Super Doctor - Chapter 162

Director Qu had just stepped into his office when Xu Ze, with remarkable speed, finished treating another patient and sent them out. Immediately, the next waiting patient was quickly wheeled in…

Seeing this last patient come in, Xu Ze breathed a sigh of relief. Out of the seven patients, he had already handled four, and this was the fifth. Once this one was done, things would quiet down…

However, looking at the patient, who had at least three or four wounds—none too large, but all requiring stitches—Xu Ze couldn’t help but sigh softly. While the injuries weren’t severe, suturing these four wounds was going to be a time-consuming task.

But regardless, since the patient was here, he had to get to work… taking it slow, addressing each wound one by one.

He carefully asked if the patient had any specific discomfort, then conducted a basic examination. Finding the patient’s overall condition stable aside from the external injuries, he prepared to begin debridement.

Xu Ze looked at the last debridement kit on hand and shook his head slightly. I’ve already used two or three kits today. Thankfully, our ER nurses are always thorough and well-prepared. It would be trouble if we ran out of supplies… He opened the kit, retrieved two vials of lidocaine, picked up a syringe, and got to work…

Just then, the curtain of the left operating room was drawn aside. Dr. Li from the emergency surgery department, wiping sweat from his brow, emerged with a nurse pushing a patient. He instructed the nurse, “Take him for an X-ray, then straight to orthopedics. His femur is probably fractured—he’ll need surgery.”

The nurse acknowledged and, along with the family, wheeled the patient toward the radiology department.

Without looking up, Dr. Li turned back into the operating room and called out, “Next…”

But after waiting a while, no patient came in. Puzzled, he stuck his head out to look and found the area outside completely empty—not a single patient left…

He touched his forehead in bewilderment. “Where are the patients? I only handled two… where did the others go?”

After a moment of confusion, Dr. Li noticed no nurses were around either. He hurried to the office and asked Director Qu, who was sitting inside, “Director… where are the other patients? Were they all transferred to orthopedics?”

Hearing this, Director Qu smiled warmly. “Dr. Li, not bad… your efficiency has improved quite a bit. Weren’t they all handled by you?”

“Ah? Handled?” Dr. Li was stunned. “They all came over? But that was so fast! I only did two. Weren’t there five more?”

Now Director Qu was also taken aback. “You only did two? Then who handled the other five?”

“Who? Who else? Tang Yijun? Jiang Zhibo?” Dr. Li asked in surprise. “But it’s impossible for one person to handle five alone! I saw them earlier—aside from one or two lighter cases, the others were quite complicated…”

As they were puzzling over this, two people rushed in, out of breath, and asked Director Qu, “Director… where are the patients?”

“Tang Yijun? Wu Xiaotian?” Director Qu looked at them, surprised. “They’ve all been handled…”

“Handled? Already?” The two were equally shocked. They glanced at Dr. Li and exclaimed, “Weren’t there six or seven? Is Jiang Zhibo already here? But you guys were lightning fast!”

Before they could finish, another person walked in. Seeing everyone gathered, he asked curiously, “Huh… why is everyone here? Where are the patients? Are they all taken care of?”

“Jiang Zhibo?!” Everyone stared, dumbfounded, at Jiang Zhibo, whose face was glistening with fine sweat. They exchanged bewildered looks. Finally, Dr. Li asked, “If Jiang Zhibo is here, then who was the other person? Who handled five patients single-handedly?”

“Could it be Director Zhang?” Tang Yijun blinked in disbelief. “Is he at the hospital?”

“Director Zhang went to a conference in Beijing two days ago and won’t be back until tomorrow. I didn’t notify him!” Director Qu rubbed his nose…

“Then who was it? When I came out, I could still hear movement in the next operating room…” Dr. Li finally said, astonished.

They all exchanged glances, then, with shared curiosity, turned and hurried toward the emergency operating rooms.

Outside the operating room, one family member was still waiting, and the sound of tape being torn—zzip, zzip—could be heard from inside. It seemed this patient was almost done…

Everyone looked at each other, wondering: Who on earth is in there?

Just then, several nurses emerged from the wards. Seeing all the doctors gathered outside the operating room, they thought something had happened and curiously crowded around…

Finally, after a short while, the curtain was pushed aside, and a gurney was wheeled out. The family member quickly stepped forward to meet it, and a nurse hurried over to help push the gurney out.

Then, someone emerged from inside… and froze at the sight of the circle of doctors and nurses surrounding them…

Everyone stared intently at the figure wearing a mask and cap, wondering where this person had come from…

They craned their necks to look into the operating room but found it empty—no one else, not even a nurse. Just this lone figure…

It was Director Qu who finally recognized the familiar face. Stunned, he exclaimed, “Xu Ze? Is that you, Xu Ze?”

Xu Ze gave a wry smile, removed his mask and cap, and looked somewhat awkwardly at the astonished crowd. “Director… I, well, I overstepped my bounds. You’re not going to reprimand me, are you…”

“……” Director Qu was momentarily speechless.

He truly couldn’t grasp how Xu Ze had ended up filling in as a surgeon. His expertise was supposed to be in internal medicine! Given his usual proficiency with internal medicine cases, how had he quietly taken on emergency surgery? And with such skill—handling five patients alone in just over twenty minutes? It was unbelievable…

Dr. Li, however, quickly caught on. He looked at Xu Ze with sheer admiration. Though they hadn’t formally met, he knew about the new rotating doctor in internal medicine and had seen him a couple of times, exchanging nods.

He’d heard this new doctor was quite skilled in internal medicine—so much so that even while still rotating, Director Qu had granted him the authority to manage patients. There was even talk that he had snatched a research project for the emergency internal medicine department right from under the nose of Zhang Lide from general internal medicine. The entire emergency surgery department had been abuzz about it. Everyone knew how formidable Director Zhang Lide was—who could possibly take a project from him? And a rotating doctor, no less? It was earth-shattering.

But no one knew that Xu Ze wasn’t just skilled in internal medicine; he was also incredibly capable at handling trauma. Today, he had secretly stepped in and managed five patients for them…

Dr. Li checked his watch, then stepped forward and patted Xu Ze’s shoulder with a sigh of admiration. “Brother… you’re amazing. Twenty-five minutes, and you handled five for me…”

Feeling the pat and seeing that Dr. Li held no resentment, Xu Ze smiled and shook his head. “Only three were complicated. One was just a dislocated elbow and some abrasions… and the splenic rupture case was sent straight away…”

“What? There was a splenic rupture too?” Dr. Li was alarmed. He knew all too well how critical and risky a splenic rupture could be—a delay of even a little time could be life-threatening.

“Yes… but they were sent to abdominal surgery. It should be fine now,” Xu Ze reassured him, seeing his tension.

“Oh… that’s good, that’s good…” Dr. Li relaxed, the tension draining from his face. He was on duty today, and though he was indeed overwhelmed, if a patient had died due to delayed treatment, he would still be held responsible.

Meanwhile, Director Qu finally collected his thoughts, a complex expression in his eyes. He sighed softly, “Xu Ze… how do you know how to do everything?”

“Uh…” Xu Ze scratched the back of his head at the question, then suddenly chuckled. “Director… I do know a bit about surgery and trauma care…”

He quickly added, “I didn’t plan on intervening, but I saw Dr. Li was swamped and worried about the patients, so I just lent a hand. You’re not upset, are you, Director?”

“Sigh… why would I be upset? You’ve been a huge help to surgery this time and prevented a potential incident. How could I blame you?” Director Qu shook his head with a wry smile. “Forget it… consider this another great service to our ER… I’ll double your bonus at the end of the month.”

“Bonus? I get one too?” Xu Ze’s face lit up at the mention of a bonus, amusing Director Qu, who laughed and patted his shoulder. “Yes… of course. Even though you’re just rotating, you still get a salary and bonus. And since you secured that project for our department, your bonus will definitely be increased… Plus, if we land that ministerial-level project, your bonus will be doubled again…”

“Ah… really?” Xu Ze couldn’t help but beam.

Seeing Xu Ze’s delight over the bonus, the other surgeons laughed along. Though still astounded by his abilities, they warmly patted his shoulder. “Dr. Xu… you’ve been a tremendous help to surgery today. Tomorrow, Li Han owes you a meal…”

Dr. Li, patting Xu Ze’s shoulder, laughed, “That’s right… Dr. Xu, you saved me today. Tomorrow, I’m treating you to drinks…”

Hearing this, Xu Ze didn’t stand on ceremony. They were all part of the same department, and he’d be rotating in emergency surgery himself soon enough—it was a good chance to build camaraderie. He smiled, “Alright… since I’m off tomorrow… I’ll take you up on that!”

With all patients handled, the other three surgeons and the support nurses left, leaving Dr. Li and Xu Ze to continue the shift.

Xu Ze returned to the office and had just sat down when his phone rang. Seeing it was Tang Zhi, he was curious. Why would Brother Tang be calling so late?

“Hello… Brother Tang?”

“Yeah… Xiao Ze, are you on duty right now?” Tang Zhi sounded anxious.

“I am! What’s wrong?” Xu Ze’s heart tightened. Could something have happened?

“Okay, good. There was a car accident earlier—a patient named Li Yue was sent to your ER. Any idea how he’s doing…”