Chapter 479: 471 The Signature Disappeared (Silver Alliance 37 Inter Entertainment Li Yifei Bonus Chapter 18)

"Who are you looking for?" Zhong Min, being nearest the door, asked.

"Hello, we were sent by the Emergency Department to see Chief Zheng for a consultation." The man said, "My partner has been diagnosed with acute appendicitis and said they need hospitalization and surgery."

"Oh, Chief Zheng?" Zhong Min called Zheng Ren.

Zheng Ren glanced up and saw on the upper right of the system panel that the woman's diagnosis was marked as acute appendicitis.

Then let's admit them, Zheng Ren thought; although he didn't feel like doing any work now, the patient had already come to the door, so he couldn't refuse.

"Hello, come with me for a physical exam. If the diagnosis is clear, we'll handle the admission paperwork. What tests have you done in the Emergency Department? Bring them over for me to see." Zheng Ren set down his water cup, stood up, and said.

He brought the patient and their family to the treatment room and performed a physical exam.

The patient's acute appendicitis symptoms were fairly typical but not severe; there was clear tenderness in the lower right abdomen, without rebound pain or muscle tension.

In the outpatient records, the blood test results also matched Zheng Ren and Big Pig Trotter's assessment.

It was Zhong Min's turn to admit patients on the roster; she issued an admission form for the patient, the patient's partner went to pay and complete the admission procedures, while preparations for surgery were made on this side.

Because the patient's fasting period was only three hours, this task wasn't urgent; we still had to wait a bit.

If it weren't for the emergency upstairs, it would be safer to wait until the fasting time was up.

Soon, the patient's partner finished the admission paperwork upstairs; after Zhong Min finished giving medical orders, she began the pre-surgery briefing.

The patient and spouse were both knowledgeable and refined; they clearly understood the progression of appendicitis and the various possible complications of surgery.

The entire exchange and communication process went smoothly; Zheng Ren suddenly thought, if all patients were like this, how wonderful that would be.

At the time of signing, the man took out a pen from his bag; his flowing, dragon‑like script was excellent.

What a cultured person! In the busy office, everyone except the professor and Xiao Oliver felt impressed.

Professor Rudolf Wagner was earnestly studying each frame of the 64‑slice CT three‑dimensional reconstruction, completely focused.

As an assistant, Xiao Oliver was not as flawless as Su Yun; most of the time he curiously looked around, eager to learn as much as possible about the ancient and mysterious Eastern world.

Regarding tomorrow's surgery, the professor attached great importance to it; one could even say he disregarded everything else.

After all, given his status, traveling all the way to China wasn't just for tomorrow's surgery, was it?

As for the TIPS procedure, it was an unexpected gain.

After the patient signed the forms, they returned to the ward for pre‑operative preparation—shaving the site, inserting needles, etc. —while Zhong Min wrote the medical record, which required a large amount of textual work.

Perhaps for an appendectomy, Zheng Ren's actual surgery time would be only 5–10 minutes, but the paperwork would take at least several hours.

However, Zheng Ren could completely ignore this at the moment; he declined Professor Rudolf Wagner's invitation to discuss the case.

He found a sunny window, held his water cup, and sat quietly in the sunlight, enjoying a brief moment of silence.

Who knows what might happen this afternoon and evening!

Always being tense is unbearable; occasionally clearing one's mind, Zheng Ren felt, was especially necessary.

In the office, everyone was busy with their own tasks; Zheng Ren rested quietly for a while, then went to the ICU to glance at the post‑operative patient.

The patient was relatively stable; given the severe penetrating injury, being able to leave the operating table alive was already considered a miracle.

Following routine, Su Yun sat beside the patient's bed, recording various data, adjusting the order of fluid administration and supplementation, and applying medications.

Black hair fell forward onto the forehead, pressed there by the sweat‑soaked sterile cap.

The patient's parents crouched by the wall at the ICU entrance, silent; the man put his arm around the woman, praying in sorrow.

Zheng Ren did not go to comfort them; he silently left instead.

At this moment, what they needed was not comfort from strangers, but for their own child to walk out of the ICU—at least be pushed out alive—so they could call out "Mom" and "Dad."

Zheng Ren remained silent all the way, his mood unable to improve.

He walked quickly all the way, wanting to return to the Emergency Department ward's office to bask again in the winter sunshine and dispel his inner displeasure.

But when he returned to the ward, he saw Zhong Min anxiously flipping through the medical records.

"Where did it go? Where did it go?" Zhong Min muttered quietly while flipping through the pages.

"Huh? What's wrong, Zhong Min?" Zheng Ren asked, puzzled.

Zhong Min, who came from internal medicine just like Chang Yue, writes medical records far better than surgical staff—by leaps and bounds.

But the two also have differences.

Chang Yue excels at communicating with people, whereas Zhong Min is less inclined to speak and thinks more meticulously.

"Chief Zheng, the pre‑operative signature is missing!" Zhong Min said anxiously.

However, the patient hasn't yet been sent to the operating table, and this wasn't discovered post‑op, so there is still room to remedy the situation.

"You've been sitting here the whole time—how could you lose it?" Zheng Ren also found it strange.

"The paper is still there, but the signature on it is gone." Zhong Min pulled the pre‑operative instruction sheet from a stack of records and handed it to Zheng Ren to look at.

It bore Zhong Min's signature and the time; Zheng Ren hadn't had a chance to sign yet—normally, senior physicians sign all at once before discharge, otherwise signing every day would waste a huge amount of time.

But on this pre‑operative instruction sheet, there was actually no patient signature and no wording consenting to the surgery!

Zheng Ren frowned, flipping back and forth; he could faintly see scratches from a hard‑tip pen on the paper, but there were no characters.

He took the pre‑operative instruction sheet out into the sunlight and held it up to the light.

This time he could clearly see the consent to surgery and the family members' flowing, dragon‑like signatures.

The pen was the problem!

Zheng Ren realized it in an instant.

"Chief Zheng……" Zhong Min, timid as she was, was almost brought to tears.

Actually it wasn't a big deal, but if they encountered a fussy person and had to get them to sign again, a dispute could arise.

Zheng Ren comforted Zhong Min: "It's fine; the problem is with the family member's pen. I'll go talk to them."

"Chief Zheng, there won't be a problem, will there?" Zhong Min's eyes welled up with tears.

"No, they haven't even gone up to the operating table yet—what problem could there be?" Zheng Ren chuckled: "Don't worry; if anything comes up, I'll take responsibility. If I can't handle it, there's still Director Pan above me."

Upon mentioning Director Pan, Zhong Min finally felt somewhat relieved.

Zheng Ren sat down at his desk and told Zhong Min to go fetch the patient's lover.

This sort of thing calls for a certain presence; if Zheng Ren went himself, that presence would be weakened.

Soon, Zhong Min brought the patient's family to the office.

The patient, too, came over, bent at the waist and clutching his lower right abdomen.

Zheng Ren smiled and gestured for them to sit.

"The signature you just made has disappeared." Zheng Ren tapped the pre‑operative instructions with his finger, keeping a gentle smile, "It must be the pen you just used—something's wrong with it."