The Godfather of Surgery

It was hard to tell what time it was, but it was definitely well past midnight.

There was a loud bang-bang-bang on the door of the duty room.

"Who is it? Can't anyone let me sleep?" Zhang Lin opened the door and shouted, still groggy and ready to lash out.

At the nurse's station, there was a switch that triggered a bell in the doctor's duty room, allowing for a broadcast conversation. Zhang Lin thought the intern nurse didn't understand the system and had just knocked on the door directly.

"Director Tian?" This was unexpected.

Director Tian was hurriedly putting on his white coat, his face filled with fury—not just anger, but murderous intent. "Did you perform the surgery?"

Zhang Lin rubbed his eyes and mumbled, "Yes..."

"You're really brave, irresponsible even! Is this how you handle things?" If it weren't for years of higher education, Director Tian would have been swearing at them by now.

Zhang Lin stood frozen, realizing he had forgotten to call Director Tian earlier to report on the surgery. His phone had been low on battery, and he had been worried it would shut off, so he planned to charge it in the ward. Then, fatigue had set in, and he'd completely forgotten about the report.

The harsh scolding snapped Zhang Lin back into reality. He quickly woke up Yang Ping, who was still sleeping.

Director Tian, now fully dressed in his white coat, stormed off to check on the patient's blood circulation in the reattached finger. Zhang Lin and Yang Ping silently followed behind, not daring to make a sound.

To keep himself awake, Zhang Lin hastily pulled out a bottle of peppermint oil and dabbed some on his temples.

They looked like two students who had done something wrong, trailing behind the strict teacher.

As soon as Director Tian arrived at the department, he headed straight for the operating room. After asking the nurse, he found out the surgery had already been completed and the patient had returned three hours ago.

When he turned back to the department, the nurse informed him that Zhang Lin and Yang Ping were fast asleep.

Director Tian did a quick mental calculation: from the time he got the call to now, six hours had passed. The patient had been back for three hours. Subtracting preparation time, that left about two hours for the surgery.

Two hours. With their skill level, that was barely enough time for a thorough debridement and closure. But had these two idiots ignored everything—did they not bother reconnecting the blood vessels and nerves? Did they just use K-wires to stabilize the fractured bones and sew up the skin?

Was this possible? If that was the case, this would be a medical malpractice!

It was a sham surgery.

Director Tian's pace quickened, his mind spiraling with anger, blood rushing to his head.

He didn't care about disturbing the patient's rest anymore. The longer it took, the higher the chances the finger would die. If they didn't get the patient back into the operating room soon, there was still hope, but by tomorrow morning, it would be too late.

He could almost imagine the pale, shriveled, and cold finger that had been sewn up without proper blood circulation—completely lifeless!

With a loud click, the light in the ward flicked on.

The pain relief had been well done, and the patient was peacefully sleeping.

The sudden light woke both the patient and the family members beside him, who squinted against the harsh brightness, unsure of what was happening.

"We're checking the blood flow of the finger!" Zhang Lin nervously stood beside the bed, explaining to the patient, and switched on his small flashlight.

Director Tian brushed past Zhang Lin, snatched the flashlight, and shone it on the severed finger.

It was warm, plump, and flushed with color. Director Tian gently touched it. The finger was warm, and when he lightly pressed on the fingertip, it was full and elastic. The capillary refill test on the nail was normal.

This couldn't be! It didn't make sense.

"Syringe and needle!" Director Tian ordered.

At that moment, the nurse pushed a medication trolley over with a fresh dressing pack, cotton swabs, antiseptic, syringes, and other supplies.

The nurse handed over two cotton swabs soaked in antiseptic. Director Tian disinfected the area twice, then took the syringe and carefully injected three small needles into the fingertip at different spots. The needles just barely pierced the skin.

Bright red blood began to appear, slowly at first, then spreading and finally running down the side. Director Tian turned to look at Yang Ping and then Zhang Lin.

"The blood flow is excellent! Sorry for the disturbance, we need to check it again in an hour," Director Tian explained to the patient.

The patient and his family hurriedly responded, "No problem, thank you, doctor." They were still in a daze from the sudden wake-up call.

Back in the doctor's office, everyone sat down, and the atmosphere became tense.

Director Tian was stumped. What was going on? Did they actually reconnect the blood vessels? That shouldn't be possible. It had only been two hours. A full amputation with two pieces—this should normally take three or four hours to do properly, with the assistant ready to assist. These two kids couldn't have done it in just two hours.

But the time was clearly recorded, and the surgery had been completed much faster than expected. Director Tian couldn't understand what was wrong. Either the time was wrong, or...

"When did the patient arrive at the emergency department? When did the surgery start? When did it end?" Director Tian asked, firing off a series of questions.

"The patient arrived around 8:00, went to the operating room by 8:30, surgery began just after 10:00, and the operation ended just before noon," Zhang Lin recalled clearly. Though he couldn't remember the exact minute, the general timeline was accurate.

The nurse, also feeling the tension, quickly retrieved the patient's medical record. She handed it to Director Tian.

"Go ahead and do your work," Director Tian said gently to the nurse.

He carefully flipped through the medical records, looking at the anesthesia and surgery notes. His finger traced the timeline, and everything seemed to match what Zhang Lin had said.

"Did you really reconnect the blood vessels?" Director Tian asked.

"Two arteries, four veins, each severed end was properly anastomosed," Yang Ping said seriously.

Director Tian adjusted his glasses. "From what I see, the blood flow looks fine. But it's only been two hours... How could it have been done so quickly? Was it a complete amputation?"

That was when Director Tian realized. It might not have been a complete amputation after all. There could have been some tissue still connected, and one side's blood vessels could have been intact. Whether or not they sutured the vessels wouldn't affect the outcome. This could actually be classified as an open fracture, which was different from a complete amputation.

But... but... Zhang Lin had sent him pictures, and it clearly showed the finger was severed into two pieces.

"Completely severed, two distinct severed ends!" Zhang Lin relaxed a little and opened his phone to pull up the image. He finally understood what Director Tian was worried about. Tian suspected that he and Yang Ping hadn't actually reconnected the blood vessels and had only done a simple closure. But Zhang Lin had seen the entire process and knew the blood vessels were indeed anastomosed, and done so very well. He had nearly had a heart attack from the stress.

"Director Tian, we recorded the surgery. Why don't you take a look at the footage?" Yang Ping said.

Zhang Lin also remembered the footage and thought to himself, Why didn't I think of that earlier? "Yes, I downloaded the footage. It's on the computer in our office."

"Let's see the footage," Director Tian nodded.

Everyone gathered around the computer, and Zhang Lin opened the video. As it played, Director Tian kept looking back at Yang Ping, a skeptical expression on his face. "Was that you in the surgery?"

The instruments moved under the microscope without a single tremor, and the movements were incredibly skilled—fluid, precise, and smooth, with no wasted motion. Every step was done perfectly. The quality of the vascular, nerve, and tendon anastomosis was exceptional. Even the final skin suturing was flawless.

Microsurgery requires specialized training and innate skill. The surgeon's hands must be steady, as even the smallest tremor can be magnified under the microscope, severely impacting the procedure.

Vascular anastomosis is especially demanding. The outer tissues of the blood vessels, including the outer membrane, must be cleaned perfectly before suturing. Any contamination can cause thrombosis, blocking the blood vessels. The alignment of the vessels must be exact, without any misalignment, to prevent narrowing or turbulent blood flow that could also lead to clot formation.

Thus, small vessel anastomosis is the most challenging part of surgical techniques.

Surgeons practice this technique endlessly on animal models, like rat tails or rabbit ears, to hone their skills. Senior surgeons like Director Han, Director Tian, and Song Zimo all went through this rigorous training.

Director Tian watched the video, rewinding and playing it back multiple times to make sure he didn't miss any details.

Yang Ping knew what Director Tian was thinking. He had already prepared his answer. "I bought a set of microsurgical instruments online and also bought a second-hand microscope. I've been practicing at home with chicken legs for years. That's why my vascular anastomosis is pretty decent."

Director Tian thought for a moment and it all clicked. He had heard that Yang Ping had studied under Professor Zhao Desheng, who had personally