The Godfather of Surgery

In no time, one blood vessel had been successfully anastomosed, and Yang Ping began working on another.

Zhang Lin picked up the microscopic instruments, eager to help, but his hands were trembling so much that he nearly snipped the blood vessel Yang Ping had just connected.

"Don't move!" Yang Ping said firmly.

Zhang Lin dared not touch anything further, his face burning with embarrassment.

He simply put the instruments down and stopped trying to assist, staring into the microscope, watching Yang Ping work.

Yang Ping wasn't planning on letting Zhang Lin help. He remained calm, operating alone, his forceps and scissors working in perfect harmony. One by one, the blood vessel ends were revealed, and he found another vessel.

He quickly trimmed the vessel's ends, removing part of the outer membrane. With a swift snip, the ends were perfectly cleaned and aligned.

"Turn on the recording system!" Zhang Lin suddenly remembered and called out to the circulating nurse.

The microscope was connected to a high-definition camera, which was recording the entire procedure.

The circulating nurse replied, "Already on."

As a young resident doctor, Zhang Lin was mentoring an intern, and although she didn't say it aloud, the senior nurse had already opened the recording function. Just in case anything went wrong, they'd have a record to refer back to.

"Heparin saline wash, 11-0 microsurgical sutures," Yang Ping instructed.

The nurse handed over the syringe with heparin saline and the microsurgical sutures on a needle holder.

Today's instrument nurse was excellent—despite being her first time assisting, she was very skilled. Yang Ping glanced at her eyes—long lashes, clear, lively.

"Su Yixuan?" he thought, his first instinct telling him the eyes looked familiar. But he didn't dwell on it, quickly refocusing on the surgery.

The sutures were much thinner than a human hair. Under the microscope, in Yang Ping's steady hands, the needle pierced and exited smoothly as if stitching skin.

He continued, one vessel after another.

In one continuous motion, he anastomosed six vessels—two arteries and four veins—because the finger was severed into two parts.

Next, he began work on the other severed end. The same process, another six vessels, all performed smoothly and skillfully.

Releasing the vascular clamps, the blood vessels gently pulsed. The pale fingertips at the far end immediately flushed red. The vessel anastomoses were flawless, with no bleeding and good blood flow.

Zhang Lin's role was just to pass the instruments, and even then, he struggled to keep up with the pace. He had never performed a severed finger replantation himself, though he'd seen Director Tian and Song Zimo do it many times and assisted with their surgeries.

Today, under Yang Ping's hands, the replantation felt entirely different. It wasn't the daunting, difficult surgery he had imagined—it was like a simple debridement or tendon repair, executed with ease.

If the replantation surgeries he had watched before were at the speed of a train, this one felt like it was at the speed of an airplane.

Nerve anastomosis, tendon anastomosis! The nerves were precisely aligned, and the tendons were sutured with a reinforced Kessler stitch. Finally, the skin was sutured under the microscope. Fine drainage tubes were carefully placed beneath the skin at the two severed ends.

Yang Ping let out a sigh of relief. Everything looked good. If there were no complications, this blood vessel anastomosis should ensure the finger's survival.

"Dressing, cast fixation!" Yang Ping and Zhang Lin began to wrap the injured limb.

The anesthesiologist was the first to react, surprised, "What's going on? No more replantation?"

"It's done!" Zhang Lin answered confidently.

"Done?" The anesthesiologist was doubtful. The anesthesiologists and nurses, being in constant contact with doctors, were the best judges of a surgeon's skill. They knew better than anyone the level of a doctor, and they were often the ones who truly saw the procedure unfold.

Even though the surgery had only taken around two hours, and the entire operation was actually completed in under three hours, the anesthesiologist couldn't quite believe it. For a surgery like this, it usually took at least five or six hours, and the anesthesiologist even suspected that the two young doctors might have skipped the difficult parts, just doing a simple closure. But as an anesthesiologist, he knew it was inappropriate to voice his doubts aloud, so he merely nodded and began preparing for the final steps.

The instrument nurse also eyed the situation with a hint of suspicion. She had mentally prepared herself for a long battle, but this was all over too quickly.

Zhang Lin removed the surgical drapes layer by layer, handing the final towel clamp to the nurse. "All done!"

The patient, hearing the procedure was nearly complete, sounded disappointed. "Doctor, is it really done? You have to help me. My kid's still small, and I'm the only one working to support the family. If I lose my hand..." The man's voice broke, and he began to sob softly.

Yang Ping gently pressed his hand on the patient's shoulder, offering reassurance. "Don't worry, the finger's been reattached. Now you need to lie in bed for ten days. You'll need to stay in bed for everything—eating, drinking, and even going to the bathroom. No smoking, understand? If you do, the finger might die."

The patient immediately stopped crying and smiled. "Really, doctor? Thank you so much. When I recover, I'll treat you to barbecue and beer. A young doctor told me it would take five or six hours, but you've done it so quickly."

Yang Ping left the operating table and quietly checked the surgical records. The instrument nurse was indeed Su Yixuan. He'd remembered her eyes from the bar, where they had briefly discussed tracheal foreign body obstruction, but neither of them had asked about each other's profession at the time.

It turned out that Su Yixuan was an operating room nurse. She packed up the instruments and waved at Yang Ping. "Yang Ping?"

"Su Yixuan?" Yang Ping asked, confirming.

Su Yixuan nodded. "You really submitted your resume? Already started working? I didn't know you were an orthopedic surgeon."

"Did you two know each other?" the circulating nurse asked, pointing to them.

Su Yixuan nodded.

The two chatted briefly before returning to their respective duties.

Zhang Lin and the nurses, along with the anesthesiologist, escorted the patient back to the ward. The ward nurses were stunned. "Is this a replantation or just a repair?"

"It's a replantation!"

No way! It had only been a short time. The young nurse didn't believe it but didn't have time to question further. She quickly went to prepare in the ward.

Yang Ping sat in the changing room for a moment, leaning back in the chair to rest. This felt really good.

This was his first time applying the surgical skills he'd gained from the system in real life, and he felt a bit excited. At first, he had been nervous, unsure if everything would go smoothly, not daring to rush through the procedure.

Now, he was confident. The surgical skills from the system could be applied directly to reality, just like the skills he had learned in real life.

Ding dong! Task complete, reward: 1600 points.

On the light screen in the system space, the basic technical training section on the first page of the store had turned from gray to glowing gold, meaning it was available for purchase. Yang Ping had enough points to buy a few affordable courses, and he went ahead with the training.

After exiting the system space, Yang Ping made a few trips to the ward to check on the blood flow in the reattached finger.

Even the most perfect surgery could fail. There were too many factors that could affect the outcome.

If a blood vessel blockage occurred, causing a vascular crisis, it had to be dealt with immediately. Delaying the treatment could lead to the finger dying, and even Hua Tuo couldn't save it.

Of course, in Hua Tuo's time, replanting severed fingers was out of the question.