Chapter 303: Chapter 303: Tendon Reconstruction Surgery
Moving up the surgery might be good news for others, but for Su Shuochi, it wasn’t necessarily so.
’After the surgery, I’ll be bedridden for a long time,’ he thought, ’and my wife is leaving the day after tomorrow.’
This devastated him. It felt like something had brutally stabbed his heart, and a wave of sadness washed over him.
He shot up, and even his voice trembled.
"No... Jiaojiao... Are you trying to trick me into staying in Qing City by myself again?"
The man’s reaction took Gu Jiaojiao completely by surprise. Her two thin eyebrows shot up in astonishment.
Her large eyes went wide as saucers, and her small mouth gaped open, as if she could swallow a whole egg.
It took her a long moment to recover. She quickly soothed him, "Silly, what are you thinking!
I just saw the condition of your leg tendons on the CT scan, and it’s the most suitable time for surgery, that’s all.
Don’t you know that surgeons have to monitor their patients for at least a week after an operation? How could I possibly leave you here all by yourself?"
After Gu Jiaojiao finished speaking, the man’s expression finally softened, and his tightly pursed lips relaxed slightly.
A trace of hesitation appeared between his brows as he asked, "Is what you’re saying true, my dear?"
"Of course, it’s true. I’d lie to anyone but you." Gu Jiaojiao nodded emphatically, not caring if the man could see her.
Su Shuochi’s face showed a hint of hesitation and struggle, but in the end, he sighed and gave in. "Alright, I’ll listen to you, my dear."
Hearing this, Gu Jiaojiao immediately feigned displeasure. "Oh? And who was it just now who was so vehemently opposed, insisting I was trying to trick him?"
Su Shuochi reached out and ruffled her soft, silky hair, his gaze filled with doting affection. "Who was it? Who would dare oppose my wife’s decision! I’ll beat him to a pulp."
After speaking, he pretended to look around. "It’s all that fool’s fault for being so ignorant. Jiaojiao, don’t lower yourself to his level."
"HAHA..." Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t help but laugh. "If my phone were here, I’d definitely take a picture of you right now."
Su Shuochi grinned foolishly along with her, not asking what a "phone" was. Whatever it was, he was sure he would find out eventually. Maybe he could even make one.
He reached out, pulled Gu Jiaojiao into his arms, and asked in a low voice, "By the way, my dear, when will you start my surgery?"
Su Shuochi’s question broke the intimate atmosphere. Gu Jiaojiao froze for a second, then wriggled out of his embrace.
She raised a hand to touch her burning cheek and said, blushing, "I’ll make the arrangements now. We’ll start immediately."
"Mm." Su Shuochi nodded without further questions, simply watching his bashful little wife with a gentle gaze.
The first thing Gu Jiaojiao did was anesthetize the small donkey so she could retrieve the deer tendon at any time.
Everything else had been prepared in advance. If Divine Doctor Jiang hadn’t left midway through, forcing a pause in the silver needle conditioning for a few days...
...it caused Su Shuochi’s leg tendons to require another round of silver needles. Gu Jiaojiao had been ready to operate on him the day she returned from the battlefield.
She changed into a sterile gown, wheeled Su Shuochi into the sterile room, and began the surgery without any assistants.
In this era, no hospital, no matter where, had equipment as advanced as what was in her space.
Gu Jiaojiao didn’t plan on letting a third person know about the existence of her space, so she had to complete the surgery alone.
She had great confidence in herself. After all, in her previous life, she had been a top-tier surgeon who operated nearly every day unless it was her day off.
While reattaching a tendon was no minor procedure, for Gu Jiaojiao, it wasn’t a major surgery either.
Her temperament was calm and her experience vast. In her past life, she had performed countless heart transplants with an extremely high success rate.
Gu Jiaojiao’s surgical skills had already reached a state of perfection in her previous life, with a success rate exceeding ninety percent.
After arriving in this world, Gu Jiaojiao had also learned the incredible Silver Needle Sealing Method.
She had also performed several major surgeries, such as Song Zijie’s liver transplant and digging shrapnel out of a soldier’s chest on the front lines...
Gu Jiaojiao first retrieved the deer tendon, then washed her hands with disinfectant. She then incised Su Shuochi’s leg, removed the necrotic tendon, and attached the deer tendon in its place.
Though her movements were swift and methodical as the scalpel cut into her husband’s flesh, Gu Jiaojiao’s heart ached.
But she forced herself to maintain intense focus, concentrating all her thoughts on the surgery and handling every detail perfectly.
At this moment, she finally understood why surgeons weren’t supposed to operate on their own family members—it was impossible to keep a steady mindset.
Humans are emotional creatures, after all, not robots. Emotions affect surgical performance.
When she operated on others, even on their hearts, she felt no psychological burden. There was only one goal: success.
But when the scalpel cut into Su Shuochi’s flesh, her heart trembled. All sorts of thoughts flooded her mind, and she was afraid her work wouldn’t be perfect...
Su Shuochi had requested local anesthesia, so he was conscious throughout the entire procedure.
Seeing his wife so tired she didn’t even dare to blink, he felt both a sweet warmth and a pang of heartache.
His gaze was scorching. If Gu Jiaojiao had a moment to spare to notice it, she would surely be unaccustomed to such a fiery look from Su Shuochi.
This tendon replacement surgery took Gu Jiaojiao a full ten hours, more strenuous than any other operation she had ever performed.
The flow of time in the space was much slower than outside; one night was equivalent to twenty-four hours in the outside world.
After Gu Jiaojiao finished the final cleanup, she finally had a moment to lift her wrist and check the time. It was 4:00 a.m.
"Let’s both get some sleep in the space. One hour in here is equal to two hours outside. I’m going to go out, take a shower, and then come back in to sleep."
"Okay." Su Shuochi didn’t dare say more and waste time.
When Gu Jiaojiao returned after showering and changing into her pajamas, Su Shuochi was already asleep. She went over to check on him and saw no adverse reactions.
She lay down on the adjacent hospital bed and fell asleep within minutes. Only when he heard her even breathing did Su Shuochi, on the next bed, open his eyes.
The anesthetic in his leg had worn off, and the stitched area was still very painful. Gu Jiaojiao had asked if he wanted her to use silver needles for pain relief.
But he couldn’t bear to see his wife so exhausted, so he insisted it didn’t hurt. No matter how strong his self-control was, the pain now had him drenched in sweat.
’If the fusion is perfect, you’ll walk even more lightly than before,’ he recalled what his wife had said.
An ancient medical text recorded a case about a god of war from antiquity. He was valiant and skilled in battle, but his leg was unfortunately injured, leaving him crippled.
The imperial physicians in the palace used a tendon-grafting technique to attach a deer tendon. After he recovered, the war god’s leg became even lighter and more agile.
He became even more formidable in mounted combat, and his running and jumping abilities were astonishing.
Thinking about how he would become even stronger in the future, Su Shuochi felt the pain from the incision lessen.
「The next day.」
When Mr. Su and Su’s mother returned from selling steamed buns, they saw that the breakfast in the pot was untouched. Su’s mother went to push open her son’s door, but it was still closed.
"Husband, why aren’t Chi and Jiaojiao up yet today?"
"Don’t stand there talking at their door. We mustn’t wake the children. I’ll go pick some vegetables, and you can start preparing lunch."
"Okay. It’s been so long since our whole family has had lunch together at home."
