Back in the emergency hall, business was pretty booming today. No wonder when I saw Li Hao just now, he was literally running and stumbling around.

It's also because the weather is hot, so people get more irritable. A few words go wrong and a conflict breaks out. Plus there are really a lot of cars on the road now, so a few minor scrapes and bumps are completely normal.

Liu Banxia took a look around, saw there was nothing that needed him, then sat down at the computer and wrote up an equipment requisition report and sent it to Zhou Shuwen.

TEM and NOSES surgeries are the next targets he wants to tackle; these two types of surgery have some overlap and are suitable to study together.

But each of them has its own dedicated equipment, which needs to be configured separately.

The request was a bit above the usual quota, since none of the general surgeons in the emergency center have used this stuff before, not even Zhou Shuwen.

Still, it shouldn't run into any real obstacles. These are techniques that fall under "old" surgeries anyway, and right now a lot of people are researching them—it's become something of a trend.

If you go by Liu Banxia's own thinking, compared with the significance of small-incision appendectomy, they're only a little stronger.

These two surgical approaches do indeed reduce trauma to the patient and speed up recovery. Like that TEM local resection of an endometriotic lesion he did—the patient's recovery was quite good.

But they each have drawbacks too, mainly that both techniques are a bit picky about patients. It's not like you can just use them on anyone; you have to choose based on the patient's parameters.

You could say every surgical method has its own advantages and limitations. For now, laparoscopic surgery is still more broadly applicable.

Even if you need to make an extra incision to retrieve a large specimen, the intra-abdominal working space is bigger, the operation is simpler, and you don't have to worry so much about the patient's body metrics.

"Director Liu, not bad—you really went straight for a psychological barrier. Tell me the truth: were you pretty sure from the start, or was it just your own guess?"

Having just finished up, Wu Mingyu walked over.

"As much as I'd love to brag about myself, I can't be that shameless. It was just a guess, a kind of stress-response manifestation." Liu Banxia said.

"If you think about stress responses, they're actually quite interesting. Most of the time they represent something negative. But in some cases, they're a very beneficial reaction."

"For example, when their child is in danger, parents sometimes do things they could never normally do. Speed, strength—they might get a small boost in those areas."

"In normal circumstances, even if they worked themselves to the point of coughing blood, they couldn't pull that off. I don't think it's just the crazy rush of adrenaline; there's also a mental component."

"Of course, most stress responses are negative. Getting scared stiff, scared dumb, too scared to move, limbs weak, talking nonsense, that sort of thing."

"Then you should branch out into psychiatry a bit more. I think that'd be pretty good for you." Wu Mingyu said.

"No way, that'd mean I have to read even more books. I'm already going through some orthopedic surgical records, and the more I read, the more I feel I was way too naïve before." Liu Banxia said.

"That's just you overthinking it. As long as you have the time, if you really dig into it, I think you'll quickly master most orthopedic procedures." Wu Mingyu said seriously.

"You've got to work hard, don't waste your time. Orthopedic cases make up a big chunk of the surgeries we do here in the emergency center. Whether it's for your own training or to ease the center's workload, I think it's great."

"So you're treating me to lunch. I've already given you a pep talk, don't reject my encouragement. Director Xu was asking about you yesterday. I said you didn't scrub in on a single case, and the old man feels he should have a talk with you."

Liu Banxia gave him a helpless look. "You only know how to bully me, huh? Didn't I ask Xu Yino to arrange things yesterday?"

"Heh, we just didn't get the chance yesterday. It's about time anyway—let's eat first, then we'll come back and take over the shift." Wu Mingyu said with a grin.

"Let's go, I really am a bit hungry now. Just now there was a little baby with sudden respiratory distress; intubation wore me out so much I almost left half my life in there." Liu Banxia nodded.

"Oh right, you've still got pediatric surgery to set up. Impressive, impressive." Wu Mingyu said with feeling.

He's never intubated a baby himself, but he knows how difficult that job is. Forget a baby—even with an adult, if your technique isn't good, you can cause serious damage.

It's only because the emergency center requires everyone to master this skill; in most other cases, you'd get anesthesia to come over and handle it.

They were eating a bit earlier than usual today, but that didn't matter. The emergency center has pretty flexible meal times, and nobody makes an issue of it.

"Stay sharp these days. I'm guessing a lot of people are going to come looking for you to eat and hang out." After they got their food, Wu Mingyu said.

"What's up? Something's going to happen again?" Liu Banxia asked in surprise.

On instinct, he felt this was Wu Mingyu's real reason for seeking him out.

"You really don't pay attention to anything." Wu Mingyu said helplessly.

"Some of the drug and device tenders are finished, so next comes the phase where these pharma companies start working on each department. Now you're a new deputy director, and in general surgery no less. You think there won't be plenty of people focused on you?"

"I really didn't notice this." Liu Banxia frowned.

It really was a rather troublesome matter, especially after the IV tubing incident last time.

They could make such a big fuss over a tiny IV tube, let alone over some of the higher‑priced drugs and medical devices.

This was exactly that "money" character Liu Banxia had talked about when he chatted with everyone before.

Which company's product you use for the same type of drug, which brand's device you recommend to a patient for the same thing—every minute of that is profit. And you don't even have to say you're going against your conscience; they all came in through tender anyway, so what difference does it make whose you use?

It looks like a simple choice, but it's actually quite complicated. The ones with larger volume and a bit of preference—naturally those agents earn more.

How do you make sure your own few brands get used more? You slowly work the department; once you've reached a tacit agreement, that becomes an unspoken利益输送—profit transfer.

Otherwise why does the medical system keep blowing up with scandals? It's still because the value embedded in these special products is too high. You don't even have to skim down the chain; as long as you've got the mind for it, just touching it once and your hands come away greasy.

"Anyway, I heard there were already a lot more people over by the inpatient department yesterday. Of course, a lot of it is just for show—what happens in private, nobody knows." Wu Mingyu went on.

"Last night Director Xu called me specifically to remind me. We use even more stuff in orthopedics, and it's more expensive. He also mentioned you in passing—he's quite upset that you haven't put much energy into orthopedic surgeries lately."

Liu Banxia was helpless. "I'm only human; I can't clone myself. I was a bit too ambitious at the start, wanting to meddle in everything. That's just lifting a rock to smash my own foot."

"I'll just take it slow. I'm still young anyway. As for the rest, there's no need to overthink it. Where we live is pretty closed off; random people can't get in."

"That's true. Otherwise, once they fix their eyes on you it's really annoying—just blatantly standing guard at the door waiting for you." Wu Mingyu sighed.

"Everyone's just out to make money. If not, how did Vice Director Wang end up going down back then? As for me, I don't have the guts, and I don't have that hobby either." Liu Banxia said.

"Thing is, sometimes it's hard to manage. They can completely do it under the banner of 'medication feedback' and stir things up on our turf. We're an emergency center, after all; people come and go all the time."

"As long as they don't affect our normal work, that's enough. The rest isn't really ours to manage. Who would you be managing, anyway? Every doctor has their own autonomy." Wu Mingyu said.

"And I actually think our people here are probably fine. They're all pretty decent and down‑to‑earth, and everyone's still in the upward stage of their careers. Nobody can afford to take that risk."

"Let's hope so. When we all retire someday, if we can sit around drinking tea and chatting, all in one piece, that'll be real success." Liu Banxia said.

He couldn't help feeling a bit wistful. The temptations were too many—lose control just once and you might end up with wet shoes. Want to get back to shore after that? Where would the chance come from?

Better to stop thinking about all this messy stuff. It wasn't really something he could control anyway. At most he could shout a bit, like Wu Mingyu, give everyone a reminder.

The rest, each person had to draw their own line.

Today's braised beef with potatoes was really good, just right for mixing with rice.

Watching Liu Banxia eat so heartily, Wu Mingyu was genuinely curious. "Every time I see you eat, it looks so delicious. How is your appetite that good?"

"I don't know either. Anyway, whether it's breakfast early or a late meal, as long as there's food, I can always eat happily." Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"And we really have to say, the canteen food here is very good. Qiaoqiao has eaten here too and gave it a thumbs‑up. Manager Zhou is very conscientious, he doesn't fob us off."

"Sigh… My food intake is pretty limited every day. Looks like I need to step up the exercise a bit." Wu Mingyu said.

When it came to eating, he really envied Liu Banxia. Because he was a surgeon too, he naturally knew that having a strong body was the capital that let you stand by the operating table for a few extra hours.

Liu Banxia often did major surgeries as well, but his energy after coming off the table was definitely the best among everyone.

That didn't have much to do with age. In fact, a lot of the time, when young doctors stayed on the table too long, they really weren't as good as those old surgeons who'd been tempered by years of work.

Forget it, he thought, just eat.

He'd said everything he needed to remind Liu Banxia about, so this meal Liu Banxia treated him to wasn't wasted. The key was that there was no way to talk about this back in the emergency center; it would make it seem like they were being holier‑than‑thou or overly suspicious of others.