Chapter 288: I’m Sorry! (Part 4 of 4)
After scrubbing in, they went to the operating table.
Su Yun was one step ahead, having already sterilized and prepared the sheets. After putting on his gown, Zheng Ren continued with the second layer of sterile sheet and started the surgery.
A sterile glove was placed on the handle of the knife in the patient’s abdomen. After a laparotomy, Chu Yanzhi removed it.
The moment the knife left the abdomen, Zheng Ren pressed a sterile cotton pad into the wound.
Blood did not hit the ceiling.
After repeating sterilization a few times, Zheng Ren and Su Yun changed into a new pair of sterile gloves before opening up the patient’s abdomen.
There was no actual need for such a process as perforated intestines would result in leakage of intestinal juice and fecal matter. The surgery would fall under class IV of a contaminated surgical wound.
However, as usual, Zheng Ren still wanted to try his best to perfect his craft.
He made a 10 cm incision at the left rectus abdominis muscle.
Then, he slowly made his way into the abdominal cavity. Xie Yiren quietly passed him the tools required for each step.
Professor Rudolf Wagner observed them in a daze. The ongoing surgery was just a simple, ordinary procedure.
However, something was off about it
It was as if those performing the surgery were not humans, specifically the surgeon, assistant, scrub nurse and anesthesiologist.
The entire team operated so seamlessly that they resembled a machine.
No one even spoke a word.
There seemed to even be a fluent rhythm to it.
The flow was so smooth that those in the know felt relaxed and calm.
“Boss, you’re getting more and more nosy these days.” Although Su Yun had played along with Zheng Ren’s act earlier, he was back to his acerbic self once the patient was unconscious.
“It’s just a few words, it’s no trouble.” Zheng Ren found the perforation as he spoke.
“Tsk, if you’re that thoughtful, why don’t you take some time to visit the veterinary hospital that you’re not interested in? Also, who’s that foreigner?”
“Foreigner? Are you referring to me?” Professor Rudolf Wagner asked.
Su Yun was startled. How had this foreigner understood him without an interpreter? This was awkward.
Zheng Ren was unaffected by the exchange. He extended his hand and Xie Yiren passed him a needle holder.
The suture needle was fine, attached to a thin thread.
As usual, Su Yun asked shamelessly, “Yeah, who are you? Why did you follow Boss Zheng into the OR?”
“I’m Rudolf Wagner, a professor from the interventional department in Heidelberg University,” the professor said, introducing himself.
Even though Su Yun had guessed his identity, it felt absurd to hear it confirmed in person.
Most foreign professors were extremely snobbish and much more difficult to deal with compared to the local chiefs.
After completing the suture on the perforated intestine, Zheng Ren put the needle holder on a sterile sheet on the patient’s thigh.
Su Yun did not express any astonishment.
When he extended his hand again and an appendix retractor was passed to him. He pulled the peritoneum apart to widen the surgical field, allowing Zheng Ren to check for any remaining hidden injuries.
As he did that, he asked, “Are you going to be Mr. Zheng’s assistant in interventional surgery?”
“…” Zheng Ren stopped moving.
Professor Rudolf Wagner was also stunned. His sole purpose of coming to the East was to recruit Zheng to be his assistant.
Xie Yiren was unaware of what Su Yun was doing, unbothered by anything unrelated to the surgery.
She was entirely focused on the surgery, holding a pair of blunt scissors in one hand with the aspirator, aspirator cover and sterile wet bandages beside her, ready to be handed over at any moment when required.
Chu Yanzhi was shocked and snorted with laughter.
Su Yun’s biting tongue knew no limits, but this German professor was not just anyone. Truly incredible.
“I’ve invited Zheng to form a research lab in Heidelberg University to study prostate interventional surgery.
“However, he refused me. I think only a person of conviction will give up such an attractive offer and choose to stay in a basic operating room to endure heavy workloads and radiation,” Professor Rudolf Wagner said seriously, “I wish to see what drives his determination and beliefs so that I can communicate with him better.”
Tsk tsk, this professor was indeed honest.
Su Yun laughed and said, “Boss Zheng, kudos to you for rejecting such an offer.”
Zheng Ren tapped the appendix retractor in Su Yun’s hand with the hemostatic clamp to signal him to exert more force.
“You don’t have to explain yourself if you don’t feel like it, there’s no need to pick on me,” Su Yun grumbled, directing his attention back to the surgery.
They finished the surgery quickly. The scalpel wound on the ascending colon did not exceed one centimeter. After stitching it up, they continued to search for other lesions and rinsed the abdominal cavity repeatedly. Then, they administered antibiotics and began to close the abdominal incision.
The System did not announce any mission, but Zheng Ren could understand why.
Even if the System had assigned a mission for this, the rewards of such a simple procedure would be so little that it was better to not have any at all.
He wondered if the act he and Su Yun put up would frighten the young man into understanding the depths of despair and regret of those who had gone down similar paths.
Hopefully, the man would change his ways for the better.
After finishing the last stitch of the abdominal closure, the patient recovered from anesthesia.
Although Chu Yanzhi had a cheeky personality, she was still very reliable when something serious happened. In such situations, she was similar to her sister, Chu Yanran.
The patient had not fully regained consciousness. He started to react restlessly and babble.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he mumbled.
“My goodness…” Chu Yanran was speechless. She looked at Zheng Ren and Su Yun. “Look at what you guys did to this poor man.”
“Glad to know you’ve realized your mistakes,” Zheng Ren said with a smile.
“Give me a chance!” the patient said, then passed out.
He was probably shaken by their charade. Zheng Ren and Su Yun exchanged a glance before leaving the operating table.
Zheng Ren had once met a patient who requested a professor to perform surgery on him. Upon waking up after surgery, the patient’s first sentence was, “Have I paid the professor?”
There was another who woke up in the ward after his surgery, took the matron’s hand and requested to bed her…
The matron had been so furious that the patient checked out of the hospital three days later.
The words spoken during this fugue state were actually their deepest desires.
It was a good sign that he was rueful.
Hopefully, he would cherish this ‘chance’, or the scenario that he and Su Yun had envisioned would soon become reality.
Zheng Ren left the operating room to change into his regular clothes after removing his sterile surgical gown.
He had not even bothered to take notice when Professor Rudolf Wagner had left.
The man was a world-renowned professor and not one to steal things from an operating room in Sea City, after all.
When he entered the changing room, he heard Professor Rudolf Wagner’s voice.
It was in German and beyond Zheng Ren’s comprehension.
Still, Zheng Ren did not stop moving, knowing that standing outside and waiting for the man to finish his call could be misconstrued as eavesdropping.
He walked in without hesitation to see an agitated Professor Rudolf Wagner waving his left hand in the air.
“Professor Rudolf, what happened?” he asked.
Professor Rudolf Wagner waved Zheng Ren to be quiet and began to speak faster, more authoritatively, before finally hanging up.
“Zheng, if you’re not following me back to Heidelberg, I would like to ask your permission to stay in Sea City for a while,” Professor Rudolf Wagner said resolutely.