As the surgery began, a black Audi A6 pulled into the director's parking space behind the hospital office building.
Sitting in the driver's seat, the fair-skinned and voluptuous beautiful assistant took off her sunglasses and with captivating eyes, she looked at the rearview mirror where the director was organizing documents and coyly said,
"Dad! Have you even been listening to me? Shen Qiang is the only person in the entire province who passed the exam. I think the hospital should sign him immediately."
The director sitting in the back frowned and said, "How many times must I remind you? Call me Director."
The beautiful assistant in the driver's seat said helplessly, "Dad, there's no one else in the car. Can't you stop nitpicking? This Shen Qiang..."
The director interrupted, "You don't need to worry about this. Our hospital gets hundreds of interns every year, and of course, a few of them perform well. If we were to sign them all, our hospital would have more doctors than patients."
"But Shen Qiang is different!" the beautiful assistant insisted. "The reason there were mistakes in this year's medical licensing exam is because the staff mistakenly used the Master of Medicine test questions."
"So what?" the director asked, frowning, "Our Bikang is a private hospital, so if we want to hire famous doctors, all we have to do is offer high salaries to poach them."
"Those with high qualifications, good medical skill, and ample experience will come if we offer the right price."
The beautiful assistant frowned, "Dad, you have to understand that whether a company grows depends on the fresh blood and innovative capability it has."
"The famous doctors you poach with high salaries are all quite old. They have outdated notions and are slow to accept new things. But young graduates like Shen Qiang are energetic, receptive to new technology, and they are the future of the company."
The director frowned, "Why do you care so much about this Shen Qiang?"
The beautiful assistant replied, "Because Bikang Hospital needs to change!"
The director looked at her in silence for a moment, then opened the car door and got out, "If you really believe that an intern can improve the medical standards of a hospital, then you might as well go to Tumor Surgery's teaching operating room."
"This Shen Qiang you're so concerned about is currently assisting Wu Guoxi with a gastrectomy for tumor removal. When you see him trembling next to the operating table, clumsy and unable to do anything right, perhaps you'll change your mind."
The beautiful assistant furrowed her brow, "Dad, do you know this Shen Qiang?"
"I don't need to know," the director said matter-of-factly, "because all interns are like that, and he certainly won't be an exception."
Thump!
The director closed the car door and went upstairs.
The beautiful assistant, who had sat stunned for a full three seconds, glanced at the words "Director's Assistant" followed by the word "(Intern)" on her ID badge, and immediately grabbed it and got out of the car.
Afterward, she turned and headed for the inpatient department.
When she arrived at the observation room of Tumor Surgery's teaching operating room, the room was already packed with people.
Most of them were interns.
A few attending doctors had formed a small clique in the corner, chatting amongst themselves.
The beautiful assistant looked through the glass wall, and her eyes immediately found Shen Qiang by the operating table. She couldn't help but think to herself, "He looks much better in person than in his ID photo."
While she was observing Shen Qiang, a conversation among a few attending doctors nearby quickly caught her attention,
"Old Wu's cervical spine condition is serious. The last thing he needs is to bend his neck. Look, his movements have noticeably slowed down."
"What good does knowing do us? Director Wang made it clear that none of us can be involved in Old Wu's surgery."
A doctor scoffed, "Ha, Director Wang knew this would happen. Just you watch, with the intensity of this surgery, Old Wu's cervical spine condition will surely act up."
"When that time comes, the only ones who can help Old Wu will be these interns in the operating room. Actually, there's no need for us to pick on Shen Qiang, he's just an intern and there's no way he could perform this operation."
"So we should still prepare ourselves. If it really comes to it and Old Wu goes begging to Director Wang, the surgery will definitely fall to us in the end."
Another doctor agreed, "That's right, Director Wang is surely in his office right now, sipping tea, waiting for Old Wu and Shen Qiang to beg him. With Director Wang's personality, unless Old Wu and Shen Qiang go beg him now, he won't let them off without making them kneel and call him 'daddy'."
The beautiful assistant immediately looked at the doctors in disbelief and then focused her gaze back on the operating room.
At this moment, the tumor removal surgery had just begun for about ten minutes.
The experienced Wu Guoxi had smoothly opened up the patient's abdominal cavity and had already located the cancerous area.
However, at this time, not only did he feel an unbearable stiffness and heaviness in his neck, but his fingers and palms had also started to go numb, and even his arms had begun to tremble.
"Damn cervical spine condition! Don't act up now, give me some more time to finish this surgery!"
Wu Guoxi gritted his teeth and positioned the surgical knife near the patient's cardia, but then he clearly saw the surgical knife in his hand trembling excessively.
He took a deep breath.
Wu Guoxi withdrew his hand, took another deep breath, and then turned to Shen Qiang, "You do it."
Shen Qiang, who had already noticed this, nodded his head.
But just at that moment, the always quiet Zhang Liwei suddenly spoke up, "Director Wu, we are all interns. For such a good opportunity to operate, you can't be so biased."
Hearing Zhang Liwei's words, Zhao Hui immediately said, "Right, we are all interns. The chance to operate should be equal for everyone."
Wu Guoxi's expression immediately darkened.
And almost at the same time,
Shen Qiang spoke coldly, "If you really think you can handle it, I don't mind giving you the opportunity."
As he spoke, Shen Qiang unhesitatingly handed the surgical knife he had taken from Wu Guoxi to Zhang Liwei, saying, "Here, you do it."
Zhang Liwei froze, looking at the surgical knife and the patient's stomach in his hands, his hands began to shake, and fine beads of sweat seeped out from his forehead.
After all, such surgery was no joke; a single misstep could mean the loss of a life.
"Zhao Hui, the opportunity is yours."
Zhang Liwei, with no confidence in his heart, handed the surgical knife to Zhao Hui.
Zhao Hui was startled and quickly declined, "I, I, I'm not ready yet, maybe next time."
Hearing this, Wu Guoxi angrily retorted, "Didn't you all want an opportunity? Now that it's given to you, why are you refusing?"
Zhang Liwei and Zhao Hui's faces turned red, as if they wanted to burrow into a hole.
And at that moment, Shen Qiang took back the surgical knife from Zhang Liwei's hands and said indifferently, "Director Wu, you don't need to be angry with them. Please rest assured, I'll take care of this surgery."