This doctor is already middle-aged, and he's only just started practicing medicine.

Chapter 150 How can one grow without practicing?

The misty drizzle left spiderweb-like water stains on the window, intricate and complex.

After a brief handover in the orthopedic ward, Peng Haibo immediately approached Tong Yuan'an, greeting him with a smile: "Professor Tong, have you had breakfast? There are still two surgeries scheduled for today."

"We just dealt with it on the way here," Tong Yuan'an nodded slightly, his tone polite.

The two elective surgeries scheduled for today were planned well in advance, and Tong Yuan'an couldn't back out: "Director Peng, please go do your rounds first. The sooner you finish, the better you'll be able to leave the operating room."

Tong Yuan'an's expression remained calm.

"Professor Tong, do you have any plans today? If you're free, how about we grab a bite to eat after your surgery?" Peng Haibo asked casually.

"We can't go on like this. Director Peng, you guys have gone too far." Tong Yuan'an chuckled.

Peng Haibo treated Tong Yuan'an very well, but he couldn't be polite to his face. Behind his back, he instructed Peng Kun to cause trouble and keep him on standby: "Take a break today."

“Dr. Peng Kun from our department has also realized his mistake and insists on apologizing to you in person.”

“That’s how he should be,” Peng Haibo said with a smile.

Now, he can only cling to Tong Yuan'an's coattails in order to pave a good future for Peng Kun.

Peng Haibo wasn't worried about himself. As long as he didn't do anything reckless, the hospital and its leaders wouldn't allow the situation in his department to change drastically.

But Peng Kun is different; he is still a nobody.

Tong Yuan'an's jaw tightened: "Director Peng, are you kidding me? What is Peng Kun supposed to apologize for?"

Peng Haibo carefully explained, "Professor Tong, young people are indeed a bit impatient. They're eager to learn how to perform surgery, which is why they can't stand it. I hope you can be more understanding."

"Actually, young people need to practice their surgeries. If they don't practice, they can't develop their skills out of thin air."

"I couldn't stand the loneliness during practice, which led me to underestimate my true skill level."

Tong Yuan'an crossed his arms and said in a faint voice, "Director Peng? When did you start caring about whether or not we learn this?"

Without practice, skills cannot be created out of thin air.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this statement, but it doesn't apply to county hospitals.

In hospitals, people only care about what skills you have, not where you got those skills from.

Tong Yuan'an saw that Peng Haibo had taught Peng Kun surgery, but no one else had taught anyone else surgery. They were almost always busy with get off work after work.

Peng Haibo forced a smile and said, "Professor Tong, isn't this obvious? Everyone learned to perform surgeries this way."

"Director Peng, you changed the rules overnight?" Tong Yuan'an narrowed his eyes, not caring about personal relationships with Peng Haibo at all.

Peng Haibo choked and his face turned red and blue for a moment.

Ultimately, Peng Haibo had no other choice but to say, "Professor Tong, let's go do our rounds first, and then we'll proceed with the surgery..."

Xiang Kuihua, Executive Director Luo, and others knew that Tong Yuan'an was going to be transferred to another ward, but no one came forward to genuinely help persuade him to stay. At most, they just joked about how they would miss Tong Yuan'an.

In the eyes of Executive Director Luo and his colleagues, whether Tong Yuan'an was there or not would not affect their normal work operations.

Hand surgery is a branch of another subspecialty of orthopedics, and it has nothing to do with trauma, spine, or sports medicine.

As the director, Peng Haibo may have the right to think about expanding territory, but they have no obligation to accompany him in doing things piecemeal.

The biggest beneficiary of Tong Yuan'an staying in the ward was Peng Kun. Peng Haibo had prepared Tong Yuan'an for Peng Kun, and they couldn't say anything or have any reason to complain.

Now that Peng Kun has offended Tong Yuan'an, they won't offer any help in his time of need.

……

It was 12:40 in the morning.

During a break in flap transplant surgery, in the surgeons' lounge of the operating room.

Peng Kun looked at Tong Yuan'an, adjusted his glasses, and said in a low, obsequious voice, "Teacher Tong, I heard you're applying to transfer to another ward next month?"

"Well, there are some other tasks to do." Tong Yuan'an hadn't completely broken ties with Peng Kun, so he continued to give him the runaround.

"Are you going to the second ward?" Peng Kun continued to inquire, and gave Tong Yuan'an another small cigarette.

Tong Yuan'an took it and pinched it between his index finger and thumb: "It should be, but it hasn't been decided yet."

Peng Kun looked up somewhat awkwardly, his tone ingratiating: "Teacher Tong, did I upset you during the previous surgeries?"

"If that's the case, I can apologize to you."

"I admit, I was too hasty... I'm so sorry, Professor Tong..."

Tong Yuan'an adopted an detached, detached attitude: "Whether something is right or wrong is mostly determined by people!"

"Everyone's just trying to make a living, so how can there be such an absolute right or wrong?"

"For example, if I were to look at it from your perspective, I would also agree that you're right."

"Studying is nothing to be ashamed of."

Tong Yuan'an's nonchalant attitude and tone made Peng Kun feel that Tong Yuan'an was getting further and further away from him.

Peng Kun's expression finally turned serious, and his tone became formal: "Professor Tong, I had no choice but to do this. Our entire department is being completely overwhelmed by Lu Cheng from the emergency department."

“He not only intervenes in tendon repairs, but also in classic and typical fractures.”

"If this continues to develop, what will become of us? Our entire department will simply be unable to survive."

“Under such circumstances, we must take the initiative to deal with it, rather than passively waiting to be bled dry by him…” Peng Kun said in a hoarse voice, expressing his heartfelt sentiments.

"Mmm-hmm," Tong Yuan'an nodded repeatedly in response.

Peng Kun knew that Tong Yuan'an didn't take it to heart, so he said, "Teacher Tong, think about it, how can the emergency department accept our orthopedic surgeries?"

"Lu Cheng's aggressive attitude has made our entire orthopedics department feel very awkward. That's why I got a little anxious."

Tong Yuan'an glanced at Peng Kun, his expression amused: "So you think you're so great?!"

"Daring, courageous, and daring? Should I give you a medal?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? Who did the patient offend?"

“I…” Peng Kun’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

Tong Yuan'an said calmly, "Don't mention your department's difficulties to me, it has nothing to do with me!"

"We are all adults."

Tong Yuan'an waved his chubby hand: "I've told you everything I should and shouldn't have said, but you just wouldn't listen."

"Then I'll just have to avoid being disliked."

Peng Kun raised his finger: "I'm sorry, Professor Tong, I will definitely not make a similar mistake again. I promise you."

Tong Yuan'an pressed Peng Kun's hand down: "We're not elementary school students anymore. This is modern society. We don't need to do things like swearing oaths or pinkies. Let's not do so many things."

At this point, Tong Yuan'an stubbed out his cigarette and patted Peng Kun on the shoulder: "Learning technology is a slow and steady process that requires years of accumulation; it cannot be accomplished overnight."

"From now on, you can learn and do it slowly."

"But Teacher Tong still wants to give you a piece of advice: you are an adult. If you can't control yourself, then someone will definitely stand up and restrain you."

"But when others force you to be self-aware, all you'll have left is self-awareness."

Peng Kun suddenly asked again, "Teacher Tong, do you think I'm learning too slowly, so you're thinking of changing students?"

"Is Lu Cheng so favored because he learns quickly?"

Peng Kun looked indignant, as if he were one of the hardworking students in junior or senior high school who had average grades, questioning the teacher about why the top students with better grades were favored.

“This has nothing to do with how fast or slow you learn,” Tong Yuan’an said. “If you can’t figure it out, then don’t think about it anymore. Why do you have to find a legitimate reason to excuse yourself?”

"We both know the specific reasons why I switched majors."

Peng Kun said, "Teacher Tong, but I already explained the reason to you, I..."

Tong Yuan'an's chubby face turned, his pupils becoming horrified: "Do you think explaining what you consider a matter of course is enough to make things clear?"

"Peng Kun, you're not young anymore."

"I'm asking you, why would I take on a student who's a ticking time bomb, especially one with a criminal record?"

"If I, Tong Yuan'an, don't take on this student and teach surgery, will I die?"

Since Peng Kun had already made his point to this extent, Tong Yuan'an didn't mind to be even more explicit.

The teacher's route was not convenient.

You only eat well if you listen to advice, but you didn't listen. Now, an apology should suffice.

Where do you place others?

Peng Kun simply said, "Professor Tong, our hospital's orthopedics department has no other place that performs hand surgery besides here."

"We don't have any equipment, how are we supposed to get started?"

Tong Yuan'an thought Peng Kun was really too young: "If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. Isn't it good that I'm on vacation?"

"Don't overthink it. Our relationship ends here!"

"Let's not fall out, let's each save face for each other."

"Furthermore, the equipment in the hospital is the hospital's asset, not your orthopedics department's, nor is it the sole property of your orthopedics department."

Peng Kun stood still, watching Tong Yuan'an leave. It took him a long time to get up again, his face full of exhaustion.

"Is this unreasonable? How can I improve if I don't practice? You don't give me any chances at all, you just want me to bury myself in practice..."

"Do I think I can master it by just burying myself in practice? In the end, I'll still be stuck with Lu Cheng and eating his ass."

"Weren't you ever anxious when you were practicing surgery?"

"Didn't you make any mistakes while studying? And there weren't any major problems... Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

Peng Kun's mutterings sounded very aggrieved.

……

In the emergency room, in the doctors' lounge, Chen Song lay diagonally in the corner of the lower bunk of a double bed, holding a coffee in one hand and staring intently at his phone with the other.

The light from the phone screen, reflected off the Mediterranean Sea and the high forehead, brightened up the slightly dim corner.

“Teacher Chen.” Lu Cheng sat on the lower bunk of another double bed.

Chen Song stared without blinking: "Hmm..."

"Take a look at this paper? I think it's very interesting." Lu Cheng took the initiative to move closer and share his phone screen with Chen Song.

Chen Song shifted his position, his tone aloof: "I'm watching a TV series! You can read the documents yourself..."

"This paper discusses how the corpus cavernosum can be reimplanted effectively through a combination of corpus cavernosum transection in urology and microsurgical suturing."

Lu Cheng then asked, "Professor Chen... for spleen-preserving surgery, is it simply a matter of finding a way to suture it back together?"

Chen Song's voice remained calm: "Hmm..."

"Teacher Chen, what would you like to eat for lunch?"

"I'll just grab a boxed lunch." Chen Song finally glanced at the time.

"It's not even eleven o'clock yet, there's still plenty of time."

"Watching a show, watching a show."

“Teacher Chen, I have something I want to say to you,” Lu Cheng said.

Chen Song looked up, looked at Lu Cheng seriously, and said while resting his chin on his hand, "Lu Cheng, you don't need to be like this. I'll be packing my bags and going home in three or four days."

"I've taught you everything I can; the rest are things you can't learn anyway."

"You're thirty years old already, haven't you realized that 'separation' is an inherent part of life?"

Lu Cheng replied, "Professor Chen, the profound principles you're talking about are more suited to philosophers. I'm just an ordinary person; I don't understand them."

Upon hearing this, Chen Song sighed and said, "Actually, we're all just ordinary people, so no one should think too highly of anyone else."

Before I learned that you had been recruited by Peking Union Medical College Hospital, my plan for you was to continue pursuing your doctoral studies and then try to get you a place at the hospital.

"But now, I regret it. I'm actually a fickle person; if you're more outstanding, I'll favor you more."

"It's pointless to bring this up now."

"We're all realistic people, just from different perspectives." Chen Song's voice was calm and even, revealing no particular emotion.

Where in the world is there anyone who is unrealistic? Throughout history and across cultures, everyone has a deep-seated admiration for the strong, only to varying degrees.

There are many young people in the emergency department of Longxian People's Hospital, but Chen Song is only different from Lu Cheng.

Everyone else is a person, a hospital employee. Ultimately, Chen Song only valued Lu Cheng's talent, and he had something to ask for.

Lu Cheng said, "Teacher Chen, no matter what, I still want to apologize to your face."

"No matter how sudden this happened, I still didn't tell you."

Chen Song then asked, "I've already said this beforehand, can you change the final outcome? Are you willing to give up your childhood sweetheart girlfriend?"

"Or rather, could you possibly steal your childhood sweetheart away from Peking Union Medical College Hospital?"

Lu Cheng remained calm but did not reply, and Chen Song understood what Lu Cheng meant: "Isn't that right?"

"You can't do it."

"Although the concept of fate is ethereal and intangible, it is still wonderfully mysterious."

"We were destined to meet, but our fate will only go so far."

“I actually have no regrets. In just a few months, I have taught you so much, which seems incredible to me.”

"But you did it."

Their eyes met, but there was neither tender affection nor deep resentment between them.

Lu Cheng saw calmness on Chen Song's face, while Chen Song saw conflict on Lu Cheng's face.

Chen Songming understood Lu Cheng's expression and said, "The secrets of the art are not passed on to six ears. Learning also requires mutual consent. The techniques I'm teaching you are not some closely guarded secrets."

"If you're willing, you can find it online. There's no need to feel guilty or have any psychological barriers."

Chen Song waved his hand: "No need to keep it in mind."

"To put it bluntly, the debt of gratitude that people in the world owe to teachers and parents is something that can never be repaid."

Chen Song owes Lu Cheng nothing, so he can face Lu Cheng with equanimity.

But in reality, Chen Song misunderstood Lu Cheng. Lu Cheng's concern was not related to Chen Song: "Teacher Chen, I don't think I've ever heard you mention the special suturing techniques for the spleen, liver, and gallbladder."

Chen Song glanced at Lu Cheng thoughtfully: "Is that what you're thinking about? You've got quite the imagination!"

(End of this chapter)