The Surgeon's Studio

They noticed Professor Pei sitting in the front row as they were about to leave the room. Zheng Ren gave it some thought and turned around to greet the man.

“Hello, Professor Pei,” said Zheng Ren with a slight bow.

“Old Wu, this is Doctor Zheng, the one that I’ve been telling you about.” Professor Pei introduced Zheng Ren to Professor Wu Haishi, who was sitting beside him.

“Oh? Is he the one who superselected seven to eight blood vessels and then completely embolized several tumor-feeding arteries?” asked Wu Haishi with a smile.

A doctor who was serious, responsible and proficient in their tasks could easily gain respect.

Even though Zheng Ren was unfamiliar with Wu Haishi, he bowed slightly and said, “Professor Wu, my name is Zheng Ren, but you can just call me Little Zheng.”

The moment he raised his head, he detected a hostile gaze directed at him.

The feeling was faint but could not be ignored.

Zheng Ren looked at its source and saw a young man in his thirties sitting beside Professor Pei. The hostility disappeared as soon as their gazes met.

The man smiled.

It was a cordial smile, but there were at least no smoldering eyes or other acts of malevolence.

Strange.

Zheng Ren also responded with a polite smile.

“Anyone whom Old Pei was willing to transfer at the last minute must be good.” Old Wu smiled. “Are you thinking about training another closed-door student when you already have Little Jin?”

“I’m still young. Let’s talk about it after two years.” Professor Pei Yingjie smiled. “I wanted Little Zheng to come because he is responsible and performs surgery well; a good man overall.”

In a sense, Zheng Ren had greeted Old Wu Haishi. He did not have the habit of shamelessly latching onto the rich and powerful or licking his superiors’ boots.

There was no basis for him to do so even if he wanted to.

He had never read the biographies of most professors present, nor had he clearly memorized those that he did. It would be embarrassing if he blurted out misinformation while flattering them.

“Chief Zheng from Sea City. My boss went to perform surgery in Sea City last time, and he has been praising you ever since his return.” The younger man stood up abruptly and extended his hand.

He was in a somewhat awkward position as Professor Pei and Professor Wu were sitting between them.

“I’ve received undeserved kindness from Professor Pei.” Zheng Ren shook the proffered hand.

“I’m Jin Yaowu.” The young man’s imperious attitude intensified. “I look forward to the surgery demonstration in two days.”

“That’s polite of you.” Zheng Ren calmly maintained his smile and bid goodbye to both Pei Yingjie and Wu Haishi before leaving the conference room.

Su Yun walked alongside Zheng Ren and expressed his dissatisfaction with Jin Yaowu. “I feel like mocking that brat for acting like a rabid dog.”

“He’s just saying hello,” replied Zheng Ren.

“He looks young but is actually thirty-five years old. The man sitting next to Old Wu is Mu Tao, who is about the same age as Jin Yaowu. Both of them are the rising stars in the new generation of interventional radiologists.”

Su Yun, true assistant that he was, introduced them to Zheng Ren as they walked.

Zheng Ren was surprised, having no idea what Su Yun’s brain was made of and how it could memorize these hotshots’ details.

However, not only was he uninterested in getting to know them, it was impossible for him with his late-stage face blindness cancer to recognize these people regardless.

“How do you know so much?”

“There are less than ten professors in the pinnacle of their careers in each profession, so it isn’t difficult to know these things,” Su Yun said, “Jin Yaowu is as imperious as his name implies[1], so I don’t really have faith in him.”

“You say it as if your faith in him matters at all.” Zheng Ren could not resist the urge to ridicule Su Yun, who was trying to put the world to rights.

“Cheh.” Instead of criticizing Zheng Ren, Su Yun said, “I’m going to see the patients. By the way, are you going to perform a 3D reconstruction of a 64-slice CT scan?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll contact the CT room, then.”

“Don’t we have to apply for it?” Zheng Ren was taken aback.

“You’ll have to provide an explanation if you go through standard protocol, so it’ll be more convenient to perform the procedure directly.” Su Yun was well aware of the rules in this domain. “This batch of patients is really lucky. Although the radiologists here are also skillful, they can’t possibly compete with you, Jin Yaowu or Mu Tao. Regardless, anything that involves patients will be considered an important issue, so no matter what test you’re going to perform, the medical administration division has the right to decide if it’s justified or not.”

Zheng Ren roughly understood Su Yun’s words, but felt that it was somewhat inappropriate to perform a frank and righteous task furtively.

His phone rang while he was still deep in thought.

…

…

Feng Xuhui had been waiting downstairs after dropping off both Zheng Ren and Su Yun at the research institute.

He had mentally prepared himself to satisfy whatever needs Zheng Ren had during these few days.

After lighting a cigarette, Feng Xuhui stared at the clear blue winter sky and felt slightly dazed. How long had it been since Imperial Capital had such a blue-tinted white sky?

Then, his phone rang. He snapped out of his thoughts and saw that the call was from the Imperial Capital district manager.

“I’m Little Feng.

“Huh? But the company has given me authorization…

“Okay…”

The Imperial Capital district manager had called to inform him that the Mercedes-Benz S600 would be used for other purposes and that he would need to find transportation on his own.

Feng Xuhui had seen inconsistencies in the company’s policies, but felt uncomfortable when this misfortune finally fell upon him.

More importantly, even if he was willing to spend his own money, time was not on his side.

On the phone, the Imperial Capital district manager curtly informed him of the decision rather than discuss it with him.

Sales in the remote northeast region was basically zero, so Feng Xuhui had no grounds to argue the matter with the manager and there was nothing he could do about it.

Before the cigarette burned to its end, a few people got off a car, led by a shrewd and competent office lady in her late twenties.

Her competent look was merely a disguise for her extraordinarily seductive and coquettish behavior.

“Whore!” Feng Xuhui cursed internally.

He recognized the woman—Hua Yingying, a deputy sales manager in Imperial Capital, code-named “Hottie” in the company. She had been the top salesperson in each quarter, and Feng Xuhui was simply inferior to her in every aspect.

“I’m so sorry, Little Feng. I came here in a hurry and didn’t prepare much in advance.” Hua Yingying gently gyrated her waist and hips as she walked. That, coupled with her light makeup, made her look elegant and soul-stirring.

Even though her actions could have had a devastating impact on Feng Xuhui’s career, her apologetic and caring tone easily extinguished the hatred that burned within him.

“Uh… Then… I…” A fledgling sales manager incomparable to Hua Yingying, Feng Xuhui stuttered, unable to speak coherently.

Hua Yingying smiled, but deep down her heart was filled with contempt.

The company had to be crazy to devote so many resources to a fresh graduate. Foolish!

Hua Yingying approached Feng Xuhui and extended her fair hand, saying, “Give me the car key.”

Feng Xuhui wanted to argue with her, but was aware that resistance was futile due to his lack of confidence and low status in the company, and attempted heroism would certainly be rewarded with humiliation.

Left with no choice, he sighed heavily and passed the Mercedes-Benz car key to Hua Yingying.

[1] Jin Yaowu’s name (金耀武) literally translates to Glorious Martial (Prowess) with his surname meaning Gold; truly in-your-face.