Chapter 2132: with translation of chapter title

Liu Zewei and Gao Shaojie were still in the hospital.

The night had grown deep, and the surgery live broadcast image froze on the final frame.

Neither of them spoke, sitting silently for a long time.

Performing surgery on an unborn fetus, an intracardiac intervention surgery guided by ultrasound to treat congenital aortic valve stenosis, was nothing short of a fantasy for the two of them.

Those who don't understand might think it's just about having a steady eye and hand; surgery, if successful, surely isn't that difficult.

But although Liu Zewei and Gao Shaojie are highly skilled, they may not be able to do it themselves, yet they can roughly tell from watching a surgery that ends in just a few minutes what level of technique it involves.

Talking too much brings tears; Liu Zewei has sighed countless times in his heart.

Returning with great enthusiasm, with Gao Shaojie's full support, and through the combined effort of two team-leading professors who are highly skilled and well-connected, Liu Zewei finally became the deputy chief of the Intervention Department at the Medical University Affiliated Hospital in Sheng Cheng, carrying out clinical work.

After all, Director Jin's surgery was successful, and his body gradually recovered postoperatively. Although he can no longer call the wind and summon the rain as before, there's no need to force him into retirement.

He retained his administrative post, but actual authority had been smoothly taken over by Liu Zewei.

When Liu Zewei had announced this decision in the hospital, his heart had leapt with joy; but now, seeing Zheng Lao Ban easily livestream an intracardiac intervention surgery treating congenital heart disease, his heart sighed endlessly.

If it had been a few days later, I would have been the one to perform this surgery myself.

During the surgery live broadcast, he saw the hand of a girl with long, slender fingers, which made Liu Zewei even more glum.

Such a surgery that would leave its name in medical history, I missed it. Just for a directorship—is it worth it? Hard to say; how to weigh it depends on each person's thoughts.

And this is only the beginning; what else will be missed in the future is unclear for now.

The excitement of taking charge of the Intervention Department still seemed to reverberate in his body, yet it was doused by a bucket of cold water. Now Liu Zewei somewhat envies Lao Gao, who plans to go to Di Du after his child finishes exams in June.

By then, the world will be vast and open, and he won't need to stay confined to Northern Province.

Right or wrong, correct or mistaken—there really is no conclusion. The more Liu Zewei thinks, the more bewildered he becomes, and that excitement fades ever more.

The two of them stared at that final frame, sitting there for a full two hours.

Liu Zewei finally let out a breath and said, "Lao Gao, I'm starting to regret it."

"Regret?" Gao Shaojie looked at the image and smiled faintly, "I think I could never learn it in a lifetime. My peak years are past; now, after Zheng Lao Ban knocks out a few surgeries on me, just maintaining my condition is already not bad."

"No." Liu Zewei shook his head, "Your so-called peak is just the former you, before Zheng Lao Ban knocked you around."

Gao Shaojie turned his head to look at Liu Zewei.

"I'm older than you; before, our levels were about the same." Liu Zewei said softly, "Since coming back I haven't performed any surgery yet—this matter is already settled. In the next few days I'll find a patient with portal hypertension, do a surgery, and then you'll understand."

"Hmm?"

Gao Shaojie blinked slightly.

He was the second person Zheng Lao Ban knocked on, and when he talks about it, Gao Shaojie can still feel the pain radiating from his radial styloid.

There has been progress, but due to personal factors, age, and physical condition, achieving substantial progress is nearly impossible.

But Lao Liu says it with such certainty; given his understanding of Liu Zewei, the two of them now differ by less than an order of magnitude, so Liu Zewei wouldn't say that.

"Not only does he knock you with hemostatic forceps, but after each surgery Zheng Lao Ban points out some problems. Day by day, over a month or more, the effect becomes quite obvious." Liu Zewei sighed, then forced a smile: "Lao Gao, once you've signed your son up for his exams, hurry over and study well with Zheng Lao Ban."

Gao Shaojie thought of Zheng Lao Ban in Di Du, and for a moment he felt a sense of longing.

……

……

Mu Tao sat in the office, accompanying Wu Haishi and Wu Lao as they watched the surgery live broadcast at Xinglin Yuan.

Whenever Zheng Lao Ban is the lead surgeon, the Teacher insists on watching every one of his surgeries. During that thousand‑kilometer rescue, the Teacher listened to Su Yun nagging for a long time, nearly falling asleep in the chair, yet refused to leave.

Only after hearing Su Yun open the mic and sing did he startle awake as if from a nightmare.

As one of the earliest nationwide practitioners of interventional surgery, Wu Lao has his own understanding of the procedure.

He expressed astonishment at the speed of Zheng Lao Ban's skill growth.

The first time I saw him in Di Du, his level could still be described as immature.

But his growth is shocking.

"Rapid"? No, that hardly captures Zheng Lao Ban's growth speed.

Setting aside open surgery, in each of the recent surgery live broadcasts of interventional surgery, Wu Haishi and Wu Lao could feel that Zheng Lao Ban's level had made another huge leap.

How much further can he grow—could it possibly reach the heavens?

Wu Lao said he didn't understand, but all he could do was silently keep an eye on Zheng Lao Ban in Pengcheng.

It's said there are even more surgeries that weren't broadcast, for example, using interventional surgery to extract a bullet from the heart.

The difficulty of such surgery goes without saying—just thinking about it tells you it's extremely hard to perform.

Yet few surgeries can match the difficulty of the one before us.

Fetus, 32 weeks, congenital aortic stenosis, already affecting fetal cardiac and anatomical development. According to normal medical logic, the next step should be to persuade the pregnant woman and her family to abandon the child.

Not to mention dying in the womb; even if barely born, the child would have to endure countless surgeries.

The cost is trivial; the child's chance of growing up is so low it can almost be ignored.

Wu Lao has been practicing medicine for several decades, and he has seen many such cases.

In the past, medical capabilities lagged behind; prenatal checkups often failed to detect the problem, so most of the time the disease was only discovered after birth, leaving no choice but to abandon the child.

Having seen such situations often, Wu Lao has also become somewhat numb.

Solution? He has studied foreign cases and knows that this is not something his generation can resolve.

The surgical difficulty is too great; he has no confidence at all in managing even a single successful case.

Yet today, Wu Lao witnessed the very scene he had long dreamed of.

Intracardiac Intervention Surgery, treating congenital heart disease—Zheng Lao Ban not only knows how to do it, he can actually do it.

Not only can he do it, but his success rate is high.

Not only is his success rate high, but he also dares to livestream the surgery!

Wu Lao is somewhat uncertain exactly how long Zheng Lao Ban has been studying intracardiac intervention surgery, but he can be certain that Zheng Lao Ban's level has surpassed anything he or any doctor he knows could even imagine.

"Mu Tao."

"Teacher, you're tired, right?"

"If you have time, please ask Zheng Lao Ban to give a lesson." Wu Lao said lightly, "You did well before; you should stay in touch with Zheng Lao Ban and learn more."

Mu Tao nodded.

This Shou Bing, he looked dumbfounded.

At this moment, countless feelings intertwined in his heart, but in the end they turned into a sigh.

"Not only you, I also want to learn, to learn from Zheng Lao Ban."