Chapter 3035: then translation of chapter title

Zhou Chun Yong did not enter the Operating Room.

He also didn't pay much attention; it was obvious that only people of director level or higher could stay in the Operating Room, and that was already the minimum restriction—even if Director Bao went in, he'd probably just have to stand aside. What would I gain by going in, just to be ordered around?

Sitting outside the Operating Room, Zhou Chun Yong kept watching the time. Zheng Lao Ban said the surgery should be completed within an hour, so there shouldn't be any problem.

He had full trust in Zheng Lao Ban; otherwise Zhou Chun Yong wouldn't have used one of his biggest trump cards to secure the research collaboration project.

Zhou Chun Yong fiddled with his phone, his gaze shifting between the Operating Room Door and the phone's time. Time passed bit by bit, yet the Operating Room Door remained tightly shut, with no movement.

In the morning, no one's surgery finishes that quickly, so there was no sign of the Operating Rooms opening to reveal that someone else's surgery had just finished—a startling situation. An hour passed quickly, and Zhou Chun Yong began to feel unable to sit still.

Could there have been a leak in the surgery? Even adding the time for general anesthesia to wear off and the postoperative rest in the recovery room inside the Operating Room, there shouldn't be no one coming out.

If the surgery were successful, at least some idle people should have left; there shouldn't be not a single person in sight.

It felt like there was a coal under his buttocks, making Zhou Chun Yong unable to sit still.

He sent a message to Gao Shaojie, but got no reply. He must still be in surgery; Gao Shaojie probably didn't bring his phone.

Sigh, could it be that Zheng Lao Ban's surgery failed? Since the elderly person was pushed into the Operating Room an hour ago, Zhou Chun Yong has had this thought.

The thought grew stronger, becoming hard to suppress. Waiting anxiously, the shadow in Zhou Chun Yong's mind kept expanding, already the size of a three-bedroom apartment.

Even though I said not to do this surgery, Zheng Lao Ban wouldn't listen, and Zhou Chun Yong muttered to himself. People are all alike: when they succeed, they credit their own brilliance; when they fail, they blame others.

Even with Zhou Chun Yong's near‑complete trust in Zheng Lao Ban at this moment, he still found it hard to get past this mental hurdle.

Suddenly the phone rang; Zhou Chun Yong gripped it tightly, and the violent vibration startled him.

It was Lao He replying; Zhou Chun Yong's first thought was that the surgery was finished! He felt great joy.

But when he saw the name displayed on the phone, he sighed—it was his elderly mother calling.

Less than a second after Zhou Chun Yong felt disappointed, his heart suddenly tightened. Morning is surgery time; his elderly mother normally wouldn't call him then.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Zhou Chun Yong really worried that the voice was someone else's, telling himself his mother had fainted on the road and a good Samaritan had dialed the Emergency Rescue Service.

"Chunyong, Aunt Liu has been sent to the hospital!" his mother said anxiously, "Medical University Affiliated Hospital—do you know anyone there?"

"What illness?" Upon hearing it wasn't his elderly mother who was sick, Zhou Chun Yong breathed a sigh of relief.

Aunt Liu lives upstairs in his mother's building, is over seventy, and every day takes walks and shops with his elderly mother; they get along very well.

"Um… I don't know why she ate rat poison; luckily we caught it early—I noticed something was off last night and stayed with her. On the way home late, in the morning…"

Zhou Chun Yong helplessly listened to his elderly mother's somewhat confused recounting of the events, but there was nothing to be done—at that age, being able to explain things clearly is already quite good, and a bit of long-windedness is normal.

While keeping his eyes on the Operating Room Door, Zhou Chun Yong absentmindedly listened to his elderly mother's nagging. If she ate rat poison, the only thing to do is pump her stomach—calling me wouldn't help.

He patiently listened to his elderly mother finish the story, comforted her with a few words, and said, "I'll contact a friend at Fu Yuan; once I'm done here I'll go see her myself."

"Your Aunt Liu is especially pitiful—her sons are all abroad, and that feeling of being old and helpless is something you wouldn't understand." His mother continued to nag.

Zhou Chun Yong had no other choice but to listen quietly. He had long passed his rebellious phase; although he has a short temper and really doesn't want to hear his elderly mother's nagging, he still ought to treat her better.

What she wants is a listener; people are like that when they get old, and Zhou Chun Yong knows that.

"Just a few days ago Aunt Liu seemed fine—how could she have committed suicide?"

"It's not like you doctors have any skill at all!" his mother scolded. "Aunt Liu has been coughing for over a year, and no matter where she went, they said she was fine. In the past few months, whenever she coughs she wets herself; when we go out, she has to wear adult diapers. Yesterday she bumped into a young man at the mall…"

Zhou Chun Yong listened silently for nearly five minutes, sorting his thoughts. On one side, Zheng Lao Ban's delay in coming out suggests a high chance of surgical failure; on the other, enduring his elderly mother's nagging already shows considerable filial piety.

The situation is simple: Aunt Liu has been coughing for over a year, and repeated chest CTs showed no change, so she could only be tentatively diagnosed with bronchitis.

Recently she also developed urinary incontinence when coughing; yesterday, when she went out, people said she smelled of urine, and the elderly woman, unable to cope, committed suicide that night.

What the lives of empty‑nest elders are like is something Zhou Chun Yong has no desire to understand, and it has nothing to do with him.

What he cares more about is why Zheng Lao Ban still hasn't come out.

It's maddening!

"Mom, do you want me to contact someone to check on her, or just keep telling me stories?" Zhou Chun Yong finally could only interrupt his mother's nagging with this: "I'm hanging up now; I'll contact someone right away."

"Okay, wait for my news."

Zhou Chun Yong hung up the phone and contacted a friend at the Medical University Affiliated Hospital to check the situation in the Emergency Department.

He didn't dare to deceive her; although his elderly mother's speech is a bit long‑winded, her mind is still fairly sharp—she hasn't reached senility yet. If he tried to fool her, he'd just get scolded when he returned home.

After making the arrangements, Zhou Chun Yong stared blankly at the Operating Room Door, worried. Zheng Lao Ban still hasn't come out, the surgery isn't over…… this time he could really offend someone big—Peng lao had originally been discharged from the General's Mansion and was preparing to go home.

Zheng Lao Ban really is meddlesome—why bring up Peng lao when there's nothing wrong? If it weren't for these issues, once the 5G network is rolled out we could do remote surgery.

Sigh…… Zhou Chun Yong sighed in his heart; it wasn't just Zheng Lao Ban—this time he even blamed himself.

Time seemed to crawl by; after who knows how many glances at his phone, the Operating Room Door finally opened, and Zhou Chun Yong saw Zheng Lao Ban steadily pulling a gurney out, Lao He standing to one side, and the patient fully awake.

Was the surgery a success or a failure?!

Zhou Chun Yong felt doubtful.