The Surgeon’s Studio

Chapter 209: Unattainable Peak (Part 1 of 5)

Zheng Ren was stunned for a moment before turning around.

His first thought at hearing the applause was that one of the bosses had entered the room at the same time as he. The fatigue was impeding his thought process.

However, all he saw was Su Yun, who looked haggard, his sweat-drenched black hair sticking to his forehead.

What was happening?

Zheng Ren was still in a daze when he heard a voice say, “Dr. Zheng, great job.”

‘Huh? Am I talking to myself? What’s going on?’ he thought.

Zheng Ren was still unaware that the applause was meant for him.

The demonstration room was full of pioneers in interventional therapy from all over the country; why would they applaud him for no reason?

He had to have misread the situation.

Even though he was known as Zheng-smarty-pants-Ren, he was not that narcissistic like Su Yun.

“Say something,” Su Yun said softly from behind him as he swam in his thoughts.

“…” Even if he was doing another surgery, it would not be as draining as this situation.

An entire room of silver-haired professors was on its feet and greeting him with wide smiles. Why did this feel so alien?

“Come in and have a seat; you must be exhausted, Dr. Zheng.” Li Haitao reacted quickly upon seeing Zheng Ren’s expression, figuring out that it was this startled young doctor’s first time seeing such a grand occasion.

He stepped forward and enthusiastically shook hands with Zheng Ren.

As he touched Zheng Ren’s hand, his expression shifted.

“Dr. Zheng, are you having a fever?” Li Haitao could feel something wrong with Zheng Ren. The man’s temperature was above normal and his palms felt clammy.

Zheng Ren said weakly, “It’s nothing. I just have a cold.”

“His temperature was 38.6°C this morning. He’s probably at 39°C now,” Su Yun interjected behind Zheng Ren.

“…” Li Haitao was shocked. ‘Did Zheng Ren just conduct multiple surgeries with a high fever?’

Professor Gu approached Zheng Ren and asked, concerned, “Little Zheng, are you not feeling well?”

“I’m fine.” Zheng Ren managed to force a smile. “It’s just a common cold, nothing to worry about.”

“You got hurt yesterday. Could it be due to infection of the wound?” Professor Gu asked.

“No, Brother Zhao has just cleaned my wound and applied fresh medication. He also mentioned that it was fine,” Zheng Ren answered.

Jin Yaowu, Mu Tao, and the others all stood around in awe.

While they had been waiting for Zheng Ren to arrive, Professor Gu had entered the room and spoken to the other professors, telling them about the incident from two days ago.

There had been a vicious assault in the outpatient department. A thoracic surgeon had been badly hurt. The news had spread like wildfire across Weibo and WeChat groups.

Since Fang Lin was neither one of the in-house doctors nor anyone’s personal acquaintance, most of the professors and doctors had not paid him a visit. They simply expressed their anger by sharing the post on Weibo.

It was shocking to know that Dr. Zheng had been involved in that incident. Professor Gu also mentioned the wounded shoulder.

Even Professor Pei, who knew that Zheng Ren had participated in the emergency rescue that followed, did not know the details.

As they processed the news, their indignation faded, turning into a barrage of arrows piercing Jin Yaowu, Mu Tao, and every other doctor’s self-esteem.

How had he performed surgery with a wounded shoulder?

It had been no ordinary procedure; highly technical, performed in a lead apron that weighed up to 17 pounds and requiring absolute precision and meticulousness.

Was it even possible?

However, they knew that there was no reason for Professor Gu to lie.

Mu Tao slowly realized why the host’s movements had been slightly sluggish, despite ultimately being able to navigate the hills and valleys of the surgery.

It was because…

He had been f*cking slashed by that scoundrel!

Mu Tao’s pride, accumulated over decades, crumbled instantly. There was not even any disappointment; so stunned was he that he simply blanked out.

Jin Yaowu was still in disbelief. Nonetheless, the bulge of the bandage on Zheng Ren’s left shoulder was physical proof of the wound.

He was not foolish enough to question Professor Gu’s words.

Inside, he was tormented by his own competitiveness. Clenching his fist, he decided to work harder, finally finding the motivation to work towards his goal.

Old Wu and Professor Gu were quite close, so the former was aware of the incident and very interested to meet this young doctor.

He neared Zheng Ren, tapped on his unhurt shoulder and said with a voice laden with praise, “Dr. Zheng, I hadn’t expected you to have such a good emergency rescue response.”

“I… I’m a general surgeon. Currently, I’m the chief resident of the emergency department, so it’s part of my job,” Zheng Ren answered humbly with a small smile.

This time, Wu Haishi was taken completely aback.

Pei Yingjie had worked with Zheng Ren before and thus knew what was coming. However, everyone else was astounded.

This doctor, dominating interventional surgery with his superb skill, was not a specialist but a mere general surgeon… and now an emergency department chief resident.

What in the world was this nonsense?

What had happened to specialization?

Had the Wooden Barrel Theory[1] become obsolete?

Jin Yaowu turned grim after hearing Zheng Ren’s words.

How could a general surgeon outshine him? It would not have bothered him as much if the demonstration had been a normal surgery. Was his interventional surgery skill no better than a general surgeon’s?

Mu Tao was also stupefied, fixated on the image of Zheng Ren’s back when the surgeon had been processing the scans in the CT room.

Had he had to examine those films as if he was a medical imaging technologist? After all, he was a general surgeon and the chief resident of an emergency department.

Wasn’t the entire hospital supposed to support the emergency department?

Why did he…

Mu Tao had just experienced an emotional roller coaster. After observing Xinglin Garden’s live broadcast of the interventional surgery, he had thought that studying 64-slice CT scans with 3D-image reconstruction under Old Wu would lead to an easy victory.

Never in a million years would he have guessed that instead of losing to Jin Yaowu, he would lose to a general surgeon… a young chief resident of an emergency department from a city he couldn’t have pointed out on a map before.

“I’ll let you guys handle the remaining work. Just notify Zheng Ren of the results,” Professor Gu said, putting a halt to further interrogation. “I’ll take Zheng Ren to go change his wound dressings. It’ll be too late if the wound was infected.”

The other professors of similar rank obliged out of respect, especially as Professor Gu was being reasonable. More importantly, they could not hinder his kind offer of help.

‘This “small fry” is rather interesting,’ he mused. The professors who had been initially displeased by their students had forgotten about the competition and were beginning to take an interest in Zheng Ren.

As Zheng Ren remained in his stupor, Professor Gu extracted him from the demonstration room and pushed him to the inpatient department.

“What were you thinking? Did you not know that you were having a fever? Why did you still go ahead with the surgery?” Professor Gu complained as they walked.

“I’m okay, don’t worry. I’ve sweated it all out after a few surgeries and am feeling much better now,” Zheng Ren explained, laughing earnestly.

Su Yun followed behind them, expressionless. He could not fathom why the man front of him was like a tall mountain, its slopes untouchable, its peak unattainable.