At 4:20 PM on Thursday, Yan Feifan was back in the changing room of the surgical area. He swung his arms, twisted his waist, and did high kicks to relieve the stiffness and fatigue from the long surgery.
Although he was physically and mentally exhausted, Yan Feifan felt pretty good.
He had originally thought that last night’s unplanned bout of passion would affect his work performance.
But to his surprise, he had maintained a high level of concentration throughout the entire intraspinal tumor resection. The surgery had started at nine in the morning and lasted well into the afternoon, yet he’d shown no signs of flagging energy.
Director Lo Jun had even praised him, saying his surgical skills had improved yet again.
This made Yan Feifan realize on a profound level that a proper balance of yin and yang could promote physical and mental harmony, and even augment one’s abilities.
He changed his clothes in the changing room, rested for a bit, then left the surgical area. Instead of going back to the neurosurgery department, he went straight to plastic surgery.
Today, the orphanage had sent over two children for physical examinations: one with a cleft lip and palate, and another with a left arm deformity. Both had been selected by Yan Feifan and Yu Suye.
The surgeries for both children were scheduled for tomorrow.
In the ward on the sixth floor, Yan Feifan reviewed the detailed examination records for the girl with the cleft lip and palate, then personally gave her another examination.
On his way out, he dropped by the director’s office and found Mr. Wang flipping through a stack of documents.
"These are the files for the volunteers Lin Qian and her team screened for the experimental facial nerve damage therapy."
Wang Chuan explained, then asked, "Do you want to take a look?"
Yan Feifan quickly shook his head. "I’ve seen the evaluation rubric Lin Qian and her team created. Besides the specific nerve damage, they also have to consider many other factors like the strength of the patient’s desire, their physical condition, spouse and children, family finances, work income, and so on."
"It’s a bit too complicated. I’m better off handling the practical matters."
Wang Chuan smiled. "I’m finding there are quite a few benefits to having more people. At least you can hand off all the trivial matters to them."
After a pause, he asked with concern, "I only just heard some of what happened yesterday with the Yu Family of Jingcheng."
"Is Yu Suye doing okay?"
Yan Feifan said softly, "It’s inevitable that she’d feel sad and have other emotions for a while. After a day to adjust, she’s doing much better."
Wang Chuan sighed. "Doctors are always under immense mental stress. It’s understandable when strange things happen."
"So young, too. What a shame."
Yan Feifan sighed as well.
The Affiliated Hospital had nearly four thousand medical staff. In the few years he had been interning and working there, he knew of at least three who had taken their own lives for various reasons.
Not wanting to dwell on the heavy topic, Yan Feifan changed the subject. "Mr. Wang, you selected that Qi Xiuping last night."
"Did he get in because of connections, or on his own merit?"
"What do you think?" Wang Chuan asked back with a smile.
Yan Feifan smiled sheepishly. "In my opinion, his skills could be described as barely satisfactory."
"For him to be chosen, it must have been mostly due to connections."
Wang Chuan chuckled. "Feifan, I’ll let you in on something. Of these five people, two of them got in because of connections."
"But that Qi Xiuping? I really did choose him based on his skills."
Yan Feifan was a little incredulous. "No way!"
"Didn’t more than thirty people apply? That’s a ratio of three out of thirty. Were their skills all that terrible?"
Wang Chuan just laughed. "It’s not that they’re bad. It’s that your own skills, and your standards, are too high."
"The quality of the finished products they took three hours to make—the silicone nose model and the nasal skin—still couldn’t come close to what you completed in under ten minutes last night."
Wang Chuan said, both gratified and a little wistful, "In terms of plastic surgery, I’d say your skills have already surpassed my own."
He didn’t forget to add, "In certain areas, not all of them."
"Just some areas!" Wang Chuan emphasized again.
Yan Feifan quickly chimed in, "I still have a lot to learn from you, Mr. Wang."
Wang Chuan nodded in satisfaction. "It’s very good that you have a clear-headed awareness of your own abilities, and that you’re not arrogant or impatient."
"Oh, Feifan, did you finish that homework I gave you last week?"
Hearing this, Yan Feifan’s face instantly turned red.
"Mr. Wang, I’ve been in surgery all day."
"Right now I’m tired and hungry, I’m going home to eat..."
Seeing Yan Feifan’s flustered escape, Wang Chuan couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh...
A little after 6:30 PM, Yan Feifan returned to his residence at Zuimo Court. He found his sister, Yu Suye, and Du Qiu busy in the dining room.
They were making dumplings, with two kinds of fillings: tomato and egg, and chive and pork.
Yu Suye was rolling out the dumpling wrappers, while Yan Ziruo and Mrs. Du were filling them.
The dining table was covered with a steamer cloth, on which thirty or forty dumplings were already neatly arranged.
However, there were five or six ugly, wobbly dumplings of varying sizes that were clearly Yan Ziruo’s masterpieces.
"What made you decide to make dumplings?"