Chapter 203: Afterwards, Crush Him to Death

"Boss, how are you feeling?" Ling Tian asked in a low voice.

As Ji Xiang left, he gradually returned to normal. Recalling scene after scene at the academic conference, Ling Tian wanted to bury his head in his crotch; he didn't know how to describe his mood, he just didn't want to see anyone, he didn't want to see anyone at all.

But he was worried about his boss's health, and although he felt he would be given a severe scolding, he still braced himself and rushed over at the first opportunity.

"Ling Tian, do you think I've been wrong all these years?" Qin Chu lay on the hospital bed, on the verge of death, and asked in a weak voice.

Qin Chu's voice was desolate, completely devoid of the domineering air of someone who used to have the final say in everything, and lacking the confident swagger he once had.

"Boss, please don't think that way." Ling Tian gathered his courage, resisting the lingering influence of the 【Superior Doctor's Gaze】, and braced himself to say, "It was just an accidental occurrence."

"Just an accident?" Qin Chu murmured.

A simple question that left Ling Tian speechless.

The master and apprentice were silent for a long time; in the silence, Qin Chu reached out his hand and, with Ling Tian's help, sat up.

Ling Tian hurriedly supported his boss as he slowly sat at the head of the bed.

Qin Chu's complexion was ashen, looking like a dead man, not at all as radiant as when he had walked in with Teng this morning.

A single turn of events had aged his boss by 20 years instantly.

Seeing this, Ling Tian couldn't bear it, and his nose felt sore.

But before he could cry, Qin Chu was already streaming with old tears.

"Ling Tian, it shouldn't be, it shouldn't be! I was so eager for talent, my sincerity was clear for all to see, yet that wolf cub actually bit me back."

"Boss, it's okay, it's okay." Ling Tian said, offering empty words of comfort.

Although he knew these words had no power at all, Ling Tian didn't know what else to say to comfort his boss.

"I also know that one surgery every fifteen minutes... no, at the beginning I did manage things a bit, but there were so many patients waiting for surgery outside, I couldn't bear it. By working faster, everyone could get treated; this was also a kind of compromise."

Qin Chu suddenly stopped mentioning that "wolf cub," instead changing his tone and murmuring.

He seemed to be repenting, and also seemed to be explaining to someone, his guilt mixed with unwillingness, his emotions complex.

"Boss, you're right," Ling Tian said. "There are simply too many patients on our side, and too few doctors who can perform surgery; this is something that can't be helped. If we had plenty of time, who wouldn't want to perform the surgery more carefully."

The master and apprentice had a tacit understanding built up over many years; Qin Chu was just about to follow Ling Tian's lead, trying to find excuses to appease his own guilt.

But just as Qin Chu's mood had relaxed a little, feeling that he had done the right thing, that unbearable memory surged into his heart again.

The comfort from the attending doctor,

The inexplicable anger at seeing the tube resting on the hepatic artery and not going in on the operating table,

The violent nausea and vomiting after the surgery, the hellish experience,

The fluke of having no symptoms,

The despair of finding the entire liver full of them during the follow-up,

The numbness of walking toward death day by day,

Countless emotions surged into his heart, like a tide, mercilessly battering Qin Chu's heart.

The comfort from just a moment ago was so pale and powerless in the face of these experiences, so ethereal, so vulnerable.

Qin Chu froze.

He didn't know where this "experience" that felt like a long time had passed in an instant came from; the two life experiences of being the surgeon and the patient had already torn his mind apart.

Silence, endless silence; inside Qin Chu's heart, two thoughts were battling, with flashes of swords and shadows of blades.

Seeing his boss's face flickering between light and dark, Ling Tian knew that some knots could only be untied by oneself, so he kept silent at the right moment.

This was the tacit understanding between the master and apprentice.

I don't know how much time passed, but Qin Chu let out a long sigh.

"It was wrong after all." Qin Chu let the old tears flow down his face, dripping onto his clothes, yet the inexplicable feeling in his heart did not fade even a little bit because of the crying.

Ling Tian was silent; he felt that something might be about to happen.

"I shouldn't have been meddlesome, playing the damn talent scout." Qin Chu's face was full of malice. "A young genius was spotted by me, and I even invited Academician Teng to attend the academic conference; thinking about it now, it was truly too naive."

"There are many ungrateful wolf cubs in this world; I gave my heart and soul, and what did I get in return!" Qin Chu said, patting the back of Ling Tian's hand with his right hand. "The old saying is still right: time reveals a person's heart. Ling Tian, when it really comes to the critical moment, it still has to be you."

These words were already somewhat emotional.

"Boss, you need to rest more." Ling Tian hurriedly tried to dissuade him.

"Ling Tian, I was wrong this time." Qin Chu was no longer suffering; that hazy nightmare dissipated like dust and smoke. He let go of Ling Tian's hand and wiped away his tears. "I estimate I still have a few years; you prepare on your end, and in a while, I will take you to visit some people."

Ling Tian was startled, then felt wild joy in his heart.

His boss had been stimulated and was unwilling to give up, wanting to burn himself out at the last moment to see if he could push himself into the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The thing his boss hadn't achieved back then was indeed extremely difficult, extremely difficult.

But having hope is always better than having no hope, isn't it?

"Boss, you rest first; we can talk about other things later." Ling Tian suppressed the wild joy in his heart, trying his best to comfort his boss in a flat tone.

Qin Chu was too suspicious by nature, and it was only because he had been stimulated today that he had made such a major decision.

"No more resting; it's uncomfortable here. Let's go back to my office, and the two of us will plan out the path forward." Qin Chu felt he had to do something to make himself feel better.

He had to do something to resist and dilute the various negative energies brought to him by the vivid "nightmare."

If he couldn't get rid of it, and thought about it more deeply, Qin Chu even felt that those mutterings were like little knives that would slice him to pieces in a very short time.

He must do something!

"Help me up!" Qin Chu said in a deep voice.

Ling Tian was startled; he didn't dare say "no" again and helped Qin Chu sit upright.

Ling Tian was afraid his boss's body couldn't handle it, so he braced his shoulder against his boss's back.

"Back to the ward, you bring all your research, projects, and materials from these years." Qin Chu said.

"Ah? Boss, you..."

Ling Tian hurriedly tried to dissuade him.

"It is not too late to mend the fold even after the sheep have been lost." Qin Chu raised his hand to wipe the welts on his face. "This time, the shame has reached the ends of the earth, but we must do something. You have worked hard over the past few years, and you have the resume you deserve; we don't need to scramble at the last minute. As for the rest, I will do my best, but it also depends on your fate."

"..."

Ling Tian did not know why his boss was in such a hurry.

But in a flash, he remembered the scene where Ji Xiang slammed a stack of A4 paper into his face.

At the time, there was no anger in his heart; Ling Tian didn't even dare to be angry.

As a junior doctor caught by a senior doctor for a work error, and one that would bring about irreparable consequences, all he felt was guilt and unease.

Anger?

Ling Tian didn't even dare to think about it.

As for being slapped in the face with A4 paper, he could only swallow his pride and bend down to pick up the papers.

However, as the effect of 【Senior Doctor's Gaze】 gradually faded, coupled with his boss constantly bringing it up, a strong sense of humiliation welled up.

"Ling Tian, do you think I've been a bit sloppy with my surgeries lately?" Qin Chu asked while sitting on the bed.

He prepared to put on his shoes, and Ling Tian squatted on the ground to put them on for his boss.

Qin Chu still had a final shred of obsession in his heart, and he was struggling to resolve it.

"Boss, Interventional Surgery is too difficult, and Embolization of a Level 4 Blood Vessel is not necessarily required."

"But a Third-level Blood Vessel must always be subject to Super-selection," Qin Chu muttered.

Qin Chu stopped abruptly when he reached this point.

He knew how difficult it was to do that.

Just like many ignorant people on the internet clamoring that if you don't want to do it, you don't have to; even with large-scale centralized procurement in the country, they only dare to lower the price of the Stent, but what about the Drug-eluting Balloon? Do they dare to touch it?

If they really lowered all profits to zero, who would be willing to work on the front lines and sacrifice their own physical health to perform surgeries?

By then, I'm afraid the doctors would all be gone, or at least the doctors who perform surgeries would be gone.

For example, the position of Resident Chief has driven away many doctors.

The trolls on the internet can speak without taking responsibility, but when there are no surgeons left, the same group of people will be the first to come and complain.

It is the same logic; if you demand more precise Embolization, there will certainly be people who cannot do it.

As Qin Chu thought about this, his brows furrowed slightly.

"Boss, let me speak a fair word." Ling Tian was the tapeworm in Qin Chu's stomach.

He looked aloof and had a backbone of steel, but anyone who could reach this position was a shrewd person; Ling Tian knew exactly what his boss wanted to hear.

"Let's not talk about the difficulty of Super-selection of a Level 4 Blood Vessel; just look at how many doctors can perform similar surgeries. If others don't know, don't we know?"

"If you search the whole country hard, it would be good to have 200-300 doctors who can do this, and it also depends on luck during the surgery."

"The tumor reduction surgery you performed was successful, and it would be fine no matter who looked at it. That little wolf cub was just lucky to find a blood vessel branch in the Subclavian Artery. Not to mention that, there are only so many doctors in the country, and it's the same abroad."

"And what about the Patient who needs treatment?" Ling Tian said seriously. "How many patients are waiting for treatment? Even if you just place a tube in the Hepatic Artery and inject some Chemotherapy drugs, the Patient still benefits."

"I don't think anyone can deny this point."

The last bit of guilt in Qin Chu's heart was dissipating.

Ling Tian was truly worthy of being Qin Chu's most trusted student; every word hit the depths of Qin Chu's heart, making him feel extremely comfortable.

"If we strive for perfection, the vast majority of patients without connections will definitely not get treatment. We all know what kind of people the patients who can get treatment are."

"Can it be like this! Absolutely impossible."

As Ling Tian spoke, his face was full of righteousness; he had already convinced himself, and he had already moved himself.

Isn't it just finding the moral high ground? Who wouldn't know how to do that?

"If that were really the case, Interventional Surgery would become a god-tier treatment method that only a small number of people could access. How can everyone benefit? You see, that's the logic, right?"

"Sigh." Qin Chu sighed. "Ling Tian, that's how it's said, but the doctors in the circle are all..."

"A bunch of hypocrites." Ling Tian had returned to normal, and the humiliation of the A4 paper being slammed into his face was now incredibly vivid, piercing his heart like a knife.

He had unknowingly achieved complete empathy with his boss.

"Boss, I know how much pressure you are under, but look at the surgical volume! How many surgeries do they perform a year? What happens to the vast majority of patients in the end!"

"When you were young, you came up as a Barefoot Doctor. The situation our interventional discipline faces is the same as the medical environment back then. Striving to ensure that everyone gets the treatment they deserve and extending their lives as much as possible—is there anything wrong with that!"

"If it weren't for you, our domestic interventional discipline would have taken at least ten more years to reach its current level."

"As for Ji Xiang, he is just a wolf cub who doesn't know how to be grateful; once he gets a chance, he bites like crazy. This is my fault. I went for a field inspection and was blinded, thinking he was a talent worth molding, and brought you the wrong information."

Ling Tian said, his face full of grief and indignation.

Qin Chu patted Ling Tian's back hard; he seemed to be comforting Ling Tian, and also comforting himself.

It was just a case of meeting the wrong person, that's all.

"Since that wolf cub dares to do this and provoke me in public, then crush him completely."

Ling Tian raised his hand and made a light slicing motion across his neck.

"Good!" The last trace of complex emotion in Qin Chu's heart completely dissipated, and he said forcefully, "At least in the interventional discipline, it won't be that easy for him to gain momentum!"

"Boss, don't think about today's matters. I'll take you back to rest. If you feel uncomfortable, just call me; I'll be in the Duty Room."

"No," Qin Chu said firmly. "Everything is prepared for, and nothing is achieved without preparation. Since we are ready to start, let's be serious. Ling Tian, bring me your recent scientific research; let's discuss it."

"Scientific research is just a stepping stone, but at that level, many things have to be presentable on the surface," Qin Chu said. "Let's go take a look first, and take the rest step by step."

Ling Tian helped his boss leave the Emergency Rescue Room.

"What's wrong with Qin today?" the Emergency Department Nurse asked in a low voice as the two left.

"They say he was scolded by a young doctor."

"No way, can someone as fierce as Qin actually suffer such a loss?" the little Nurse was surprised.

The Emergency Department doctor's expression was very interesting; he wanted to laugh, but in the home hospital, if it were known that he was directly mocking Qin, it was hard to say if he would be retaliated against.

He forcibly suppressed that feeling of satisfaction and sighed feignedly, "Who knows? That's what the person who came to see Qin today said."

"Who on earth is it, being so badass."

"They say Qin discovered a young man and wanted to take him on as a student, even specially holding an academic conference and inviting Academician Teng from Jinling."

The young nurse clicked her tongue.

Although she didn't know who Academician Teng was, anyone carrying the title of Academician was a big shot.

"As a result, nobody knows what happened, but that young Doctor went crazy and made Qin so angry that he came straight to our Emergency Department."

"That really is crazy," the young nurse said.

The Emergency Department doctor saw Ling Tian supporting Qin Chu, and as their figures disappeared around the corner, he felt great admiration for that "crazy" young doctor.

Everyone knew what kind of person Qin Chu was, but who would dare to point at his nose and curse him to his face?

If there's a chance, I must meet this person.

(End of this chapter)