Chapter 70 Stealing the Technique

Zou Sensen grinned broadly. "I'm late."

With that, he winked at Yan Jing, pointed at Fang Zhiyan, and asked, "Guess who this is?"

Yan Jing stood quietly in a crisp white coat, looking serene and elegant. Her long hair was secured at the back with a claw clip, radiating a mature and graceful charm. She cast a gentle glance at Fang Zhiyan, her gaze pausing for a brief second before quickly looking away.

"Fang Zhiyan?" It wasn't Yan Jing who spoke, but Feng Lang standing beside her. He stared at Fang Zhiyan in shock and blurted out, "No way! What are you doing here?"

"Wait, Zou Sensen, have you lost your mind? You brought someone from an outside hospital to observe? Don't you know that even the staff from our own hospital might not get the chance to observe this surgery?"

Zou Sensen hurriedly raised his index finger and pressed it against his lips. "Shh, shh, keep your voice down! Don't make a fuss!"

Zou Sensen was starting to panic. He had simply meant well by bringing Fang Zhiyan in for a look; if Feng Lang hadn't yelled, no one would have noticed. Besides, he also figured it would be a good chance for Yan Jing to see Fang Zhiyan. Strictly speaking, the two of them didn't have any romantic ties. It was just an unverified rumor floating around from goodness knows where, claiming that Fang Zhiyan had a crush on Yan Jing. Since news travels fast and Yan Jing was remarkably pretty, she naturally had quite a few admirers. That was why Zou Sensen had playfully brought Fang Zhiyan along today. Who could have expected Feng Lang to shout it out for everyone to hear?

"Keep my voice down? This is a violation of the rules!" Feng Lang said angrily. His rising voice drew the attention of those around them. Heads turned in their direction from all sides.

Knowing he couldn't let Zou Sensen take the fall, Fang Zhiyan quickly stepped in. "I came here on a transfer," he said. "I wasn't planning on snooping on any techniques. I'll take my leave now."

With that, he turned to hurry away.

Feng Lang let out a cold snort. With a sturdy build, he stepped sideways to block Fang Zhiyan's path. "Do you think this is a place where you can come and go as you please?"

Fang Zhiyan raised his head and furrowed his brow. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much. Zou Sensen broke the rules, and you've violated our hospital's regulations as well." Feng Lang glanced down at the medical badge pinned to Fang Zhiyan's chest, a trace of contempt flashing in his eyes. "Just a resident from some small-town clinic, and you think you can sneak in here to steal our surgical techniques? Absolutely hilarious."

Fang Zhiyan sighed, utterly speechless. Steal techniques? Song Suo's techniques were certainly impressive, but he had no need to sneak around learning them. Yet he couldn't just say that out loud. Right now, Fang Zhiyan only wanted to slip away and avoid bringing trouble to Zou Sensen.

However, that clearly wasn't going to happen. Feng Lang's commotion had attracted even more onlookers. People around them frowned, and some already started complaining impatiently.

"Who are they? What's all the shouting about? Throw them out."

"How can just anyone wander in during such an important surgery?"

"So annoying!"

The chorus of overlapping complaints drew the attention of a middle-aged man standing at the very front. He turned and walked over. "What's all this noise?"

"Teacher Yang, this guy from a local hospital came here to steal our Second Hospital's techniques," Feng Lang reported eagerly. "He was even trying to run away when I caught him."

Hearing this, Yang Yu frowned and shifted his gaze to Fang Zhiyan. He let out a soft sound of recognition, as if he remembered Fang Zhiyan from somewhere. Still, he shook his head. Hospital rules could not be broken. Fang Zhiyan might have been his student in the past, but exceptions couldn't be made now. Besides, Song Suo was a top-tier skeletal reconstruction expert in the country. Ordinary people rarely got the chance to witness his surgeries. Getting to watch even once was an incredible privilege. To put it simply, Fang Zhiyan's actions constituted a breach of professional ethics. At worst, it could even be considered an infringement of trade secrets or intellectual property.

At this thought, Yang Yu's expression grew even sterner.

Feng Lang sneered at the side. "Fang Zhiyan, do you have any idea what you've just done?"

Up until now, Fang Zhiyan had kept his temper in check. But at this point, his patience ran out. He hadn't even been inside for thirty seconds—what kind of intellectual property theft were they talking about? Feng Lang was just swinging a big banner to bully him out of personal spite. If it were just about him, he wouldn't care, but if this ended up implicating Zou Sensen, that would be a real headache.

Deciding to drop the act, Fang Zhiyan stopped pretending and laid his cards on the table. "What kind of nonsense are you spouting? I've seen Expert Song's medical skills before; I don't need you here bragging about them. Doctor Song Suo and I know each other. Whether I'm watching or not is none of your business. Now move aside!"

Fang Zhiyan waved a hand dismissively, his face full of annoyance.

The surrounding doctors exchanged bewildered glances at his words. Feng Lang was the first to let out a dry, incredulous laugh. "Are you out of your mind, Fang Zhiyan? Do you even hear yourself? You know Expert Song? Hahaha! You really lie without blinking an eye. This is the Provincial Second Hospital, not your little Jiang'an City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Do you think Dr. Song is like the chief physicians at your hospital, someone you can just meet whenever you feel like it?"

With that, Feng Lang pointedly gestured toward Yan Jing. "Look at him. After graduating, his skin has gotten a lot thicker to be able to spout such nonsense. No wonder he ended up at Jiang'an City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine—when there are no tigers in the mountains, monkeys claim to be king."

Those words crossed the line into genuine nastiness. As a master surgeon from a future era, he hadn't even looked down upon Jiang'an City Hospital, yet an intern from the Second Hospital was acting so arrogant?

"Enough with the nonsense," Fang Zhiyan said, irritation clear in his voice. "If you don't believe I know Dr. Song, why don't you just call him out and ask him?"

Hearing this, Feng Lang laughed even harder. "Hahaha, Fang Zhiyan, you're hilarious. Do you think I can't see through your little scheme? You're just trying to use this opportunity to get yourself familiarized with Dr. Song."

Fang Zhiyan was rendered speechless. He truly couldn't fathom what was going on inside Feng Lang's head. What kind of strange wiring did this guy have? It made zero sense.

"Fine. If you don't believe me, I'll wait right here until the surgery is over, how about that?" Fang Zhiyan glanced toward the operating room. Judging by the current stage of the procedure, the surgery was practically finished. The final suturing work didn't require Song Suo to handle it personally anymore.

"Go ahead and brag! Keep blowing your horn!" Feng Lang sneered. "If I let you meet Dr. Song today, I'll eat my hat!"

Yang Yu frowned deeply beside them. Yan Jing shot Fang Zhiyan a look tinged with disgust. Only Zou Sensen wore an anxious expression, acutely aware that he had inadvertently dragged Fang Zhiyan into this mess.

Rubbing his temples with a headache, Fang Zhiyan pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts list to find Song Suo's number, and paused to type out a quick message: *Dr. Song, I'm observing your surgery at Donghai Second Hospital and I've been caught.*

After sending the text, Fang Zhiyan put his phone away and stared expressionlessly at Feng Lang.

Meanwhile, Feng Lang's eyelids twitched, a flicker of envy crossing his face. No way. Was he seeing things? That phone Fang Zhiyan was holding just now... looked like a Nokia model. Wasn't that specific model supposed to be extremely expensive? How could Fang Zhiyan possibly afford it? How was that even possible?

Though reluctant to believe it, the sight right before his eyes refused to lie.

At that exact moment, Song Suo was stepping out of the operating room. The medical staff around him showered him with praises for his brilliant technique.

Song Suo smiled modestly and shook his head. "You flatter me. However, every generation produces its own brilliant minds. This time, coming to Donghai Province, I actually met a young doctor even younger than me, and his surgical skills—tsk tsk tsk—even I can't hold a candle to him."