Chapter 668: The Ruthless One

To determine the nature of the space-occupying lesion, the Thoracic Department scheduled a puncture biopsy; the facts once again proved that the space-occupying lesion in Mo Chenggui's lower right lung was not a Malignant Tumor.

Regarding this, only Lin Jiuze fell into deep thought.

Although he spoke with great logic, it was precisely because he understood that he was all the more shocked.

Ji Xiang's performance was far stronger than he had imagined, and his imaginative diagnoses were even more difficult to fathom than Lin Jiuze's own.

Originally, Lin Jiuze had wanted to learn advanced Hybrid Surgery, but he had not expected Ji Xiang to shock him with one diagnosis after another.

Since then, Lin Jiuze had been observing Ji Xiang.

Usually, Ji Xiang was like an ordinary Doctor, with nothing special to be seen. However, the matters of the Compound Licorice Tablets and the Bird Allergy remained imprinted in Lin Jiuze's mind, unable to be erased.

With fewer and fewer holidays, Lin Jiuze was also getting a bit anxious.

It was not just the diagnoses; there were also almost zero Hybrid Surgery cases involving joints and ligaments.

In fact, Lin Jiuze also knew that Ji Xiang had only "proven" himself through one variety show, which still needed time to ferment, and a consensus could not be reached in a short time.

But he had no time left, truly no time left!

A sense of urgency welled up; Lin Jiuze even wanted to contact Massachusetts General Hospital to find a Patient to operate on, and he wouldn't even mind paying the costs himself.

A few days later.

Ji Xiang came off a surgery.

"That silly dog of mine needs to be walked thoroughly every day, otherwise its boundless energy could tear the house apart," Ji Xiang said, turning to change his clothes while chatting with Tang Yan.

"What breed?" Tang Yan asked.

"Border Collie? German Shepherd? I'm not too sure, but it's quite sensible," Ji Xiang said.

"Can it do a backflip?" Tang Yan asked, squinting her eyes.

Ji Xiang understood this reference and laughed, "Next time you wake up early, I'll take you two for a run and show you what 'walked thoroughly' means."

This guy Ji Xiang, he wouldn't concede a single bit of advantage in conversation, Tang Yan thought indignantly.

"Xiao Ji, you are the most ruthless person I've ever seen," Zhao Zhe said while lifting a Patient.

"Ruthless? That's a bit much."

"You're so disciplined; anyone who can get out of bed the moment they open their eyes, I consider a ruthless character! If your luck isn't particularly bad, you'll definitely have a bright future," Zhao Zhe said. "Being able to be disciplined is truly too strong. Every time I try to be a bit more disciplined, I fall back into laziness within three to five days."

"Speaking of ruthless people, my roommate when I was in school was the real deal," Tang Yan said, coming to Ji Xiang's rescue while tidying up the instruments. "My roommate was one meter seventy and loved wearing high heels. You know, wearing high heels too much leads to paronychia; she had severe paronychia on both feet and said it was a piercing pain to walk."

"One day I returned to the dorm and the whole room was full of blood; the bedsheets were soaked."

"Oh? Bedsheets? Soaked?" Zhao Zhe asked.

"Pah!" Tang Yan spat. "I thought there had been a murder and got a huge fright, but it turned out that sister was using pliers to pull out her own toenails."

"!!!"

"!!!"

"Performing a Nail Extraction Surgery on herself?" Ji Xiang asked. "When I was in the Urology Department, I heard Wang Daxiao say there was a Patient who cut his own foreskin at home; it was also a bed full of blood, and he ended up coming to the hospital to stop the bleeding."

"Right, she pulled them out herself, the nails on both big toes."

Nail Extraction Surgery involves anesthesia first, then using scissors to cut the ingrown nail on both the inner and outer sides down to the root before pulling it out. The surgery is very simple; in some hospitals, even Interns have done it.

But to do it on oneself, one has to say she is a ruthless person.

"The key is!" Tang Yan raised her voice to emphasize, "That sister didn't use anesthesia; she just pulled them out raw."

"My god!"

"Is that one of the ten great tortures?"

"The teacher only taught the basic surgical process in class, and it was only because the female students were interested that he mentioned it; he didn't say it required anesthesia. So she thought it didn't need anesthesia and just performed the paronychia surgery on herself like that."

"With that level of intelligence, she has basically bid farewell to Clinical practice," the Anesthesia Doctor joked.

"Stupid as it may be, she's truly brave!" Ji Xiang praised. "Not using anesthesia, cutting the nail to the root and pulling it out herself—isn't that just like the torture of piercing fingers with bamboo sticks?"

"Impressive!" Zhao Zhe gave a thumbs up. He wanted to say something, but suddenly thought of something and fell silent.

Ji Xiang sensed Zhao Zhe's hesitation and his sudden drop in mood, but he did not ask immediately; instead, he helped lift the Patient onto the stretcher and, rather than going to change his clothes right away, went with Zhao Zhe to transport the Patient.

Lin Jiuze followed to help, continuing to observe Ji Xiang at close range.

"Zhao Ge, what were you going to say just now?" Ji Xiang asked.

"I once encountered a Patient with late-stage Cancer," Zhao Zhe said softly. "The family had a little money, but not much. The child wasn't married yet, and by the time it was discovered, it was already late-stage. The Patient didn't want to be hospitalized for treatment, saying it was too wasteful and unnecessary. But the family unanimously decided that treatment was mandatory, so they brought the Patient in."

"There was a conflict between the family's decision and the Patient's own; as the attending Doctor, I couldn't say anything and could only let them discuss it themselves."

"In such matters, a Doctor really can't do much. Knowing full well there is a giant pit ahead, no matter how much money you throw in, it won't be filled; at most, it can be considered spending money to buy a little more lifespan."

"I understand, Zhao Ge." Ji Xiang patted Zhao Zhe's shoulder to offer comfort.

"Later, the Patient and the Family Member had several arguments. The Patient's son brought his future wife along to persuade them. That girl was truly amazing; she laid it out directly, saying that even if it meant bankruptcy, they had to seek treatment first."

"And then?" Ji Xiang asked.

"One day I was on the night shift, and the door to the Duty Room was kicked open by a Family Member."

"..." Ji Xiang knew something major must have happened; it was likely that the Patient just mentioned had committed suicide in the ward, which was why their family or the family of the Patient in the next bed had kicked open the Doctor's Duty Room door in a panic.

"When I got there, I saw the scene of the Patient using plastic tape to wrap their head layer by layer, suffocating to death."

"!!!"

"That was the most brutal scene I've seen in my decades of practicing medicine," Zhao Zhe sighed. "If you want to talk about a ruthless person, that old gentleman was the truly ruthless one. He ended his own life... sigh, let's not talk about this, let's not talk about this."

Ji Xiang raised an eyebrow and did not continue to chat about this topic.

Lin Jiuze felt they were very strange.

The stretcher was pushed out of the operating room, and a Doctor wearing an isolation gown with a sterile surgical gown over it was walking out while talking on the phone.

"We've already consulted on the Patient; I don't think there's a need for a laparotomy. How about you in Internal Medicine use medication for a while longer?"

"Acute abdomen doesn't necessarily mean everyone needs a laparotomy; the key is that there are no surgical indications."

"Wait for me a moment, I'll go take a look. But I still suggest seeking a hospital-wide consultation first; call Lu Zhuren, maybe it's some kind of rheumatic immune disease."

Listening to the words he spoke on the phone, Ji Xiang thought that "when in doubt, check rheumatology" really was a golden rule.

(End of chapter)