Chapter 2169: 2094 Old Fool (Boss Zheng's Happy Birthday! Extra Chapter ×1)

2094 Old Fool (Boss Zheng's Happy Birthday! Extra Chapter ×1)

The patients in the Emergency Department are endless; after Zhou Litao finished treating one patient, more patients arrived.

It wasn't until the Jizhen Wai Ke doctor finished his meal that they replaced him.

Zhou Litao said hello, calling Zheng Ren and Su Yun to go change clothes.

Su Yun told Zhou Litao the diagnosis she had just given the old man, and Manager Zhou, before leaving, specially instructed the Jizhen Wai Ke doctor about this patient's case.

The three went out and hailed a car.

Zhou Litao held his phone, having just called a car, staring at it, a bit dazed.

"What are you looking at?" Su Yun asked.

"This car…" Zhou Litao said helplessly, handing the phone to Su Yun and Zheng Ren.

The note clearly stated—ladies-only seat; if you have more passengers, you can switch to another vehicle, sorry.

"Tsk tsk." Su Yun said, "Manager Zhou, look at others, then look at yourself!"

"Me?" Zhou Litao said, somewhat dazed.

"How thoughtful of you to kneel like that!" Su Yun said, "If you had even half of their thoughtfulness, you could snag not just one girlfriend but ten or eight!"

……

Zhou Litao carefully pondered Su Yun's words.

"Let's cancel it; with three of us, the back seat would be too cramped." Su Yun said while pulling out her phone and hailing another car.

Cui Lao's residence is in a residential complex near the Third Ring Road; the complex is old, built over twenty years ago.

After arriving at the complex and getting out of the car, Zhou Litao, familiar with the place, led Zheng Ren and Su Yun through it.

"Manager Zhou, do we really not need to bring anything?" Su Yun asked; it seemed the two had previously discussed this, while Zheng Ren had no such thought at all.

"Cui Lao doesn't like it; he thinks it's all a waste." Zhou Litao said, "We're used to coming empty-handed, and sometimes we can even mooch a meal."

He said this without smiling, his expression somewhat solemn.

Zheng Ren deduced from Zhou Litao's demeanor that Cui Lao's condition might not be optimistic.

Upon arriving at Cui Lao's home, the nanny opened the door, and Zheng Ren's group went inside.

The home was very simple; aside from the nanny, there was no one else. Cui Lao lay in bed, his spirits somewhat listless.

His system panel was bright red, yet it gave no clear diagnosis.

Zheng Ren knew that Cui Lao was just old.

Seeing Zheng Ren and the others arrive, Cui Lao's spirits lifted a bit; Zhou Litao helped him sit up, leaning against the headboard.

"Little Zheng, have you been busy lately?" Cui Lao asked.

"Not too bad, not too bad; I haven't seen you seeing patients lately, and I asked Manager Zhou, who said you had a cold." Zheng Ren tried to downplay the situation.

"It's not a cold; it's old age." Cui Lao knew this well; his spirit was average, but his thinking remained sharp, with no signs of confusion.

"How old are you? Nowadays there are plenty of people over a hundred." Su Yun said.

"Not small," Cui Lao said calmly, "those of us in medicine must accept objective facts." He said it just like when he examines a patient and gives a diagnosis, not as if he were talking about his own condition.

"As long as the nervous system keeps up and cerebral blood flow is sufficient, that's enough." Cui Lao chuckled lightly, "The heart, liver, and kidneys are slowly aging; who knows, a single cough could be the end."

"Please don't say that," Zheng Ren said, feeling a bad premonition.

However, Cui Lao's condition cannot be treated with medicine or surgery. Unless technology advances and replaces all his organs.

Or, like the sci-fi movie trope of having a metal skeleton, only then could Cui Lao live another few decades.

However, brain aging is something no one can solve now; even related scientific reports are rare, making it a blank spot.

"Little Zheng, Little Su, Little Zhou, you've each been doing clinical work for about ten years, and you've seen plenty of patients." Cui Lao said, "If a sneeze sends someone off, that's a blessing, a great blessing."

Everyone fell silent.

For someone like Cui Lao, who has already come to terms with life and death… truly, very few people can achieve such detachment from life and death.

Cui Lao is genuinely open-minded, Zheng Ren thought.

"Old, old, with descendants filling the hall, if they can come see me after work, what more could I ask for? As for things I can't let go of, there are some—I've gathered data for much research, but I just haven't had time to organize it." Cui Lao let out a faint sigh.

Zheng Ren dared not respond.

This is the point that sustains Cui Lao's faint vitality; to live is to hold onto a thought.

If I agreed to it outright, losing that thought, Cui Lao might just pass away with a smile.

"Cui Lao, please don't say that," Su Yun said, blowing out a breath with a laugh, her black hair fluttering at her forehead, "We're just clueless kids; we don't understand research or not. You should hurry back and at least explain your ideas to us."

"Nonsense." Cui Lao laughed, "You've published plenty of papers in New England Journal and The Lancet."

"That's just fooling foreigners; it's useless." Su Yun said.

"You're just fooling this old man." Although Cui Lao's body could barely hold up, his mind was still sharp; he knew exactly what Su Yun was thinking. "Besides, the intracardiac intervention surgery you and Boss Zheng performed a few days ago—that's a big deal."

Saying this, Cui Lao seemed to regain some energy and began asking about the key points of the intracardiac intervention surgery.

What kind of patients are suitable, what to watch for during the surgery, and what to pay attention to when using ultrasound to locate the puncture point.

He asked about each step at the crucial junctures, and Zheng Ren answered them one by one.

It seemed Cui Lao also had a deep understanding of intracardiac intervention surgery; if his body weren't failing, he would definitely have tried it.

But now, as time passes and takes away vitality, Cui Lao can only voice the ideas in his mind.

Zheng Ren never expected that visiting Cui Lao would turn into a discussion about surgery and diagnosis.

I estimate that Cui Lao has devoted his entire life to clinical work; even when his oil runs out and his lamp dims, he still has no distraction.

Regarding the technical points of the intracardiac intervention surgery, Su Yun and Zhou Litao couldn't get a word in.

Zheng Ren worried about Cui Lao's body; although his complexion improved a bit when he talked about surgery, that was actually the most frightening part.

If it weren't for the system panel's color showing no change, Zheng Ren would have worried that Cui Lao was experiencing a terminal rally.

They talked for a full half hour; Zhou Litao couldn't help interrupting a few times, and only after Cui Lao finished his last question did he finally let out a long sigh.

"Little Zheng, I heard that the obstetrics and pediatrics side has already started preparing?"

"Hmm, first do the relevant preparations, then we'll study it together." Zheng Ren said politely.

Cui Lao closed their eyes; the recent inquiry consumed too much of their mental energy.

After a few Minutes, Cui Lao suddenly said: "Little Zheng, there is a matter I need to ask you to handle."