When Xiao Lou arrived at the Cardiovascular Surgery Department, Shao Qingge had already been moved out of the ICU. He seemed to be in good spirits, and his vital signs were stable. Zhao Sen contacted an anesthesiologist for him, and they were about to send him for anesthesia.
Xiao Lou quickly walked to Shao Qingge's bedside, leaned down and whispered in his ear, " CEO Shao, don't worry, I'll be with you the whole time. The stent implantation surgery itself isn't very risky. It's a minimally invasive procedure, and the recovery is quick. You'll definitely wake up smoothly."
Xiao Lou's gentle words of comfort eased Shao Qingge's mind considerably, and a smile appeared on his face. He nodded and said, "Okay, I will cooperate with the anesthesiologist. I'll just take a nap later, and I'll be fine when I wake up."
It was best that he thought that way. Xiao Lou breathed a sigh of relief and followed the caregiver to take Shao Qingge to the anesthesia room.
Just as they reached the entrance of the Cardiovascular Surgery Department, a seven-year-old boy was seen furtively hiding behind a pillar, peeking out every now and then. When his eyes met Xiao Lou's, the boy's eyes lit up, and he quickly ran over, stopping beside Shao Qingge's bed. He whispered, "I came to see CEO Shao. Are we taking him to the operating room now?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Shao Qingge turned his head to the side and smiled, "Xiao Ye? What brings you here?"
Ye Qi said, "I took advantage of the fact that no one noticed me when I was doing my morning rounds, so I sneaked out to see you."
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Shao Qingge reached out and gently patted Ye Qi's head, saying, "The interventional surgery is very simple. It's just a small incision in a blood vessel, and it doesn't require opening the chest to remove the heart. With Xiao Lou here, there won't be any problems."
"Okay, then I'll wait for you to come out." Ye Qi secretly slipped a card to Xiao Lou. " Professor Xiao, you take this eavesdropping device. Put it in your pocket so I can hear what's going on in the operating room. If anything goes wrong, Liu Qiao and I will come to the operating room to help immediately."
"Okay. Xiao Ye, when you get back, tell everyone to find a way to get discharged as soon as possible and go help Captain Yu. Captain Yu has a new case and there are a lot of clues to investigate, so we don't have enough manpower." Xiao Lou whispered in Ye Qi's ear, "You guys find an excuse to get discharged first. If the attending physician won't let you, then we'll escape from the hospital together tonight."
"Understood." Ye Qi turned and left, giving Shao Qingge a "good luck" gesture as he went.
Watching the little boy's departing figure, Shao Qingge smiled and remarked, " Ye Qi was quite cute when he was little."
Xiao Lou agreed: "Indeed. He cares about you quite a bit, and he even sneaked out to see you."
"Maybe it's because I connected with him via Telepathic Connection last night, and the tension affected him."
Upon hearing CEO Shao's explanation, Xiao Lou suddenly remembered something and said, "I'm also connected to Captain Yu via Telepathic Connection. I wonder how things are going on his end. I heard he has a new case."
Yu Hanjiang was about to head to the crime scene to see the second body when Xiao Lou anxiously thought to himself, " Captain Yu, CEO Shao is alright. I'm taking him to the operating room. How are things on your end?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "The dismembered body was found in the landfill. This time, our police station will be mobilized to conduct a thorough search of the landfills in the suburbs. I suspect there is more than one victim. I won't talk to you now, I'll contact you again at noon. Focus on your surgery and don't get distracted."
Xiao Lou gave a few words of advice to be careful, then pushed Shao Qingge into the anesthesia room.
This surgery required general anesthesia, and Shao Qingge quickly lost consciousness under the influence of the anesthesia. After the anesthesia stabilized, Zhao Sen arrived with a young assistant. Xiao Lou and Zhao Sen changed into surgical gowns and disinfected their hands.
The light above Shao Qingge's head was turned on, and the surgery officially began.
Xiao Lou stood to the side, her forehead beaded with cold sweat from nervousness.
In contrast, Zhao Sen remained remarkably calm. He methodically created a channel in the femoral artery of Shao Qingge's left thigh, then inserted a thin sheath, which slowly descended into the heart along the blood vessel. With the help of contrast agents, doctors could clearly observe the blood vessels inside the body through X-rays.
Interventional surgery is a delicate, minimally invasive procedure. Unless Zhao Sen intentionally punctures Shao Qingge's coronary arteries, the likelihood of Shao Qingge suffering complications on the operating table is not high. However, the coronary arteries are also very fragile; if Zhao Sen wanted to kill Shao Qingge, a single misoperation could be fatal!
Xiao Lou dared not relax for a moment, staring intently at the dense network of blood vessels on the screen.
Soon, Zhao Sen spotted the diseased blood vessel in the display window. He pointed to the dark shadows on the screen and said to his assistant, "See that? That's the left anterior descending coronary artery, and that's the circumflex artery..."
The young doctor next to him said, "If the stenosis is more than 80%, a stent should indeed be placed as soon as possible, otherwise the probability of him having a heart attack is too high."
As they discussed the procedure, they inserted a balloon encased in a metal stent into the blood vessel channel, guided it to the location of the lesion, and then inflated it. Once the narrowed blood vessel was opened by the stent, blood flow became unobstructed.
Following that, Zhao Sen had a second stent, a third stent, and so on...
His expression remained calm throughout, and his hands were very steady during the surgery, moving swiftly and decisively. He was indeed a skilled surgeon. Xiao Lou stood by and watched the entire process, her heart pounding in her chest, fearing that something might go wrong.
An hour felt like an eternity.
Until Zhao Sen said, "It's done."
Xiao Lou finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
Zhao Sen turned to Xiao Lou and said jokingly, "Dr. Xiao, you can rest assured now, right? I told you long ago that your friend's surgery wasn't difficult. Why are you so nervous?"
Xiao Lou forced a smile and said calmly, "Thank you, Dr. Zhao. I've never seen such a delicate interventional procedure before. I was indeed a little nervous watching it."
Zhao Sen turned around to change out of his surgical gown and gloves. While washing his hands, he said, "The new generation of vascular stents used now is very effective. Your friend's three narrowed blood vessels have been completely cleared. As long as he takes medication regularly, the risk of myocardial infarction will be very low. But he should be careful not to do too strenuous exercise, and it's best not to get too emotional."
Xiao Lou nodded seriously: "I'll talk to Shao Qingge." He paused, then asked casually, "By the way, I heard that Dr. Zhao, you can also perform heart transplants?"
As soon as he said that, the surroundings seemed to suddenly fall silent.
The cold air from the air conditioner blew into Xiao Lou's neck. Zhao Sen's eyes behind his glasses were cold and sharp, sending a chill down Xiao Lou's spine. He said indifferently, "Oh? Dr. Xiao is interested in heart transplants?"
Xiao Lou forced a smile and said, "I heard it from Uncle Shao yesterday, and I was just asking casually. Is it true that you're so young, yet you can perform the most complex heart transplant surgery?"
Zhao Sen slowly washed his hands, and he did not answer the question, creating an awkward atmosphere.
Xiao Lou didn't ask any more questions and waited patiently.
A moment later, Zhao Sen washed his hands and turned to walk towards the next-door lounge, saying, "Heart transplant surgery is indeed complicated. I've only done a few cases, all under the guidance of Director Lin."
Xiao Lou quickly washed his hands and followed, feigning curiosity as he asked, "It must be very difficult to find a heart donor, right? Most people don't donate their hearts, so where do hospitals usually look for hearts?"
Zhao Sen walked into the break room, poured himself a glass of water, took a few sips, and said calmly, "Some death row inmates, if they are a match, will donate their hearts before they die. Firstly, it's a good deed, bringing blessings to their descendants; secondly, they can get some money to help their families. Our hospital only performed two heart transplants last year, both from prisoners sentenced to death. They signed consent forms before the procedure."
"For death row inmates, it's not so bad to save someone's life with your heart before you die, rather than end it with a gunshot," Xiao Lou said, pretending to chat with Zhao Sen. "Besides death row inmates, are there any other sources?" he continued.
"The hearts of some people who are determined to be brain dead can still be used. You are a medical student, so you should know that the clinical standard for determining a person's death is not cardiac arrest, but brain death. Some patients are brain dead, but their hearts are still beating. If the heart is removed during this period, it can save lives."
"That's true." Brain-dead people have lost consciousness and are clinically considered dead. In some cases, the heart of a brain-dead person may still be beating. With the consent of the family, removing their heart to save the person is, from a medical ethics perspective, reasonable, justifiable, and legal.
Xiao Lou then asked, "For major surgeries like heart transplants, several doctors need to work together, right?"
"Of course, it usually takes four people, including Director Lin, me, and two assistants, to handle this."
Xiao Lou looked at Zhao Sen thoughtfully. When the topic of heart transplants came up, the man remained calm, not seeming guilty. However, Zhao Sen's mental fortitude was unmatched; he could even calmly prepare specimens from his cousin's entire body…
Since heart transplant surgery requires the collaboration of several people, if Dr. Zhao Sen is involved with organ smuggling organizations, then the entire Cardiovascular Surgery Department is a team working together, and Director Lin, Zhao Sen, and two assistants are all suspects.
Xiao Lou thinks this is unlikely.
The Cardiovascular Surgery Department has more than 20 doctors and nurses, and the operating room at Renchuan Hospital is a separate department, including the head nurse, instrument nurse, handwashing nurse, etc., plus the anesthesiologists from the Department of Anesthesiology... How could so many people commit a crime together?
Perhaps the doctors at Renchuan Hospital were truly unaware of the origin of those organs?
Zhao Sen is not the murderer in this case...
A witness?!
Thinking of this possibility, Xiao Lou suddenly perked up and casually asked, "By the way, Dr. Zhao, do you know someone named Cheng Shaoyu? He's the eldest son of Cheng Jiandong, a wealthy man in the clothing industry in our city."
"I know him." Zhao Sen smiled and said, "I performed his heart transplant."
Xiao Lou: "!!!!"
Zhao Sen is linked to the " Cheng Shaoyu dismemberment case," and he actually performed surgery on Cheng Shaoyu himself?!
Yu Hanjiang was hospitalized to investigate the " Cheng Shaoyu dismemberment case." Since Cheng Shaoyu's body has not been fully recovered, with only limbs found, the police initially did not suspect organ transplantation, but only thought it was a "revenge killing," and focused their suspicion on Cheng Shaofeng, the deceased's younger brother, who had a conflict with him over inheritance.
Unfortunately, Cheng Shaofeng disappeared, and Yu Hanjiang was shot during the investigation, causing the case to hit a bottleneck and no further clues could be found.
It wasn't until Xiao Lou accidentally discovered the suspicious body of Liu Renyuan in Morgue, and subsequently conducted a secret autopsy, confirming that Liu Renyuan's right kidney was missing, that the two gradually connected the case with "organ transplantation".
Cheng Shaoyu is a rich second-generation heir with immense wealth; he would never sell a kidney for money.
Considering that the wealthy second-generation Shao Qingge underwent an organ transplant, the most reasonable speculation is that Cheng Shaoyu also underwent an organ transplant.
He was not a seller of organs, but a beneficiary of organ transplantation.
Xiao Lou only asked Zhao Sen tentatively, but unexpectedly, he found out the key to the case.
Cheng Shaoyu has undergone a heart transplant!
Xiao Lou took a deep breath to calm herself down quickly, and smiled at Zhao Sen: " Dr. Zhao is really amazing. He can perform heart transplant surgery at such a young age... I can only perform appendectomies now. Compared to him, I am really ashamed."
Zhao Sen was in a good mood after being praised. He took a sip of water and continued, " The surgery on Cheng Shaoyu was actually performed by Director Lin, with me as his assistant. Director Lin did the heart dissection, and I was responsible for putting the healthy heart back in. We each did half. Otherwise, standing still for seven hours during the surgery would be too physically demanding."
"Yes, surgeons do require a lot of physical strength…" Xiao Lou paused, then changed the subject, asking, "By the way, was the heart transplanted into Cheng Shaoyu from a death row inmate or a brain-dead patient?"
"The Cheng family is very rich. They bought it from a death row inmate." Zhao Sen smiled. "Young Master Cheng is lucky to have found a matching heart. At that time, his congestive heart failure had reached the end stage. If he hadn't had a heart transplant, he probably wouldn't have lived for more than a year."
" Dr. Zhao, operating room number 3 is ready. The patient is under anesthesia. Shall we begin the surgery?" a nurse knocked on the door and asked.
"Okay, I'll be right there." Zhao Sen put down his water glass, stood up, and turned to look at Xiao Lou. "I have another surgery to perform."
"Okay, go ahead and get back to work." Xiao Lou watched him leave, then quickly walked back to the General Surgery Department's duty room and closed the door behind him. His heart was pounding as he used the Telepathic Connection to call Yu Hanjiang: " Captain Yu, we've made an important discovery! Zhao Sen performed a heart transplant on Cheng Shaoyu!"
"I can sense most of your conversation with him." Yu Hanjiang's calm voice came through my mind. "I also have a major discovery. A large number of body parts have been found in this garbage dump on the outskirts of the city. According to preliminary assessment, at least five people were dumped here."
"..." A chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to his brain, and Xiao Lou's scalp tingled. "The organization we're investigating this time is simply a bunch of inhuman beasts!"
"I think so too." Yu Hanjiang's sharp gaze swept over the dismembered corpses scattered on the ground. Many of the bodies were charred, and the scene was horrifying, like a living hell.
******