The operating room nurse spread the news to everyone about how Zhang Fan had severely scolded the anesthesiologist. Everyone now learned that Zhang Fan had a temper. The hospital's administrative department didn't say anything to Zhang Fan about his behavior. Instead, they lectured Li Hong for being irresponsible.
Well, Zhang Fan didn't care even if the administrative department lectured him. If he met with a similar incident again, he would behave the same way. To him, safety during the surgery was more important than anything.
Zhang Fan worked the day shifts in the general surgery department. He could only perform surgeries in the director's team; it was impossible for him to obtain any surgeries from any of the three vice directors' teams. Although the vice directors' subordinate attending physicians were more than happy to give surgeries over to Zhang Fan, the vice directors would punish the attending physicians severely if they were discovered, so Zhang Fan was helpless, unable perform any extra surgeries.
Zhang Fan's original plan had been to grind as many surgeries as possible in the general surgery department, but it seemed this wouldn't be possible during the day shifts. In that case, Zhang Fan would grind at night after his day shifts in the general surgery department were over. By now, Zhang Fan was quite well acquainted with those in the hepatobiliary department. It was quite easy for him to obtain more surgeries there by asking politely. So, at nighttime, Zhang Fan never returned to his apartment to sleep anymore. He would wait in the operating room for more surgeries.
No matter if it was a general surgery or hepatobiliary surgery, Zhang Fan performed them all. If he got tired, he would nap for a little while on the ground of the operating room on top of a hospital bedsheet. Wang Zipeng tried to copy Zhang Fan, thinking that someone so hardworking wouldn't be looked down upon, but after one week, Wang Zipeng's complexion became quite pale as he hadn't even seen the sun in an entire week.
"Doctor Zhang, there's a patient with a perforated appendix. It will be an open surgery. Is that alright with you?" A night shift doctor from a different medical team came to ask Zhang Fan if he could take a surgery.
"Sure thing, bro. I'm already finishing the surgical sutures for my current patient. This surgery is almost over. Go ahead and start disinfecting for that patient." Zhang Fan was currently operating on a different patient in the operating room next door.
Just asking politely wouldn't be enough for him to receive surgery patients from other doctors. He also needed to cultivate good relationships with the other doctors. Many male doctors in China were smokers, so Zhang Fan would always give them free smokes as he had plenty of top-level Zhonghua smokes stored up due to receiving them as gifts from others so often. The other doctors were quite happy since they were getting free top-level smokes.
For the non-smokers, Zhang Fan would pay for meals for them. To Zhang Fan, this was only some small money that he needed to spend. That was how to cultivate relationships in China.
Wang Zipeng was truly learning Zhang Fan's ways. Since the other doctors ignored Wang Zipeng, he instead focused his attention on buying water or drinks for the operating room nurses. After a few days, the nurses were no longer as rude to him as they used to be for his inexperience. They even started whispering the correct methods to him whenever he made mistakes. This was completely different from how they would immediately start scolding him when he made a mistake at first.
Wang Zipeng also constantly addressed Zhang Fan as "Brother" so that he could have some extra practice with surgical sutures or ligation. Zhang Fan didn't give him a hard time, knowing that everyone started out as a newcomer. He let Wang Zipeng do everything that the latter was capable of doing, and gave him advice whenever possible.
Zhang Fan felt that Wang Zipeng was much easier to deal with than Wang Yanan. That female doctor always either argued back or resorted to threats, and since she was a woman, Zhang Fan couldn't do the same to her. Yet, her personality was quite popular in orthopedic department #1. Xue Fei even addressed her as the "Rose of the orthopedic department". Zhang Fan felt that it was quite vulgar!
Over the entire past month, Zhang Fan only left the hospital once: to go give a periodic checkup to the children of the sports school.
Zhao Quanping ended up lecturing Li Hong. "Why do you think that your medical skills are improving so slowly? You lack practice. Learn from Zhang Fan. He hasn't left the general surgery department for an entire month. Try staying in the department for three months without leaving a single time. I refuse to believe that you won't improve then."
Li Hong was unable to say a single word back. He could only mentally cry in silence. 'My wife is pregnant, and her morning sickness is really severe. I need to go home to take care of her. How can I possibly compare to someone who's still single!'
Zhang Fan's hard work basically caused him to replace Li Hong in Zhao Quanping's team. Zhang Fan singlehandedly took care of almost every single basic surgery that the director's team received. He was always filled with energy, and was skilled at cultivating a good relationship with others. He was also extremely skilled. Zhang Fan basically became the unofficial fourth resident doctor of the director's general surgery team. However, he didn't need to write medical reports or help change the patients' medicine. All he did was perform surgeries.
Zhao Quanping saw all of Zhang Fan's hard work. The director was quite willing to support someone so hardworking, so he would often send Zhang Fan some extra patients. General surgery was roughly equal in work difficulty to the orthopedic department, but the possible kickbacks here were much less due to less medical equipment being needed.
Zhao Quanping was the generous type. Since he saw how hardworking Zhang Fan and Wang Zipeng were, he personally took out 1000 yuan from his own bonus to give 500 yuan each as a bonus to both of them.
The biggest problem in the general surgery department was seniority. The three vice directors were all almost the same age as Director Zhao. Not only that, the previous superintendent Huang Yun had done an excellent job of raising all of their medical skill levels equally. This caused the vice directors to become rebellious and unwilling to submit.
The position of department director at a Class A Hospital would be highly competitive. Being a department director would mean gaining lots of associated benefits.
Zhang Fan didn't care about any of that. Meanwhile, Wang Zipeng was absolutely delighted. Rather than being happy about the money, he was overjoyed due to receiving the director's recognition. Having the general surgery director's recognition would mean that Wang Zipeng had good chances of being able to stay in the general surgery department after the rotations. Thus, Wang Zipeng started working even harder than he already was. He even arrived first in the department every morning in order to mop and clean the entire department, doing all the work that belonged to the janitor.
The attending physicians from the other teams were also highly satisfied with how hardworking these two new doctors at their department were. They occasionally invited Wang Zipeng to do some basic work such as holding the surgical retractors, but Zhang Fan was never invited to do anything. Zhang Fan's skills were the best even among all the attending physicians, so they felt too awkward about asking him to do something as basic as holding surgical retractors.
On the weekends, Zhang Fan would wait in the operating room for emergency patients as the general surgery department often had them.
One day, head nurse Liao Juan from the orthopedic department phoned him. "Zhang Fan, what's going on? Jia Suyue's mother is highly satisfied with you. What are you waiting for so long? How come you haven't made another move?"
Zhang Fan felt a headache just from hearing this. That Jia Suyue girl clearly had no interest in him, so he said, "Sister Liao, she has no interest in me at all! Why would I make another move? Wouldn't that just make her dislike me?"
"What? You know that Jia Suyue is really beautiful, has a good job, and a well-to-do family. Of course she would have high standards. You already have an average appearance and dark skin, yet you're still not being proactive? You're trying to wait for her to pursue you? Let me tell you, her mother is really happy with you. You definitely shouldn't miss this chance, otherwise you'll really regret it."
Zhang Fan was quite frustrated recently because he wasn't able to grind enough general surgeries. He didn't have a single thought to spare for dating women. Although Jia Suyue's mother really liked him, Zhang Fan knew quite clearly that Jia Suyue had zero interest in him, which was why he hadn't done anything.
Jia Suyue's mother had urged Liao Juan many times already to tell Zhang Fan to be more proactive, and that feelings could grow between the youngsters if they interacted enough with each other. She felt that he would have a better chance if he was more proactive with her daughter. Jia Suyue's mother was truly afraid that her daughter would bring home a boyfriend who was only a handsome good-for-nothing; getting married to such a person would lead to difficult times.
Zhang Fan had a good job and a decent income. The only bad thing about him was his dark skin (for a Chinese). Besides, he seemed to have a really reliable personality. Jia Suyue's mother really liked his type. She had far more experience with relationships than her daughter, and felt that she knew the right way to have a happy marriage.
Liao Juan then said, "I don't care. No matter what, you have to arrange another date with her. Perhaps you'll have feelings for her after a few dates. Zhang Fan, I treat you well, don't I? Listen to me here."
Zhang Fan didn't even ask for Jia Suyue's phone number on the last date. How was he even supposed to ask her out on a date!
On the very same day, a female emergency patient arrived with a perforated appendix that required emergency treatment. This young woman loved to eat hot pot, but was in such pain after eating hot pot today that she was rolling around on the floor. Her family immediately brought her over to the hospital. When Zhang Fan checked the patient's stomach, it was already becoming rigid. He immediately started the pre-surgery preparations, and had her family sign the paperwork.
It coincidentally turned out that this young woman was Jia Suyue's cousin! Jia Suyue's entire family also arrived. When Jia Suyue's mother saw Zhang Fan, whoa! The doctor was someone she knew! She came up to Zhang Fan, telling him that he absolutely needed to take good care of her niece during surgery. And while nobody else was paying attention, she also said, "I support you, so you definitely can't give up! There're many men who are interested in my daughter, but I like you the most. You need to keep going at her. Rest assured and keep asking her out. I'll give you her phone number. Keep calling her whenever you're free. You're both young, so there will be topics that you're both interested in."
Just what was all this!? Jia Suyue also arrived. When she saw how her mother was behaving, she instantly started ignoring Zhang Fan. She was super annoyed. Her mother nagged her every day, mentioning Zhang Fan's name more than ten times on a daily basis.
The appendectomy was quite simple. Although the appendix had been perforated, this was no problem at all to Zhang Fan.
Outside the operating room, Jia Suyue's uncle and aunt, the patient's parents, were walking around in circles as they were extremely worried for their daughter. Jia Suyue's mother told them, "Rest assured, I know this doctor. He's an amazing surgeon, and is one of this hospital's elites. He's also currently pursuing Jia Suyue. He'll definitely take good care of your daughter. She'll be out soon."
Jia Suyue was in no mood to say anything to her mother about anything since her cousin was still currently in surgery.