System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

”Dr. Lu, good morning...” As Lu Cheng passed by the nurses’ station, Nurse Xiang Yali greeted him.

Lu Cheng glanced at the time: ”It’s already 7:45, where’s the morning?”

”Yali, do you have something to say that you can’t hold back? I’m all ears.” Lu Cheng cupped his hands around his ears.

Xiang Yali, unsurprisingly the office’s ’Master of All Knowledge’, glanced around: ”Last night, orthopedics admitted two tendon injury cases.”

Lu Cheng’s expression briefly flickered after hearing this: ”Oh, the orthopedics took them? No wonder Brother Han didn’t call me.”

”Yes, Sister Lin said Director Peng from orthopedics’ son came to our ward last night, and then Du Daihua from the clinic sent the patients to orthopedics...” Xiang Yali finished and watched Lu Cheng’s expression.

But to Xiang Yali’s disappointment, Lu Cheng wasn’t angry, instead he chuckled: ”Orthopedics is actually the first choice for tendon injury. Director Peng’s skills are quite good.”

”Yali, are you trying to stir things up this early?”

Xiang Yali, slightly chubby face, slightly plump figure, overall quite pleasant to look at, and the gossip queen of the department, replied: ”Of course not stirring things up. If it was just like that, what’s the fun?”

”Guess what happened next?”

Lu Cheng wasn’t interested in playing the guessing game with Xiang Yali: ”I’m going to change clothes and prepare for rounds.”

The emergency department doesn’t have an organized rounds by specialty, but the on-call doctors must check on patients.

Xiang Yali quickly stopped Lu Cheng: ”Yesterday, Professor Chen was called in to save the day, and he lost it as soon as he came out of the operating room...”

”Professor Chen said, next time something like this happens, if anyone dares to call him again, he’s going to curse their mother!!”

”If you can’t handle it, don’t mess around. He’s not responsible for cleaning up after ’cripples’. Director Lin also came to the ward last night and didn’t sleep all night. You better be careful...”

Lu Cheng was taken aback after hearing this, not expecting Professor Chen Song to encounter so much after having a late-night snack.

”Okay, thank you.” Lu Cheng nodded in gratitude.

Knowing that Director Lin was in a bad mood was crucial, considering Director Lin was the ’director’ of the surgical team, and the emergency department surgical team essentially followed Director Lin’s lead.

Without Director Lin Qianlong, everyone’s performance bonuses would drop by at least one-third, and that’s no joke!

The higher-ranking people in the hospital certainly earn more, but they hold very critical positions, doing jobs others can’t. Team directors are generally the ’stars’, and others follow the team director to have ’food on the table’!

When Lu Cheng pushed open the door to the doctors’ lounge, he was greeted with a wave of smoke.

It was Director Lin Qianlong and Tian Zhuang from the night shift in the ward puffing away. When Lu Cheng pushed the door open, they clumsily ”hided” their cigarette butts. Seeing it was Lu Cheng and not the chief duty officer checking on them, they relaxed.

”Director Lin, Brother Wu.” Lu Cheng greeted them politely.

Tian Zhuang, sharp head and long face, chin lacking, looking somewhat like Emperor Taizu of Song, fifth in the family hierarchy, was called Brother Wu in the department:

”Xiao Lu, get over here, this time you’re really impressive.”

”Last night, Professor Chen called the dean and cursed his mother directly for you...”

Lin Qianlong kicked Tian Zhuang and said irritably: ”Is Professor Chen cursing Vice Dean Zeng’s mom a good thing? He’s not just cursing others.”

Tian Zhuang, always straightforward, dark-skinned, honest: ”Oh right, Director Lin, you got cursed too.”

Lu Cheng paused buttoning his white coat, looking a bit conflicted at ’Brother Wu’, the straightforward big boy, then asked: ”Director Lin, what happened?”

Lin Qianlong roughly explained the sequence of events.

Basically, orthopedics’ Peng Kun wanted to perform a tendon suture, so his father and director, Peng Haibo, personally led the teaching.

Two cases were done last night. The first surgery’s quality was decent, but in the second case, the suture slid right off during the operation, almost declaring a failure on the spot.

Failing a tendon suture isn’t life-threatening, so Director Peng Haibo used his ’Great Summoning Skill’!

Professor Chen Song was called to the emergency department for standby, which was reasonable, but running off to clean up for orthopedics too, wasn’t he being treated like a ’Japanese’? Chen Song indeed did the surgery.

It was Director Lin Qianlong who called Chen Song, along with Vice Dean Zeng, who knew Professor Chen, both got cursed by Chen Song.

”Currently, the medical department temporarily halted orthopedics’ tendon suture business...” Lin Qianlong cautiously concluded.

”Professor Chen is really good to you, huh.”

Lu Cheng could understand Peng Kun wanting to perform tendon sutures, to expand orthopedics’ territory, and also Peng Kun’s reasonable use of ”resources” he had for himself.

If he could succeed, it would surely be a good thing, but being unskilled and playing around, wasn’t that just asking for trouble?

But Lu Cheng wasn’t smug: ”The patient’s okay?”

”Professor Chen handled it, of course, the surgery ended flawlessly, and the patient has already been transferred to our emergency observation ward. Staying in Bed 6.” Lin Qianlong said.

”Xiao Lu, our surgical team finally has seven postoperative patients, breaking the previous record.”

In the emergency comprehensive ward, the most inpatient at one time was six, mostly two to three patients, not many.

No specialty would tolerate Lin Qianlong taking too many surgeries.

”Director Lin, Bed 3 is being discharged today.” Lu Cheng said.

”That still leaves us with 7 in-patients... Xiao Lu, don’t you understand what I mean? The tendon injury cases, thanks to Professor Chen, are now under our emergency comprehensive ward.” Director Lin reminded.

Lu Cheng nodded, tone calm: ”I know, Director Lin, but tendon rupture repair comes with a lot of pitfalls!!”

”Whether or not they belong to our ward, what we can do is just that much.”

”No real difference.”

Tian Zhuang raised his bushy brows, speaking honestly: ”But it does make a difference, Director Peng from orthopedics wouldn’t dare to snatch patients anymore. At least not until three months after Professor Chen leaves.”

”Or they can swallow the bitter pill and accept any situation as misfortune.”

”Director Lin, this way, we have one more type of surgery to perform, which should increase our performance bonuses significantly.”

Lin Qianlong was so irritated by Tian Zhuang’s bluntness that he pointed outside: ”Get back to rest!”

”It’s only 7:50, I haven’t clocked off yet.” Tian Zhuang explained.

”I’ll cover your last ten minutes! Go back.” Lin Qianlong said sarcastically.

”Then thank you, Director Lin.” Tian Zhuang bumbled out, even remembering to say thanks.

Lin Qianlong was so angry his eyes almost rolled back.

Lu Cheng swallowed gently, hesitated a few times, then said: ”Director Lin, Brother Zhuang is fairly innocent, no wonder you only let him write medical records, not speak to patients.”

This was the first time Lu Cheng had seen such a childlike adult.

Others mostly feign ignorance.

Lin Qianlong covered his forehead, the lines deep, suppressing his frustration: ”Xiao Lu, you should work hard on the tendon suture cases, and if the opportunity arises, you can also mentor others in the department.”

”Except for Tian Zhuang...”

Tian Zhuang actually left, letting the tired all-nighter Lin Qianlong cover his final ten minutes.

Lu Cheng’s tone was cautious: ”Director Lin, it’s not that I don’t want to teach, it’s just I’m unable to, or might not be able to... Tendon suturing requires quite solid suturing basics, and there are many pitfalls...”

The senior brothers in the department, Lu Cheng couldn’t handle any of them.

If he had to mentor, Lu Cheng would rather guide ’Tian Zhuang’, after all, Tian Zhuang graduated from Jilin University, gifted and talented, but with Brother Zhuang’s honest personality, Lu Cheng really couldn’t manage!

...