The Surgeon’s Studio

Chapter 83: Generous Rewards

With the gallbladder exposed, the surgery was now half-complete.

Once the anatomical structures were distinguishable, subsequent procedures were plain and simple. To the experts watching, even though some difficulty still remained, everything could at least proceed as planned.

The chief resident of the second general surgery department, who was standing lateral to the patient’s head for observation, had an indescribable feeling upon noticing that the surgery had reached this point without any medical errors.

He could not deny feeling envy and hatred as he stared at Zheng Ren, who had been a junior surgeon in the opposite department merely a month ago and honed such amazing skill, presumably due to talent or hard work.

Various thoughts swirled in his mind, but he waved all of them aside.

He had caught wind of the surgery Cen Meng’s uncle had undergone the day after the fact.

The news had sent panic coursing through him. Fortunately, the first general surgery department had taken the brunt of the blame and the second general surgery department did not offend… greatly offend anyone during the accusation against the emergency department before.

Otherwise, how would they have faced each other in the future?

He had not expected the day of their confrontation to arrive so soon.

Zheng Ren was at least skillful at his work, but what about Su Yun? The man had forcibly occupied the first assistant’s position just for a better view of the operative field without contributing anything.

Thus, he directed his resentment from Zheng Ren to Su Yun.

In Xinglin Garden, the barrages in the live broadcast room started coming to life again following the full exposure of the surgical site.

[666! It’s a pity that I can’t send rewards to the host surgeon. I strongly suggest Xinglin Garden to implement a reward system.]

[The little beast in my heart is itching for action!]

[The surgery isn’t finished yet, so what are you guys anxious about?]

[Is there anything interesting to watch after complete exposure of the surgical field?]

A syringe was placed on the host surgeon’s blood-stained sterile glove while comments continued to bombard the broadcast room.

After its surrounding area was confirmed to be well-protected, the gallbladder was pierced by the needle and its contents—a mixture of white pus and dark green bile juice—were aspirated.

This syringe of bile juice would be sent for bacterial culture later.

In suppurative cholecystitis, especially late-onset cases, complications such as postoperative bacterial invasion into the bloodstream leading to bacteremia may arise.

Even though Zheng Ren’s manipulation minimized the risk of complications, complete prevention was impossible. Therefore, a bacterial culture with an antimicrobial susceptibility test was necessary to help choose an antibiotic that would be most effective against the specific types of bacteria infecting the patient and reduce postoperative complications.

Xie Yiren placed the syringe of purulent bile into a specimen container before passing a pair of atraumatic forceps to Zheng Ren.

Grasping the dome of the gallbladder with the forceps, the serosa overlying the gallbladder was retrogradely incised to expose the hepatoduodenal ligament and foramen of Winslow. After that, blunt dissection resumed.

Despite the severely edematous gallbladder, the force Zheng Ren used was just enough. He was not causing more damage to the gallbladder and its surrounding tissues, nor was he hesitating and delaying the surgery.

Soon, the cystic duct was located and the cystic artery posterior to the duct was identified. Then, the cystic artery near the gallbladder wall and the cystic duct half a centimeter away from the common bile duct were dissected and ligated. As a result, no hemorrhage was noted in the gallbladder fossa following its removal.

Everything had been smooth-sailing thus far.

Innumerable compliments bombarded Xinglin Garden like free ammunition… Well, it was.

The experts knew the ropes, and they understood that the initial adhesiolysis was the most difficult procedure in this surgery.

When the surgery ended, many viewers replayed the video and focused on the first ten minutes of the operation.

Not only was the thin and brittle bowel unharmed, the host surgeon had performed blunt dissection at light speed.

Countless doctors savored this scene in particular.

In the operating theater, after removing the gallbladder and ensuring that there were no bleeding spots in the gallbladder fossa, Zheng Ren irrigated the peritoneal cavity before suturing the abdominal surgical wound.

Chief Surgeon Sun sighed in relief at the completion of the surgery.

He raised his head and saw Su Yun, arms crossed, absent-mindedly staring at the operative field,and making no attempt to give Zheng Ren a hand.

“Little Su, why don’t you leave the operating table and let Zheng Ren and I close the abdomen?”

Su Yun looked up and met Chief Surgeon Sun’s gaze.

“Okay.” He turned and left immediately.

“…”

Chief Surgeon Sun, the chief resident of the second general surgery department and the scrub nurse who had been forced to step down were dumbfounded.

What a shameless b*stard!

“The surgery was done decently and almost reached half my standard,” said Su Yun lightly as he left.

Everyone else was flabbergasted as they once again underestimated this brat’s barefaced attitude.

Based on Zheng Ren’s understanding of Su Yun, the surgery’s perfection should have been contested with the man’s beauty.

If that had been the case, Su Yun would have been correct.

Although he was not the most handsome man in the world, Su Yun was at least Grandmaster rank in terms of physical attractiveness.

The world put value on outward appearance. There was nothing Zheng Ren could do about it.

Chief Surgeon Sun felt helpless as well, but the words had left his mouth and he could not renege on his promise. Left with no choice, he left Zheng Ren’s side and stood at the first assistant’s position to assist with abdominal surgical wound closure.

Leaving the operating theater was not an option as he had asked Zheng Ren to take over the surgery, just like a guest secretary.

Since the surgery had ended perfectly, it would be inexcusable if he abandoned this simple task.

Chief Surgeon Sun was reasonable enough to provide assistance to Zheng Ren personally instead of delegating it to his junior doctors.

There was nothing he could possibly do during adhesiolysis, but he could at least help cut the thread while Zheng Ren sutured the abdominal wound.

Following the successful closure of the abdominal cavity, a pleasant bell rang out in Zheng Ren’s ears. “Ding-dong!”

[General Mission: A Colleague Seeking Assistance accomplished. 100 skill points and 5000 experience points obtained.

[Surgical completion rate: 100 percent. Reward… Calculating.]

Zheng Ren hoped that the System would not award him with yet another silver chest that contained only a skill book. The most it could do was upgrade some random skill tree to a higher level. If that was the case, would there any difference between him and an ordinary attending surgeon?

The leaky bucket principle had become invalid in today’s hospitals.

Nowadays, large-scale hospitals placed emphasis on branches of specialties and knowledge to the point where various specialty hospitals had emerged worldwide like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

In the last decade of the twentieth century, the healthcare system in Imperial Capital had implemented the concept of specialized treatment services. Thus, all disciplines had been divided and every hospital had claimed a domain since then.

Tongren Hospital, for example, specialized in ophthalmology, and Jishuitan Hospital focused mainly on orthopedics.

On the other hand, general hospitals had met their downfall. Even the general hospital in Imperial Capital on the first ring road[1] had gradually lost its reputation as many people forgot it existed.

Many reputable doctors had gathered there since the establishment of a central healthcare organization following the founding of the modern republic.

The more specific the type of treatment was, the more profitable it became. That was the current trend of the medical world.

The idea of improving all skill trees simultaneously did not exist in Zheng Ren’s mind.

[Calculation complete. The surgery completion rate is 100 percent and the host has acquired their colleague’s admiration. Three hundred liver surgery experiences obtained.]

Eh? That seemed pretty good.

Zheng Ren had been preparing himself to learn liver surgery, a surgery far more complicated than appendectomy and cholecystectomy. There was no way he could master it without at least a hundred days of intensive training.

Naturally, his goal was something most surgeons could not possibly achieve in their entire lifetimes.

A storm crashed into his mind, just like the day the System had fallen upon him.

Zheng Ren quickly snapped out of it and instantly became aware of the foreign memories that had embedded themselves into his mind.

That was a mega sale! Liver surgery was more advanced than appendectomy and cholecystectomy, so three hundred liver surgeries actually saved Zheng Ren at least two hundred hours of surgery intensive training time.

[1] A ring road (also known as beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The first ring road is situated around a major city.