Chapter 759: ’Special Physique

Chapter 759: Chapter 759: ’Special Physique

"Dr. Li, Dr. Zeng, thank you so much."

Hearing that their mother wouldn’t need surgery or a trip to the money-burning ICU, the patient’s two sons were moved to tears. They hurriedly bowed to Li Xu in profound gratitude.

Through his brief chat with the sons and observing their instinctual fear of the ICU, Li Xu had already gathered a rough idea of the situation. The main reason the patient’s youngest daughter had posted an anxious plea for help on her Moments in the middle of the night was likely due to the family’s tight financial constraints.

To avoid any liability, the doctors at the county hospital had painted the bleakest possible picture, even telling the family to prepare tens of thousands of yuan for an immediate ICU admission. For an ordinary working-class family, this was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue.

It was precisely this life-or-debt scenario that had panicked the two sons into calling their sister—who was studying out of town—overnight to figure out what to do. This chain of events had ultimately led Hao Ying to contact Song Sisi and arrange for the patient’s midnight transfer to the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Meanwhile, in the emergency department break room, a few young doctors on the night shift gathered with their coffee, chatting in low voices.

"Was that guy just now the legendary Dean Li Xu?" asked a resident who had just rotated into the emergency department.

At night, most departments were fairly quiet. While the emergency department was the hospital’s frontline, its workload varied drastically. When it was busy, the staff were run off their feet. Car accidents, heart attacks, and brain hemorrhages would all crash in at once, leaving them without even a moment to take a sip of water, often requiring emergency backup from second-line doctors in other departments. But when it was slow, there might only be a handful of patients all night, allowing everyone to take turns catching a quick nap in the duty room.

Especially at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which focused primarily on chronic diseases and wellness care, the volume of critical emergencies was noticeably lower than at the City People’s Hospital. That was why everyone currently had the leisure to gossip.

"Yep," a senior resident replied, taking a sip of water. "You could tell just from Director Zeng’s attitude. With our Director Zeng’s fiery temper, would he ever be that polite and accommodating to a regular young doctor, even if it were a teaching physician?"

A hospital was a place that placed the utmost importance on seniority and responsibility; it was unlike anywhere else. Generally, senior doctors were reluctant to give junior doctors a long leash—especially interns or those with little experience—when it came to hands-on procedures.

The reason was simple: they were afraid of accidents. Interns, in particular, lacked medical licenses, meaning any procedure they performed required the supervision and guidance of a licensed practitioner. *Whoever supervises takes the blame*—that was the ironclad rule. If an intern made even the slightest mistake during a procedure or prescribed the wrong medication, the supervising doctor who signed off would bear all the legal and administrative consequences.

Therefore, many veteran doctors simply had their students observe and write medical records. Actually getting hands-on experience? That was exceedingly difficult.

Yet tonight, not only had Li Xu brought a critical patient in the progressive stage of subacute cerebral infarction into the ER, but Director Zeng had actually allowed him to intervene with traditional Chinese medicine. Zeng Yunjun’s attitude left many of the young doctors in the department envious, even a little jealous.

"In such a severe situation where cerebral edema could worsen at any moment, Director Zeng is just letting Dean Li treat her with herbal medicine? He really isn’t afraid of something going wrong," someone remarked sourly, their tone laced with confusion.

"The man is a Vice Dean," another slightly older attending physician chuckled, hitting the nail on the head. "And he’s a renowned ’Divine Physician’ personally appointed by Dean Song.

"Taking a massive step back, even if an accident does happen, Director Zeng can claim he was just providing humanitarian assistance.

"But if Dean Li actually cures her and stabilizes her condition, then Director Zeng will have firmly secured a massive favor for ’fully cooperating and providing a platform.’

"This deal is guaranteed profit without any risk."

Everyone nodded in agreement, finding profound truth in those words. This was the workplace; this was the way of the world.

At the same time, in a private on-call room in the emergency department, Li Xu was on a video call with Hao Ying.

Squeezed in next to Hao Ying was an anxious-looking girl—the medical student who had posted the plea on her Moments, and the youngest daughter of the patient.

"Rest assured, the situation isn’t too dire. Although she’s in the acute stage, her vital signs are currently stable. I’ve already given your mother the appropriate herbal decoction, and the effects will be visible tonight. Director Zeng has also arranged for the strictest monitoring," Li Xu comforted her with a gentle tone. "Stay at school and focus on your studies. There’s no need to rush back overnight; your two brothers are here taking good care of things."

"Brother Li, thank you so, so much. If it weren’t for you, my mom might have... back at the county hospital..." Hao Ying’s classmate was so agitated she could barely form coherent sentences, thanking him profusely.

"Thanks, Brother Li. I’ll treat you to a massive feast when I get back to Feng City," Hao Ying added with a smile.

"You’re welcome. It was no trouble at all. If anything changes, I’ll let you know immediately," Li Xu replied.

"Alright, then I won’t disturb your alone time with Sister Sisi," Hao Ying teased with a wicked grin before swiftly hanging up the video call.

Listening from the side, Song Sisi’s cheeks flushed slightly. She shot a reproachful glare at the blank phone screen.

"Director Lin, it’s getting late. Why don’t you head back and get some rest?" Li Xu turned to Lin Guorui, who had been sitting nearby the whole time. "I can keep an eye on things here. You have outpatient duties tomorrow during the day, so don’t run yourself ragged."

"It’s fine, I’m not tired." Lin Guorui leaned back in his chair, took a sip of strong tea, and smiled. "Dean Li, I’ve realized something over the past few years. Not only are your medical skills phenomenal, but you also have a genuine Conan constitution."

"Conan constitution?" Li Xu paused, momentarily stunned.

"Exactly. Wherever you go, disasters follow. Or rather, wherever you go, you encounter critically ill patients that no one else can cure, or who are in extremely perilous conditions."

Lin Guorui counted on his fingers. "Just look at the track record. From the tick-borne disease at the very beginning, to Parkinson’s, to AIDS complications, and now a cerebral infarction in the middle of the night... I see right through it. I’m just waiting here to watch the show. Who knows, maybe there’s another ’ultimate move’ you’re going to unleash tonight."

He had witnessed it several times now. By some metaphysical twist of fate, Li Xu would constantly stumble upon exceptionally difficult cases, only to publicly unleash his miraculous skills and save the day. Some things were just that bizarre. Lin Guorui wondered if this young man had equipped some sort of passive aura that naturally attracted incurable diseases.

Listening to Lin Guorui’s half-joking, half-serious remarks, Song Sisi couldn’t help but let out a PFFT of laughter.