Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
One of the consequences of the MRSA outbreak was that the surgical volume of the hospital had drastically decreased.
Every corner of the hospital was being disinfected, and all the scheduled surgeries were being postponed whenever possible. The Emergency Department did the same.
As the Emergency Department needed to liaise with the other departments, they also postponed most of their surgeries. And just like in the other department, disinfection and cleaning efforts were being ramped up in the Emergency Department.
Huo Congjun would never allow another case of MRSA to appear in an Emergency Department that had just been upgraded to an actual Emergency Medical Center.
All the medical staff were reminded again and again of the importance of washing their hands.
Protective equipment was being distributed to everyone in the hospital.
The ventilators and the beddings were washed again and again.
The management of medical waste had become unprecedentedly strict.
The Department of Infection Control sent their best doctors to the Emergency Medical Department. Even though they went there under the euphemism of “learning”, in reality, they were trying to prove how good they were at their job compared to those in the Emergency Medical Center.
Under their guidance, the infection control measures in the Emergency Medical Center had become even stricter. And because of this, all the doctors had been grumbling a lot.
“Now that I think about it, things were much better back when Doctor Ling was in charge of infection control.”
“I know, right. At least Doctor Ling did things in moderation without making things too difficult for us. It’s not like he couldn’t carry out infection control well either. Take a look at those pieces of trash from the Department of Infection Control, they’re practically finding fault with everything.”
“I think that Doctor Ling did find fault with everything too, though. It wouldn’t be a stretch to describe him as such.”
“Doctor Ling does that because there was a need to. As for those doctors from the Department of Infection Control… don’t they look a bit too ugly?”
“Now that you mention it, they do look extremely ugly.”
“If they weren’t so ugly, they would have been hired by some other department.”
The doctors of the Emergency Medical Center unscrupulously chastised the doctors from the Department of Infection Control with all the malice they could muster.
They would not really suffer any losses by criticizing the doctors from the Department of Infection Control, anyway. If they were dealing with doctors from the Medical Laboratory Department or the Medical Imaging Department, they would definitely have been a lot more polite.
Ling Ran, though, had no intention to saunter around the Emergency Medical Center.
He merely carried out infection control to fulfill his personal desires. Ling Ran could not stand it when other medical staff did not wash their hands or properly sterilize medical instruments.
Now that the Department of Infection Control was willing to interfere and carry out stricter infection control measures in the Emergency Medical Center, Ling Ran was glad to be freed of the responsibility. This way, he got to save time and energy.
Before this, Ling Ran had to request for the Department of Infection Control to send doctors over to help out. Now that two experienced doctors from the Department of Infection Control willingly came over, Ling Ran did not intend to disturb them as they carried out their tasks at all.
However, he felt pretty bored as he did not get to carry out any surgeries.
Ling Ran decided to retrieve some pellets from the waiting room. He then took a book and headed for the fountain. He sat beside the fountain and started reading as he fed the goose.
As Yu Yuan who was responsible for monitoring the goose’s food intake was worried, she quietly followed Ling Ran out. She held a book with one hand and read it while she toyed with her thermometer with her other.
Fragrance Yard’s face went pale when it saw the thermometer. It opened and closed its mouth a few times, and it did not dare to eat any of the pellets that fell within a three feet radius of Ling Ran.
The children were the happiest. It only took a handful of pellets for the usually fierce goose to run around like it was being hypnotized. As the children were usually ordered around by adults, they craved for this kind of power.
A few young children stood around Ling Ran.
Ling Ran gave half of the pellets to the children, and this attracted even more children as well as older girls, young women, and men and women of all ages.
Some of them had their gazes fixed on the goose, while the others were looking at Ling Ran. All of them were having a good time, and the atmosphere around the fountain was jovial. Laughter and chatters filled the space, a rare sight indeed.
Some of the senior citizens were also pushed toward the area by their children or the patient care assistants.
All of them were long-term patients and often spent their time in the corridors or the back garden of the hospital so that they could feast their eyes on the poison ivy and money plants. Ever since Fragrance Yard the large white goose came to the fountain, many of the senior citizens were even more inclined to spend their time there.
They liked to look at other people—ordinary people who were not anxious and had never been sick a day in their lives, especially children. This made those senior citizens’ mood better.
Of course, they only liked to do this for a short while. They would all get annoyed after some time.
One of the playful children got a little too close to the goose. The goose glared at him, and the child got so scared that his legs went limp.
The large goose walked step by step toward the playful child, and it emanated such a scary aura that it looked like a furry dinosaur.
“Doctor Ling, you’re resting here?” Jin Xuezhen’s father rushed over from afar. His footsteps were as sturdy as those of a construction worker’s. He walked step by step toward Ling Ran, and even though he looked like he was walking slowly, he was actually walking at a fast pace. And even though his footsteps seemed light, his footsteps were firm as they hit the ground. Those who were in the know could definitely tell that this man had trained for a footrace before.
“Director Jin.” Ling Ran sounded polite and distant at the same time.
“Doctor Ling, you don’t seem to be too busy today.” Jin Xuezhen’s father looked like he was drunk again. The scent of alcohol coming out of his mouth was a little unbearable.
Ling Ran, who could not stand the smell, took a step back and nodded. “I don’t have anything to do for now.”
“Doctor Ling, since you’re free, can you go and take a look at my son?” Jin Xuezhen’s father took a step forward and continued, “Doctor Ling, you can rest for a few days while you’re at it. If you’re okay with it, I can ask my brother-in-law to let you go on leave for a few days. And throughout the few days you’re taking care of my son, I’ll pay you according to the rate you would get if you were giving a medical consultation.”
He obviously knew about the existence of freelance surgery.
Besides, Jin Xuezhen’s father also cleverly involved the hospital director in this.
Back when Director Jin was still part of the committee of Yun Hua Hospital, he never used his brother-in-law’s name to get things done unless he was desperate. However, more often than not, it worked like a charm whenever he did so.
Ling Ran, though, remained unmoved. He did not carry out freelance surgeries because he was after the money. Besides, he was only a resident doctor and did not care much about the hospital director’s opinion of him.
Ling Ran threw another handful of pellets on the ground and said, “I’ve given very clear orders when it comes to his post-surgical care. Under ordinary circumstances, he wouldn’t need any extra attention. Besides, by being in the ICU, he’s already receiving top-notch care.”
Ling Ran knew his own abilities. It was true that he had mastered many surgical methods. However, even though he was quite well-versed in postsurgical care, it was based on the knowledge he had about the respective surgical methods.
Internists definitely knew more about the usage of drugs and their efficiency compared to him.
When Ling Ran saw that Jin Xuezhen’s father was about to say something, he immediately suggested, “If you really want to find someone to take care of him, it would be more appropriate that you look for an internist.”
“I know. We talked about this before this…” Jin Xuezhen’s father started becoming impatient, and he had a legitimate reason to feel so. Jin Xuezhen just got into an accident, his spleen, as well as half his liver was gone, and he was still in the ICU. Besides, Jin Xuezhen’s father just drank alcohol…
“The king asked me to patrol the mountains…”
Ling Ran’s phone started ringing. He immediately answered the call, and Lu Wenbin’s voice rang out. “Doctor Ling, a child with four severed finger is being sent to the hospital.”
“I’ll go over right now.” Ling Ran ended the call and turned to look at Jin Xuezhen’s father, “Director Jin, I need to head to the operating theater now.”
Before Jin Xuezhen’s father could say anything, Ling Ran tossed the book he was holding to Yu Yuan and said, “I’ll go to the operating theater to take a look at the situation. Come over in a while.”
It was impossible to replant the four fingers one by one, as this was way too inefficient. And Ling Ran found it quite entertaining to have two or three surgeries going on in the same operating theater at the same time, too. He could operate on one of the fingers as he guided another doctor who would be operating on another finger.
After Jin Xuezhen’s father hesitated for a moment, he decided to follow Ling Ran back to the Emergency Medical Center.
Lu Wenbin and Zuo Cidian were waiting for Ling Ran in the reception hall. After a short while, Ma Yanlin and Yu Yuan came over too.
When Ling Ran saw that all the doctors of his treatment group were here, he asked, “Do you guys know what happened?”
“Some brat made a home-made explosive so that he could fire a shot, and four of his fingers were severed as a result. There are also burns of varying degrees on his face and neck. Besides, his parents applied soy sauce and toothpaste on the wounds.” Lu Wenbin summarized all the information he gathered from the phone call he received earlier.
Ling Ran and the other doctors of Ling Treatment Group were not the only ones who were stunned. Even a few doctors and nurses who were passing by stopped in their tracks.
“His parents are dumb too. What’s the point of applying soy sauce on burn wounds? To facilitate infection?”
“The toothpaste wouldn’t be of any help either.”
“Most parents would apply either soy sauce or toothpaste. This family applied both? What were they thinking?”
“Double insurance. It’s a sure way to get the wounds infected.” The young and hot-headed Lu Wenbin felt angrier and angrier as he listened to the discussion going on around him. He could not help but say, “The fact that the child’s family are able to use Pinduoduo [1] means that they’re able to go online with their phones. Why didn’t they check online if it’s appropriate to apply soy sauce on burn wounds? I’m sure they had enough time to do that while retrieving the bottle of soy sauce.”
Zuo Cidian coughed a few times and said, “His parents might not have been able to think rationally at that time. They were probably extremely anxious.”
“What is a home-made explosive?” Yu Yuan drew a circle the size of a person’s face in the air and asked, “How big would the explosive need to be to be able to severe four fingers at one go?”
“It doesn’t need to be that big. You just need to get a glass bottle and fill around 20% to 30% of it with gunpowder.” Lu Wenbin tried not to sound astonished as he repeated what he heard on the phone call he received earlier. “That brat got some firecrackers his family had left from Chinese New Year and put them in the bottle together with the gunpowder. He wanted to fire a loud shot, but ended up making a mistake when lighting it up.”
Lu Wenbin trembled a little as he said that. He then continued, “His parents gathered the severed fingers, but the paramedics said that there are some damages to it. They sent me a photograph.”
As Lu Wenbin spoke, he whipped out his phone to look for the photograph and showed it to the other doctors.
“Let’s get the operating theater ready.” Ling Ran’s expression did not change as he glanced at the photograph. He possessed Master Level Finger Replantation Surgery, and he could handle even more serious cases. Fingers severed by a home-made explosive was nothing to him. It was just that with this degree of damage, even a skillful surgeon would not be able to ensure that the patient could regain most of his hand functions.
Jin Xuezhen’s father, who had followed Ling Ran to the Operating Area, was planning to convince Ling Ran for a bit more after Ling Ran was done with his job.
However, after he heard the conversation between the doctors, saw the bloody and severed fingers on the screen of Lu Wenbin’s phone from afar, and the way the other doctors stood behind Ling Ran as if they were preparing for a battle, Jin Xuezhen’s father suddenly did not know what to say to convince Ling Ran anymore.
