The Surgeon’s Studio

“Are you suggesting crowdfunding?” asked Zheng Ren.

“Old Chief Physician Pan made a policy during the establishment of the emergency center. In some cases, the medical charges of patients can be reduced or exempted.” Chang Yue bore a flat expression with no attempt to flatter her direct superior—Zheng Ren—and added, “In the general surgery department, the surgeons will use a synthetic mesh for hernia repair, but it costs between 1000 to 2000 yuan; basically his family’s annual income.”

Zheng Ren was aware of this situation.

“If the patient has to go to the general surgery department, I think the young lady will marry someone immediately in exchange for a bridewealth of around 3000 to 5000 yuan to pay her father’s medical fees. Whether the man she married to is a dumb-dumb or—”

“Stop!” Zheng Ren quickly interrupted Chang Yue.

He knew she was hoping that he would proceed with routine surgical intervention. Since he first started to work in this hospital, he had been using synthetic meshes for hernia repair, a surgical technique completely different from decades ago.

A synthetic mesh could minimize postoperative complications and its price… was not really very expensive.

Nowadays, it was speculated that all junior doctors working in the general surgery department did not know how to perform a herniorrhaphy. Naturally, Zheng Ren…or at least, the former Zheng Ren was included as well.

The “know” here meant that the surgery completion rate would have to reach at least 80 percent.

“I’m going to ask Old Chief Physician Pan for instructions.” Zheng Ren went straight to Old Chief Physician Pan’s office.

A few minutes later, Zheng Ren came out and said with a smile, “Done, admit him to the ward.”

“How much do you think the treatment will cost them?” asked Chang Yue with a blank expression.

“If we order necessary tests, excluding other optional tests, and reduce surgical treatment fees… I guess around 300 to 500 yuan,” answered Zheng Ren.

Chang Yue nodded without continuing the conversation and returned to the family. Her temperaments would change immediately when facing patients—positive, sunny, cheerful and with an intimacy that could easily gain people’s trust.

Zheng Ren shook his head. This lady and her attitude… No wonder she had to take the blame after solving the huge issue in the obstetrics department.

However, Zheng Ren really liked this sort of person.

[General Mission: Doctors with Parental Heart.

[Task: According to the patient’s actual condition, use an appropriate method to repair the inguinal hernia.

[Reward: 50 skill points and 1000 experience points.

[Time: 2 days.]

Doctors with Parental Heart? Zheng Ren savored the mission’s name for a while.

Fortunately, he had an unprecedented two days to complete the mission. Excluding preoperative fasting, the surgery itself was very simple as well. If he went to the System’s operating theater for intensive training with around a hundred herniorrhaphies, he could certainly achieve a surgery completion rate of more than 90 percent.

Doctors with Parental Heart, really? That was interesting. Zheng Ren had failed to anticipate that the System cared about this sort of issue too.

…

…

Zheng Ren returned to his office after assigning tedious, trivial matters to Chang Yue.

He smelled the food as soon as he entered the office.

Zheng Ren had almost forgotten to eat. Had it not been for the fact that the women had brought food for him, he may possibly have skipped his meals again.

He took a few quick bites and threw the leftovers into a black plastic bag in a trash can beside the toilet before going back to his office for more revision.

Chang Yue was busy dealing with the patient’s preoperative preparations, medical record documentation and preoperative counseling. Since she seemed to be enjoying the working process, Zheng Ren decided not to lend a hand.

“The patient has been fasting since this morning. He’ll be ready for surgery in ten minutes,” she informed him.

“Alright. Inform them in the group to prepare for surgery.” Zheng Ren was unwilling to waste time communicating with Chang Yue, who was talking to him with a straight face, so he closed the book and headed straight to the operating theater.

He went to the smoking area in the male locker room, lit a Ziyun, took a deep drag and dived into the System, as usual.

Zheng Ren still had 49400 experience points in his inventory. Keeping 25000 experience points, he exchanged the rest for surgery training time and started the intensive training for herniorrhaphy.

Based on Zheng Ren’s current skill level, he could easily complete this surgery without any need for training, but he preferred not to take any risks. After all, he had never performed or even seen anyone doing a herniorrhaphy since he had started working in this hospital.

Just to be on the safe side, Zheng Ren exchanged some of his points for 407 minutes of surgery intensive training.

The System’s operating theater rose from the ground, the mannequin emerged before his eyes, and the intensive training began.

Zheng Ren managed 121 herniorrhaphies as each surgery took only three to five minutes. When the operating theater faded away, he had a feeling that he had made some progress in his understanding of gastrointestinal surgery.

Even though it was just a hernia repair surgery, it could still increase his skill points.

After glancing at the general surgery skill tree, currently at 2044 points, Zheng Ren returned to reality and changed into surgical attire to prepare for surgery.

He heard one of the Chu sisters asking the patient upon entering the operating theater, “Uncle, are your legs numb?”

“…” The patient remained silent.

That was strange. Did an accident happen during anesthesia? The patient should be answering questions at this time, right?

That very thought instantly made Zheng Ren’s hair stand on end.

He could only guarantee the success of the surgery, but there was nothing he could do about an anesthesia accident. Even if it was just an epidural anesthesia… If the patient had diplegia… It would be a major event, a medicolegal issue!

Zheng Ren quickly walked in and saw one of the Chu sisters standing at the foot of the operating table and using a blunt instrument to gently touch the patient’s thigh. “Uncle, are your legs numb?”

“…” There was still no response from the patient.

Zheng Ren scanned through the System panel and relaxed only after reading that the continuous epidural anesthesia had been successful without any sign of failure.

Since anesthesia had been successful, why did the patient not answer the question?

Instead of getting impatient at the patient’s silence, another twin stood closer to his ears and asked softly, “Uncle, I’m asking you, are your legs numb?”

Something peculiar flashed past the middle-aged man’s expression… Was it a shame?

Why was he ashamed? Zheng Ren was puzzled.

“Mother[1].”

“…” Everyone in the room was dumbfounded.

There was pin-drop silence in the operating theater.

“Bang!” Xie Yiren accidentally knocked over an opened bottle of normal saline and spilled it all over the floor.

Zheng Ren walked to the other side of the middle-aged man’s head and said with a grin, “Relax. They’re asking you if your legs are numb and can’t feel any pain. They aren’t instructing you to address them as your mother.”

Initially, the Chu sisters had no idea why the patient would address them as his mother, but after listening to Zheng Ren’s explanation, they finally understood everything.

The atmosphere in the operating theater instantly became lively.

The great motherland was indeed mighty. How many dialects were there in total?

“Quiet. Anyone who makes homophonic jokes will have their salary deducted.” Zheng Ren, who also felt helpless, forcibly interrupted the laughter in the operating theater and urged everyone to prepare for surgery.

The anesthesia had been administered perfectly. The Chu sisters’ standard was at least higher than Trainee rank, which explained why the anesthesiologist responsible for training junior doctors was absent from this surgery and chose to read novels in his room. He was waiting for his contract to expire so that he could go to work in the South.

Zheng Ren performed a surgical scrub and began applying the surgical drapes.

The surgery had officially begun. This would be the simplest surgery Zheng Ren had done ever since he found the System.

[1] Are your legs numb (脚麻吗, pronounced as jiao ma ma) sounds almost similar to Mother (妈妈, pronounced as ma ma), hence the confusion.