Beef tripe, barbeque, and cartons of beer were placed neatly on the table.
The man with the self-inflicted wound on his mouth went into the taxi with his friend, who came with him. Boss Shao gave a hemostatic spray and a set of gauze as a gesture of goodwill. It was better than nothing, and the wound was already wrapped well. However, they would most likely need to go to the hospital to check again.
Ling Ran and Lu Wenbin took off their gloves and changed their clothes. They sat around the table with everyone as if nothing had happened.
In truth, nothing big happened anyway.
For the doctors in the Emergency Department, the number of emergency cases that they would need to deal with in a day could fill up Shao family’s restaurant. A patient that was pierced in the mouth by a metal skewer was simply a patient who needed the simplest type of debridement surgery.
It was just that the location of the injury was more special, which made Ling Ran, a pseudo-emergency doctor, more curious about it
The biggest problem encountered by doctors during their growth was such unique cases. If it were to happen in another industry, those professionals could go through professional training to master rare skills, but when it came to surgeries, they would not be able to receive any professional training for parts that were rarely injured. They could only operate on those parts if they ever ran into those cases.
Since the ratio of the population and medical personnel within the country was rather large, the doctors could be considered to have experienced many things. In other countries, unless their patients imitated their foreign friends and started actively looking for trouble, it would be very highly probable that foreign doctors would just practice on each other.
“Doctor Ling, thank you very much for today…” The patient’s colleague did not leave with the patient. Instead, he took the time to order two boxes of beer over to voice his appreciation.
Ling Ran gave a smile that would be accepted by the patient and their family and said, “We just so happened to be in the area. I really didn’t do much.”
“What do you mean you didn’t do much? We were all scared to death.” The patient’s female colleague seemed to have her eyes locked on Ling Ran. She was reluctant to leave.
Ling Ran chuckled. “If you had sent him to the hospital’s Emergency Department quickly, the treatment effect should be similar. At most, we only reduced the patient’s blood loss.”
“And also reduced the chance of infection.” Lu Wenbin added a sentence before he said to the patient’s colleagues, “We are from Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department, we just did a debridement while we’re at it. You have to thank Boss Shao here for having prepared the first aid supplies, surgical instruments, and they have even all been disinfected. It’s not an easy feat.”
“Thank you. Thank you.” Several people from the company gave their thanks repeatedly and said to Boss Shao, “From now on, the Shao family’s restaurant will be our company’s designated restaurant. We will only be at ease when we have a barbeque at your restaurant.”
“That’s right. Last time, there was an idiot who was bitten by a crab. After using Boss Shao’s medicine, it healed ridiculously quickly.”
“I came across someone who seemed to be bitten by a crayfish before. I laughed at that time. I didn’t expect a crayfish to actually be capable of biting, and that person was even injured.”
“I have encountered an unlucky fellow who cut their hand when he was cutting up a lamb chop.”
“Wow, you’ve met one before? I’ve also met one. Is he a pale and fat shortie?”
“No, he was a tanned, fat man. He stupidly held a knife to debone the lamb chop. It’s as if his brain was clogged by oil.”
“Yours is pretty general. I’ve seen one who used a knife as his toothpick. I don’t have to say that I was disgusted. He only noticed what was wrong when the blood from his gums flowed down the table from the knife handle. There are just too many idiots in the world.”
The diners in the Shao family’s restaurant shared their stories enthusiastically and felt that their life experiences had been enriched.
Zuo Cidian found an empty space and smiled. “The bamboo rat won’t taste nice once it gets cold.”
“That’s right. Let’s eat, let’s eat.” Lu Wenbin had the mindset of the eldest senior brother in Ling Treatment Group. He got up and used a pair of clean chopsticks to give Ling Ran a piece of bamboo rat.
The bamboo rats that were grilled looked like a roasted suckling pig in terms of not only its size, but its outer appearance as well. It was just that the legs were extremely small.
The bamboo rat was spread open with a metal skewer, and its flesh was flipped out. Its outer skin was golden in color, with a slight reddish hue. It glistened with oil. After using the knife to slice it horizontally twice and vertically four times, Boss Shao then cut its tail, and there were exactly sixteen pieces. By then, it looked even more like a roasted suckling pig.
However, the meat quality of bamboo rats was softer and more tender than roasted suckling pigs.
Suckling pigs were soft because they only had fat meat that lacked the support of muscles, and it was unreasonably fat. In comparison, while an adult bamboo rat was not quite active, but as it grew into an adult, it would still have a lot of muscles grow, especially on its legs and tail. There was an obvious, chewy texture to it. The bamboo rat was also a small animal, and it had the characteristic of being soft and tender that only small animals would have.
Therefore, the tender and chewy texture were the characteristics of roasted bamboo rats.
Zuo Cidian called everyone over and poured them beer. When he turned his head around, he saw that everyone had started to eat the second plate of bamboo rat, and he could not help but begin to scowl. He did not quite know how to handle his new unit’s style when it came to gatherings.
Ling Ran also took his second piece of bamboo rat meat and bit it without hesitation.
If he had some doubts when he started eating, the excellent taste changed his idea. This was similar to the time when bullfrogs were popular. At that time, Tao Ping had used dry pot bullfrogs to change her recipes.
“Doctor Ling, how is the taste?” Boss Shao waited for them to take a few bites before he came over to give them a toast.
“It’s very delicious.” This was already a great compliment from Ling Ran.
Boss Shao laughed like a bamboo rat. “Eat more if you like it. My store is best known for innovative dishes, and I keep up with the trend in the world of food. Hmm? Why aren’t you drinking?”
“I can’t perform surgeries if I drink alcohol,” Ling Ran answered naturally.
“Haven’t you finished work today?”
“If any emergencies arise, the Emergency Department might call me at any moment.” Ling Ran sounded very aware of the situation around him.
Boss Shao, who was already quite familiar with Ling Ran, chuckled a few times and pretended to believe in his words.
“Doctor Ling, come eat the tail of this small white bamboo rat.” Guan Fei smiled as cutely as possible and used the chopsticks to pick the tail of the bamboo rat to give to Ling Ran. Guan Fei was not very confident about her own appearance, but she felt that she should still be quite adorable.
Boss Shao praised her and explained. “The bamboo rat tail is the chewiest part of the rat. It’s also delicious because it has a lot of collagen. Plus, the bamboo rat always moves its tail, so the tail is made of voluntary muscles. Doctor Zuo, come, let’s have a drink together.”
Zuo Cidian practically had tears streaming down his face. Finally, there was someone who gave him a toast. At last, he could use the skills he had mastered.
Zuo Cidian raised his glass with both of his hands and clinked his glass with Boss Shao’s gently.
Boss Shao was flattered, and he quickly changed to holding the glass with two hands. He drank the beer in one fell swoop.
Lu Wenbin, Ma Yanlin, and the others drank beer if they drank alcohol. Those who did not drink alcohol drank other drinks.
Ling Ran drank plain water, rinsed his mouth, and grabbed a few skewers of beef tripe before he ate them.
Compared with the trending bamboo rat barbeque, the beef tripe was the traditional signature dish of Shao family’s restaurant. It was still as delicious as always. Ling Ran noticed that there was a familiar taste even when it was dipped in sesame sauce. He suspected that the secret sauce Boss Shao used to grill bamboo rats was related to the secret sauce that he used to make the beef tripe.
“That… it’s great that everyone is here today. I want to announce something.” Ma Yanlin drank two glasses of wine, and a hint of red appeared on his pale cheeks.
He stood up with a stagger, looked at the crowd, held a glass of wine in his hand, and smiled, “In short, Wei Man and I are planning to get married. The wedding would be on the twentieth of January. It would be on the eve of the Spring Festival.”
Weiman also stood up and nodded gently at everyone. She said, “Everyone, you’re all welcome to come to our wedding.”
“Wow…”
“Congratulations!”
“Great for you.”
The doctors by the table raised their glasses.
Ling Ran also stood up, raised a glass of plain water, and clinked his glass with Ma Yanlin and Wei Man.
The atmosphere at the table instantly became lively.
At some point of time, Boss Shao moved toward their table again.
“Boss Shao, our Young Ma is getting married,” Lu Wenbin said with a smile, and his heart was full of emotions. He could be described as a young man who had all four necessities in life: a job, a car, a house, and a fit body. Who could have thought that he was in fact so much more behind Ma Yanlin in terms of life-changing events like marriage?
Boss Shao was stunned for a moment before he congratulated him. Then, he frowned and said, “Doctor Ling, can you come over for just a second?”
“What’s up?” Ling Ran pushed the chair away.
“It’s nothing big, I was bitten by a bamboo rat.” Boss Shao extended his hand with a bitter smile, and his left hand covered in blood.
Ling Ran could not help but have his emotions surge. “You got bitten just like that?”
“It’s not as if everyone looks at the Chinese almanac[1].” Boss Shao paused and said, “I looked at my wound, everything is fine, but I can only look at it in such a light. It’s a coincidence that doctors came to the restaurant to eat.”
“Well…” Ling Ran looked at the Boss Shao’s palm and sighed, “You have to go to Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department. Let’s go. Coincidentally, I haven’t drunk any beer.”
“You’re right.” Shao Boss admired him.
Translator’s Note:
[1] Chinese almanac: The Chinese calendar. It also tells you what you’re supposed to do and not supposed to do each month and season. So, if you don’t look at the Chinese almanac, you might get bad luck for doing certain things.
