Chapter 2303 - 1485: Xiao Shu Sapling (2)

Chapter 2303: Chapter 1485: Xiao Shu Sapling (2)

One afternoon during the fourth week, Yang Ping was flipping through a copy of the "Chinese Journal of Surgery" in the doctor’s resting room, when he heard the sounds of footsteps and voices from the corridor. They were the voices of some young people, crisp and excited, mixed with phrases like "It’s so high here," "I’m feeling a bit breathless," and "Professor, look at that mountain top." Then came Zhaxi’s voice, deep and patient, introducing them to the layout of the hospital.

Yang Ping did not get up, continuing to read the magazine.

A few minutes later, the door of the resting room was pushed open. Zhaxi leaned in halfway: "Mr. Yang, today there are a few medical students here for a career experience. They said they want to see the liver hydatid surgery this afternoon. Can they observe in the operating room for a while? I asked the patient, and they said it’s fine, just don’t talk while watching."

"How many students?" Yang Ping asked.

"Four, all first years from different parts of the country, some from Beijing, some from Nandu, and some from Huaxi... They said they wanted to experience medical care at high altitude."

"Let them in, stand a bit farther away, don’t touch anything, always maintain a sterile mindset." Yang Ping closed the magazine, "I have a cholecystectomy first, then the liver hydatid operation in the afternoon. If they want to wait, let them watch both."

Zhaxi nodded and withdrew.

At 1:40 p.m., Yang Ping entered the operating room. He changed into the scrub suit, wore a sterile cap and mask, scrubbed his hands, and took the surgical gown from Zhaxi. After putting it on, he walked to the operating table, where the light from the shadowless lamp fell onto his hand, revealing a faint warm yellow glow.

The first operation was a routine cholecystectomy. Yang Ping’s movements were smooth and controlled, finishing in fifteen minutes, with neat incision suturing. After completing this surgery, he stepped off the operating table and went to the resting room to drink some water. Zhaxi was preparing the instruments for the second surgery, the hydatid disease surgery, as those instruments required more complexity due to the meticulous operations needed. If the cyst wall ruptures and cyst fluid leaks into the abdominal cavity, it could lead to severe allergic reactions or even shock.

"Mr. Yang, do you need a ten-minute break?" Zhaxi asked.

"No need," Yang Ping replied, "Let’s start directly, is anesthesia ready?"

"It’s ready, the patient is already induced."

Yang Ping scrubbed his hands again and put on another surgical gown. As he stood again at the operating table, the door to the operating room was gently pushed open. Four young people in scrub suits filed in, stopping about two meters from the operating table, standing quietly. They wore masks and sterile caps, with only their eyes visible. Yang Ping didn’t look up at them. His attention remained fixed on the open abdominal cavity.

The liver was exposed in view. On the surface of the right lobe was a distinct cystic protrusion, about six centimeters in diameter, with clear boundaries and thickened cyst walls—everything typical of localized liver hydatid disease presentations. Yang Ping gently probed the tension of the cyst wall with his finger, then took a fine needle aspiration device from Zhaxi’s hand.

"First, flush the cyst cavity with hypertonic saline to lower the intracystic pressure, then completely peel off the cyst wall," he said softly, as if talking to himself, as well as conveying his thoughts to Zhaxi. His fingers steadily pushed the aspiration needle into the cyst cavity, extracting about forty milliliters of pale yellow cyst fluid, then injecting hypertonic saline, waiting for five minutes. The whole process was quiet and precise.

The atmosphere in the operating room was calm and focused. The four medical students stood two meters away; nobody spoke or moved their feet. Only the sound of breathing came through their masks, faint and synchronized, as if witnessing a kind of ritual. Yang Ping could feel their eyes on his hands, those young eyes filled with reverence and curiosity.

He began peeling the cyst wall. This was the most crucial part of the entire surgery, requiring the cyst body to be separated entirely from the liver tissue without rupturing the wall. His scissors advanced along the thin interspace between the cyst wall and hepatic parenchyma, each cut precise to the millimeter. Zhaxi pulled and exposed on the opposite side, coordinating seamlessly. The shadowless lamp illuminated the surgical field, lighting up the plane of separation as thin as a cicada’s wing.

The surgery lasted for nearly an hour. When Yang Ping lifted the intact cyst wall from the liver and placed it in a specimen bag, he heard Zhaxi exhaling a long breath. Yang Ping himself relaxed his shoulders slightly, but his hands remained on the surgical field. He began checking the liver surface post-separation for possible bile leaks, confirming one by one that there was no leakage, before asking Zhaxi to hand over hemostatic materials.

"Close the abdomen," he said.

Those two words were like a signal. Among the four medical students two meters away, one moved slightly, as if they had been holding their breath earlier and were finally allowed to breathe now. Yang Ping didn’t look up; he began suturing the abdominal wall, layer by layer, the suture thread weaving through his fingers like a rhythm repeated countless times.

When he completed the last stitch, he finally raised his head and glanced in the direction of where the four medical students stood.

He paused.

The student in the middle was slightly taller than the two beside them, with bright eyes showing below their cap brim. Yang Ping looked at those eyes; in the initial fractions of a second, they just felt familiar, like he had seen them somewhere but couldn’t recall where. Then those eyes curved slightly — the arc formed brought Yang Ping back to years ago.

Sanbo Hospital, a nine-year-old girl lying on a hospital bed.

At this moment, those eyes stood two meters away from him, wearing pale blue scrubs, with stereo caps and masks, standing like any surgeon.

Sisi!

"Professor Yang!" she spoke, the voice coming through the mask, carrying a hint of amusement, a hint of nervousness. "Our school arranged summer career experiences, and I signed up; I chose Changdu without knowing you were also here."

Actually, Sisi had no idea that Professor Yang would be here too; it was purely coincidental that she became very excited upon seeing that the chief surgeon was Professor Yang.

Yang Ping stood beside the operating table, looking at her, saying nothing. Zhaxi walked over from the side, glanced at Yang Ping’s expression, and then at Sisi. "Mr. Yang, you know each other?"

"We know each other!" Yang Ping said, his voice returning to calm, "We’ve known each other for a long time."

He looked at Sisi. "When did you arrive?"

"Yesterday afternoon, Doctor Zhaxi arranged my accommodation in the dormitory."

"Are you adapting? The altitude’s thirty-two hundred; you haven’t been to such a high place before."

"I was a bit breathless when I first arrived, my heart would speed up when walking quickly, but not now. I adapt very well," Sisi said, "I stood for two hours today, and didn’t feel uncomfortable." Her gaze fell on the specimen bag holding the intact liver hydatid cyst wall.

"Let’s have dinner together afterward! Invite your teammates too."

"Sure!"

Outside the window was the evening Bangda Grassland, the sunset dyeing the dry grass golden red. In the distance, the ridge covered in remnants of snow turned into deep purple silhouettes in the twilight. The wind blew from the grassland, carrying a dry chill, stirring the dried Gesang flowers on the windowsill.

The patrolling nurse brought over the medical records for Yang Ping to sign; Yang Ping finished the last stroke and placed the surgical record sheet into the folder.

He turned around and saw Sisi still standing there, like a newly planted sapling.

PS: This book should end here, thank you for your continuous support. A new book is being prepared and I am polishing the previous Chapters. Bow and salute!!!