About forty minutes later, Lu Cheng began suturing the palmar arch.

At this moment, he glanced at Tong Yuan'an, who was standing still in surgical attire at a distance from the operating table, and did not greet him.

Tong Yuan'an was temporarily called over by Executive Luo, as he was in another operating room. He came over this time just to check if Lu Cheng's basic skills met the standards for vascular suturing.

If they did, he would leave; if not, he would also leave, telling Lu Cheng to stop the operation and wait for him to finish.

Lu Cheng is not an extreme perfectionist; he knows his vascular suturing techniques are still somewhat lacking compared to Tong Yuan'an, but they are certainly sufficient for this patient.

His current suturing skills are certainly among the best of his peers, but at Union Hospital, even the chief resident, Pan Leiming, is not as skilled as him, and their capabilities are comparable fifty-fifty.

Geniuses exist in this world, and it's not just this generation or this age group that has extraordinarily talented individuals.

Tong Yuan'an is only older, he hasn't lost his aura of genius, and he was the top genius of his generation, with skills now far ahead.

The reason Lu Cheng was able to overtake Tong Yuan'an in tendon suturing was that Tong Yuan'an did not focus on tendon suturing but dedicated his efforts to more challenging surgeries.

Tong Yuan'an merely watched for a minute, then silently turned and stepped back, arms crossed, opening the pneumatic door of the operating room.

Executive Luo heard the door open but didn't say more.

If Tong Yuan'an thought Lu Cheng's ability was lacking, he would speak openly; there's no need to consider personal politics with Lu Cheng. Scolding was also possible.

Since Tong Yuan'an didn't speak, it proved that Lu Cheng's abilities were up to par, and in such a situation, Tong Yuan'an was unwilling to waste even two seconds more to praise Lu Cheng.

Silent recognition was enough.

Executive Luo also knew how to perform vascular suturing, simply intermittent sutures.

In fact, suturing is simple; teach an average person for two to three hours, and they can do it too—just putting in stitches.

But achieving a post-suturing vascular patency rate close to a hundred percent?

Without using several thousands or tens of thousands of meters of suturing thread, dreaming about reaching such proficiency is just nonsense.

Suturing the palmar arch doesn't take long, less than five minutes. Lu Cheng put away his instruments: "Ouyang Meng, release the vascular clamp."

Ouyang Meng complied.

The blood vessel quickly refilled, restoring blood flow.

Visibly, the pale skin caused by clamping the palmar arch began to slowly bleed, turning from chalky white to moist red.

Then the moist red gradually faded, approaching a normal skin tone.

"Syringe needle!" Lu Cheng asked the circulating nurse for the instrument.

Executive Luo roughly understood Lu Cheng's intent, watching wide-eyed as Lu Cheng pricked the patient's finger.

A drop of bright red blood was slowly squeezed out, proving that even the distal end of the patient's finger had restored blood circulation, indicating successful vascular anastomosis.

There's no need to worry about viability anymore; the remaining functional recovery depends on the detailed post-operative rehabilitation.

However, this person's recovery is uncertain to be optimal, as once they complete the simple surgery, they will be taken away...

For intentional injury and gang-related fighting, a hundred percent prosecution is inevitable, not to mention rapid post-operative recovery; if treated and with no bleeding, it meets the standard...

Executive Luo only lamented that these techniques were being wasted on them. Previously, many honest patients faced less satisfactory post-operative recovery due to relatively inadequate techniques, leading to a lifetime of restricted movement at home.

What if Lu Cheng had mastered these techniques earlier?

"Xiao Lu, very capable, that's a big deal." Executive Luo gave Lu Cheng a thumbs-up.

His focus is on spinal surgery, mostly elective, so no matter how outstanding Lu Cheng is in emergency medicine, it doesn't affect his surgery volume or patients. He remains the Executive Vice Director of the department and Vice Director of the orthopedic department covering two wards.

Sure, one reason is his uncle's work at the provincial level, but more importantly, the techniques he knows now are only mastered by three people in the entire orthopedic department.

Peng Haibo, Director Liu of the second ward, and of course, Executive Luo.

"Director Luo, you're too kind. There are other suturing tasks, which will require your effort. I need to check on a few other operating rooms." Lu Cheng said.

Even though Executive Luo isn't overly eccentric, he isn't particularly enthusiastic either. At least when spinal surgery was assigned to the beds Lu Cheng managed, Lu Cheng was just a retractor operator, a stitching operator.

Lu Cheng changed and left without much delay, no longer being as polite as before in the orthopedic department, not even engaging in the usual pleasantries.

Executive Luo watched Lu Cheng's back and felt complex emotions. Actually, if he were to pursue the director role, to have his own confidants, Lu Cheng would be a great candidate.

Compared to Lu Cheng, even though Tian Hongjian is also a deputy chief physician, his talent and skills are considerably lacking, making it improbable for the vision he had in mind to materialize...

Operating Room 2's patients mostly suffered muscle injuries and skin lacerations, with the only tendon injury manageable by Peng Kun, so Lu Cheng called Peng Kun.

After receiving the call, Peng Kun immediately expressed willingness to come over from Room 4 to take the lead.

"Brother Zhang, I'll go check Room 4 again."

"When Young Master Kun arrives, don't make things difficult for him. It's unnecessary," Lu Cheng instructed.

Zhang Tiesheng laughed: "Xiao Lu, what are you saying, about making things difficult? We're all brothers. A little fun is always fine."

Zhang Tiesheng doesn't fear Peng Haibo, nor does he fear Young Master Kun. He would certainly not go out of his way to target Peng Kun or use a patient to harm him. But in areas where Peng Kun is unfamiliar, teasing is just something that comes naturally.

If Peng Kun's understanding is broad enough, such issues wouldn't exist, but if he's lacking, an elder's guidance is only normal, right?

For others, Zhang Tiesheng wouldn't even bother doing this.

After leaving Room 2, Lu Cheng walked towards Emergency Operating Room 4, passing by Peng Kun along the way…

Peng Kun tried to please: "Brother Lu, there's some trouble in Room 4... I'm sorry to trouble you... Tian Hongjian is there."

"Hmm, it's okay, I'll go check on it," Lu Cheng confirmed that Room 4 was being handled by both Tian Hongjian and Peng Kun.

After washing his hands, wearing his sterile gown, and donning surgical gloves, Lu Cheng arrived at Operating Room 4, where Tian Hongjian sat almost expressionless.

Lu Cheng looked at the surgical table for five seconds, his face darkening as he called out, "Who authorized Peng Kun to suture the Zone 2 flexor tendon? Was it Professor Tong?"

"He messed it up like this, and he's gone?"

Tian Hongjian shushed him, saying, "Xiao Lu, we're all brothers here. We're bound to see each other often."

"Peng Kun has wanted to suture a Zone 2 tendon for a long time. He just couldn't hold back, and it's only three stitches!"

Lu Cheng interrupted Tian Hongjian, "He tore the tendon while tying knots!"

"Now this is called tendon revision surgery!" Lu Cheng stood up and started taking off his gown, "I can't handle this, nor can I take over!"

"Call Professor Tong over to do the revision!"

Tian Hongjian's expression turned stern, "Lu Cheng, is it necessary to make the atmosphere so tense?"

"It's just that Peng Kun only stitched once."

Lu Cheng laughed, "Brother Jian, do you think tendon suturing is like a manual reset? If the first attempt fails, there's a second chance?"

"Now what you have is called tendon revision surgery. If I, Lu Cheng, can perform tendon revision surgery but don't do it just to get at Peng Kun, I swear I'd be your grandson!"

"Brother Jian, you make the call yourself." Without thinking, Lu Cheng removed his sterile gown and, before leaving the operating room, intentionally took a photo of the surgical field with his phone.

Lu Cheng wasn't afraid they'd accuse him of botching it, but he wanted to keep evidence for himself.

Tian Hongjian lingered at the operating table for a moment, then after Lu Cheng had left, he turned to the anesthesiologist Du Yuanyun, saying, "Xiao Yun, please unlock my phone for me."