21st Century Necromancer

After leaving the hospital, Chen Yu drove Li Qian and the squad leader home before heading back with Jounouchi Hiromi.

"You really outdid yourself today, Hiromi, staying with me through such a long surgery." Chen Yu apologized to Jounouchi Hiromi with a note of regret. If it hadn't been for his promise to Zhu Yiting to operate on Wang Jiancheng's tumor, they both would have had dinner and been asleep by now, instead of it being almost sunrise.

"Mr. Chen Yu, if you put it that way, wouldn't that mean it should be my fault? After all, I was the one who stepped up first and offered to help with the surgery." Jounouchi Hiromi gave Chen Yu a charming smile, seemingly unfazed by the ordeal, "Although I tried to stop you from agreeing to this operation initially, as doctors, we can't just stand by and watch someone die, can we?"

Hearing Jounouchi Hiromi say that, Chen Yu felt touched but also shook his head slightly, sighing, "While it's true as a doctor I cannot ignore someone in need, hearing him say what he did after we saved him made me wish I had just cut open his chest on the operating table to see if his heart was really black."

Chen Yu's remark made Jounouchi Hiromi laugh, and she touched his cheek, smiling, "Come on, isn't it normal for doctors to encounter this kind of situation? It's only because we are now at University Hospital, and specifically Eastern University Affiliated Hospital—one of the top hospitals in all Japan—that we have not encountered such things often. When I was at the previous hospital, it was quite common to deal with patients who doubted a doctor's abilities, wanting to go to a larger hospital."

"For that kind of patient, just write them a referral to a big hospital and let them spend their money there!" Chen Yu said, his face breaking into a smile as he understood that Jounouchi Hiromi was comforting him. Nevertheless, he felt somewhat melancholic, "It's just that I feel it's not worth it. We save someone with good intentions, and we don't even get a thank you in return. It really makes me believe I was blind to have considered such a person a friend."

"It's not too late to recognize that now!" Jounouchi Hiromi said to Chen Yu. She looked at her watch, and then suddenly spoke, "Mr. Chen Yu, it's almost dawn. How about we have breakfast before heading back?"@@novelbin@@

"Sure, I remember there was a stall selling breakfast near the school I attended that made particularly delicious wontons. I wonder if it's still open after all these years. Let's go taste it!" Chen Yu, prompted by Jounouchi Hiromi, suddenly felt hungry. He pressed the accelerator and drove Jounouchi Hiromi towards the place where he had gone to high school.

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In the hospital, Wang Jiancheng had cursed and grumbled for more than half an hour before finally succumbing to postoperative weakness and falling asleep.

Seeing him asleep, Zhu Yiting finally breathed a sigh of relief but couldn't help feeling somewhat guilty towards Chen Yu.

He kindly offered to help, yet there wasn't even a word of thanks. Zhu Yiting felt she definitely couldn't act as if nothing had happened if she was in his shoes.

Still, when she thought of Chen Yu, Zhu Yiting's heart felt very complicated.

An associate professor at Tokyo University Medical School Hospital—the weight of that title was crystal clear to Zhu Yiting, a fellow physician. She knew well how rare it was for someone of Chen Yu's caliber to lend a hand in surgery.

Despite Wang Jiancheng's rattling on about getting an expert from Xiehe to help with the operation, Zhu Yiting knew that even though he could afford to, experts are very busy, and who knew when the surgery would be scheduled—it definitely wouldn't happen promptly.

The notion of soliciting a surgeon of Chen Yu's level had been pure fantasy if not for the fortunate circumstance that he was nearby.

Moreover, although the experts at Xiehe are formidable, their surgical skills are not necessarily better than Chen Yu's.

Recalling Chen Yu's skilled and fluid surgical technique from last night, Zhu Yiting, although unsure as to what level Chen Yu's skills had reached, at least knew it was a level of technique she could never hope to achieve in her lifetime of performing surgeries.

With a sigh of resignation, Zhu Yiting washed her face with her personal toiletries in the hospital's on-call room before changing into her white lab coat and heading to the office. Despite not having slept last night, she still had to go to work as usual today.

Just as Zhu Yiting entered the office, however, she was stopped by her department head.

"Xiao Zhu, I heard that your husband had an incident last night, underwent surgery in our hospital. How is he doing? Is it serious?" Zhu Yiting's department head, an elderly doctor, asked with concern, but then hesitated as if he had more to say.

Zhu Yiting knew that the head was not one to beat around the bush and understood that he must have more to say, so she quickly answered, "He's alright now. He suddenly had a gastric hemorrhage during a reunion with classmates and was brought to the hospital for an open surgery to stop the bleeding."

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"But how come I heard from Xiao Fang in the OR that you found advanced-stage gastric cancer after opening him up last night, and you directly performed a subtotal gastrectomy?" Unable to fully conceal his curiosity, the old department head, seeing the strange expression on Zhu Yiting's face, quickly added, "I don't mean anything by it. I just heard that the surgery last night was performed by two Japanese doctors, and I wanted to ask about the details."

"Oh, the one who performed the surgery last night was a classmate from my high school days. He is now an associate professor at the University of Tokyo Medical Department. He was in town for the New Year. Because it just so happened, I asked him for help." Zhu Yiting realized what the department head really wanted to know and hurriedly explained.

"An associate professor from the University of Tokyo? That's a rare opportunity! Xiao Zhu, did you manage to record the surgery? That's quite precious material!" The old department head immediately became excited. For a hospital in a third-tier city like theirs, while their medical standards were not bad, they were just average.

Even though their hospital was also categorized as a top-tier hospital, there were still different levels within that ranking. Patients with even a little financial capability would seek treatment for serious illnesses like tumors at provincial hospitals, not at city hospitals.

Therefore, it was naturally unthinkable to expect to see any high-level surgeries performed on a regular basis.

It wasn't just about having an associate professor from a world-renowned university like Chen Yu; even trying to invite a couple of specialists from a provincial medical college to give lectures and demonstrate a surgery required a lot of effort. So, with an opportunity delivered right to their doorstep, it was not hard to understand the old department head's excitement.

Though she understood, Zhu Yiting couldn't help but express her regret as she said to the department head, "I'm sorry, Director. We were really short-staffed last night and couldn't record the surgery. Plus, the patient was my husband, so I..."

As Zhu Yiting was explaining to the department head, the doctor who had examined Wang Jiancheng last night carried a bag containing CT scans and walked in through the door, turning to Zhu Yiting and saying, "Sister Zhu, these are your husband's scans. You had better take a look..."

"What's the matter?" Zhu Yiting frowned slightly. She didn't think there should be any more problems now that the tumor was removed, so she took the bag from the examination room doctor, pulled out the CT scan, and began to look at it against the light.

"Eh? Is this the liver's CT? Wasn't it supposed to be gastric cancer?" The department head peeked at the CT scan and immediately became puzzled. After so many years as a doctor, he could still tell the liver from the stomach.