Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ling Ran took a bath and changed his clothes before he slowly walked to the research institute. He just made it on time.
Lu Wenbin, who also received the message, was so excited that he only put on a T-shirt before he came. He rubbed his palms together while he waited in front of the entrance. He smiled and said to Ling Ran, “Doctor Ling, I heard that you can be the chief surgeon now?”
“Xue Haochu told me about that,” Ling Ran answered affirmatively.
Lu Wenbin slapped his thigh. He smiled and said, “That’s really great! Our days of hardship are finally over!”
Ling Ran glared at Lu Wenbin once and said, “Since when have we gone through any sort of hardship?”
“We traveled a thousand miles, all the way from Yun Hua to Shanghai. Throughout the entire process, we had to put up with all kinds of difficulties caused by unknown doctors. There’s no kettle for us to boil water in our kitchen, and I haven’t cooked the stew in my house for several days. I heard from our colleagues in Yun Hua Hospital that they’ve finished all the edamame that I cooked…” Lu Wenbin kept grumbling, and he sounded like he had suffered a lot.
Ling Ran chuckled and continued on his way into research institute.
Lu Wenbin immediately said, “Doctor Ling, I rushed here just now. Could you get a coat for me?”
“Yes?”
“A white coat. Could you please help me borrow a white coat from the nurses’ station?”
“Why don’t you borrow it on your own?”
“I went to borrow one, but they refused my request. They said that there was no size suitable for me, and there were no suitable white coats available. They even asked me to borrow from the department…”
Ling Ran waved his hand. He did not have the energy to listen to Lu Wenbin’s complaints. He looked around while he walked. When they passed by an office, he stopped and asked, “Hi, do you have any extra white coats here?”
All the departments and units in a hospital always had an endless supply of white coats.
Some departments placed the white coats in the corridor for everyone to use, while some departments hung their white coats carefully in their closets. However, at the end of the day, it was extremely easy to get a white coat in a hospital.
There were doctors who recognized Ling Ran after they heard his voice, and they turned around.
“We-We do!” a female doctor immediately answered. “You’re Doctor Ling, right? The surgeon from Yun Hua Hospital?”
“Yes, it’s me.” Ling Ran smiled and said, “My colleague didn’t bring his white coat along, so I want to borrow one for him.”
“I will return it after I finish my work,” Lu Wenbin immediately said.
The female doctor pursed her lips and said, “You don’t have to return it.”
The female doctor found a large-sized white coat and passed it to Lu Wenbin. She then said, “Use this one.”
Lu Wenbin was extremely grateful.
The female doctor did not really pay much attention to him. She took out her phone and talked to Ling Ran. “Doctor Ling, let’s add each other on WeChat. I’m Li Shan, and I’m in charge of rehabilitation therapy. We may work together in the future.”
So, Ling Ran took out his phone and added her on WeChat before he expressed his gratitude to all the doctors there, including Li Shan. He then took his leave.
Lu Wenbin was very satisfied. After he put on the white coat, he followed Ling Ran and strolled around like a well-fed goose that had quenched its thirst.
In the consultation room…
Zhu Tongyi walked around in his room like a big, starving goose.
He had too many social activities. If he did not filter them, he probably would not have any free time. Even if he tried his best to choose as few events as he could, there would still be some activities that he had to attend.
However, Zhu Tongyi knew what his foundation was for his success.
His foundation was his experience of working as a surgeon in the Orthopedics Department for forty years, and that was the reason why it was possible for him to be elected as an academician in the Chinese Academy of Engineering. This was actually an honor for him, not a position. Although the title of an academician was considered a position for many people nowadays, Zhu Tongyi felt more stressed from his career once he was given the title.
He no longer needed to compare himself with the doctors of his batch, colleagues who worked with him in the same hospital, or even his peers in the same field. What he needed to do was produce something that could be recognized by society.
Healing Liu Weichen and allowing him to participate in competitions again was an example of that.
Liu Weichen was a champion in the National Games for the 100-meter as well as 200-meter race. He was also the champion for the IAAF World Indoor Games. Besides, he also performed quite well in the Asian Games and Olympic Games, but naturally, he did not win the gold medal in those two sporting events.
Even so, Liu Weichen was considered one of the top in the country’s track-and-field. In addition, he was quite good-looking, and he had good luck, so his fame slowly increased day by day. Right then, he was one of the most popular among the new athletes.
Star athletes like him usually received treatment overseas if they needed to treat sports injuries.
Foreign countries were equipped with more experience, and they had higher standards when compared with the local hospitals in terms of medical care in the most sophisticated fields, especially sports medicine.
However, Liu Weichen had chosen to receive treatment in Zhu Tongyi’s research institute several times before. It showed that he held Academician Zhu Tongyi and his research institute in high regard.
To a certain degree, Liu Weichen already considered Zhu Tongyi to be his general practitioner.
Whenever he felt sick, he would pay a visit to the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center. Then Zhu Tongyi or another doctor would help Liu Weichen with a basic preliminary diagnosis before they either directed him to the suitable department for treatment, or arranged a doctor to treat him.
The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center was considered an independent department for special patients’ consultations. The charges for said consultations were quite expensive, but at the same time, they allowed the patients a high degree of freedom. That gave a strong assurance to Liu Weichen, who had been participating on the battlefield for many years.
This time, Zhu Tongyi contacted the sports medicine research institutes in the foreign countries. However, the position where Liu Weichen was injured was rather bad, and Zhu Tongyi could not obtain a satisfying surgery plan from his discussions.
In truth, there were only several major surgery plans that could be chosen for ruptured Achilles tendons. They could only cut the skin and perform end-to-end sutures, or increase the tensile strength of the sutures, or perform a replantation, or they could even just play it safe by putting the affected leg in a plaster and waiting for the ruptured tendon to heal on its own.
As an athlete, the conservative surgery plan should not be employed. There was a high possibility for a normal person to rupture his Achilles tendon again once the affected leg was put in a plaster cast for the tendon to heal on its own. The possibility was even higher for an athlete.
His surgery plan was continuously being refined. As a result, the difficulty level and risks in the surgery increased. Hence…
Even the medical centers in foreign countries were not willing to be responsible for such a surgery.
Both Zhu Tongyi and Liu Weichen had to ceaselessly ponder over the pros and cons of lowering the difficulty level of the surgery or taking the risk and pushing their luck.
Naturally, the best plan was to get a doctor who was extremely skilled. Then, once the surgery plan had a guaranteed success, they would do their best to further minimize the risk of the surgery. If a person like Zhu Tongyi requested for a highly-skilled surgeon, the surgeon had to be truly skilled.
“This Doctor Ling Ran is only in his twenties, is he really capable of handling the surgery?” Liu Weichen sat on a wheelchair while he stared at Academician Zhu Tongyi. He could no longer delay treatment for his foot injury anymore, but the choice of the surgeon and surgery plan were both not confirmed yet. Liu Weichen was also very anxious. He had even consulted foreign medical institutions for a time.
However, the foreign medical institutions could only promise to provide a skilled doctor. They would never agree to the surgery plan Liu Weichen longed to receive.
Zhu Tongyi walked two steps forward, stopped, and sighed. He said, “Weichen, we’ve faced this sort of situation a few times when we wanted to decide on a surgery plan, and you should understand by now. In the meantime, we are looking for a surgeon who’s highly-skilled, right?”
“Yes.” Liu Weichen nodded.
“The skilled surgeon that we’re looking for cannot be produced by medical colleges. The surgeon needs to be very talented in order to become a highly-skilled doctor.” Zhu Tongyi stopped for a while. He wore a smile on his face and said, “Athletes like you keep practicing for the games, but at the end of the day, you’ll still end up competing using your talents, right?”
Liu Weichen forced a smile and asked, “My natural talent isn’t good enough.”
“You’re already considered very good among the people in China. Next, it’s up to us, who support the sports unit.” Zhu Tongyi comforted him, turned around, and said, “Experience is actually quite important as well. I actually first put my main focus on the surgeons who were in their thirties. I even thought of inviting some chief surgeons from the Neurosurgery Department or Cardiothoracic Department to try a hand in the surgeries in our Hand and Foot Surgery Department. I didn’t expect to see such skill in a young man in his twenties.”
Zhu Tongyi clicked his tongue. He sounded very impressed.
Unlike many other doctors who only saw Ling Ran’s speed, the stability of his hands, or how skillful Ling Ran was when he operated, Zhu Tongyi looked beyond that. Ling Ran’s ability in analyzing MRI scans alone already added countless marks for Ling Ran in Zhu Tongyi’s eyes. Not forgetting, his confidence and skill when he performed the finger replantation surgery the other day.
Lastly, the speedy recovery of his patient was the most striking aspect of Ling Ran’s surgery. Humans had different mindsets and understandings towards the control over the progress of surgeries, but in the end, everything was reflected in the patient’s recovery.
This aspect was reflected the clearest in sports medicine. Regular people and professional athletes may receive the same surgery, but six months to be able to walk like any other person was not considered long for a regular person. For professional athletes, however, how many of them could afford to miss out on a season?
Most importantly, the requirement for a professional athlete’s recovery were completely different from other normal people.
Zhu Tongyi then thought of the video that Xue Haochu showed him. He coughed and said, “Weichen, is it okay if we watch how he actually performs in surgery? Before that, we don’t have to make any decisions yet, but we have to be polite to him, okay?”
Liu Weichen nodded immediately, “That’s for sure.”
“Yes, those talented young people are all wilful donkeys. We have to rub the donkey’s hair the way it grows,” said Zhu Tongyi. He hid his smile when he saw someone push the door open to enter the room.
