Near nine o'clock on Wednesday morning, Lin Jie arrived at the surgery preparation room of the University Affiliated Hospital, only to find that Tian Xiangyu, Fang Huanru, Ma Hongmin, Huo Guangheng, Gao Yanhong, and others had already prepared, donned their surgical gowns, and were waiting for him.

Tian Xiangyu reported, "Teacher, Xiao Ganghao and Dr. Shao, who came to observe, are assisting the anesthesiologist in performing a final physical check on the patient."

"Afterward, they will take the patient to the operating room."

Lin Jie nodded, took a sterilized blue surgical gown from the locker, and began to change.

Huo Guangheng raised his clenched fist and waved it vigorously, saying excitedly, "Teacher, even though the other side has three chief-level doctors joining forces, you alone can certainly beat them to a pulp."

Lin Jie stared at him directly and criticized, "Don't jump to conclusions without reason. This isn't a showdown; it's just by chance that the surgeries are scheduled at the same time."

"Besides, I'm not fighting them alone. Aren't you all assisting me?"

Actually, in terms of personnel arrangement for this surgery, Lin Jie was also influenced by rumors.

Except for the anesthesiologist, he did not call in any hospital staff. The surgical assistants and nurses were all his students, which somewhat indicated using his students against the hospital staff.

Ma Hongmin chuckled and said, "Teacher, we're all clear on this. For this surgery, we're just going to do some basic auxiliary work; the main surgical procedure relies on you."

Lin Jie, having changed into his clothes, slowly glanced over Tian Xiangyu, Fang Huanru, Ma Hongmin, Huo Guangheng, and Gao Yanhong, and said softly, "Don't be anxious. There will come a time for you to perform surgeries. A solid foundation leads to more stable and further progress."

"I have high expectations for you. It's definitely not enough to just reach the level of a chief-level doctor to satisfy me."

In just a simple sentence, he made these few individuals breathe heavily and become excited, mainly because Lin Jie rarely praised or encouraged them in normal times.

Lin Jie put on a mask and waved his hand, saying, "Let's go..."

The group grandly exited the surgery preparation room, only to run into another group of people coming out from the room opposite.

This group consisted of the well-prepared Dr. Yu, Jiang Hao, Dr. Lei, and their surgical assistants.

Whether deliberately or by coincidence, of the twenty to thirty operating rooms in various specifications throughout the hospital, these two surgeries were arranged on the same floor, right next to each other.

Both sides stood still.

The three leading people on the opposite side nodded and greeted Lin Jie together, "Expert Lin!"

"Dr. Yu, Dr. Jiang, Dr. Lei!" Lin Jie also nodded politely in response.

After a brief silence, Dr. Yu gestured forward and said, "Expert Lin, please go ahead!"

Lin Jie also gestured with a bit of a smile, "The corridor is wide enough, let's go together!"

"Alright, let's go together then!"

Right then, both sides occupied the left and right sides of the corridor, walking distinctly toward the operating room a dozen meters away...

Ni Ni was wheeled into the operating room, and her seeing-off parents were blocked outside the surgical isolation door, having to return to the waiting area to sit and wait.

Ni's father saw his wife with tear-stained and red eyes and, concerned, said, "Expert Lin said this surgery is going to last about nine hours. With such a long time, you didn't sleep well last night either."

"You should go back to the ward and take a nap. I can stay here to keep watch."

Ni's mother, worried, said, "Our girl is having surgery inside; how could I have the mood to sleep!"

"Is your child's surgery really going to be as long as nine hours?"

Hearing someone ask, Ni's father turned his head and saw that the one who asked was a tall, thin man about the same age as himself, answering, "Yes, that's right. The operating expert, Lin Jie, said it requires that much time."

He inquired, "Brother, are you waiting here because..."

The tall, thin man pointed to the operating room not far in front and said, "My son has the same problem as your daughter and is also scheduled for surgery today. The operating doctors said it would take about six to seven hours."

"Just a nosy question, how much did you pay for the surgery in advance?"

Ni's father, without much thought, directly answered, "We prepaid 160,000!"

The tall, thin man, with some pride, said, "My son also has a large facial deformity tumor, nearly the same size as your daughter's. Can you guess how much surgery we prepaid?"

Ni's father chuckled, "I really couldn't guess that; how much was it?"

The tall, thin man gestured the number nine with his hand, saying, "Ninety thousand, just ninety thousand."

He leaned closer to Ni's father and, lowering his voice, said, "Let me tell you, the so-called Expert Lin who is performing surgery on your daughter was initially supposed to operate on my son."

"However, once the surgery cost was calculated, it was also 160,000, which is just too high, I couldn't bear it."

"So, I didn't agree and insisted on having Dr. Yu be the chief surgeon instead."

The tall, thin man, like a gloating little mouse, flaunted, "Look, it's only 90,000 now! We've saved a whole 70,000, which is the price of a small domestic car."

Ni's father's face showed some discomfort, and he said, "I've heard, Expert Lin isn't just the best in the hospital, but in the whole of Binhai City, even nationwide."

"As they say, you get what you pay for, and for such a high-level expert, a higher surgery fee is to be expected."

"It certainly should be."

These words from Ni's father were aimed as much at the tall, thin man as they were to comfort and reassure himself.

"No matter how skilled, can they be that vastly superior?"

The tall, skinny man mocked, then boasted, "Let me tell you, the three doctors operating on my son."

"Dr. Yu, the deputy director of ENT, with the benefits of a chief director; Dr. Jiang, deputy director of neurosurgery, but he's already acknowledged as the best neurosurgeon at the Affiliated Hospital."

"Dr. Lei, also a deputy director of orthopedics."

"These are three expert-level famous doctors, each with at least fifteen years of clinical surgery experience. How old is this so-called Expert Lin anyway, looking at his appearance, at most twenty-three or twenty-four years old. How much surgical experience can he have?"

The tall, skinny man spoke with disdain, "I'm sure more than half of his reputation is just hot air."

"Even if we take a step back, even if his skills are indeed slightly better than Dr. Yu's, Dr. Jiang's, and Dr. Lei's, they're only a little better."

He snorted confidently, "I can pat my chest and guarantee that this so-called Expert Lin's skills are definitely not worth the extra seventy thousand."

"Look now, my son's surgery only took six to seven hours, while your daughter's will take nine hours."

"Spent an extra seventy thousand, and suffered two to three more hours."

"Tsk tsk..."

The tall, skinny man, acting all wise and earnest, advised, "Many of these so-called famous doctors in hospitals are just built up by advertising; their skill is there, but that's about it."

"But once they gain fame, the fees just skyrocket, so we need to keep our wits about us and not be awed by these so-called big names."

"It's not easy to earn money these days, but spending it flows like water."

After hearing all this, Ni's father felt like a fool, tricked and deceived, full of anger but not knowing how to vent it...

Seeing the other party's face turn red with anger, the tall, skinny man felt an indescribable pleasure and superiority as he continued, "And this is just the first surgery, there's still a second one to come!"

"I've asked, the second surgery for my son needs sixty thousand, your daughter's must need seventy to eighty thousand..."

Ni's father heard this and felt something was off, he asked, "Your son needs a second surgery?"

"Yes, there's a second surgery, nose reshaping, and facial reconstruction, how come you didn't know?"

"Oh... I get it!"

The tall, skinny man chuckled, a bit gloating, "This so-called Expert Lin... I won't say more. But let me tell you, you have the right to change the lead surgeon for the second surgery."

"This way you can save one or two thousand, every bit saved counts, making money is not easy for us all."

He said rather indignantly, "This hospital is just a bottomless pit, damn, it's so shady."

At this point, Ni's father also started to realize something, "Last night, when Expert Lin introduced the treatment plan to us, he only mentioned one major surgery. After that, depending on my daughter's recovery, a minor cosmetic surgery in about two weeks."

"Honey, did Expert Lin say that?"

Ni's mother nodded repeatedly, "That's what he said."

"Don't you remember, Dr. Shao even specifically emphasized that Expert Lin is very capable, and all issues would be resolved with one surgery, sparing our daughter from one or two more ordeals."

Ni's father turned to the tall, skinny man, showing a rare smile, "Your son's two surgeries together cost around fourteen or fifteen thousand, hmm... not even sixteen thousand."

He chuckled, "But being able to spare my daughter from one ordeal, spending that extra bit is quite worth it, really worth it."

Ni's father mischievously added, "Ah... almost forgot."

"Having one extra surgery means staying ten to fifteen more days in the hospital, the expenses during that time, the time wasted, added all up, without arriving at ten thousand, it should be about seven to eight thousand."

Seeing the tall, skinny man's face turn as black as the bottom of a pot, Ni's father stopped talking.

"Shi Zhenlin's family, Shi Zhenlin's family..."

Suddenly, a faint call sounded in the waiting area.

The tall, skinny man hurriedly stood up, nervously saying, "Here, that's me, is there something wrong?"

A young nurse came running over, handing him a notice, "This is a notification for the additional surgery fee, please pay by five this afternoon."

Seeing the number on the notification, thirty-two thousand, the tall, skinny man's vision darkened, and he anxiously asked, "Why do I need to pay more surgery fees? I've already prepaid ninety thousand!"

The young nurse legitimately explained, "Dr. Yu submitted the surgery form two days ago, listing only two attending doctors for the surgery, but today, in reality, it was done by two deputy directors."

"The level of the surgeons is different, so naturally, the surgery fees have to be adjusted accordingly."

The tall, skinny man's hands started trembling, angrily saying, "Combined, the money I'm spending is more than what it would have cost to just hire Expert Lin, and my son had to suffer an extra ordeal?"

He couldn't help but shout, "Your hospital is too... deceitful, isn't it?"

The young nurse, startled, took a step back and cautiously explained, "Expert Lin is just one person, the ones who operated on Shi Zhenlin were three deputy directors."

"One person can't compare, but the combined fee of three people is naturally higher than Expert Lin alone..."

After finishing speaking, seeing the increasingly terrifying expression on the tall, skinny man's face, the young nurse turned and ran away.

Witnessing all this, Ni's father tugged on his wife's sleeve, lowered his voice, and said, "Seems like, though Expert Lin's unit price is high, when compared all around, that thing called cost-effectiveness or whatever, is high too."

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