Chapter 169: Firm Refusal

"Teacher, aren't you afraid?"

"What's there to be afraid of? There are plenty of stories in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, and even ghosts fear wicked people. Working in the Emergency Department, who doesn't have a bit of the scent of blood on them? Afraid of her?" the Emergency Department doctor said with disdain.

"That's true." Ji Xiang recalled a story in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio about a fierce man who chased a female ghost to sleep with her, only to end up scaring the female ghost's soul into scattering, and he smiled knowingly.

"You're quite something." The Emergency Department doctor looked Ji Xiang up and down. "The rumors about the grand competition have been getting more and more outrageous lately. They say you use Two-handed Operation, can tie over three hundred knots with two threads, and then an Expert from the Imperial Capital took a fancy to you and insists on marrying his daughter to you."

Ji Xiang knew how rumors were born; once the number of people passing on the story exceeded three, the words would become unrecognizable.

He glanced over and saw the name Meng Qingfei written on the Emergency Department doctor's name tag, so he explained, "Meng Laoshi, it's not like that."

After briefly describing the process of the grand competition, Meng Yisheng of the Emergency Department clicked his tongue in wonder.

Even if Ji Xiang wasn't as formidable as the rumors claimed, he was still enough to make people look up to him.

"Not bad, not bad. It's truly unexpected that Zhao Yuanzhang's record was broken and improved by so much. However, don't get arrogant. When I first came to the hospital, I also thought about achieving great things, but look at me now."

He spread his hands.

"It's also quite good; Meng Laoshi has rich Clinical experience," Ji Xiang praised.

"Heh." Meng Qingfei shook his head and took a deep drag of his cigarette. "Clinical experience?"

Ji Xiang nodded and said very sincerely, "Both times I've encountered you, Teacher, your handling of the Patients was spot on."

"Ha, I remember now. Last time I told you the story about the bathroom consecration," the Emergency Department doctor laughed.

"Mm."

"It's different." Meng Qingfei stubbed out the cigarette, held it carefully in his hand, went to the bathroom to extinguish it with tap water, and after checking it repeatedly, threw it into the trash can.

This Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder behavior of his was truly anxiety-inducing to watch, but Ji Xiang didn't say anything.

After throwing away the cigarette butt, Meng Qingfei went to the Treatment Room to wash his hands and wiped them on the seat of his White Uniform.

That spot was already pitch black; he didn't know how many times he had wiped them there, and it was damp and somewhat dirty.

"Teacher, sterile technique," Ji Xiang really couldn't help but remind him.

It was just too dirty; if it could have been even a little cleaner, Ji Xiang wouldn't have said a word.

Meng Qingfei, however, didn't care, replaced the doctor who was covering his shift, and sat in the Consultation Room to see patients.

Ji Xiang wasn't in a hurry either; the System NPC had said that having more contact with Clinical work was beneficial. Although the system hadn't issued a mission, Ji Xiang still watched with great interest.

What he lacked was Clinical experience, and Meng Qingfei was willing to talk, so every time he was free, he would chat with Ji Xiang.

No matter what questions Ji Xiang had, Meng Qingfei would tell him everything he knew.

This bit of experience in the Emergency Department didn't count for much, but he found Ji Xiang agreeable, so it was only natural to say a few more words.

"Doctor," a woman's voice came.

"Come in." Meng Qingfei glanced at the door, his body sitting up straight again involuntarily, looking every bit the veteran Doctor.

A woman with exquisite features and a slender figure walked in holding a registration ticket.

"Doctor, remove the stitches."

"Oh, what kind of surgery was it?"

The woman pursed her lips, glanced at Ji Xiang, and still said softly, "Breast surgery, done in the Imperial Capital."

"Was it a fibroma?"

"No."

"Then what was the surgical procedure?" Meng Qingfei asked.

"..." The woman's cheeks flushed slightly, a mix of shame and anger, and she glared at Meng Qingfei.

"You have a copy of the Medical Record, right? Bring it here for me to see."

"I haven't copied it yet, Doctor," the woman said with some impatience. "The doctor in the Imperial Capital said it would be fine to have the stitches removed locally. Look..."

"I won't look." Meng Qingfei was unexpectedly firm. He said resolutely, "Bring the Medical Record, otherwise I can't remove them."

"Why!" The anger in the woman's heart could no longer be contained, and she gradually began to grow irritable.

"You don't even know how the surgery was performed, and you want me to remove the stitches just like that? Ask the doctor who performed your surgery if that makes any sense." Meng Qingfei refused very firmly.

"But I've seen many people who have surgery in the Imperial Capital or Shanghai, and they all come back to have their stitches removed."

"That's because they met other doctors. I'm timid; I don't dare."

Meng Qingfei looked at the Patient, his eyes flashing, but his words were firm and completely uncompromising.

"You..." The Patient was very angry, her willow-leaf eyebrows standing upright.

"I'm telling the truth." Although Meng Qingfei was firm, his face was full of apologetic smiles. "This is also about being responsible for you, isn't it? What if something goes wrong during the stitch removal? At the very least, I need to see the Medical Record, and I'm not even sure I'll know how to remove them."

As he spoke, Meng Qingfei took the Patient's registration ticket, wrote "refund" on the back, and stamped it.

"Go and get a refund for the ticket. I really don't dare to remove them for you."

The woman was furious and pointed at Meng Qingfei's nose, scolding him for a while.

Meng Qingfei didn't argue back, waiting until she was tired of scolding and stormed off, saying she would go to file a complaint tomorrow.

The Consultation Room was in chaos. Ji Xiang didn't know why the Emergency Department doctor wouldn't remove the stitches for the Patient; theoretically, stitch removal in Emergency Surgery was a minor procedure, so it shouldn't be like this.

Besides, a pretty girl came to have stitches removed, so why did he feel like Meng Qingfei was the one about to be taken advantage of?

Strange.

Once things quieted down, Ji Xiang asked, "Meng Laoshi, why did you do that?"

"Do you think it's a trivial matter, something that can be done just by the way?" Meng Qingfei asked.

Ji Xiang nodded, not hiding his thoughts.

"It's not like that," Meng Qingfei said. "The Patient didn't even make it clear what the surgical procedure was. What if something goes wrong?"

"Can..."

"Let me tell you something." Meng Qingfei looked at the door; the girl had long since stormed off. He said with regret, "That girl was really beautiful. After the plastic surgery, she was curvy in all the right places. I don't know which bastard will get lucky with her in the future."

"..."

"Let's talk business. Once, an Emergency Department Doctor at a hospital was removing stitches for someone; originally it was high and perky, but after the removal, it suddenly sagged down to the belly button."

"......"

A young man like Ji Xiang really shouldn't chat with Clinical old timers; sooner or later, the input method on his phone system will change color.

"At the time, the Doctor thought it was strange and didn't think much of it, but the Patient immediately wouldn't have it. Guess what kind of surgery she had?"

"Huh? What kind of surgery?"

"A breast lift surgery," Meng Qingfei said. "The Emergency Department Doctor didn't know what the surgical procedure was and just cut the lifting thread that had been reserved. Tell me about this—in the end, they paid out hundreds of thousands."

"Uh..."

"Not to mention the Patient suffered, the Doctor didn't come out well either, and the hospital had to pay money. In the end, the only ones who benefited were the plastic surgery hospitals," Meng Qingfei said. "This is all Clinical experience, learn from it."

"Learn what?"

If you don't do the work, you won't make mistakes? Ji Xiang thought to himself.

"Of course, to be careful and cautious. Removing stitches is a small job; if it were on an arm or a leg, I would have removed them. On the chest, and it wasn't even a fibroma, so being cautious is as it should be."

(End of this chapter)