The Surgeon's Studio

They were in the emergency interventional radiology suite in Sea City General Hospital.

“Zheng Ren, save me a copy of the angiographic footage,” said Su Yun as he took off his lead apron; the patient, whose puncture wound had stopped bleeding, was being transferred to a stretcher trolley. A urological surgeon would take over the patient from here.

“Sure,” answered Zheng Ren without questioning the man’s motives.

Su Yun, who was not in a rush to change his attire, quietly stood behind Zheng Ren and watched him edit the surgery video and save every important clip.

Approximately ten minutes later, Zheng Ren completed his work and passed a printed image to Deputy Chief Shen of the urology surgery department.

It was simply a typical imaging film. Despite his lack of knowledge in interventional radiology, Deputy Chief Shen could still explain the procedures behind the surgery and potential postoperative effects based on the film to the patient’s family members.

“There might be blood clots in the bladder—” Zheng Ren nagged.

Deputy Chief Shen interrupted him with a smile. “Chief Zheng, we can handle these things. Thank you for the trouble this time. Let’s go out for a meal together someday.”

“I’m a chief resident, I can’t.”

“You’re only the chief resident for one year, and we still have a long way ahead of us.” Deputy Chief Shen smiled and left the interventional radiology suite with the film.

Zheng Ren stretched lazily. It was always relaxing and comfortable after an emergency rescue.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

“Zheng Ren, come to my office,” said Old Chief Physician Pan bluntly.

“Okay,” Zheng Ren replied and quickly stood up as if Old Chief Physician Pan was standing before him in person.

The corners of Su Yun’s lips twitched slightly, as if fighting the urge to laugh.

They changed out of surgical attire and hurried to Old Chief Physician Pan’s office on the first floor of the emergency building.

After knocking and entering, they saw a young man in a suit and leather shoes sitting across from and chatting with Old Chief Physician Pan.

“Zheng Ren, this is Manager Feng, a sales manager from China Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery,” Old Chief Physician Pan said upon noticing Zheng Ren.

Manager Feng, who still looked baby-faced in his twenties, immediately stood up, extended both hands and greeted them politely with a slight nod, “Hello, my name is Feng Xuhui, but you can just call me Little Feng.”

“Hello, Manager Feng. I’m Zheng Ren, Old Chief Physician Pan’s ‘soldier’.”

“You must be Chief Zheng. I was just listening to Old Chief Physician Pan’s praise for you, but I didn’t expect you to be so young.” Manager Feng began eyeing him up.

“Let’s not stand on ceremony here. Please have a seat and we can speak.” Old Chief Physician Pan waved his hand and continued, “Little Zheng, didn’t Chang Yue mention that a patient required our help a few days ago? Manager Feng is currently working in Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery, a newly-established company specialising in minimally-invasive surgical supplies, and he is here to promote the technology his company develops.”

‘Oh, so that’s what it is.’ Zheng Ren began to understand the situation.

Medical device companies had vested interests in advertising their products, just like shopping malls.

However, medical equipment production required extremely high technical standards, which were why there were relatively few major medical device companies worldwide. In China, however, there had been a recent boom in large-scale imitations; companies were on the rise such as Tianjing Microinvasive Surgery and now, Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery.

“I have to thank Manager Feng first of all.” Zheng Ren smiled and said, “Domestic medical device companies can further reduce the cost of patient treatment, which is good news all around.”

“Chief Zheng, that’s too polite of you.” Manager Feng looked like a fresh graduate based on his nervousness when speaking.

From this, Zheng Ren concluded that Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery did not place a high value on Sea City’s market.

For potential large-scale business opportunities, the company would always send the smarter, more competent salespeople instead of fresh graduates to handle the product sales to relevant hospitals.

However, it would be inappropriate to criticise someone for simply being part of an outreach program, would it not?

“Just talk to Manager Feng if you need anything,” said Old Chief Physician Pan with a smile.

Manager Feng finally regained his composure and recalled the purpose of his visit.

“Chief Physician Pan, Chief Zheng, the company is providing a large contribution.” Manager Feng smiled and added, “Due to the underdeveloped state of interventional radiology in Sea City, Professor Pei Yingjie from a hepatobiliary hospital in Sorcery Capital will personally visit to promote and handle the surgery.”

“Huh?” Zheng Ren was momentarily stunned. This was unforeseen; he had expected to receive free products in exchange for performing the surgery.

“Professor Pei Yingjie is a well-reputed expert in the country and one of the editors of the Interventional Radiology journal.” Manager Feng began reciting Professor Pei Yingjie’s biography in a disjointed manner, almost like a student presenting a case.

Zheng Ren smiled and pretended to attentively listen to Manager Feng’s introduction.

A professor from Sorcery Capital would be proficient in this domain, especially for what was merely a tier-three surgery, so the news that the professor was personally taking over the field did not perturb Zheng Ren.

As long as Zheng Yunxia’s tumor remained under control, whoever handled the surgery in the end made no difference.

Five minutes later, the nervous Manager Feng finished describing Professor Pei Yingjie’s personal biography from memory, calming his nerves almost instantaneously.

His hands were no longer trembling, as well.

“When will Professor Pei arrive?” asked Old Chief Physician Pan.

“If all preoperative preparations are complete, he will arrive the next day,” answered Manager Feng.

“Okay,” Zheng Ren stood and cheerfully shook Manager Feng’s hand again. “I’ll proceed with preoperative preparations now. Manager Feng, please give me your contact number and I’ll let you know as soon as everything is ready.”

Amazed at Zheng Ren’s unexpected enthusiasm, Manager Feng quickly took out his phone and they exchanged phone numbers and WeChat IDs.

Upon leaving Old Chief Physician Pan’s office, Su Yun sighed and said, “Our hospital is still small.”

“This is good enough. He wouldn’t even have bothered to come had we just been a township hospital.” Zheng Ren remained unconcerned and quickly walked to the emergency ward.

“You’re chief resident 24365, so what’s the rush?”

24365 was a hospital joke referring to chief residents having to stay in the hospital twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.

Come to think of it, who would be in such a hurry in the comfort of their own home?

“I need to go back to my room to revise,” replied Zheng Ren coldly as he walked up the fire escape without looking back.

“No wonder you’re single. Nerds like you are the worst batch of students in school… Well, you’re not exactly a nerd, since you’re very good at surgery.”

Zheng Ren could not be bothered to entertain the brat. Upon returning to his office, he saw Chang Yue documenting a case and said, “Admit Zheng Yunxia to the hospital and check if she has any contraindications for surgery. Professor Pei from a hepatobiliary hospital in Sorcery Capital will personally handle the case.”

“Yeah!” Chang Yu was visibly delighted, which was an unusual occasion, and asked, “Is it free?”

“Yes, thanks to Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery,” replied Zheng Ren. He proceeded to sit at his table and reopen the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery book.

On the other hand, Su Yun once again sat behind him and started tapping away on his phone.

From it, Zheng Ren thought he could hear a thirty-second alert for encroaching enemies. Meanwhile, Chang Yue was on her phone contacting Yunxia to get her to the hospital.

On his device, Su Yun was actually replaying the video recording of Zheng Ren’s interventional radiology surgery earlier.

He held the phone in his left hand and constantly twisted his right as if simulating each motion.