“The operating theater is pretty decent . ” Guo Mingcheng entered the operating theater before his teacher to survey the equipment and facilities .
Doctors of his caliber did not actually like to treat patients in hospitals they were not familiar with . Even when it came to freelance surgery, he liked doing so at hospitals he was familiar with . The best case scenario would be for him to go to hospitals where he had trained junior doctor before . He had even operated in the departments of other doctors who were also trained by Feng Zhixiang .
If he were part of a Wuxia novel, Guo Mingcheng would be a famous inner sect disciple of a renowned, righteous sect . Even when he was out exploring the country, he would prefer to visit places that had subdivisions of his sect .
And his senior brothers who were holding high positions in smaller hospitals also welcomed their junior brother very warmly and took good care of him . Aside from doing it as a show to their teacher and larger hospitals, this was also one of the ways they protected each other’s mutual interests .
However, for the sake of training and expanding their careers, the inner sect disciples had no choice but to visit hospitals they were unfamiliar with every now and then .
They might even be able to make those hospitals new subdivisions of their sects .
Guo Mingcheng examined the operating theater meticulously as he pondered . ‘Yun Hua Hospital looks pretty decent, and Yun Hua is a big, bustling city with a lot of people and a high average income . Yun Hua Hospital is also one of the top hospitals in the area . Besides, their Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery seems mediocre…”
An associate chief physician like him was akin to a half-ripe fruit . He would need to take root somewhere else in around three to five years .
The best choice would be to stay in the hospital he was currently working at, but there were very few job openings for chief physicians in the hospital . If he were able to get an offer letter for that, it would mean that he was one of Professor Feng Zhixiang’s heirs .
But at the same time, it would also mean that he needed to outperform one of his senior brothers . This was not an easy feat .
Hence, even though Guo Mingcheng strived hard to challenge himself by taking on difficult project, he was also concurrently looking for a new hospital to settle down in . Hence, he wanted to leave a good impression on the medical staff of Yun Hua Hospital as it might open up an extra path for himself .
Guo Mingcheng continued to examine the operating theater with a grin on his face as he found that there was more significance to the surgery today .
“You guys need to adjust the lighting here . ” Guo Mingcheng casually pointed out a flaw, and when a few nurses came in to help, he pointed at the prettiest one and said, “Can you help out in the surgery too?”
The head nurse looked at Guo Mingcheng with a puzzled expression .
“A beautiful nurse would make the lighting in the operating theater better . ” Guo Mingcheng liked having young, beautiful nurses in the operating theater as he worked . He was a simple man who merely wanted the scenery in the operating theater to be prettier . After all, he spent ten hours a day in operating theaters .
The head nurse had seen all kinds of doctors and was too lazy to argue with Guo Mingcheng . She glanced at him a few times before she nodded and said, “Xiao Fang, stay here . ”
“Sure,” the young nurse answered .
Guo Mingcheng laughed . “Your name is Xiao Fang?”
“Yes . ”
“There’s a maiden in our village named Xiao Fang…” [1] Guo Mingcheng immediately started singing a song from his era .
The young nurse flashed a polite smile before she turned and grimaced at the other nurses in the operating theater . As a nurse named Xiao Fang, so many people had sung this song to her that she could recite it backwards .
After Guo Mingcheng left the operating theater, Xiao Fang chuckled as she said to the other nurses, “I’m pretty sure that he’s another doctor who suffers from straight man cancer . ” [2]
“Only poor doctors suffer from straight man cancer . Rich ones are just straight men . ” The scrub nurse cleverly chirped in .
“Cancer can’t be cured . No matter how rich a person who suffers from straight man cancer is, he still has cancer . ”
“He even knows how to sing . ”
Xiao Fang wore an annoyed expression . “The mere fact that he knows how to sing Xiao Fang shows that not only does he suffer from straight man cancer, but he’s also old . ”
“Shh, be careful . What if someone comes in?”
After one of the nurses said that, everyone in the operating theater immediately went silent .
After a short while, the patient was wheeled into the operating theater .
The department director of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, He Yuanzheng then entered with two of his direct disciples .
Yun Hua Hospital’s operating theaters did not come with observation areas . Only top hospitals where other doctors frequently observe surgeries would spend money on that .
Even the demonstration rooms in Yun Hua Hospital were not well-equipped . They were shabbier than the demonstration rooms in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center
So, to be able to properly observe a surgery in Yun Hua Hospital, one had to enter the operating theater .
However, an operating theater only had space for a limited number of people .
Since the anesthetist, assistants, and nurses also took up space, the operating theater did not have much space for observers .
After a short while, Guo Mingcheng who had just washed his hands again followed Feng Zhixiang into the operating theater .
“Is the patient anesthetized yet?” Guo Mingcheng quickly examined the equipment once again .
This was the downside of working in a hospital he was unfamiliar with, especially when it came to such a difficult surgery . He did not have much trust toward the medical staff there .
“Yes . ” Xiao Fang, who was acting as the circulating nurse, quickly answered .
Guo Mingcheng nodded and looked at Professor Feng Zhixiang .
Feng Zhixiang, too, quickly examined the equipment . He then said, “Doctor Guo, you’ll be the chief surgeon . Department Director He, can you delegate two younger doctors who had performed hepatectomy before to act as Doctor Guo’s assistants?”
He Yuanzheng immediately understood what Feng Zhixiang meant . He said to his two direct disciples who were standing behind him, “Go and wash your hands . ”
The two doctors immediately did as they were told .
He Yuanzheng shrugged and stood aside . He looked neither happy nor sad, and he was just like a monk who had transcended worldly concerns . In reality, he had merely seen a lot of the world .
Feng Zhixiang was a name that had appeared in medical textbooks . He had probably carried out more than ten thousand general surgeries .
However, at the end of the day, there was a difference between guiding surgeries and actually performing surgeries . The doctor guiding the surgery could do nothing other than reminding the surgeons about the things they would otherwise miss and give some pointers . He might even miss some minor details .
But there was nothing He Yuanzheng could say about this . He was merely a lowly department director of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and he was in no position to make any comment . Feng Zhixiang had made his opinion of He Yuanzheng obvious when he specifically asked for younger doctors .
“Do get ready . We’re getting started . ” The moment the two doctors returned, Guo Mingcheng asked for a scalpel and started making an incision . He kind of looked like he was racing against time .
He Yuanzheng raised his head to look at the clock . It was already 4:10 p . m . . They were indeed pressed for time .
*Shick . *
Someone opened the airtight access door again . This time, Huo Congjun entered, followed by Ling Ran .
He Yuanzheng merely nodded at him without greeting him .
Huo Congjun did not greet He Yuanzheng either . He merely stood there and watched the surgery .
Feng Zhixiang looked at Ling Ran for a few seconds before he shifted his attention back to the surgery .
Guo Mingcheng was very fast . It was obvious that he was extremely familiar with the surgical method .
Even though Feng Zhixiang was guiding the surgery, he merely stood aside and watched Guo Mingcheng operate without doing or saying anything . Of course, they were only at the beginning stages, and there was no need for him to remind Guo Mingcheng of anything .
The surgery continued to progress, and everything was basically going smoothly .
However, no one in the operating theater dared to let their guard down .
The first half of hepatectomy was merely an ordinary abdominal surgery . The difficult part only begun when the surgeon started operating on the liver .
“At a far, far away place…”
Huo Congjun’s phone started ringing, and his ringtone was a song of Tengri’s .
“Excuse me . ” As Huo Congjun spoke, he answered the call and hummed a few times in acknowledgement . He then said to Ling Ran, who was standing beside him . “Emergency hepatectomy . Go ahead and do it . ”
“Sure,” Ling Ran said . He then glanced at the operating table before he turned and left .
Feng Zhixiang looked at Ling Ran when he heard the word “hepatectomy” . However, he said nothing and merely stared after Ling Ran .