"Teacher Tong, that's not what I meant." Lu Cheng quickly turned his head.

Turning his head, he noticed Fatty Tong wearing a friendly smile, with a crafty look on his face, as if plotting something; Lu couldn't tell what exactly he was calculating.

But Lu Cheng had nothing to lose and wasn't afraid of Tong Yuan'an selling him out.

"That certain teacher is playing tricks on you. Don't pay attention to him. If you pursue the tendon suturing track, you can advance to the national competition."

"If he cancels your results from the Xiang Province competition, and you still perform equally well in the national rounds, the general surgery department will look bad in front of national peers."

"Unless you deny having participated in the Xiang Province competition, they'll never shake off the label of being petty and suppressing young talent."

"But let's not concern ourselves with that." Tong Yuan'an glanced at his phone: "I've received the location in the group, we should head there first..."

...

"So, have you figured it out?" Cao Qianwei pressed the group who were removing stitches.

"No, just by removing the stitches, it's hard to deduce the actual suturing technique he used. This isn't like any suturing technique we're familiar with; it's definitely something new."

"If he doesn't come in person, we can't figure it out." A middle-aged peer of Cao Qianwei shook his head.

"Is that guy really not coming?"

Cao Qianwei: "He was taken away by your hospital's hand surgery's Tong Yuan'an. Don't know what you're doing here."

"And what you mean by what we're doing? Your Xiangya Second Hospital was the designated support unit for Long County People's Hospital for many years, and you never discovered anything."

"Our hospital's hand surgery's Tong Yuan'an? Don't know him. Should I give him a call?" another tall person suggested.

The professors from Xiangya Second Hospital and Xiangya Hospital's general surgery departments had gathered.

A new spleen suturing technique could potentially expand the indications for spleen preservation surgery, possibly altering and redefining many aspects of spleen preservation surgery.

Although both hospitals rarely handle emergency conditions involving solid organs, they love exploring new frontiers.

Cao Qianwei shook his head: "It's no use, they've already been in touch, I personally invited him, and he refused. We've long missed the timing advantage."

Cao Qianwei then returned to a professional topic: "This suturing technique is truly clever... for such a young man to create it from scratch, why would he work in a county hospital?"

The tall person was silent for a moment, shook his head: "Don't ask me why, I'd like to know why too."

"Are we going to give him the results or not?" Cao Qianwei's tone wasn't pleasant.

Actually, aside from him, the others were primarily involved with academic conferences.

With him holding the fort at the competition venue, it was enough.

The reason these people came over now was because they sensed the scent of a groundbreaking clinical research topic.

The tall person was exasperated: "Do you really dare not to give it?"

"Weren't you the ones questioning it? Provide the evidence then." Cao Qianwei grinned, showing a bit of mischief.

At this point, Lu Cheng's suturing work had been dismantled. If the tall person insisted Lu Cheng had no results, Lu Cheng wouldn't be able to restore what was dismantled, and would have to retake the exam.

"Talking nonsense!~" Cao Qianwei's little trick would absolutely not work.

Meanwhile, Cao Qianwei's phone rang.

Seeing the caller ID, Cao Qianwei felt a slight sense of unease creeping over him.

Cao Qianwei answered: "Director Xiang."

It was Xiangya Second Hospital's emergency department's Xiang Dongshan.

"Director Cao, don't waste your time and effort inquiring, this Lu Cheng is ours, the project is nearly finalized."

"The child is almost born, and you're only just thinking of matchmaking, isn't that a bit too late?" Xiang Dongshan said cheerfully.

Cao Qianwei's expression tensed instantly: "What do you mean by that?"

"The spleen suturing technique's project doesn't belong to hand surgery, nor will it be snatched by orthopedic people, our emergency surgery is part of all surgery departments."

"So you could say it's been internally digested."

"Director Cao, your general surgery department is huge, don't compete with us emergency folks over these emergency cases."

"I saw you snooping around in the group, and since I'm aware of the specifics, I decided to give you a heads up. Save you bothering further."

"This Lu Cheng, aside from Union Hospital, our emergency department is his first choice," Xiang Dongshan said.

Cao Qianwei couldn't help but curse first: "Screw you."

Though Xiang Dongshan was quite direct, he didn't use foul language: "Director Cao, think before you speak, alright?"

"It's okay if you don't know that our department's Professor Zhang hails from Long County, but you could have asked Lu Cheng..."

"I promise I didn't call him, whether it's true or not, just ask and you'll know. Besides? Forget it, I don't want to say more to you." Xiang Dongshan left a hint.

"Explain it clearly!~" Cao Qianwei was particularly annoyed.

"I have a trump card... hehe..." Xiang Dongshan teased.

Cao Qianwei continued pressing: "Xiang Dongshan, explain further."

"If you want a share, cut some funds..." Xiang Dongshan said more straightforwardly.

When money matters were involved, it wasn't convenient for Cao Qianwei to talk about it behind the scenes at the competition, so he stepped out with his phone to a fire escape.

"Go on, what trump card? What money?"

"Allocating some funds means we'll jointly carry out the spleen preservation project, the current and future potential for this project is substantial, and we emergency folks can't manage it all."

"The trump card isn't really much; here's the thing: our connection with Lu Cheng comes from a former associate professor from our department who had been working in rural areas at Long County People's Hospital."