Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ling Ran drove his small, newly-repaired Volkswagen Jetta all the way to Lower Groove through the heavy traffic.
Lower Groove was just as congested.
The alley could only accommodate two cars moving side by side at one time, but right then, it was full of urban white-collar workers who had gone there to eat.
The stores in Lower Groove changed again and again. In the end, the ones that survived the passage of time were mostly restaurants.
It was particularly so for the fast food restaurants, which were dedicated to office workers. Four of them had opened in the alleys of Lower Groove, causing old neighbors to complain.
Having a lot of people was a good thing, but having too many people turned out to be really annoying, especially when the fast food restaurants replaced the shops. Often, when the people in the neighborhood saw shops that had been around for decades, they would still feel a little bit of comfort even if they did not buy those traditional pastries anymore.
Ling Ran slowly drove past the diners before he parked his car properly. He then returned to his own courtyard and saw a queue at his clinic.
When he fixed his gaze on the queue, he found that the queue led to a small room in the west wing.
On the door of the room was a small plastic sign. [Five-minute massage for 10 RMB. Walk-in.]
There were more than twenty middle-aged men and women who brought over small foldable stools to sit down and chat with each other while they queued up. This meant that two hours were required before all of them could be dealt with.
“Mom, I’m back,” Ling Ran called out. He climbed to the first floor before he poured himself a cup of herbal tea to drink.
“You’re back early today,” Ling Jiezhou announced his presence with swagger downstairs before he climbed up too. He smiled and said, “Your mom went to the tea shop. She didn’t expect you to come back. Let’s just order delivery.”
“Oh.” Ling Ran asked, “Is Dong Sheng doing the massages?”
Ling Jiezhou nodded. “Yes. That boy, Dong Sheng, is really honest. I wrote 10 RMB for five minutes, and he massaged the customers for a whole ten minutes. He only reduced the duration when those who were still queueing started to get impatient, and complained.’
“It’s 10 RMB for one time?”
“Yup, I get 4 RMB and I give him the other 6 RMB.”
Ling Ran glanced at Ling Jiezhou. “Dong Sheng is only 10 years old, yet you split his pay by 40/60?”
“You don’t understand, that’s the rule. Doctor Miao also wanted a 40/60 share. If I give Dong Sheng something else, it won’t be easy to lead those under me,” Ling Jiezhou said, looking like a troubled manager. “Dong Sheng’s meals and accommodation are even provided. This means I’m secretly giving him benefits. I can’t go around telling people about it either. Moreover, no matter how many patients there are, I still need to provide him with meals and accommodation. I’m forking out money from my own pocket here.”
“I’ll go and have a look.” Ling Ran was a little curious.
It was quite simple to learn how to massage. Many of the students in the schools for the blind, deaf, and mute did not take long to learn how to massage. Although the osteopathic physicians in the hospital might take a longer time to learn the skill, they did not spend most of their time on massage techniques. Instead, they spent it on the basics of human anatomy and other things.
Compared which surgeries, which operated on a more complete level of logilization, the demand for talent in massages seemed to be higher.
Fortunately, Dong Sheng grew up being raised by an old monk. He had already learned about acupoints and other things related to massages. Thus, he could easily catch up when he was taught by Ling Ran.
However, Ling Ran could not confirm how good he actually was.
The west wing…
The young novice monk was massaging diligently using the grabbing method to soothe the necks, shoulders, waists, and legs of the neighborhood people.
He was tiny and weak. Because of that, he had to be even more accurate in his administration to bring about an effect.
With the level of pain tolerance among the old neighbors around Lower Groove Clinic, Dong Sheng’s strength was more than enough to handle them.
Students who were taught by someone with a Master Level in Chiropractic Manipulation also had some advantages over others when it came to their skills.
The massages given by Dong Sheng did not produce immediate results like Ling Ran’s, and there was no advantage to speak of in his treatment. However, he could still relieve some pain for a short period of time.
Even Ling Ran’s massages were mainly focused on pain relief. The only difference between their massages was the duration of pain relief.
However, the neighbors did not possess professional skills in massaging, so they did not have the ability to judge holistically when it came to massages. The only thing they could be sure of was that the young novice monk massaged longer, charged lower, and he wore a uniform…
Ling Ran went into the room in the west wing and observed Dong Sheng’s operation for a while. Then, he nodded and walked out.
Dong Sheng’s massage technique was still not fully developed, but there were not many errors. Moreover, he seemed to remember Ling Ran’s warnings about the dangerous parts in the human body and actions that could be harmful. He did not violate any of them.
As a result, customers were willing to accept massages from Dong Sheng, and Ling Ran was able to happily take a break.
He found his own reclining chair in one familiar motion, put his legs up, launched his game, and played joyfully.
After a long time, Ling Ran was summoned by Doctor Miao upon the blaring sound of an ambulance.
“Doctor Ling, two more patients have arrived, do you want to take one of them?” Miao Tansheng smiled and extended the invitation. “The fees will go to whoever performs the suture. Think of it as earning yourself some pocket money.”
“Give me a minute, the final battle is about to begin.” Ling Ran’s whole attention was fixed on his phone. After a few seconds, he put it down.
Miao Tansheng looked at Ling Ran, and he did not understand what he meant.
Under Doctor Miao’s observant gaze, Ling Ran pondered for a few seconds before he said, “The final battle seems to have ended. They actually fought it at the down lane… What kind of patients are they?”
Doctor Miao did not play the game, so he just smiled and said, “Injury from a blunt object. They’ve come from the construction site. Golden Deer Health Services now extends their services to the city’s major construction sites, and it’s even publicizing its services in the new community. We often have construction workers, renovation workers, and similar people coming to see us.”
Doctor Miao was pleased with Golden Deer Health Services’ business expansion. For surgeons sitting in small clinics for extended periods of time, having many patients walking in to visit them for a consultation was a memory of the past. In fact, for Miao Tansheng, most of the patients he currently had were sent by Golden Deer Health Services.
It was considered Miao Tansheng’s most comfortable month of life ever since he left the hospital.
He did not have to sell medication anymore, or rack his brains to accumulate more money. He only needed to finish suturing the patients sent his way, plus the income was quite good as well.
The techniques Ling Ran showed him also gave Miao Tansheng hope to improve.
Hope was also one of the necessities of life.
“Does he need debriding and suturing?” Ling Ran asked Doctor Miao.
“We need to debride him and perform a cosmetic suture on him,” Doctor Miao replied.
“Oh.” Ling Ran got up from his comfortable reclining chair and said, “Let’s go have a look.”
He left his phone by the side to be recharged. People watched him as he left, and a condescending atmosphere descended in the area.
However, Ling Ran was the kind of person who treated surgeries like entertainment, just like how some professional race car drivers drove for the sake of pleasure and some professional basketball players played basketball for their enjoyment.
Ling Ran grew up in the clinic and did not find any problem with seeing patients after working hours.
When he met the two patients that were sent to him, Ling Ran first leaned over to look at their wounds—the same as he did in the Emergency Department.
The wounds were all caused by blunt force trauma, and the skin was torn. One was hurt on the forehead, while the other one on the cheek. It seemed that he needed to perform some drainage and disinfection. Ling Ran was already familiar with that process, so he reached out and said, “Gauze, povidone-iodine.”
Miao Tansheng was a little stunned before he brought the things over in a flash. He became the assistant obediently.
Initially, he was there to secretly learn from Ling Ran. Now, he could learn from him out in the open, which was even better.
“Doctor, I’m here for a cosmetic suture.” The worker chosen by Ling Ran had the forehead injury, and he was also the one who was more seriously injured. He looked to be around his twenties. There was dust and dirt on his face, his clothes were dirty, and it was easy for Ling Ran to link him to the laborers who worked on construction sites.
“We’ll perform a cosmetic suture for you,” Miao Tansheng said.
“In that case, I’d like you to suture my wound for me.” The worker with the forehead injury lowered his from the operating table.
The worker with the cheek injury was almost the same age as the other construction worker. He said, “Don’t look down on us just because we shift bricks. Everyone’s face is worth some money. We don’t mind if it causes a lot of money, just do the suture properly for us, and it’ll be fine.”
The worker with the forehead injury also said, “The fees are so high, so please don’t deceive us. The money I’ve earned this year’s for when I attend my blind date back home. How many betrothal gifts do you think I’ll have to give if I have a long scar on my head right then?”
“That’s right. You’re considered disabled if you have a scar on your face, and you won’t get a wife.”
Miao Tansheng was taken aback for a moment before he smiled. “You guys are quite smart.”
“We don’t have any choice. If we had been hurt elsewhere, we definitely wouldn’t have come to see a doctor.”
“You’re slightly mistaken then. Doctor Ling’s cosmetic suturing is better than mine.” Miao Tansheng had too many countermeasures for such a situation. With an amiable attitude, he smiled and praised Ling Ran, “Doctor Ling’s a top student from Yun Hua University. The university he graduated from is way better than mine. He’s now working in Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department, and he deals with many similar cases every day.”
The two workers looked at each other and said, “We don’t go to large hospitals because we want the suture to be better.”
“I know, but Doctor Ling’s really good at sutures. Let me put it this way, this clinic is owned by Doctor Ling’s father. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to find someone as professional as Doctor Ling even if you paid ten times the money you paid here. You know about plastic surgeries, right? All of those surgeries will cost you five figures.”
The two workers were dubious.
Miao Tansheng took the opportunity to let Ling Ran perform the suture.
Ling Ran did not think too much of it. Once he saw that he could suture, he said, “Please endure this for just a moment, I will debride you.”
Shortly after, Ling Ran quickly performed the operation.
The wounds were too familiar and too light. Ling Ran completed the suture quickly, but it was not interesting. It was like eating tea-soaked rice. It was just enough to fill in for his cravings.
Miao Tansheng paid attention to Ling Ran’s moves and memorized every single step he made.
“Do you want to learn?” Ling Ran looked at Doctor Miao. He conducted the surgery at a leisurely pace, but of course, here, it was according to his own definition of leisurely.
Miao Tansheng was a little embarrassed when he asked him. He felt like an apprentice who had been caught trying to learn a skill. He muttered, “I’m just looking…”
“When you suture, you focus too much on treating the cuticular border, and the treatment of the subcutaneous tissue isn’t done nicely.” Ling Ran paused before he said, “If you only perform the intradermal suture well and do a sloppy job on treating the problems of skin tension, after a week or two, while the appearance of the wound may look very beautiful, scar formation will accumulate in the future. In addition, although you’re very careful when it comes to dealing with the cuticular border, you still need to pay some attention to the angle at which you insert your needle.”
Ling Ran was a graduate student who had received formal medical education under the medical education system. He was also the recipient of a system that provided him skills. Since he was young, he had never suffered because of his studies, and no one had ever stopped others from teaching him.
Ling Ran could remember following his mother to drawing lessons when he was in kindergarten. The teacher of those drawing lessons cried and begged to keep him as her pupil. When he followed his mother to piano lessons, the piano teacher cried and begged to keep him as her pupil. When he followed his mother to San Shou [1] lessons, the teacher also cried and begged to keep him as his pupil.
Once he was in elementary school, Tao Ping did not have to personally take Ling Ran out to lessons. They would just simply go and look at a painting and calligraphy exhibition, then snap a few photos. Soon enough, calligraphy teachers, piano teachers, violin teachers, swimming teachers, and so on, who wanted to take in pupils, would arrive at their doorstep…
Therefore, Ling Ran did not have the concept of treasuring what belonged to him.
At the end of the day, if you wanted to learn something, you had to rely on yourself and not others. No matter how good the teachers were, they would not know the subject completely, except for the system.
The worker who trembled under Ling Ran’s taper needle did not dare speak while his eyes were wide open. Miao Tansheng utterly had no desire to speak.
‘Are you saying that I’m slow in picking things up because I’m older?
‘Are you saying that I’m a slow-learner? I’m just trying to learn your skills secretly? Do you have any idea how hard it is to learn a skill secretly?!
‘Besides, how long exactly will I need to learn a skill?’
Miao Tansheng retorted madly in his heart, but he watched as Ling Ran performed the surgery. He slowly relaxed and lowered his fish eyes as well as rosacea-ridden nose and earnestly said, “Yes, Doctor… Ling. I’ll practice diligently.”
He actually wanted to use the chance to call Ling Ran his teacher so that he could become his student, but the remnants of his ego desperately put a stop to the rational act.
The rest of Miao Tansheng’s rationality turned to his job. He took a glance at the worker with the cheek injury, and he was full of the urge to practice on him. He said, “You, sit in front of me. Let me have a look.”
The worker with the cheek injury had also received nine years of compulsory education. After he heard the conversation between Miao Tansheng and Ling Ran, he slowly shrank his neck. With a hint of astuteness, he said, “I want Doctor Ling to do my suture. I don’t mean anything by it, I just want the suture to be a little better so that I can go back and find a partner.”
