Ding had never encountered anything of its sort and it baffled him.

  The car was silent, the only audible sound being Zheng Ren's light snoring.