The Surgeon's Studio

The corners of Zheng Ren’s mouth curved upwards when he recalled the gesture Xie Yiren had made before she left.

He returned to the emergency ward and saw Yang Lei writing up the operative report.

“Go home, Yang Lei. I’ll be taking over tonight’s shift,” Zheng Ren said.

Yang Lei smirked when he saw Zheng Ren, a hint of mockery and curiosity in his expression.

“How was it?”

“What do you mean by how?”

“There’s no one else in the operating theater. It’s dark, with two single adults who clearly have feelings for each other.” Yang Lei’s smile grew wider.

“Stop talking nonsense. The operating theater has a surveillance camera.” Zheng Ren tried to pretend as if nothing had happened and detracted the man with random excuses.

“That’s true.” Yang Lei did not try to embarrass Zheng Ren further. Grinning, he added, “A few years back, the cardiothoracic department chief and the matron of the operating theater from The First Affiliated Hospital of Provincial Capital Medical University were caught on tape. If it weren’t for his connections, he wouldn’t have been able to remove the video from the internet within hours and his scandal would have blown up to an unimaginable scale.”

“…” Despite bloviating, Zheng Ren had not expected Yang Lei to persist with the topic and bring it to such a direction.

“I’ll take my leave, then.” Yang Lei saw Zheng Ren become more uncomfortable, laughed and said, “Also, a chief resident’s job is inhuman. I have the urge to quit whenever I think about having to become one for a whole year in order to get a promotion.”

“You just need to pull through. You’ll be able to perform any surgery after that year,” Zheng Ren said, repeating a common aphorism.

Yang Lei shook his head, his expression strange.

“Since you went to Imperial Capital, your skill has surpassed mine by leaps and bounds,” Yang Lei said, “Even though I’m an average nobody, my judgment is fairly sound.”

“It’s no big deal.” Zheng Ren laughed.

“Can you guide me through some surgeries? Sea City is my hometown and I’m not going to go anywhere in my lifetime,” Yang Lei said seriously. “These days, northeast China is lacking young blood as all the youth have left. The economy is also deteriorating. I’m sure you won’t stay for long, either. Can you teach me some skills so that I can still survive after you leave?”

Zheng Ren stared at Yang Lei’s earnest gaze and nodded in return.

“I’ll leave now,” Yang Lei said with a smile, “I really admire those who are naturally gifted, like you and Su Yun; it makes me jealous sometimes.”

Naturally gifted? Zheng Ren thought of the System. He was certain that he was definitely not as talented as Su Yun. That guy was the real deal.

But… that was just the way things were.

After seeing Yang Lei off, Zheng Ren talked to the nurse for a moment before heading to the ICU to check on the patient.

Su Yun was chatting with the nurses in the ICU while recording the patient’s vitals.

The patient was stable, with a slight increase in blood pressure. Zheng Ren left after a quick once-over.

There were few patients in the emergency ward as he had been absent for a while.

Old Chief Physician Pan still preferred conventional surgery since he was getting old and his ability to learn new things was limited. Also, with his presbyopia, he could never catch up with younger doctors in laparoscopy.

Patients in need of a laparoscopy were usually sent to the inpatient ward behind the building.

Zheng Ren finished his ward rounds and made sure all the patients were stable before blissfully returning to the on-call room, the image of Xie Yiren and the heart-shaped pendant close to her chest turning over in his mind.

On his phone, he saw Xie Yiren’s message reassuring him that she had safely arrived at home.

Zheng Ren hesitated for a moment before typing out a simple reply.

Both of them had been a little awkward today. Previously, separated by sheer distance, they had plenty of things to say to each other, but now Xie Yiren bade him goodnight after a few words.

Zheng Ren turned off his phone and laid on his bed after washing up.

Groggily, he fell into a slumber and only woke up when the day was in full swing.

It would be wonderful were every shift similar to that of the previous night; impossible as it was, Zheng Ren still held on to hope.

He did his ward rounds and carried out the usual daily morning routines.

Zheng Ren took the opportunity to get to know his patients. Chang Yue was very familiar with each one, smiling and chatting away with them enthusiastically.

At 9.16 a.m., the emergency department paged him for an acute appendicitis patient.

As usual, Zheng Ren gathered his energy and accepted.

There was nothing special about the patient; everything was standard except for their lack of fasting, which resulted in the surgery being scheduled at 12 p.m.

It was no big deal, though. He could just wait for it.

Zheng Ren was already at the operating table at 12 and noticed Xie Yiren’s absence. The matron arranged for another scrub nurse to assist him.

“Where’s Xie Yiren?” he asked.

“Having lunch with a classmate of hers from the South, apparently,” the matron answered.

With the level of staffing in the emergency department, it was considered a huge request for one to take some time off, even for a few hours.

The matron had to take over an incredible workload due to Xie Yiren’s absence.

However, that was not Zheng Ren’s main concern. He had feared that he had so badly embarrassed Xie Yiren yesterday night with his unreturned gesture that she had resigned, but a visiting classmate was much more relieving.

Love did make people blind.

Even though they had made their feelings clear, he still overthought every tiny detail.

…

….

In one of the top restaurants in Sea City, Xie Yiren was happily chatting with her female classmate beside her.

Sitting opposite them was a gentle, polite and refined middle-aged man—Li Xiaochen.

He had used all of his connections and resources to finally get a hold of Zheng Ren’s “team”.

Initially, he had been skeptical of Su Yun’s words. A young doctor at Zheng Ren’s age, even with exemplary skill, could not possibly overcome the rigid hierarchy of older department chiefs.

Skill came from natural aptitude and hard work.

Actually climbing the ladder required years of networking and string-pulling.

Trying to defy his higher-ups at his level would end in him having to leave Sea City to start over.

Team? What department chief would allow their chief resident to operate with an entire team? It needed a clout that rivalled that of a chief’s own.

However, after investigating, he had been surprised to find out that Mr. Zheng indeed had a whole team. He already met and shared a meal with his assistant, Su Yun, earlier in Imperial Capital and his first impression was that the man’s looks were gorgeous, akin to a beautiful woman, plus… Su Yun could really hold his liquor, effortlessly finishing a pint of Maotai.

Besides Su Yun, there was also a scrub nurse and two anesthesiologists.

With such a combination… Li Xiaochen was left speechless.

The American professors working in Straits Hospital did not even have personal scrub nurses. How had a chief resident in Sea City managed to get one?

After some further digging, all he learned was that the scrub nurse was from a rather wealthy family. The two anesthesiologists were still house officers; despite being postgraduates, they had yet to complete their residency training to become fully trained physicians.

In the end, Li Xiaochen decided to target Xie Yiren.

He found a classmate of hers from the south to visit and persuade her to join him.

Were he trying to recruit a normal chief resident, he would have needed to pay such a hefty price.

However, Li Xiaochen had heard about Professor Rudolf Wagner rushing back to Imperial Capital after the award ceremony and being unable to find Zheng Ren. The German was negotiating with Department Chief Kong right now and Zheng Ren was most likely returning to the city. It was just a matter of time.

The clock was ticking, and he had to strike while the iron was hot.