Chapter 3113: with translation of chapter title

2909 Finally found it!

A doctor in his forties with blond hair received Xie Ning; the doctor wore a smile, his attitude was very kind, and he continually comforted Xie Ning.

Sun Wenyi was responsible for translation, and only then did Xie Ning's emotions finally calm down. No matter how long it takes, first pull out that damned fish bone, then we'll talk.

Will it end in five minutes or ten? It should be quick, after all, it's just a fish bone.

Tonight I need to finalize the demonstration of the robotic arm with Zheng Ren, and what else was I supposed to do? Even my usually meticulous thoughts felt as if a fish bone had lodged in them; whatever I thought came out in fits and starts, so Xie Ning decided to wait until the fish bone was removed before saying anything.

"Mr. Xie, the doctor asks you to sit upright, tilt your head back, stick out your tongue, and stretch it out as far as you can." Sun Wenyi said.

Xie Ning followed Sun Wenyi's instructions and assumed a pose he himself thought quite strange. The blond doctor held a flashlight, shining it into his mouth.

According to Xie Ning's expectation, there should be a light, the doctor would wear a reflective mirror on his head, then hold a tongue depressor in his left hand and tweezers in his right; in a quick case it would end in two minutes, a bit slower, with the doctor's skill a bit lacking, it would also end in five minutes.

The doctor before him looked very steady, and Xie Ning thought two minutes or so would be enough.

But time trickled by, and the doctor held the flashlight, examining Xie Ning's mouth as if conducting an archaeological dig.

He had neither a tongue depressor nor any other equipment. Was he looking at his own tongue? What's there to see about a tongue? Was he examining the coating?

Xie Ning was doubtful.

"Mr. Xie, relax, the doctor says he'll soon find the angle to see that fish bone." Sun Wenyi kept comforting him, though he himself had no confidence in those words.

The first time he said that, Xie Ning believed it; the second time he was half‑believing, half‑doubting; the third time he knew it was just meant to reassure himself.

But this is Karolinska Hospital, a world‑top medical center; could I have time‑traveled, or been duped by this overseas student? Xie Ning's mind began to harbor persecutory delusions, pondering all sorts of chaotic nonsense.

It shouldn't be like this; even if we were in Hai Cheng, it would already be over—just a fish bone stuck, nothing but a fish bone!

Xie Ning felt that with his tongue stuck out, his mouth was filling with virtually endless saliva; the glands' secretory function was unusually strong, which made him quite embarrassed.

After swallowing a mouthful of saliva—perhaps because his tongue was moving—the blond Karolinska doctor showed dissatisfaction, handing Xie Ning a paper towel to indicate he should wipe his own saliva.

After warning Xie Ning not to make any swallowing motions, he once again picked up a gauze and pulled Xie Ning's tongue out.

Another five minutes passed; the doctor attentively and seriously held the flashlight, looking left and right, while Xie Ning could only continually wipe the saliva flowing from the corners of his mouth with a paper towel.

Really… really damn it, the usually refined Xie Ning silently cursed in his heart.

It's almost twenty minutes, and I still haven't seen a pair of tweezers. We're still in the observation phase, and I don't know how long this doctor intends to observe.

Xie Ning didn't wait longer; a few minutes later, the doctor released his tongue and said a bunch of things.

He was going to do other examinations; Xie Ning understood part of it.

"Mr. Xie, the doctor says he wants to perform a laryngoscopy." Sun Wenyi said.

After examining with the flashlight for fifteen minutes, he finally said they needed a laryngoscope… Xie Ning was also helpless. But having come all this way, this is still Karolinska Hospital; Xie Ning truly didn't know where he would go if he just walked out.

Could it be that I'd fly back home just for a fish bone?

It's already the evening of the 8th; there are still 36 hours until the Nobel Prize award ceremony, and there are other things to do in the meantime.

Xie Ning silently used a paper towel to wipe away the saliva that had flowed out; at that moment he felt like he had senile dementia.

Life, ah, is truly frightening.

If I were old, wouldn't I spend each day in a daze, relying solely on machines to sustain my life? Xie Ning could only start thinking about other things; otherwise he'd always feel this place was just a rural clinic, not Karolinska Hospital at all.

Back home, we used to joke about going to the hospital to remove a fish bone; nobody ever said removing a fish bone could fail—it was just a joke to go to the hospital over a fish bone. But now, for a single fish bone I've come to a world‑top hospital and spent an entire day… Xie Ning finds it absurd.

"Mr. Xie, a laryngoscope will soon go into your nasal cavity; please bear with it." Sun Wenyi said.

Xie Ning nodded, then sat up ramrod straight as the blond doctor instructed, feeling like a puppet.

He changed the paper towel; the previous one was already soggy and unusable. Xie Ning felt quite embarrassed; for someone with a slight mysophobia, these experiences were nothing short of a nightmare.

Adjusting the equipment, disinfecting, the blond doctor went about it slowly and methodically; Xie Ning was also helpless, having grown accustomed to Zheng Ren performing surgery livestreams. After all this time, a TIPS surgery should have been completed by now.

Sigh, Xie Ning let out a breath in his heart, once again denying the possibility of seeking Zheng Ren for a glance. What a joke—if we became doctor and patient, my dignity would be swept away, wouldn't it?

A black tube was inserted into the left nostril, and in an instant Xie Ning felt a sensation of suffocation.

He hastily opened his mouth to gasp for air, but because of the irritation from the laryngoscope, a large amount of saliva poured out.

Wiping saliva with a paper towel, Xie Ning endured the constant irritation of the foreign object in his throat while maintaining his dignity.

After 4′22″, the blond doctor pulled out the laryngoscope and excitedly said a bunch of things quickly.

Xie Ning was somewhat dazed; he stared blankly at the doctor and tried a swallowing motion.

The foreign object was still in his throat; what was he excited about?

"Mr. Xie, the doctor says he has already located the fish bone." Sun Wenyi faithfully performed his translation work.

The blond doctor did not begin to remove the fish bone; instead he sat down and started writing something on paper.

Xie Ning suddenly had a bad feeling; wouldn't they want him to change hospitals?

From the moment the fish bone lodged until now, twenty‑four hours have passed. A fish bone—it's just a fish bone. Xie Ning felt especially dejected; he silently watched the doctor write on the paper.

A few minutes later, the blond doctor walked over with the paper; on it was a crude sketch resembling a child's doodle, which Xie Ning couldn't make sense of.

"Mr. Xie, the doctor says this is a diagram of your pharynx, and the fish bone is right…" Sun Wenyi couldn't bring himself to translate further.

Xie Ning stared blankly as the blond doctor enthusiastically explained the location of the fish bone.

But is this useful?

Seeing the fish bone but not pulling it out, they first give him a lecture on where it is and what to do; Xie Ning found himself unable to put it into words.

After three minutes, the blond doctor finished his explanation to Xie Ning.

The fish bone is lodged in a remote recess of the throat, making extraction very difficult. After Sun Wenyi's explanation, Xie Ning understood the current situation.

His meaning was… could it be that it can't be pulled out? Xie Ning's psychological shadow had already covered the entire examination room.