Plague Doctor

Chapter 45: A Splendid Touch

Unlike the name One Hand Tie suggested, the actual execution of the knot required the use of both hands. The non-dominant hand would hold onto one end of the string, while the dominant hand carried out the knotting.

Gu Jun’s dominant hand was his right hand. As such, his left hand held onto one end of the string and went under the 2 parallel red elastic bands. From the other side, his right hand pulled it upwards.

Holding the two ends, Gu Jun took a deep breath. He felt his calming heart rate and pulled his focus together. In his mind, the scene of Brother Qiang demonstrating the tying procedure replayed. With the 2nd Tier Hands of Dexterity, he precisely controlled every nerve on his hand, following the tempo and postures that were shown to him. His right hand gently and steadily completed an overhand knot. He seamlessly tied another in the flip direction, into a square knot. Following quickly, a Sailor’s Knot was flawlessly executed.

As his hands danced about, Gu Jun felt an absolute inexplicable splendor. A single step alone may seem odd, but when the whole set came together, the intensity in the light handling and the rhythmic movements fused together into a cohesive and enchanting dance.

The changes in the power and speed unconsciously pulled him into a daze.

Having completed the single hand tie method, Gu Jun proceeded to the two-hand tie method, and then the instrument tie. Like an unceasingly flow, Gu Jun reenacted every single step in Brother Qiang’ demonstration like a child who had just received a new toy, dancing in joy.

“Huh?” Zhou Jiaqiang’s hand crept onto his pimple scarred cheeks and scratched lightly as he approached Gu Jun for a closer look. As his eyes fixated on Gu Jun’s dexterous fingers, he had the urge to speak multiple times. However, he swallowed back his words every time and never interrupted his student.

The 4 students around Gu Jun all stared at Gu Jun in awe. A crushing sense of defeat washed over Sun Yuheng.

What in the world… Gu Jun learns so fast!

Wang Ruoxiang stared in disbelief. What in the world is happening? Did Brother Qiang possess Gu Jun and is doing the 2nd demonstration for us? How did he do it completely the same? Did Gu Jun master the “Star Sucking Skill”?”

Oh, my goodness! As expected of Gu Jun, swift and decisive.

Cai Zixuan and Jiang Banxia were fully convinced of Gu Jun’s overwhelming talent. No, not just that, they were ready to bow down before the genius himself!

Gu Jun was fully absorbed in the practice model, going through the technique for depth knot tying. This was used to target the critical blood vessels that were more buried in the human body.

Mimicking Brother Qiang, Gu Jun held one end of the thread with a forceps, carefully pushing it into the deepest parts of his operating field. He then made a loop around the other pair of forceps which were clamping onto the blood vessel. Lastly, Gu Jun professionally tied a knot with the 2 hand tie method like the forceps were extensions of his fingers. As he tightened the knot, he used his right index finger to push the knot towards the ligation point while steadying the system by tugging lightly in the opposite direction with his left hand.

“Hm?” Zhou Jiaqiang was stupefied. How is he so attuned to at depth knot tying as well?

When Gu Jun finally stopped practicing, Zhou Jiaqiang exclaimed, “Ah Jun! That was fantastic! Did you learn this before?”

“Er…” Snapping out of his intense concentration, Gu Jun finally realised how the crowd had been staring at him like starving hounds. While acting as if he had learnt this before would be more diplomatic, he still had questions to ask Brother Qiang. “Nope. I learnt it from you, Brother Qiang.”

“Okay.” Zhou Jiaqiang said nothing else. Deep down, he too recognised it. This kid had to be rigorously drilled!

While walking back to the podium, Zhou Jiaqiang said, “Everyone can see that Ah Jun’s way of exerting force is correct. His whole body was in a state of relaxation making the sutures and fingers seem like fish in the water. Zixuan and Ban Xia, your mistake just now was that you were too nervous; Ruoxiang and Yuheng, you are still holding your breath during the procedure. It’s okay at the start, and might just be for a long time. However, you may also encounter accidents at any time. Worse still, not to notice it at all. ”

Then, they analysed the common mistake, the slip knot. The basic structure of the slip knot and the square knot was the same. Both were composed of two single knots in opposite directions. Owing to improper execution of the technique, a knot formed on one side of the thread around the other thread. This type of knot slipped off very quickly so it was called a slip knot.

“In one of the past operations, a slip knot was thought to be a square knot which eventually caused the wound to burst after the operation. We could not stop the blood. Such a disaster must be avoided as much as possible.”

Everyone nodded vigorously. There would not be a single medical practitioner that would want to make such a grave mistake. However, relaxing was easier said than done. To achieve that state of tranquillity under such pressure, there could only be practice.

“The rest, continue your practice of the 3 basic knots,” said Zhou Jiaqiang. His eyes then whipped to Gu Jun. “Ah Jun, come and learn the Surgeon’s Knot.”

The Surgeon’s Knot was another basic knot. During the first overhand knot, the thread will loop around 3 times, increasing the area of contact between the threads. As such, the second knot would not slip off so easily. While the Surgeon’s Knot was much more stable, the execution increased in difficulty and time consumption as well.

Hmph! I bet this will be enough to stump him! Right?

With just one demonstration, Gu Jun had learnt it already. He tied the knot just like how Zhou Jiaqiang did it.

“Alright, then it’s the fake knot and the slip knots!”

Fake knots were composed of 2 overhand knots of similar directions, and they come apart exceptionally quickly. It was a taboo knot within the operating theatre. As fake knots and slip knots were just negative examples, the students were to learn their greatest threats by heart. This allowed them to avoid it more easily.

Naturally, these 2 knots did little to stop Gu Jun. Before long, he had mastered them as well.

Gu Jun felt the joy of learning sprouting within him. This joy had not appeared for a long time. After smoking his way through a few years in the university, he seemed to have lost this ability to enjoy learning. Even if he forced himself into rigorous and harsh studying sessions, they could only count as demonic supplements. But now, he tasted the joy of learning again. He sincerely wanted to learn more and make himself better.

“Ah Jun, you change the catgut to practice. Oh, you also have to wear gloves!” In his mind, Zhou Jiaqiang was still figuring ways to torture and make things difficult for Gu Jun. Orders from his superiors cannot be set aside so easily.

Everyone else was practising with silk thread, which was tougher and required postoperative thread removal. The catgut was made of fibres from animal intestines which could be absorbed by the human body without removing the thread. However, the catgut was very brittle and very easy to break.

Moreover, wearing gloves and not wearing gloves were two completely different things. Medical rubber gloves were very tight-fitting which greatly affected the sense of touch during the operation.

But in the actual operating room, be it the primary surgeon, the anaesthetist, the first, second, or third assistant… everyone had to wear gloves.

HAHA! Are you gonna be so overwhelmingly talented again? Catgut and gloves, even I cannot be 100% sure that I will nail it in 1 try!

Zhou Jiaqiang smirked as he watched from the sidelines.

“Alright,” said Gu Jun. He took out a pair of disposable gloves at the table’s drawer and gripped tightly. Usually, most people would need several minutes to get used to it. However, with 2nd Tier Hands of Dexterity, Gu Jun could quickly switch his muscle memory and get used to the gloves’ tightness.

Taking a line of catgut from the threads box, he rubbed it between his fingers. He thoroughly enjoyed the texture of the material, sinking into blissfulness again.

His hands flew into a natural and nimble dance; one hand tie, two hands tie, instrument tie… Just as Zhou Jiaqiang described, be like a fish in the water. Simply beautiful execution of techniques.

“…” This time, Zhou Jiaqiang had to admit it. There existed a thing called talent. Gu Jun was one of the rare few to possess an overwhelming amount of it.

Having said that, this rascal probably has a high level of spirituality, right? Such a beginner technique and he already enjoys it this much. Is it A-? That is freakishly high.

“Brother Qiang, what shall we learn next?” Gu Jun looked at Brother Qiang with a pair of eager eyes as soon as he completed all the knots using catgut.

“Uh…” Zhou Jiaqiang scratched his face. Gu Jun’s eyes reminded him of his wife, who sometimes shows him this look at night.

Whether it was facing his wife before or facing Gu Jun now, Brother Qiang was a little bit uncomfortable.