Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At nine in the morning, Lu Wenbin was so exhausted that he could not even walk properly. Understanding that patients would be uneasy about Lu Wenbin’s exhausted visage, Ling Ran very kindly canceled the ward rounds he scheduled for the day.
Lu Wenbin ran out happily as he was worried that new patients would be brought in.
It was very normal for a resident doctor to not sleep for a night. Even the resident doctors in America also had to spend eight years of not having enough rest. After this period of time, they could finally choose to either earn more money or “do the right thing”.
However, normal doctors could only work for one day shift and one night shift when they worked overtime. If they worked more than that… there would be repercussions. Most of the resident doctors would just massage their own bodies, and they would then be able to work for up to thirty-four hours. For doctors, a two-day shift with a night shift was considered an acceptable overtime period. It was only when their overtime period exceeded thirty-six hours would they consider it worthy of posting about it in their Circle of Friends. Otherwise, they would be considered as simply being whiny by other doctors.
Ling Ran drank an Energy Serum last night. Up to this moment, he would have been considered to have worked for sixteen to seventeen hours, and he had almost reached his limit. If he were to continue, he would need to drink another Energy Serum.
Because of this, Ling Ran decided to say no; it would be better if he rested.
The fact that he only had 143 bottles of Energy Serum left was secondary, the main problem was that Lu Wenbin and the resident doctors on night shift were exhausted. The young nurses on shift duty should also go back and rest. If he wanted to continue performing surgeries, Ling Ran would need to ask the nurse-on-duty in charge of the operating theater to rearrange their shifts when she came to work early in the morning.
Of course, the most important deciding factor for Ling Ran’s actions was that the patients could no longer keep up to his speed.
As a famous orthopedic specialist at Shanghai around forty years old, Ji Tianlu made tens of phone calls, but even then, he only managed to receive nine patients suffering from Achilles tendon rupture. Then, he requested for another three patients with severed fingers. It was only then when he managed to keep Ling Ran in the operating theater for seventeen hours.
As a doctor who had read dozens of related research papers, Ling Ran understood that in a city like Shanghai, which had a population of thirty million people, there would only be at most two patients who suffered from Achilles tendon rupture in a day. If he included patients from nearby cities and counties, he had probably operated on one-fifth to one-third of the patients with fresh Achilles tendon ruptures yesterday.
For a city that contained tens of tertiary grade A hospitals, it could be said that Ling Ran had taken in patients more than the city provided. It would be harder for him to get new cases even if he were to continue waiting.
After all, the number of normal people who ruptured their Achilles tendons would usually only increase in the afternoon. The sports fans who played badminton and basketball in their spare time would only be active after lunch. During normal working days, most people would only get their Achilles’ tendons ruptured after dinner.
Therefore, Ling Ran only stayed for an hour. He checked through the medical records of the patients from yesterday. After he made sure that there was no problem, he felt relieved, and he grabbed a car back to the hotel. He had received a lot of surgery fees yesterday. He would have chosen to a sit in a luxurious car back to the hotel if he had not planned to save some money to buy yogurt.
Ling Ran slept until the afternoon. He felt that he had fully recovered from his fatigue from the previous day. He packed his belongings and grabbed a car to the hospital. He then rushed to Ji Tianlu’s office.
When Ji Tianlu caught sight of Ling Ran’s handsome face, he took a subconscious step backward, but where could he hide? This was his own office.
“Doctor Ling, you’re here,” Ji Tianlu laughed.
“Chief Physician Ji.” Ling Ran showed a faint smile on his face. He sat up straight in a chair; it was the standard position to show obedience.
“Um… Ling Ran… I heard that you have been performing surgeries for one day and night? Don’t work yourself too hard.”
“I’m not tired at all.” Ling Ran smiled obediently.
“Did the Finance Department go to you? The surgery fee is paid according to the rules in our research institute. Achilles tendon repair surgeries are around 100 RMB each. Don’t be unhappy with this small amount of money. We’re different from Yun Hua Hospital. The Class 1 allocation of funds in Yun Hua Hospital is 50% to the chief surgeon, right? For us, chief surgeons only receive a quarter of the surgery fees, which means you only receive 25% of the surgery fees. The doctors also mentioned that their increment never followed the trend of times. But we do not have any choice except to use this present system. The nine cases of Achilles tendon repairs you performed yesterday night is about 1,000 RMB. Actually, it’s quite a lot…” Ji Tianlu felt that he was trapped, so he subconsciously started to mutter under his breath.
Ling Ran answered after Ji Tianlu finished speaking, “I haven’t approached the Financial Department. But I would like to be interviewed first.”
“Inter… Interview? Oh, Ling Ran, about this, I would like to discuss something with you…”
“I know. I’m sorry that I haven’t completed yesterday’s surgery.” Ling Ran interrupted Ji Tianlu and said sincerely, “But it’s because there were no more patients at that time, and the doctors and nurses on shift needed to clock off, so I stopped operating on the patients. I’ll complete the surgery in the next few hours.”
“That’s not…”
“I’ll take at most two hours to finish them. I performed twelve surgeries yesterday. So, there are four left. If the remaining surgeries are general and fresh Achilles tendon repair ruptures, I’ll finish all of them within two hours or at most two and a half hours. I won’t take more than three hours.”
Ji Tianlu was terrified, “You don’t have to make up for the remaining surgeries. Just let it slide. It’s tiring enough to look for twelve surgeries, I’m telling the truth…”
“I don’t have any more surgeries?” Ling Ran’s obedient sitting posture collapsed immediately, but his smile remained. It was hard for Tao Ping to train him in showing a smile that was accepted by society, he could not let it go to waste.
“Yes,” Ji Tianlu replied. He pretended to be serious and said, “Unless we run into them coincidentally…”
“Alright.” Ling Ran did not want to listen to his explanation. When he saw that Ji Tianlu was serious in expressing his own opinion, he could only nod and say, “Let me contact the flight back to Yun Hua. I’ll go back at night. By the way, I should be able to perform a ward round, right? I don’t need any titles to do so. I just want to observe the patients…”
“Wait!” Ji Tianlu stared at Ling Ran’s expression, and he suddenly felt the slightest bit of panic.
Ling Ran looked ahead calmly while he let his mind wander. In his mind, he started to miss the operating theaters in Yun Hua Hospital. Although there were fewer beds in Yun Hua Hospital, they had more extra beds! Furthermore, there were more finger replantations in Yun Hua Hospital. If he ran into a patient with three or four severed fingers, he could easily operate on him for five to six hours.
In contrast, a normal Achilles tendon repair technique would only last for half an hour. It could not even compare to an M-Tang technique surgery, but the patient would have to stay in the hospital for an even longer period of time.
Also, he could perform nerve anastomosis when he performed in finger replantations. This way, he could use his new technique. In the future, he could use epineurium anastomosis and perineurium anastomosis together. When he ran into small nerves, he would use epineurium anastomosis to shorten the length of surgery and reduce the risks of the wound being infected due to exposure. When he encountered important nerves, or when he had sufficient surgery time, he could use perineurium anastomosis to increase the success rate and boost the patient’s quality of life after he or she received surgery.
“Ling Ran, don’t rush back to Yun Hua first.” Ji Tianlu softened his voice.
“But if I’m not going back, I won’t have any surgeries to do.” Ling Ran was very firm in his decision.
Ji Tianlu had never met any doctor like this. The doctors who made many requests were usually older or in their middle ages. Their requests were usually very reasonable, such as requesting for an increase in their salary, wanting to go to karaoke, wanting some good food, good drinks, and good service. Some even requested for some rewards or to publish a paper. Even if Ji Tianlu could not make them satisfied himself, he could always send someone to fulfill their needs.
But to demand for more patients…
Ji Tianly stared at Ling Ran. He thought. ‘Are you threatening me? This is blackmail! It is futile when I have nothing to give!’
Ji Tianlu coughed hard before he sat properly. He said, “Ling Ran, I can only get you another five cases of Achilles tendon ruptures today. I cannot get you more than that.”
“Okay.” Ling Ran immediately agreed.
Ji Tianlu was stunned before he started to curse in his heart. ‘Too many cases. I must have given too many cases to him.’
“Please get the reporters for another interview session.” Ling Ran took the initiative and said, “I accepted four interviews yesterday. I did twelve cases of surgeries. Since you’re looking for another five patients with Achilles tendon ruptures, then you can arrange for another interview. At night, you can find another three patients to make up a total of twenty.”
Ji Tianlu had to try very hard before he had finally understood what Ling Ran meant. He scrunched up his face.
“If there are no patients with Achilles tendon ruptures, you can look for some with severed fingers or flexor tendon ruptures. You don’t have to so rigid in your search.” Ling Ran comforted Ji Tianlu, just like how he comforted Huo Congjun when he was at Yun Hua Hospital.
‘So arrogant!’ Ji Tianlu thought, ‘No matter what, I’m still a chief physician, right? Although we needed you to perform Plan A for the academician, you cannot just make excessive demands…’
When he thought about this, Ji Tianlu came up with an idea and said, “Ling Ran, you’ve worked hard for one whole day. You can’t just keep on performing surgeries. Why don’t you go back to the hotel and rest for two days first?”
“I’m not tired.”
“You cannot judge whether you are tired based on your subjective view. You have to analyze this objectively. Furthermore, we have our own system. You have to get enough rest…” Ji Tianlu lied to him. There was no such rule in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center. The hospital wanted the doctors to stay in the hospital every day, and this was the reason why the position of resident doctors existed.
“I can prove it.” Ling Ran said, and he looked for something in his bag. He had made preparations before he left the hotel.
Ji Tianlu quickly stopped him and said, “Don’t do Sudoku. Doing Sudoku can only tell me that your brain still remains clear, but it can’t show me the state of coordination for your limbs…”
“I know. The conditions were not right for me to do this last time, and I only had some Sudoku questions with me.”
Ling Ran said while he pushed away Ji Tianlu’s hands. He took out an insulated bag the size of an arm. When he unzipped it, they saw cold air rise from it.
“Is it stew?” Ji Tianlu was slightly excited for some reason. He believed that this was a bribe from Ling Ran. Although it was a little strange, he still would not accept a bribe like this. Still, he thought that this was a kind gesture from Ling Ran.
Ling Ran shook his head. He first took out two ice packs before he took out a surgery towel and unfolded it in front of Ji Tianlu. Then, he took out one pig hoof with its knee still attached, and he also brought out a set of surgical tools.
Without waiting for Ji Tianlu to say anything, Ling Ran set aside the insulated bag. He took out the scalpel and cut into the knee. Then, he used forceps to take out the pig’s Achilles tendon of the pig with ease.
“So?” Ling Ran showed the white and fresh Achilles tendon to Ji Tianlu.
“I understand. I’ll make a phone call now.” Ji Tianlu remembered that he had said something similar at some point of time before this, but he could not remember it. He palmed his head, ‘I never learn my lessons!’
