System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

Li Yun arrived at the Imperial City station. The shackling sounds of approaching trains and endless announcements from the prompter and indiscernible chatter filled the air. It was just as busy and crowded as Magic City.

Looking around, Li Yun felt a bit lost. He followed the signs to the lobby area, and after leaving the checkpoint, he saw someone holding up a small signboard with his name. He approached the man, who looked to be in his mid-thirties.

"Doctor Li?" The man asked, a bit surprised to see the young man approaching him. He was expecting the expert Professor Shao Shan had invited to be a bit older.

"Ah, yes, are you Mr. Cho?" asked Li Yun.

Mr. Cho nodded. He was an administrative staff at the Imperial City Private Hospital in charge of accommodations for visiting doctors.

After the usual greeting, Mr. Cho led Li Yun to his car and drove through the traffic for an hour before reaching the hospital. Mr. Cho wasn't a particularly chatty person, but he found it easy to talk to Doctor Li.

Mr. Cho thought most surgeons were difficult people to deal with. Maybe not all, but most. To some outsiders and patients, they were amicable, but after being around them for more than a year, it was easy to see all their flaws. They were simply arrogant complainers and ego maniacs.

Li Yun listened as Mr. Cho complained about the various hardships of being in Imperial City Private Hospital. As a private hospital, the pay was better, but there was more competition between staff. They put on a smile for the patients, but behind the scenes, there was all sorts of drama and back-stabbing. Everyone wanted to move up the ladder, and self-promotion and constant complaints about everyone else was the best strategy.

Otherwise, sucking up to Director Xia Tong was another way get a promotion, but he was rarely ever there.  Xia Tong was Xia Yong second son and Xia Hong younger brother.

Li Yun had done a bit of research on the Xia family after Berne Pharmaceutical scouted him out. They also owned several private hospitals and airlines around the country. Berne Pharmaceutical was originally a joint venture between the Xia family and a Deutschland company until the Xia family bought them out a few years ago. The business was divided between the adult third generation children. Xia Tong oversaw the hospital business, Xia Hong oversaw the pharmaceutical business, and Xia Guiling with her mother oversaw the airline business.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Li Yun could see that the hospital was newly built within the last 10 years, with high ceilings and high class interiors. The waiting room was also running very efficiently. There were many foreign elders going in and out of the lobby. The nurses and staff all knew multiple languages and were very accommodating.

Mr. Cho led Li Yun up the elevator and onto the top floor VIP area. They entered a conference room where Professor Shao Shan, Yuan Yu and several other people were casually talking while looking at a screen with CT scans.

"Doctor Li! You made it!" Professor Shao Shan greeted Li Yun first with a handshake, and then introduced him to everyone else in the room.

"Ah, you must be Doctor Li, I have seen a couple of your surgeries," Professor Yuan Yu commented. "A great honor to meet you in person."

Originally Professor Yuan Yu only invited Professor Shao Shan, who then invited Li Yun. He wasn't opposed since he also wanted to meet the young doctor himself.

"I have also read a couple of your research papers Professor Yuan Yu," Li Yun responded.

Professor Yuan Yu was the lead researcher for Berne Pharmaceutical. He was the one who had originally contacted Li Yun about the job offer at Berne.

Aside from Li Yun, Professor Yuan Yu had invited experts in the field of cardiothoracic surgery to look into the case. There were two foreign doctors from renowned hospitals, but they both had differing opinions. He decided that it would be better to host a small conference with additional experts. 

Doctor Chang, the TCM doctor, also greeted Li Yun with a warm handshake. "You're the talk of the TCM world," said Doctor Chang. "If you have the opportunity, I would like to invite you to the Imperial City TCM Hospital."

Out of the main experts, only Professor Ma Zong and Doctor Mori were not aware of Li Yun's reputation.

"I am curious about Doctor Li's expertise," Professor Ma Zong asked curiously.

Professor Ma Zong had a bit of air and sounded snarky, but that was his natural voice and he had enough experience to know not to underestimate young geniuses.

"Doctor Li is an ACS surgeon, sometimes known as a trauma surgeon," Professor Shao Shan explained. "Extremely talented in interventional and vascular surgery."

Professor Ma Zong nodded his head, seemingly impressed. A translator restated the qualification to Doctor Mori, who nodded, but his head seemed to be a bit in the cloud. When everyone greeted Li Yun, he was the only one who remained seated far away, still concentrating on the CT slides, and was jotting down the heart anatomy and notes in his notebook. The translator was super cordial and did a full 90 degree bow.

If Li Yun had to guess, Doctor Mori was likely the ones who would be performing the surgery. Out of everyone in the room, his hands were the most stable and experienced. Also, aside from Li Yun, he was considered young, not being older than fifty.

Everyone re-situated themselves around the conference table and continued discussing the case. The patient, Xia Yan, was in the suite down the hallway. In order to minimize disturbing him, the doctors were only allowed to be him once every morning.

Li Yun had missed the window of opportunity, and could only see the patient the following morning. Listening into the discussion was a bit boring, but it was a lot more relevant than the staff meetings.

Almost everyone in the room was the leading expert in the field, and the majority of them thought open heart surgery was better for the child. The problem was convincing the mother.

"If we do perform the TEVAR, he will need regular visits to check on the stents for the rest of his life," Professor Yuan Yu stated.

"Even with an open heart surgery, he will still need constant monitoring," said Professor Shao Shan. "There's no easy way out with his condition."

"Do we have a consensus on the source of the aneurysm?" asked Professor Ma Zong.

"The experts think it's trauma related from history, but they haven't completely ruled out coagulation and even Takayasu's Arteritis," Professor Yuan Yu explained.

"Oh, why Takayasu's Arteritis?" asked Professor Shao Shan, who had arrived only a few hours earlier than Li Yun and hadn't seen the patient personally.

"His pulse is weak and silent," explained Doctor Chang. "We have already begun TCM treatment to see if it will reduce the inflammation. It has been effective to stop the swelling, but we are still concerned about a potential tear in the artery."

The meeting dragged onto into the afternoon.

The only reason they stopped was because Director Xia Tong was hosting a private dinner for the guest doctors in the restaurant located on the 3rd floor. It was an elaborate dinner and no expenses were spared.

"Thank you for coming to take a look at my great nephew," Director Xia Tong was a very welcoming host.

He rarely showed up in the hospital for work, but he always ready to host dinner parties. None of the other Xia attended; they didn't see the need to make connections with doctors and surgeons.

The doctors enjoyed their free time now that work was technically over. Aside from the leading experts, there were other doctors from the Imperial City Central Private Hospital in attendance. They weren't as interested in talking to the guests' doctors as much as getting a special audience with Director Xia Tong.