Chapter 9: People start referring to Zhang Fan as Doctor
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
The difficulty about performing surgery on Superintendent Batu’s nephew came from the fact that the patient’s femur had shattered rather severely, leading to unstable vital signs and medical shock. Chen Qifa didn’t dare to accept the responsibility for a risky surgery like this. Doing a good job would be considered only natural, but he would be in great trouble if the superintendent’s nephew accidentally died on the operating table.
Superintendent Batu’s family was immensely powerful in Kuake City. He had friends and relatives in the police, the court, and the prosecutor’s office. While Chen Qifa was rather cowardly and sometimes easily held a grudge, he was still fundamentally a good person who wouldn’t commit a crime. In the operating room, Chen Qifa voluntarily did all of the preparation work for the surgery so that Zhang Fan could spend more time studying the CT scan.
Previously, Vice Director Shi Lei had used his higher position to act somewhat high and mighty towards Zhang Fan. But after the surgery was half finished, and Shi Lei saw that there seemed to be no problems, he started chatting. “Doctor Zhang, are you getting used to life in Kuake City yet? People here often eat beef or goat meat. How about I invite you to a meal of barbecued pork cooked by my wife at home? We can have a good drink together.” Part of the reason why Shi Lei was able to become the vice director over Tu Xun, who had a higher-level medical certification, was because Shi Lei was more socially adept.
Zhang Fan was rather surprised to hear the vice director addressing him as “Doctor Zhang” instead of by name for the first time. “How could Vice Director Shi address me ‘doctor’? You’re really making my face red. It would be too troublesome to have your wife cook for someone like me,” Zhang Fan hurriedly insisted.
“It’s no trouble at all. My wife loves to cook. I’m more worried that she won’t do a good job. You’re really so polite, Dr. Zhang. You must have been an excellent student at your school. I also studied at my provincial college. However, I feel like even the doctorate students there weren’t as skilled as you, Doctor Zhang. It’s quite wonderful that you’ve decided to come to our hospital.”
“My teachers were daring enough to allow me to try things on my own while I was previously interning. I had more chances than others to practice, that’s all. How could I possibly compare to doctorate students?” Shi Lei’s praise made Zhang Fan’s face heat up so much that he was almost too embarrassed to even speak.
“Doctor Zhang, do you have a girlfriend? I noticed that the other six intern doctors arrived as three couples in romantic relationships already. You were the only one who came alone.” Anesthesia department director Ma Lihua also started teasing Zhang Fan as she also saw that the surgery was going successfully. This was all because Zhang Fan seemed so fun to tease.
“Sister Ma, I’m still single, but I’m not in a hurry.” This was one of Zhang Fan’s greatest heartaches. Back in his second year of college, he had also experienced a bout of youthful passion, and asked a girl working on the student council together with him to be his girlfriend.
But right after he confessed his love, that girl asked, “Do you even have enough money to rent a love hotel room?” Ever since that experience, Zhang Fan had given up on the idea of finding a girlfriend. Although that girl had been rather blunt, what she said was the truth—he really was too poor to find a girlfriend.
“How about I introduce a nice girl to you? I have a younger cousin who just managed to get a job in the courthouse this year. She’s really beautiful. How about it? Would you like to get to know her?”
“You should first ask if our little Doctor Zhang is willing to give up eating pork, since he’s not a Uighur Muslim like you, haha...”
Shi Lei responded with such a joke before Zhang Fan could even answer, causing everyone in the operating room to laugh loudly. Ma Lihua thought about it and agreed as well, so she also chuckled.
The head nurse in the operating room saw that everyone seemed to be quite spirited and laughing, which meant that the surgery had to be going greatly. She secretly exited the operating room.
Superintendent Batu was waiting outside the operating room together with his older brother, sister-in-law, and many other relatives. All of the other department directors were also waiting together with Batu. Nobody was really talking, and Superintendent Batu appeared especially anxious as he paced back and forth. He was obviously in a bad mood, and nobody dared to step on a landmine. Everyone else stood a distance away from him.
“You’ve all worked hard!” Superintendent Batu felt greatly relieved at seeing such a big smile coming from the head nurse. He figured that there was no way she would dare to smile like that if the surgery wasn’t going well.
“The surgery has been a great success. Doctor Zhang and the others are almost finished. They’re now sewing the surgical sutures. I was worried that you would all be worried, so I came out first.”
“Okay, good, good! Thank you all so much.” Batu’s older brother vigorously shook the head nurse’s hands. He was happy to the point of almost crying. His wife was so delighted to hear the news about her son’s successful surgery that she had just about collapsed. She was now clutching onto the head nurse’s leg and bawling like a baby.
Death would come for everyone, no matter if you were rich or poor. Their family had already prepared for the worst, even inviting a monk for the final rites. But now, the head nurse had come out to tell them that everything would be alright.
The head nurse awkwardly looked at Superintendent Batu in a silent plea to save her, so Batu intervened. “Alright, Brother, Sister-in-law, please be a little quieter. The surgery still isn’t completely finished. As the family, we shouldn’t disturb the doctors hard at work inside.”
With that, Batu’s brother and sister-in-law calmed down.
“Of course, of course! Everyone, let’s be quiet. Little Wang, hurry and grab some smokes and wine from the car. We need to give the doctors and nurses a thank-you gift for troubling them so much today.” Batu’s older brother was the head of the local Bureau of Education. He had the habit of keeping cigarettes and wine in his car to send out as gifts to important personages.
Meanwhile, back in the operating room.
“Doctor Chen and Vice Director Shi can go out there to talk to the family now. I’ll take care of all the cleanup work,” Zhang Fan offered.
Chen Qifa was now at the point where he was almost about to ask Zhang Fan to become his teacher. He absolutely insisted that Zhang Fan also had to go out to take some credit, and that he would take care of the cleanup work instead. So, in the end, Zhang Fan was forced to come out of the operating room together with Shi Lei and the other assisting nurse, pushing out the patient in a medical gurney.
“My dear son!” Batu’s sister-in-law saw how pale white her son’s face was after the surgery. His entire leg was also wrapped tightly in many bandages. She immediately grabbed the gurney and started crying. Batu’s older brother also had tears in his eyes while tightly gripping onto the gurney.
“Sister-in-law, your son Bayin is still under anesthesia. He’s still unconscious. Please don’t block the gurney. We need to immediately take him to the medical ward so that he can receive fluid transfusions.” Batu pulled his sister-in-law away.
“Yep. We should hurry him to the medical ward. The surgery was greatly successful. He should be able to walk again with support after two weeks, isn’t that right, Doctor Zhang?” Shi Lei helped Batu to support his family.
Back in the medical ward, the nurses swiftly inserted an IV drip for the patient Bayin.
“Alright, Sister-in-law can quietly accompany Bayin. The rest of us should go outside to chat so that Bayin can rest well.” Batu took everyone else out of the medical ward.
Shi Lei unlocked Director Nuar’s office for everyone to use. He then hurriedly poured some tea for everyone. Zhang Fan wanted to help pour tea as well, but Superintendent Batu stopped him and told him to sit down.
Superintendent Batu didn’t mention anything else about the surgery. Instead, he smiled especially warmly towards Zhang Fan. “How are things? You’ve been here for three months by now. Can you get accustomed to life here in Kuake City? Feel free to come find me if there’s anything you need. Just think about it, you’ve been here several months already, and all of the other intern doctors will stop by my office occasionally to at least chat or something. You’re the only one who’s never visited my office. You can’t just focus only on your work. You should also come visit your boss sometimes.”
“Ah! I was worried that you’d be too busy, and I didn’t have anything to trouble you about, which is why I never went to bother you!” Zhang Fan never expected that all of the other intern doctors had gone to visit the superintendent already. He didn’t know how to respond to this.
“Doctor Zhang is obviously the type to only focus on his work. How else could his skills be so marvelous!” Batu’s older brother was especially grateful to Zhang Fan. When Batu’s older brother saw that the mountain paths out of Kuake City had been completely blocked by the snowfall, he felt despair that he never wanted to experience in his life again.
“No matter if our Doctor Zhang is supposed to be on duty or not, he’s always at the hospital. He’s either reading books or helping out with other departments’ patients. He’s truly outstanding,” Shi Lei commented while pouring more tea.
After pouring tea for everyone, Shi Lei brought out some cigarettes to give to everyone. But instead, Batu took out a far more expensive brand of cigarettes. “Everyone’s worked hard today. Vice Director Shi, please sit down and have a rest. Please have some of my personal cigarettes. How about it, Zhang Fan?”
Originally, Zhang Fan wasn’t a smoker. However, all the other doctors in his department were chain smokers. His roommate Li Hui also constantly offered him cigarettes. Although Zhang Fan didn’t consider himself addicted to smoking, he now counted as a smoker.
“I don’t smoke very much. I just started learning how to from the other doctors,” Zhang Fan said embarrassedly.
“Haha, you can’t hold your alcohol, so your life will be really boring if you don’t even smoke. Come, take one and have a smoke.” As Batu said this, his older brother’s personal driver Little Wang knocked on the office door and came in with two black bags filled with cigarettes and wine.
“This entire carton of cigarettes is a gift for Doctor Zhang. This next carton is a gift for Vice Director Shi. The third carton is a gift for Doctor Chen. After this, we should all go eat dinner together. I’ve already reserved the seats.” Batu’s older brother stood up while handing a large carton of cigarettes to both Zhang Fan and Shi Lei.
Zhang Fan and Shi Lei felt too awkward to accept a gift from the superintendent’s older brother. They both politely tried to refuse.
“Hey, stop caring about your superintendent. I’m his older brother. Besides, it’s just some smokes, this doesn’t really count as a bribe.”
“Go ahead and take the smokes. Not only did you guys perform a wonderful surgery today, you also helped me to gain face. I need to properly toast you all tonight,” Superintendent Batu insisted that Zhang Fan and Shi Lei accept the smokes after seeing that they were refusing.