Chapter 317: Confidence, Competence, and a Child’s Second Chance

Spoiling kids isn’t always a good thing.

Besides showering them with love, children also need the right guidance. It’s important to teach them what true goodness and badness really are.

On that note, I have to say, martial arts novels and TV dramas really shaped an entire generation.

People born in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s often have a strong sense of justice and know right from wrong. That probably has a lot to do with them growing up watching heroics in martial arts stories and idolizing main characters with courage and honor.

Standing up for the weak, men not bullying women, taking down bullies of all kinds—these are all positive beliefs with lasting impact.

No wonder more and more women from overseas are drawn to Chinese men.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Take your child for a re-examination now! If the results are good, come back and I’ll put his leg in a plaster cast. With a few weeks of care, he should recover just fine.”

Zhou Can filled out the exam request and sent the family off for the check.

They finished the tests and hurried back.

Zhou Can couldn’t wait to get his hands on the X-rays.

He saw that the dislocated ankle joint was back in the right place. The joint in the film looked perfectly natural with no sign of any issue.

“Dr. Zhou, how is it? Did it go back in place?”

The boy’s mother asked nervously, hope shining in her eyes.

“Congratulations! The follow-up shows your child’s joint is back where it should be. I’ll put on a plaster cast and after about 30 days of healing, you can come back to get it removed.”

Zhou Can grinned as he shared the next step.

He was genuinely proud—resetting the boy’s bones meant no costly or risky surgery was needed.

Pulling off such a bold medical procedure and succeeding only added to Zhou Can’s satisfaction.

“Thank you, thank you!”

Overwhelmed, the mom kept repeating those simple words of gratitude to show just how thankful and relieved she felt.

Xiao Xu, the driver, was equally overjoyed.

He’d spent almost an entire day at the hospital helping the family. If the boy’s injury hadn’t been fixed, all his efforts would have been for nothing.

Now that the kid was okay, it meant everything.

When things go well, you get the credit. If not, you risk the boss’s anger for failing to get the job done.

In the end, the mother left the hospital with her son, bursting with happiness.

Her gratitude toward Zhou Can was plain to see. Any past unpleasantness had long since faded away.

This just goes to show, no matter how powerful or important a person is, their only purpose in a hospital is to get well. If you can’t cure them, being respectful doesn’t matter.

【To be honest, I’ve been reading and keeping up with books through Wild Fruit Reading lately. Lots of sources, switch them freely, many narration voices. yeguoyuedu. Available for Android and Apple.】

People with some status never lack flatterers. They’re so used to compliments that they hardly notice them anymore.

If you think a few words of praise and friendliness will win their gratitude, you’re only fooling yourself.

Zhou Can kept racking up impressive achievements, sparking round after round of applause. Du Leng, meanwhile, could only watch and stew in jealousy. On this last day, Zhou Can got ovation after ovation, becoming the center of attention.

But Du Leng had started strong and crashed hard. Things just kept getting worse for him.

Today was even grimmer than yesterday. Only a handful of patients wanted to see him.

Some people even changed their minds after lining up for his clinic. As soon as they saw the empty seats, they’d slip away and register for another specialist instead.

That only made Du Leng more dejected.

By now, Zhou Can had earned popularity and respect from this expert consultation event—a real winner.

When Du Leng first arrived, he was so confident, daydreaming about making a big splash.

He hoped to shine in this consultation, make a name for himself, and convince Tuyu Hospital’s brass to give him more resources for his medical career.

But things didn’t go his way. His expert consultation ended in total failure.

His performance was flat-out terrible.

……

By late afternoon, nearly six o’clock, the outpatient hall had grown noticeably quiet.

Most patients who needed help had already been taken care of.

If any were still waiting for test results, the remaining cases would probably be handed off to other doctors at Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital.

“Alright, it’s almost six. Let’s call this expert consultation event a wrap! Everyone, head to the cafeteria for dinner, then pack up at the hotel and get ready to return to Tuyu Hospital tomorrow morning. If you still have transfers to complete for your patients, finish up as soon as possible.”

Director Zhang Bihua, the team leader for this event, gave out orders.

Zhou Can didn’t have any patients left to transfer, so his handoff went smoothly.

But he couldn’t stop worrying about that little boy with the hand deformity.

There’d still been no word from Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital, much to Zhou Can’s frustration.

“Section Chief Tang, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Dr. Zhou!”

Tang was especially polite to Zhou Can.

After all, he wanted to recruit this kind of talented specialist. How could he not be polite?

“Has a surgical plan been drafted for that boy with the hand deformity from two days ago? It’s been almost forty-eight hours now, and I’m guessing his family must be pretty anxious.”

Zhou Can chose his words with care.

If he didn’t push, he’d be gone by the time something finally happened and would have no way to help.

“Oh, that! I’ll go check with Dr. Zhang about it in a bit.”

Tang probably knew something but, as the head of publicity, couldn’t just order a chief physician around.

At best, he could ask about it. If all else failed, he’d have to report to Director Tian.

Still, that’s a risky move. No one likes a tattletale.

He’d already put pressure on Dr. Zhang about it a couple of days ago, but only managed to get her to agree to take on the operation.

Since then, Dr. Zhang had kept dragging her feet, and Tang couldn’t do much more.

While Zhou Can was finishing up his dinner, Tang came over on his own.

“Dr. Zhou, I just checked with Dr. Zhang. She says they’re working on it. She knows you’re very concerned about the boy and said that if you want, after dinner you can stop by the pediatric orthopedics department to discuss the surgical plan together.”

Tang probably only pressed the issue in person because of Zhou Can.

“Thank you! I’ll head over now.”

Zhou Can hurried through his meal, rinsed his tray and left it in the dish return.

After a quick word with Dr. Zhang, he made his way to the pediatric orthopedics office.

When he arrived, he saw the office was quite small—just six desks, one of which obviously wasn’t being used.

That meant only five or six doctors worked there.

Hard to imagine, considering departments at Tuyu Hospital often had over a hundred staff.

But Xinxiang’s pediatric orthopedics is a sub-specialty, a tiny branch under the umbrella of a secondary discipline.

Pediatrics itself is a major discipline, and so is surgery. Pediatric orthopedics is even more niche—just dealing with bone issues in children.

They don’t handle adult cases at all.

Even if the theory’s the same, the practice is different.

Just seeing the office told Zhou Can how under-resourced the department was.

Honestly, even Tuyu’s emergency department was better off.

It really drove home how much hospitals can differ, even when they’re the same official rank.

Xinxiang’s strengths lie in obstetrics, pediatrics, and especially pediatric respiratory departments. As for obstetrics, that’s their main calling card.

Knock, knock, knock!

Zhou Can knocked at the door. Dr. Zhang, who had been buried in reading, looked up.

“Hello, Dr. Zhang! I’m here to talk about the surgical plan for the little boy with the hand deformity.” Zhou Can entered with a warm smile.

Three doctors sat inside—Dr. Zhang, who was older, and two others around thirty-seven or thirty-eight.

All three were men.

Truth be told, pediatrics is actually better suited to female doctors. They’re naturally more approachable and gentle, which helps when dealing with children.

That’s definitely a plus for little patients.

“Please, have a seat! Sorry for the delay in working out a surgical plan.”

Dr. Zhang was nothing but polite.

He was very humble about the situation.

“I understand how challenging corrective hand surgery can be. It makes sense the plan would take time to develop.”

Zhou Can made sure to give Dr. Zhang plenty of face.

“How far have you gotten?”

He noticed the book Dr. Zhang was looking at was a surgical reference—showing classic examples of hand correction.

From the illustrations, it looked like a standard case of hand deformity.

But every patient’s details are different. You can’t just copy a surgery straight from a book.

If a doctor’s experience is lacking, even tweaking a little detail can become a struggle.

“Well… There’s a basic surgical plan, but we’re still figuring out the specifics. Dr. Zhou, do you have any good ideas or proposals?” Even if it was embarrassing, Dr. Zhang had no choice but to ask.

He was simply out of his depth.

For the past two days, he had spent every spare moment searching up material and asking colleagues for help.

But orthopedics isn’t a strength here, and surgery to correct a complex congenital condition like this hand deformity is daunting. The help he got was minimal.

No one had a solid solution for the toughest problems.

“Actually, I do have some advice. There are a few big hurdles with this operation. I think breaking it down into steps is your best bet. For example, first you could loosen the subcutaneous bands, then use a full-thickness skin graft to cover areas where skin is missing—this could correct the finger’s contracture…”

Zhou Can outlined his tailored recommendations—each targeted the real problem.

His suggestions didn’t come strictly from orthopedic practice.

He drew a lot from general surgery theory and hands-on experience.

Mr. Liu had passed on everything he knew, so Zhou Can’s understanding of general surgery and how to solve difficult cases ran deep.

“Loosening the subcutaneous bands! That’s a great idea!”

Dr. Zhang’s eyes lit up even after hearing the first suggestion.

“Full-thickness skin grafting is also very practical! Tuyu Hospital lives up to its reputation—their orthopedics department is truly top-notch.”

He assumed these advanced treatment ideas must’ve come from experts at Tuyu and that Zhou Can was just relaying them.

As far as he knew, all Zhou Can did was repeat what Tuyu’s specialists told him.

For a moment, Zhou Can paused at the praise, then just smiled in response.

While he had consulted with Chief Resident Shen over in orthopedics at Tuyu Hospital…

But Shen hadn’t given him a detailed plan. That wasn’t his specialty. Instead, he’d asked another hand joint expert who said Tuyu could handle the case.

Everything Zhou Can just suggested was his own take.

“Any ideas for the contracted thenar web?” Dr. Zhang cut right to the point, asking about the hardest unsolved problem.

“Free skin grafts or using a transferred flap should open up the first web space just fine.”

To Zhou Can, this was no big deal.

He’d handled a similar operation in the emergency department, and Dr. Xu had once walked him through all kinds of surgical approaches.

“How about crossing the intrinsic hand muscles?” Dr. Zhang was gaining confidence and started asking questions one after another.

“It’s fixable with surgical correction. If you need, I can perform that procedure.”

Zhou Can made his abilities clear.

He joined this discussion to contribute but also to get in on the operation.

Getting assigned to a surgery was part of his goal from the start.

“It’s a high-stakes, high-precision surgery. Dr. Zhou… are you really confident you can handle it?” Dr. Zhang gave him a second, closer look.

In his experience, most trainees had never touched a scalpel. Over ninety percent would finish their program without ever performing a surgery.

Zhou Can’s claim that he could handle correcting the intrinsic muscles was astonishing.

“I would never joke about anything so serious as surgery. Lives are at stake.”

Zhou Can stayed completely serious.

Dr. Zhang only nodded without fully agreeing. It was clear he still doubted Zhou Can’s surgical abilities.

They went on to ‘discuss’ several more tough knotty issues for the operation.

Zhou Can held nothing back—he answered every question.

This included how to reposition a slipped tendon, fuse thumb joints, and more.

After all was said and done, Dr. Zhang felt a bit more optimistic about this monster of a surgery. Still, there was a single, daunting problem left.

It involved correcting the metacarpal joint, and it was a major hurdle.

That wasn’t Zhou Can’s specialty.

Dr. Zhang was stumped, too, unable to come up with anything for now.

“Thanks for coming to review this case, Dr. Zhou. Your input has helped us enormously. Now that I have some confidence, once that last problem is solved, I’ll schedule the surgery and invite you to join us.”

With the meeting done, Zhou Can rose to leave.

Dr. Zhang quickly got up to see him out.

He even took the initiative to shake Zhou Can’s hand and thank him.

“Of course.”

Zhou Can agreed without hesitation.

At least Dr. Zhang’s sincere attitude left him satisfied.

Once he got back to his hotel, Zhou Can immediately called Chief Resident Shen at Tuyu Orthopedics to ask about that tricky joint issue.

Shen told him to call Director You directly.

Joints weren’t Shen’s area of expertise.

Though he knew You reasonably well, their relationship wasn’t as close as with Shen. Still, he nervously dialed Director You’s number.

“Hello? Who’s this?”

“Hello, Director You, it’s Zhou Can! Do you remember me?”

“Oh, Zhou Can! Of course I remember. How are things going at work lately?”

Director You sounded unexpectedly caring, which caught Zhou Can off guard.

“Thank you for asking. Things are going smoothly. But I’m stuck on a surgical problem and wanted your advice…” Zhou Can described the issue.

“Chief Resident Shen asked me about this case a couple days ago. Tuyu can definitely handle it. I know Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital’s orthopedics well, and to be honest, this surgery’s a little beyond them. But with you there helping, it should go fine.”

Director You was sharp. He understood the situation instantly.

He had complete faith in Zhou Can’s abilities.

“Zhou, the real trick isn’t in the joint. You just need to perform an osteotomy to reshape the metacarpal bone. Add me on WeChat and I’ll draw you a diagram of the surgical steps and send you a photo.”

Director You’s response moved Zhou Can deeply.

He couldn’t ask for better support.