The Surgeon’s Studio

“Why are you here?” Zheng Ren asked.

 Standing by the door was one of the twin sisters he had met while eating crayfish. Zheng Ren vaguely remembered their names were Chu Yanran and Chu Yanzhi.

 As someone terrible at recognizing faces, Zheng Ren could not identify which sister this was.

 Her shoulder-length black hair was tied up into a ponytail that swayed as she moved. It was all very adorable. A pair of animated eyes stared at him, making him uncomfortable.

 Hehe, this was a straight-faced man who could not get a girlfriend.

 “Chief Zheng, was it?” She walked gracefully over to Zheng Ren’s side as he wheeled the patient back to his room. “I’m Chu Yanzhi.”

 “Oh. Hi.”

 “My mother’s results are out. As you said, she has acute anterior wall myocardial infarction,” Chu Yanzhi said.

 “I see. That’s good.” As Zheng Ren felt some joy in being vindicated, the tiredness he felt leached from his body.

 5Based on his observation, if the condition had not been diagnosed early, the patient might have suffered a heart attack. The worst scenario was a heart attack in her sleep. By the time her family members discovered what had happened, it would be likely that she was dead.

 Diseases that had nonclassic symptoms were hard to diagnose, but once they were ascertained, treatment was not difficult.

 A whole family getting to eat crayfish together was a nice picture.

 “The blood test is only a reference. It’s best you do a 256-slice CT scan of the coronary arteries to confirm it after work today,” Zheng Ren said.

 “Yeah, we did the 256-slice just now. The left anterior descending artery had 90% blockage. The right coronary artery and circumflex artery are fine.”

 The arteries Chu Yanzhi listed were the three main branches that supplied oxygenated blood to the heart. If the blockage had only been in the left anterior descending artery, the patient simply had to avoid vigorous exercise and take some medication.

 However… The 256-slice CT scan would not be operational at this hour. How had she performed the scan?

 This was not Zheng Ren’s business, though, and he abandoned the train of thought.

 Zheng Ren nodded and walked away with long strides, showing no consideration for Chu Yanzhi who was walking beside him. In his eyes, Chu Yanzhi was a patient’s family member, and since her case had been solved, there was no longer a relationship between them.

 His single status for many years was not without reason.

 4He did not know how to pick up women. Even when the lady in question showed some initiative and came to thank him, he did not know how to shoot his shot.

 Chu Yanzhi followed Zheng Ren, her long legs helping her keep up. Her ponytail bounced left and right, giving her an appearance of youth and spirit.

 The walk was awkwardly silent and Chu Yanzhi caved in the end.

 “Thank you very much, Chief Zheng.” Chu Yanzhi gave him a dazzling smile as she twirled her hair—her beauty could ruin cities and nations.

 Unfortunately, Zheng Ren did not even look her way and was totally oblivious.

 “You’re welcome. It was a doctor’s responsibility,” he muttered and continued walking.

 “My sister and I had a discussion. Our mother needs someone to take care of her, so we’re planning on moving back to Sea City for our standardized residency training,” Chu Yanzhi continued. “Initially, we wanted to finish our PhD in West China University, and considered going overseas or staying in West China, but now there’s nothing more to discuss.”

 “Getting into the workforce early is good,” Zheng Ren followed up. “Coming back and spending time with one’s parents is a good thing.”

 It was incredibly awkward to talk to this man. Shouldn’t he be a little bit more enthusiastic to talk to a pretty lady like her? Chu Yanzhi was at a loss. She had said her piece quite clearly but this wooden chief resident was oblivious.

 The unpleasant silence dragged on. The sound of the stretcher wheels on the marble floor reverberated in the quiet hospital corridor.

 They arrived at the general surgery department and Zheng Ren passed the patient over to the on-duty doctor. He checked on the pregnant patient whom he had operated on and found that everything was well, graciously waving off the thank-yous from the patient’s family. Then, he headed off to the emergency department, hoping to get a short rest.

 Only God knew if there were more acute appendicitis cases coming in tonight, so he had to recharge.

 Wait. Why was this lady still following him? What was her name again? Chu Yanzhi or Chu Yanran?

 Outside the general surgery department, Zheng Ren took out his phone, intending to text Xie Yiren and urge her to rest. That was when he realized Chu Yanzhi was still following him around.

 “You… Why aren’t you going home?”

 “Chief Zheng, my sister and I have decided to take up our residency training in Sea City General Hospital. We hope to learn under your tutelage.” Chu Yanzhi was frustrated. She had gone along with him and after a few words, this absentminded chief resident had forgotten her… Forgotten her… Her…

 As if she did not exist!

 1Chu Yanzhi and her sister hated the catcalling and flirtatious men of the streets, but facing someone like Zheng Ren, she was furious at the dismissal.

 3She bottled up her anger and showed her hand.

 At this point, she was beginning to regret their decision to come here.

 This chief resident was undoubtedly blind!

 “Oh, sure. But I have no power over residency training. Most importantly, I’m currently working in the emergency department; the EICU¹ has yet to be established.” Zheng Ren remembered that the beautiful sisters were studying intensive care. He was usually the first to receive news about medical treatments, so he was aware. “Sorry about that.”

 Chu Yanzhi did not hear a hint of apology in Zheng Ren’s words.

 “Those who specialized in intensive care can also take up anesthesiology.” Chu Yanzhi smiled stiffly. “And we will take care of any issues regarding the residency training, so that isn’t a problem.”

 There was a trick in bargaining for something you want and being desperate was not it. When was the last time she was this frustrated? The twin sisters were not used to constantly being ignored.

 Chu Yanzhi felt wronged, and her tone soured.

 However, her illusive tone and emotions were akin to the breeze, unnoticed by the straight-faced man before her.

 “Okay then. The emergency department is short on manpower anyway, so you two are welcome to join us.” As Zheng Ren walked, he sent a WeChat message to Xie Yiren and learned she was already resting in the operating room. He pocketed his phone and strode over the emergency department.

 Chu Yanzhi’s halted her footsteps in exasperation. Zheng Ren’s professionalism was top-notch, but he had an extremely low EQ. If she had met this sort of person at school, she would have immediately disregarded them.

 However, who was the desperate one now?

 She was aggrieved, annoyed, and agitated.

 Chu Yanzhi’s existence was forgotten once again as Zheng Ren returned to the emergency department. Seeing that there were not many patients that night, he headed into the on-call duty room, found an empty rest bed and laid down.

 Zheng Ren closed his eyes and entered the System’s void.

 Previously, when he had been ejected from the System after completing his appendectomy training, he felt that the System had a tendency to be unstable.

 This time, though, the System appeared to have passed its most critical phase and the space felt relaxed.

 The thatched cottage was still there. The fox carving in front of the cottage seemed more realistic than usual and the pond was bigger than he remembered, but he could be wrong.

 He shouted twice but the System did not respond.

 As long as the System did not appear to inform him that its energy was depleted and they had to work hard together, he counted himself lucky. Zheng Ren relaxed.

 He checked his skill trees. To his pleasant surprise, after performing four different types of appendectomies, his general surgery skill points went from 1005 to 1012. Zheng Ren figured there was no need to dwell on which surgery gave more points.

 This was not like a mission in an online game where one could pick and choose.

 When an emergency case came in, he could not reject the case just because it rewarded less skill points.

 1He would have to forgo his principles, morals, and ethics to do that. He would be a devil even without the System.

 The rewards were not limited to the general surgery skill tree, and other skill trees also showed improvement.

 The cardiosurgery, brain surgery, genitourinary surgery, orthopedic surgery, oral surgery, and ENT¹ surgery skills exceeded 300 points, reaching a Graduate level.

 Zheng Ren was relieved that the intensive appendectomy training had improved all his basic skills.

 As he happily looked through the skill trees, the cold, robotic female voice blared out.

 [Warning! Warning! This is not a drill. This is not a drill.]

 Oh? What dumb suggestion was this now?

 [Unusual situation detected, please accept the new mission.]

 A few bright lights appeared in front of Zheng Ren. They danced in patterns and formed Chinese characters.

 [Emergency Mission: The Enemy of Fate

 Mission Details: Complete all surgeries.

 Mission Reward: Unknown.

 1Mission Duration: One day.]

 2[After a full day of surgeries, you must be tired, but please gather yourself; use an energy elixir if required and accept fate’s challenge.]