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

Four days later, on a scorching morning, the sun was blazing.

A van with a Beijing license plate screeched to a halt at the bottom of the steps. The cargo door popped open, and two silver-gray hard-sided aviation cases were unloaded. The sides of the cases were emblazoned with a striking blue Siemens logo.

Hans jumped out of the passenger seat. His striped shirt was wrinkled and clung to his back, his tie was haphazardly stuffed in his pocket, and a layer of dark stubble appeared on his chin.

Lin Yi quickly went to meet him and took a tool bag from him. The bag was quite heavy, making his shoulders slump.

"Mr. Hans, why don't you go to the guesthouse for foreign guests to take a shower and get some rest?"

Hans waved his hand to interrupt, then blurted out in broken Chinese, "No rest. Watch the machine."

"Dr. Ye, we can't wait."

Once inside the catheterization lab, Hans squatted down and snapped open the clasp on the hard case with a "click".

He pulled a square metal box out of the thick foam padding; the outer shell gleamed coldly.

"Optical isolation splitter." Hans pronounced his Chinese heavily. "When the video signal enters here, it is forcibly separated. The main unit does not bear any additional load."

He turned and pointed in the direction of the classroom.

"Add another standard conversion box over there, and run shielded cables."

Ye Zhen walked over from the stairwell, wearing a white lab coat. She took the technical specifications Hans handed her and flipped through a couple of pages.

"Are there any backup plans?"

Hans pulled out a second, identical set of equipment from the bottom of the box.

"If the main line malfunctions, the relay will switch to standby within five seconds. The screen will not go black."

"Without disassembling the machine casing?"

Hans walked up to the imaging machine and tapped his finger on a palm-sized cover plate on the side.

"Just remove this screw."

Lin Yi picked out a small Phillips screwdriver from the tray on the treatment cart and handed it over.

Hans took it, locked it in the cross groove, and twisted it hard. With a "click," the cover loosened.

Hans pulled out the cover, revealing a dense array of ribbon cables inside.

The connector cable was quickly inserted. Hans stood up and shook his aching wrist.

"Tell the electrician to knock down the baseboard in the corner and run it through the underground channel."

The demonstration room and the catheterization room are separated by a 30-centimeter-thick load-bearing wall. To prevent radiation, the wiring cannot be drilled through the wall; it can only go around through gaps in the ceiling and pre-reserved channels in the floor.

The electrician wielded a small hammer and hammered for more than half an hour before finally managing to slide the thick shielding wire through.

A new 21-inch color TV has been moved to the front of the classroom, right in front of the blackboard, next to a medical monitor with many knobs.

Li Hong stood at the door with her notebook in hand, peeking around curiously.

"Teacher Ye, we can watch TV, but who's going to use this small screen?"

Ye Zhen pulled over a wooden chair and sat down in front of the monitor.

"The television is for the doctors who are observing. The monitor is showing the raw signal, which I will watch."

Hans squatted down in front of the socket and pushed the two three-prong plugs into it.

"Power-on test".

In the catheterization lab, Lin Yi pressed the start button for the simulated angiography.

A few seconds later, the color TV screen in the demonstration room flickered twice and the picture lit up.

The resin blood vessel model used for the demonstration appeared clearly in the center of the screen, with a distinct black-and-white contrast.

Gao Yuan ran out of the catheterization lab, glanced at the demonstration room from the doorway, then ran back, going back and forth twice, his mouth agape.

"Incredible! Not even half a second off!"

Liu Xiaohe held up a military stopwatch, staring at the screen.

"Time really is the same."

Everyone wore a happy expression.

Ye Zhen leaned forward and pressed her finger on the walkie-talkie button fixed to the table.

"lofty."

Ye Zhen's voice immediately came through the loudspeaker in the catheterization lab, accompanied by a faint electrical noise.

"I can hear you."

"Liu Xiaohe, administer two milliliters of contrast agent."

"receive."

On the color TV screen, black contrast agent flows along the resin model. As the guide wire advances, the screen develops synchronously without any delay.

Ye Zhen released the button.

"Prepare for the afternoon's surgery."

At 2 p.m., the sunlight was blocked outside by the heavy curtains in the catheterization lab.

In catheterization lab number two, a procedure to close an atrial septal defect in a two-year-old child officially began.

The family members had already put their fingerprints on the informed consent form.

The chief surgeon was Gao Yuan, and the first assistant was Liu Xiaohe.

Ye Zhen did not go in.

She wasn't wearing the 30-pound lead apron for radiation protection; she was only wearing a white lab coat, sitting quietly in front of the monitor in the demonstration room. Medical records and stress charts were spread out beside her, and her right hand rested on the intercom.

Hans leaned against the wall in the back row, arms crossed.

In the catheterization chamber.

Gao Yuan held the puncture needle and successfully established access through the femoral vein. The guidewire, like a slippery eel, moved upwards and precisely turned into the left superior pulmonary vein.

The electrocardiogram monitor emitted a regular beeping sound.

Liu Xiaohe stared intently at the screen and quickly called out the numbers.

"The diameter of the defect is 13.8 millimeters."

"Four millimeters along the aortic side edge."

The distance is too close.

Gao Yuan swallowed hard, picked out an asymmetric occluder from the sterile tray, and slowly pushed it in through the delivery sheath.

The left atrial disc of the occluder opens up like a small umbrella inside the atrium.

Just then, something unusual appeared on the monitor screen.

The edge of the stretched left atrial disc was not completely sealed; instead, it curved upwards slightly by less than one millimeter near the root of the aorta.

Gao Yuan's hand suddenly stopped, and he dared not push any further.

"Teacher Ye, the left atrial disc is warped."

Gao Yuan stared at the glass screen in front of him, a thin layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

Inside the demonstration room, Ye Zhen stared at the fluid dynamics curves on the monitor.

"Click".

The walkie-talkie button was pressed.

"Retract the sheath two millimeters." Ye Zhen's voice came through the loudspeaker into the catheterization lab, completely calm.

"Turn the catheter 30 degrees clockwise. Press down."

Gao Yuan tightened his fingers.

Retract two millimeters.

Pinch the catheter, twist it gently, and rotate it three times.

On the screen, the left atrial disc, which had been raised, was pressed down by the force of rotation and fit snugly against the edge of the defect.

"Recheck the mitral valve." Ye Zhen's instruction followed immediately.

The ultrasound probe in Liu Xiaohe's hand immediately changed angle.

"Mitral valve opening is unrestricted."

"No aortic regurgitation. Heart rate is stable."

Ye Zhen released her finger that had been pressing the intercom and drew a line on the medical record.

"release."

Inside the catheterization chamber, Gao Yuan rotates the push rod counterclockwise.

The occluder landed smoothly in place, the residual blood flow shunting completely disappeared, and the pressure curve showed a perfectly smooth line.

Gao Yuan let out a long breath, only then realizing that his surgical gown was soaked with sweat.

The back row of the demonstration room.

Hans straightened up. He stared at the monitor, which was completely free of noise, for a full minute.

Then he silently took out the technical confirmation document from his briefcase and solemnly signed his name at the end.

Ye Zhen picked up the red pen from her pocket.

On the whiteboard on the wall, the schedule for two routine surgeries tomorrow was written. Her name was originally listed as the lead surgeon.

Ye Zhen raised her hand.

The first one has a red line drawn across "Ye Zhen" and next to it is written: Gao Yuan.

Cross out the second one. Write: Liu Xiaohe.