Free Web NovelChapter 113: Chapter 112: Massive Chain Car Accident on the Ring City Expressway
"How has he been recovering recently, Boss Wang?"
"Much better! Director Xu made a point of mentioning you during his rounds a couple of days ago. He said it was all thanks to your decisive handling of the situation that the follow-up treatment plan went so smoothly. Dr. Jiang, this is something I, Wang Kuan, will remember for the rest of my life."
"I’m just glad to hear he’s recovered."
"Dr. Jiang, we’re not strangers anymore. You keep calling me ’Boss Wang,’ which sounds so formal. If you don’t mind, you can just call me Sister Kuan’er from now on."
"You’re too kind, Boss Wang."
"Haha, have it your way. So, what did you call me about today? Just say it. If it’s something I can do, I won’t hesitate."
"That paper I mentioned to you before, the one about the lymph node ratio, was published in the *Chinese Journal of Surgery* today."
The other end of the line went quiet for a moment.
Although Wang Kuan didn’t understand medicine, Director Xu Wenpei had sung Jiang He’s praises to her on more than one occasion.
"It was published? Good. I haven’t forgotten what we agreed on. Send me your ICBC bank account number tomorrow."
Jiang He asked, "Two million. Is that a problem?"
"Not a problem. Large inter-bank transfers are a bit of a hassle these days, and the limits on online banking with a U-Shield are low. Tomorrow morning, I’ll take my finance person to an ICBC VIP counter and use the channel for large real-time remittances. The money should be in your account by the afternoon. Once it arrives, you can start using it. As for the rest... we can sit down and talk it over whenever you have time to come to the Capital City, or when I head to Southern China. I trust Director Xu, and I trust you."
Jiang He nodded. "Okay, I’ll text you the account number in a bit. Thank you."
"Don’t mention it. That’s all for now, then. Get some rest."
After hanging up, Jiang He texted her his account number.
The rain outside was coming down harder and harder.
Raindrops splattered against the glass. PITTER-PATTER.
Jiang He turned on his computer.
He logged into Dingxiang Garden.
Just as he expected, the notification icon in the top-right corner showed 99+.
He clicked on the thread he had posted last night.
The page loaded, revealing that the number of replies had already surpassed one hundred.
Just as he had predicted, the initial replies were almost all full of doubt.
[This thread has me completely confused. Isn’t the OP’s claim a little divorced from reality? The standardized textbooks clearly state the ammonia toxicity theory, and you’re just going to overturn it with a single sentence?]
[Lowering blood ammonia is useless? So in clinical practice, when we encounter patients with HE (hepatic encephalopathy), are we just giving them IV drips of arginine and monosodium glutamate for fun?]
[What’s all this about ’gut micro-ecology targeted intervention’... it sounds like some kind of pseudoscience. Which hospital is the OP from? Do you have any clinical data to support this? Don’t just post baseless conclusions for attention.]
[Everyone just move along. This is probably some student who hasn’t even graduated yet, read one or two obscure foreign articles, and came here to act like a big shot.]
Jiang He kept scrolling down.
After scrolling through two pages of replies, the tone of the thread suddenly shifted.
This was because next to the ID of one reply, the exclusive "Dingxiang Garden Certified Expert" tag was brightly displayed.
Wang Xiaoqing (Professor, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University).
The reply was posted at noon today.
[Greetings, Elder Zhi. This junior, Wang Xiaoqing, takes the liberty of leaving a comment.]
Jiang He couldn’t help but crack a smile at the opening line.
He chuckled before reading on.
Wang Xiaoqing:
[Your point that ammonia is merely one link in a complex network was a complete revelation. I discussed this with my colleagues in the gastroenterology department this morning, and if your proposed gut micro-ecology theory holds true, it would perfectly explain the phenomenon we currently see in clinical practice, where some refractory HE patients do not respond to ammonia-lowering treatments.]
[From a practical research perspective, this junior has a preliminary idea. If, in a basic experiment, we use a non-absorbable broad-spectrum antibiotic (like the rifaximin you mentioned) to perform intestinal decontamination on a mouse model with liver cirrhosis, while simultaneously monitoring its blood-brain barrier permeability and the morphological changes of astrocytes in the brain, could this serve as preliminary hard evidence for the theory? I hope Elder Zhi will not hesitate to offer his guidance.]
The reply was highly professional.
More importantly, Wang Xiaoqing was a professor with a verified identity on the forum, a status that carried immense credibility.
From that post onward, the atmosphere in the comment section below changed in an instant.
The students and junior doctors who had been mocking him all fell silent.
A palpable sense of excitement filled the air.
[Holy shit, Professor Wang herself is here asking for advice? Who the hell is this OP?]
[Even Professor Wang is calling him ’Elder Zhi.’ Could this be the sock puppet account of some academician?]
[I’ve read the OP’s main post three times now, and the logic is truly impeccable. If this is real, the gastroenterology guidelines would have to be rewritten... Damn, ’badass’ is the only word for it.]
[I bow to the master! Selling popcorn and peanuts in the front row, waiting for Elder Zhi’s reply!]
Jiang He continued to scroll down.
Wang Xiaoqing’s appearance was like bait, drawing out a large number of lurking experts.
More and more accounts with verified real names began to appear in the thread.
Jiang He even saw a few familiar names.
Zhang Tingfeng (Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, China Academy of Medical Sciences Peking Union Medical College Hospital): [A unique line of thought. The gastroenterology department at Peking Union Medical College Hospital has also been looking into intestinal barrier dysfunction in patients with severe liver disease recently. Elder Zhi’s proposed solution for remodeling specific probiotic communities has opened a new window for our next clinical research project.]
Zhou Jian (Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Southern Medical University First Affiliated Hospital): [I’ve learned something.]
Ma Weiguo (Chief Physician, Department of General Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University): [From a surgical perspective... this is a very powerful angle. I’ll make this thread a discussion topic at next week’s departmental meeting.]
Zhang Tingfeng, Ma Weiguo, Zhou Jian.
All three of them were old friends Jiang He had known in his past life.
Zhang Tingfeng in particular, who had a foul temper and was extremely exclusionary, was being so polite now. It was actually a little funny to see.
Jiang He didn’t reply to anyone in the thread.
The seeds had been sown. As long as these academic titans conducted experiments in this direction, they would soon find validation.
He logged out of the forum.
The storm outside grew more violent. Thunder rolled, and blinding flashes of lightning periodically illuminated the dorm room.
BANG! The dorm room door was pushed open.
Chen Hao, Li Zijian, and Wang Bo rushed in one after another.
All three of them were soaked to the bone.
Chen Hao wiped the rain from his face and complained, "Why is it raining so hard? We were planning to wait for it to let up before coming back, but we waited and waited, and it just kept getting heavier. We couldn’t wait any longer, so we just had to brave it and run for it!"
Jiang He said, "Go take a shower, quick. Don’t catch a cold."
Chen Hao grabbed his basin and towel. "I’m first, I’m first! I’m frozen solid!"
Just then, Jiang He’s phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID read: Yang Xu.
A call this late was obviously not for a casual chat.
Jiang He quickly answered the call.
Yang Xu: "Jiang He, where are you?"
The background noise was extremely chaotic.
The shuffle of hurried footsteps, the rumble of gurney wheels on the floor, the urgent shouts of nurses...
Jiang He froze for a second before replying, "In my dorm."
Yang Xu spoke rapidly, "There’s been a massive pile-up on the Ring City Expressway! We’re getting too many critical patients. The hospital has already called in all the on-call surgical staff, and we still can’t free up anyone!"
A heart-wrenching cry from a family member suddenly erupted from the other end of the line.
Yang Xu turned his head to give an order, "Take them straight to Trauma Room 1! Prep for tracheal intubation and a closed thoracic drainage kit! Establish dual IV access, now!"
After that, Yang Xu immediately turned back to the phone. "Can you come?!" he asked Jiang He.
’An emergency, a mass casualty incident, a full hospital mobilization.’
The combination of these words left no room for hesitation. Jiang He grabbed his jacket.
"I’m on my way."
