Chapter 476: Mahjong
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Unless you were a regular, farm stays in Tiger Leaping Gorge were allocated on a first come first serve basis. The drivers responsible for ferrying tourists to the farm stays would queue up in the parking lot with their battery-powered carts to wait for tourists. The tourists would then be brought to whichever farm stay was available.
Even though the farm stay Doctor Zhou and Ling Ran were brought to was pretty big, it did not have a view of the mountain stream.
There was a tree right in the middle of the courtyard with four automatic mahjong machines around it. Behind the tree, there were lounges where tourists could have their meals and play mahjong.
“We want a lounge with a mahjong machine inside.” Doctor Zhou seemed like he was very used to such a setting. He then ran his hand along the edges of the mahjong table, picked a seat where the Fengshui was good, sat down, and ran a mahjong simulation in his head.
As Ling Ran was left at the entrance of the courtyard, he had no choice but to wheel himself around the courtyard with his hands.
Compared with walking, it actually took less effort to move around in a wheelchair. This was because it was way more comfortable to be sitting down, and the wheelchair moved a lot faster than human legs too.
It was a pretty good experience to use a wheelchair for a short period of time.
Ling Ran could not help but let his imagination run wild. ‘If everyone in my treatment group moves around in a wheelchair every day, perhaps we’ll be able to work more efficiently.
“Ling Ran, do you want to play mahjong?” Doctor Zhou asked Ling Ran out of politeness. The moment he said that, he froze.
Ling Ran hesitated for a few seconds. He then looked at the desolate surroundings and nodded. “Count me in.”
“Huh, you know how to play mahjong?” Doctor Zhou was surprised.
“I’ve played it before when I was a student.”
Doctor Zhou immediately got excited. “Are you good at it?”
Ling Ran thought about it and said, “I’m a bit better at it compared to other games.”
“What does ‘a bit better’ mean?”
“My probability of winning a mahjong game is 5% to 10% higher than other games,” Ling Ran replied based on statistics.
Doctor Zhou could not help but recall the times Ling Ran participated in department consultations. When Ling Ran said that, his tone sounded familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, and Doctor Zhou almost felt like he was on a night shift.
Doctor Zhou could not help but tremble, and there were goosebumps all over his body.
He then looked solemnly at Ling Ran and asked, “We’re going to play mahjong until night-time. Are you okay with this?”
“No problem.” As Ling Ran was the type of person who put all factors into consideration before making a decision, he would not backtrack easily.
“When it comes to playing mahjong, stuff like eating, drinking water, and going to the bathroom are considered a waste of time. You have to seize every minute and must not waste time on things that could otherwise be spent playing mahjong. Are you okay with this?”
“No problem.”
“Are you sure that you have played mahjong before?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, then.” Doctor Zhou whipped out his phone and made a call.
Soon after, Zhao Leyi and Zheng Pei arrived in another battery-powered cart.
“I heard that Ling Ran wants to play mahjong?” Zhao Leyi exercised his wrists as he entered the lounge, and he looked like he was waiting to see Ling Ran make a fool of himself.
Doctor Zhou pursed his lips and said, “We have nothing to do, anyway. Since there are four of us now, let’s get started.”
When Zhao Leyi turned toward where Doctor Zhou was pointing at, he saw that Ling Ran was pushing his wheelchair to the front and to the back. Ling Ran then pulled the brakes before doing a drift. He was totally having the time of his life in experiencing another sort of life.
Zhao Leyi stared at Ling Ran for a few seconds and said, “Don’t tell me that he injured his brain when he fell down just now. Well, let’s just get a share of his freelance surgery fees. Lately, my wife has been bugging me to buy her another handbag. She’s going to kill me with the rate she’s going.”
Zheng Pei, who walked in after Zhao Leyi, voiced his agreement. There was a large grin on his face. “I need money to pay rent too.”
“You’re funding your accommodation by playing mahjong? Are you sick in the head?” Doctor Zhou laughed out loud and called the boss of the farm stay over. “Can you get us a pot of tea? We’ll start the game first.”
The boss gave his go-ahead. He then asked, “What do you guys want to have for dinner? Our specialty is roasted chicken. You guys can also have hot pot or barbeque…”
“We’ll get roasted chicken, then,” Doctor Zhou said, “There are quite a lot of people in our group. You can get us a roasted chicken first. We’ll have a little bit of barbequed meat too. We’ll order more food when the rest come over.”
“Sure thing, no problem.” The boss happily went to prepare their food and tea.
Ling Ran wheeled himself over and said, “Can you give me a pork trotter too?”
“Sure thing.” The boss glanced at Ling Ran’s injured foot, which was elevated, and lowered his voice. “Do you want a wild boar trotter? By eating the animal equivalent of your injured body part, it will accelerate the healing process.”
“No.” Ling Ran rejected without even thinking about it. He then said, “Get me the fattest pork trotter. You can either roast or braise it.”
At this moment, Ling Ran kind of missed Lu Wenbin.
When they were in Wuxin City, Lu Wenbin tried out all kinds of recipes for pork trotters, and all of them tasted pretty delicious. Ling Ran wondered how the pork trotter served in Tiger Leaping Gorge’s farm stay would fare compared to Lu Wenbin’s pork trotters…
“Let’s start the game.” Doctor Zhou did not want to waste any more time. He called everyone over to the mahjong table.
Ling Ran went beside one of the chairs. He remained in the wheelchair and rested his injured foot on the chair. He merely sprained his foot, and things did not have to be so complicated. However, he had no choice because of the splint.
Since he was already here, he might as well make the trip worthwhile. Ling Ran did not have high hopes when it came to the team-building trip to begin with, and now that he had sprained his foot, he decided to just go through it with grace.
He carefully inspected a teacup and washed it repeatedly using the warm water provided. He then placed the tea leaves inside the teacup before wiping the surface of the mahjong table and washing two sets of mahjong tiles with the remaining water.
Doctor Zhou, Zhao Leyi and Zheng Pei watched him with widened eyes.
Last but not least, Ling Ran smothered the mahjong tiles and the surface of the mahjong table with the alcohol-based hand sanitizer he always carried with him and put on a pair of gloves. By the time he was done, two other groups of people in the farm stay had already started their game.
“Let’s get started.” Ling Ran earnestly switched on the mahjong machine.
The long-awaited sound of mahjong tiles being shuffled rang out from the automatic mahjong machine.
The other people from Yun Hua Hospital who had just arrived could not help but crowd around the mahjong table.
“Does Doctor Ling know how to play mahjong?”
“Wow, why are you guys placing such huge bets? With a bet of 5 RMB, the winner of the game will get almost 100 RMB.”
“Are you guys trying to cheat Doctor Ling out of his money?”
The young nurses who just arrived immediately got anxious when they saw the banknotes on the mahjong table.
Zhao Leyi laughed out loud, “Since Doctor Ling caused quite a delay, it’s only fair that we get compensated for it, isn’t it?”
“I know, right? Wealth should be shared,” Zheng Pei said as a neat row of mahjong tiles appeared in front of him. His expression became solemn. “All is fair in love and war. Ling Ran, don’t blame me for making money off you.”
“Alright.” Ling Ran, too, perked up.
Since he had sprained his foot, he might as well enjoy the team-building trip.
This was the way Ling Ran saw things.
Thirty minutes later, even though Ling Ran’s expression remained unchanged, the faces of the three other players turned darker and darker.
“How is this possible?”
“Ling Ran, you were really hiding your light under a bushel!”
“You’re able to predict the tiles in our hands, aren’t you?”
When the three other players saw that the banknotes in the little drawers beside them were becoming less and less, they were in a total state of confusion.
Ling Ran fixed his gaze on the mahjong table and tried his best not to think about anything outside the surface of the mahjong table.
As the mahjong table was square and symmetrical, Ling Ran was able to put up with it. Even though he far preferred being in the operating theater, if he were to ignore the environment and focus on the mahjong game, this was an acceptable form of entertainment for him.
“Forget about it, I’m done. Let’s get someone else to play.” Zhao Leyi exercised his wrists as he rose and asked, “Who wants to take over?”
Everyone around him shook their heads in unison.
The men did not want to lose money, while the women did not want Ling Ran to see the state they would be in if they were to play mahjong…
Zhao Leyi had no choice but to sit back down.
“Sigh, if only someone needed emergency treatment right now.” Zhao Leyi’s imagination was running wild.
