The doctor arrived.

The man in the suit in the hallway stopped, and the family members quickly gathered around.

"Director Yang, my father..."

"The surgery was a success."

Hearing those five words...

The tension that had filled the air finally eased a little...

The family members said repeatedly, "Thank you, thank you, Director Yang. We’re so grateful for your hard work."

Yang Xu waved his hand. "Today’s surgery was very dangerous."

The family members immediately fell silent, listening intently.

"Once we opened him up, we found that the tumor had widely metastasized. It was tightly wrapped around the superior mesenteric artery and the portal vein. To make matters worse, the old gentleman had a rare vascular anomaly. With a conventional surgical plan, it would have been impossible to operate. A single incision would have led to either massive hemorrhage or necrosis of the right half of the liver."

Yang Xu gave a long explanation, but the middle-aged man only understood "massive hemorrhage."

’Those two words were definitely not good... He knew instantly they meant something terrible. Something very bad!’

"Then what happened...?" the middle-aged man asked.

Yang Xu turned slightly, revealing Jiang He, who had been standing behind him.

"If my student hadn’t promptly proposed a revolutionary posterior approach, guiding the entire surgical team around the minefield in front of us to perform a reverse dissection from behind the blood vessels... For today’s surgery, the only thing I could have done for the old gentleman was perform a palliative drainage and then stitch him back up."

Yang Xu’s long speech was, in fact, all to praise Jiang He.

He wanted to help Jiang He make a connection, to get acquainted and make a friend.

After a pause, Yang Xu worried his explanation had been too complicated for them to understand.

So he added, "Therefore, the person you truly need to thank is Jiang He. He’s the one who found a path to survival and saved the old gentleman’s life."

The man’s gaze instantly fell upon Jiang He.

His first reaction was, ’He’s so young.’

’Almost too young.’

’He looks like a college student who just started his internship at the hospital...’

But he also knew that there was no reason for Yang Xu to lie about the outcome of the surgery, and it was even less likely that he would promote a junior for no reason.

Since Director Yang had said so, it had to be the undeniable truth.

The middle-aged man took a deep breath, strode over to Jiang He, and firmly grasped his hand.

"Dr. Jiang, words can’t express my gratitude."

Jiang He replied, "I was just doing my job."

After expressing his gratitude a few more times, the middle-aged man released his hand, pulled a business card from the inner pocket of his suit, and offered it to Jiang He.

"Dr. Jiang, this is my card. It’s too late today, but I will definitely pay you a formal visit another day."

Jiang He reached out and took it.

Printed on the card was:

[Hujun Group]

[Vice President & Director of Supply Chain: Zhou Guanglin]

Jiang He froze.

’Hujun Group?’

’I remember that name...’

In October 2008, which was right now, the Hujun Group bankruptcy incident was in full swing.

It was one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers, and at its peak, it held a significant share of the global toy manufacturing market.

Just a few days ago, the factory had suddenly declared bankruptcy.

Six or seven thousand workers lost their jobs overnight and were blocking the factory gates, demanding their wages.

The incident caused a massive uproar, eventually prompting the local government to step in and pay over twenty million in wages to quell the situation.

The root cause of this commercial empire’s collapse was that the group’s majority shareholder had used the company’s cash flow to play the stock market.

Then he got hammered by the 2008 financial crisis, lost everything, and ultimately caused the company’s capital chain to break completely.

Zhou Guanglin keenly noticed the change in Jiang He’s expression.

He smiled bitterly. "Dr. Jiang... have you seen the news?"

Jiang He nodded. "I’ve seen some of the reports. It’s certainly caused quite a stir."

Zhou Guanglin sighed, his tone weary and helpless. "It’s an embarrassing situation, Dr. Jiang. In fact, I suspect my father’s condition flared up because he saw the news on TV and got worked up."

He paused, then continued, "To be honest, I’m just a vice president in name only. I was in charge of the production lines. When the majority shareholder wanted to play the stock market or buy mines, our objections were useless."

"The company went under, and the big boss just packed up and fled the country to escape his debts. But of the six thousand-plus people in that factory, more than half were people I personally recruited from villages in the mainland. Some of them brought their entire families and had been working with me for nearly ten years. I couldn’t just stand by and watch them be unable to even afford a train ticket home."

"So, I sold my two houses in Peng City and my wife’s storefront. I paid a portion of the severance fees for my long-time employees out of my own pocket. Now, I’ve got nothing left. The only thing I’m thankful for is that you all saved my father’s life..."

Jiang He listened quietly.

He couldn’t help but feel a little emotional.

’A hospital really is a place where you can easily encounter the rich and powerful.’

’Everyone is equal here. Once you’re stripped down and lying on the operating table, you’re just a body of flesh and blood.’

Jiang He’s thoughts turned again.

’My LNR paper is about to be published.’

’With this top-tier publication, I can find a way to raise some capital, and then at the end of October, I’ll jump into the stock market to buy at the bottom.’

’Faced with an opportunity of this era, doubling one’s personal funds is a piece of cake.’

’Didn’t Lei Jun say it himself? "Even a pig can fly in a typhoon."’

In any case...

’Zhou Guanglin might be in a miserable state right now, but he was willing to sell his properties to pay his workers’ severance. With that kind of integrity, he’ll definitely have a chance to make a comeback in the future.’

’Even if we don’t work together directly later on, using this connection to get in touch with powerful industrialists and factory owners in Southern China would be an excellent path forward.’

With this in mind, Jiang He put the business card into his pocket and said:

"I wish you a speedy comeback, President Zhou. I’ll hold onto your card. Perhaps in a little while, I might have some questions about plastic molds for precision instruments that I’d need to ask your advice on."

Zhou Guanglin assumed this was just a polite courtesy and nodded repeatedly. "No problem. Dr. Jiang, call me anytime. My phone is on 24/7."

The conversation ended.

A nurse pushed the still-anesthetized old gentleman out of the operating room. The family members immediately crowded around, following the gurney toward the ICU.

Yang Xu stood to the side. Only after the family had moved farther away did he turn to look at Jiang He, his eyes full of admiration.

"You kid, how are you so calm and composed? I’m starting to doubt whether you’re really just a student in your early twenties."

"You’re a great teacher," Jiang He said, flattering him without batting an eye.

"Cut it out," Yang Xu said with a laugh, before his expression turned serious. "But today’s surgery really taught me a lesson. The posterior approach you proposed was an ingenious idea, yet also highly viable in a clinical setting. I plan on organizing the details of today’s operation and writing a case report for publication. Don’t worry, the credit for this innovative approach will be all yours."

"I’ll leave the arrangements to you, sir," Jiang He said without hesitation.

’This revolutionary surgical technique was something I perfected through countless real-world operations in my past life anyway.’

’Having it debut in this era ahead of schedule...’

’...not only boosts my academic standing, but more importantly, it can save more patients’ lives.’

"Alright, you’ve been up for so long. Go on and get some rest."

"You should get some rest soon too, sir."

Jiang He took his leave and turned toward the locker room.

He turned on his phone.

There were several unread text messages, all from Shen Yu.

Jiang He smiled gently and replied:

[Just got out. The surgery went well. Heading back to the dorm to sleep now.]