Chapter 1396: 1353 Malingering

"Greeting." Zheng Ren smiled and extended his hand.

That person was listless, gave a perfunctory wave and pulled back.

Su Yun was a little unhappy.

No matter how you say it, I've pulled him back from the brink of death twice, yet this person doesn't utter a single polite word, acting like he's the big boss?

If that's the case, you might as well not come; why bother coming over? Complaining the surgery wasn't good, you flew from Rongcheng to Di Du just to pick a fight?

Zheng Ren sensed a hint of something off in Su Yun's emotions, stepped sideways to block her in front, and smiled, saying, "May I know your surname? Are you here on a mission?"

Upon hearing "on a mission," Su Yun fell silent.

However, this guy's attitude of having already given up on life really makes me dislike seeing him.

"Shi Huai Ru, that, Zheng Lao Ban, thanks for the past." Shi Huai Ru still looked listless, and in a voice only he could hear, said a word of thanks.

As for sincerity and such emotions, Zheng Ren felt none of it.

"Oh, it's fine." Zheng Ren chuckled, "Are your external injuries all healed?"

"No, it's not that I have a mission and you just tossed me over." Shi Huai Ru complained, "My whole body aches, especially my stomach; I've been uncomfortable all the time, sometimes even having a board-like abdomen. I highly suspect it's a sequela from the aortic stent stimulation."

Shi Huai Ru paused.

Zheng Ren then took another careful look at the system panel; it showed only a light red, with minor fractures in non-critical areas also in the healing phase. These areas aren't weight-bearing bones, so they don't affect walking at all.

One could say Shi Huai Ru isn't completely healthy, but as long as he avoids strenuous exercise, there's nothing wrong.

Board-like abdomen…… this guy really likes to spout nonsense.

"Any other symptoms?" Zheng Ren asked with a chuckle.

He knew how difficult the turbulent fluid physics model discussions with Dr. Mei Ha'er and Dr. Olsson had been these past few days.

The person before him was likely a top domestic physicist, and moreover needed an astonishing memory or a deep understanding of turbulence.

Otherwise, even just following along would probably be useless.

Adding what Su Yun said about the programmer, Zheng Ren recalled that this guy seemed to have been muttering code even while unconscious.

"With each heartbeat I feel stomach pain, starting from the aorta pulling on surrounding connective tissue, a needle-like pain." Shi Huai Ru said worriedly.

Zheng Ren laughed.

This is the most typical psychosomatic symptom; Shi Huai Ru is fine.

Su Yun glanced at him, not knowing the depth, and remained silent for now. He saw that Zheng Ren's attitude was especially gentle, even when facing someone "looking for trouble."

"Come on, let me try giving you an injection." Zheng Ren said: "It's an imported medicine, specifically for treating neurogenic pain after aortic dissection aneurysm stent surgery; I brought it back from the Mayo Clinic a few days ago—if you'd come earlier, you wouldn't have gotten it."

Shi Huai Ru didn't move.

He lazily flipped up his eyelids and glanced at Zheng Ren.

Zheng Ren felt a slight oddity in his heart.

"Zheng Lao Ban, you wouldn't think I'm hysterical and just give me some saline or the like, telling me my illness is cured, would you?" Shi Huai Ru asked.

"……" Zheng Ren was speechless.

"……" Su Yun was speechless.

Damn, isn't this obvious? How could there still be subjective symptoms?

Zheng Ren shook his head and said, "Mr. Shi, you haven't understood, have you? To be frank, after aortic dissection aneurysm surgery, there definitely won't be any symptoms."

"But I……"

"This surgery, nobody in the world could do it better than me. Other doctors have performed tens of thousands, even millions of cases, with no related reports—are you saying your constitution is special or that my skill is lacking?" Zheng Ren had no choice but to speak frankly.

"Hey, how did you become a doctor?" Shi Huai Ru suddenly chuckled, "I just want to take a sick leave and rest for a while."

"……" So he's just malingering? Zheng Ren really hadn't anticipated this.

"I can't approve your sick leave."

"It's not that long—just three to five years will do, I still have plenty……" Shi Huai Ru clung to the wall like a fresco; Zheng Ren had no doubt that even if his feet left the ground, he wouldn't fall.

But this guy…… how can he seem so unreliable?

"Leave contact information; I'll notify you when I start." Zheng Ren had wanted to speak nicely, but this person's temperament is really odd, making communication impossible.

"Then I'll go lie down." Standing for a long time made his whole body uncomfortable, all kinds of fatigue, dizziness and blurred vision, and now he's already starting to feel like vomiting. Shi Huai Ru didn't ask Zheng Ren when he'd contact him, why he wasn't starting the mission today, but just floated away like a paper airplane.

"Hey! Leave your phone and WeChat. I'll go see Dr. Mei Ha'er in a bit—you probably can't even walk lately." Zheng Ren really wanted to cover his eyes; this guy is so lazy he can't even be bothered to look.

"Su Yun, you contact him." Having said that, Zheng Ren immediately fell silent like a stone and walked into the office.

About a minute later, Su Yun walked in with a smirk.

"Boss, that guy just now wasn't simple." Su Yun said with a smile.

"Hmm, you can tell." Zheng Ren said, "But is this attitude really okay?"

"Never mind, it's none of our business." Su Yun smiled, "These are the materials of the Qin family patriarch from Xianggang, Qin Lu, just sent over by Zou Yu."

But they had no time to look; it was already eight o'clock, and they began the shift handover.

Handing over shifts, making rounds, informing Chang Yue and Liu Zewei to prepare for tomorrow's surgery, then Zheng Ren sat down at his desk with his notebook.

The materials were very detailed; these Xianggang tycoons' checkups are top-notch. For example, genetic testing for heart ion channel disease—considered astronomically expensive for ordinary people—is just a routine check for them.

The test results were all electronic data; Zheng Ren spent nearly half an hour just to finish reading them.

"Su Yun, is that side confirmed?" Zheng Ren had some doubts.

"They say there's no better diagnosis, so it should be regarded as senile dementia." Su Yun said, "Another possible diagnosis is acute onset hypersomnia, but there's no clinical evidence."

"Doesn't look like it." Zheng Ren pulled up the head CT image on the computer, repeatedly zooming in and out, finally settling on a point, and said, "Here, there's an issue; mild cerebral hypoperfusion can be diagnosed. Besides that, I don't think there will be any other clear diagnosis."

On the image, the hippocampal region of the cerebral cortex and the medial temporal area showed slight atrophy.

But for an octogenarian, this atrophy is already considered especially mild. Compared to peers, Qin Lu's physique could practically be described as robust as an ox.

"What symptoms?"

"They say he needs to sleep over twenty hours a day, sometimes falling asleep mid-meal. After falling asleep, his sleep quality is extremely low, with incessant nightmares that are extraordinarily vivid; upon waking, he can describe them himself."

"It's like this..." Zheng Ren rested his chin on his right hand, left hand placed under his right armpit, began to read the face of the image on the computer screen.