It costs 30,000 yuan

The medical equipment that Guli required finally arrived at the hospital. Gao Shijun had taken care of all the work, without Zhang Fan needing to worry about a thing. Li Qiong had helped to obtain a sponsorship that reduced the equipment costs for Gu Li by slightly more than 10,000 yuan. However, this 10,000 yuan sponsorship wouldn't be for free. After Guli's surgery, she would be required to take pictures and shoot videos of herself to help the hospital promote their new surgical technology. Since Guli was also a future professional athlete-in-training, this would make the advertisement even more effective. If she had been an ordinary person, it was unlikely that she would have obtained this sponsorship.

Once the equipment arrived, Zhang Fan focused fully on preparing for Guli's surgery. He finished writing the surgery plan, and handed it over to Gao Shijun. Gao Shijun then signed the surgery plan, and gave it over to the nurses' station. After the work shift was over, a nurse from the surgery administration department would come over to take the surgery plan. A time for the surgery, all the medical equipment necessary, and specific nurses would all be scheduled for the surgery.

Arthroscopy was relatively underdeveloped in the border province as arthroscopes were rather expensive. There also weren't any doctors who'd volunteered to go and study this field, which was why Chasu City Hospital hadn't developed arthroscopy very much. Since Li Hongtu was in poor physical condition, he had volunteered to study this field as others didn't like it and the work was lighter. That was exactly what he wanted. He didn't mind that his income would be slightly lower.

Guli was naturally the carefree type. She was still in a joyous mood even while being wheeled into the operating room. Other children her age were typically scared to the point of shaking.

Guli hadn't eaten breakfast today. Since surgery required anesthesia, she wasn't allowed to eat beforehand. This was to prevent the patient from choking to death on food that might travel back up the esophagus while the patient was unconscious. "Brother, when can I leave the hospital? It's so boring to lie on a bed every day." She was now calling Zhang Fan "Brother" after getting more acquainted with him over the past few days.

Zhang Fan pushed her gurney while saying, "Soon. As long as you listen to us, you'll soon be able to gallop around like a pony again." Since Guli was only eleven years old, Zhang Fan had been worried that she would be nervous, which was why he personally wheeled her into the operating room. However, she wasn't even the slightest bit afraid. It seemed that he had been worried for nothing.

The anesthesia began. Zhang Fan and Li Hongtu washed their hands, while Wang Yanan was in charge of holding Guli's legs. Since Li Hongtu was much older and also had the second-highest level certification, Wang Yanan could only be in charge of holding the legs. Luckily, Guli was still a little girl—it was unlikely that Wang Yanan would have enough physical strength to handle a large man's legs. Holding the legs during surgery had its own standardization. First, the entire area on the patient's leg would need to be disinfected, all the way to the toes. Near the end of the disinfection, the leg holder would need to raise the leg completely away from the operating bed so that the disinfecting could be completed. This would be strenuous physical labor when holding the legs of an adult man.

Zhang Fan began boring holes, inserting mirrors, and finding the location of the ACL tear. Zhang Fan had already memorized Guli's MRI scan, so he was instantly able to locate the tear. Once he confirmed everything, he took out the newly ordered imported bone screw, and was about to begin cutting it with a round-nosed knife. Right before he could do anything, Li Hongtu objected, saying, "Zhang Fan, what are you doing?"

Zhang Fan stopped to talk to Li Hongtu. "This bone screw is too large. There's no need to insert the entire screw into her body. It's still a foreign object, so the smaller it is, the easier it will be for her to recover."

"Are you certain? This bone screw isn't big to begin with. If you trim it down and place it inside her, what if its tensile strength is insufficient and it breaks inside her? That will cause even more serious of an injury to the patient," Li Hongtu said, quite worried. Zhang Fan hadn't mentioned anything at all about wanting to modify the bone screw before the surgery. Li Hongtu was worried that Zhang Fan had a sudden idea without thinking things over clearly first.

"Doctor Li, please rest assured. I've already considered this for several days before the surgery. I've calculated it already. It will be enough just to put a cast on her after the surgery. It seems that she'll probably try to become a professional athlete in the future, so it's best to reduce any potential side effects to her by as much as possible."

Li Hongtu paused for a moment before he spoke again. "Alright, I agree. I'll take responsibility if anything happens. Do what you like."

Zhang Fan picked up the surgical scalpel, and was about to begin when Wang Yanan suddenly spoke up. "This thing cost 30,000 yuan."

Zhang Fan rolled his eyes at her, and then began the surgery. To be honest, Li Hongtu was risking a lot for his sake. Zhang Fan understood this. A second-highest level certification doctor who had stayed in a Class A city hospital half his life would know quite well just what the consequences of a medical incident could be. Yet, he was still willing to take responsibility for Zhang Fan. This was a way of looking out for and protecting him. There were many problems with China's medical system, and all Chinese citizens would curse it, but in the past few decades, China's medical system had indeed successfully raised its level and completeness. Without older doctors like Li Hongtu who were willing to take responsibility for and protect the younger doctors, China's medical system definitely wouldn't have developed so quickly.

The bone screw was very small to begin with. Zhang Fan filed it down to roughly the size of a match. He bored the holes, inserted the bone screw, rinsed, and then secured the cast. Li Hongtu wiped away his sweat. He had been truly worried that the bone screw would break since Zhang Fan had cut off two-thirds of the bone screw. Only after plastering the cast was over did he finally relax. "Little Zhang, pay extra attention to caring for this patient. If this surgery of yours can be replicated, it will become greatly useful in athletic surgeries."

Meanwhile, Li Hui was beginning to miss Wang Sha as of late. In the first few months that he arrived in the much bigger Chasu City, Li Hui had lots of fun. He had tried to call Wang Sha, but discovered that she had blocked his number. He didn't pay this too much attention, and played around for a few months. Now, he was bored of playing around, and no longer found it fun, so he missed Wang Sha. Since he was unable to get through to Wang Sha's phone, he borrowed others' cell phones to call her instead. However, Wang Sha would always immediately hang up when she heard it was him. After a while, nobody was willing to loan Li Hui their cell phones anymore.

Zhang Fan just finished a work shift. He was about to go give Li Xiao a massage when Li Hui phoned him. "Zhang Fan, let's go out to eat, I'll treat you. You're done with work today, right?"

"I can't. There's something else I need to do. Go eat by yourself, and save some money."

"What are you busy with? I haven't seen you for so long. When are you finished with what you're doing? Let's have a chat. I've been really frustrated lately."

Zhang Fan heard that Li Hui sounded rather wretched, so he said, "Alright, I'll call you when I'm done here. Let me tell you beforehand that I'm not going to any bars." Right when Li Hui had arrived in Chasu City, he had been in a celebratory mood. He wanted to go to a bar to try his luck with women, but he wasn't brave enough to go by himself. So, he scammed Zhang Fan into going with him. However, Zhang Fan instantly left right when he realized that he arrived at a bar. The bar had been filled with cigarette smoke, and the sound of music was so loud that it hurt his ears.

Zhang Fan had now treated Li Xiao for one week. She had taken another CT scan as well as an X-ray. Her protruding lumbar vertebrae had indeed changed its position, although not by much. Still, there was evidence that her lumbar vertebrae was gradually returning to its proper position. Not only that, Li Xiao was feeling noticeably less back pain than before.

Li Xiao treated Zhang Fan differently from how Wang Qian and Kang Hua did. Wang Qian truly treated Zhang Fan like a family member, while Kang Hua was more reserved. Kang Hua still maintained an aura of being ranked higher than Zhang Fan. Meanwhile, Li Xiao was the direct type who preferred to communicate with money. She gave Zhang Fan however much money she felt his treatment was worth. She was the type who felt that using money to solve things was the simplest method of all, and that she wouldn't have to think too much. Since Li Xiao was a real estate developer, she owned far too many homes in Chasu City. Behind Chasu City Hospital was one of the most flourishing parts of town, and she possessed an apartment building complex that she had developed here. But with Zhang Fan's current income, he hadn't even thought about purchasing his own apartment home yet, as it was too expensive for him too afford.

Li Xiao was using a gigantic apartment on the top floor of her apartment complex. Zhang Fan estimated that it was roughly two hundred square meters. The furnishing here was extravagant. All the rugs were made of white sheepskin. In the apartment, Li Xiao's assistant had already prepared tea, smokes, and an ashtray for Zhang Fan long before he arrived. "Doctor Zhang, you doctors are so busy. You work so many overtime shifts, and don't even have the time to eat." During his previous massage treatment for Li Xiao, she had invited Zhang Fan to eat dinner together afterwards. However, the hospital had called Zhang Fan regarding an emergency treatment surgery, and Zhang Fan instantly ran back to the hospital.

Now that the treatment had continued for almost two weeks, the effects became even more evident. Li Xiao had consulted many different doctors about her current condition, and they unanimously told her that massages would be useless for treating her condition. Yet, Zhang Fan's massages were truly effective. This meant to her that Zhang Fan was a truly skilled doctor. After the forty-five minute massage today, Zhang Fan told Li Xiao, "Sister Li, you are now entering the intensification phase of your treatment. You should refrain from sitting for long periods of time, and absolutely avoid lifting any heavy objects. Any chances that you get, you should lie down on your back as this will help to slowly restore your lumbar vertebrae's proper position. You also need to start wearing a back brace to help stabilize your spine."

"Doctor Zhang, what type of back brace is needed? Are there any requirements? I'll write them down and go purchase one immediately." Li Xiao's assistant instantly took out a notebook.

"A standard back brace that our hospital sells will be fine. After a back brace is purchased, I'll adjust the tightness for Sister Li."

The assistant glanced at Li Xiao, saying, "I'll be troubling Doctor Zhang to wait here for a while, then. I'll immediately go and purchase a back brace." 

"Sure, go ahead. Our hospital sells standard back braces."

"Doctor Zhang, please take a seat and have some tea. Little Chen, open up the smokes for Doctor Zhang." Although Li Xiao's assistant had left, she still had her personal driver with her. Li Xiao's personal driver was a quite muscular female. Zhang Fan felt that perhaps she was a martial artist. As Zhang Fan was a doctor, he knew that the female driver's muscles could only be obtained through daily training and exercise.

"Thank you. I can open up the smokes by myself."

"Doctor Zhang, I suppose that your massage techniques are only known by a few orthopedic Chinese medicine doctors. Most western medicine doctors don't know such things, right?" Li Xiao had done her research on rehabilitative massages for back pain.

"My techniques are based on western medicine, combined with a little bit of Chinese medicine." Zhang Fan didn't answer her directly. He felt there was no need. It wasn't like he had stolen these techniques.

"I heard that you came here to our border province through the government support program. Are you getting used to life here? The climate here is better than in your hometown province. There're hardly ever any sandstorms here. It's just that this place isn't nearly as flourishing as Lan City, your hometown province's capital city."

"It's fine. This province and my hometown province both count as part of western China. It's not so different that I can't get used to it."

Li Hui was becoming quite impatient by the time that Zhang Fan finally finished and met with him. "I'd starve to death soon if you still didn't come!"

"Then let's go and eat already. I'll treat you to as much as you want. If you want to eat for less than 100 yuan, I'm going to return to my apartment."

"Sure, let's go. I'm feeling like Sichuan cuisine tonight. Let's get some really spicy dishes. I'm in a bad mood!"