"Very well, and you, brother."
Their hands clasped together firmly, lasting several seconds. Then Robert firmly patted Gao Yuan’s shoulder twice, insisting on helping Gao Yuan carry his laptop bag and luggage, making it hard for Xiao Chen, who was there specifically to help with the luggage, to keep up.
"Brother Gao, you must be tired from the journey!" Robert said, his voice clear and enunciation accurate and natural, "’Isn’t it delightful to have friends coming from afar?’ I truly felt the aning of ’delight’ today."
Gao Yuan looked at Robert and started laughing. Every ti they t, Robert would show off his Chinese skills, and each ti he’d reach new heights. This ti he even brought up "Isn’t it delightful to have friends coming from afar?" and emphasized the word "delight," showing he not only morized it but truly understood its aning.
"Your Chinese has improved again," said Gao Yuan.
"’Learning is like rowing against the current: not to advance is to drop back.’" Robert laughed, "If I don’t improve, you’ll tease the next ti we et."
"How was the journey?" he continued to ask.
"It was okay; I reviewed that case and took a nap," Gao Yuan said.
"Were the Arctic clouds beautiful? I’ve heard ’the most breathtaking scenery is at the perilous peaks,’ so the clouds in the Arctic must be quite unique."
At this point, Xiao Chen finally caught up, panting and giving a greeting of "Hello, Director Gao." Earlier, he had been stunned by Doctor Robert’s "Isn’t it delightful to have friends coming from afar?" and stood there in a daze for several seconds. By the ti he snapped out of it, the two had already finished their handshake.
The three of them headed towards the parking lot.
Robert’s car was a dark gray Cadillac. He opened the passenger door and gestured "please" as Gao Yuan smiled and got in. Xiao Chen dutifully loaded Gao Yuan’s suitcase into the trunk and then got into the back seat.
Robert didn’t ask Gao Yuan where he wanted to go first, as he directly drove to the hospital. He didn’t need to ask, because if he were Gao Yuan, he would also choose to go to the hospital first. This decision didn’t require discussion, just like in surgery, when faced with bleeding, you don’t need to discuss whether to stop the bleeding or take pictures first; the answer is self-evident.
The car was silent, the radio was off, and neither of them spoke. Gao Yuan leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed. Robert knew he wasn’t asleep; he was just closing his eyes, gradually gathering up the energy dissipated by the long flight.
Robert drove steadily, signaling long before each lane change and controlling each brake well.
Upon reaching the hospital, the two went straight up to the Sports dicine Center from the underground parking lot.
Only the on-call doctor and nurse were in the ward, greeting Director Gao, who had traveled from afar. The office door was open, and on the viewing light screen hung an MRI of a patient’s knee joint: coronal view, T2-weighted image, with the remnant of the anterior cruciate ligant resembling a frayed old rope, and a blank space where the posterior cruciate ligant should be. Gao Yuan walked over and stood in front of the viewing light screen to take a closer look.
He had previously seen only digital images; this was his first ti seeing this patient’s physical films, and after seeing them, Gao Yuan felt at ease.
Robert leaned against the door fra, not entering or speaking.
Fifteen minutes later, Gao Yuan turned around.
"There’s still a piece of the tibial attachnt of the posterior cruciate," he said.
"Yes!" Robert nodded, "The doctor who perford the debrident surgery last ti left it, about a centiter square."
"It’s usable! We can use the remnants for positioning."
"That’s what I thought too. If there are remnants, positioning with them is the most natural, but Nandu is also large."
Their conversation was like a ping-pong match, back and forth with no ball dropping. They weren’t speaking in full sentences but in keywords, fragnts, yet they understood each other completely. It’s a language that only those who have stayed up enough late nights together, failed enough tis together, and climbed out of those failures together would have.
"I hadn’t had dinner on the plane; I just can’t get used to that stuff," Gao Yuan said frankly.
Robert nodded, "How about I take you for so pasta now?"
Robert took Gao Yuan to a small Italian restaurant, located in a narrow alley in the East Village, with no signboard and an entrance so narrow only one person could fit through. The owner was a grey-haired Italian old man. Upon seeing Robert, he didn’t say a word but led them to the innermost table. That table was against the wall, with an old photo of Naples Bay hanging on the wall.
"You’ve been here many tis?" Gao Yuan asked.
"Once a month," Robert replied, "for over ten years."
The owner didn’t bring a nu. He just placed a knife and fork in front of each of them and went back to the kitchen. After about twenty minutes, he brought out two plates of pasta. Gao Yuan’s had a basil leaf on top, while Robert’s did not.
"You like basil, he doesn’t," the old man said in broken Chinese to Gao Yuan, then pointed to Robert, "He said it. I learned my Chinese from him. Can you understand?" Then he laughed heartily, as if he had told a great joke.
Gao Yuan glanced at Robert, who shrugged, indicating, you’re right, he learned from , his Chinese is poor, but you can’t fault his culinary skills.
"I understood," Gao Yuan confird with a nod.
"Thank you, thank you, you Chinese,"
The owner gave a thumbs-up.
Gao Yuan took a bite of the pasta and nodded again; the cooking was indeed impeccable.
Halfway through the al, Robert suddenly put down his fork and looked at Gao Yuan.
"Gao!" he said.
"Yes?"
"How do you want to approach tomorrow’s demonstration?"
Gao Yuan also put down his fork, knowing Robert wasn’t asking about the surgery plan. They had discussed the surgery plan in the video several tis already: the tunnel location, graft selection, fixation thod, every detail had been finalized. Robert wasn’t asking about this; he was wondering if Professor Yang had any instructions.
"Professor Yang told one thing last ti," Gao Yuan said.
"What did he say?" Robert perked up his ears, knowing that "true teachings" often co as a single sentence—several tis he had obtained "true teachings" this way.
"He said that you have fully and skillfully mastered the new thod, but you must rember that techniques aren’t ant to prove you’re better than others; they’re to prove that the patient chose the right person."
Robert fell silent.
It was late, and there were few people in the restaurant. The couple at the next table was whispering and laughing, the radio behind the bar played an old song, and sounds of spatulas clashing ca from the kitchen.
"The patient chose the right person." Robert repeated, his voice low, as if confirming sothing to himself.
"Exactly," Gao Yuan said, "So tomorrow’s demonstration is not for those people to watch; it’s for that patient. Whether those people watch or not isn’t important."
Robert nodded, picking up his fork again to finish the remaining pasta.
They didn’t speak any further. They didn’t need to. That sentence had been said, like completing the most crucial step in surgery; what was left was the wrap-up, needing no further discussion, just requiring quiet, orderly completion.
After finishing their al and stepping out, New York’s night breeze greeted them, carrying the city’s unique aroma: the grease from hot dogs, the tallic rust from subway entrances, the mist from the distant Hudson River, along with a hard-to-define restlessness belonging to the "city that never sleeps."
Standing at the restaurant’s entrance, Robert lit a cigarette. Gao Yuan took out gum from his pocket, breaking off two pieces: one for himself, one offered to Robert. Robert didn’t take it, gesturing with the cigarette in his hand, aning "I’m smoking now." Gao Yuan rewrapped the gum and put it back in his pocket.
"You need to quit smoking," Gao Yuan said.
"You’ve said that many tis," Robert replied.
"Because you keep smoking!" Gao Yuan said bluntly.
"Alright, brother!" Robert stubbed out the cigarette.
Gao Yuan handed him the gum.
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