Chapter 428: After Hours in the Operating Room

Helping patient after patient escape pain in the operating room while racking up valuable surgical experience—this was Zhou Can’s greatest passion.

For young male doctors, the Surgical Department was always the most coveted assignment.

The operating table was their battlefield, a holy ground where disease was cut down.

On that table, whether it was tumors, internal bleeding, ruptured blood vessels, blockages, broken bones, or traumatic injuries, surgery always offered the most direct path to healing.

Compared to that, Internal Medicine simply couldn’t measure up.

But Internal Medicine had its own strengths.

Surgery was all about being swift and decisive, while Internal Medicine played the long game against illness.

……

It was after seven in the evening when Zhou Can finally emerged from the operating room, dragging his tired body along.

“Dinner’s on me tonight. Let’s eat before heading home! Lately, we’ve barely left work before seven every day, you all deserve it.”

Their surgical team kept getting better, working together as one unit. During surgery, no one ever tried to cut corners.

Even Ma Xiaolan and Luo Shishen, the team’s newcomers, were hungry to learn and working hard to catch up to veterans like Zhou Can and Qiao Yu. That made Zhou Can truly proud.

Not a single break since the day’s surgeries began.

They all worked daily, and only Wednesdays were different—while Zhou Can did pediatrics, the others had some rare free daylight hours. But since they had to cover late shifts those days, no one dared to relax too much.

Everyone made sure to squeeze in two or three hours of sleep at midday.

So all in all, no one in the surgical team had ever asked Zhou Can for a day off. Not even for personal leave, which was worth a lot in his eyes.

“Working with you, I feel more motivated every day. It doesn’t even feel tiring.”

Ma Xiaolan was sweet as honey with her superiors, but she could turn sharp when dealing with difficult patients or colleagues she thought she could push around.

That’s just her nature.

Zhou Can had gently advised her a couple of times and she’d toned it down—though not entirely.

In the end, there wasn’t much he could do but let her be.

Nobody’s perfect.

Everyone has their quirks and flaws.

As long as work wasn’t affected, he could tolerate a bit. If you tried to force unity with nothing but authority, a team would never come together.

Hearts are like water or smoke—no matter how hard you try, you can’t always grasp them.

Win people’s hearts, and you can harness everyone’s strength.

All through history, whether they were rulers or ministers caught between emperor and the people, they understood that you can’t go against public sentiment.

Ruling through virtue, winning hearts with kindness—that’s the secret all successful leaders share.

As team leader, Zhou Can understood that lesson well.

“Xiaolan’s right. Work might be exhausting, but every day I feel grounded. I can see myself improving. Meeting our leader was my biggest stroke of luck. Some of my classmates are also interning at Tuyu Hospital and the best they’ve done is a couple of simple skin sutures for patients. Some haven’t even set foot in an operating room—they just slog through endless chores in the ward.”

Everything Luo Shishen said came from the heart.

Compared to other interns, getting to work under Zhou Can was like winning the lottery.

At first, he’d grumbled a lot—just minor complaints.

But after reaping the benefits, his work ethic shifted for the better.

It had to—Zhou Can was strict with every team member. If you slacked off or kept neglecting your duties after a few warnings, he’d kick you from the team without hesitation.

“The biggest change for me is that I don’t have to count every penny anymore. At this rate, in two or three years, I’ll have enough saved for an overseas study trip.”

Qiao Yu raised her fair wrist to wipe the sweat off her forehead.

She was Zhou Can’s most loyal right hand and tireless partner.

“Sister Qiao, this is just a fraction of your total income! I heard the year-end bonus won’t be small. For over two months now, our department has kept revenue up.”

Ma Xiaolan whispered with a mischievous grin.

“Oh really? That makes me even happier. Guess I can switch my breakfast soy milk for milk now,” Qiao Yu joked, making everyone burst out laughing.

She was one of those ambitious, hard-working young women.

Lots of women her age lived paycheck to paycheck, drowning in credit card or shopping app debt—and some, even in sketchy online loans.

Compared to those who spent like crazy yet earned little, she was everyone’s role model.

“Seriously, hospital lunch costs just three yuan after the subsidy. Most dinners are on Dr. Zhou, and the food’s great. I only have to pay for breakfast and the three yuan for lunch. Life is honestly so good right now.”

Ma Xiaolan couldn’t help but reveal her love for freebies.

“When it comes to meals, tagging along with the boss is a huge win. As an intern, I don’t make a cent and sometimes need to shell out for the hospital and school. Saving even a little helps. The other day I video-called my mom and she said I look chubbier and even my complexion’s improved.”

Luo Shishen beamed as he talked about food.

“You know what? As long as you join me for surgeries, I’ll cover all the meal costs for overtime and late-night snacks.”

Zhou Can promised generously.

One meal meant nothing to him, but it helped his teammates out a lot.

Even at fifteen yuan a dinner, they could save about four hundred fifty yuan a month.

Honestly, Zhou Can usually ordered meals that cost between twenty-five and forty yuan anyway.

“I heard the application for the new operating room is being processed. Is that true?”

Qiao Yu asked Zhou Can.

“It should be. But who knows when it’ll actually go through. Are you eager to try out the new operating room?”

Zhou Can looked into her eyes.

“Not really, I just think the laminar flow rooms are cleaner. Hygiene and disinfection are so much easier. If we could work in a hundred-level laminar operating room, Xiaolan and I would save a ton of time on sterilization.”

She brushed her bangs to the side and answered softly.

“Don’t worry about it. We just need to keep working hard and maintaining our high revenue. Eventually, the higher-ups won’t be able to keep stalling,” Zhou Can reassured her.

Qiao Yu and Ma Xiaolan really put in the hours—the job wore them out.

Especially since Zhou Can sometimes performed twenty or thirty surgeries a day.

“I’m not in a rush, just asking. Actually, as long as I get to do surgeries with you, it doesn’t matter what kind of operating room it is.”

Qiao Yu spoke before thinking, then tried to explain herself.

But once the words were out, she realized they were a little too revealing.

After all, Zhou Can had a girlfriend, and she knew he and Su Qianqian were happily in love.

She lowered her head fast, cheeks flushing pink with a dash of panic.

She and Zhou Can had always kept things ambiguous, never breaking that invisible line.

But now, by accident, she’d blurted out her true feelings. She knew Zhou Can was smart enough to catch on—and she worried he might start avoiding her.

Ma Xiaolan and Luo Shishen exchanged glances, sharing matching awkward looks.

But nobody said a word.

“Let’s eat before the food gets cold!”

Zhou Can handed a meal box to Qiao Yu, then unpacked his own and started eating in silence.

The dinner atmosphere turned a little stiff.

Qiao Yu’s face stayed red the whole time.

She sneaked glances at Zhou Can twice. When she noticed he acted as usual, she finally relaxed a bit.

“I’m done. Take your time, everyone. I’m going to check on the wards and see how that maggot therapy is working out.”

With that, Zhou Can left the room.

The moment he walked out, the tension eased, and Ma Xiaolan could be heard teasing Qiao Yu with a laugh.

Laughter floated in the air as the mood grew lighter.

Zhou Can made his way to the inpatient ward, heading straight for his patient with the rotting leg wound.

“Hey, Dr. Zhou!”

A stunning woman was waiting by the bed—none other than the reporter, Mu Qing.

She gave him a dazzling smile and waved brightly.

“What brings the famous reporter Mu here?”

Zhou Can looked distinctly unhappy.

Normally, hospitals wouldn’t let reporters wander around, much less interview patients at random.

“Hey, don’t tell me you’re turning your back on me? I did you a big favor, you know. Even if I didn’t rack up achievements, I worked hard enough! And using maggots to treat a rotting burn wound? I’ve never heard of that—that’s new. I’m really looking forward to seeing your skills get this brother healed and out the door soon.”

Mu Qing teased him in front of the patient and family, leaving Zhou Can a little flustered.

He felt completely awkward.

He’d tried to keep his enlistment of the reporter quiet, not wanting the family to know.

But now, she’d blurted it out for everyone.

“We have rules about media interviews here. You’ll need to clear it with the Medical or Publicity Department first,” Zhou Can said, face dark.

“Hmph, men really are heartless. Luckily, I already got permission from your hospital’s Publicity Department, so you can stop worrying!”

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Mu Qing was the hardest woman Zhou Can had ever dealt with.

After all, he was the one who’d roped her in, but sending her away was a different story.

He had no idea what the hospital was thinking, letting her snoop around for interviews.

Weren’t they afraid something would go wrong?

No matter how annoyed he was, in the end Zhou Can just had to accept it.

Reporters had a right to interview, and with the hospital’s blessing, he had no grounds to object.

Ignoring Mu Qing, he walked up to his patient and asked, “How are you feeling? Can you handle the maggot bites?”

“No worries, I can stand it. As long as I keep my leg and stay alive, this pain doesn’t mean much. Though I’ll admit, at first, it felt strange—gave me the creeps.”

Knowing Zhou Can was his attending doctor, the patient spoke to him very politely.

Even the patient’s wife greeted him with an obsequious smile.

But don’t be fooled by cooperative patients and families—if things turn for the worse, they’d turn on you in a heartbeat.

“If you feel any discomfort, let the on-duty doctors or nurses know right away. I’m usually in surgery, so I only have time to check in after operations. If anything gets risky, the staff will alert me immediately as long as you tell them.”

Zhou Can noticed the patient had some leftovers in his food box—their meals seemed decent.

They probably figured, since someone else was footing the bill, they might as well indulge.

He didn’t see the girl who caused all the trouble anywhere.

Maybe with Mu Qing’s help, she was spared from the family’s threats and control.

That was something at least.

“Let me take a look at your wound.”

Zhou Can carefully peeled off the thin bandage. Underneath, plump maggots were wriggling energetically, chomping away at the dead tissue. The wound looked much improved compared to before—the rotten areas had shrunk visibly.

“Looking good,” he nodded with satisfaction.

Zhou Can couldn’t hide his approval.

Mu Qing seized the chance to snap photos, her camera clicking away.

Not surprisingly, Zhou Can wasn’t thrilled.

“Don’t frown like that, or the photos will look terrible. If you glare like that, you’re tanking your reputation,” Mu Qing warned.

Mu Qing shot him a reminder.

Zhou Can had no choice but to take a deep breath and adjust his expression.

This woman really was a handful.

Once he finished tending to the patient, he updated the treatment orders.

This was the first time he’d tried this method, so he didn’t give a standing order, just in case anything went wrong.

Without doctor’s orders, the nurses couldn’t dispense medication.

If this happened in another department, especially in an experienced Surgical ward, the veteran nurses would’ve called him to complain long ago.

“Dr. Zhou, why aren’t there any orders for so-and-so’s bed? Hurry up!”

But things were different in the Emergency Department. The nurses knew how busy he was, and he got along well with the younger ones. They gave him their full understanding.

After tending to that patient, Zhou Can made his rounds, checking on all the others in the ward.

One patient’s case stood out.

He had suffered an abdominal stab wound. After being rushed to the ER and stabilized, Dr. Lu had taken care of the debridement and suturing. Now he felt bloated and sore, running a fever, too.

Most ER inpatients were surgery cases.

But not every operation was Zhou Can’s. There were several surgeons qualified to take the lead. Of course, Dr. Lu was only allowed to handle minor surgeries.

Although the abdominal stab wound wasn’t serious, it shouldn’t have been handed off to Dr. Lu.

Because Dr. Lu was notorious for being careless.

They say a leopard can’t change its spots.

Dr. Lu had worked hard to avoid being kicked out of the ER. His surgical skills had improved a lot.

But his sloppy habits and indifference to the patients’ well-being still hadn’t changed much.