There's a chat group for pets in my neighborhood.

In the days that followed, Lu Fang and Qin Zhuyan were like two spinning tops, so busy they couldn't stop.

Qin Zhuyan had to stay at the pet shop during the day, and whenever she had free time, she would go to government departments to handle relevant documents.

Not to mention Lu Fang, in addition to the basic work of the pet store, the renovation of the pet hospital has also begun to get on track.

He still had to personally oversee the recruitment of veterinarians.

The interviewees came in batches.

They're either recent graduates who can't even distinguish the teeth of a hemostat, and would just freeze up in the face of a sudden massive hemorrhage; or they're seasoned veterans who, having a few years of experience, couldn't make it at their previous jobs and came here to demand an exorbitant base salary plus stock options.

Dealing with these people was enough to give him a huge headache.

"Is it really that hard to hire a veterinarian?"

Inside the Hello Pet Shop, Lu Fang sat in the back office, having just seen off a recent veterinary graduate. He slumped into his chair and gulped down a large mouthful of strong Americano.

The sheriff squatted down beside him, his tail wagging incessantly.

Ever since the two revealed their identities, the sheriff has been loitering around from time to time, ostensibly to help Lu Fang with his worries, but really just to mooch some salmon cans.

"What do you think?" Lu Fang sighed. "Veterinarians, like human doctors, need to memorize a lot of books, master a great deal of theoretical knowledge, and have a lot of practical experience. Becoming a veterinarian is not that simple."

"Currently, the approval process for pet hospital licenses requires a registered veterinarian. If they can't recruit that person, the pet hospital licenses won't be issued."

"What are you babbling about? Open a can of salmon for me." The sheriff licked his paws and squatted down in front of Lu Fang with an air of self-righteousness.

"You glutton!" Faced with the sheriff's rude request, Lu Fang had no choice but to comply, after all, he didn't want to wear a collar in a pet store in broad daylight.

Just as the sheriff was enjoying his meal, a fair-skinned young man pushed open the office door and peered inside.

"You're here for an interview, right?" Lu Fang quickly stood up to greet him.

"Hello, my name is Liu Cun, and I'm here for a veterinary doctor interview."

Liu Cun wore a faded but neatly ironed shirt and gold-rimmed glasses, giving him a scholarly air.

"Liu Cun, right?" Lu Fang took the resume and glanced at it briefly: "Three years of experience as an attending surgeon at a large chain pet hospital?"

"Yes." Liu Cun nodded neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Then let me ask you a few simple clinical questions." Lu Fang began asking questions directly.

"A 40-kilogram adult German Shepherd suffered a comminuted fracture of the distal femur, close to the articular surface, due to a car accident. There are more than three loose bone fragments at the fracture ends. As the lead surgeon, how would you handle it?"

When faced with this question, a typical veterinarian would usually just give a dry answer like "put in a metal plate" or "put in an external fixator." However, in large dogs, where the weight-bearing capacity is extremely high, improper handling can easily lead to plate breakage or nonunion after surgery.

Liu Hao adjusted his glasses and, almost without hesitation, answered fluently, "A comminuted fracture of the distal femur, especially close to the joint, leaves very little room for manipulation. If I were the surgeon, I wouldn't simply use a regular bone plate. I would employ a 'double fixation (Tie-in)' technique combining an LCP (locking compression plate) with an intramedullary nail."

He paused, his eyes revealing the confidence of a professional, and continued, "If shattered bone fragments have soft tissue attached, they absolutely cannot be detached. The blood supply to the periosteum must be preserved to the greatest extent possible, employing the principle of 'biological fixation.' Intramedullary nails are used to resist bending forces, and locking plates are used to resist torsional forces. This ensures that this 40-kilogram German Shepherd can bear weight as soon as possible after surgery, preventing muscle atrophy."

Lu Fang, who had been leaning back in his chair, sat up slightly.

This answer is textbook-level, and without extensive clinical experience, it would be absolutely impossible to summarize such a crucial detail as "preserving periosteal blood supply".

Lu Fang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he decided to escalate the issue by raising a crucial question about the extremely high mortality rate in veterinary emergency surgery.

"Well said. Now, let's suppose a Great Dane is brought to the emergency room in the middle of the night with an extremely distended abdomen, tympanic percussion, pale mucosa, and a heart rate of 180. The diagnosis is GDV (gastric dilatation-torsion syndrome)." Lu Fang placed his hands on the table, his eyes fixed intently on Liu Hao. "Opening the abdomen, gastric decompression, gastric repositioning—you don't need to repeat those routine procedures. I'll only ask you one question—at the moment you reposition the torsioned stomach, what is the greatest life-threatening threat? How do you handle it?"

This is an extremely dangerous trap. Many inexperienced veterinarians, after successfully turning the stomach back over, assume the surgery is complete, only to find the dog inexplicably suffering cardiac arrest on the operating table.

Liu Hao's eyes showed no sign of panic; he even smiled with remarkable composure.

"Dean Lu, you've given us a very challenging question." Liu Hao interlaced his fingers, his voice steady. "At the moment of GDV repositioning, the biggest killers are ischemia-reperfusion injury and severe ventricular arrhythmias."

He looked at Lu Fang and clearly explained the solution: "Because the gastric torsion compressed the posterior vena cava, a large amount of ischemic blood containing toxins, free radicals, and myocardial depressant factors accumulated. Once repositioned, this 'toxic blood' will instantly flow back into the heart, triggering ventricular premature contractions (VPCs) or even ventricular fibrillation. Therefore, two minutes before repositioning, I must ask the anesthesiologist to administer lidocaine for myocardial intervention, while simultaneously establishing dual intravenous access for extremely vigorous fluid resuscitation. After repositioning, immediately check if irreversible thrombotic necrosis has occurred in the spleen; if so, a splenectomy must be performed decisively!"

What a promising talent!

Lu Fang's eyes lit up immediately. After interviewing people for so many days, this was the first one who truly had ability.

He has a solid foundation in surgical theory and a clear approach to emergency response.

Such a person could earn a base salary of over 20,000 yuan at any large pet hospital in Yanling City, so why would he come to my small pet hospital?

The sheriff standing to the side also stopped eating heartily, staring intently at Liu Cun in front of him, his ears twitching slightly.

"That's great. With your skills, why did you choose us?" Lu Fang frowned, somewhat curious.

Seemingly sensing the other party's doubts, Liu Cun gave a wry smile and took the initiative to explain: "Dean Lu, to be honest, the performance targets at my previous chain hospital were too heavy. They would order a bunch of exorbitantly priced tests for pets even if they weren't sick. Moreover, my commute to work was very long, taking almost a month and more. I wanted to find a slightly more relaxed place near my home, and I happened to see your job posting, so I thought I'd give it a try."

Lu Fang was overjoyed; he had gotten a great deal!