Chapter 825: How Does He Also Know Surgery?

Chapter 825: Chapter 825: How Does He Also Know Surgery?

Liu Haohui and Liu Haixue were among those who knew Ju Jiahong relatively well. In fact, it was just a few years ago when Ju Jiahong truly made a name for himself in Feng City, becoming a favorite topic of conversation and even earning the praise of many older, renowned traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

To be precise, he was around Li Xu’s current age, if not younger.

Before officially joining the hospital, Ju Jiahong had undeniably stolen the spotlight in Feng City. He was young, hot-blooded, and a certified prodigy. However, after entering the hospital, he gradually began to keep a lower profile.

It was just that he had become a bit too reserved.

"Being cautious isn’t necessarily a bad thing," Liu Haohui said with a smile. "Actually, many things have two sides."

Ju Jiahong smiled and asked him, "I remember last week, Dr. Liu, you told me there was no need for this. Were you afraid I would run into a situation exactly like this?"

Liu Haohui was speechless.

He cursed inwardly; did Ju Jiahong actually still remember that?

"No," Liu Haohui replied. "To be honest, I’m not that familiar with Li Xu either. I’ve only met him two or three times in total."

He hadn’t met him many times, but he had certainly heard about him a lot.

"Dr. Liu, you underestimate me a little," Ju Jiahong said. "I’m not a sore loser. This exchange meeting allowed me to recognize my own shortcomings, which is a great harvest in itself."

Saying that, Ju Jiahong walked toward the duty room. Liu Haohui looked at his retreating back, smiling and shaking his head.

Sure enough, every prodigy in this world had their extraordinary traits. Ju Jiahong’s status as the number one young doctor in Feng City wasn’t solely due to his incredible talent.

Liu Haohui had worried that Ju Jiahong would be deeply discouraged after encountering Li Xu. He didn’t expect Ju Jiahong’s mindset to be much better than he had imagined.

Returning to the duty room, Ju Jiahong first sorted out some medical records. A few of them required a chief physician’s signature. After busying himself for a while, it was time for lunch, so he headed to the cafeteria.

"Director Ju!"

Just as he reached the cafeteria entrance, Ju Jiahong heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw Zhong Dongyang.

"Director Zhong," Ju Jiahong hurriedly greeted him.

Although Ju Jiahong was also a chief physician, Zhong Dongyang was not only a department director but also a senior director, as well as the top expert in hepatobiliary surgery at Feng City Hospital. In terms of status, Ju Jiahong was currently far from comparable to him.

However, Ju Jiahong found it a bit strange. It wasn’t as if he had never bumped into Zhong Dongyang before, but the senior doctor rarely took the initiative to call out to him like this.

"Are you here for lunch too, Director Ju?" Zhong Dongyang said with a smile. "Let’s eat together."

Still feeling puzzled, Ju Jiahong followed Zhong Dongyang into the cafeteria.

After getting their food, the two found a place to sit face-to-face. As they ate, Zhong Dongyang said, "I went to the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine a couple of days ago and met a young TCM doctor..."

"Li Xu?" Ju Jiahong asked.

"You know him too, Director Ju?" Zhong Dongyang asked with a chuckle.

Zhong Dongyang had originally only intended to chat briefly with Ju Jiahong. Last time, Zeng Yunjun kept saying that Li Xu’s skills were on par with Ju Jiahong’s. Since both were exceptional young talents, Zhong Dongyang planned to casually mention Li Xu to him. He hadn’t expected Ju Jiahong to already know the name.

"I do," Ju Jiahong replied. "I just met him a few days ago. He is indeed very young, and his medical skills are quite remarkable."

"How does he compare to you, Director Ju?" Zhong Dongyang asked.

Ju Jiahong was temporarily at a loss for words. Although he had indeed failed to best Li Xu this time, someone like him would never admit defeat so easily.

This was especially true considering his dispute with Li Xu had merely been a disagreement over dosages.

Sometimes, such deviations in dosage didn’t paint the full picture. Factors like personality, perspective, and other considerations could all play a role.

That day, Song Luojun had said that the unspoken secret of traditional Chinese medicine lay in the dosage. However, truly seeing through it—or being able to masterfully control it with ease—was far from easy.

Ju Jiahong’s disagreement with Li Xu this time was like solving a math problem. Both were aligned on the general approach, but there was a slight discrepancy in calculating the final answer. To a top student, such a deviation would merely be chalked up to carelessness or a momentary lapse in attention; they wouldn’t feel genuinely inferior to their peer.

"He is better than me," Ju Jiahong admitted.

"He truly is a prodigy," Zhong Dongyang remarked. "At such a young age, not only are his TCM skills incredible, but he can also perform surgical operations. I really don’t know how he learned it all."

Ju Jiahong’s head instantly filled with question marks. He wondered what Director Zhong was talking about.

Because they were eating, Zhong Dongyang didn’t pay much attention to Ju Jiahong’s expression. He was simply making casual conversation.

At Zhong Dongyang’s level, there weren’t many juniors in the hospital he could comfortably chat with. But as Song Luojun’s grandson and the key successor cultivated by the TCM department, Ju Jiahong was naturally qualified in Zhong Dongyang’s eyes to exchange a few words.

When someone encountered something deeply unbelievable, they subconsciously wished to share it with a person of a similar caliber to dissipate their lingering shock.

"Director Ju, you have no idea. I went over to the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine a couple of days ago to perform a complex liver resection. At the time, Zeng Yunjun strongly recommended that young man, Li Xu, to be my first assistant."

Zhong Dongyang picked up some food with his chopsticks. As he chewed, he clicked his tongue in marvel, a nearly absurd smile hanging on his face. "At first, I was afraid that because he was a TCM doctor, he’d be out of practice with a scalpel and delay the procedure. But guess what?

"He held the scalpel even steadier than I do! His hemostasis, dissection, and suturing—that touch, and his anticipation of the anatomical structures...

"Tsk, tsk... In my opinion, even if he wasn’t the chief surgeon, just based on his fundamental skills as an assistant, you probably couldn’t find many in the hepatobiliary surgery departments across the entire province who could match him. That is completely the strength of a chief surgeon. You could even say that many senior associate chief physicians lack his innate flair."

The soup spoon in Ju Jiahong’s hand trembled slightly. Drops of broth splashed onto the back of his hand, but he seemed completely oblivious.

"A liver resection... the strength of a chief surgeon?" he muttered.

Ju Jiahong’s throat felt a bit dry. He desperately wanted to ask Director Zhong if they were talking about the same Li Xu. Was it possible that there were actually two people named Li Xu at the Feng City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine?

One being the TCM genius who could recite the Inner Jing backward at the exchange meeting and relentlessly battled him over prescription dosages; and the other being the Western medicine prodigy capable of wielding a scalpel like a master in hepatobiliary surgery, just as Director Zhong described?

However, this thought only flashed through his mind for a fleeting moment. Zhong Dongyang’s next words directly shattered Ju Jiahong’s last sliver of fantasy.

"I heard that Li Xu became a vice president at such a young age. This matter has probably spread even more wildly within your TCM circles."

Zhong Dongyang took a sip of water with a smile and sighed with emotion. "Jiahong, you young people nowadays are truly incredible. I used to think there was an insurmountable mountain between traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. A medical student’s energy is limited; mastering even one field is like being blessed by the heavens. But this Li Xu is so astonishingly brilliant that it defies belief. How exactly is his brain wired?"