Chapter 60: Difficult Choices

“You…” Zheng Ren was slightly puzzled. He still vaguely remembered that one of these two ladies mentioned something about coming back for training.

He did not expect it to be true.

“We’re back,” said the twins in unison.

Old Chief Physician Pan smiled and said, “Even though we don’t have EICU, they can still engage in anesthesia first. You’re lacking anesthesiologists, right?”

That was true. An anesthesiologist seconded from the operating theater would not be as attentive and diligent as his own.

Moreover, he had heard through the grapevine that the anesthesiologist was about to resign and move to a new unit somewhere in the South. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy to second him to the emergency department.

However, were these two ladies up to the task?

Zheng Ren could not refuse Old Chief Physician Pan as the old man had been running around hospital management all day just to demand more manpower. It was not an easy task, either.

“Can you come to the emergency department at night?” asked Zheng Ren directly.

“Yes.”

“Okay. You can leave me your numbers and go home now.” Zheng Ren showed no enthusiasm and was as calm as a millpond.

The Chu sisters, who had met Zheng Ren and frequently grumbled about his emotional quotient for some time, were mentally prepared to receive this sort of response.

This chief resident was an idiotic pig!

The twins smiled and said, “Don’t forget to call us if there are any emergency cases.”

Zheng Ren was reluctant to speak anymore and merely waved his hand in response. Then, he went back to his room and began reading hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery literature.

Rather than wasting time on chatting or cottoning up to the Chu sisters, he might as well utilize this time to read the book for a couple of hours and gain one or two skill points.

Zheng Ren’s thoughts… No wonder he had not had any girlfriend so far. It would be very strange if he was in a relationship.

It seemed that reaching out to the hearts of others had recently fallen out of fashion.

…

…

Once everyone had left the department, Zheng Ren went to check on the two postoperative patients again, whose conditions had remained stable thus far. Then, he had dinner with the nurses, went back to his room and started reading the surgery book.

He already had 1931 skill points in his general surgery skill tree. He then calculated the potential rewards of the missions at hand—the long-term main quest and the mission called The Initial Construction of The Emergency Operating Theater.

Whether he could complete five emergency cholecystectomies within one week depended solely on fate and had nothing to do with his skill level.

As for the three skill books and the 930 skill points in his inventory, which were essentially his family inheritance, he felt reluctant to squander them all as they might save him in an emergency.

It was a peaceful night.

…

…

Cen Meng was in distress.

Everything had gone wrong ever since Professor Moriyu performed the surgery.

Not only did he fail to acquire a chance to further his study in Japan and enrich his personal development, he had actually gotten himself into trouble since.

Chief Surgeon Liu refused to acknowledge Cen Meng’s presence during his visit as well. Perhaps Cen Meng was going to take the blame for all the failures this time.

However, this was not the worst issue yet.

He received a phone call from his uncle this morning.

Cen Meng’s home was located out of town and the fact that he was able to work in Sea City General Hospital was all thanks to his uncle.

On the phone, Cen Meng’s uncle said that he had abdominal pain and yellowish discoloration of his skin after returning from a meal with alcohol.

The symptoms mentioned were simplified but Cen Meng immediately realized that his uncle was likely suffering from acute obstructive cholangitis.

Cen Meng dialed 120[1] and called an ambulance for his uncle as it was too late in the day to pick him up personally.

The diagnosis was confirmed and his uncle required immediate surgical treatment, but Cen Meng hesitated when deciding who to be the surgeon for the surgery.

In the first general surgery department, Chief Surgeon Liu had been hospitalized, and a few deputy chief surgeons… Cen Meng figured that they were not up to par since Chief Surgeon Liu had been suppressing them for a long time. If he was merely performing a simple cholecystectomy, its success rate would be very high.

However, this was a cystic duct obstruction with a high risk of complications such as acute pancreatitis. Even in the absence of complications, the edematous cystic duct alone was enough to give Cen Meng a terrible headache.

Cen Meng could still give this surgery a try if Chief Surgeon Liu could supervise him.

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There was no way he would perform this surgery under such circumstances.

Should he turn to Chief Surgeon Sun from the second general surgery department for help?

Cen Meng’s uncle had a married daughter who had bought a house in Shenzhen City. Even though Cen Meng stayed in Sea City, his uncle still treated him very kindly as if he was actually a son.

A figure suddenly emerged and lingered in Cen Meng’s mind.

Zheng Ren…

After witnessing Zheng Ren’s performance in cholecystectomy last time, apart from envy, jealousy and hatred, Cen Meng had developed a different emotion as well. Since when did this kid reach such proficiency in surgery?

Surgery skills could be honed only through constant practice. There was no other way.

Both of them had worked together in the same department for several years, but Cen Meng had no idea that Zheng Ren was actually concealing his true standards.

Zheng Ren had performed four cholecystectomies in the last three days and each of them had been done beautifully. If the surgeries were considered entertainment, they would have made viewers relaxed and happy.

Thus, Cen Meng suddenly came up with an idea—let Zheng Ren do it.

This idea was like a devil. It could not be destroyed once it emerged.

Subconsciously, he had admitted the truth—Zheng Ren’s standards of cholecystectomy and appendectomy were much higher than those of Chief Surgeon Liu and Chief Surgeon Sun.

As for himself… he was far worse in comparison.

If this had been an ordinary patient, Cen Meng would have definitely requested Chief Surgeon Sun supervise his surgery instead of letting him receive treatment in the emergency department.

However, Cen Meng hesitated as this patient was his uncle, who had treated him like a son.

After hesitating and contemplating for a few minutes, Cen Meng finally made up his mind.

He picked up his cell phone and pressed the dial button fiercely.

“Meng’zi, we’re arriving soon.” Cen Meng could hear his second aunt crying on the other end.

“Aunt, don’t worry. Listen to me first.” Cen Meng, who was holding the phone in his left hand, clenched his right fist tightly and buried his fingernails deep into his palm.

“Go to the emergency department directly and look for a doctor named Zheng Ren.” After saying this, Cen Meng felt an overwhelming embarrassment, but finally let go of all his reservations and added, “Go to the emergency department and let him do the surgery immediately. Aunt, please don’t mention my name.”

“…” The other end of the phone remained silent.

Cen Meng’s heart hurt so bad as if he had been stabbed by a knife.

“Meng’zi, your uncle treats you very well,” said Cen Meng’s second aunt a few seconds later.

“Aunt, that is exactly the reason why I asked you to go to the emergency department,” replied Cen Meng directly. Once the shame had been dealt with, the rest of it became easy instantly.

“Doctor Zheng Ren from the emergency department is the best surgeon to perform hepatobiliary surgery in our hospital,” Cen Meng explained anxiously, “But don’t say anything about me because we had disagreements before. I’ll visit uncle later.”

“Okay… Alright then…”

Cen Meng hung up and took a few deep breaths, but was still unable to wipe out the resentment that was buried deep in his heart.

As a surgeon, he had actually informed his closest relatives that his skill level was not up to par. He felt utterly pathetic.

Cen Meng, born in the countryside, had been swallowing his pride and giving up his dignity just to seize every opportunity in life, but why was the result still the same?

He was uncertain about his future.

…

…

The ambulance drove straight to the emergency department of Sea City General Hospital. The doctor in the emergency department saw that the patient was in a critical condition and immediately phoned Zheng Ren.

The Initial Construction of The Emergency Operating Theater was almost complete after performing four cholecystectomies within the past three days, and the last three surgeries gave Zheng Ren a 120-percent completion rate according to the terms in the main quest.

In addition, Zheng Ren had performed seven or eight appendectomies these past few days. He had actually completed the main mission twice and received 20 skill points and 2000 experience points as the mission reward.

The patients’ postoperative recovery had been satisfying. The first patient who had undergone an appendectomy had already been discharged from the hospital and returned home to rest.

Not only had he performed a few surgeries, he had been reading medical books as well over the last few days. Thus, he had accumulated 1945 skill points in his general surgery skill tree and was about to break through the 2000-point mark.

Zheng Ren was reading a book when he received the call. After knowing that a patient with obstructive jaundice had been sent to the emergency department via ambulance, he took Chang Yue downstairs immediately.

Acute appendicitis and acute cholecystitis were not life-threatening diseases, but a patient with obstructive jaundice might pass away at any time. Negligence was unacceptable.

[1] Telephone number for emergency medical service in China.

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