After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

The duct room was eerily cold.

Julian lay on the operating table, the beeping of the electrocardiogram monitor both chaotic and heart-wrenching.

In the observation room, Brown stared intently at the freshly developed ultrasound images, his brow furrowed in a deep frown.

"Ye, this absolutely won't do!" Brown turned his head sharply. "His left ventricular ejection fraction is less than 30%! He has congenital myocardial insufficiency; his left ventricle is like a deflated balloon. If you try to close the ventricular septal defect now, the afterload to the left ventricle will increase dramatically, and he will suffer acute heart failure within ten minutes and die on the table!"

German cardiovascular specialist Stein, who had accompanied the Siemens charter flight, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and said curtly, "Dr. Brown is right. In Munich, patients with these indications can only be forcibly put on cardiopulmonary bypass and undergo open-chest surgery, or be sent directly to the hospice ward. Interventional closure? That's murder."

Thomas stood in the back row, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

He spent a fortune chartering a plane to bring the sick child here to create a stir, never imagining that the first case would be a medical accident where the child died on the operating table.

"Dr. Ye, Siemens' international reputation cannot be used to take risks for you," Thomas warned in a deep voice.

Ye Zhen put on sterile gloves, without even lifting her eyelids.

"Open chest? His heart muscle is as thin as paper, it can't even withstand the vibration of sawing open his sternum." Ye Zhen walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, "If a complete blockage will kill him, then we won't completely block it."

Stein was stunned: "What do you mean?"

"Restrictive blocking".

Ye Zhen quickly drew two ventricular cross-sections on the whiteboard and drew a mushroom-shaped tube with a hole at the defect. "We leave a three-millimeter decompression hole in the center of the occluder. The right-to-left shunt is not completely cut off, allowing the left ventricle a 24-hour afterload adaptation period. As the myocardium gradually builds up compensation, this three-millimeter hole will close naturally after three months as the endothelialization occurs."

The entire observation room fell silent instantly.

Brown gasped.

Stein's eyes widened: "A vented plug? There's no such device being manufactured in the world right now!"

"No, then we'll make it to order."

Ye Zhen tossed the marker aside. "Lin Yi, bring me that new set of No. 5 nickel-titanium alloy occluders. Also, get a pair of ophthalmic micro-scissors and a fine micro-hook."

Stein, in a panic, pounded on the glass: "You're going to destroy the original equipment with your bare hands? If the metal wire breaks and gets into a blood vessel, it'll turn your heart into a honeycomb!"

Thomas also lost his temper, stepping forward and shouting, "Dr. Ye, I strictly forbid you from damaging Siemens' original equipment! This violates business rules!"

"Mr. Thomas," Gu Zheng's tall figure blocked the radiation-proof glass door, his rough hands on the buckle of his weapon belt. The imposing aura honed in the bloodshed of the battlefield instantly subdued the entire room. "In this building, my wife is in charge of treating patients and saving lives. Since the equipment has been sent to China, it's for saving lives. It belongs to the Ye family, not Siemens."

Thomas gritted his teeth, but Gu Zheng's cold and hard demeanor forced him to swallow the rest of his sentence.

Lin Yi had already brought over the sterile tray.

Ye Zhen chuckled lightly, but did not touch the microscopic scissors. Instead, she turned to look at Hans, the technical director of Siemens Healthineers.

"Since Mr. Thomas is worried about the equipment and fears I might break the original manufacturer's rules..." Ye Zhen's tone was cold, carrying an undeniable air of authority, "Mr. Hans, you are Siemens' top engineer. You are the one who should modify Siemens' equipment."

Hans was dumbfounded, pointing to himself: "Me?"

"Yes, come and sit down. Follow my instructions." Ye Zhen stepped back half a step and pointed to the high-powered microscope on the sterile table.

Hans swallowed hard and, under Thomas's shocked and complicated gaze, obediently sat down in front of the microscope.

"Use the micro-hook. Separate the two intersecting filaments at the center, and keep your hand steady."

"Use micro-scissors to process the membrane. One lift, one flick, one press."

Ye Zhen's cool and detached commands were like the most precise metronome.

Under the imposing presence of the Eastern female doctor, Hans broke out in a cold sweat and held his breath. Three millimeters, not a fraction more or less. The edge coating was perfectly pressed in, the metal structure remained tightly fastened, and not a single burr fell out.

"Perfect..." Hans exclaimed in German as he looked at the finished product under the microscope.

"Disinfect and prepare for use." Ye Zhen tossed the modified occluder into a sterile bowl and turned to walk toward the operating table.

Stein's mouth hung open, a bellyful of "German standards" stuck in his throat. The Chinese didn't touch the equipment; it was Germany's top engineer who did it! How could that be considered sabotage?

The surgery officially began.

Under local anesthesia, Julian remained conscious, his large eyes filled with fear.

Ye Zhen lowered her head and soothed him in fluent German: "Julian, close your eyes, take a deep breath, it will be over soon."

Puncture the femoral vein.

Insert the sheath.

Send the guide wire.

The movements were swift and fluid. The contrast agent was injected into the screen, clearly revealing the horrific condition inside Julian's heart—the ventricular walls were filled with spongy recesses, unable to contract properly, and the defect resembled a deadly chasm.

"Blood pressure is dropping! Ninety, sixty!" The anesthesiologist's throat tightened.

"Prepare to release the plug."

Ye Zhen stared at the screen, controlling the tube with her left hand and twisting the push cable with her right. The occluder, which Hans had personally modified and which had a three-millimeter decompression hole, slid straight into the blood vessel and precisely locked onto the ventricular septal defect.

Ye Zhen pressed her thumb down.

The umbrella disc opened steadily.

The imaging showed that the vast majority of the fatal abnormal blood flow was instantly cut off, with only a very small amount of blood gently nourishing the fragile left ventricle through that tiny three-millimeter hole.

"Look at the monitor!" Brown shouted from outside, slapping his thigh.

Drip—drip—

Heart rate is stable. Blood pressure has not plummeted.

After adapting to this slight pressure change, the left ventricle began to contract weakly but regularly, and the acute heart failure they predicted did not occur at all!

The compensation arrangement has been successfully established.

"Reel in the cable and apply pressure to stop the bleeding." Ye Zhen pulled off her mask and turned to walk towards the sink.

It took only twenty minutes.

The radiation-proof lead door is opened.

Karl had been waiting impatiently in the corridor. As soon as the door opened, he rushed over. Lin Yi pushed out a gurney, on which Julian lay, his previously purplish-blue face now showing a visibly rosy glow.

"Dad..." Julian called out in a weak voice.

Karl's legs buckled, and he knelt down beside the flatbed cart. This six-foot-tall German man grabbed his son's hand, crying with tears and snot streaming down his face.

Stein emerged from the observation room with a complex expression. He walked up to Ye Zhen, stood with his feet together, and bowed deeply.

"Dr. Ye, I apologize for my arrogance just now. You are not only a great doctor, but also a genius engineering designer. It is your wisdom that gave this child a second life."

Thomas followed closely behind, his capitalist shrewdness completely replaced by the awe-inspiring moment of this groundbreaking discovery. He knew all too well the enormous market hidden behind that "hole-sealing device."

"Dr. Ye!" Thomas exclaimed urgently, his eyes gleaming. "Siemens wants to buy out the patent for that modification plan! Two million marks! No, five million marks!"

Ye Zhen shook the water droplets off her hands, took the dry towel handed to her by the nurse, and didn't even lift her head.

"Not for sale."

Ye Zhen's voice was steady. "This hole is a customized solution for specific myocardial lesions. I will write its calculation formula and data model into the next issue of The Lancet's 'Chinese Standards' and publish it globally. Want it? Go and make one yourself according to our Chinese standards."

Thomas froze on the spot.

Publicly? A patent worth five million marks, she just gave it away to the whole world for free without batting an eye?!

Thomas swallowed hard, completely losing his temper.

"Li Hong, take Julian to the ICU." Ye Zhen didn't care about the five million marks at all. She turned to look at the schedule and said, "Lin Yi, go call Lao Shi. It's time for Xiao Shi to stand by."