Chapter 180: The Name Is Up Again
“How is it, is it dismantled? What’s the result? Is it a mess?” In the tendon suturing competition hall, Professor Lu Bin, one of the judges, questioned the doctoral student from the Second Hospital who followed him.
The third round of the competition was still proceeding in an orderly manner, but he didn’t have much energy to pay attention to others.
“Brother Lu, it’s not a random suture. The suturing techniques are traceable. Professor Dong personally led the team to dismantle it,” replied the doctoral student beside Lu Bin.
“It’s not random? Then what about these data?” Lu Bin’s brows furrowed deeply.
Lu Bin is an attending physician at the Second Hospital, and a newly promoted attending physician, having recently stepped down from chief resident.
This time, he was not on the list of participants recommended by the Second Hospital, nor was his name even among those who registered to compete.
There were two reasons: one was that Lu Bin’s ability was too poor, and participating would only be for the sake of participation; it was better to give the spot to someone who needed it more.
Lu Bin’s operational ability was just not as good as his peers. Now, an extremely unfamiliar name appeared in the competition venue he was responsible for, making Lu Bin feel a bit uncomfortable.
The Youth Physician Grand Competition, isn’t this the main arena for associate professors other than Tong Yuan’an and Jun Ge?
In Lu Bin’s cognition, among the young physicians in the province under the age of thirty-five, the three spots in the tendon suturing track were basically reserved for Wei Jianwen of the Second Hospital, Zhou Jian of the Third Hospital, and Ding Gaoqiu of the Provincial People’s Hospital.
Other deputy senior and attending physicians at Xiangya Hospital participated in the “vascular” and “nerve” suturing tracks.
The parenchymal organ suturing track was the main arena for general surgery and microsurgery.
As for the neurosurgery track, neurosurgery was also a strong competitor.
Xiang Province is not that large. Even in Xiangya Hospital, neurosurgery is incredibly strong. Even if they can’t match hand surgery in nerve suturing, they still dare not be careless…
The reason Lu Bin suspected Lu Cheng was messing around was that similar situations had occurred before.
Some contestants felt that the organizers only considered a few sets of test data, so they would suture randomly without any clinical principles.
Although the final result showed improved traction data, the sutured cross-sections were extremely messy, losing the practical meaning of clinical skills assessment, and thus the results of tendon suturing were disqualified.
If Lu Cheng was not suturing randomly, then the data from this set of techniques was so much better than other ‘popular techniques,’ it must mean someone had reached a new peak in tendon suturing techniques.
“What unit is this Lu Cheng from?” Lu Bin asked again.
“Long County People’s Hospital. It’s the place where many of our department’s teachers often go for rural outreach. It’s where Young Master Kun is,” the doctoral student replied.
One of the units that Xiangya Second Hospital had paired to assist was Long County People’s Hospital, and most of the orthopedic department staff went there for rural outreach.
“Where did he study before?” Lu Bin naturally didn’t believe that Lu Cheng learned such a transcendent technique from a county hospital.
“This is not required, nor was it registered,” the doctoral student replied.
Lu Bin nodded slightly: “Then this competition will probably have some variables…”
The doctoral student beside Lu Bin replied: “I heard from a classmate that on the vascular track, Associate Chief Physician Zhou Qin from Hengda First Affiliated Hospital also got a very good score, reaching 93 points.”
“If Brother Wei makes a mistake, he might have to do it again to have a chance to advance.”
Xiangya has three hospitals, and each has recommended quotas for hand surgery, but the quotas are not many, a fixed six, two per hospital.
The recommended quotas for the Second Hospital were Associate Professor Ding Mou and Attending Physician Mao Yunhua. Wei Jianwen had to compete on his own. Wei Jianwen originally intended to compete in the tendon suturing track, planning to advance to the re-match first.
“Did Zhang Kai from Changshi First People’s Hospital compete?” Lu Bin asked again.
While the strong competitors in Xiang Province were indeed the internal struggles among the three Xiangya hospitals, that was the game of top professors.
Below the age of thirty-five, the gaps were not that large. Hospitals like the Provincial People’s Hospital, Hengda First Affiliated Hospital, and Changshi First People’s Hospital also had strong competitors.
Of the four tracks this time, only tendon suturing and vascular suturing were areas that hand surgery actively vied for. For nerve suturing, it was uncertain whether hand surgery could secure a position.
“Haven’t heard anything yet!” The doctoral student accompanying Lu Bin was assisting in the tendon suturing competition venue; he was not an informant and was only responsible for gathering information.
“Mm, let’s wait and see then…”
“…”
After Lu Cheng finished his competition, he did not immediately return to the hotel to rest. Instead, he went to other competition venues to check the ranking list of overall results.
It was a shame that the display screens did not show the unit of each person, only their name and score.
However, Lu Cheng, in the crowd, also learned that on the main vascular suturing stage, besides the Xiangya hospitals, prominent scores were also achieved by the Provincial People’s Hospital, Shashi First People’s Hospital, Shashi Central Hospital, Changshi First People’s Hospital, Hengda First Affiliated Hospital, YY City Central Hospital, ZZ City Central Hospital, and so on…
For vascular suturing, the highest score was 97 points, achieved by Hu Yi from Xiangya Hospital.
…
Lu Cheng then went to the nerve suturing track to take a look and found that the competition here was also extremely fierce. Although there were people from Xiangya Hospital’s hand surgery on the leaderboard, there were also a constant stream of experts in neurosurgery.
Currently, the top three were all from Xiangya Hospital.
Lu Cheng was relatively familiar with Associate Professor Gu Yanlin, whom Professor Tong Yuan’an had introduced to him; he was currently ranked second in the neurosurgery track.
As for the current number one in the neurosurgery track, it was none other than the associate professor of neurosurgery, Luo Lian…
In parenchymal organ suturing, it was even more diverse, as too many departments participated, leading to a lack of familiarity with others.
Hepatobiliary Surgery, Gastrointestinal Surgery, and Breast and Thyroid Surgery were all involved, and each specialty had its own vast community…
Lu Cheng did not know them, and naturally, they would not know Lu Cheng.
After wandering around, it was already eleven-thirty when Lu Cheng finally withdrew from the competition venue.
Of course, before withdrawing, Lu Cheng went to the tendon suturing venue one last time.
Lu Cheng’s name remained at the top of the list, unshaken.
…
After going downstairs, Lu Cheng entered the buffet restaurant, which offered Western-style buffet with sashimi, seafood, and cooked dishes of acceptable quality.
Lu Cheng did not choose sashimi or seafood, fearing diarrhea afterwards, and only selected some cooked food.
Lu Cheng, holding his plate, sat by the window. He thought he wouldn’t encounter anyone who knew him, but just as he was halfway through his meal, someone sat down opposite him.
Lu Cheng squinted his eyes, confirmed he didn’t recognize the person, and gave him a casual smile before tidying his plate.
“Doctor Lu, the suturing technique you used in the competition earlier, it’s original, right? Which teacher created it? I haven’t heard of it,” the person’s voice was very kind.
Lu Cheng looked up again: “Teacher, may I ask who you are?”
“My name is Qiu Ye. I previously pursued my doctorate under Professor Tan at Xiangya Hospital, and now I work at the Third Hospital.”
“I also asked Brother Tong, and he told me,” Qiu Ye introduced himself.
Qiu Ye had a round face with a double chin, giving him a benevolent appearance.
Lu Cheng also introduced himself: “Hello Teacher Qiu, my name is Lu Cheng, ‘Lu’ from ear and east, and ‘Cheng’ from success.”
“This suturing technique is original.”
Lu Cheng admitted it.
Qiu Ye was not surprised: “In this kind of competition, those with outstanding results must exceed the current maximum suturing technique by at least ten percent.”
“Otherwise, no competition organizer would give a perfect score.”
“I heard from Brother Tong that this suturing technique, you created it yourself? That’s pretty impressive.”
Qiu Ye was not old, estimated to be one or two years older than Lu Cheng. He was slightly overweight, appearing honest and candid, and quite talkative.
“I was lucky. It was also mainly because Teacher Tong taught me many other suturing techniques before, which allowed me to integrate them,” Lu Cheng said with a self-deprecating smile.
Qiu Ye said: “At first, I also thought it was my master’s original tendon suturing technique, but when I graduated, I couldn’t even clearly see the actual model of this suturing technique.”
“Later, after asking, I learned that the original attempt had failed.”
“Doctor Lu, for you to be able to independently create such an impressive technique, your clinical talent is extraordinarily high.”
“Did you cheat?”
Lu Cheng nodded naturally: “Yes, I have to thank my mom.”
Qiu Ye was taken aback: “Haha! Then you should thank your mother properly. Otherwise, the hard-won territory of tendon suturing techniques in our China would be ceded again.”
“Actually, it’s not a big deal to cede it to others, but it’s best not to cede it to neighboring countries.”
Qiu Ye came from Xiangya Hospital, and Xiangya Hospital was engaged in research and development of tendon suturing techniques, so some background knowledge was shared.
“Teacher Qiu, which competitions did you participate in?” Lu Cheng asked.
“I participated in all of them, but I just participated.”
After speaking, Qiu Ye casually asked, “Doctor Lu, since you are from Xiang Province, why didn’t you choose to come to our Xiangya Hospital?”
It was clear that Qiu Ye had conducted thorough background checks on Lu Cheng before coming.
“My girlfriend is at Xiehe,” Lu Cheng gave a plausible standard answer.
If Lu Cheng came to Xiangya, his girlfriend would also have to come to Xiangya, requiring two transfers. But if Lu Cheng went to Xiehe, it would only require one transfer.
“Huazhong Xiehe? That’s a competitive place!”
“I have a senior brother who got in. He’s only thirty-seven this year, and his hair is almost gone…” Qiu Ye said jokingly.
It was not surprising for doctoral students from Xiangya Hospital to go to Huazhong Xiehe Hospital; many excellent doctoral students also went to Kyoto Xiehe.
“Anyway, it’s all about muddling through. Once you have a set goal, you shouldn’t move easily,” Lu Cheng said.
Qiu Ye nodded: “Huazhong Xiehe Hospital is very good. Except for being a bit competitive, there are no other faults.”
“Although my senior brother is a bit miserable now, his income is good.”
“E Province’s economy is much better than our Xiang Province. The patients are also wealthy, and the unit is wealthy, with an annual income higher than our hospital’s teachers.”
Lu Cheng then asked, “Teacher Qiu, which teacher went from Xiangya Hospital?”
“Brother Zhe. Wang Zhe,” Qiu Ye said.
Lu Cheng actually knew him. Associate Professor Wang Zhe was a student of Professor Xie Xiao. “Teacher Wang is Teacher Tong’s junior brother?”
Qiu Ye sighed: “Yes. Originally, they wanted him to stay at the hospital, but Brother Zhe ran to E Province for love. Now he’s managed to make a name for himself.”
“But Xiao Lu, you should be mentally prepared. Xiehe Hospital is very competitive, it’s either promotion or leaving. It’s not a joke.”
“I remember when I was in graduate school, Brother Zhe still had a full head of hair and looked energetic, but now he’s a bit listless.”
“Thank you for the reminder, Teacher Qiu,” Lu Cheng replied.
Qiu Ye suddenly interjected: “That place has a ‘devouring’ training mode.”
“Ah?” Lu Cheng looked up.
Qiu Ye didn’t elaborate: “It’s nothing, Xiao Lu, you’ll surely be able to get by. Let’s eat first; you should have other competitions later.”
Although Qiu Ye didn’t explain in detail, Lu Cheng had every reason to suspect that Qiu Ye definitely knew something.
…
After eating, Lu Cheng said goodbye to Qiu Ye.
The words “devouring training mode” that Qiu Ye told Lu Cheng were almost imprinted in Lu Cheng’s mind, lingering constantly.
However, this thought was interrupted when Lu Cheng started chatting with Mu Nanshu.
Mu Nanshu had just woken up. She and Xie Yuan’an had been busy until eight in the morning.
After a nap, she was now out looking for food.
“When you were doing experiments abroad, was it like this?” Lu Cheng asked.
“Yes, a research dog.”
“Day and night upside down, whenever the cells need to be processed, you have to be there.”
“The place I was in, China’s time difference was almost exactly reversed… I didn’t want to chat with you before, it was just too much pressure…”
“I was afraid I would transfer my pressure onto you.”
“Never mind, let’s not talk about this. Let me show you what we’re eating…” Mu Nanshu sent a picture of a Mala Xiang Guo pot.
Just as Lu Cheng was about to reply, he received a rather unfamiliar phone call.
The call was from Shashi City.
After Lu Cheng answered, the other party directly introduced himself: “Is this Doctor Lu Cheng? I am He Aiyong from Xiangya Second Hospital.”
Lu Cheng’s brain felt a bit spastic for a moment.
Tong Yuan’an had already introduced him to the three top figures in hand surgery in the province.
Tan Zhongyuan and Zhou Yuhui from Xiangya Hospital; He Aiyong from Xiangya Second Hospital.
The reason Leng Hua’an, Director of the Third Hospital, was not mentioned was that the charisma of Professor Zhou Yuhui was too strong. Even though Professor Leng Hua’an became the director of hand surgery at the Third Hospital, he could not replace the old professor.
Of course, Lu Cheng did not falter: “Hello Director He, I am Lu Cheng.”
He Aiyong directly asked: “Doctor Lu Cheng, the tendon suturing technique you used in today’s competition, it’s original, right? Otherwise, the data wouldn’t be so much better.”
“Yes, it is, Teacher He.”
“The competition shouldn’t prohibit choosing a suturing technique,” Lu Cheng explained.
He Aiyong quickly said: “Of course it’s not prohibited. We welcome and encourage clinicians to independently improve suturing techniques, preferably to make them standardized and normalized surgical procedures.”
“Then it’s settled. You will represent our Xiang Province’s tendon suturing group in the subsequent competition. You must bring back a good ranking for us.”
“Currently, your operational performance should be stable, not a situation of one step forward, one step back, right?” Professor He Aiyong’s voice was exceptionally cheerful, making a very direct joke.
“It should be alright, Teacher He,” Lu Cheng replied naturally.
“Alright is good. In a competition, the thing that can kill the competition is originality.”
“I also asked Director Tan later. He said you are collaborating on this tendon suturing technique project to make it mature as soon as possible.”
“Speaking broadly, this is related to the further development of tendon suturing in hand surgery. Speaking narrowly, Professor Tang of Su Province gained fame in hand surgery with his Tang method, and our Xiang Province can also gain fame in the hand surgery community through better original techniques.”
“The best way to respect elders is to stand on their shoulders, to ride on them civilly, with respect mixed with competition.”
Lu Cheng said: “Director He, it’s not to the point of killing the competition, is it?”
“This is killing the competition. And it’s a competition that can dominate for several years, even a decade. In the next few years, if people from other provinces cannot learn this technique, they will have no voice in this competition at the same level.”
“Even if there are differences in skill level, the technique can compensate for these differences.”
“Of course, the biggest competition is naturally in clinical practice, to bring better recovery to patients. I have confidence in you, Doctor Lu.”
“I wonder if Doctor Lu is interested in joining our team?” Professor He Aiyong suddenly changed the subject.
Lu Cheng was stunned for a moment and quickly replied: “Director He, thank you for your favor. I have already promised another teacher.”
“If there are any changes later, I would very earnestly hope that Director He would still be willing to give me an opportunity.”
“You are quite greedy.” Lu Cheng’s polite refusal did not work on Professor He Aiyong.
“Director He, I can’t have it both ways,” Lu Cheng replied calmly.
“Alas… It’s alright, just a joke. You should rest well, and I hope you have fun in other tracks too.”
“I have some things to attend to. If you’re not in a hurry tomorrow, let’s stay and have a meal together to discuss the national competition properly,” He Aiyong said.
…
After hanging up the phone, Lu Cheng looked at the phone thoughtfully.
Hey, didn’t they say they didn’t care about fame? Didn’t they say that the competition was about participation and exchange?
Bullshit!
As soon as Professor He saw that he could dominate a certain track, he wanted to discuss follow-up competition matters with him.
Friendship is important for ordinary life, but on the battlefield, the goal is to ‘kill’ everyone else.
However, this perfectly matched Lu Cheng’s intentions; Lu Cheng was aiming for the prize money.
With legitimate money in his pocket, everything else was easy.
In the afternoon, Lu Cheng continued to participate in the competitions in an orderly manner, first in vascular suturing, then in parenchymal organ suturing…
In the vascular suturing competition, Lu Cheng lost unexpectedly, ranking only ninth. Even after pouring all his skill points into suturing techniques, he only scored 92 points, with eight people ahead of him.
Fortunately, this competition was divided into tracks; otherwise, the national competition would truly be out of reach for Lu Cheng.
However, when Lu Cheng went to participate in parenchymal organ suturing, he discovered that the object of this competition was pig spleen.
“Spleen suturing?” Lu Cheng’s expression became strange again upon seeing what he had to suture.
【 Unnamed Spleen Suturing Technique （ Mastery 20/20 ）… 】
…
The spleen suturing competition item was different from tendon suturing. Spleen suturing was a level-based competition, approximately involving suturing treatment for different types of spleen injuries, with the requirement of neat suturing without bleeding.
The more sutures performed, the higher the score. There were a total of six spleen sections, with scoring based on blood flow and bleeding after suturing, twenty points per section.
Generally, contestants would fail before the fifth section, and points would be awarded based on the bleeding situation.
The highest score in this format was not one hundred points. If you had enough ability, you could even get over a hundred points.
However, this was just theoretical.
The parenchymal organ competition track had never been a domain for hand surgeons, so Lu Cheng did not see any familiar faces; they were all people he didn’t know.
Therefore, no one paid attention to Lu Cheng’s competition results.
An hour later, Lu Cheng had barely completed the sixth section of spleen suturing, and he could not guarantee the quality of his work. After the timer ran out, everyone gradually finished their operations.
The scoring determination was quite troublesome; the comprehensive results would only be announced midway through the next group’s competition.
Lu Cheng left after his competition because he still had one last nerve suturing competition to attend…
This was how salon-style competitions worked; as long as you had the energy, you could participate multiple times and continuously improve your score.
It was a semi-competition, semi-recreational format.
After all contestants completed their initial competitions, some could even receive guidance on suturing techniques, integrating learning with competition.
Shortly after Lu Cheng left, his sutured spleen was sent to the backstage of the parenchymal organ competition venue for measurement.
Lu Cheng’s suturing result was interesting: there were six spleen sections, one more than everyone else.
It was not uncommon to have one less, but having one more was a first.
【 142 Lu Cheng 】
“Do you recognize this person?” Professor Cao from the General Surgery department of Xiangya Second Hospital, who was in charge of the measurement, asked casually after seeing the number of spleen sections.
There were quite a few Master’s and Doctoral students, as well as doctors from the hospital, measuring the data, and they all shook their heads.
“Measure it slowly,” Professor Cao instructed.
The first three spleen sections were actually easy points; anyone with some skill could get sixty points. This was to balance the contestants psychologically so that the scores they could obtain were not too unsightly.
“This Doctor Lu Cheng seems to have decent skills, Teacher Cao,” said Li Zizhen, from the Hepatobiliary Surgery division of General Surgery, who was responsible for the measurement.
“Continue.”
Li Zizhen sent two more sets of data to the measuring instrument.
“Immediate blood flow score: 97%, bleeding: 0! Comprehensive score: 20.”
“Immediate blood flow score: 95%, bleeding: 0! Comprehensive score: 20.”
“Holy crap!” As soon as the data came out, Li Zizhen was stunned.
“Teacher Cao, please take a look.”
Professor Cao, who was sitting, stood up immediately upon hearing Li Zizhen’s words and saw the measured data at a glance.
For spleen suturing, there were no other requirements; only two points mattered.
The first point was the blood flow score, and the second was the bleeding rate. As long as these two points were handled well, it was the procedure for spleen preservation surgery.
Li Zizhen looked at Professor Cao: “Teacher Cao, what should we do? Should we give a perfect score of one hundred?”
Li Zizhen’s voice was filled with shock.
“It seems to be more than one hundred points, doesn’t it?” a doctoral student next to Li Zizhen reminded him.
There was still an extra spleen section; even if it was only worth two points, it would likely exceed one hundred points.
Professor Cao’s hair was somewhat unkempt and slightly long. He swept his hair to the left and his eyes sparkled: “Continue measuring.”
The spleen was placed on the machine, and the data dropped immediately.
“Immediate blood flow score: 83%, bleeding: 0.1%! Comprehensive score: 17.”
“Teacher Cao?” At this point, everyone was flustered.
More people stood up and gathered around.
Cao Qianwei vigorously ran a hand through his hair: “Announce the results. I have something to attend to… Call Professor Hong An and ask him to come over for a chat.”
“Li Zizhen, call him immediately!” Cao Qianwei rushed out in a hurry.
Was this only one hundred and seventeen points?
No, this was the peak of spleen preservation surgery!
Cao Qianwei immediately activated his omnipotent power and, within the second minute, collected Lu Cheng’s phone number…
At the same time, Lu Cheng’s name was put up again, with results even more outrageous than those in the tendon suturing track…
