Chapter 26: Orthopedic Upgrade

After the morning meeting, Lin Cong led Zhang Fan and two newly graduated graduate students into the operating room. Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang had only recently completed their graduate studies and been admitted to Qing University Affiliated Hospital. One specialized in joints and the other in spinal surgery, and both were currently rotating through different departments. Today’s task was to assess the abilities of Zhang Fan and the two graduate students.

Once the films had been placed on the X-ray view box, Lin Cong said to Zhang Fan, “Doctor Zhang, take a look at these films. Are you confident?”

“It’s somewhat difficult, but it shouldn’t be a major problem,” Zhang Fan replied after examining them.

Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang exchanged a glance. The meaning was obvious: This guy must be bragging. How could such a difficult operation possibly be no big deal?

Lin Cong was also somewhat surprised. In trauma surgery, this operation was already at an associate-senior level of difficulty. Yet this young doctor who had come from a remote border hospital was saying it would not be much of a problem. Fine, then. Let’s begin.

“All right. I’ll be the first assistant. Ding Lei, hold the leg up. Wang Guiyang, disinfect the surgical field. Doctor Zhang, study it carefully for a little longer. You’ll be the primary surgeon today.”

“All right, Director.”

Wang Guiyang washed his hands uneasily. What kind of rhythm was this today?

The operation began. After reducing the fracture, they suctioned out the pooled blood. The bones were badly shattered. Once a plate was used for fixation, there was little that could be done about the many tiny fragments. Zhang Fan first bound them with wire, then reshaped the plate so that it would fit more closely against both ends of the broken bone. Plates were manufactured on an industrial assembly line, so although they were standardized, every human body was different. Zhang Fan’s muscle memory was extraordinarily deep. After reshaping, the plate seemed custom-made for this particular patient.

“Excellent. His technique has truly reached mastery.” Lin Cong admired Zhang Fan’s surgical skill.

“Good heavens, could you be any better? Were my graduate studies all for nothing?” Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang were completely dumbfounded. They would need at least five years of work in the department before they could perform an operation like this as primary surgeon.

“Doctor Zhang, why are so few screws being used on this side?” A graduate student’s eye for detail was still sharp. Ding Lei had noticed a problem and asked at once.

“What do you mean, Doctor Zhang? From now on, call him Teacher. He has worked hard on the front lines at a border hospital, and he is more than qualified to teach you,” Lin Cong said.

“Teacher Zhang,” the two said together.

In a major teaching hospital, when a doctor was addressed as “Teacher,” it meant that he had achieved something substantial. Most doctors were simply called “Doctor So-and-so.” In the upper reaches of the medical profession, especially, there was often fierce competition. No one was willing to submit to anyone else. Unless you could completely surpass the other person, being only slightly ahead was meaningless. Everyone had spent more than a decade working tirelessly, day and night, at the operating table. Why should you be called “Teacher” when I could perform the same operations you could? That was why, in a major hospital, “Teacher” was truly an honorific, not merely a form of address.

“I’m only a little more experienced. I feel embarrassed being called Teacher. I only have a bachelor’s degree,” Zhang Fan said modestly.

But those words struck the two graduate students like a thunderbolt.

“Medicine is a discipline that combines foundational knowledge with clinical practice. A strong foundation alone is not enough; you also need clinical experience. Clinical improvement is actually more difficult, so there is no need for you to feel embarrassed,” the director said thoughtfully.

After the operation, Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang applied a cast. The bones had been shattered so badly that additional immobilization was essential. Zhang Fan was about to help, but Lin Cong stopped him.

At an internal departmental meeting, Lin Cong announced, “From now on, Doctor Zhang Fan will be assigned to my team. In discussions of our team’s operations, Doctor Zhang has veto power.”

He was the undisputed authority in orthopedics at Qing Medical University, and everyone he trained was a doctoral student. The moment he said this, the doctors in the department were stunned. This was effectively the position of deputy team leader, and none of the department’s deputy team leaders lacked an associate-senior title.

“This newcomer is no pushover.”

Zhang Fan and the others were settled in the hospital’s dormitory building for visiting trainees. After going there once on his first day, Zhang Fan never returned. He brought two changes of clothes and some toiletries, then moved into the department. The hospital cafeteria delivered his meals, and there were places for him to shower and sleep. Besides, he was not required to write case histories. Their team already had five doctoral students, and after Lin Cong’s announcement, no one dared ask Zhang Fan to handle paperwork. He was perfectly happy to focus solely on surgery.

Day or night, whenever he became tired, he found somewhere to close his eyes for a while. Once awake, he went straight to the operating room in search of another case. He performed major operations and refused to miss minor ones. He covered emergencies, and he also joined operations belonging to other teams. Before anyone even considered his technical skill, the doctors throughout the trauma department were already impressed by his willingness to endure hardship. Treating the hospital as his home was not merely something he said. He proved it through his actions.

“From now on, if the resident doctors in our department cannot match Doctor Zhang’s technical level, then their willingness to work hard must at least match his. They may take only two days off a month. If they cannot handle that, they can transfer to another department. He has better talent than you and still works harder. Aren’t you ashamed?” Lin Cong was genuinely angry at the departmental meeting.

He had watched Zhang Fan throughout those ten-odd days. The young man worked hard—worked with the devotion of an ascetic monk.

“ barring any unforeseen circumstances, he’ll be a renowned physician in ten years. He has talent, and he works even harder. If he doesn’t rise to prominence, it would defy reason,” Lin Cong said with emotion to Huo Qinghua.

On the fourth day, orthopedics leveled up. New departments opened within the system. Joint surgery, spinal surgery, and microsurgical orthopedics—all the specialties above trauma orthopedics—became available, and he could also unlock one additional discipline. After thinking for a long time, Zhang Fan chose to unlock general surgery.

The Department of General Surgery uses surgical methods as its primary means of treating diseases and injuries involving the liver, biliary tract, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, anorectal region, blood vessels, thyroid, and breast, as well as tumors and other related conditions. It is the largest specialty within surgery and the foundation of the other surgical disciplines.

Zhang Fan had originally wanted to unlock internal medicine. His foundation in that field was only average, but an opportunity to train at such an excellent hospital was not something he could allow to slip away. Once he opened general surgery, he was stunned. There were more than a dozen secondary specialties alone, and upgrading them all would require performing at least five thousand general-surgery operations. And there were even more advanced levels beyond that.

What was he supposed to do? There was only one answer: grit his teeth and carry on.

He had been given an opportunity by heaven, and Zhang Fan would never waste it. A difficult life had not made him complain against fate. Whether wading through mud or walking along a broad road, he continued moving forward with all his strength. Any opportunity he could seize, he would never abandon.

There was an old saying: a child without an umbrella must run hard. Zhang Fan was like a drowning man who, even after catching hold of a single straw, would struggle with all his might to stay alive.

Inspired by him, the newly arrived doctors and graduate students in trauma orthopedics all began pushing themselves forward. Nearly everyone who managed to enter a top-tier hospital in a major city was a high achiever, and the great strength of high achievers was their ability to work themselves to the bone.

“Teacher Zhang, emergency case.”

A sleepy Zhang Fan was awakened by a nurse in the operating room. His years as a street vendor had taught him a practical lesson: small favors could win people’s goodwill. To make it easier to join operations in the operating room, he often bought meals for the young nurses and head nurses or brought them drinks. It cost very little, and they did not particularly care about the gifts themselves. What mattered was the attitude behind them.

After only a few days, the operating-room nurses had begun taking good care of Zhang Fan, the visiting trainee.