Surgery has its risks.

Especially pediatric surgery.

The risks are even greater.

Therefore, if there’s a way to avoid surgery, it’s best to take it.

The reason Li Xu dared to step forward was simple.

Although he hadn’t received an intelligence prompt, he recalled a case recorded in Elder Cheng’s notes where he had used acupuncture to cure a patient with a pig bone stuck in their throat.

Li Xu thought it was worth a try.

If he succeeded, the child could avoid surgery.

The emergency room fell silent after he spoke.

All the doctors present were stunned.

It was an incredibly arrogant claim!

The patient’s family was even more taken aback, unsure of who to believe.

Dr. Han from the emergency department was the first to react. He was about to refuse.

’Is this a joke?’

’Let some young doctor who popped out of nowhere handle such a critical patient?’

’If something goes wrong, who’s going to take responsibility?’

’He refused to believe that Chinese medicine possessed some kind of mystical power to remove objects from a distance.’

However, before he could speak, Xue Shuheng unexpectedly agreed!

"Good! Excellent!" Xue Shuheng looked overjoyed as he clapped Li Xu on the shoulder. "I knew you were my best student. Since you’re so confident, I’ll give you this chance to treat her."

’He was ecstatic.’

’Li Xu had just put his own neck in the noose.’

’He couldn’t possibly let go of such a perfect opportunity to humiliate Li Xu in public!’

"However..."

Xue Shuheng’s tone shifted. "You will be responsible for your treatment. If anything goes wrong, we won’t be covering for you."

He was cutting off Li Xu’s escape route.

"No problem."

Li Xu seemed oblivious to the trap he had just walked into.

However, Li Xu’s confidence did not win the family’s trust.

"N-No, you can’t!" The patient’s mother shook her head, crying as she held her daughter tightly. "We... We’ll listen to the expert here. Let’s do the surgery! You’re so young... What if... What if you make my daughter worse?"

She was already scared out of her wits and didn’t dare take any more risks.

Seeing this, Xue Shuheng was secretly delighted, but he put on a troubled expression.

’He knew that if the family didn’t agree, this little show couldn’t go on.’

To ensure Li Xu’s public "humiliation" went smoothly, he decided to give another push.

"Ma’am, please don’t get so worked up," Xue Shuheng coaxed. "This is Doctor Li. Though he’s young, since he’s willing to make such a solemn vow, he must have some confidence. Besides, I’ll be right here watching, personally supervising his treatment. I guarantee he won’t do anything reckless. If the situation changes in the slightest, we will stop immediately and proceed with the surgery. What do you think of that?"

He positioned himself as both a "supervisor" and a "failsafe,"

making himself seem magnanimous while also giving the family a dose of reassurance.

The mother hesitated.

She looked at Xue Shuheng, then back at the calm-faced Li Xu.

Finally, caught between her trust in authority and a faint hope for a miracle, she nodded through her tears.

"Alright, then. Doctor... Doctors... you... you have to save my child!"

Just as Li Xu was about to step forward and begin the treatment, Hu Qiming couldn’t watch any longer.

He rushed forward and forcefully pulled Li Xu aside.

"Li Xu! Are you crazy?!" Hu Qiming lowered his voice, sweating with anxiety. "Can’t you see? That bastard Xue is setting you up! He’s trying to screw you over! Can’t you see how dangerous this patient’s condition is? This isn’t something Chinese medicine can solve. Don’t throw away your future just to spite him!"

’He knew Li Xu was a highly skilled doctor,’

’but a critical emergency like a physical throat obstruction...’

’...was, in his opinion, beyond the scope of Chinese medicine.’

A wave of warmth washed over Li Xu as he looked at his anxious friend.

He patted Hu Qiming’s shoulder and said calmly, "Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing."

With that, he turned and walked back to the bedside.

"SIGH!" Hu Qiming watched Li Xu return, stomping his foot in helpless frustration.

He pulled out his phone and started typing in his class group chat, describing the situation.

Hu Qiming: [It’s over... Guys, it’s completely over. Li Xu got into it with that old fox Xue Shuheng and took on an emergency patient with a pig bone stuck in her throat. He made a solemn vow that if he can’t cure her, he’ll take full responsibility! The professor has totally screwed him this time!]

The message instantly sent the group chat into an uproar.

Miaoli: [What?! A bone stuck in the throat? How can you treat that with Chinese medicine? Was Li Xu being impulsive? @Hu Qiming, you have to talk him out of it!]

Jiang Peng: [Holy crap! That Xue Shuheng is such a piece of shit! Isn’t he obviously trying to ruin Li Xu? So insidious!]

Li Baojie: [This is huge trouble. If you mishandle an emergency like this, someone could die! Li Xu is in way too deep this time...]

Everyone in the group chat was breaking out in a cold sweat for Li Xu.

In their eyes, Li Xu’s actions were no different from an egg smashing against a rock—utterly suicidal.

...

Inside the resuscitation room, Li Xu tuned out all external distractions.

At that moment, the only thing in his eyes was the patient before him, her life hanging by a thread.

Li Xu didn’t rush to act.

Instead, he calmed his mind and began a detailed "Four Diagnoses."

First, observation.

The girl’s complexion was a sickly pale, tinged with puffiness. Her lips were cyanotic from lack of oxygen.

Her neck was so swollen it was level with her chest, the skin stretched taut and shiny.

He bent down, leaning close to the patient’s chest.

He could clearly hear her breathing—it was rapid and coarse, accompanied by a "HURGH... HURGH..." rattling sound from phlegm. Every breath was a struggle.

Next, Li Xu carefully questioned the family member at his side about every detail before and after the girl’s symptoms began.

When he learned that the girl had vomited pale, bloody fluid, his mind began to form a plan.

’This means the pig bone has already scraped the esophageal mucosa.’

Finally, pulse diagnosis.

He placed his fingers on the girl’s wrist.

The pulse was floating, slippery, rapid, and racing—a classic sign of excessive internal heat evil and the intertwining of phlegm and qi.

He then gently palpated the girl’s swollen head and chest. She immediately showed an expression of extreme pain. This indicated that the local qi and blood were stagnant—where there is no flow, there is pain—and the situation had become extremely severe.

...

To the side, Xue Shuheng stood with his arms crossed, watching with a cold, detached gaze.

When he saw Li Xu still methodically going through the "observation, listening, inquiry, and palpation," the sneer on his face deepened.

"Hmph, what a showoff!" he couldn’t help but mock. "Look at the time, and you’re still wasting it. Have you diagnosed anything? Are you going to tell us the patient has caught a common cold and needs a bowl of ginger soup?"

Li Xu ignored his taunts.

He withdrew his hand, stood up straight, and calmly stated his diagnostic conclusion:

"The patient is in critical condition, caused by a ’foreign body obstructing the pharynx, with qi reversal in the upper jiao, complicated by an invasion of wind-cold’!"