The Surgeon's Studio

“You’re too kind,” Zheng Ren said with a smile on his face.

“The interventional surgery that you performed today will have a great impact on your future career path.” Department Chief Kong finally revealed the true intention of his visit. “Is it convenient for you to conduct a few more surgeries these next couple of days?”

Chief Kong was not overly polite, but from a department chief of a Class Three Grade A Hospital in Imperial City, the respect Zheng Ren had received already exceeded that of anyone else in his position. If the chief had to bow down any further… it would seem too good to be true.

“The next few days? How many patients in total?” Zheng Ren’s eyes brightened once he heard about surgery.

Su Yun, who was silently standing behind Zheng Ren, suddenly said, “Chief Kong, there’s something we need to inform you of beforehand.”

“Uhm?” Chief Kong was startled. Zheng Ren looked rather interested in his suggestion, but there was a slight hesitation in Su Yun’s tone.

“I’m in the middle of analyzing the research data and writing up a paper on this novel treatment created by my boss.” Su Yun’s glance was sharp, as if unbothered by the fact that he was facing a department chief.

Chief Kong was not upset by Su Yun’s words. Instead, he was intrigued and inquired further. “Do you think it’ll work?”

His question referred to the possibility of naming the procedure after its inventor. The entire process required successful publication of the treatment in established journals, followed by mass adaptation of his method by other doctors over time.

All of them understood the meaning behind his words… except for Manager Feng in the corner. He had no idea what Su Yun and Chief Kong were saying and just stared at them blankly.

“Yes, and I’m very sure it’ll work,” Su Yun answered firmly. “I’ve been looking into interventional surgery for the past month, focusing on the differential diagnosis between hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic cirrhosis nodule formation. I’m sure you’re aware that this has been an unsolved problem in the industry. Only yesterday did I realize that Mr. Zheng had found a solution to that. Regardless of differential diagnosis or treatment method, his technique will play a key role as the major breakthrough of my research. That’s why I hope that the method will be named after him: the Zheng Procedure.”

Su Yun emphasized spelling out “Zheng” in Latin script over the Chinese character, displaying his confidence in the procedure gaining international recognition and being written into textbooks in the future.

This…

Chief Kong had not given him enough credit. Su Yun was already a star in the cardiothoracic circle, but even as he had left for Sea City, he still had great aspirations for the world stage and the degree of his ambition exceeded even Chief Kong’s expectations.

Chief Bao was also astonished and immediately asked, “Little Su, you’re certain about this?”

“Of course,” Su Yun flipped his fringe out of habit and continued, “As an assistant, I need to make sure that everything’s perfect. It’ll be my fault if we can’t name the procedure after my boss.”

Zheng Ren had not thought that far. In his opinion, the procedure was but a simple surgery. The only thing he had to do was to compare the 3D-reconstructed reverse 64-slice CT scan to the correct NMRI image.

A novel procedure? The thought had never crossed his mind.

“No problem.” Chief Kong understood where Su Yun was coming from and did not weaponise his seniority to talk down to the two young men. Instead, he chortled and said, “There are so many people in this country suffering from hepatitis B. Our duty is to serve and treat them. Zheng Ren will definitely receive the credit and fame he deserves. Just go ahead and do it if you have the confidence in this procedure. Please let me know if you need any help.”

“You probably couldn’t care less about the fame, but that doesn’t mean that the other physicians under you think the same,” Su Yun said coldly. “Of course, with their current abilities, they won’t be able to surpass my current work even if they had three years. I’m not too worried about them.”

He spoke with such confidence, yet no one could rebut his claim.

“I’ll send the article to The Lancet after finishing this batch of surgeries. If the editor isn’t blind, they will definitely publish it.”

Chief Bao and Chief Kong were uncomfortable with Su Yun’s self-confidence. One might even argue that he was borderline narcissistic.

Had someone else been saying those exact words, both chiefs would have walked away by now.

However, this was Su Yun, the one who had published in The Lancet before even completing his Master’s, the one who performed a heart transplant on a mouse and watched over it for 107 days post-surgery.

Even though Chief Kong was displeased with the way Su Yun spoke, he had to admit that Su Yun was telling the truth.

Less than half of his PhD students could graduate, and Su Yun was here publishing papers in The Lancet for breakfast.

What a vast gulf in ability!

“What do you think, Mr. … Dr. Zheng?” Chief Kong nearly addressed Zheng Ren as his superior, compelled by Su Yun’s magnetic personality.

“You’re too kind, Chief Kong. It’s just a few surgeries; I’m fine with that,” Zheng Ren replied with a polite smile, oblivious to Su Yun’s aura. “The surgery is secondary; more importantly, we have to compare the NMRI to the 64-slice CT scan with 3D-image reconstruction. I have had some experience with them both, but I’m still working on it. Let’s discuss them together some other time.”

“Comparing the NMRI and the 64-slice CT scans?” Chief Kong’s mind was instantly filled with a series of images.

“Old Kong, let’s talk about it tomorrow… no, the day after tomorrow,” Chief Bao said after seeing Chief Kong’s thoughts wander to scans and imaging.

“Why two days later?” Chief Kong wanted to get Zheng Ren into the CT room right now.

“Old Gu said that Zheng Ren had to stay here and rest for two days. If he leaves the room within this period of time, I’ll be to blame.” Chief Bao laughed.

Only then did Chief Kong recall that Zheng Ren was still having a fever.

It was not appropriate to ask that much of him.

However, Chief Kong was reluctant to leave just like that.

Initially, he had been excited to hear of Zheng Ren’s previous surgery, which had been elegant and clean in addition to solving a major issue. After hearing Su Yun out, it dawned on him that it involved a novel method to diagnose and treat hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic cirrhosis nodules.

This was a major breakthrough!

Chief Kong regretted giving his word to Su Yun so early. He could have been a corresponding author on a published article on The Lancet.

After chatting for a little longer, Chief Bao dragged Chief Kong out of the private ward.

Zheng Ren saw them both out before asking, “Su Yun, did you mean what you said?”

“Of course, don’t you realize what you’re doing?” Su Yun responded.

“Saving someone.”

“…” Su Yun resisted the urge to kick Zheng Ren. Even if he did, it would probably not have any effect. “Boss, let me tell you this: if I write the report, it’ll guarantee a publication in The Lancet.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m Su Yun.”

…