12 The skilled warrior boasts no dazzling feats.

The man froze for a moment after speaking, as if suddenly stepping into thin air and falling into an abyss, his whole body wracked with discomfort.

Yet Lin Yuming seemed not to have paid attention to what he said, casually asking a question without responding to the man. After venting his emotions, his tone instantly softened.

“I know you’re just momentarily confused,” Lin Yuming said calmly to the man. “This matter, in fact, benefits the ordinary people of Donglian City. When you stir things up like this, the wealthy and powerful will find other ways around it, but it’s the common folks who really suffer.”

“That’s what they call burning the bridge after crossing it—closing the door once inside, afraid that the common people might gain any benefit. It’s truly unscrupulous.”

“Are the experts from the provincial capital short of money?”

“You’re still young; you don’t know the reality. Let me put it this way: when I first started working, back in the 1990s, all the department heads had their own side businesses.”

“Really?” The man was genuinely unaware.

“You know ‘Youth Spot,’ right?”

The man was confused by Lin Yuming’s shifting demeanor—sometimes gentle, sometimes stormy—but followed his line of thought.

‘Youth Spot’ was a restaurant chain with many branches throughout Donglian City, thriving in business.

“The original owner of Youth Spot was once a surgical director at our mine hospital.”

The man was stunned.

“When the director performed surgery, if the patient’s family invited him to dinner, it was always at Youth Spot. No questions asked. If someone stubbornly insisted on going elsewhere, the director wouldn’t even show up. Red envelopes? Ridiculous. Do you think he needed that kind of money?”

“Later, when the director retired, Youth Spot became more formalized. Thanks to his connections, it flourished in our city, with annual revenue nearing ten million, even after he retired.”

“Do you know who owns the city’s largest curtain wholesale and retail company?”

Lin Yuming asked again.

The man looked at Lin Yuming in disbelief.

“Do you know how many directors’ families are involved in excavation work?”

Lin smiled slightly but didn’t elaborate. Instead, he gently advised, “It’s not easy for ordinary people to see a doctor. Once outside, they’re like headless flies, unable to distinguish north, south, east, or west. Bringing in outside experts serves two purposes: first, it spares middle-class city residents from the hassle of traveling to higher-level hospitals; second, it improves the medical environment for the common people and, lastly, enhances the skills of our own doctors at the mine hospital.”

“When Director Liu from the provincial capital comes to perform surgery, half the cases are invited directly, and the other half are done by our own doctors under his supervision for township patients.”

“If you cause a scene like this, experts won’t come anymore. Many patients will be denied care, and their treatment will be delayed. You only care about your own family’s recovery, but don’t you fear shortening your own life?”

The man was left speechless.

Though stubborn and unreasonable, whenever he thought of Director Lin’s veiled threats—whether true or not—he dared not probe further and simply surrendered.

“Let’s leave it at that. The issue hasn’t escalated; I’ll pretend it never happened,” Lin Yuming said, seeing the man silent and regretful, offering him a way out.

The man nodded solemnly.

Lin Yuming comforted him briefly and sent him away before finally exhaling.

Luo Hao, standing at the door, roughly understood what his uncle had said to the quarrelsome patient’s family. Recalling the previous preparations, he looked at Lin Yuming with admiration.

“Uncle, you’re amazing!” Luo Hao said, giving a thumbs-up.

Earlier, Lin Yuming had postponed some patients and scheduled appointments, which Luo Hao hadn’t understood then.

Now he realized his uncle had prepared for the worst from the start.

Such preparations were likely useless, but his uncle still did them—better safe than sorry.

Lin Yuming glanced at Luo Hao. “You’re still green. Study hard.”

“Yes, sir!” Luo Hao responded sincerely. “By the way, what about Director Wen?”

“Director Wen? You overheard that?”

“Yeah, I just happened to hear.”

“Forget it. That’s not something a junior doctor like you should worry about,” Lin Yuming cautioned.

Luo Hao and Lin Yuming exchanged glances and nodded silently.

Those old men were all quite devious; he was just a doctor, nothing more, and didn’t want to get involved.

“Focus on your surgeries.”

“Yes, sir!”

“We Chinese say a gentleman’s revenge can wait ten years. Even if it’s a hundred or a thousand years later, the national and family grievances remain vivid. This trivial matter? Just remember it, but don’t rush.”

A piece of news that could have shocked the whole country was quietly suppressed by Lin Yuming. Apart from a few involved, no one knew what he had done.

The saying “a skilled warrior wins without great fanfare” seemed fitting.

Donglian City was small enough that everyone knew each other; in a bigger city like the capital, this tactic might not work.

Yet Luo Hao trusted his uncle’s careful and meticulous style, believing he could handle the matter perfectly even in the capital.

...

“Chen Yong, is everything ready?”

Inside an old two-bedroom apartment, Jiang Wenming leaned back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head, casually asking.

The room was a mess, dusty and cluttered with garbage everywhere, except the computer desk and chair, which were clean and tidy in their small corner.

Chen Yong sat awkwardly at one end of the sofa, without a mask.

He seemed to have some mild germophobia and was clearly uncomfortable with Jiang Wenming’s untidiness.

“Everything’s ready. Master, you’re busy; I’ll clean up the place, then we can talk,” Chen Yong said.

“Why bother cleaning? I can’t see it anyway. Rest, rest,” Jiang Wenming scoffed.

Chen Yong glanced at the kitchen sink, piled high with dishes sprouting mold.

He sighed helplessly.

Taking a deep breath, he wondered if he might be inhaling spores.

“Anything wrong?” Jiang Wenming watched him calmly.

“Master, you really should get a girlfriend.”

“You expect a girlfriend to clean up after you? What do you take girlfriends for, maids? Stop dreaming; we’re not kids.”

Chen Yong was speechless.

“Let me ask you something.” Jiang Wenming picked up a portable hard drive. “This is a 1TB drive, fully loaded. Would it get heavier?”

Chen Yong thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes, but humans can’t perceive it.”

“???” Jiang Wenming was surprised.

“I once saw a foreign geek’s test: a full solid-state drive versus an empty one—the difference in electrons was astronomical. Electrons are extremely light, so the weight difference was about 0.0002 micrograms—negligible, but real.”

Jiang Wenming looked at his apprentice and shook his head. This guy’s mind was different.

“I bought this hard drive, and after filling it up in less than a month, I felt it getting heavier—so much so my hand trembled when lifting it. So, whether you have a girlfriend or not doesn’t matter.”

Chen Yong laughed. “Master, you’re joking.”

“No, I deleted all the data later,” Jiang Wenming said calmly. “Women only slow down my swordsmanship. You, on the other hand, change girlfriends more often than underwear. You’d better focus more on your skills.”

“…”

“Anyway, tomorrow’s surgery isn’t very difficult, but it’s not exactly simple either.”

Chen Yong raised a handsome brow. “Master, you’ve explained the technical details to me; I’ve studied them.”

“I know,” Jiang Wenming smiled with satisfaction. “You’re more talented than I am, your hands more skillful, but the problem is you talk too much to the girls... you get distracted.”

“I…”

“They only slow down your swordsmanship.”

“!!!” Chen Yong looked at Jiang Wenming, perplexed by his master’s views.

Life without romance or moonlit nights—what’s the point?

“In any case, pay attention to the details,” Jiang Wenming steered the conversation back. “The devil is in the details. Why are my surgeries a little better than others? Because I focus on details.”

Chen Yong nodded solemnly.

After saying this, Jiang Wenming’s expression darkened slightly, and he shook his head.

“But it’s useless. Even if you do the best surgery, you’ll beg for alms till you’re old.”

“Master, I still think you shouldn’t leave clinical practice,” Chen Yong said bluntly.

“I’ve made my decision,” Jiang Wenming said firmly. “I can still do something in outpatient care. It’s not a complete departure from clinical work, just doing what I can.”

“Master, you want to be like Liu Cixin, but he’s a figure who changed an era. I think…”

“Who told you I want to be Liu Cixin?” Jiang Wenming scoffed. “I just admire, envy, and maybe am a little jealous. My greatest strength is knowing my limits.”

“Heh.”

“Suppose—just suppose—that three years ago I met Luo Hao and Director Liu from Medical University No.1, I would have chosen to be a ‘black doctor’ there.”

“Black doctor? What’s that?” Chen Yong was puzzled.

Though he didn’t understand, he knew his master wasn’t talking about a malicious doctor.

“Many trainee doctors who maintain good relations with upper-level hospitals never return to their own hospitals.”

“Really? Is that allowed?”

“Why not?” Jiang Wenming smiled. “No bonuses, but I help out the upper-level hospital’s professors. There are plenty of benefits, both overt and covert.”

“Benefits?!”

“When I was training at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one doctor refused to come back no matter what. He worked hard every day in the department. During New Year’s, when others had holidays, the group leader professor still wanted to do surgeries, and this doctor didn’t even go home.”

“!!!”

“The group leader professor knew how things worked. He had the doctor’s wife and kids join him in the capital for the holiday, gave him a sum of money and lots of gifts. Of course, these were small matters, nothing major.”

Chen Yong was speechless; this world was unlike anything he had imagined.

“For example, expert appointment slots: the group leader keeps a few for you. Ten slots a week—you guess how much that’s worth?”

“These are patients the professor sees after hours, in his free time. No one can complain.”

“Also, when people from your hometown come to the capital for treatment, that brings huge invisible benefits.”

“But…”

“Once, when we were close, he told me after a few drinks that his niece was taking the civil service exam in the capital. Before her interview, she got in touch with him, and he arranged everything with the group leader professor.”

“…”

Jiang Wenming’s stories were far beyond Chen Yong’s understanding.

“Why am I telling you all this?” Jiang Wenming laughed seeing Chen Yong’s bewildered face. “Anyway, if I had met Luo Hao three years ago, I would have unhesitatingly become his junior doctor.”

“!!!”

Chen Yong was once again shocked, even his hair standing on end in amazement.

Though his master appeared gentle and mild, he was actually proud and ambitious, Chen Yong knew.

Saying he’d be a junior doctor was something Chen Yong had never expected.

“No joke,” Jiang Wenming said seriously. “Director Lin is a capable man. There are things you might not know.”

“Like what?”

“Before Director Lin joined the Medical Affairs Office, our hospital had 12 large medical disputes dragging on for three to five years, some even ten.”

“Within a year of his arrival, all those disputes were resolved.”

“But they were just medical disputes,” Chen Yong scoffed.

Jiang Wenming smiled; Chen Yong was just like he had been at that age.

This had to be a gradual process; too fast and Chen Yong would rebel.

“Tomorrow, when Director Liu arrives, you record the procedure with your phone.”

“Master, that’s a female patient!” Chen Yong jumped up from the worn sofa.

“Who the hell told you to record the patient? Idiot!” Jiang Wenming scolded. “Record the ultrasound, the screen output. Don’t you know how to record ultrasound images? You’re always thinking the wrong way. You almost scared me to death with that comment.”

“Oh, oh, I see.”

Jiang Wenming was startled and sighed. “When you come back, I’ll explain the details.”

Chen Yong nodded.

“Now, I’m going to start working.”

Jiang Wenming opened a folder.

Chen Yong’s eye twitched three times at the folder’s name.

Suppressing his nausea, Chen Yong stood up and politely took his leave.

Before leaving, he glanced back once more—the title read: “Beginning with Rebirth in the Urban Campus, Surrounded by Beauties.”

Chen Yong couldn’t understand why his master was so obsessed with writing such rubbish.

It was utter neglect of his years of clinical experience and surgical skill.

Sigh.

...

Another week passed.

Lin Yuming took Luo Hao to the high-speed train station to pick up Liu Haisen.

After the previous incident, Deputy Director Liu Haisen was still observing the situation.

He was anxious about possibly becoming a nationally famous figure.

But since the major problem had quietly dissipated without a ripple, Liu Haisen knew that his dorm leader’s skills had not dulled.

Time had not only turned Lin Yuming’s temples gray and etched wrinkles around his eyes, but also made him shrewder in handling matters.

Liu Haisen was curious about how Lin had resolved the issue, asking many times.

Lin Yuming just smiled quietly and told him not to worry. With the strong Medical Affairs Office at the mine hospital, nothing would go wrong.

“Xiao Luo, have you been doing surgeries on your own lately?”

In the car, Liu Haisen asked Luo Hao.

“Teacher Liu, no, I haven’t,” Luo Hao answered honestly.

“That’s too cautious. It’s a small procedure; no need to be so conservative.”

“Our patients come for you. Even if they don’t want to spend much, they want you watching over. Without you, our surgeries here would probably be delayed at least five years.”

“Five years?” Lin Yuming shook his head. “Without a higher-level hospital or Director Liu, even if we perform surgeries, there would be very few patients. It wouldn’t push things forward.”

Many matters were involved. Besides Luo Hao, the others in the car were seasoned professionals who understood why.

Liu Haisen then asked about some details of the current surgical patients.

Having seen several rounds by now, Deputy Director Liu trusted Luo Hao completely. Still, it was best to be thorough to avoid unnecessary accidents.

Luo Hao answered each question with appropriate detail; the deputy director was pleased.

This kid was reliable, not only skillful but diligent, and wrote excellent medical records.

...

“Xiao Luo, by the end of the year...” Deputy Director Liu had just started when his phone rang.

He looked at it, frowned, and was displeased.

“From the department?” Lin Yuming peeked with a smile.

Deputy Director Liu nodded and answered.

“Deformity? No deformity? What nonsense is this?”

“Didn’t you see if there was deformity or not?”

His tone turned sharp; the gentle demeanor he had with Luo Hao vanished.

Lin Yuming smiled slightly, focusing on driving.

All senior doctors were like this—Liu was still good compared to others. Some superiors became extremely irritable when dealing with medical matters.

Recently, a surgeon lost his temper in the OR, throwing instruments, causing quite a scene.

Now the post-2000 generation was shaking up the medical field.

When Lin Yuming started, all the senior doctors had fiery tempers; no one dared to breathe loudly!

The post-2000 generation was fierce.

He hoped Liu wouldn’t encounter such troubles.

“Send me the images; I’ll take a look,” Deputy Director Liu said, calming down before hanging up.

“Old Liu, what’s going on?” Lin Yuming asked casually.

“The doctor below did an NT scan and said the fetus might have a deformity, then said maybe not.”

“Ha! I always thought only our lower-level hospitals were unreliable. Didn’t expect Medical University No.1 to be so uncertain — ‘maybe yes, maybe no.’ What kind of talk is that?”

Luo Hao chuckled, glancing at the system panel in the top right of his view—no tasks appeared.

Not his concern; he treated it as entertainment.

Deputy Director Liu wore a stern face, staring out the window.

There seemed to be a difficult problem.

His phone remained silent until they reached the mine hospital.

After examining the patient, he began surgery, and his phone rang.

“Xiao Luo, take a look.”

Deputy Director Liu was performing an ultrasound, watching the screen intently as he spoke to Luo Hao.

Luo Hao called Chen Yong to assist, stepping aside so as not to interfere, and opened the deputy director’s phone.

“Female, 31 years old, first pregnancy, no prior births.

Chief complaint: 31 weeks and 3 days of amenorrhea; elevated blood pressure for one month.

Routine prenatal check on the day of visit.

Previous prenatal care at our hospital: Down syndrome screening showed borderline risk for trisomy 21; non-invasive DNA test low risk; amniocentesis negative; early pregnancy nuchal translucency (NT) and mid-pregnancy ultrasound indicated single umbilical artery.

Ultrasound shows: fetus’s bilateral common iliac arteries are thin; single umbilical artery (Type II).”

“Single umbilical artery? What’s so difficult about that?” Liu Haisen frowned, eyes fixed on the screen, searching for the puncture angle.

“Teacher Liu, there are ultrasound images. Would you like to see?”

“Can you understand them?”

“Yes,” Luo Hao replied without hesitation.

“Then tell me, what’s going on?”

Chen Yong, wearing three layers of masks, twitched the corner of his mouth beneath them.

He was really putting on an act.

NT screening for fetal deformities isn’t exactly a high-difficulty skill, but Luo Hao was a medical affairs clerk, not a radiology specialist, yet claimed to understand.

Pretending. Sooner or later, he’d stumble.

Being his junior doctor? His master had really misjudged.

But Chen Yong wasn’t distracted; he immediately realized this was his “big chance”!

Previously, he only assisted in expert surgeries, always a bystander.

Now, the patient undergoing surgery was his own, Luo Hao was away, and it was finally his turn to act!

Cooperate well with the expert; this could be a breakthrough.

Jiang Guangming had repeatedly told Chen Yong to be patient in clinical work.

Just because you can do the surgery doesn’t mean you get to do it immediately.

You must wait for the opportunity, and when it comes, seize it.

The current director of thoracic surgery at the mine hospital, back when he was a junior doctor, once encountered a patient with a stab wound to the heart, who arrived with a stopped heart.

He didn’t wait for the director; in a burst of youthful passion, he immediately opened the chest cavity with a blade, exposed the tamponaded pericardium, and manually compressed the heart, buying time.

By the time the director arrived, he was already at the operating table, opening the chest for the director to suture.

What is opportunity?

It always comes unexpectedly.

Chen Yong held his breath, watching as Director Liu found the needle insertion point and immediately took the probe.

Deputy Director Liu was accustomed to Luo Hao’s cooperation and wasn’t surprised, taking it in stride.

“Xiao Luo, what’s your opinion?” he asked while preparing the puncture.

“I think...” Luo Hao hesitated, only uttering three words before falling silent.

Deputy Director Liu continued the puncture, voice low, “Say whatever you want. I’ll review after I’m done; it won’t delay treatment.”

“Teacher Liu, I think your doctor’s approach isn’t correct.”

“???”

“!!!”

In the ultrasound room, exclamation marks and question marks filled the air.

Lin Yuming’s face darkened; he was already imagining whipping Luo Hao mercilessly.

Openly questioning a senior doctor’s diagnosis...

Luo Hao didn’t seem arrogant, but his tail was already wagging high in the air!

“Explain your viewpoint,” Deputy Director Liu said sternly, as he drew fluid from the patient’s liver cyst.

“There is only one umbilical artery and one umbilical vein in the fetal umbilical cord. The umbilical vein is the left umbilical vein. The umbilical artery was not detected on either side of the bladder. Tracking found it originates from the abdominal aorta. Since the superior mesenteric artery also originates from the abdominal aorta, this is a Type II single umbilical artery.”

“Make it simpler,” Deputy Director Liu interrupted.

“The early pregnancy NT and mid-pregnancy ultrasounds only indicated a single umbilical artery, with no abnormal course detected. The reason for not detecting the abnormal artery path in both ultrasounds is that during the early NT exam, the fetal bladder was not full, so the relationship between the umbilical artery and bladder was not shown.

During the mid-pregnancy scan, although only one umbilical artery was seen encircling one side of the bladder, careful observation showed the artery was far from the bladder, likely not originating from the common iliac artery. Due to the sonographer’s lack of awareness about single umbilical artery classification, the abnormality was missed.”

“I suggest...”

Luo Hao directly pointed out the errors by Medical University No.1’s ultrasound doctor.

In fact, it wasn’t really a mistake, just a rare case that even the hospital’s ultrasound specialist couldn’t figure out immediately.

Liu Haisen’s movements had stopped at some point.

He listened quietly, some confusion replacing his previous emotions.

A rare disease diagnosis was not difficult, but Luo Hao’s detailed explanation was not fully understood even by Deputy Director Liu.

...