The Surgeon's Studio

"Professor Rudolf Wagner?" Professor Tian asked softly, straightening his back subconsciously as he lowered his stance like he was still studying at Heidelberg University back then.

"Uhm, who the hell are you? Where'd you come from?" Professor Rudolf turned aside and asked in a mixed Bavarian accent when he heard someone called out his name.

Professor Tian was speechless. It truly was none other than Professor Rudolf Wagner!

Professor Tian was stunned. Who was he? Even if he answered, Professor Rudolf might not know who he was.

He was a renowned professor in Imperial Capital now, but he was just an ordinary postgraduate researcher at Heidelberg University a few years ago.

He was not the top student that the entire school would be aware of.

Would Professor Rudolf Wagner recognize him? The obvious answer was that it was not possible.

However…

What was Professor Rudolf Wagner, the world's top interventional doctor, doing in Sea City? Most importantly, why was he speaking in a Northeastern accent?

Professor Tian stood rigidly at the office door in utter silence like he used to do when he was a postgraduate.

"Brother Zhou, what happened?"

Zheng Ren greeted Dr. Zhou smilingly when he saw him standing panicked at the door.

"I… I brought Professor Tian…to look around," Dr. Zhou stuttered. He could sense the strange atmosphere.

Especially when Professor Tian had asked about Professor Rudolf Wagner after they arrived. He recalled Professor Tian telling him yesterday that Professor Rudolf from Heidelberg University was a pioneer in interventional surgery.

He stole a glance at Professor Tian and saw him standing in an upright posture even straighter how he used to do it back when he was still studying and doing ward rounds in Imperial Capital.

Stern and meticulous, with a German's stoic stance.

"Come in, Brother Zhou," Zheng Ren greeted enthusiastically.

Dr. Zhou moved forward a little, but Professor Tian was blocking the entrance. He could not just push him aside and walk in, could he?

Zheng Ren was too focused on the patient's condition and just noticed that something was not right. He then looked around in confusion.

What was going on?

"Professor Rudolf Wagner, I didn't expect to see you here." Professor Tian regained his senses and carefully took two steps forward as he extended his hand.

Professor Rudolf was not keen to have this stranger interrupt his discussion on the patient's condition with Zheng Ren.

Zheng Ren had mentioned something rather interesting. No one in the field had thought of using liver DW-MRI as a preoperative assessment for TIPS surgery.

It was brilliant.

Zheng Ren had just started talking about it and Professor Rudolf Wagner's mind was already filled with the idea of a novel surgical and differential diagnostic method.

The person who dared to interrupt him had to be a devil!

Professor Rudolf Wagner totally ignored the enthusiastic yet cautious handshake that Professor Tian offered.

The idea of whether this person would be embarrassed was not within the professor's consideration.

The professor's arrogance could be clearly seen.

His attitude toward Zheng Ren was purely incidental, simply a beautiful accident.

His compliance was largely due to Zheng Ren's extraordinary surgical skills and not because of his good temperament.

Professor Tian did not feel embarrassed as this was exactly what he had expected.

After all, he studied at Heidelberg University and knew about the characters of German professors.

In fact, he had gotten used to it after spending a few years there.

"I'm Tian…" Before Professor Tian had the chance to finish introducing himself, Professor Rudolf Wagner interrupted him rudely.

"I don't care who you are. If you want to see me, please go and make an appointment with my assistant. My God, I'm very busy!" Professor Rudolf Wagner said frustratedly, the submissiveness he had when he spoke to Zheng Ren just now disappearing entirely.

"Lil Fugui, be nice." Zheng Ren frowned.

"Yes, boss." Professor Rudolf Wagner said ever so kindly as if he was a totally different person before this, smiling kindly. "Why do you want to see me? We're really damn busy right now. Please speak quickly if you need anything."

"..." The tone of the scene kept changing, Professor Rudolf Wagner's role kept interchanging between the artistic, arrogant German professor and a Northeastern Chinese.

The professor was speaking in a typical accent that was rarely heard even by people from Northeastern China so naturally, Professor Tian had a hard time accepting it.

"Professor Tian, right? Have a seat." Zheng Ren stood up and shook hands with Professor Tian. He then said with a laugh, "Brother Zhou, please take a seat too. Did the surgery go well?"

When Professor Tian heard Zheng Ren ask about the surgery, he finally remembered why he came to the interventional department.

"The surgery was very successful. There was very little bleeding, hence why Professor Tian wanted to come to visit and ask about the interventional surgery," said Dr. Zhou.

"Oh, as usual, lumbar artery embolization was done. I also performed embolizations on a portion of the spinal tumor," Zheng Ren said. "Did the bleeding exceed 500 mL?"

"That's the approximate volume." Dr. Zhou was surprised by Zheng Ren's estimation.

"Uhm, Professor Tian's really good," Zheng Ren said calmly.

Uhm… Dr. Zhou was dumbfounded.

Why was the emergency department's chief resident acting as a fellow, giving direct comments on the surgical technique of an orthopedic professor from Imperial Capital?

"Almost 500 mL, you people are used to sloppy surgery, huh?" Professor Rudolf Wagner said suddenly.

Instantly, Professor Tian felt as if time had traveled to a few years back when he was at Heidelberg University. He sprung up and stood up straight in the face of the interventional professor's questioning and said respectfully, "Professor Rudolf, the surgery was very successful. The bleeding did not exceed 500 mL. We did not use any of the prepared red blood cells. You really did pull off the world's best embolization surgery."

"I did not perform the surgery. Also, please don't call me Rudolf. Ru Fugui, please. Or even Lil Fugui. This is my Chinese name, I love it so much," said the professor.

Zheng Ren frowned. He did not like the professor becoming a chatterbox.

Even though Professor Rudolf Wagner was not bothered by how Professor Tian felt, he cared how Zheng Ren felt. When he saw that Zheng Ren was slightly displeased, he straightened his back to sit straight and leaned forward like a student.

"It's good that the surgery went well. Good job, Professor Tian." Zheng Ren smiled.

Professor Tian was shocked when he noticed the subtle interaction between Professor Rudolf and Zheng Ren, thinking that he misjudged the situation.

He calmed down and looked at Zheng Ren before asking respectfully, "Dr. Zheng, do you mind giving me the films you used during the lumbar artery embolization?"

Zheng Ren agreed. "Sure."

He meant the films that showed the key images at certain points. Zheng Ren would always print a copy when he performed an interventional surgery and give it to the patient's family members as he briefed them about the surgery.