Chapter 137: Chapter 137: Closed-door Disciple

A little after three in the afternoon, Lo Jun, who had been resting at home, accepted an invitation from his old friend, Miao Quan, the head of the psychiatry department, and made his way to the Xinlei Tea House next to his residential community.

Pushing open the door to the private room, Lo Jun couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

The number of people sitting inside far exceeded his expectations.

Besides his old friend Miao Quan, there was also Vice President Liu Jin, Head of Diagnostics Qee Sheng, Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery Liang Zhao Kui, Head of Trauma Surgery Chen Yu, Head of the Emergency Department Wan Yuming, Attending Physician in Trauma Surgery Qin Ying, and the Head of the Plastic Surgery Center, Wang Chuan.

Lo Jun exchanged simple greetings with them before taking the empty seat next to Miao Quan.

“Mr. Miao, out with it. What exactly is your scheme for luring me out of my house this time?”

Miao Quan poured Lo Jun a cup of tea and chuckled. “How can you call it luring? Mr. Lu, first, have a taste. Tell me what you think of this Lu’an Gua Pian Tea.”

Lo Jun lifted the cup, first examining the color of the tea, then gently sniffing its aroma before taking a small sip.

“Not bad. This year’s top-grade Gua Pian!”

Savoring the aftertaste, Lo Jun set down his cup. “Mr. Miao, bringing out tea this good isn’t your style.”

“And this whole setup only confirms my suspicion that this is an ambush.”

He pressed again, “Mr. Miao, I’m here now. Stop beating around the bush. It’s time to show your hand.”

Miao Quan chuckled. “Alright, Mr. Lu, I’ll get straight to the point. The lot of us are here because of one person.”

“Who?”

“Yan Feifan!”

Lo Jun was genuinely surprised. “That young doctor and all of you?”

“He’s my student!” Miao Quan declared, his tone firm and proper.

Liu Jin immediately followed up, “He’s my student too!”

Qee Sheng also spoke up. “I suppose you could count me as his teacher!”

“He’s my apprentice!” Qin Ying stated stiffly.

Chen Yu raised his voice slightly. “If I tell that kid to call me ’teacher,’ he has to.”

Wan Yuming was short and to the point. “Student!”

Wang Chuan quickly chimed in, “He’s my apprentice too!”

Finally, it was Liang Zhao Kui from Cardiothoracic Surgery’s turn.

He said softly, “Mr. Lo, he isn’t my student, but he performed exceptionally well during his rotational training in our department. He’s a young doctor I admire very much.”

He had been roped in by Liu Jin to fill out the ranks and make a show of force.

Because of that last incident, while Liang Zhao Kui didn’t feel guilty toward Yan Feifan, he did feel slightly indebted. Coupled with the fact that Yan Feifan was genuinely outstanding, he had agreed to come.

The successive declarations from this group truly astonished Lo Jun.

He knew very well.

Most of the people before him held concurrent teaching positions at the medical school, mentoring numerous master’s and doctoral candidates, as well as other young doctors.

Even those without official teaching posts would occasionally give special reports or lectures at the medical school.

Between the hospital and the medical school, the number of people who called them ’teacher’ was in the hundreds, if not thousands.

However, those whom this group would personally acknowledge and accept in a teacher-student or master-apprentice relationship were few and far between.

The only one who could likely get all of them to show up and vouch for him was that fellow, Yan Feifan.

But thinking about his own interactions with the young man over the past two days, Lo Jun said with a hint of disbelief, “You don’t all actually believe that kid’s proposal—using anhydrous ethanol injections to assist in spinal canal tumor resection—is really feasible, do you?”

“Have you all lost your minds?”

“Or am I hallucinating?”

Miao Quan burst out laughing. “Mr. Lu, we haven’t lost our minds, and you aren’t hallucinating.”

“Let me ask you this first: do you think that kid, Yan Feifan, is capable of being the lead surgeon on a thumb replantation surgery?”

Lo Jun glanced at Qin Ying and Chen Yu, then said slowly, “The surgical technique for thumb replantation has become an almost standardized procedure.”

“But without a foundation of at least three to five years of surgical experience, it’s still not something one can do.”

“Yan Feifan, he…”

Lo Jun shook his head gently. “He doesn’t have that level of skill yet.”

The moment he finished speaking, Chen Yu placed a tablet on the coffee table in front of Lo Jun.

“This past Wednesday, due to some unexpected circumstances, that kid took over for me as the lead surgeon on a thumb replantation surgery.”

“This is the full video of the operation.”

Lo Jun hastily picked up the tablet. Dragging the progress bar with his finger, he spent about seven or eight minutes quickly scrubbing through the three-to-four-hour-long surgical video.

He slowly put down the tablet and asked Chen Yu, “The patient’s post-op examination?”

Chen Yu replied solemnly, “Excellent. The results of the surgery are on par with my own.”

Lo Jun let out a soft “Oh,” then said slowly, “I admit, Xiaoyan’s excellence has somewhat surpassed my estimations.”

“However, when you compare Mr. Pan’s spinal canal tumor resection surgery to a severed finger replantation, the difficulty…”

He looked at Qin Ying and Chen Yu and said, “I’ll say something you may not like to hear, but the difficulty isn’t on the same level at all.”

“Xiaoyan may be able to successfully lead a finger replantation, but that doesn’t mean he can perform a spinal canal tumor resection surgery.”

“Mr. Lu…”

Miao Quan spoke up again. “To be honest, when Mr. Liu and Mr. Wang came to me about this today, I also thought the kid was just talking big and daydreaming.”

“But…”

“I know this kid well enough.”

“He has an extremely solid foundation and a very sharp mind. More importantly, he dares to think big and he dares to act…”

At this, Miao Quan couldn’t help but chuckle. “That damn kid is just a bit too bold. He learned a lesson the hard way once, but he still hasn’t learned to be more cautious, and now he’s stirred up all this.”

Liu Jin also chuckled. “Mr. Miao, the nature of this matter is fundamentally different from the last incident.”

“If it turns out Feifan can actually do it, this could be a major research breakthrough.”

Liu Jin added excitedly, “We all know that while Feifan is bold, it’s a boldness born from great skill.”

“He wouldn’t insist on something unless he had a certain degree of confidence.”

Miao Quan nodded in agreement and continued, “Mr. Lu, although I also have my doubts he can do it, given this kid’s track record of repeatedly surprising us, and his consistently solid character…”

“I choose to believe in him and give him a chance to prove it.”

“Prove it?” Lo Jun repeated the key word.

Wang Chuan took over the conversation. “We’re preparing to recruit a volunteer with a tumor similar to Mr. Pan’s to test Feifan’s proposal.”

“We’ve spoken with Mr. Pan, and he is willing to provide financial support.”

Lo Jun said, a note of displeasure in his voice, “You’ve already secured funding, so why are you coming to talk to me about this?”

Wang Chuan said flatteringly, “Mr. Lo, you’re the authoritative surgical expert on intraspinal tumors. For now, Feifan can only be responsible for the assistive part—injecting the ethanol into the tumor.”

“For the most critical part of the surgery, the tumor resection, we can only be confident if you’re the one performing it.”

Miao Quan chimed in again, goading him. “Mr. Lu, we could, of course, ask someone else. For example, Dr. Zhu.”

“If this proposal really is proven successful, and you didn’t seize the opportunity, I think you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“To be blunt, we also have a selfish motive.”

“If the kid’s procedure fails, with an expert like you presiding over the operating table, the consequences won’t be too dire.”

Miao Quan urged him again, “Mr. Lu, we’ve laid everything out for you.”

“Are you in or are you out? Just give us a straight answer!”

Lo Jun lifted his cup, took a large gulp, and then slowly set it back down.

“I can agree to it, but I have one condition!”

Miao Quan said with a hint of disdain, “What condition? Spit it out. Being so wishy-washy isn’t like you.”

Lo Jun shot Miao Quan a sideways glance. “Regardless of whether this test succeeds or fails, Xiaoyan is to become my assistant.”

Miao Quan said in surprise, “Hey, Mr. Lu, if the test is a success, we can understand you taking him on as an assistant.”

“But why would you take him as an assistant even if it fails?”

Lo Jun gave Miao Quan a scornful look. “A vice president, six department heads, and an attending physician are all here vouching for the kid.”

“He’s not the illegitimate son of some national leader. The only reason for all of you to do this is because of his talent.”

’I’m not senile yet.’

Lo Jun then added with a sigh, “I’m retiring in a few years. I need to have a proper Closed-door Disciple.”

Amid a ripple of soft laughter, the matter of Yan Feifan becoming Lo Jun’s assistant was decided without even consulting the person in question.

As for a volunteer with a tumor similar to Pan Lirong’s, Lo Jun stated that he had a suitable candidate in mind…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep