Chapter 238 - 159: King Zhang the Great (2)

Chapter 238: Chapter 159: King Zhang the Great (2)

He didn’t even know how he’d ended up here.

Why had he just followed Jiang He inside for no reason?

"Meng Shiyu," Jiang He said, turning to him, "go to the ward and check on Bed 42. Record his current vital signs."

"Okay, Teacher. I’ll go right now." Meng Shiyu immediately left the demonstration room.

Soon, only Yang Xu and Jiang He were left.

Yang Xu pulled out a chair and sat down next to Jiang He.

"First official day on the job. How are you settling in?"

"It’s alright."

"’Alright?’" Yang Xu chuckled. "I just got back from the outpatient department. I heard from Chen Jing that when you do your rounds and write up prescriptions, it’s like you own the place. Not at all like a recent graduate."

Jiang He gave a calm smile. "I’ve just been around the wards so much that I’ve gotten used to the procedures."

In reality, this place truly was like a second home to Jiang He.

Describing it as coming home was definitely not wrong.

Yang Xu didn’t press the matter. He leaned back in his chair, looked at Jiang He, and his relaxed expression vanished.

"I kept you back alone because there’s something I need to remind you about."

Jiang He: "Go on."

"This past October—you might not be aware—Yang Yunbin, the Assistant to the President of Southern Medical University and Vice Dean of Affiliated Hospital No. 1, was transferred to Guangdong Medical College to serve as their Vice Dean."

"That’s good news. A promotion."

"It’s good news for him, but a vacancy always needs to be filled. This month, a new Vice Dean arrived."

Jiang He raised an eyebrow slightly but didn’t interrupt, waiting for Yang Xu to continue.

"The new Vice Dean is named Zhang Sui. He has a very strong background. He studied abroad on a government scholarship in his early years, earned a dual medical doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and then worked in management and clinical research at the Mayo Clinic. After returning to the country, he was brought in as top-tier talent and parachuted directly into our Affiliated Hospital No. 1."

Zhang Sui.

’A familiar name.’

In Jiang He’s memories from his past life, Zhang Sui was universally acknowledged throughout the hospital as a stubborn old stick-in-the-mud.

Despite having returned from overseas, he was no liberal...

He was so rigorous he bordered on harsh, with a fanatical devotion to SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).

Back then, the young doctors all called him "King Zhang the Great" behind his back because he was always scolding people with a stony face. The slightest infraction would earn you a thorough tongue-lashing...

And yet, during turbulent times in doctor-patient relations, he would always be the one to step forward and fight for the doctors’ interests.

Jiang He remembered one time most clearly, when he was at a critical point in his promotion to associate chief physician.

Due to post-operative complications from a highly difficult surgery, the patient’s family had filed a complaint with the medical affairs department.

At the time, the administrative leadership, wanting to placate the family and close the matter, planned to have Jiang He apologize and be done with it.

It was Zhang Sui who, during a hospital administration meeting, reviewed the surgery line by line, comparing every single step of the procedure against international guidelines.

He had said, "Dr. Jiang committed no infractions. If a doctor who follows the rules and regulations is to be punished, then this hospital will no longer need rules—only compromise!"

Afterward, not only did King Zhang the Great protect Jiang He, but he also personally signed Jiang He’s letter of recommendation for his promotion.

Although later, Zhang Sui called Jiang He into his office and berated him with a deadpan expression for a full half-hour, even spending ten minutes chewing him out over typos in his rounding notes.

But in Jiang He’s eyes, that scolding was clearly... super gentle~.

"You know him?" Yang Xu asked, noticing Jiang He hadn’t spoken for a while.

"I don’t," Jiang He said, snapping out of his thoughts with a slight smile. "But from the sound of his name, he seems like a pretty good leader."

"He’s a good person, but..."

Yang Xu’s tone turned serious. "Since taking office, he’s been reviewing all sorts of recent medical records at the hospital. A few days ago, at an administration meeting, he specifically brought up the emergency rescue on the night of the Ring City Expressway accident."

A flicker of understanding crossed Jiang He’s eyes. He understood Yang Xu’s concern.

That night in the emergency hall, Jiang He, as a medical student who had not yet graduated, had overstepped his authority to perform triage in the red tag area and even scrubbed in on Wu Wanning’s multi-organ combination surgery.

"Although that rescue resulted in the miracle of zero fatalities, and Dean Chen protected you, and the provincial department issued a special document to grant you your medical license as a one-time exception..."

Yang Xu said in a low voice, "In Zhang Sui’s eyes, this is an extremely serious violation."

"He slammed the table right in the meeting and said that this kind of heroic, unauthorized action is a trampling of the modern medical system. He said that if this were overseas, it wouldn’t matter how many people you saved—both your license and mine would be revoked, and the hospital would face astronomical fines."

Jiang He fell silent.

He understood Zhang Sui’s perspective.

From a macro perspective of medical management and systemic development, Zhang Sui wasn’t wrong.

A mature medical system cannot be sustained by individual heroism and flashes of brilliance. It must rely on strict rules and regulations to mitigate risks.

Doctors aren’t gods. Breaking the rules is often accompanied by huge hidden dangers to medical safety.

’But, if we had stuck to the rules that night, at least three more people in the emergency hall would have died...’

’Could you really have stood by and done nothing?’

"Dean Zhang isn’t targeting you personally. He’s targeting this culture of disregarding the rules."

Seeing Jiang He’s silence, Yang Xu thought he was upset and tried to console him. "His philosophy clashes somewhat with Dean Chen’s and mine. We believe in saving lives first, that life is paramount. He believes the system is the bottom line, and it cannot be crossed."

"I understand, Teacher," Jiang He nodded. "The Vice Dean is right. For a large hospital to develop, it must rely on a system. What I did that night was indeed a special measure for a special circumstance."

Seeing Jiang He react so maturely, Yang Xu was a little surprised, then he smiled in relief.

"It’s best that you understand. I’m telling you this to remind you that even though you’ve officially started and have a specially approved license from the state, in Zhang Sui’s book, you’re already a marked troublemaker."

Yang Xu leaned forward and warned him earnestly, "From now on in the department, all your medical documents and informed consent forms must be written in strict accordance with regulations. Your rounds, prescriptions, surgeries—every action must be well-founded and follow procedural guidelines. Don’t give him any excuse to catch you stepping out of line. He’s currently itching for an opportunity to clean up the hospital’s culture, so don’t you go walking into the line of fire."

"Don’t worry," Jiang He promised.

The feeling was actually quite strange.

In his past life, Zhang Sui had treated him well and had done him great favors.

But in this life, this mentor figure was already dissatisfied with him, even planning to make an example of him to enforce discipline.

Jiang He knew very well that Zhang Sui hadn’t changed.

Whether in that timeline or this one, Zhang Sui had things he was determined to uphold.

’But the situation I’m facing now is that I have twenty years of clinical foresight. In many areas, I need to accelerate, and then accelerate some more.’

’Such wild growth is bound to come at a price.’

’In fact, my license... was obtained by bending the rules quite a bit.’

’In Zhang Sui’s eyes, that’s the most uncontrollable factor of all.’

Jiang He reached up and straightened his collar.

This feeling of being viewed with hostility by a respected elder... it felt... a little novel?

’Old Dean, I remember your kindness from my past life. In this life, I’ll find a chance to repay you.’

’Of course, before I win you over, you’d better not target me for too long. Otherwise... things will get very awkward.’

"Alright, as long as you’re aware."

Yang Xu stood up, walked to the door, and then suddenly stopped.

He looked back at Jiang He. "Ah, Jiang He. For Zhao Youcheng’s surgery, once his jaundice subsides, you’ll scrub in with me."

Jiang He nodded. "No problem."

Yang Xu gave him a thumbs-up. "Nice! You’re really... so awesome and amazing!"

Jiang He: "?"

Faced with his teacher’s forced attempt to act cute, Jiang He quickly made a diagnosis in his head: ’Clinical presentation: infantilized vocabulary, accompanied by a clear case of acute Dad-slang-emia.’

’Teacher, you’ll never win over Professor Wang like that, you know?’