Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The patients’ family members in the waiting room came and went and came again.
Some patients’ surgeries finished faster, and their family members left in an hour or two. For patients’ whose surgeries lasted for three or four hours, their family members would have to wait in agony for longer.
Young Feng was the earliest one in the waiting room. She had waited here from morning until noon, but Young Dai was not wheeled out of the operating theater yet.
Even though the lengthy period of the surgery was talked about multiple times during the preoperative consultation, when this happened for real, Young Feng’s imagination could not help but run wild.
“Remember to pay attention to his health after going back. Do take note of the time when he passes urine…” Zhao Leyi walked into the corridor alongside a patient. He took off his mouth face mask and started telling the patient about things to pay attention to.
Young Feng was a little envious when she saw this.
In the past, when Young Dai first got sick, she was a little fearful of this scene. Every time she woke up in the middle of the night and thought about how Young Dai would eventually be wheeled out of the operating theater too, she felt a sharp pang in her heart.
At that time, Young Feng felt that even the healthiest people would become weak after going through a surgery, and they might not be able to recover completely even after a few years. There might also be sequelae.
Every time she thought about how Young Dai who was as strong as a bull would become tremendously frail with body aches and have difficulty sleeping after his surgery… Young Feng would feel uncomfortable.
However, now that she was looking at a patient who had just gone through surgery and his family members, Young Feng was thinking about how nice it would be if Young Dai could be wheeled out like this.
She did not mind at all that her husband would need a few years to recuperate. She wanted as many years together with him as possible.
“Is your husband not out yet?” A middle-aged man had seen his aunt being wheeled out quite some time ago. The lady had merely hit a van while she was riding her motorbike, and she ended up breaking her arm. Her injury did not seem very serious. However, the surgery took quite a long time because of the time taken to nail all the broken fragments of her bones together. Moreover, a lot of glass shards had gotten into her flesh.
Since his aunt had her children with her, he did not bother to go forward. Instead, he turned to look at Young Feng. He saw that she was sitting in a proper manner, and she looked as elegant and lovable as possible. He could not help but be tempted to chat her up.
He made his intention obvious, and Young Feng merely hummed flatly in acknowledgment.
The middle-aged man did not mind. He thought that Young Feng merely did not want to talk too much to a stranger. He whipped out his name card, handed it to Young Feng, and said with a smile, “I was worried that you would think that I’m old-fashioned just now, so I didn’t do this. Now that I have to leave, I’m giving you my name card. Give me a call if you need me. I’m not a rich man, and I’m the owner of a business that sells frozen products. Don’t think too much about it. Since we’ve met each other here, why don’t we be friends?”
Young Feng turned around wearily, and she did not even bother to say anything.
The middle-aged man stayed calm even though he was ignored. He consoled himself by comparing this incident to being ignored by a woman on Tantan. [1]
He then placed his name card on the chair and smiled amiably. “My email address and my new QQ ID are on the name card. All of them are secure channels, and you can contact me if you need anything. Alright, I need to go now. See you again when you have time.”
Young Feng was a little furious and embarrassed at the same time, but there was no one she could throw a tantrum in front of. She recalled the times she spent together with her husband and could not help but tear up.
“Who’s family member is this?” Zhao Leyi who had just operated on the middle-aged man’s aunt saw Young Feng crying, and he felt a slight pang in his heart.
It was so heartbreaking to see such a beautiful woman cry like this.
The nurse beside him was a little uncomfortable with his attitude. She pouted and said, “The patient whom Doctor Ling picked up from the ICU.”
“The one who’s in Operating Theater 1 right now?” Zhao Leyi knew which patient it was immediately. When combined stomach and liver radical surgery was mentioned on the schedule on the wall in the Operating Area, the words were practically shining. These words were automatically bolded and italicized by all the doctors’ minds.
The young nurse hummed in acknowledgment and said, “I heard that she left her rich family and eloped with her husband. They did not get to live a good life together for long before her husband got sick.”
“No wonder. She seems rather pitiful.” Zhao Leyi merely looked at her and did not dare to talk to her. Who knew if his wife had taken his money and bought a few handbags to bribe the nurses in the hospital to watch over him?
The young nurse rolled her eyes and said, “Looking at women is all guys know how to do. Do you think that she’s feeling so sad just to seduce you guys?”
Zhao Leyi only regained his senses then, and he could not help but laugh. “You’re the one saying that she’s not feeling sad just to seduce guys, aren’t you? Then why aren’t you treating her nicely?”
“I’m not treating her badly. I just don’t like the sight of her!”
“Then, why are you speaking out on her behalf?”
“Because a**holes like you have no right to look down on women,” the young nurse said firmly.
This was not Zhao Leyi’s first time interacting with a young nurse, and he knew that he would never win in this kind of conversation. He said cleverly, “I just remembered that I have something to do in the operating theater.”
“He naturally had nothing to do in the operating theater, but compared to the corridor, the operating theater seemed like a better place for surgeons to stay in.
Zhao Leyi walked around the Operating Area in a leisurely manner. Even though he passed by the door of Operating Theater 1 twice, he suppressed his curiosity and did not go in.
So what if it was a major surgery?
It was only breaking news because hepatectomy and gastrectomy were carried out at the same time.
Of course, even if they were separated, hepatectomy and gastrectomy were both still major surgeries.
However, it was not like hepatectomy was anything to brag about. A surgeon merely had to expose the liver, interrupt the blood flow, cut off the diseased part of the liver, stitch the liver up, and close the abdominal cavity. If it were not for the fact that people were fragile and died easily, Zhao Leyi could perform hepatectomy too.
“Doctor Zhao, do you want a pork trotter?” The chef in the small canteen in the Operating Area was hired by the Emergency Medical Center. Ever since Ling Ran started carrying out hepatectomy, the income of the Emergency Department kept increasing. Now that it had been elevated to an Emergency Medical Cancer, their income was even higher. As a result, everyone in the department enjoyed excellent treatment.
In certain months, there would be too many patients funding their own treatment, and Huo Congjun would need to spend some energy discussing how to spend the money with Zuo Cidian. If they were unable to find good reasons to spend the money, they would need to hand it over to the hospital. When this happened, the money would be distributed evenly to the doctors in the entire hospital as a bonus.
Of course, they had no choice but to hand over part of the money. But they always tried to hand over as little money as possible
They hired this chef as part of their effort to spend their money.
He was merely a temporary worker who was not officially employed, and his pay was not high either. But he was a very diligent worker, and he even helped Lu Wenbin carry his pork trotters.
Zhao Leyi hesitated for a moment, but when he smelled the fragrant aroma of the pork trotters, he could not help but purchase one and pay via WeChat.
He lifted the pork trotter to his mouth and took a large bite, filling his mouth with a large chunk of pork. He chewed forcefully as if he was chewing Lu Wenbin’s ankle.
Zhao Leyi wrinkled his nose and asked, “Where’s Young Lu?”
“Doctor Lu? He’s carrying out surgery today. He was super excited about it.” The chef pointed at the large screen above their heads.
Zhao Leyi looked over and saw an exposed liver that looked extremely bloody. A few hands were tinkering with it.
Zhao Leyi’s expression instantly froze.
The new chef knew nothing about the power struggle in the department, and he said with pride, “I heard that it’s one of the most high-end surgeries in the country. A lot of people are watching it.”
“The surgery is still ongoing.” Zhao Leyi twisted his lips and sneered internally. ‘It’s easy to boast about something, but nobody knows how things are going to end yet.’
This was when Doctor Zhou, who was browsing TikTok in a corner, said, “It’s going quite smoothly. It seems like combined stomach and liver radical surgery isn’t really that difficult for Ling Ran. We’ll just see how the patient’s prognosis is like.”
Zhao Leyi turned abruptly. “When did you get here?”
Doctor Zhou scrolled his cell phone in a languid manner. He spoke slowly, like an old man, “When did I come to work again?”
Zhao Leyi who had just finished two surgeries did not know whether to be angry or grateful toward Doctor Zhou over the fact that he allowed his colleagues to seize the opportunities he passed over.
Before Zhao Leyi could say anything, naive resident doctors beside him started whispering among themselves. “Why do surgeries seem so easy when Doctor Ling is the one doing them?”
“It seems that more than one hundred users are watching this surgery on the live streaming platform of Yunli Medical Company.”
“Doctor Ling is the only one in our hospital who’s capable of performing this surgical method, isn’t he? Wait, no. Is there anyone else who can do the same in our province?”
“Shh…”
Zhao Leyi gave them a sidelong glance and took another bite of the pork trotter. Pork trotters were usually tender, but today, it felt as hard as a rock to Zhao Leyi.
“I’m going to go outside.” Zhao Leyi put down his pork trotter and wiped his mouth. He was about to head to Operating Theater 1.
“You’ve just eaten a pork trotter. Remember to wash your hands, the pork trotter is oily.” Doctor Zhou straightened up and sighed. He then massaged his aching neck and stood up. “Hey, what’s your name again? Pack up a few pork trotters for me. Choose larger ones, and put one pork trotter in each plastic bag.”
“Are you planning to bring them home?” the chef asked.
“For doctors, the hospital is their home.” Doctor Zhou snorted and said, “I’m going to bring some food over to my father’s.”
