Chapter 1135: 1106 Return to the Starting Point

Yi Ren! When did you come back!

Although Zheng Ren is face-blind, he can tell from the movements; this is Chu Yan zhi, the one who shouted about burning my calories.

Chu Yanran, by contrast, is calmer and more aloof.

The two laughed and chatted; Chu Yan zhi glanced at Zheng Ren, then at Xie Yiren, and said with a smile, "Coming back for a honeymoon?"

Um…… Xie Yiren laughed and shrank back.

"I suddenly missed Director Pan, so I came back to have a look," Zheng Ren said.

"What's in the box?" Chu Yan zhi asked. "Is it a gift you brought for us? Let me guess—you went to the Mayo Clinic, and then…"

Zheng Ren broke into a sweat; he had completely forgotten about the present. He had originally planned to buy something for Xiao Yi Ren, but after using the True Eye, he was mentally exhausted and actually forgot about it.

I really feel like punching myself—forgetting something like this, what good am I!

Seeing Chu Yan zhi's eager guess, he quickly stopped the embarrassment from spreading.

"They're surgical instruments," Zheng Ren said quickly.

"Same as always—except for surgery, he remembers nothing. I asked him what he ate last night," Chu Yan zhi said, not surprised at all, and snorted.

"Steak." Zheng Ren certainly hadn't forgotten.

"Is this coming back after eating your fill to save the day?"

"Are you this busy every day?" Zheng Ren asked.

"No, it's not like that—today is special. Heaven knows why the surgeries never end; they say there are still patients downstairs. Car accidents, appendicitis, cholecystitis, fractures…" Chu Yan zhi started counting on her fingers.

Zheng Ren shrugged his shoulders, wanting to hand the white instrument case to Chu Yan zhi, but he was still reluctant.

Xie Yiren knew Zheng Ren's thoughts, smiled, and took the instrument case, holding it in her hand.

"You even brought the instruments back, Chief Zheng—you're getting more and more professional." After saying this, Chu Yan zhi realized they were still chatting at the doorway and quickly ushered Zheng Ren and Xie Yiren inside.

"Don't you want to go on stage and recover some familiar memories?" Chu Yan zhi asked with a smile.

"Um……" Zheng Ren's hand twitched slightly.

Surgery—it's still this familiar place; what's there to hesitate about?

His inner confusion couldn't hide his body's instinct; Chu Yan zhi smiled and said, "I told Doctor Wang Zong to push a patient up—it's a bit urgent. The patient upstairs can't go down, and the one downstairs can't come up. Chief Zheng, you really are timely rain."

"What patient?"

"Wang Zong is doing an intestinal obstruction; the surgery is fairly difficult. After that are appendicitis and such—who knows? My sister went to see the patient; we'll ask later."

"No need—I'll watch Wang Zong's surgery first, then we'll talk," Zheng Ren said.

Chu Yan zhi pulled Xie Yiren straight to the women's changing room; the two chatted and laughed, and even the cold, purified airflow of the operating room seemed a bit more lively and spicy.

Zheng Ren stared at the scene so familiar it was in his bones, and he drifted off a little.

The locker—is it still the same as before? The key…… Zheng Ren felt the key on top of the cabinet; there was no dust, suggesting someone cleans it often, yet no one uses his own locker.

How thoughtful, Zheng Ren thought.

He opened the cabinet; a brand-new set of isolation gowns lay inside.

Normally, isolation gowns, after repeated disinfection, are all ragged, and there's no chance of them being personally assigned.

This must be what they deliberately did, pretending they hadn't left. It's so childish—Zheng Ren unconsciously cracked a smile.

Although he had left this place, it still retained his traces. He just didn't know when time would be able to erase that trace.

His fingertips lightly touched the cabinet; the four walls of the locker were ice-cold, the poor-quality steel dented and bulged under his fingers—everything seemed illusory, yet so real.

All the way through surgery, from the Mayo Clinic to Heidelberg, to 912, and back to Hai Cheng, it felt like a dream, strange and wondrous. But when he saw the familiar locker, everything became real.

Past and future wove into a perfect circle, from the starting point back to the endpoint—like life.

He was only slightly confused, but it didn't affect his instinct to change clothes.

In the changing room, one naturally changes clothes, then either prepares to go up for surgery or drags a tired body downstairs to see the round of patients and find a place to sleep.

Like a wounded beast licking its wounds, he recovered quickly to stay alive. But he did this only so others could live—nothing more.

Having changed clothes, Zheng Ren was like a soldier ready to deploy; he quickly entered the state. No affectation, no confusion, no fatigue—he walked, familiar with the routine, into the lit operating room.

Chu Yanran was still the same, sitting by the ventilator, recording the numbers. Seeing Zheng Ren walk in wearing an isolation gown, she gave a faint smile.

Wearing a cap and mask, her smile could only be seen in her eyes; her eyes narrowed, forming a beautiful arc.

Zheng Ren nodded, counting it as a greeting. Then he stood behind Wang Zong and looked toward the operative field.

Adhesive intestinal obstruction, the adhesions were severe; Wang Zong was carefully dissecting the adhered segment.

This surgery is the most difficult and headache‑inducing in both the General Surgery Department and the Gastroenterology Surgery Department.

It's not that the surgical grade is high; it's because before opening the abdomen, nobody can judge how difficult the surgery will actually be.

If it's simple, they finish within half an hour after opening the abdomen.

If it's difficult, it's basically endless—countless spots need dissection, and a slip can tear the congested, edematous intestinal wall, leading to unpredictable consequences.

As for the cause of this situation—for example, after Wu Hui undergoes intestinal flushing, he may develop adhesive intestinal obstruction at any time years later.

This is a very difficult surgery; Wang Zong's ability is just at the passing line. In fact, his skill is quite high—at least during Liu Tianxing's prime, he wasn't any weaker.

But high skill can't overcome the difficulty of the surgery. Zheng Ren estimates that, even if he didn't come back, Wang Zong could still finish this operation, but exactly how many hours it would take is hard to say.

His fingers twitched slightly, as if holding a scalpel; this motion exposed Zheng Ren's subconscious true intention.

Watching Wang Zong perform the surgery was really awkward; Zheng Ren really wanted to grab the hemostatic forceps and smash his radial styloid, telling him how it should be done.

"Doctor Wang Zong, do you need an assistant?" Zheng Ren asked.

Wang Zong's body tensed slightly, then he suddenly relaxed and said, "Zheng Lao Ban, how did you come back?"

"I missed the director, so I came back to have a look," Zheng Ren said.

"Scrub in and come help—this is too hard to do alone." Wang Zong felt relieved in his heart; this surgery, if he had to finish it himself, carefully, couldn't he let everyone go to work?

The length of time doesn't really matter; today things have gone awry, with patients coming one after another, and there are still emergencies downstairs waiting for surgery. If we delay the later patients' surgical treatment, it's certainly not good.

Zheng Lao Ban has returned, and all problems are readily solved.