Chapter 2157: 2082 Intestinal Obstruction Due to Eating Cotton

The phone rang for over ten seconds before it was answered.

"Xiao Cao, what's up?" Su Yun asked lazily.

"Yun Ge'er, I'm in surgery," Quan Xiaocao said in a tiny, timid voice.

If Zheng Ren's hearing hadn't been boosted in the System Space, he wouldn't have heard her at all.

"What kind of surgery?" Su Yun asked.

"Um… intestinal obstruction, they say she ate cotton," Quan Xiaocao said.

Su Yun blinked, locked eyes with Zheng Ren, and both stood up at once.

"What's wrong?" Lin Yuan asked, not having heard Quan Xiaocao clearly, a bit surprised.

"Intestinal obstruction from eating cotton—let's go take a look," Zheng Ren said offhand, then strode out.

"Wait a minute!" Lin Yuan jumped up anxiously, banging his leg against the desk corner without noticing.

"Why are you following me? Did you finish the medical record?" Su Yun glanced at her and asked.

"I'm not off work; I'll keep writing in the quiet of the night. Don't worry, I won't drag it into tomorrow." Lin Yuan trailed after Zheng Lao Ban like a little shadow.

"You've eaten cotton? Have you ever seen that?" Su Yun asked Zheng Ren while striding toward the Operating Room.

"I've read about it," Zheng Ren said. "Back before liberation, when people were starving, they'd eat cotton to feel full, like eating guanyin soil."

"I've never seen anyone eat cotton; this stuff easily causes intestinal obstruction," Su Yun said. "Who would dare eat such a thing? Does anyone still go hungry these days?"

After saying that, both of them stared for a moment.

Chang Yue, isn't that one of them?

"People even use loaches to clear the bowels plus hydrogen peroxide enemas, so eating cotton isn't that hard to understand," Zheng Ren sighed, changing the subject.

"How do you obtain the cotton?"

"I don't know; maybe the cotton mixes with feces in the intestine, forming a large stone that causes obstruction, or it gets lodged somewhere, twisting the intestine and causing necrosis."

Zheng Ren began to outline the various possibilities.

Although I've never seen it, the logic is much the same. The purpose of going to look isn't to perform surgery, but to see if any complications I hadn't thought of might appear.

Even though I doubt there'll be anything, the habit of wanting to glance at an unfamiliar case is deeply ingrained.

Only after seeing it does it count as accumulated rich clinical experience.

Rumors don't count; aside from professional papers, the gossip over meals is mostly nonsense—people say whatever sounds mysterious.

Changing clothes, entering the Operating Room, Feng Jianguo was performing surgery with Quan Xiaocao assisting.

"Brother Feng, what step are you at?" Su Yun asked as he entered the Operating Room.

"Doctor Su, why are you so idle?" Feng Jianguo chuckled. "Are you here to lend a hand?"

"No thanks," Su Yun laughed. "I'd rather avoid the poop‑scooping work; too much of it makes me feel awful all over. Besides, thoracic surgery is simple, clean, with a big, bright field."

"Boss Zheng, you're here too," Feng Jianguo said, glancing back, seeing Zheng Ren standing beside him, greeted him, and continued the surgery.

"Why did the patient eat cotton?" Zheng Ren asked curiously.

"Ah, don't ask," Feng Jianguo said while probing the intestine. "This girl heard somewhere that eating cotton helps lose weight, so she downed a huge amount at once."

"……"

That was something Zheng Ren hadn't anticipated.

Eating cotton to lose weight? That idea is pretty bizarre.

"Exactly," Su Yun replied instantly, "eating cotton gives you a sense of fullness, so you don't need to eat rice."

"But she ate way too much," Feng Jianguo said, distressed, while manipulating the distended intestine.

A large amount of gas accumulated in the intestine, like blowing up a balloon, inflating the bowel.

And a certain segment of the swollen intestine felt hard as a rock, clearly the site of the obstruction.

Zheng Ren glanced at it and instantly formulated the surgical plan: they should resect a segment of intestine, but the over‑distended, balloon‑like portion still had decent blood flow, so it could be spared.

It's just a segment of intestine; it shouldn't be a big problem.

But eating cotton on purpose, akin to self‑harm, just to lose weight—is that really a good idea?

Feng Jianguo continued the surgery while saying, "The patient is a student; a few classmates brought her in. I asked around—she isn't the first to try cotton for weight loss; others have done it too. But it's not eaten raw; apparently they mix it with olive oil or something to lubricate it."

Olive oil mixed with cotton—how bizarre.

Zheng Ren doesn't love eating meals, yet he can't resist good food. Just thinking about eating olive‑oil‑mixed cotton makes him wonder—never mind the taste—how can you be sure the cotton is clean?

That stuff is fluffy as hell, and who knows how many bacteria lurk inside.

What on earth is he thinking? Zheng Ren quickly jerked his thoughts back.

Since we're dealing with intestinal obstruction requiring bowel resection, even if we don't remove a long segment, it's still a bowel‑resection anastomosis.

It's a shame to lose a perfectly good piece of intestine for no reason.

"This patient was in a hurry and didn't even clarify whether she ate one or two taels of cotton," Feng Jianguo said. "Boss Zheng, you came just to see the intestine after cotton ingestion, right?"

"Um… that's what we wanted to ask," Zheng Ren hesitated a few seconds, then asked, "Xiao Cao, that…"

Seeing Zheng Ren struggle to put his words together, Su Yun sneered, "You can't even ask a simple question—I'll do it."

Quan Xiaocao's hands had gone stiff; she couldn't keep up with Feng Jianguo's movements during the surgery.

Feng Jianguo wondered, "What could Boss Zheng possibly want from Quan Xiaocao? Could this kid's luck really be that good?"

"You two, what's the matter?" Feng Jianguo said, having finished probing the intestine and now beginning to make a distal incision.

"Xiao Cao, with your irregular lifestyle you should be gaining weight from binge eating, yet you're so thin—what weight‑loss method are you using?" Su Yun asked directly.

Quan Xiaocao blinked, then looked up in confusion at Su Yun.

"Huh? Asking you this question, you look a little timid too," Su Yun said strangely. "What's going on?"

"No, no," Quan Xiaocao said, flustered, not knowing how to answer.

Su Yun was speechless; this kid Xiao Cao is fine in every way—she's eager to write papers and such, and she finishes them almost as fast as possible.

She learns things quickly, but she's just too timid—ask about losing weight and see how they've made her uncomfortable.

What can't be said?

Feng Jianguo saw Quan Xiaocao's movements begin to deform, lightly tapped the tweezers in her hand, and said, "Let me do it; you just watch."

Removal, protection, anastomosis—this kind of Shou Bing Feng Jianguo has performed over a thousand times, with no difficulty at all.

Even without an assistant, Feng Jianguo didn't waste much time, quickly removing that stiff, obstructed segment of intestine.

"Yun Ge'er, I usually don't eat much," Quan Xiaocao said softly.