Chapter 37: Improved Tang Method Get!
This surgery took nearly four hours, and it was already 8:20 when Lu Cheng left the operating room.
This duration is quite normal; if liver protection surgery were not difficult, it wouldn’t be a forbidden technique in the county hospital.
Lu Cheng quickly called Lin Qianlong: “Director Lin, Professor Chen and I are requesting a day off today.”
“If there are any special emergencies, refer them out.”
Lin Qianlong’s tone suddenly became very high: “Lu Cheng, don’t tell me you haven’t given Professor Chen any rest before?”
“You’ve been going at it until today?”
Lu Cheng honestly replied: “Director Lin, it was my lack of thoroughness; I was just focused on learning surgeries.”
“You son of a—?” Lin Qianlong’s pupils constricted. He thought about Chen Song being dragged by Lu Cheng into ‘sudden death’ scenarios, but he stopped himself from cursing:
“Are you Professor Chen’s illegitimate son? Does he let you act so recklessly?”
Lu Cheng was really treating Chen Song like a Japanese person to be bossed around, not like a human being.
“Director Lin, it’s mainly some minor surgeries, like tendon suturing and appendicitis, which I handled myself, so I didn’t clearly remember Professor Chen’s rest times…”
“It’s mainly my fault. I will definitely pay attention next time.” Lu Cheng did not defend himself.
“You also need to take care of your health!?” Lin Qianlong said.
“And pay even more attention to Professor Chen’s rest time. If you keep this up, isn’t that just giving him away for free?”
“Forget it… I’ll contact Professor Chen myself. Otherwise, if I give you surgical authority, you might mess things up again.” Lin Qianlong unilaterally hung up the phone.
He didn’t continue scolding Lu Cheng, but he did revoke Lu Cheng’s “surgery scheduling authority”!
Actually, Lin Qianlong could understand Lu Cheng. Lu Cheng worked even longer hours than Chen Song; wasn’t he tired? Of course, he was.
It was just that Lu Cheng knew that opportunities to learn were hard to come by.
When he was ‘tired,’ he truly might not have had the capacity to pay attention to Chen Song’s rest details.
Lin Qianlong had thought Lu Cheng knew when to rest and when not to, but Lu Cheng was acting like he was going mad…
Lu Cheng silently put away his mobile phone, accepting Chen Song’s broad tolerance, and deeply buried it in his heart.
After handing over his shift and returning home, Lu Cheng took a shower and immediately fell into a deep sleep.
He slept until 7:40 in the afternoon.
When Lu Cheng came out of his room, Lu Nanjia and his mother Tian Hui were watching television. Hearing Lu Cheng open the door, they immediately stood up and said, “You must be exhausted after not being home for days… We were just waiting for you to eat.”
Tian Hui, with a hint of concern in her voice, walked to the kitchen to serve food, while Lu Nanjia opened the mosquito net over the dining table.
Lu Cheng said, “Dad, Mom has a sensitive stomach and can’t go hungry, you guys eat first?”
“You know your mother; if you’re not here, she won’t start eating first, right?”
“As long as you’re rested, you must have been exhausted these past few days, hurry up and wash your hands and eat.” Lu Nanjia very simply gestured for Lu Cheng to sit down.
Lu Cheng was not so formal with his parents and obediently sat down to wait to be ‘fed.’ After Lu Nanjia sat down again, he said, “Your uncle called again today.”
“He even praised you, saying you’re doing quite well in the Emergency Department and have managed to make a breakthrough on your own…”
Lu Cheng was not surprised that his uncle, Lu Nanyong, would pay attention to him, and said, “It’s not really a breakthrough; I’ve just had some opportunities.”
“Learning surgery isn’t something that happens in a day or two. If you learn it, that’s good; if you don’t, you’ll be exposed immediately.”
“Dad, you know me. Maybe Mom and you spoil me too much, but I’m not the type to only share good news.”
“But no matter what, it will be better than before.” Lu Cheng looked at his accumulated skill points, thinking he could finally spend them carefully.
He could spend them all at once to his heart’s content.
Lu Nanjia was silent for a moment and said, “Sharing both good and bad news is good; that way, Mom and I won’t worry about you as much.”
“It’s just that I can’t help you much.” Lu Nanjia sighed.
“Let’s eat, eat…” Tian Hui came out with bowls and placed chopsticks and rice in front of Lu Cheng first.
Lu Cheng said, “This delicious food tastes even better than outside restaurants. I think you and Mom could really open a small restaurant; it would definitely make money.”
Tian Hui shook her head: “No, no, I only know how to cook these few home-style dishes; opening a restaurant isn’t reliable. We’d lose all our savings…”
But Tian Hui was very happy that Lu Cheng said he liked eating home-cooked meals.
After dinner, Lu Cheng voluntarily helped clean up the dishes and chopsticks, then watched TV with his parents for a while. Around 9 o’clock, Lu Cheng locked himself in the training room.
Lu Cheng looked at his skill point balance—
【Current Skill Point Balance: 42.3 points】
He then looked at his skill panel.
【Suturing Skills: Suturing Blue Proficiency 4/20 Blue, Tendon Suturing Blue Proficient 7/10 Blue, Improved Kessler Suturing Method Blue Proficient 6/10 Blue Blue+1 Blue, Tsuge Suturing Blue Including Sliding Type Blue Proficient 4/10 Blue Blue+1 Blue, Improved Tang Method Blue Proficient 10/10 Blue Yellow
【Specialty Surgical Procedures: Gallbladder Removal Surgery Blue Beginner 4/5 Blue Blue+2 Blue, Appendectomy Blue Beginner 5/5 Blue Blue+2 Blue, Splenectomy Blue Beginner 3/5 Blue Blue+2 Blue Yellow
The reason Lu Cheng didn’t rush to allocate points immediately was that he discovered the greater the skill gap between him and Chen Song, the easier it was for him to receive guidance and improve, saving skill points.
With Chen Song covering him, Lu Cheng wasn’t afraid of the surgery quality being subpar.
Moreover, once his basic skills improved, common surgical procedures like gallbladder removal, appendectomy, and splenectomy saw rapid increases in proficiency.
In such a situation, adding points immediately would be a waste of skill points, failing to achieve maximum efficiency.
【Insufficient Basic Proficiency in Suturing, Improved Tang Method Breakthrough Failed, Skill Points Fully Returned! Yellow
Lu Cheng looked at this notification.
Tendon Suturing was a technique that Chen Song could no longer guide or teach Lu Cheng. Therefore, after accumulating skill points, Lu Cheng had immediately attempted to break through to master the Improved Tang Method as soon as possible.
However, this notification struck Lu Cheng like a thunderbolt.
He could understand it but didn’t support the panel’s way of doing things…
Lu Cheng had asked Chen Song, and Professor Chen had explained that the mastery of basic skills determined the upper limit of proficiency for a series of surgical skills!
Not practicing basic skills was like practicing martial arts without internal energy—purely superficial movements.
Now that he had a few more skill points, but not a lot, Lu Cheng had no choice but to try one by one.
【Insufficient Basic Proficiency in Tendon Suturing, Improved Tang Method Breakthrough Failed, Skill Points Fully Returned! Yellow
【Suturing Skills: Suturing Blue Specialization 10/20 Blue Blue Skill Points -6 Blue, Tendon Suturing Blue Specialization 0/20 Blue Blue Skill Points -23 Blue, Improved Tang Method Blue Proficient 10/10 Blue Yellow
【Remaining Skill Points: 16.3! Yellow
【Insufficient Skill Points, unable to breakthrough. Yellow
“Holy shit…” Lu Cheng sat in front of the console, unable to hold back any longer, and cursed loudly at the air.
Why is surgery so difficult? Why is the Improved Tang Method so hard to learn? Why does tendon suturing have so many pitfalls?
At this moment, the ‘words’ on the panel made it all concrete.
Why couldn’t Professor Chen Song learn the Improved Tang Method technique? Why was Xiang Daihong at Zhou People’s Hospital not proficient in the Improved Tang Method?
Why had the flexor tendon in District Two been called a no-man’s-land for so many years?
There were reasons for all of it.
After Lu Cheng finished his tirade, he picked up his mobile phone and saw a message from Brother Zeng Huanqi: “Xiao Lu, a patient with a tendon rupture came in, it seems to be in the extensor tendon area four, like you mentioned.”
“Will you handle it or refer it out?”
“Peng Kun’s intention is that he won’t handle it…” Zeng Huanqi gave Lu Cheng a few hints.
Peng Kun, Young Master Kun of Orthopedics, was still not entirely ‘obedient.’ Occasionally, when Lu Cheng was resting, he would have his father teach him about tendon ruptures.
However, today, Lu Cheng was resting, and he was behaving himself, though the reason was unclear.
“I’ll handle it! Brother Zeng, I’m coming right away.” There was still a few points’ skill point gap to fill; Lu Cheng rushed out of his house without hesitation, riding his electric scooter.
Midnight, 5:30 AM.
Lu Cheng looked at the Improved Tang Method finally reaching Specialized Level, and with satisfaction, he lay down directly in the emergency department’s rest room and began to sleep soundly…
Although the Improved Tang Method was difficult and fraught with challenges in learning, Lu Cheng had ultimately overcome it.
