“Old Ren, it’s been a while.” Zhu Qianli, an attending physician who was as fat as a pig, was so excited that he called out to Ren Qi loudly when he saw him in the emergency room. He sounded like a pig who was about to be slaughtered.
Ren Qi turned out of reflex and asked in astonishment, “Old Zhu, what are you doing here?”
“Why? Aren’t you glad that your old friend is here in Yun Hua City?” Zhu Qianli laughed out loud. He fondly wrapped his arm around Ren Qi’s shoulder and tapped the latter’s back.
Ren Qi was a little confused.
‘Are we even that close? You used to call me Young Qilin. It’s only been a while since we last met, and I’m now an Old Qilin? Did I gain weight or something?’
They were colleagues back when Ren Qi worked in Qiu County Hospital. They were around the same age and often had lunch together and hung out. However, it was because there were not that many doctors there, to begin with. Most doctors there enjoyed a good relationship with one another.
At the end of the day, Ren Qi and Zhu Qianli were merely colleagues. Zhu Qianli was closer to the doctors who liked drinking and going to nightclubs, while Ren Qi preferred karaoke bars. They were so different that it was as if one of them was a wild boar, and the other was a domestic pig.
As Ren Qi had left Qiu County for quite a while, he was being quite vigilant now that Zhu Qianli was trying to act like they knew each other very well.
“Are you… sick or something?” As a doctor, Ren Qi made a highly possible hypothesis.
With Zhu Qianli’s body size and lifestyle, it would not be weird for him to get sick.
Zhu Qianli laughed. “No! It’s not my turn yet.”
“That’s great, then.”
“Hey, old friend, you’ve become even nerdier than you used to be. Why don’t we hang out tonight? I’ll treat you to a meal, and we can have some beer and visit a karaoke bar. We can do whatever you like.”
Ren Qi shook his head firmly. “Nah, I’m super busy. I won’t be able to leave early.”
“But you’ll still need to eat, right?”
Ren Qi sighed. “There’s no use convincing me. Nowadays, I’m lucky if I get to enjoy my dinner break for thirty minutes. I won’t be able to go out for dinner. You know what? How many days will you be in Yun Hua City? I’ll adjust my schedule and tell you when we can hang out.”
“I’ll be here for quite a few days.” Zhu Qianli thought about it for a few seconds and slowly said, “Truth be told, I’m here to ask you for some inside information.”
“Go ahead.” Ren Qi breathed a sigh of relief. At least Zhu Qianli was not there to try to occupy one of their hospital beds. Right now, the Ling Treatment Group was experiencing a serious shortage of hospital beds, and not even the members could make room for their connections.
Doctors may be dodgy beings, but it was extremely immoral to chase patients out of the hospital. Now that all of their hospital beds, including additional beds, were occupied, it would be extremely troublesome to make room for a patient.
Zhu Qianli looked around and saw many anxious and flustered patients as well as their family members. There were also doctors clad in large white coats and nurses wearing their green uniforms.
Zhu Qianli dragged Ren Qi to a corner and sneakily said, “Old Qilin, are you part of the training camp Yun Hua Hospital is organizing?”
As Ren Qi gazed at Zhu Qianli, something completely irrelevant suddenly flashed past his mind. ‘With Old Zhu’s body size and appearance, he would make a very bad spy.’
“Old Ren, I really want to give it a try this time. You don’t have to give me much help. I just need some information. Can you do me this favor?” Zhu Qianli thought that Ren Qi did not want to answer his question, so he asked Ren Qi about it again with a sincere tone.
Truth be told, the moment Zhu Qianli heard that Yun Hua Hospital was organizing a training camp, he immediately became interested.
Food and accommodation would be included, and he would get to elevate his skills. This was basically a gift from heaven. Of course, he was interested.
Such training camps could actually be found in Beijing and Shanghai all year long, and some of them came with plenty of perks. However, it was not easy for a doctor to get a slot in one of those training camps. Even though application would be open for doctors all over the county, most of the doctors who made it into those training camps were well-trained ones from tertiary Grade A hospitals in prefecture-level cities, and they also served as the pillars in their own hospitals.
Doctors who worked in county hospitals, whether they were resident doctors or attending physicians, were obviously not qualified to train alongside those excellent doctors.
However, now that there was a training camp in Yun Hua Hospital, things were different.
After all, Yun Hua Hospital was merely renowned in Changxi Province or at most, a few provinces around Changxi Province.
As a tertiary Grade A hospital, Yun Hua Hospital was only inferior to the likes of top hospitals like Huaxi Hospital. However, it was not impossible for doctors like Zhu Qianli to obtain a training spot there.
If he tried hard enough, it was possible.
The fact that Ren Qi was doing his in-service training there made Zhu Qianli a lot more confident about this.
“You want to leave the county hospital too?” Ren Qi looked at Zhu Qianli, and there was a slightly disbelieving expression on his face.
Ren Qi only gave up his high position in Qiu County Hospital and became a lowly doctor in Yun Hua Hospital because he had witnessed Ling Ran’s excellent skills multiple times. He had made the decision after thinking about it long and hard.
Ren Qi did not believe that Zhu Qianli, who had been taking bribes and living a good life for years in Qiu County Hospital, would have this kind of determination.
As expected, Zhu Qianli merely glanced at Ren Qi with a baffled expression. “I merely want to join the training camp, and I’ll bring the skills back to Qiu County Hospital. Unlike you, I have children and aging parents at home. It’s impossible for me to move somewhere else to work.”
Ren Qi smiled. “The hospital leaders don’t know that you’re here, do they?”
Zhu Qianli smiled too.
Ren Qi answered his own question, “Guess how I knew about that? I’m working in the Emergency Medical Center of Yun Hua Hospital as a legitimate in-service doctor. Wouldn’t the department director go crazy if he hears that you intend to participate in the training camp organized by the Emergency Medical Center of Yun Hua Hospital? If he knew about it, you wouldn’t even be able to make a trip here for inside information. The department director will probably send one of his subordinates to go to your home to force you to work.”
Zhu Qianli froze for a moment. He then laughed up loud again and gave Ren Qi a thumbs up. “Excellent hypothesis. Very excellent indeed!”
“So, if you really get a spot for the training camp, what are you going to do about the county hospital?” Ren Qi asked. His expression did not change.
Zhu Qianli’s expression darkened when he heard this, and he looked even more like a domestic pig right now.
Ren Qi crossed his arms before his chest and looked at the patients and their family members who were walking around the emergency room. He quietly waited for Zhu Qianli’s reply.
“I’ll cross that bridge when it comes. Right now, I just want to get a spot in the training camp.” Ren Qi had expected that answer as he knew what kind of person Zhu Qianli was. Zhu Qianli was often more concerned about the present, and he had always dealt with the future when it came.
“Are you really certain about this?” Ren Qi decided to confirm things again.
“I’ve given it a good thought.” Zhu Qianli straightened up, and he answered firmly. He sighed loudly and said, “Old Ren, it’s not like you don’t know how uncertain and hard things are in Qiu County Hospital right now.”
“Huh?”
“Let me put it this way. After you left, I’ve never received the full sum of the bonus I’m supposed to get. The health insurance companies kept giving us fines, and according to the hospital policies, doctors are supposed to be responsible for those fines. So, it’s not easy to work in Qiu County Hospital now,” Zhu Qianli said what was on his mind. He then continued, “I’ve thought about it. For doctors, skills speak louder than anything. Old Ren, just imagine. After you go back to Qiu County Hospitals, all the departments will be fighting for you. I just need to explain things after I finish the training camp. That would solve all the problems.”
Ren Qi did not know whether to be envious or look down on the simple and honest Zhu Qianli.
“Let’s go. We’ll talk about it as we walk.” Since Zhu Qianli had already made his point clear, there was nothing much that Ren Qi could do to change his mind. He walked to the operating area together with Zhu Qianli.
Ren Qi asked Zhu Qianli to change into scrubs and said, “The exact details of the training camp are not out yet. Since you’re here already, I suggest that you watch a few surgeries and decide on a direction first.”
“I have to decide on a direction?”
“Yes, Doctor Ling will be dividing the participants of the training camp into a few groups: hand surgery, knee surgery, general surgery, liver surgery, and emergency surgery. I’m telling you this privately. I reckon that you’ll get a better idea of things after watching a few surgeries performed by other members of the Ling Treatment Group.” Ren Qi was basically explaining the training camp to Zhu Qianli according to the normal protocol. He had no intention of giving Zhu Qianli any inside information.
Zhu Qianli realized that too, and he reluctantly said, “I don’t mind watching surgeries, but why do I have to watch those performed by other members of the Ling Treatment Group?”
“So that you can get a better idea of things and decide on a direction.” Ren Qi smiled and took a look at the schedule. They then headed to Operating Theater 3.
There were a lot of things on Zhu Qianli’s mind, but he followed Ren Qi to the operating theater. He was not that enthusiastic about it. He merely watched the surgery quietly.
Ren Qi did not say anything either. He stood in a corner of the operating theater together with several doctors whom he did not know.
Lu Wenbin, who was operating on the patient, was not aware of this at all.
When the Ling Treatment Group started introducing this protocol several days ago, Lu Wenbin was not really used to it.
He kept feeling that he should be putting on a better performance because doctors from other hospitals were watching him.
However, now that doctors from other hospitals had been watching him for several days, Lu Wenbin was starting to feel like a panda in a zoo who had gotten used to being watched. He was unperturbed as he operated on the patient and showcased his muscles while he was at it.
He was acting as the chief surgeon in an M-Tang surgery, and he was getting better and better at this surgical procedure.
The best way to become more skillful at a surgical method had always been to act as the chief surgeon for that method.
He also had the advantage of receiving guidance from Ling Ran.
Lu Wenbin’s head was lowered, and he carefully separated the patient’s tendon. He was almost as good at handling human tendons as he was at dealing with pork trotters nowadays.
“Hm…” Lu Wenbin extended his hand confidently.
The nurse placed a needle holder on his palm, and a 5-0 surgical thread was attached to the needle.
Lu Wenbin started suturing the patient’s tendon.
He used the standard starting position for the M-Tang technique, and it only took him a few stitches to secure the patient’s tendon back to its normal state.
Zhu Qianli squirmed and shoved the doctor beside him with his soft belly so that he could get a better view of Lu Wenbin’s maneuvers.
He was not interested in how good Lu Wenbin was at the surgical method. He merely wanted to see the way Lu Wenbin stitched up the tendon.
Lu Wenbin’s maneuvers were well-controlled, and the stitches were uniform…
Zhu Qianli believed that there were definitely surgeons in Yun Hua Hospital who could stitch up patients’ tendons better than this doctor, who looked a decade younger than him. But he also believed that if he successfully obtained this skill, he would definitely be able to make a name for himself at Qiu County Hospital.
No wonder Ren Qi was reluctant to leave.
Zhu Qianli could not help but look at Ren Qi and whisper, “You’ve found the perfect place to work at. When are you going to show me what you’ve got?”
Ren Qi flashed a profound smile. “The day will come.”
