Under the surgical lights, Yan Feifan stood before the operating table, set down his instrunts, and carefully examined his work.
After the correction and intradermal suturing, the original cleft lip was now just a faint, reddish seam.
The newly reshaped lips and nose already showed the makings of a handso little boy.
Yan Feifan nodded in satisfaction.
He glanced at the empty space to his left and asked, sowhat smugly, "Yiyi, how would you score this entire surgical simulation?"
As Yan Feifan spoke, the flawless Yiyi seed to step out of the void, appearing in a flash to his left.
"What score? Failing!"
Yan Feifan was taken aback. He turned to face Yiyi squarely and said, puzzled, "Yiyi, you’ve always been rigorous and objective."
"I’m confident this simulation was quite good. Even if it had flaws, it shouldn’t warrant a failing grade, should it?"
"You think it was ’quite good’?"
Yiyi scoffed disdainfully and said with a sneer, "In this surgical simulation, all I saw was an oral surgeon, an ENT specialist, and a plastic surgeon completing the operation in sequence."
"Individually, all three of them perford acceptably."
"However..."
At her words, Yan Feifan instantly understood the problem.
A cleft lip repair might not seem like a major procedure, but it’s an operation that requires surgeons from multiple departnts to work together in stages.
Each surgeon focuses on their own specific tasks during the procedure.
In this simulation, Yan Feifan had treated himself as an oral surgeon, an ENT specialist, and a plastic surgeon, completing the operation by chanically following the steps for each role.
But the problem was, they were three different people. Yan Feifan was only one.
Three people would have their own unique insights, surgical styles, and habits, making it impossible to coordinate everything seamlessly.
Yan Feifan, however, could.
From the very first incision, he should have been envisioning how the final suture would close the procedure.
’Isn’t this the whole point of becoming an all-around surgeon?’
’To be more efficient in complex operations on my own than a team of specialists could be by dividing the labor.’
He just hadn’t expected that, out of habit, he had ntally compartntalized the surgery by departnt during the simulation.
Realizing his greatest mistake, Yan Feifan gave a light wave of his hand.
The photorealistic operating table, surgical lights, and the pediatric cleft lip patient all vanished in an instant, leaving only Yiyi behind.
Yan Feifan gave Yiyi a slight bow and said solemnly, "Yiyi, thank you for your guidance."
Just then, he noticed the ti displayed on the digital clock on his nightstand.
’Damn, it’s already 2:18 AM.’
The previous evening, Yan Feifan had obtained all the scans and data for the child with the cleft lip from the orphanage as soon as they were available.
After getting ho from work, Yan Feifan had gone straight to his bedroom and eagerly begun the cleft lip repair simulation.
He hadn’t realized he’d beco so engrossed that he’d completely lost track of ti. It was already past two in the morning.
Yan Feifan quickly climbed into bed and pulled up the covers.
’With so much to do every day, I can’t afford to skimp on sleep...’
In the morning, although Yan Feifan still woke up punctually at six, he felt a bit off.
His body felt heavy, and his mind was groggy.
He took a quick, hot shower to try and wake himself up.
After leaving his apartnt, Yan Feifan bought so breakfast to eat on the go and rushed to the Affiliated Hospital, arriving before seven.
Yan Feifan saw Mr. Wang standing in front of the ergency departnt entrance again.
"Feifan, co with to the plastic surgery center."
"This morning, I’m going to use a surgical video from the nationally renowned oral surgeon, Mr. Sun Junfang, to walk you through his cleft lip procedure..."
At noon, a sowhat listless Yan Feifan went to lunch with his sister again.
This ti, Yan Ziruo was carrying a fruit basket.
"This fruit basket isn’t for ; I bought it as a gift for soone," Yan Ziruo explained. She hesitated for a mont before adding, "Deng Ye’s father is here at the hospital for treatnt. I think... well, it’s the right thing to do to go and visit him."
Yan Feifan rolled his eyes. "What do you an, ’the right thing to do’? You’re just forr colleagues now."
"Helping him find a doctor was more than enough."
Yan Ziruo said a little defensively, "Well, Deng Ye sent us that durian to thank us, didn’t he?"
Yan Feifan asked seriously, "Sis, you don’t still have feelings for him, do you?"
"Of course not!"
Yan Ziruo said emphatically, "It’s just like you said. He didn’t step up when I needed him most, so there’s no future for us."
"It’s just... I heard that his girlfriend is at the hospital today, too."
"I mainly want to use this visit as an excuse to see what his girlfriend looks like."
"Really? That’s the only reason?" Yan Feifan couldn’t understand.
"Of course that’s the reason."
Yan Ziruo confird, then added with a mischievous grin, "My dear little brother, it would be even better if I just so happened to have a boyfriend to accompany on this visit."
Yan Feifan scoffed. "On such short notice? What am I supposed to do, just grab so random guy from the cafeteria to be your boyfriend?"
Yan Ziruo giggled. "Well, finding soone to pretend for a little while would work too."
"Hey, little brother, you and that doctor, Tang Zheng, are both studying under Mr. Wang. You two should be on good terms, right?"
Yan Feifan admitted, "I only t him here once. I haven’t seen him since."
This greatly disappointed Yan Ziruo, who said dejectedly, "Well, so much for saving face."
Yan Feifan rolled his eyes again. "Sis, this is just pointless self-deception. There’s no aning to it at all."
Yan Ziruo waved her hand dismissively. "You’re so dense. What would you know about any of this?"
She then teased, "You went to dical school for six years and have been working at the Affiliated Hospital for three or four years, yet you’ve sohow managed to not make a single good friend. What a failure, honestly."
"And that ans your big sister here doesn’t get any opportunities at all."
Yan Feifan replied in all seriousness, "Sis, don’t date a doctor. An ambitious one will be too busy to ever be ho."
"And I wouldn’t be interested in a doctor who isn’t ambitious!"
Yan Ziruo couldn’t help but chuckle. "By that logic, does that an soone as ambitious and hardworking as you plans to be a bachelor for life?"
Yan Feifan said nonchalantly, "Won are nothing but trouble. They’re so annoying. There’s nothing wrong with being on your own."
He had barely finished his sentence when soone flicked him hard on the forehead...
After lunch, Yan Feifan reluctantly accompanied his sister to Inpatient Building Five.
In one of the rooms, they saw Deng Ye, his father and mother, and his girlfriend.
’In Yan Feifan’s opinion, Deng Ye’s new girlfriend was short and heavyset. She was caked in gaudy makeup and acted incredibly pretentious and fake.’
’Compared to his sister, she was a world apart.’
Yan Feifan maliciously guessed that Deng Ye had probably chosen her for the apartnt she’d received as part of a demolition settlent.
Just as Deng Ye’s new girlfriend was flaunting her LV bag, Yan Ziruo swung her own purse behind her back and suggested it was ti for them to leave.
Deng Ye walked the siblings out of the room and said politely, "Mr. Yan, this morning Dr. Wu said that, based on my father’s test results, a bypass surgery would be the best option."
"But it’s a major open-chest surgery, and my father is very worried."
"Mr. Yan, do you have any advice?"
Yan Feifan gave a noncommittal reply. "Dr. Wu must have considered all the factors before recomnding bypass surgery. It is almost certainly the best choice."
"Although it’s a major open-chest procedure, it’s very well-established nowadays, and the risk of complications is extrely low."
"Of course, we doctors can only make recomndations."
"The ultimate decision on which treatnt to pursue rests with the patient and their family..."
As they left Inpatient Building Five, Yan Feifan saw his sister’s gloomy expression and tried to console her. "Sis, when you look for a husband, make sure you find soone who is responsible and truly loves you."
"Over the past few years, I’ve seen many couples co to the hospital for treatnt."
"We doctors can tell whether they’re truly in love or not."
"Sis, let tell you a few stories..."
PS.
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