020 Liu Banxia's Little Thoughts

The surgery went perfectly, leaving the lead surgeon beaming, the patient thrilled, and the observers full of praise.

The medical students here for their internship were unaware that Liu Banxia was a resident without prior experience as a chief surgeon. They humbly asked him questions, naturally addressing him as "Teacher Liu."

"Shi Lei, why don't you go over and chat with them?" Jiang Tao said with a smile.

Shi Lei nodded. After all, the proctology department felt like his old home.

"Liu, your residency is almost over. What are your plans for the future?" Jiang Tao asked with a smile after they entered his office, personally pouring water for Shi Lei and Liu Banxia.

Liu Banxia was pleasantly surprised. "Director Jiang, I'm currently focused on honing my fundamental skills. I have less than two months left to obtain my residency certificate."

"Hehe, haven't you thought about staying on at the hospital? You could come to our proctology department," Jiang Tao suggested with a smile.

This was a spur-of-the-moment idea. Actually, for today's ordinary surgery, which had turned into a teaching surgery, he had originally intended to use Liu Banxia as a negative example. After all, Liu Banxia was a resident, and a resident who had never performed as chief surgeon before.

However, Liu Banxia's performance was stunning. How could he look like someone who had never been a chief surgeon? Every movement was so skilled; he seemed born for this profession.

This sparked Jiang Tao's desire to recruit him.

Hearing this, Liu Banxia's hands trembled slightly.

Staying at the hospital after his residency had always been his dream. Even after acquiring the System, he still lacked much confidence about whether he could stay. The Second Hospital was truly top-tier, and its standards were incredibly high. For someone like him, what he lacked was more than just academic qualifications.

Shi Lei also glanced at Jiang Tao in surprise but said nothing. This concerned Liu Banxia's future; it was Liu Banxia's own decision to make.

Liu Banxia was truly conflicted. On one hand, there was the olive branch extended by Director Jiang; on the other, his own private aspirations.

If he didn't have the System, he wouldn't have hesitated and would have eagerly accepted. But not now; now he had the System. If he really accepted Jiang Tao's invitation, it would more or less tie him to the proctology department. This would inevitably have some impact on his future prospects—both career-wise and financially.

After quickly weighing his options, Liu Banxia spoke up, "Director Jiang, my personal situation is a bit special. My skills aren't solid enough yet, and I plan to continue learning diligently from our Chief Shi. However, you're the one who recognized my potential. If you don't mind, whenever things get too busy here, just give me a call."

"Chief Shi has also given me considerable autonomy recently. Until my residency ends, I can come over every morning to help patients with their wound dressings. This could also help alleviate some of the workload in our proctology department. What do you think?"

"You're a sly one," Jiang Tao glanced at him. "Your words are smooth, but it seems you still don't quite fancy our proctology department. However, it doesn't matter; we won't turn down free help. Shi Lei, you heard what Liu just said. He'll be coming over every morning to change dressings for the patients."

"Director Jiang, this is his good fortune. I learned a great deal from you back in the day. If you hadn't mentored me, I wouldn't be where I am today," Shi Lei said with a smile.

"Much good that did! Weren't you still poached by Old Zhou?" Jiang Tao shot him a glare.

Shi Lei just chuckled. Jiang Tao had indeed put a lot of effort into mentoring him back then. It was only due to his own personal reasons that he had chosen to "defect" from the proctology department.

"Boss, praise me a little, won't you? Even Director Jiang said I did well," Liu Banxia said with a grin on their way back.

"Praise you? Nonsense. Doing well in surgery is what you're supposed to do. Why ask for praise? Tell me, what are you really up to? Why offer to come over here and help with wound dressings?" Shi Lei glared at him.

"A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring. Director Jiang gave me the chance to operate and even extended an olive branch. I have to show my gratitude," Liu Banxia said, blinking.

Of course, he couldn't reveal his true intentions, an idea that had just sprouted when he arrived at the proctology department today. Post-operative dressing changes for patients in the proctology department are very painful. So, what if I take on an in-hospital part-time job? Coming here every day to help patients change their dressings, wouldn't that be like a fixed, unlimited monster-grinding spot? The path to grinding experience in the emergency department was all but blocked by Qin Hai. Now that there's this new grinding spot, only a fool would pass it up.

"What were you thinking? Not seizing such a good opportunity," Shi Lei frowned, his gaze fixed ahead.

"Boss, I'm following your lead, aren't I? So even if I were to stay at the hospital, I'd have to follow in your footsteps," Liu Banxia said with a serious expression.

A smile tugged at the corners of Shi Lei's lips; he was actually in quite a good mood.

Previously, he had only thought Liu Banxia was serious about his work, a competent doctor. But after having his surgery snatched away, Liu Banxia seemed spurred on, becoming more driven and revealing the potential of a surgeon.

He himself is a general surgeon, so naturally, he hopes Liu Banxia can stay in general surgery, on the front lines of saving lives. He was very gratified by Liu Banxia's choice, but he also knew he couldn't praise this fellow; any praise would make him overly conceited.

However, he still suspected Liu Banxia had other motives for volunteering to help with wound dressings in the proctology department. But there was no need to ask now. The kid's performance today hadn't embarrassed him, and his choice was gratifying. That was enough.

"I'll mention this to Director Zhou later. You need to keep a low profile during your remaining residency period. Don't cause any trouble," Shi Lei instructed.

"Boss, don't worry. You know me, right? Trouble always seems to find me, but I'm actually very well-behaved," Liu Banxia said with a straight face.

Back in the emergency department, before Liu Banxia could even speak, Zhou Li led a group of nurses who swarmed over to him, patting and touching him all over—ostensibly to share in his good fortune.

It was hard to say how many of those "sharing his good fortune" were actually doing so with the intent to cop a feel. In any case, Liu Banxia felt his face, nose, arms, and chest had all been thoroughly molested. Thankfully, these young women still had some sense of propriety and limited their attentions to his upper body.

"Hehe, thank you, everyone. Tonight, those not on duty, come with me after work. Those on duty, don't worry, I'll have takeout delivered for sure," Liu Banxia announced generously.

"Argh... if I'd known Liu was treating, I wouldn't have agreed to swap shifts!" one of the nurses lamented.

"Then how about letting Liu compensate you with an 'emergency room dance'?" another nurse teased mischievously.

Liu Banxia felt a slight headache coming on. This 'emergency room dance' they're talking about refers to me and Liang Xiaolin from yesterday. These girls... they're too bold!

Qi Wentai shot him a cold glance, his irritation flaring as he watched Liu Banxia being surrounded by the nurses like a star.

Liu Banxia saw him too but chose to ignore it. Truth be told, even he couldn't recall when the conflict with Qi Wentai had begun. In any case, he didn't care about it now.