"We tried using forceps to remove the bone through the mouth."

Dr. Han continued over the phone, "But the bone is lodged too deep, and the edges seem very sharp. It's already embedded in the esophageal wall. We don't dare use force for fear of causing a secondary injury to the child. If we puncture the esophagus or a nearby artery, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

He paused, his tone shifting to a plea. "Professor Xue, I remember a few years ago you used a traditional Chinese medicinal poultice to help a patient who had a date pit stuck in their throat. You successfully removed the foreign object. So… I wanted to ask if you had any way to help this child."

Upon hearing this, Professor Xue's first instinct was to ignore the request.

Date pits were small and easy to remove.

But a pig bone was different.

Not only was it larger, but it was also irregularly shaped,

making it difficult to extract.

Just as he was about to refuse, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

A thought flashed through his mind.

'An opportunity!'

'This is a golden opportunity, a gift from the heavens to publicly humiliate Li Xu and reassert my authority!'

Professor Xue regained his usual composure and confidence. "Alright, I understand. Keep the patient and their family calm, and don't do anything rash. I'm on my way."

He hung up the phone,

turned around,

and happened to see Li Xu, Lin Guorui, and Hu Qiming just as they were about to leave.

He immediately put on a magnanimous expression, as if he were taking the high road and letting bygones be bygones, and called out to the three of them, "Dr. Lin, Li Xu, don't go just yet!"

Lin Guorui, Hu Qiming, and Li Xu were all taken aback.

Professor Xue walked up to them and said in the unquestionable tone of a senior guiding his juniors, "The emergency department just called. There's an emergency patient with a bone stuck in their throat, and the situation is critical. Come on, you all can come with me to take a look. Especially you, Li Xu. It's good for a young man like you to see more difficult and urgent cases. It'll help you grow."

His words sounded noble, as if he were genuinely trying to help a junior colleague advance.

Although Lin Guorui and Hu Qiming found it a bit strange,

since it was an emergency consultation,

as doctors, they naturally had no reason to refuse.

Li Xu looked at Professor Xue's hypocritical face and sneered inwardly.

'He had a pretty good idea what this old geezer was up to—he wanted to get his dignity back.'

However, he didn't call him out on it and agreed to go have a look.

After all, seeing difficult and urgent cases would indeed be helpful for his future.

...

Outside the resuscitation room, it was total chaos.

The little girl's mother and maternal grandmother were clutching their heads, crying their hearts out.

Her father and maternal grandfather were also as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

When they saw a large group of doctors in white coats approaching in a formidable procession, they grew even more panicked and didn't know what to do.

"Doctor! Doctors, I'm begging you, please save my child! I'm begging you!" The girl's mother rushed forward, about to kneel before Professor Xue.

"Please try to remain calm! We're working on a solution!"

Dr. Han from the emergency department quickly stepped forward to support her, comforting her in a soft voice.

Surrounded by a crowd of people, Professor Xue walked into the resuscitation room.

He put on gloves, used a tongue depressor to carefully examine the situation in the girl's throat, and then looked at her head and neck, which were swollen like a ball. His brow furrowed.

The situation was even more serious than he had imagined.

The pig bone was lodged very deep, and the surrounding tissues had developed severe inflammatory edema due to the family's frantic attempts to remove it and the passage of time. This undoubtedly made the extraction much more difficult.

"We must operate immediately!"

Professor Xue made a decisive call, delivering his "authoritative" diagnosis.

He turned to Dr. Han and ordered, "Make the arrangements at once. First, get the child a spiral CT of the neck with 3D reconstruction so we can see the precise location, size, and relationship of the bone to the surrounding tissues. Then, contact Anesthesiology and Thoracic Surgery immediately and prepare for an emergency operation! We'll remove the foreign object directly by making a surgical incision in her neck!"

His diagnosis followed the most standard, conventional Western emergency medical procedures to the letter.

At the same time, he sighed inwardly.

He had originally planned to use his superb medical skills to remove the foreign object from the patient's throat, thereby showing Li Xu and the others just how capable he was.

But,

the patient's condition was too severe.

Surgery was necessary.

As such, he wouldn't be able to show off his skills.

He glanced at Li Xu. 'I'll let you off the hook this time,' he thought.

Li Xu stood to the side, watching this series of "professional" procedures from Professor Xue, but he couldn't bear to watch any longer.

A man with the title "Professor of the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine" was completely abandoning the soul of TCM when faced with a patient, his mind filled with nothing but Western medical tests and surgery.

"May I ask a question, Professor Xue?"

Li Xu's voice wasn't loud, but in the quiet resuscitation room, it sounded exceptionally clear. "As a professor of traditional Chinese medicine, when you diagnose a patient, do you not even need to perform the most basic examinations of observation, listening, inquiry, and palpation? Especially pulse diagnosis. You didn't even glance at the patient before ordering a CT scan and preparing for surgery. Do you think… you're fit to be a TCM doctor?"

Li Xu's words plunged the entire resuscitation room into an instant, dead silence.

All eyes were fixed on him.

Dr. Han from the emergency department was particularly dumbfounded.

'Has this guy lost his mind?!'

Professor Xue was a professor at Feng City Medical College and an expert at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, skilled in both Chinese and Western medicine.

'How dare a young man like you question if he's fit to be a TCM doctor?'

'This is absolute madness.'

Lin Guorui and Hu Qiming hadn't even had time to process what was happening.

Professor Xue spun around, his face flushed red with shock and fury.

He never imagined that Li Xu would dare to contradict and question him so mercilessly in front of so many people!

"Insolent!" He was trembling with anger, pointing at Li Xu as he roared, "What do you know?! Do you see the situation we're in? This is an emergency! It's life or death! The patient's throat is completely blocked by a bone, so swollen she can't even swallow water! And you want to talk to me about TCM? About observation, listening, inquiry, and palpation? What's the use of that? Are you planning to have her drink a medicinal decoction? Tell me, how is she supposed to drink it?!"

Professor Xue's words resonated with the others around them.

"Yeah, Professor Xue is right. TCM really isn't useful in a situation like this."

"Exactly. She can't even swallow her own saliva, let alone drink medicine. How could you possibly treat this with TCM?"

"Surgery is the most direct and effective solution."

Everyone present, including Dr. Han from the emergency department, subconsciously believed that TCM was powerless in the face of such a physical, organic emergency.

Hu Qiming was sweating with anxiety. He discreetly tugged on Li Xu's clothes from behind, signaling him to stop talking. He was offending everyone in the room.

But Li Xu paid him no mind.

Meeting the doubtful gazes of the crowd, he calmly walked forward, looked at Professor Xue, and said, enunciating every word:

"Who says TCM can't treat this? And who says she has to drink medicine?"

His gaze swept over everyone present before finally landing on the bewildered mother.

"I'll treat her," he said calmly. "No surgery, no incision. I guarantee I can make the bone come out on its own within ten minutes. Do you... dare to let me try?"