Chapter 822: Completion

Chapter 822: Chapter 822: Completion

"PHEW!"

With the final stitch in place, Zhong Dongyang let out a long sigh of relief. Aided by a nurse, he stripped off his surgical gown and shook his slightly stiff fingers—fatigued from holding instruments for so long—while showering Li Xu with endless praise.

"Not bad. Truly not bad." Zhong Dongyang turned to look at Li Xu. The scrutinizing gaze in his eyes had long vanished, replaced by a heartfelt sense of amazement. "Dean Li, your coordination in exposing those few areas just now was simply divine. Honestly, with your current surgical proficiency and understanding of anatomical structures, you would be more than qualified to be a lead surgeon even at Renmin Hospital. Zeng didn’t lie to me. You really are a freak of nature."

Li Xu took off his mask, revealing a slightly pale but still composed face. He smiled and said, "You flatter me, Director Zhong. It was your clear logic as the lead surgeon. Following your rhythm naturally saved me a lot of effort."

"You kid, this modesty of yours is just like your scalpel skills—it leaves people speechless." Zhong Dongyang burst into loud laughter. Zeng Yunjun also walked over cheerfully. As the department director, seeing his own vice dean being praised so highly by a top-tier expert made him feel immensely proud.

"Director Zhong, should we go get something to eat first to tide us over?" Zeng Yunjun suggested. "It’s already three-thirty in the afternoon. Our stomachs are probably staging a rebellion by now."

"I am indeed starving," Zhong Dongyang nodded. For surgeons like them who often worked continuously, hypoglycemia was a common occurrence. To avoid any sudden urge to use the restroom during the operation, both Zhong Dongyang and Li Xu had restricted their food and water intake beforehand. Midway through, they had only managed to take a few hasty bites of the compressed biscuits Zeng Yunjun had prepared during observation intervals. Now that the surgery had concluded successfully, their taut nerves relaxed, and hunger washed over them like a tidal wave.

The three of them passed through the surgical area’s dedicated clean corridor and arrived at the small cafeteria behind the emergency department. It was a simple meal of four dishes and one soup, but Zhong Dongyang ate with immense relish.

After eating and wiping his mouth, Zeng Yunjun smiled and invited him again, "Director Zhong, it’s not yet rush hour for your return trip. How about heading to my office for some tea and resting for half an hour before you leave?"

Zhong Dongyang glanced at the time. It was almost four-thirty. He nodded in agreement. "Sure, some hot tea will help wash away the fatigue."

The three were walking toward Zeng Yunjun’s office. Before they could even step through the door, Gao Jingyun hurried over from the other end of the corridor, his expression extremely grave.

"Director Zeng, Dean Li, you two are finally out! A critically ill patient with a cerebral hemorrhage has arrived in the observation room. Experts from both Neurosurgery and Neurology have come over for a consultation, but they are currently stuck."

Zeng Yunjun frowned, glancing at Zhong Dongyang and Li Xu beside him. As the director of the emergency department, at his level, ordinary cases could be handled by regular emergency doctors and associate chief physicians. For Gao Jingyun, the chief resident, to use the word "stuck" meant the situation was highly unusual.

"Director Zhong, I apologize. The emergency department is just like this; there are many unexpected situations. Would you like to go over and listen in together, or would you prefer to sit in my office?" Zeng Yunjun asked politely.

Zhong Dongyang originally had little interest in this kind of cross-departmental internal medicine case. After all, he was a surgical expert, and the divide between medical specialties was as vast as a mountain. However, in the operating room, Zeng Yunjun had repeatedly emphasized how heaven-defying Li Xu’s traditional Chinese medicine skills were, which made this top Western medicine expert itch with curiosity. He pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled. "I’ll just be sitting in a car on the way back anyway, so I might as well tag along with Dean Li to broaden my horizons. Zeng has hyped you up as the magical anchor of Feng City’s TCM. Now is the perfect time for me to see exactly how this anchor stabilizes the sea."

Li Xu simply smiled, not saying much.

When the three entered the consultation room, the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive. Gao Jingyun was standing in front of a large screen, introducing the patient’s condition to several experts who were flipping through CT scans.

"The patient is male, 67 years old. He suddenly fell into a coma after an argument with someone in the park early this morning. A cranial CT scan shows a massive hemorrhage in the right internal capsule and ventricles, accompanied by a noticeable midline shift. Upon admission, his blood pressure was as high as 220 over 115 millimeters of mercury."

Gao Jingyun pointed at the latest monitoring data. "At ten o’clock this morning, we collaborated with Neurosurgery. Director Peng served as the lead surgeon to perform hematoma drainage and decompressive craniotomy. Five hours post-operation, although his intracranial pressure has stabilized and his breathing remains steady, a very thorny issue has now arisen—his high fever persists, accompanied by severe nuchal rigidity." At this moment, the thermometer read 39.1 degrees Celsius.

Zeng Yunjun swept his gaze over the doctors present. Aside from Peng Lixue, the deputy director of the emergency department, Lin Guorui from TCM Internal Medicine was also there. "Currently, apart from trying to bring the temperature down, are there any other abnormalities?" Zeng Yunjun asked.

Lin Guorui happened to be stepping back from the examination position. He first nodded at Li Xu and Zhong Dongyang, then said seriously, "I just conducted a detailed TCM physical examination on the patient. Although the patient is in a coma, his jaw is clenched tight, and his breath is extremely foul. More importantly, his tongue body presents an abnormal deep red color. The tongue coating is burnt-yellow, thick, and greasy. There are even signs of cracking and prickles."

"This indicates that an extremely fierce excess-heat has accumulated inside the patient’s body," Lin Guorui analyzed in a deep voice.

A young doctor standing nearby interjected with confusion, "Director Lin, if it really is excess-heat, logically speaking, his entire body should be burning hot. But when the nurse did her rounds just now, she found that despite his high core temperature, his limbs were ice-cold. That doesn’t quite make sense, does it?"

A flash of confidence appeared in Lin Guorui’s eyes as he answered in a steady tone, "This is the classic ’the deeper the reversal, the deeper the heat’ described in the Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases. When the internal heat reaches an extreme level, the pathogenic heat obstructs the flow of Qi, causing the Yang Qi to be unable to connect smoothly and reach the extremities. This results in the false appearance of ’cold limbs.’ It’s just like a furnace whose core is so hot that it actually sucks all the surrounding air dry."

Hearing this, Li Xu, who was standing in the back row, felt a slight stir in his heart. He realized that Lin Guorui had made tremendous progress recently. He could quote lines from the Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases with ease and tight logic. Clearly, he had put in a lot of hard work.

Lin Guorui continued, "I pressed on the patient’s abdomen just now. The skin was burning hot to the touch. Upon applying forceful pressure, the comatose patient showed obvious abdominal muscle resistance and a pained expression. Looking at his pulse, it is deep, solid, and forceful, yet sluggish in its flow. Combining the high fever, delirium, cold extremities, and dry, burnt tongue coating, my diagnosis is: Yangming Fu-organ Excess Syndrome."

As Lin Guorui’s voice faded, several young Western medicine doctors at the scene looked at each other in dismay. The term "Yangming Fu-organ Excess Syndrome" was simply too abstract for them.

Li Lin sat off to the side. Though he felt Director Lin’s reasoning made sense, he couldn’t help but quietly question, "Director Lin, it’s only been a little over five hours since the operation. Due to the effects of the surgical anesthesia, his bowel functions haven’t recovered yet. Isn’t it a bit too early to determine it as ’Fu-organ Excess’? Perhaps it’s just postoperative absorption fever?"