CHAPTER 132: 132 SURGEON’S HANDS

(Many thanks to my good friend, ShiTou, for the heartfelt tip and encouragement, and to my good friends for their monthly ticket support!)

The little game just now was merely a small test of Liu Banxia’s body coordination and hand stability. The onlookers were filled with envy, knowing how high the difficulty of the game was.

And Liu Banxia? He was scared out of his wits. He didn’t even know when he had become so capable; he had just naturally caught it.

He realized he had underestimated the benefits the system enhancement had brought him. What he saw or understood was only a part of the reality.

But he also felt a strange sensation in his heart.

This body was his own, yet it now felt so unfamiliar. If it continued to be enhanced, would it still be his body?

Putting aside the chaotic thoughts in his mind, he still had to continue changing the patients’ dressings.

If the initial demonstration was simple and aimed to give the leading figures a taste, then what followed was to let the resident doctors watch and feel Liu Banxia’s dexterity up close. Such an approach would be much more effective.

Not only the resident doctors, but even attending physicians like Guan Wei, who had many years of experience, came over to watch earnestly.

An old saying goes, "The master can only lead you to the door; cultivation depends on the individual."

Liu Banxia’s technique wasn’t complicated; it was very simple and direct. He had also repeated his technical guidelines many times. However, this didn’t mean that if you understood them, you would be ready to perform the procedure yourself.

Right now, even a child could recite what Liu Banxia had just explained. But when it was your turn to actually operate, the results would be vastly different.

Later on, even Zhou Shuwen became interested and personally changed a patient’s dressing. In terms of effect, he was on par with Jiang Tao, but compared to Liu Banxia, he was still slightly lacking.

Ding! Jiang Tao’s invitation task completed.

Received 500 experience points, 30 proficiency points in Diagnostic Skills, 200 proficiency points in Dressing Change Technique, and gained favor with Zhou Shuwen, Chen Zhenxing, Zhou Zhiyong, and Jiang Tao.

This task has been rated: Perfect. Reward: 1,000 experience points, 500 proficiency points in Dressing Change Technique, 5 Glory Points.

Congratulations to the Host for advancing to Level 31 (50,087/52,931 EXP). Reward: 1 Attribute Point, 5 Glory Points.

Looking at the completed task, Liu Banxia let out a long sigh. The key to this task wasn’t the experience and skill proficiency rewards, but the goodwill of these four leading figures.

Although this goodwill couldn’t be quantified and might plummet due to some minor incident, it was a measure of interpersonal relationships.

They were all his bosses, and he was just an employee. Whether it was for a promotion, a raise, or getting assigned tasks, how could you get by if your boss didn’t like you?

He wasn’t some naive, simple-minded husky; he could now sense that things in the Second Affiliated Hospital weren’t as peaceful as they appeared on the surface. Wasn’t the incident with Qin Hai, who had stirred up so much trouble and was then reassigned to the Medical Affairs Department despite being close to retirement, a clear indication of this?

"No wonder Vice Director Li took a liking to him. His hands are indeed very skillful," Chen Zhenxing said with a smile on the way to the Anorectal Department office.

"Receiving such praise from you is no easy feat," Jiang Tao said with a smile.

He also wanted to remind Liu Banxia, This is approval from the big boss; you have to perform well. What frustrated him was that Liu Banxia seemed to have his mind elsewhere, one hand behind his back, apparently fiddling with something.

"What’s wrong? Your teacher is complimenting you, and you’re not happy?" Zhou Shuwen also noticed his unusual behavior.

"No... The Chief Director is Director Zhou’s teacher? Then... wouldn’t that make him my grand-master? I... What did I just say? Can we pretend I didn’t say anything?" Having blurted out half his thought, Liu Banxia’s face looked even more bitter than a bitter melon.

He had truly spoken without thinking. Hearing Zhou Shuwen say "teacher," the term "grand-master" had just slipped out.

It would be fine to say such things in private, but in such a public setting, it smacked of trying to curry favor by association. Even though he was now sort of Zhou Shuwen’s disciple, the relationship hadn’t been officially clarified yet.

"Oh, you’ve already accepted him?" Chen Zhenxing, however, didn’t seem to mind.

"He shamelessly recommended himself to me, so I reluctantly decided to keep him," Zhou Shuwen said nonchalantly.

"Haha, Director Zhou, this is a joyous occasion. Let me tell you, although I haven’t been in contact with Banxia for long, he’s solid and has very dexterous hands," Jiang Tao said with a laugh.

"Director Jiang, please don’t praise me anymore. All of us surgeons need to have dexterous hands; otherwise, we can’t perform operations," Liu Banxia quickly said.

"Indeed, every surgeon’s hands are deft, but very few can truly be called exceptionally skillful. Do you usually practice tying knots whenever you have free time?" Chen Zhenxing asked with a smile.

"Uh... recently, it has become a bit of a habit. When I’m idle or thinking about something, my hands just can’t stay still," Liu Banxia said, somewhat embarrassed, as he brought his hand out from behind his back.

Zhou Shuwen walked around behind him and pulled out the suture threads tied to the back of his white coat.

Everyone had seen those few threads dangling there when he was changing dressings earlier. Now, one of them was already full of knots he had tied on the way here.

"It seems you’ve taught us another lesson today. When was the last time you all practiced tying knots?" Chen Zhenxing asked with a smile.

"I can’t even remember," Jiang Tao said with a wry smile.

Knot tying was indeed the most basic method for training hand dexterity, yet many people found it hard to persevere. Although Liu Banxia had only recently picked it up again, it deeply impressed these senior doctors.

The other doctors in the Anorectal Department now looked at Liu Banxia with eyes full of envy. Becoming a disciple of Zhou Shuwen—that was no simple matter! And just now, Zhou Shuwen’s tone had been dismissive, but was it truly disdain?

How many people wished for even a hint of Zhou Shuwen’s "disdain" but never got the chance? And what had they just heard? Not only Zhou Shuwen, but Vice Director Li Mingwu also had his eye on Liu Banxia. This was even more extraordinary.

"Leaders, please don’t praise me anymore. I’m too embarrassed to stay. Please excuse me, I’ll head back to the Emergency Department now." After Liu Banxia finished speaking, he scurried away.

He felt a bit like a fraud too. A compliment or two was fine, but too much praise might cause him to fall short of expectations. He knew his own situation very well; he hadn’t reached the level these leading figures imagined.

"It’s rare to see him get shy. But indeed, encountering a pair of truly skillful hands is not easy. So many people are stymied by their hands," Zhou Shuwen remarked.

Zhou Shuwen spoke from the heart, and everyone agreed. As surgeons, they naturally knew what a pair of skillful hands represented.

To become a good surgeon, one not only needed to study diligently but also had to see if fate intended for them to be in this profession.

If your hands were skillful and you could use them well, you could achieve twice the results with half the effort. Although later training could bring some improvement, that improvement was limited.

How many surgeons had switched from surgery to internal medicine or research precisely for this reason?