Chapter 391: Chapter 390: Assistant
Wang Chuan left Zuimo Court District but didn’t go straight back to the Phoenix Tail Mountain Villa District. Instead, he returned to the Affiliated Hospital.
He went back to his office, started a conference call on his phone, and pulled in Lo Jun, Qin Ying, and Liu Jin...
Wang Chuan recounted the news he had learned and sighed lightly. "This is what Mr. Yu found from his pulse diagnosis of Feifan."
"Let’s hear everyone’s thoughts..."
After a moment of silence, Lo Jun was the first to speak.
"I know Mr. Yu well. He’s one of the few remaining grandmasters of traditional Chinese medicine. It’s highly unlikely his diagnosis is wrong."
"We need to look out for that kid, Feifan."
"It’s just that the surgical schedule for intraspinal tumor patients is already booked four months out. It’s not easy to make changes."
"How about this: let Feifan only perform the puncture injection surgeries. He can finish two in a single morning."
After a pause, Lo Jun continued, "I can also shorten my teaching time to just one afternoon."
Lo Jun’s voice was filled with amusement. "That kid Feifan is an astonishingly fast learner. You only have to tell him something once, and he remembers it."
"One afternoon is more than enough."
Just then, Qin Ying’s voice cut in. "Feifan’s Mondays are mine to schedule."
"It’s just that Feifan’s Wednesday afternoons have already been transferred to Mrs. Yu. I can’t make decisions on her behalf."
Wang Chuan spoke into the phone, "Feifan needs to set aside one day to perform surgeries for the disabled children at the welfare institute."
"I also need one day for teaching and guidance."
Wang Chuan then said thoughtfully, "In that case, how about we arrange Feifan’s week like this..."
"Mondays will be scheduled by Qin Ying."
"Tuesday mornings will go to Mr. Lo, and the afternoons to Mrs. Yu."
"On Wednesday morning, let Feifan perform neurosurgery."
"His Wednesday afternoon will be his to schedule freely."
"Thursdays and Fridays will be mine."
"This way, Feifan will have one to two days off each week."
At that moment, Liu Jin’s voice came through the phone. "Just having time off isn’t enough. The important thing is to make sure the kid actually gets some rest."
"Mr. Yu was talking about mental exhaustion, not physical exhaustion."
"After a six-hour or even ten-hour surgery, with Feifan’s youth and stamina, a good night’s sleep should be enough to restore his physical energy."
"But spending all day and night perfecting surgical plans and absorbing the knowledge you all are teaching him—that’s the real problem the kid is facing."
Liu Jin’s tone was grave as he warned, "I understand that urgent feeling you get when you finally encounter a genius, that desire to cram everything you know into his head."
"Everyone, Feifan is only twenty-five this year. At his age, many people are still in medical school preparing their doctoral dissertations."
"This isn’t a race against time. Wait until Feifan has fully recovered, then you can work him as hard as you want."
Lo Jun, for a change, spoke up in agreement. "The director is right."
"This period of teaching Feifan has made me feel like all the students I taught before were hopelessly stupid, beyond saving."
"It’s rare to come across such a promising seedling. I’ll take good care of him..."
Liu Jin added another reminder, "That kid is still in a crucial stage of learning and growth. Everyone, please be more mindful and try not to let all sorts of trivial matters bother him..."
These were all, without a doubt, very busy people. Once they had discussed and settled the matter of Yan Feifan, they each left the conference call.
Wang Chuan glanced at the time. It was just after nine in the evening, so he decided to head back to his home on Phoenix Tail Mountain to rest.
He tidied up briefly, and when he opened his office door, he was surprised to see someone lingering outside.
"Tang Zheng, are you here to see me about something?"
Tang Zheng, having been spotted, nodded somewhat awkwardly. "I’ve run into a bit of trouble. I wanted to ask for your help, Teacher, but I felt embarrassed to."
"There’s no need to be embarrassed between us. Come in and talk..."
Wang Chuan showed Tang Zheng into the office, and they sat down on the sofa in the reception area.
"Teacher..."
Tang Zheng hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and said slowly, "Teacher, I seem to have overestimated my own abilities."
"A while ago, I took on a full facial reconstruction surgery. The results... weren’t very good."
Wang Chuan asked directly, "How bad were the results?"
Tang Zheng didn’t say any more and simply handed over his phone.
Wang Chuan took the phone, and as soon as he saw the picture on the screen, his brow furrowed into a deep frown.
The woman in the picture still had some swelling in her face, but it was obvious that the left and right sides were somewhat asymmetrical, and some of her facial muscles were distorted.
The angles of the corners of her eyes and mouth, in particular, were off.
This was far worse than "not very good"—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a complete failure.
Wang Chuan handed the phone back to Tang Zheng and asked softly, "Were you trying to prove that you aren’t that much worse than Yan Feifan?"
Tang Zheng was silent for a moment, then he met Wang Chuan’s gaze and nodded. "I did have some thoughts along those lines. I believed that if my junior could do it, then even if I wasn’t his equal, I could do a decent job."
"The main reason is that my ego has been a bit inflated lately."
Wang Chuan admonished him, "Tang Zheng, your fundamentals aren’t bad, and your skills are decent, but you’re severely lacking in experience and maturity."
"A full facial reconstruction like this, which demands a high level of comprehensive ability, is not something you can handle at your current level."
Tang Zheng said with a sincere expression, "You’re right, Teacher. I’ve gotten a big head recently, I was too pleased with myself and got carried away."
"But about this patient?"
Wang Chuan said nonchalantly, "Have her come see me directly after she’s had three or four months to recover."
Tang Zheng said with a troubled look, "Teacher, this patient is a bride-to-be. She’s getting married on National Day, in just over three months."
Wang Chuan’s expression hardened. "Tang Zheng, you’re a professional. Don’t you understand that the muscles and skin on her face, having been operated on, need a significant amount of time to reset and stabilize?"
"Only by performing the revision surgery after that can we be confident of the outcome!"
Tang Zheng said bitterly, "Teacher, I’ve explained it to her over and over. The problem is, her wedding can’t be postponed."
"Zhiyin Medical Beauty was shut down for a while before. We invested a lot in advertising to get things going again."
"If this blows up into a dispute and a lawsuit, Zhiyin Medical Beauty will be stuck in another slump for a long time."
Wang Chuan said coldly, "Tang Zheng, you understand. Performing a revision surgery now is a gamble."
"If it fails again, that woman will be permanently disfigured."
Tang Zheng asked tentatively, "Teacher, what are your chances of success?"
Wang Chuan took Tang Zheng’s phone again, stared at the picture in thought for a moment, then shook his head and sighed. "Only a twenty to thirty percent chance. The risk is too great. It’s not worth it."
Tang Zheng, not giving up, asked again, "Teacher, if Mr. Yan were the lead surgeon, what would the chances be?"
Wang Chuan’s expression turned cold. "Regardless of his chances, this is a surgery he will not take..."
The subject of their conversation, Yan Feifan, was currently studying a patient’s case file sent over by Lu Yao.
It was another skull base tumor, one of the most difficult types.
This gave Yan Feifan a bit of a headache.
’But then again,’ he thought, ’Lu Yao wouldn’t have wasted a favor to ask for my help with a less difficult tumor.’
The patient was a fifty-three-year-old male. The tumor was 2x2x4 in size and located right next to the brainstem...
Yan Feifan studied the patient’s tumor for over an hour, then described in detail on the medical record the extent of what he believed he could accomplish.
Then, he called Dr. Qiu Ge, and after getting her consent, he sent the patient’s tumor data to her.
Strictly speaking, for this skull base tumor removal surgery, Yan Feifan would only be an assistant.
The key to the surgery’s success would depend on what the neurosurgeon was capable of...
