Chapter 9: Adding Rice To A Knife Cut
On July 7th, at 7:42 AM, a gust of hot air hit his face, causing Lu Cheng’s forehead to glisten with sweat.
After pushing open the emergency department’s roll-up door, the cool air from the central air conditioner immediately enveloped Lu Cheng in a “comfortable” embrace.
“Sister Qin, good morning… were you on the night shift yesterday?” As soon as he entered, he ran into an “acquaintance,” Du Yaqin from the emergency internal medicine department.
Du Yaqin, in her forties, with a “large” build and a kind smile, said, “Xiao Lu, you’re here quite early. I’ve been hearing around for the past couple of days that there’s a handsome guy in the surgery department, and indeed, you are a talented student with a remarkable appearance!~”
Lu Cheng has a Bachelor’s Degree from Hanshi University, making his first degree one of the best in the hospital.
At the opportune moment, Du Yaqin saw Director Lin Qianlong from the surgery group emerge and casually asked, “Director Lin, are you sure this Xiao Lu doesn’t have a girlfriend and still needs me to arrange something?”
“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
“He’s so tall and handsome, it’s unlikely he has only one girlfriend.”
Lin Qianlong is the director of the surgery group and the only Deputy Chief Physician.
Lin Qianlong has a standard receding hairline with a high forehead, is slightly overweight, and his eyes are filled with wrinkles of age. He said in a stern tone, “Ya Qin, I’ve confirmed many times that Xiao Lu does not have a girlfriend.”
“To establish a family and a career, one must first establish a family. If such a handsome young man like Xiao Lu is still single in our emergency department, it means our work hasn’t been done properly.”
“Ya Qin, you have a lot of resources at your disposal, so you must help our Doctor Lu find a nice, obedient girl （ beautiful ）.”
Single men in public institutions, especially if they are handsome, are highly sought after.
“No problem, I’ll take care of it… with Xiao Lu’s physique… he’ll definitely be very popular.” Du Yaqin readily agreed, “I still have a patient in my clinic… Director Lin, I’ll give you an answer by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”
“Thank you, Sister Qin, thank you, Director Lin, for your concern.” Lu Cheng didn’t object to blind dates; he was no longer young and had already been arranged on more than ten blind dates by his parents.
Who introduces him doesn’t matter as much as the introduction itself.
Lin Qianlong leaned his body and stretched his rather thick neck, then said in a low voice, “Xiao Lu, when you’re working with Professor Chen, remember to be sharp.”
“With so many people in our emergency department, Professor Chen took a liking to you at first glance. Try to learn as much technique from him as possible, and incidentally broaden the scope of our emergency department’s services.”
Chen Song is an Associate Professor at Xiangya Second Hospital; he is here for rural support, not to work part-time.
He only works day shifts and rests every other day.
Professor Chen arrived at the department on the 1st, and even the Vice President personally accompanied him, allowing him to choose the staff to work with him.
However, Chen Song did not choose those in the emergency department with a foundation in surgical techniques to work with him. Nor did he listen to Lin Qianlong’s recommendations. Instead, he took a liking to Lu Cheng, whose basic skills were extremely “excellent.”
However, basic skills are still just basic skills. Although they are a very important part of clinical practice, they are not the key techniques for treating patients.
“Okay, Director Lin, if Professor Chen has any special needs, I will call you anytime.” Lu Cheng’s tone was respectful.
When Chen Song first arrived, Director Lin Qianlong recommended Zeng Huanqi and Zhang Tiesheng, Attending Physicians in the ward, to Director Chen Song. It goes without saying that these two Big Brothers held extraordinary “status” in the emergency department.
However, Chen Song is a Professor from Xiangya Second Hospital, which is one of the top hospitals in Xiang Province. He doesn’t need to concern himself with the social graces of these county-level people and remains above it all.
Lin Qianlong saw immediately that Lu Cheng was very sensible and thus reminded him, “Yes, Xiao Lu, you’ve been an old employee of our hospital for a while now, and you know our hospital’s positioning and current situation.”
“When you’re working with Professor Chen Song, it’s best to suggest those disease types that the specialty departments can’t handle, otherwise, they’ll be too lazy to argue.”
“You understand what I mean, right?”
Doctors’ and nurses’ income is tied to patient volume. If the emergency department ‘intercepts’ disease types that specialty departments handle, it’s ‘cutting off their future prospects.’
Chen Song might not care about such matters, but Lin Qianlong and the others cannot let Chen Song bear a ‘bad reputation’!
Long County People’s Hospital is not Xiangya Second Hospital or Hanshi University Zhongnan Hospital. Every ward is overcrowded, and they can’t even see all the scheduled patients. They’d be glad if your emergency department could take on some of the workload.
“Okay, Director Lin, I understand.”
“I have already reviewed the ‘disease type list’ you sent me. I will also make suggestions to Professor Lin as appropriate.” Lu Cheng replied.
“If I don’t understand anything, I’ll ask Brother Du and the others.”
“Professor Chen’s intention is that we can choose some tendon suturing to do.”
When he was in orthopedics, the reason he had few opportunities was partly due to favoritism from superiors and the competition for surgeries among the Deputy Chief Physicians. But ultimately, it was simply that the patient volume in the county hospital was too low.
It’s not that there are no patients.
It’s that the disease types the county hospital can handle are limited, and patients with conditions it cannot handle have to be turned away.
Brother Du is Du Daihua, also a doctor in emergency surgery. He is on duty in the surgical clinic today.
The emergency surgery department has three shifts: the surgical clinic, the observation ward, and the surgery shift. Lu Cheng’s duty today should have been the observation ward shift, but because Professor Chen Song chose him, Lu Cheng is simultaneously on duty for the observation ward and the surgery shift, to follow Professor Chen Song for surgeries at any time.
“Then I’ll head back. A surgery came in, and it went from 1 AM until now,” Lin Qianlong sighed lightly and walked away, tilting his neck.
Lu Cheng immediately entered the lounge, put on the white coat with the Long County People’s Hospital logo, fastened his ID badge, and then rushed to the observation area to “take over.”
In the surgery observation area, there was only one patient who had undergone debridement. The patient Director Lin mentioned was still in the recovery room and had not yet returned to the ward.
After handing over the debridement patient, who was scheduled for discharge at noon, to the previous shift’s “Brother” Tian Zhuang, Lu Cheng went to the surgical clinic area and found Brother Du Daihua…
The emergency surgery group consists of seven people in total.
Director Lin Qianlong, the “extraordinarily influential” Zhang Tiesheng and Zeng Huanqi; Du Daihua, Tian Zhuang, Han Xiaoping, and then Lu Cheng.
The time was precisely two minutes past 8 AM.
“Brother Du, have you eaten breakfast?” Lu Cheng asked after pushing the door open.
The emergency clinic shifts officially start at 8 AM sharp, with separate teams for day, evening, and night shifts. Du Daihua is on duty from 8 AM to 4 PM.
“I ate before coming to take over. Haven’t you eaten yet?”
“Then hurry up and eat!” Du Daihua was “compact and refined” in stature, only 1.55 meters tall, but he was burly and strong, enthusiastically urging him.
“Brother Du… I’ve eaten too. But Professor Chen probably hasn’t eaten yet. What I meant was, if you haven’t eaten, Brother Du, I’ll order for all of us.”
“Brother Du, I came to see you to discuss something. If we encounter any patients with tendon injuries today, please remember to call me.” Lu Cheng gave Du Daihua a knowing glance.
Du Daihua, like Lu Cheng, came from an ordinary rural background. However, unlike Lu Cheng, he didn’t have such a good first degree and didn’t receive the favor of Associate Professor Chen Song.
Du Daihua’s large eyes widened, his nose tip and eyeballs seeming to be the same size. His dark pupils darted about, his mouth slightly agape, and he exclaimed in astonishment, “You can actually do tendon suturing?”
“Director Lin called me this morning saying that Professor Chen told him yesterday that he wanted you to do tendon suturing.”
“Lu Cheng, there are quite a few pitfalls in this, aren’t there? You were in orthopedics before, so you should know the ropes.”
Du Daihua said this not out of jealousy, but to remind Lu Cheng that the lawsuits involving those in orthopedics are still ongoing?
Patients and their families post short videos every day and report them constantly…
Lu Cheng explained, “There are many pitfalls, but isn’t Professor Chen, this tall figure, holding them up? We have to take the first step slowly, otherwise, when Professor Chen leaves, our emergency department will be exposed for what it truly is.”
The emergency department currently performs very few surgeries. After Director Lin Qianlong had debated with a number of directors in surgery, an agreement was reached. Currently, the emergency department can only perform basic procedures such as appendicitis, spleen rupture, and cholecystectomy for cholecystitis.
Other emergency conditions still need to be treated by specialist doctors.
Lin Qianlong needs to make a living through his skills, and the specialty departments also need to eat. For disease types outside their scope, the emergency department can do whatever it wants.
In essence, it’s because Lin Qianlong’s surgical skills are not as good as those in the specialty departments.
“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Xiao Lu.”
“But you also need to be cautious and act within your capabilities.”
“Brother Zhang and Brother Zeng both really want to learn surgery from Professor Chen.” Du Daihua himself didn’t dare to “venture,” so he was astonished but not envious!
What Lu Cheng is doing now is akin to licking food off the edge of a knife.
However, it seems that Zhang Tiesheng and Zeng Huanqi are better at flattering the hospital leaders, while Lu Cheng is better at ‘flattering’ Professor Chen.
