Chapter 68: 0067 Typo

The girls went off happily to eat, leaving Zheng Ren alone, which was perfect for quietly reading.

Without accumulating small steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles; Zheng Ren understood this principle.

Focused reading has many benefits. For example, in the system surgical training, if you don't even know the most basic knowledge, where would you find those whimsical ideas?

Wasting time in the system surgical training is practically a crime!

Moreover, Zheng Ren felt that as the system skill tree advanced, the gains he obtained during the training surgery kept increasing. He guessed the reasoning was like this: an expert-level hepatobiliary surgeon studying gastrointestinal surgery, because of a solid foundation, would definitely learn things more than ten times faster than a newly graduated doctor.

After reading for a while, he felt uneasy. Zheng Ren thought it might be because he had finished rounds in the wards and hadn't done a circuit of the Emergency Department.

Better go check, so he wouldn't keep worrying about it.

The wards were fine, so Zheng Ren strolled downstairs to check the Emergency Department. If everything was stable, he could then focus on reading and studying.

Upon arriving at the Emergency Department hallway, a bustling atmosphere rushed over him.

There were people who got drunk at noon and were unconscious, having their stomachs pumped; there were kids who didn't want to go to school, feigning illness and brought by parents; there were minor car accidents, with people feeling aggrieved and coming to the hospital to cause trouble for the other party.

Having seen many such cases, Zheng Ren didn't take them to heart.

From the corner of the hallway came a suppressed crying sound, very sorrowful, not the kind of dry wailing on the ground without a single tear.

Huh? What's going on? Usually the Emergency Department receives critically ill patients; because the onset is sudden, relatives express their emotions directly, so such weeping is rare.

He walked over to look, and Zheng Ren became even more puzzled.

Nothing serious, really—a family of three clung together, weeping as if facing a life-and-death parting.

"Child, after I'm gone, you must take good care of your mother," said a man with a dark complexion, covered in dust, his whole body bearing the marks of hardship and toil.

Judging by his appearance, he seemed over fifty, but Zheng Ren saw in the upper-right corner of the System Panel that his age was only forty-two.

He was likely a farmer from a remote rural area.

A dark-skinned girl squatted on the ground, crying opposite a middle-aged woman, her tears falling like broken pearls, pattering down.

"Dad, you'll be fine, definitely fine."

"It's okay, I don't know many characters but I can read. I thought it was just a minor illness, never expecting to actually have cancer. Child, the elders say life and death are fate; I accept it. It's just that in this lifetime I never got to see you leave home, have a child—I feel unwilling in my heart."

The more he spoke, the more heartbreaking it became; eventually the middle-aged man choked up and could no longer speak.

At the moment of life-and-death parting, different personalities show different reactions.

But this time… was the most absurd situation Zheng Ren had ever witnessed.

He hurried over, trying to soften his voice so as not to stimulate the patient who supposedly had a "terminal illness."

"Sir, what's wrong?" Zheng Ren asked.

"Huh?" The middle-aged man looked up, seeing Zheng Ren in a white coat with green clothing underneath, different from the doctors he'd seen before, seeming of a higher rank.

"Doctor, please save my father." The girl also saw Zheng Ren and sprang to her feet.

Whoa… looking at the girl, only seventeen or eighteen, standing up she was about 1.8 meters tall. Compared to her, Zheng Ren felt unusually short… nowadays girls grow tall from eating what, each one taller than the last; Zheng Ren muttered to himself.

The girl bowed deeply, trying with all her might to express her hope, albeit awkwardly.

"Please rise and speak." Zheng Ren smiled, "Your father is fine."

"He has cancer." The girl's face bore a pallid despair.

Zheng Ren shook his head and took the outpatient chart from her hand. It was clearly written; the final diagnosis matched the System Panel's diagnosis—right inguinal hernia.

"This is a hernia, not cancer." Zheng Ren's thoughts momentarily went off track.

"It's written here." The girl pointed to the character for "hernia" in the final diagnosis and said, "This is cancer, doctor—can you save my father?"

Her large eyes were crystal clear, like a mountain spring, revealing their depths at a glance.

"…" Zheng Ren suddenly realized the family was crying because… because… they had misread the character.

Having practiced medicine for six or seven years, Zheng Ren had never encountered such a situation before.

It's said doctors' handwriting is illegible, which is true. In the past, handwritten prescriptions were half Latin; especially Emergency Department doctors, if they wrote charts slowly, they feared they'd be beaten within days.

But now everything is computer-printed case records, so there's no such thing as illegible handwriting.

He was torn between laughter and tears.

"Miss, this character is read as 'hernia,' not 'cancer.'" Zheng Ren tried to sound gentle, hoping Chang Yue would be by his side at that moment.

With Chang Yue's communication skills, she could probably convince this grief-stricken family within a minute.

As for Zheng Ren, he seemed to need to say a few more words.

"Huh?" The girl stared for a moment, clutching her garment's edge, continually kneading it, as if trying to tear apart her inner confusion, turmoil, and shame.

"This condition is easily treatable." Zheng Ren smiled.

"Doctor, you can't lie to us; we really have no money," the middle-aged man said honestly.

"Don't worry; if surgery is done promptly, as long as the intestine isn't strangulated and necrotic, you can be discharged in three days and back to work in a week." Zheng Ren said.

The family was still immersed in the dazed feeling of having escaped death, not fully emerged from their grief, looking somewhat bewildered.

This is an outpatient surgery, which should fall under the General Surgery Department's treatment.

"Come on, I'll have other doctors write you an admission slip; you'll be hospitalized for examination, and if there are no surgical contraindications, we can proceed with the surgery. The procedure is simple—don't worry."

"Really nothing wrong?"

"Definitely, really." Zheng Ren could only use monotonous, barren words to make this family believe him.

"Chief Zheng, where are you? We're back and brought you packed rice. Oh, and we also brought back leftover food and dishes." While he was still pondering, Zheng Ren received a call from Xie Yiren.

"Have Chang Yue come to the Emergency Department." Zheng Ren felt like he had grabbed a lifeline.

Soon Chang Yue came down, dressed in a white uniform as pure as snow, a red stethoscope slung over her shoulder, her single ponytail swaying with her steps.

Looking at the vibrant, lovely girl, Zheng Ren wondered where her communication skills came from, feeling a bit puzzled.

Chang Yue approached Zheng Ren, listened to his explanation, then smiled slightly and said, "Leave this to me."

Seeing Chang Yue and that family of three go to a quieter corner, Chang Yue seemed to emanate an aura that could soothe hearts; Zheng Ren let out a soft breath and went to patrol the Emergency Department observation room.

The patients' conditions were relatively simple; surgery mostly involved head trauma patients under observation to prevent delayed cerebral hemorrhage, while medical patients mainly suffered from acute gastroenteritis, mostly caused by overeating and binge drinking.

These disease diagnoses and treatments are very simple.

After a round of checks, there were no misdiagnoses, and Zheng Ren finally put his mind at ease.

After leaving the final observation room, Zheng Ren vaguely heard laughter coming from the hallway corner.

He went over and saw the middle-aged woman holding Chang Yue's hand, beaming with delight.

Just like that, in a moment, Chang Yue has become part of the family?

Zheng Ren savored it for a moment, feeling that he might never possess this ability in his life.

Chang Yue said a few more words to the family who had already broken into smiles, then came to Zheng Ren's side and said, "Chief Zheng, they have already accepted the surgery recommendation; should we admit them to the hospital?"

"Hey, this is outpatient; it's not our responsibility." Zheng Ren quickly intervened.

Some hospital rules, if not supported by strong leadership, are better left unchanged; otherwise, the outcome will be grim.

"The condition is fairly simple, but the problem is the family has no money." Chang Yue stood before Zheng Ren, and as he reported work, the smile on his face disappeared entirely, leaving no trace of the expression he had just shown the patient's family.