At 2:10 in the afternoon, Yan Feifan was still in the teaching operating room, intently observing Mr. Lo’s surgery. Suddenly, he felt someone take his right hand.

He turned to see Yu Suye.

Noticing she was giving him a meaningful look, Yan Feifan let her lead him a short distance away from the operating table.

Yu Suye leaned close to Yan Feifan and reminded him in a low voice, “The surgery is about to end!”

“Twenty more minutes at most,” Yan Feifan replied with a precise estimate.

Seeing that he hadn’t grasped her meaning, Yu Suye had to spell it out, “You insisted on your opinion, and while you were proven right, you also caused Mr. Lo to lose face.”

“The moment this surgery ends, Mr. Lo, Director Wang Chuan, and the others are definitely going to chew you out.”

“With so many people watching, they have to at least put on a show for Mr. Lo’s sake.”

Yan Feifan thought for a moment and nodded. “You’re right, that’s highly likely.”

Yu Suye glanced toward the operating room door and said, “Let’s sneak out before the surgery is over, what do you say?”

‘Discretion is the better part of valor.’ Besides, Yan Feifan’s bladder was killing him, and he wasn’t sure he could hold it much longer.

He took Yu Suye’s suggestion.

The two of them slipped out of the operating room and into the adjacent locker room.

After taking care of business and changing their clothes, they decided to grab a bite to eat first and fill their growling stomachs.

As they walked out of the building that housed the teaching operating room, Yu Suye glanced back and asked, “Feifan, weren’t you afraid back there when you held Mr. Lo’s gaze and refused to back down?”

“That’s a huge taboo at Baining Hospital.”

Yan Feifan admitted frankly, “Of course I was scared, but I had to stand my ground for the sake of a better surgical outcome.”

He then asked, “Su Ye, at Baining Hospital, even if the chief surgeon makes a mistake that could kill the patient, can’t a junior doctor who discovers it point it out?”

Yu Suye nodded. “That’s right, you can’t. At least not in a public setting, not by openly defying a superior like that.”

She went on to explain, “Something similar has happened at Baining Hospital before, where an assistant challenged the chief surgeon’s authority.”

“It was later proven that the assistant was right, but he was still fired.”

“As for the chief surgeon, he just had his bonus docked.”

Yu Suye sighed softly. “At Baining Hospital, a chief surgeon’s authority must be absolutely upheld, even if they make a mistake.”

“Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. The chief surgeon still has to bear the responsibility for that mistake.”

Yan Feifan said thoughtfully, “Nothing can be accomplished without rules and standards. You can’t say Baining Hospital’s approach is necessarily wrong.”

He then added sheepishly, “Su Ye, I didn’t actually challenge the chief surgeon’s authority, did I?”

“I kept insisting it was just a suggestion.”

“You have the nerve to call that a suggestion?”

Yu Suye rolled her eyes at him and snorted, “In my opinion, your ‘suggestion’ today was basically a palace coup.”

Yan Feifan gave an awkward laugh, then said thoughtfully, “In the future, to avoid something like this from happening again, we need to agree on the terms beforehand.”

“I’ll try my best to get the final say.”

“You absolutely have to,” Yu Suye agreed.

“Logically speaking, even though Mr. Lo is the chief surgeon, you’re the head of this research project.”

“So you could make the case that your authority supersedes his…”

The two of them arrived at Staff Cafeteria One, each got a tray of food, and dug in…

After wolfing down a few mouthfuls of food and finishing a bowl of preserved egg and lean pork congee, Yu Suye finally felt her stomach settle.

She looked up at Yan Feifan, who was sitting across from her.

‘He’s still picking up his food and eating so slowly and deliberately. He doesn’t rush to swallow…’

‘You could tell from this small detail that the guy has strong self-control.’

‘And he doesn’t smack his lips when he eats…’

‘Mmm, the bridge of his nose is straight, and his nose is quite large…’

‘Although his face is a little gaunt, its oval shape is actually quite handsome.’

‘I can’t believe I never noticed before, his eyelashes are actually really long. They flutter…’

Yu Suye continued to study Yan Feifan’s features.

She had to admit that while he wasn’t her ideal type—that chiseled, ruggedly masculine, tough-guy face—he was still very easy on the eyes.

‘If he cleaned himself up a bit, he’d have that pretty-boy look.’

Yu Suye suddenly felt her face grow hot, and her heart started to flutter…

‘Ah, what is happening to me?’

‘Don’t tell me I’m starting to fall for this guy?’

‘I’m just imagining things. It has to be!’

‘He’s not my type at all.’

‘He’s clearly a workaholic with no sense of fun.’

‘We’ve been working together for over a month, and he hasn’t shown me any special attention at all. He just treats me like any other colleague…’

‘Sigh… but his eyes are really nice, too…’

The moment Lo Jun set down his instrument, he caught sight of everyone in the observation gallery rising to their feet and applauding.

He knew full well that he wasn’t the main reason for their congratulations, but he still savored the moment.

Lo Jun raised his right hand and waved to the crowd in the gallery, his eyes scanning the room for Yan Feifan.

‘Where did that little rascal run off to?’

Leaving an assistant to close up, Lo Jun left the operating room. He first checked the locker room before heading to the family waiting area.

Pan Lirong’s wife, children, and other relatives and friends crowded around him, their faces filled with concern. Lo Jun announced loudly, “The surgery was a great success. It went even more smoothly than my best-case scenario.”

“However…” Lo Jun added cautiously, “As for his specific post-operative condition, we’ll have to wait until Mr. Pan wakes up and we can perform a detailed examination.”

He couldn’t resist adding, “But I’m optimistic about Mr. Pan’s post-operative checkup!”

Just then, Lo Jun saw Ma Peilin, Zhu Haifeng, Miao Quan, Wang Chuan, Liu Jin, and a whole crowd of others heading his way.

After briefly answering a few more questions from Pan Lirong’s family, Lo Jun walked over to Miao Quan, Wang Chuan, Qin Ying, and the others waiting nearby.

“So where’s the kid? Where’d you hide him?”

Wang Chuan and Qin Ying exchanged a look of confusion. “He’s not resting in the locker room?”

Lo Jun snorted. “Nope. And he’s not hiding in the restroom, either!”

“Don’t tell me that kid saw things were about to get ugly and decided to make a run for it?”

Miao Quan chuckled. “That’s probably it. It’s rare to see that little rascal be so quick-witted.”

He then laughed and said, “Anyway, it’s for the best that he ran off.”

“If he were actually here, what would you even do to him?”

Lo Jun said furiously, “If this had been twenty years ago, with my temper, I would’ve kicked his ass already.”

Miao Quan scoffed, “Oh, please. As if you would.”

“Aren’t you afraid one kick would be enough to make such a precious Closed-door Disciple run for the hills?”

“He’s not the type to suck it up and compromise!”

Just then, Ma Peilin chimed in, “Our Xiangya…”

Before he could even finish, Lo Jun, Miao Quan, Qin Ying, Wang Chuan, and Zhu Haifeng all whipped their heads around, glared at him, and said in unison, “You’re an outsider! Stay out of this!”

Ma Peilin sullenly shut his mouth.

Lo Jun lamented, “How times have changed.”

“Back when I was an intern, if our attending physician was the least bit unhappy, getting yelled at or even hit was commonplace.”

“But these days, I’m the mentor, and I’m the one who has to walk on eggshells and practically grovel.”

Miao Quan laughed heartily. “Only a little rascal like Feifan could get this kind of special treatment. What can we do? He’s the one with the incredible skills we all desperately need.”

“Right, Mr. Lu?”

Lo Jun nodded in resignation.

After a moment, he said indignantly, “I’m telling you, if we keep spoiling him like this, aren’t you afraid he’ll walk all over us?”

“We have to knock him down a peg or two, don’t we?”

PS.

Thanks to my reader “chlorine” for the tip!

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep