"Dandan, wait here for a bit. I need to find Sister Wang."
Having indulged his fantasies, Liu Banxia threw down these words and took off. He had just enhanced his agility attribute and had a taste of its benefits. He felt as if he could see a golden road leading him to a sparkling, successful life.
"Sister Wang, I need to discuss something with you." Liu Banxia went out and found the head nurse, Wang Ying.
"Don't lose heart; there will be opportunities in the future. What's up?" Wang Ying asked with a smile.
"Sister Wang, I think the only job I can do well now is debridement. You can give me all the debridement cases from the emergency room today. Don't give them to other doctors. It will free them up to attend to more serious patients," Liu Banxia asked, his eyes sparkling.
"All to you? Can you handle it?" Wang Ying hesitated.
Debridement was the most common procedure handled in Second Hospital's Emergency Department. If she were to evaluate it, the task seemed simple, but it was anything but. It was the kind of task skilled doctors avoided, and unskilled ones couldn't manage.
Now, Liu Banxia wanted to take on this heavy responsibility, and with the incident yesterday of his surgery getting snatched, she had to think twice.
"Sister Wang, I only have two months left in my residency. With the current situation, forget about staying in the hospital; I won't even get the chance to be the primary surgeon. The only thing I can practice now is debridement and suturing. Maybe in the future, I can find a job in a cosmetic surgery hospital and get by," Liu Banxia played the pity card.
As a senior, caring figure in the emergency department, Wang Ying often worried about many things—not just departmental matters but also the personal lives of her staff. She was very warm-hearted and had a soft spot for persistent requests.
"Doctor Wei, what do you think?" Wang Ying looked at Doctor Wei Yuan, who was on duty in the emergency room. She was just the head nurse and couldn't make the decision on this matter.
The emergency department didn't have full-time physicians; they were all on rotation. They also had to care for the inpatients in their respective departments. The standard staffing for a general surgery rotation was one attending physician and two resident physicians.
Liu Banxia and Qi Wentai were resident physicians from general surgery who often rotated in. They worked efficiently and were easy to instruct. It was unknown how these two good young people had become rivals—they were good kids, but they simply couldn't see eye to eye.
Wei Yuan smiled and nodded. "Then I can have it easier today. We'll give all the mild cases to Liu and Qi."
"Thank you, Doctor Wei! Thank you, Sister Wang!" Liu Banxia was overjoyed.
On his way to Treatment Room Two, Liu Banxia saw a pretty young lady with a gauze dressing on her forehead walking toward him, which made his eyes light up. It wasn't because the young lady was pretty, but because this patient could be an opportunity for him to practice suturing.
"Miss, right here!" Liu Banxia enthusiastically waved his hand.
Wang Xiaoyan, upon hearing his voice, was startled. When did hospital service become so enthusiastic? she wondered.
"How did you get hurt?" Liu Banxia asked after greeting Wang Xiaoyan.
"I bumped it on the car door. Doctor, could you use cosmetic stitches? I'm afraid of leaving a scar," Wang Xiaoyan asked with concern.
DING! Task Issued: Wang Xiaoyan's Concern
Because of the injury to her forehead, Wang Xiaoyan is very worried about it leaving a scar that would affect her beautiful appearance. Help Wang Xiaoyan.
Task completion reward: 100 experience points. Task failure penalty: deduct 200 experience points.
Liu Banxia was taken aback. He hadn't expected the system to issue a task with a penalty. Was this because the task was so simple, compelling him to take it seriously?
"Ma'am, come to Treatment Room One. You need the suturing technique of a plastic surgeon. He... HEH HEH."
Just then, a voice Liu Banxia found intensely irritating rang out. He could pick out this voice even if it turned to ashes. It was Qi Wentai, the second-year resident from general surgery who had stolen his appendectomy surgery yesterday.
Especially that final "HEH HEH"—it hit right where it hurt.
Looking up, he saw Qi Wentai leaning against the doorframe of Treatment Room One, chin raised, looking at him with disdain.
"This is a hospital. Do you think this is a KTV or something? Are we competing for customers now?" Liu Banxia managed to control the rage welling within him and said with a smile. He then looked at Wang Xiaoyan again.
"Rest assured, we'll use cosmetic sutures as you requested. There might be some marks when the stitches are first removed, but they'll disappear after a while. I even offer after-sales service—a lifetime warranty!"
Wang Xiaoyan, who had been a bit tense due to the earlier exchange, was immediately amused. After-sales service from a doctor? That was a first! But with Liu Banxia's distraction, she no longer cared about the verbal tussle between Liu Banxia and Qi Wentai and followed him into Treatment Room Two.
Qi Wentai's face darkened instantly. Seeing Wang Ying not far away, he walked straight toward her. "Sister Wang, Liu Banxia just took a patient to do plastic surgery sutures. I'm worried a medical dispute might arise. You'd better go check."
Upon hearing Qi Wentai's words, Wang Ying also became anxious. She instinctively felt that Liu Banxia was about to cause trouble. This kind of suturing was usually handled by plastic surgeons. Even Wei Yuan rarely performed it. Why on earth did Shoutian act so recklessly?
She rushed to Treatment Room Two, and then Wang Ying was stunned.
Liu Banxia had already cleaned the wound and was administering local anesthetic to the patient.
Hadn't he just received the patient? Was the cleaning already done? The words came to her lips, but she swallowed them back.
All she could do for now was watch. Interrupting would certainly attract the patient's attention. Still, she was on pins and needles for Liu Banxia.
As for Liu Banxia, his own heart was pounding.
'Cosmetic suturing' was a common term among laypeople, as was 'cosmetic thread'; both were colloquial abbreviations. The so-called 'cosmetic thread' actually referred to absorbable sutures, frequently used for intradermal suturing.
The challenge of cosmetic suturing lies in suturing the subcutaneous fat layer and the dermal layer together, burying the knot deep within to minimize irritation to the skin tissue. After this tension-reducing suturing, the epidermis (outer skin layer) experiences almost no tension during final closure.
He was very familiar with this suturing technique; however, his previous work had been too crude. Even though he understood the method, he couldn't achieve the desired results.
Today, he was pretty much biting the bullet and going for it.
One reason was that Qi Wentai's mockery had provoked him. A good temper didn't mean he had no temper at all. The other reason was the delivery guy he had treated earlier, who had given him confidence.
Now, his hands were much steadier than before. If he carefully followed the key points of tension-reducing suturing, there shouldn't be a problem.
Even after giving himself a pep talk, when the first needle went in, he was incredibly nervous.
The beginning is always the hardest. Once the first needle went in, both the angle and the tactile feedback made him feel extremely content and significantly boosted his confidence.
Needle insertion, withdrawal, and clamping—from Xu Dan and Wang Ying's perspective, Liu Banxia performed these actions with fluid expertise. The only drawback was that he was a bit slow, but the suturing result was excellent.
Wang Ying sighed in relief, though a sliver of doubt remained in her heart. She thought she knew Shoutian quite well; who would have thought he'd mastered such a suturing technique?
"Doctor Liu, the stitch looks really nice," Xu Dan couldn't help but compliment as she watched Liu Banxia tie the knot.
Liu Banxia smiled and nodded, then began to apply medication and bandage the wound. "Avoid spicy food, smoking, and alcohol. Keep the wound dry and minimize movement. I'll prescribe some medication for you. Come back tomorrow for a follow-up and dressing change. If there isn't much exudation from the wound, you can come back every other day after that. We should be able to remove the stitches in a few days."
DING! Daily Task Completed (2/20)
Task 'Wang Xiaoyan's Concern' completed. Reward: 100 experience points, 100 Suturing Skill proficiency points, 20 Dressing Change Skill proficiency points.
Task Rating: Flawless. Reward: 300 experience points, 300 Suturing Skill proficiency points, 50 Dressing Change Skill proficiency points.
Congratulations, Host, for leveling up to Level 9 (6,656/7,600)! Awarded: 1 Attribute Point, 5 Glory Points.
Congratulations, Host, Dressing Change Skill has reached Level 2 (5,010/19,999)!
Congratulations, Host, Suturing Skill has reached Level 2 (5,168/19,999)!
Looking at the continuous stream of system prompts, Liu Banxia was practically drooling.
He'd leveled up! It didn't seem that hard after all.
"Is it really stitched up properly?" Wang Xiaoyan was still a bit worried.
"All done. Go home and rest, and come back on time for dressing changes. Don't worry about the scar. If there really is a scar, I'll bite it off for you," Liu Banxia said with a smile, taking off his mask.
Wang Xiaoyan looked at Liu Banxia—his bright white teeth, his straight nose, thin lips, and the slightly upturned corners of his mouth. The sexy little dimple on his right cheek seemed capable of drawing a person in, and she found herself momentarily dazed.
What would biting a scar feel like?
Thinking of this, she quickly lowered her head, her face flushing.
What on earth had gotten into her? She usually couldn't be bothered to look twice at all the handsome men vying for her attention, so why had this Doctor Liu given her such a jolt?