Chapter 207: Surgery Competition

"Xiao Ji, damn! You really came back?!" Wang Daxiao asked, inexplicably astonished.

"Yeah, I'm a Standardized Training Doctor, I have to be here for three years," Ji Xiang replied casually while skillfully performing the circumcision.

Wang Daxiao and Mo had only ever seen Level 9 circumcision surgery performed by Ji Xiang; they were simultaneously amazed that Ji Xiang's surgery could reach such a nearly perfect degree, and amazed that Ji Xiang had "given up" a bright future.

For a moment, they couldn't even tell where their focus should be.

Is this kid's brain sick, or is it only in a pathological state that one can perform surgery to perfection?

"Xiao Ji, you this..."

"Don't say it, Old Wang." Mo was not at the table; he stood behind watching Ji Xiang's surgery and cut off Wang Daxiao's words.

The two had collaborated on many large-scale surgeries; they were like an old married couple, knowing what the other needed from a single glance most of the time.

Just like when eating a popsicle, one movement and they understood, immediately putting up an umbrella and getting in the car.

These were all basic operations, a tacit understanding built up from a lifetime of surgical collaboration.

"Xiao Ji, you don't need to worry either," Mo comforted. "I've seen a few cases of academic matters over the years. Actually, to put it bluntly, you made Qin Chu lose face; that's not the most serious thing, he shouldn't go so far as to pursue it relentlessly."

"That's not serious!" Wang Daxiao didn't put up an umbrella and get in the car, but instead took the opposite stance to Mo.

"Heh." Mo smiled without emotion. "Generally speaking, what everyone needs is respect, it's 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.' But... let me ask you, Wang Daxiao."

"What is it?"

"Suddenly one day you have a surgery you can't handle, and everyone doesn't have a shred of contempt, but instead thinks it's normal—what would you think?"

"I'd be happy as a clam."

After Wang Daxiao finished speaking, hearing no movement from Mo, he assisted Ji Xiang in cutting down the foreskin and pondered it carefully.

What Mo said was very simple, but upon careful reflection, a cold sweat broke out on Wang Daxiao's back.

It was even scarier than Sadako!

He himself had practiced surgery for decades and had long since grown accustomed to being cautious, as if walking on thin ice.

Every time a surgery was successful and the Patient and Family Member left the hospital happily, it didn't matter whether what they said was sincere or fake.

With the skills accumulated over so many years finally having a place to be used, what else was there to be dissatisfied about?

But Mo had described a bizarre scene.

Surgery—it didn't matter if it was performed by a Standardized Training Student, by himself as a professor, or by a top-tier senior like Gu Lao; it didn't matter if it was good or bad...

Then had all the skills he had practiced for so many years gone down the drain?

This was equivalent to drawing an equals sign between himself and a Standardized Training Student.

If the craft he relied on for a lifetime suddenly became useless, then did everything he had done still have meaning?

"Old Mo, what do you mean?" Wang Daxiao asked sternly.

"Technical disputes don't matter, really," Mo earnestly comforted Ji Xiang. "Battles over technique are first based on one point, which is that both sides acknowledge that point. Once, I watched 'Farewell My Concubine'; after the liberation, Cheng Dieyi sang and his voice cracked, and the People's Liberation Army in the audience applauded without causing a scene. I was a bit confused at the time."

"Respect can't be eaten as a meal. If I perform surgery well, that's my ability. If I perform it poorly and the Patient or Family Member comes to pick at my faults, that's also because my technique isn't good enough. But what if all of that is gone?"

"Old Mo, this you..."

"So don't be afraid, I don't think Qin Chu will do anything out of line," Mo comforted. "Besides, we are in the Urology Department; we aren't even in the same system."

He spoke quite generally and broadly, just a rough idea, but Wang Daxiao understood in a second.

"Does Qin Chu have to thank Xiao Ji?"

"That wouldn't go that far," Mo laughed.

While joking, the surgery was already finished. Ji Xiang didn't feel that what Mo said was off-topic, just that the subject was too big, vaguely touching upon the fundamentals.

"Xiao Ji, the way you perform this surgery, it would be a waste not to be a Surgeon," Wang Daxiao praised. "And Gu Lao seems to think highly of you. Gu Lao is coming in a few days; remember to go meet him and get familiar."

"With Gu Lao here, and it being cross-system, no matter how arrogant Qin Chu is, what can he say? Right?"

"Gu Lao is coming? What for?"

"Isn't Zhou Jiaoshou working over here?" Mo explained. "The little apprentice Gu Lao took in is considered supporting the frontier here, but mainly because Gu Lao has profound attainments in Kidney Transplantation, and most importantly, he has connections for organ transplantation."

"Kidney?"

"Yeah, it's the same as the lung transplantation in Wuxi," Mo said. "Staying with us for a period of time to guide our transplantation surgeries."

"Do you feel that when Gu Lao came to do the Extension Surgery last time, you looked down on him in your heart?" Wang Daxiao asked.

"No, no."

Ji Xiang quickly said.

He was still young and didn't have the prejudices of a Clinical veteran; he truly had no thoughts of looking down on him in his heart.

"The 'Jianghu,' Gu Lao can't escape it either. When a person is in the Jianghu, they are not their own master; this is unavoidable. Let alone Gu Lao, what about Zhong Lao? Doesn't he still have to stand on stage for pharmaceutical companies? Who knows who said a word behind the scenes that even Zhong Lao couldn't bear."

"They can only write about in vitro experiments in the advertisements; that stuff can kill bacteria even in a cup of cola, so don't think that Gu Lao coming to do an Extension Surgery is about greed or anything."

"I know." Ji Xiang nodded; the System NPC had said something similar, that everyone is not their own master in the Jianghu.

"Back to business, Xiao Zhou Jiaoshou is leaving. He has always wanted to organize a surgery competition to promote the development of surgical techniques through competition."

"There are many surgery competitions in the South; this is the first time for us here," Mo said. "That's why Gu Lao is coming."

"Doctor Ji, Gu Lao had a good impression of you last time. When Gu Lao comes this time, let Old Mo take you to pay a visit. Don't be sour and stinky-tempered again; restrain yourself a bit."

Wang Daxiao exhorted.

"My temper is fine," Ji Xiang explained.

But he also knew that in the minds of other professors, he had already become that stubborn fool who scolded Qin Chu until he died of shame.

Actually, Ji Xiang's impression of Gu Lao was not bad.

He didn't continue to explain; saying more would only make it worse, and Ji Xiang was too lazy to talk more.

"Tomorrow we have a major surgery, I'll take you on it," Wang Daxiao suddenly said. "After you finish up here, go back and look at the Medical Record."

"What surgery?"

"YJ Cancer, total resection," Wang Daxiao said.

"Go and keep an eye on the Patient's Spirit," Mo Jiaoshou said. "The surgery is actually quite easy to perform and not very difficult; the difficulty lies in the changes to the Patient's Spirit."

"There's no other way. We must seize the time to perform the surgery. The five-year survival rate after surgery is quite good, and the malignancy is not high. But if we don't operate and choose to preserve it... it's also of no use."

"Understood." Ji Xiang nodded and agreed.

(End of chapter)