"Zhang Tiesheng, you are the deputy director of our emergency department and also the deputy director of surgery, so starting today, when I’m off duty, you’ll have the responsibilities of Acting Director."

"Not only do you need to perform your own duties, but you also need to supervise and manage the on-call status of others in our department."

"Especially those who like to stand out, are the ones you should focus on monitoring."

"Let me say this upfront, I don’t want to see him randomly appearing in the operating room when he’s not on duty, and even more so, I don’t want him taking leave when he is on duty!"

"How arrogant is that?"

"Can the department not function normally without you?" Du Qiang expressed his stance.

Zhang Tiesheng, having finished listening, hesitated several times before speaking: "Director Du, Lu Cheng’s skills are still very good, and many of the surgeries in our department previously were done by Lu Cheng alone?"

Du Qiang immediately retorted: "Can’t we not do them?"

"Can’t we refer them?"

"Who stipulated that our department must perform these surgeries? Will we starve if we don’t do them?"

"Am I not clear enough?"

Zhang Tiesheng lost his temper as well: "Director Du, if you’re going to talk like this, then I have nothing to say."

"You are the director, you are in charge of the overall work of our surgery team, we will cooperate with your work."

Du Qiang softened a bit: "I want to emphasize, I just came to the emergency department, and what I want is stability, I don’t want any performance, I don’t want any political achievements, just stabilize first."

"That’s my stance."

"If it’s not something we should carry out, then don’t do it. If it needs to be referred, there are proper referral routes. We should find our position and not pretend to be something we are not."

Zhang Tiesheng said: "What if the patient strongly requests to have the surgery with us?"

Du Qiang countered: "If a heart transplant patient’s family strongly requests, will you do it?"

"Will you do an aortic dissection?"

Zhang Tiesheng fell silent, unable to answer Du Qiang’s questions. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Du Qiang continued: "Director Zhang, I’m not pressuring you, but we must clarify our position."

"Better to let it go than make a mistake. Do you understand what I mean?"

"There’s no need for us to risk our future and careers pretending to be good Samaritans."

"The basic principles of medicine and the law protect not only the patients but also us medical staff."

"You should document the surgeries that are routinely permitted in our department, and have already been authorized." As Du Qiang was speaking, he suddenly saw a large man.

He immediately stopped speaking, stood up, and greeted him warmly: "Professor Tong, weren’t you supposed to have a day off today? Why are you here?"

Tong Yuan’an scratched his head, smiling apologetically: "Sorry, Director Du, I overslept, I should have been here first thing to wait for you."

Du Qiang glanced at Lu Cheng and said, "Professor Tong, the weekend is your regular time off, you didn’t have to be here."

"If word gets out that we’re exploiting our teaching staff, it would be a disgrace, no?"

"How would we remain credible in the industry?" Du Qiang’s voice was quite ingratiating.

Tong Yuan’an waved his hand: "It’s fine, I’m just here to sit in for a while, Director Du, go ahead with your arrangements, I’m mainly here to cooperate with your work."

Immediately after, Tong Yuan’an sat down next to Lu Cheng, clearly signaling his intention.

Zhang Tiesheng spoke up at this time: "Director Du, currently in our emergency department, we have authorization for some general surgery procedures and authorization for tendon suturing techniques in hand surgery."

"However, when Professor Tong is on duty, limb replantation surgery can be conducted normally."

Du Qiang immediately said: "When Professor Tong is on duty, prioritize his work. At other times, I have already stated, focus on the surgeries authorized by our hospital’s medical department."

"Apart from the authorized surgeries, any other surgeries are strictly forbidden."

"Not even spleen preservation surgery and gallbladder preservation surgery?" Zhang Tiesheng asked, glancing at Tong Yuan’an.

Once Tong Yuan’an sat down, he remained silent, looking on impassively.

"What spleen preservation and gallbladder preservation surgery?"

"Are you doing it, Zhang Tiesheng? I certainly won’t be doing it." Du Qiang’s tone was very harsh.

Zhang Tiesheng shook his head and wrote that down directly: "Okay, Director Du, I heard you clearly."

Du Qiang slapped the table: "As I said, follow the hospital’s protocol. Currently, spleen preservation and gallbladder preservation surgeries are under the domain of general surgery!"

"They don’t fall under our emergency department, and there’s no need to create additional complications."

Zhang Tiesheng was somewhat resentful: "Director Du, these spleen preservation and gallbladder preservation surgeries, you transferred them to general surgery when you were there."

"Now that you’re in the emergency department, can’t you?"

Du Qiang retorted: "What’s the problem? I’m now the director of the emergency department, not the director of general surgery!"

Du Qiang was clearly strategizing well in advance, transferring surgeries he couldn’t perform to general surgery and bringing the ones he could perform to the emergency department.

Now, Lu Cheng wouldn’t even be able to perform spleen preservation and gallbladder preservation surgeries.

Wasn’t Du Qiang just suppressing Lu Cheng specifically for his own director position?

In the future, the majority of the surgeries in the emergency department would merely be Du Qiang’s "performance", leaving no space for Lu Cheng to showcase his skills.

For example, in procedures like intestinal perforation surgery or hernia surgery, could Lu Cheng do better than Du Qiang?

The surgeries at which Lu Cheng excelled were directly taken over by Du Qiang, forbidding him from performing them!

"Director Du, the volume of surgeries and patients in our emergency department isn’t very high, so?"

"We could still perform some of these surgeries." This would affect Zhang Tiesheng’s income, so he brought it up.

"We perform as many surgeries as there are patients, medicine does not knock on doors."

"Our goal is to address the patients’ illnesses, not to have more patients coming to improve performance!"