Chapter 525: The Sharp

3 days later.

A new episode of the show began airing.

As usual, Bai Chuzhang and Liu Zhuren were sitting in a private room at Peiyang Barbecue, drinking and watching the variety show.

Two old men meeting up to watch a variety show—no matter how you look at it, it's strange.

But the two were perfectly content and enjoyed watching it.

Every time they felt the show had reached its peak, the production team would, as if aided by gods, come up with new tricks.

What about this time?

The two old men were full of anticipation.

"Lao Bai, do you think there's something fishy about the production team sending interns to the Outpatient Department? Outpatient patients aren't as easy to talk to as the stable patients in the inpatient ward."

"You don't know the tricks behind this?" Bai Chuzhang said with disdain. "A portion of them must be played by medical staff. I wouldn't even be surprised if they were all doctors and nurses, or even people from the Nursing Department. Speaking of which, Dazhi, didn't you have to take an exam on similar content back when you were in school?"

"I did, it was very rushed."

"That settles it. If I were the Director of Medical Affairs or the Vice President in charge of clinical affairs at Hang Yi Da Yi Fu Yuan, I certainly wouldn't let them actually interact with patients," Bai Chuzhang said, smiling slightly. "Of course, except for Ji Xiang."

"What kind of new performance do you think Ji Xiang will have in this episode?"

"Outpatient, nothing special. You don't expect Ji Xiang to perform a circumcision in the Outpatient Department, do you? He could do it, and do it well, but it can't be broadcast, not even in the late-night slot."

Back when the two lived in the dormitory, they used to listen to crosstalk before sleep, and when the time came, they would talk about things the TV station wouldn't allow to be broadcast; this old inside joke had already been integrated into their blood.

"Hahaha." Liu Zhuren laughed. "Don't even joke about that, that stuff can't be on a TV show."

"Every time I go to the Outpatient Department, I have to avoid your Urology Department. The crying of little kids getting circumcised is too harrowing; I can't listen to it," Bai Chuzhang said. "Just watch."

After enduring a few more minutes of commercials, the show finally started.

Pure water and beverages were placed in the Review Room; they were likely new sponsors.

"Lao Bai, do you still watch the NBA?"

"I stopped watching a long time ago."

"The condom ads placed in the Penguin NBA live stream room are truly outrageous," Liu Zhuren said.

"It doesn't matter what they place, as long as they pay," Bai Chuzhang didn't mind.

Without money, how could such exquisite animations be produced?

Without money, how could a rushed show strive for perfection?

As long as they pay, it doesn't matter what is placed on the table. If the money is enough, it wouldn't even matter if they placed the manufacturer's urn on it.

Watching the guests chat, Liu Zhuren felt a bit sleepy and yawned. "Lao Bai, how much do you think they pay Shen Ke as a special guest?"

"A few hundred thousand, maybe. Can't compare to celebrities, but it's much more than doing surgery."

The conclusion was a bit absurd, but that was the fact.

On the screen, the bald host asked with a crooked mouth, "Teacher Shen, why don't hospitals have 24-hour outpatient clinics?"

"They do," Shen Ke said. "Maybe it goes by another name—the Emergency Department."

"..." The bald host laughed, trying hard to resolve his own awkwardness.

Shen Ke's answer didn't seem to match his question, but it also seemed to be exactly the case.

"Actually, if you want a 24-hour outpatient clinic, the demand for doctors would at least triple. It's very difficult to train a doctor; if possible, it's better not to go through the trouble."

"I heard that training a pilot requires their weight in gold, so what about training a mature doctor?"

"What it requires is..." Shen Ke hesitated for a moment and didn't finish the sentence.

"It requires human lives."

Bai Chuzhang, who was watching the variety show, said it very directly.

"Which doctor hasn't made mistakes when they were young?" Liu Zhuren picked up his wine glass and took a drink. "When I first started working, one of the first ten patients I was in charge of had Liver Cancer. The family told me very carefully not to let the patient know."

"I naturally said okay. Later, after getting off work, I saw the family member chatting with the patient in the hallway, and I just blurted out, 'Are you discussing going to the Imperial Capital for the Liver Cancer surgery?'"

"After saying that, I was completely stunned. What did it feel like? It was as if a bolt of lightning had descended from the sky and struck my head. My limbs went numb, especially my hands."

"You really are stupid," Bai Chuzhang said with disdain.

"I was young, no choice, and I didn't have that awareness," Liu Zhuren sighed. "At the time, the look in the family member's eyes was like they wanted to hit me, so I ran away quickly. Later, the patient was discharged; I don't know which hospital they went to. Looking back now, I still feel sorry for the patient and the family member."

"Doctors grow by constantly making mistakes; the difference lies in the number of mistakes made," Bai Chuzhang said.

"Lao Bai, what about you?"

"Me? How could I make mistakes like you common mortals?"

Liu Zhuren laughed out loud, didn't refute Bai Chuzhang's words, and continued watching TV.

The guests chatted for a few minutes and clearly stated that the first content of today's show was the interns working in the Outpatient Department.

The audience didn't know that Director Fan had reversed the order, putting that surgery later and letting the interns work in the Outpatient Department first.

The order didn't matter; the audience couldn't tell.

Several interns appeared one after another. When the first patient appeared, Bai Chuzhang burst out laughing.

"That's clearly a Head Nurse from some ward," Liu Zhuren laughed.

"I reckon it's an Outpatient Head Nurse," Bai Chuzhang said indifferently. "Some official authority, but without the overbearing posture of a ward Head Nurse."

Overbearing—Liu Zhuren understood that word.

The larger the Grade A Tertiary Hospital, the greater the power of the Head Nurse.

Like the Head Nurse under Liu Zhuren, only he could manage her; any other Attending Professor would have to be subservient when encountering her.

Arranging beds—this was the power held by the Head Nurse.

Although she wouldn't usually make things difficult for an Attending Professor, in special situations, making an Attending Professor uncomfortable was just a small matter.

Even if it escalated to Liu Zhuren, he would still have to lecture the Attending Professor, because the Head Nurse carried a lot of burdens for him.

The entry and exit records for High-value Consumables and so on were all handled by the Head Nurse.

However, the power of the Outpatient Department Head Nurse is smaller, as it is a place for retirement.

Although the "Patient" in the program was deliberately concealing it, Liu Zhuren and Bai Chuzhang were very familiar with the aura that was inadvertently revealed.

This could not be faked.

Sure enough, the Intern had no power to resist in front of the "Patient" disguised by the Head Nurse, and was left in a sorry state by the questions.

The Head Nurse may not have eaten pork, but she had seen pigs run; ordinary young Doctors were simply no match for her, let alone the few young Interns from the program team.

This was the popular segment of making Interns look foolish, in order to improve everyone's level of understanding of what makes a qualified Doctor.

They were so hardworking and were all top students who graduated from prestigious universities, but once they arrived in Clinical practice, their true colors were revealed.

The camera flashed, and Zhao Mengmeng's nervous face appeared. And beside her, the bright, sunny smile of Ji Xiang appeared prominently.

(End of this chapter)