Chapter 278: Warm hand

Zhang Fan and the other doctors had all been woken up a bit past 4:00 a.m. to come to the hospital and perform surgery. The surgery on the teenaged girl hadn't finished until past 9:00 p.m. on the same day. The doctors hadn't seen the light of day for all this time. Was this normal? It could be said that it was common for most Chinese surgeons to see no sun at all for at least 20 days of each month. For resident doctor slaves at a large hospital, they usually wouldn't be able to see the sun for 10 months out of the year. This was no exaggeration. Chinese doctors would know this!

The surgery was now over. The older doctors, especially Director Zhao and Vice Director Song who had gotten no rest at all, lost all of their energy. Since this was quite common after a major surgery, the head nurse had long since already prepared two cots for them to sleep on right in the operating room.

"Director Zhang, how about I prepare a cot for you as well? You should take a small rest while I go prepare some food for everyone. The hospital has prepared dinner for all of you. The patient's family also paid for some Kentucky Fried Chicken. Which would you prefer?" The head nurse acted in a fawning manner towards Zhang Fan.

Meanwhile, the operating room nurse helped the surgeons to take off their surgical attire. "I'll eat Kentucky Fried Chicken! The hospital cafeteria food tastes really terrible," Vice Director Song commented.

"I'll also eat some Kentucky Fried Chicken. Prepare a cot for Doctor Zhang. Let's all rest a while!" Director Zhao told the head nurse. The hospital cafeteria's food was prepared by a private contractor. The food's taste wasn't very good, although it was edible. The cafeteria contractor was someone incredible. He had maintained his control over the hospital's food throughout several different generations of hospital superintendents already!

The doctors hadn't felt tired while performing the surgery, but now that it was over, the doctors were all like robots who had been unplugged. The men all listlessly lay together on the plastic cement floor of the operating room. Their green scrubs were a contrast against the blue-colored floor. They all lay together in a row and stretched themselves out as straight as possible, splaying their limbs everywhere!

Their legs were all so sore that they didn't even dare to touch them. Their feet felt as if they had fallen off. Their backs were really stiff. Standing for more than 10 hours in succession was really hard already, even if you weren't doing anything at all. This was also part of why being a surgeon was really labor-intensive work!

The teenaged girl patient named Yaya suddenly became rather valuable after the surgery. The metal plates in her chest, the imported absorbable threads in her abdomen, and the metal plates in her legs all added up to be more than 100,000 yuan's worth of medical equipment. It was as if she was wearing all of her valuables!

Outside the operating room, the girl's mother was completely exhausted. She had been highly nervous for more than 10 hours already. All of the worry made her seem as if she had aged four or five years in a single night.

Since the girl's uncle had been unable to succeed in pressuring the hospital from above, Vice President Chen decided to go through the lower-ranking hospital personnel. Successful people like him would often have a common trait of being persistent and unwilling to give up.

The nationally owned company that he was vice president of had more than 100,000 employees. It wasn't strange for some of those employees to have a family member who worked at Chasu City Hospital. Vice President Chen had long since contacted a young nurse working in the operating rooms to be his contact. When the surgery ended, Little Li, his nurse contact, also came out of the operating room.

"Leader, the surgery is over now. Everything is alright. The surgery was really successful." Little Li had a bright smile!

"What about Yaya? How come she's not out here yet then?" The girl's mother struggled to get up and hurriedly ran over to the young nurse's side. The girl's uncle also hurriedly came over.

Many people had come over to visit as they had learned that the company vice president's niece was involved in a serious accident that required surgery. They all acted like they had really concerned expressions!

"Yaya was taken to the ICU department. You'll be able to see her by tomorrow morning. There's no need for you to worry. Doctor Zhang Fan, Director Zhao, and the other doctors were all smiling and laughing!"

Yaya's mother couldn't help but feel awkward as she asked, "Doctor Zhang?"

"Yeah. Doctor Zhang performed the surgery for Yaya. He's currently the best surgeon in our entire surgical department! He's really amazing, and he's also quite nice!" Little Li was quite proud as she said this! All of the young nurses really liked Zhang Fan as he was really skilled as well as a nice doctor who never got angry with any of the nurses like some other doctors would.

'It's such a pity that he's already taken, sigh!' Little Li couldn't help but think this to herself.

"Oh!" The mother wanted to say something else, but her older brother interrupted her.

"Little Li, we've truly troubled you this time, asking you to come here from your home so late at night. I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright, Leader. This is nothing at all." Little Li happened to have a relative who worked at Vice President Chen's company.

"Thank you so much. I'll make sure to repay this favor I owe you. Little Li, do you think you could help me contact Doctor Zhang? I would like to treat him and the other surgeons to a meal," said Vice President Chen.

Originally, the vice president of such a large nationally owned company would never need to request an ordinary nurse to try and contact a doctor for him for a meal invitation. However, Vice President Chen hadn't recognized Zhang Fan's talent before the surgery, and had been rather rude to him. Vice President Chen didn't want others of the same social status as him to learn of such a thing, which was why he was making this request to an ordinary nurse like Little Li, when normally he would never give her a second glance!

"Alright, Leader, I'll go ask him later. I don't think it will be possible to invite him tonight, because all of the surgeons are really exhausted and resting in the operating room right now."

"Okay! Okay! Let them decide the time for the meal. I'll treat them at any time!" Vice President Chen had really good emotional intelligence. He was the type who was capable of transforming a mistake or misunderstanding into an opportunity. Such skills were necessary in order for him to have reached his current position.

He knew that he had probably offended Zhang Fan before the surgery. Perhaps he would need Zhang Fan's help again in the future, which was why Vice President Chen decided to be as respectful as he could this time and try and become friends with him! This was the difference between a leader like him and an ordinary person who might instead continue down the same path!

The surgeons in the operating room rested for a while, but then had to get up. This wasn't because they didn't want to rest anymore, but rather because the head nurse had brought food for them.

Zhang Fan was now like a ravenous tiger with how fast he was eating. He scarfed down a chicken leg from Kentucky Fried Chicken and half a cup of milk instantly. With him acting like this, Director Zhao who was both exhausted and starving also decided to start eating some chicken legs.

"Director Zhang, try and eat more slowly. There's plenty more. The patient's family members bought an enormous amount for everyone." The head nurse stood behind Zhang Fan and gently patted his back as she spoke to him as if she was afraid that he would choke on his food!

The surgeons' scrubs were quite light. The head nurse had just applied hand cream on her warm hands that she now placed on Zhang Fan's back. This indeed caused Zhang Fan to slow down the rapid pace at which he was eating.

Zhang Fan now felt a warm sensation on his back as the head nurse gently patted him. A nice fragrance also entered Zhang Fan's nose. He felt slightly comfortable, as well as slightly strange! The operating room head nurse was a mature unmarried woman who really understood how young men were. She had really high emotional intelligence and liked to be ambiguously flirtatious but never take things to the next level, which had helped her to obtain her position.

Zhang Fan didn't feel very comfortable after he filled himself. Although eating a little bit of Kentucky Fried Chicken's fast food was alright with him, he felt that such food was really oily when he consumed a large amount thereof.

Zhang Fan finally turned on his cell phone and saw a text message from Shao Hua. "Are you still busy? Call me after your surgery is over. I'll come pick you up from the hospital! I love you!"

Zhang Fan checked the time. It was now past 10:00 p.m., so he didn't want to call her, as he figured that Shao Hua might have gone to bed already. But, right when he put away his cell phone, he received another text message from her. "Are you finished yet?"

"You still haven't gone to sleep yet? I just finished the surgery and ate a little something. I can return home by myself. No need for you to come pick me up," Zhang Fan texted back.

"Haha, I figured that you would almost be finished with your surgery by now. I've already left home. Just wait for me for a while. I'm taking a taxi to the hospital right now." Shao Hua felt really pained because her boyfriend had worked so hard for an entire day!

Meanwhile, Zhang Fan hurriedly put away his cell phone and went to go take a hot shower. He then changed into his regular clothes.

Zhang Fan went to tell Director Zhao, "I'll be going back home now, Director Zhao. Tell the doctor in charge of watching over this surgery patient to absolutely watch over her drainage bag carefully. Call me immediately if there's any bleeding!"

"Alright. Hurry home and get some rest!"

Zhang Fan was still worried that necrosis would appear in the patient's abdomen at any of the locations where he had sewn things up. He couldn't help but worry. The patient's life was at stake here, so he had to be absolutely careful!