CHAPTER 70: 070 INCREASE MONEY, INCREASE MONEY, INCREASE MONEY AGAIN

Watching the appendix being removed, everyone in the room couldn’t help but let out a collective sigh of relief. Even though it hadn’t been sutured yet, this was already a perfectly executed appendectomy through a small incision.

Liu Banxia was bold and confident, even daring to make a 1 cm incision upon discovering that the patient was young and the appendix was still small. This was a clear display of his confidence.

Xu Chengjun’s eyes gleamed as he sneakily glanced at Shi Lei, who was filming with his mobile phone.

Under normal circumstances, once Liu Banxia had cleaned the appendiceal stump, tightened the purse-string suture, and reinforced the sutured mesoappendix, he wouldn’t have had to worry anymore. However, for the sake of achieving a perfect surgical rating, Liu Banxia meticulously closed the abdomen.

If the small incision, locating the appendix, and extracting it had already startled everyone, then this round of suturing also left them in shock.

The same logic applied: such a small incision was not so easy to suture. Because the incision was small, the space was limited, and inserting, clamping, and withdrawing the needle all required more effort.

Yet, what about Liu Banxia? He sutured just as fast as usual. And because of the small incision, not much suturing was needed. It seemed to everyone that he had finished suturing almost immediately after removing the retractor.

Ding! Completed the task: Qualified Surgeon (3/3).

Congratulations, Host level has been upgraded to 20 (23,345/25,530). You gain 1 attribute point and 5 Glory Points.

Appendectomy completed. You gain 200 experience points, 500 skill proficiency points in Appendectomy, and 100 skill proficiency points in Suturing.

Your appendectomy was rated as Perfect. You gain 500 experience points, 1,000 skill proficiency points in Appendectomy, 300 skill proficiency points in Suturing, 300 skill proficiency points in Diagnostics, and 7 Glory Points.

Congratulations, your Appendectomy skill has leveled up to Level 2 (5,658/19,999).

Looking at the system notifications, Liu Banxia felt a surge of excitement. Finally, he could level up and happily complete missions!

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP...

The applause in the operating room was fervent; even Shi Lei, who had finished filming, applauded Liu Banxia.

This young man has surprised me again, Shi Lei thought. I have no idea how long he’s been secretly practicing. To think he could find time to improve himself in the environment of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Binhai City... he’s truly commendable.

"Was it done well?" the patient on the operating table asked curiously.

"Very well, extremely well," Xu Chengjun said excitedly. "Dr. Liu chose to perform a small-incision appendectomy, which is much more difficult than a laparoscopic appendectomy. With a 1 cm incision, you won’t even be able to see the scar in a few years."

The patient was delighted. As a young woman, she definitely didn’t want any scars on her body; they’d prevent her from wearing pretty clothes!

"You can do the next three appendectomies. I’ll assist you," Shi Lei said seriously as he walked out.

"Boss, I can’t do that. After the next one, I’ll assist you," Liu Banxia quickly replied.

This wasn’t like being at the Second Affiliated Hospital; this directly involved financial gain. He couldn’t bring himself to do something so shameless. If it weren’t for Shi Lei, forget about earning money alongside him—he didn’t even know how long he would have been stuck on his tasks.

"Actually, I’m also interested in your small-incision appendectomy," Shi Lei muttered.

This left Liu Banxia stunned. What on earth was Shi Lei planning?

"Dr. Shi, could you let me assist with the third appendectomy? Also, if all of today’s operations are small-incision ones, it will be more tiring for Dr. Liu. For each surgery, I’ll add an additional 500 yuan as a bonus for the extra work," Xu Chengjun, who couldn’t remain quiet, interjected.

"Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll do the second one. You can arrange the rest," Shi Lei agreed readily.

Although he was an upstanding man, he wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to earn more money.

This left Liu Banxia somewhat confused. Had he underestimated the significance of small-incision surgery? Not only did his boss value it highly, but it also came with extra pay?

"Dr. Liu, would it be convenient for you to come to our hospital to provide guidance during your breaks?" Xu Chengjun came over to Liu Banxia’s side. "For regular appendectomies, we offer a guidance fee of 3,000 yuan. If you could spare the time, we’d offer 4,000 yuan per surgery. How does that sound?"

"Look at me, I’ve become so scatterbrained," Xu Chengjun added before Liu Banxia could even react. "For today’s four surgeries, an additional 1,000 yuan should be added to each. I was so excited just now, I even messed up my math."

"Chief Director Xu, to be honest, this has to depend on Dr. Shi’s arrangements," Liu Banxia said. "What I know is just superficial. It’s all because Dr. Shi taught me well at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Binhai City."

It was as the old saying goes: when drinking water, one shouldn’t forget who dug the well. Without Shi Lei, he wouldn’t be in this enviable situation. The decision had to be left to Shi Lei.

"Chief Director Xu, I’m not sure about his availability right now," Shi Lei said. "He’s a third-year resident under my supervision. I brought him along because I felt he performs appendectomies really well."

"Only a third-year resident?" Xu Chengjun was surprised. "Dr. Liu, my apologies, my apologies. You truly are young and promising! Are you interested in developing your career at our hospital? We have a vacancy for an Associate Director in our General Surgery Department."

Shi Lei couldn’t help but laugh. "Chief Director Xu, you can’t just poach people right in front of me! Director Jiang from our Anorectal Department wants to snatch him away too, and our Director Zhou hasn’t even agreed yet."

"Ah... Our hospital is indeed a bit humble," Xu Chengjun said. "Dr. Liu, how about this: if you could spare one day every two weeks to come to our hospital to guide small-incision appendectomies, we would pay a guidance fee of 5,000 yuan per surgery."

"And next time, there’s no need to take the train like Dr. Shi. Just let me know your location, and we’ll send a car to pick you up. You can rest well in the car. How does that sound?"

If this were the usual boastful Liu Banxia, he would have definitely joked, "That’ll cost you extra!" But he couldn’t say that now. Firstly, the occasion wasn’t right, and secondly, Chief Director Xu had already proactively raised the offer, again and again.

"Chief Director Xu, once every two weeks should be no problem," Liu Banxia said. "But I’m currently rotating in the Emergency Department, and you know how things are there. We can only set a date a few days in advance."

"Alright, alright, no problem!" Xu Chengjun said jubilantly. "If there are patients with acute appendicitis, we’ll contact you first. Since we’re not far apart, if you’ve just gotten off work, we can use the time it takes to pick you up for preoperative preparation."

So, the matter was settled. When they arrived at the second operating room and saw a crowd of people flooding in, the patient lying on the operating table was nearly scared stiff.

"These are experts invited from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Binhai City," Xu Chengjun explained to the patient. "Normally, a surgery like this in Binhai City wouldn’t cost less than 13,000 to 14,000 yuan."

The patient relaxed. They can watch all they want, they thought. It means saving a lot of money. Having the surgery done in the district was the right choice.

Then, in the operating room, only the anesthesiologist from the original anesthesiology team remained by the operating table; the rest of the nurses had been replaced by doctors from the General Surgery Department of the district hospital, led by Xu Chengjun.

This was to ensure Liu Banxia had enough space to operate; otherwise, two more people could have squeezed in.