Chapter 159: Terminal Social-Cow Syndrome

"Liu Zhuren, this is too awesome!" the Anesthesia doctor praised.

Liu Zhuren smiled smugly, his peripheral vision sweeping over Ji Xiang.

He knew that if Ji Xiang were to perform the surgery, it would be even faster. This child was truly gifted; he was a finished hand the moment he started, and his level was extremely high—more mature and slick than an old guy like himself who had been performing surgeries for a lifetime.

Regardless of whether he had any other background, this point alone was enough to make people admire him.

The Patient was sent back, the Operating Room was disinfected, and the next Patient was brought up.

All three partial Kidney Resection surgeries were finished by one o'clock in the afternoon, and Liu Zhuren felt relaxed and happy.

"Work's done!"

Having finished the surgeries, Liu Zhuren felt refreshed.

Ever since he started learning to use a laparoscope for partial Kidney Resection, he had never had surgeries go as smoothly as today.

Liu Zhuren even developed an illusion—that his surgical level had advanced by leaps and bounds and had already entered the top tier in the country.

But he knew that an illusion was always just an illusion.

The high completion rate and smooth progress of today's surgeries were because of the prior Interventional Surgery for Embolization.

He hadn't expected it, really hadn't expected it.

An extra surgery before the operation would have such a fundamental impact on a partial resection.

After changing clothes and going to check on the Patients, Liu Zhuren was very satisfied. He instructed the Patients to remain immobile for 3 days and also told Wu Zong to keep a close eye on the Patients and call him at any time if there were problems, only then leaving with Ji Xiang.

"Xiao Ji, today we're going to Yuanliao City. I've only met the doctor there a few times, but he's very interesting."

"Interesting?" Ji Xiang was puzzled.

In his view, doctors could only be described as professional or unprofessional; what the hell was "interesting"?

"More than ten years ago, I had just returned from the Imperial Capital after studying laparoscopy. That winter, a man came to my door carrying a few pheasants."

"You tell me, giving pheasants as a gift, what kind of person is that?"

Ji Xiang guessed it must be the doctor who invited Liu Zhuren to perform surgery today, but if he excluded the preconceived notion and followed Liu Zhuren's description, it must have been a destitute Family Member of a patient who brought the pheasants to express their gratitude.

The gift was light but the sentiment was heavy; money could be refused, but the pheasants had to be accepted.

"It was a Family Member," Ji Xiang said.

"Hahaha, I thought so too, but after chatting for a few sentences, I discovered he was a doctor who had gone to 912 for advanced studies after I left—that person from Yuanliao City." When Liu Zhuren spoke of this person, his expression was a bit strange.

He seemed to want to laugh, but his smile also carried a bit of seriousness and incomprehension.

"Zhuren, although Yuanliao City isn't big, if a surgeon comes to visit, he should at least bring two bottles of Moutai," Ji Xiang laughed.

"Right, I was confused too," Liu Zhuren said. "The first time we met, that doctor said some strange things to me. At the time, I thought he was a lunatic, so I didn't pay him any mind."

"Was it about Interventional Surgery?" Ji Xiang was startled, following Liu Zhuren's line of thought to find the answer.

More than ten years ago—Liu Zhuren was talking about something from more than ten years ago!

Back then, there weren't many people with that kind of vision; let alone ten years ago, even now, there weren't many people who could accept it.

"Mm," Liu Zhuren nodded. "At the time, I didn't even know what Interventional Surgery was; I only knew the Circulation Department used that stuff to place a Stent. You tell me, why would I pay attention to a lunatic who came carrying pheasants?"

"Logically speaking, when people who studied together brag about being 'senior and junior brothers,' I can understand that. Besides, asking me to perform surgery also counts as an income, you know what I mean?"

"Yes." Although Ji Xiang hadn't experienced it, this kind of thing wasn't hard to understand.

"However, I don't know if this guy had water in his brain, but after two years of silence, he came to find me again."

"Oh?"

"The second time he came to my door, he looked very old," Liu Zhuren said. "His hair was sparse; he was only in his thirties and his hair was almost all gone. This time he didn't bring pheasants, but talked to me about Flying Knife."

"Guess how much he offered me."

"..." Ji Xiang could hear the situation at the time from Liu Zhuren's tone.

It was a very strange feeling; just the mocking tone sketched out the situation at the time vividly.

"500! He said he'd give me 500 yuan in Flying Knife fees for performing a surgery," Liu Zhuren recalled, still unable to stop laughing. "Do I look like I'm short of those few hundred yuan? Was he trying to brush off a beggar?"

Although Liu Zhuren was cursing, Ji Xiang didn't hear any malice.

"He talked to me for half an hour about how rich people in Yuanliao City all go to Fengtian or come to our Provincial Hospital for medical treatment and surgery, and that those left at home are all the old, weak, sick, and disabled, and aren't well-off either, asking me to be understanding."

"Understand my ass!"

"Hahaha, Zhuren, look at you," Ji Xiang laughed.

"Seriously, I've really never seen someone with such low emotional intelligence," Liu Zhuren said while driving, his voice flat. "I admit that healing the wounded and rescuing the dying is important, but doctors aren't made of iron; they need rest. I only rest for a little over a day a week, and he wanted me to go there for poverty alleviation? Isn't that a joke?"

"If I had that time, wouldn't it be better to take on two more patients at the Second Affiliated Hospital? It's surgery regardless of where I do it."

"And then, Zhuren?" Ji Xiang asked.

"I chased him away, of course. It was really annoying," Liu Zhuren said. "After that, he came to bother me once every year. I think his emotional intelligence is truly a negative value."

"It really seems so."

"Either he'd tell me some nonsense, or he'd say he had developed a New Surgical Technique that was leading the world. At the time, my feeling was... do you know about the Anorectal Department?"

"Uh..." Ji Xiang had a bad feeling.

"Blind as a bat," Liu Zhuren shook his head. "This guy doesn't even draft his lies before bragging. Although the analogy isn't quite right, every time I see his face, it's like an Anorectal Department doctor changing a patient's dressing—blind as a bat, blind as a bat!"

"Hahaha." Ji Xiang understood what Liu Zhuren meant and laughed out loud.

"You tell me, Yuanliao City is a godforsaken little prefecture-level city where the average wage is unbelievably low, and he tells me it's world-leading. I think this guy's social-cow syndrome is terminal; there's no saving him."

"Interventional Surgery?" Ji Xiang asked.

"Right." Liu Zhuren didn't deny it and nodded. "I had actually forgotten about it, but he kept nagging me. So after that emergency rescue last time, when you brought it up, I thought of this matter."

"!!!!" Ji Xiang felt his hair stand on end.

"I searched for a long time and only managed to get his phone number through a teacher in the Imperial Capital. I made a call to ask, and he was actually very enthusiastic, saying there's a patient for surgery tomorrow."

"Let's go take a look!" Ji Xiang suddenly became spirited.

"Don't hold too much hope. I'm mainly just curious; my blood was boiling at the time. Now that I think about it, if he could achieve any results, wouldn't he have soared to success long ago? Besides, wanting to accomplish something isn't that simple."

Ji Xiang nodded; that was indeed the case.

To say nothing else, a single DSA Machine costs tens of millions, which is something Yuanliao City can hardly afford.

(End of this chapter)