Amidst the argument between Xu Ze and the doctor, everyone had already understood that this blood vessel was probably extremely difficult to suture; otherwise, the doctor wouldn’t have argued with Xu Ze like that.
Now, seeing Dr. Xu begin to treat the old man’s injury, many people gathered around, silently cheering him on.
After inserting two silver needles, Xu Ze started working quickly. At this moment, he couldn’t worry about strict disinfection. He grabbed a bottle of saline from his kit, pinched the aluminum cap between his thumb and forefinger, gently twisted it off, and poured it rapidly over the wound.
After a quick rinse of the wound, he casually picked up a bottle of complex iodine from the kit and poured it directly over the thigh wound. He then poured some into his hands, rubbed them together for simple disinfection, and prepared to begin.
Quickly opening the small scalpel in his hand, streaks of colored light rippled across his field of vision. The faint red image of the blood vessel reappeared before his eyes. Following that image, Xu Ze soon located the broken end of the vessel.
Gently slicing open the surface skin and muscle layer with the scalpel, Xu Ze accurately spotted the vessel he was looking for. He picked up a gauze pad to wipe away a small amount of oozing blood, discarded the blade, and swiftly selected a small needle from the several in his kit. Within seconds, he had threaded it. Then, picking up a pair of small forceps, he began suturing the vessel under the astonished gaze of the nearby doctor.
At that moment, the battlefield medical emergency system provided another tremendous assist. In Xu Ze’s field of vision, as he looked at the blood vessel, a few words suddenly appeared: “Magnify surgical field?”
Seeing these words, Xu Ze was startled, then overjoyed. He hadn’t expected the battlefield emergency system to have such an auxiliary function. He immediately selected “Yes.”
Following Xu Ze’s command, the image of the blood vessel area magnified, with “x1” displayed beside it.
“1x magnification?” Looking at the image, which still wasn’t large enough, Xu Ze commanded again: “3x magnification.”
Receiving the instruction, the vessel image magnified further, with “x3” appearing beside it. After this magnification, the blood vessel, originally only a few millimeters thick, became vividly clear before Xu Ze’s eyes.
Seeing the now-clear vessel, Xu Ze took a light breath. With this level of clarity, his confidence in suturing it greatly increased, and his movements quickened.
Watching Xu Ze skillfully stitch the patient’s wound with needle after needle, the doctor standing behind him, who had been sneering, gradually froze. An expression of unbelievable shock appeared in his eyes.
He had absolutely refused to believe that Xu Ze could successfully suture the patient’s blood vessel under these conditions. But Xu Ze’s current actions were indeed those of someone performing a suture. Looking at his deft movements, it seemed he was indeed suturing it successfully. The tiny blood vessel, the lack of specialized miniature instruments – yet in his hands, it seemed as simple as closing an ordinary wound.
“How is this possible? How?” The doctor shook his head in dismay, muttering to himself. He absolutely refused to believe it. As the deputy director of the emergency department with over a decade of clinical experience, he had only performed such a surgery a few times himself, and he was certain that even the head of surgery at his own county people’s hospital couldn’t do it well under these conditions. How could such a young doctor before him possibly manage this?
“Absolutely impossible…” The doctor thought this very confidently, simultaneously steeling himself to watch Xu Ze’s movements. He believed that once this young doctor finished, the vessel would definitely bleed again. Then he could confirm the young man was talking nonsense.
At this moment, aided by the 3x magnification function, Xu Ze had already sped up considerably, but it was still not easy. In just over a minute, fine beads of sweat slowly seeped out from his pores, covering his entire forehead.
Actually, Xu Ze’s tension wasn’t due to a lack of confidence; it was because a life now rested entirely in his hands. It was a life sustained only by the speed and precision of his technique over these next two minutes. He had to be fast enough, careful enough, and steady enough to save this life. The pressure of these two minutes in his hands was naturally immense.
However, it was okay. With the final stitch completed, he was still more than ten seconds under the two-minute mark. Xu Ze couldn’t help but breathe a silent sigh of relief. Then he picked up the saline bottle, gently poured a little over the wound, and washed away the remaining blood.
At that moment, a small hand reached out, holding a lightly scented handkerchief, gently wiping the sweat from Xu Ze’s forehead. A familiar feeling welled up inside him. Xu Ze couldn’t help but turn his head to see Lin Yumeng beside him, her smile like a flower, carefully wiping his sweat. He smiled and nodded at her.
Seeing the remaining blood had been rinsed from the wound, Xu Ze took a light breath, reached out, and quickly pulled out the four silver needles one by one. Then he slowly untied the cloth strip still wrapped around the old man’s thigh…
Seeing Xu Ze actually begin to untie the cloth strip compressing the vessel, the doctor standing behind him couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath, thinking to himself: “Does this kid really have such confidence? If he unties it and the suture hasn’t held, causing another major hemorrhage, that would be fatal…”
The other onlookers now knew that the crucial moment had arrived. The acupuncture needles used to stop the bleeding had been removed, and Dr. Xu was beginning to untie the bandages. They would see if the bleeding stopped now. If it stopped, the old man would likely survive.
Everyone held their breath, waiting to see the final result.
Relatively speaking, Xu Ze wasn’t quite as tense now. He had already sutured the damaged vessel, and he was fairly confident in that. Although it was his first time performing such a delicate procedure, and the instruments and suture thread weren’t ideal, he had observed the completed suture in the magnified view, and it seemed acceptable. The chance of an accident or re-bleeding was very small.
As the cloth strip was untied, the vessel, which had flattened due to the blocked blood flow upstream, instantly filled up under the impact of the blood current. After a few seconds under the pressure of the arterial blood flow, the sutured rupture showed no obvious sign of leakage.
Seeing this, Xu Ze finally relaxed, and the onlookers burst into low cheers: “It’s done! It’s done!”
Seeing that Xu Ze had truly sutured the blood vessel, the crowd’s gazes towards him became even more admiring. Of course, some also sneered, glancing at the doctor who had so firmly insisted it was impossible.
This deputy director of the emergency department from Lianyang County People’s Hospital was standing there dumbfounded, his mouth agape, staring blankly at the wound. His mind was in a whirl. He couldn’t understand how Xu Ze had managed to complete this suture under such conditions. In his understanding, perhaps a very few specialists at the First Affiliated Hospital of Star City University could do it, but it absolutely shouldn’t appear in someone so young.
However, Xu Ze didn’t have time to rest. He continued, changing to thicker suture thread and a needle to close the outer muscle layer and skin. This kind of suturing was, of course, the simplest. With Xu Ze’s skill, it took only a few minutes to finish treating the wound entirely, finally covering it with gauze and tape.
After finishing, Xu Ze stood up and looked at the remaining ambulance. The other one had already left, carrying two seriously ill patients along with a few with minor injuries. He said: “Alright, lift him into the ambulance. Although he’s temporarily stable, he needs further observation and might need a blood transfusion…”
Hearing Xu Ze’s words, the doctor finally snapped out of it. Although his expression was somewhat embarrassed, it was now mixed with even more admiration and respect. He quickly nodded and instructed the people nearby: “Quick, quick, help lift him in…”
Hearing the doctor speak, the nurse quickly asked for help from those nearby, carefully using the stretcher to lift the old man into the ambulance.
Before leaving, the doctor hesitated for a moment, then turned to Xu Ze. With an embarrassed but sincere expression, he said: “Dr. Xu… Xu Ze, thank you for your hard work…”
Hearing this, Xu Ze felt a bit more favorable towards him. He nodded and replied with a smile: “You’re welcome… We’re all here for the patients. Please forgive any harsh words earlier.”
Seeing that Xu Ze didn’t mind his earlier rudeness at all and was even extremely humble, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief inside. Then he cautiously asked the question puzzling him: “May I ask which hospital you work at, Dr. Xu?”
Xu Ze hesitated slightly. This was actually a bit difficult for him to answer. He certainly couldn’t say he was still a fourth-year student. So he smiled wryly and replied: “I’m currently at the First Affiliated Hospital of Star City University…”
“Affiliated Hospital? Oh… no wonder. Truly, heroes emerge from the young. Impressive, very impressive…” The doctor suddenly understood. Besides the Affiliated Hospital, he really couldn’t think of any place within hundreds of miles that could cultivate such talent.
Hearing Xu Ze’s words, Lin Yumeng beside him couldn’t help but cover her mouth and chuckle softly. The doctor was momentarily stunned by her smile, finding it quite inexplicable.
This ambulance took the old man, along with two or three more lightly injured people. The remaining injured had only very minor wounds and could go to the nearby Chentang Town hospital to have them treated.
After over half an hour’s delay, amidst everyone’s thanks, Xu Ze finally got back in the car with Lin Yumeng and continued their journey towards Chentang…
