CHAPTER 69: 069 SHOW OFF A BIT

"Boss, on such an important day, shouldn’t we drive there?" Liu Banxia, who arrived at the train station early the next morning, complained.

"Do you have a car or do I? If you have one, you can drive. I don’t mind," Shi Lei said indifferently.

"No problem," Liu Banxia said with an apologetic chuckle. "Taking the high-speed train is fine, and it’s faster."

"Three appendectomies, one anal fistula. Which one will you perform?" Shi Lei asked.

"My God, four surgeries in total? I’ll do whichever one the boss assigns me." Liu Banxia’s sleepiness vanished instantly; his eyes sparkled, and he was full of energy.

"In that case, I’ll assign you two appendectomies. It will be fine to look at the medical records once we get there; they’re all routine operations," Shi Lei said after some consideration.

Liu Banxia eagerly nodded. He initially wanted to ask how much money he could make but restrained himself, deciding to discuss it later.

Cities were expanding nowadays. The original Jinshui County, adjacent to Binhai City, had now become Jinshui District, and their destination today was Jinshui District Hospital.

"Chief Director Xu, why did you personally come to pick us up? We could have taken a taxi," Shi Lei said as soon as he stepped out of the train station, spotting Xu Chengjun, the chief director of the district hospital.

"Dr. Shi, strictly speaking, I should have gone to Binhai City to pick you up. We just admitted a patient with gallstones and cholecystitis. Can we add one more surgery?" Xu Chengjun asked.

Shi Lei smiled and nodded. "That’s no problem. Let me introduce you. This is Liu Banxia, also from our Second Hospital. His appendectomy skills aren’t bad."

"Dr. Liu, welcome. We look forward to your guidance. Quick, let’s get in the car. We can talk more once we reach the hospital," Xu Chengjun said warmly.

Liu Banxia blushed slightly. Although he was usually thick-skinned, being treated with such respect by a Chief Director left him feeling rather flattered.

However, he also knew this wasn’t out of respect for him or the Second Hospital, but for Shi Lei. It clearly showed that Chief Director Xu’s relationship with Shi Lei was significant and that he trusted Shi Lei immensely.

On the way to the hospital, he finally understood why they would seek out Shi Lei even for appendectomies. The reason was similar to that of most local hospitals: they could perform the operations themselves, but the patients didn’t trust them.

The solution was simple: either let the patients go elsewhere or invite doctors from larger hospitals. Although this meant sharing some of the fees, the hospital also benefited. After all, a hospital needed to operate.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Liu Banxia felt even more impressed, basking in the reflected glory of Shi Lei, his senior. Shi Lei normally kept a low profile, but it seemed he had quite a reputation at Jinshui District Hospital.

"Choose. After these, we’ll do the cholecystectomy," Shi Lei said, laying out the patients’ medical records.

"They’re all the same to me. I’ll just pick two at random," Liu Banxia said, deliberately trying to appear calm.

Shi Lei looked at him with amusement. "I’ll accompany Chief Director Xu to observe the first operation. Is that okay?"

"No problem at all. After I finish the second one, I’ll assist you," Liu Banxia said casually. He was very grateful inside.

He knew Shi Lei was worried about him getting stage fright and wanted to provide support. If he messed up his first chance to earn extra money on an outreach case, this path could be closed to him for good.

Good news travels slowly, but bad news has wings. People might not remember how well you do, but if you mess up, it’s guaranteed to become gossip.

The first patient was a sixteen-year-old girl suffering from recurrent chronic appendicitis. Unable to endure the torment any longer, she had resolutely chosen to have her appendix removed.

Once in the operating room, just as Liu Banxia had put on his gloves, he saw Shi Lei take out his phone.

DING! Task Released: Prove Yourself.

Attending Physician Shi Lei will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Host. The Host must demonstrate their capabilities through their own skill.

Task Success: Reward 1,000 experience points. Task Failure: Decrease goodwill with Shi Lei and Zhou Shuwen, affecting future task triggers. System Store suspended for three days.

If Liu Banxia still didn’t understand what was happening after seeing this, he would have lived his life in vain. Shi Lei was also on a mission for this outreach surgery, a mission likely prompted by Zhou Shuwen’s attention.

Thinking of this, he felt a surge of excitement. Why would Zhou Shuwen pay attention? Did this mean he had caught Zhou’s eye, and Zhou was evaluating whether he had the ability to remain at the Second Hospital?

Xu Chengjun felt a little worried. Was this Liu Banxia, whom Dr. Shi had brought today, a bit unreliable? Shouldn’t he be attending to the patient right now? Why was he just standing there with such a rapidly changing expression?

"Don’t mind me. You do your thing," Shi Lei said, a hint of resignation in his voice.

"Heh, I was just thinking, since the patient is a pretty young girl, let’s do a small transverse incision this time. That way, when she goes out to have fun in the future, she won’t have an obvious scar," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

Xu Chengjun grew somewhat uneasy. It wasn’t just him; the general surgeons from Jinshui District Hospital who had come along also felt a bit unsettled.

They could all perform appendectomies independently, but the patients lacked trust in them. To retain patients, they had to invite specialists from other hospitals. They felt somewhat resentful; frankly, it was also tied to their salaries.

They had heard of small-incision surgery but had never actually seen one performed. It wasn’t as simple as just making a smaller cut; the smaller the incision, the greater the surgical difficulty.

This Liu Banxia, much younger than any of them, was now boasting he’d perform a small-incision surgery? Even if he was a doctor from the Second Hospital, he probably hadn’t performed many of these.

Generally, many would opt for a laparoscopic appendectomy.

But Liu Banxia didn’t care what these people thought. He had to prove his abilities anyway, so he decided to reveal his most impressive "skill" and show off a little.

He truly wasn’t treating the Dreamscape lightly! He had practiced for an extra six hours last night and another four hours just now. It had to be perfect.

After verifying the patient’s information, he palpated the area.

"Tilt the operating table twenty degrees," Liu Banxia instructed once the anesthesia took effect.

Shi Lei glanced at him but said nothing. However, he was prepared to take over if anything went wrong, as he wasn’t particularly confident about small-incision appendectomies himself.

Liu Banxia had mentioned it once before at the Second Hospital, and Shi Lei had simply thought the kid was bragging.

Liu Banxia took the scalpel. He chose the conventional McBurney’s point for the incision, making a transverse cut only one centimeter in length.

As this incision was made, a murmur of discussion arose in the operating room. This was practically the limit for a small-incision surgery; any smaller, and they wouldn’t even be able to pull the appendix out.

"Electrocautery."

Liu Banxia remained very composed, dissecting through the tissue layer by layer, retracting each layer. After opening the peritoneum, he inserted his index finger, then introduced the appendix clamp.

He first withdrew his index finger, then the appendix clamp, bringing the patient’s appendix out with it.

If people were merely murmuring before, now they were completely silent. Perhaps for five seconds? Dr. Liu’s technique was so solid; they couldn’t help but be impressed.

Finding the appendix with a standard incision usually took longer than this, let alone through a tiny one-centimeter incision.

No wonder Dr. Shi brought him along. He’s truly skilled!

The general surgeon from Jinshui District Hospital assisting Liu Banxia was now beaming with joy. Even though he hadn’t quite understood everything, he still felt it was a great success.