Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Emergency Department of Beijing University Sixth Hospital was brightly lit.
Batch after batch of doctors came to catch a glimpse of Ling Ran like people in a market checking out newly-arrived fresh seafood. They also looked like wild beasts in a zoo who were taking a look at their new companion, or bosses in an antique market who heard that someone was actually selling real antique.
After Ling Ran debrided the wound of the man who got hurt while trying to crack open the shell of a crab with a clamp, he applied ointment on a child who scratched his knees. Next up was a secondary school student who sprained his leg. Ling Ran merely filled in an authorization form for him to get an X-ray and prescribed some medication for him. One hour passed by just like this.
Wang Anzhi felt tired just from watching Ling Ran.
He was the associate hospital director. Even though he was not the hospital director, he was one of the busiest people in the hospital. Whenever other departments organized events, they only invited him over to take a look after getting all the early preparations done.
Honestly, it had been quite some time since Wang Anzhi witnessed such simple procedures.
Even medical interns and housemen would demonstrate minor surgeries that were slight harder whenever he was around.
Debridement and suturing were considered super low-end emergency procedures. What was so difficult with applying ointment? It was harder to calm an injured child down.
“About this… Doctor Ling, how long are you going to rest for?” Wang Anzhi sent a signal at a junior doctor with his eyes, and the junior doctor asked Ling Ran this in a soft voice.
Ling Ran could not sense that the junior doctor was raising an objection. He glanced at the mission completion status of 3/100 before waving at the child who had retrieved her medication and was back to thank him. “I’m not planning to rest.”
“This is… not what I meant. I meant, how long are you going to continue carrying out minor procedures like debriding patients…”
“Didn’t you guys say three days?” Ling Ran was very curious.
“Are you really going to continue doing this for three days?” Wang Anzhi could not take it anymore. ‘We don’t mind watching you carrying out hepatectomy for three days, but why are you here coaxing young children with your handsome face? Don’t tell me that in the future, only people with good looks will be qualified to become pediatricians.”
Ling Ran really did not understand what Wang Anzhi was concerned about. He thought about it for a moment and asked a little hesitantly, “Are you guys facing a serious shortage of patients?”
“This isn’t what Associate Hospital Director Wang meant.” Zuo Cidian could not take it anymore. ‘Doctor Ling is really incapable of engaging in a normal conversation.’
Zuo Cidian forced himself into the space between Ling Ran and the associate hospital director. He cleared his throat and said to Wang Anzhi, “Associate Hospital Director Wang, by letting Doctor Ling… um… rest for a while in the Emergency Department, the hospital will have more time for preparations. I reckon that you would like Doctor Ling to operate on more than one patient suffering from liver cancer?”
“Of course. We plan to have Doctor Ling operate on more than four patients. If the circumstances allow, we would like Doctor Ling to operate on six or seven of them. Of course, only if Doctor Ling is willing.” Wang Anzhi was being very generous. To a hospital in Beijing, the money they had to pay freelance surgeons was nothing. The embarrassing thing was the fact that they had to hire a freelance surgeon. The money was a secondary concern.
Zuo Cidian nodded. This was what he had reckoned too. The people running Yun Hua Hospital would really get to brag about the fact that Ling Ran was carrying out freelance surgery in Beijing.
Truth be told, they were only holding their tongues right now so that they would not jinx things.
Zuo Cidian could foresee how everyone in Yun Hua Hospital would start bragging the moment Ling Ran returned.
Compared to this fame, the fees that Ling Ran would be receiving for operating on a few patients in Beijing were really nothing.
Wang Anzhi was not planning to limit the number of patients Ling Ran operated on, and in return, he demanded quality.
After Zuo Cidian made sure that they were both on the same page, he smiled a little and said, “Associate Hospital Director Wang, if Doctor Ling wants to operate on six patients, would you guys be able to provide them for him?”
Wang Anzhi scratched his head. “Well, one could never run out of patients…”
“This surgical method that Doctor Ling came up with is catered for a certain kind of patient and not every patient is able to fulfill the criterion,” Zuo Cidian said, “What’s the point of stopping the patient’s hepatic blood supply so that their tissue samples can be sent for pathological examination if they could be treated by means of an ordinary hepatectomy?”
“By carrying out pathological examination during the surgery, less of the patients’ normal tissue would be cut off, and the patients’ prognosis would be better, especially when it comes to their liver function. Isn’t this very important?” Wang Anzhi was not clueless when it came to the medical field.
Even though Zuo Cidian was at a loss for words for a few seconds, he was soon able to come up with a response. “Compared to giving patients a good prognosis, isn’t it more important to save patients who would not otherwise have survived? Since Beijing University Sixth Hospital intends to implement this surgical method, shouldn’t we exemplify its importance?”
Wang Anzhi thought about it and nodded. “Alright, then. We’ll look for a few more patients so that Doctor Ling can select the patients he wants. But with so many patients, will you guys be able to make the necessary arrangements in time?”
Hepatectomy in patients suffering from liver cancer was a major surgery that involved plenty of preoperative preparation and postoperative planning. The whole treatment group would have to put in a lot of effort.
In the past, this kind of surgery would take at least a week or two of preparation.
Zuo Cidian knew Ling Ran well. He merely smiled and said, “Doctor Ling does things really quickly. Moreover, our group members stay up late all the time. As long as you’re able to look for suitable patients, we’ll definitely be able to work things out.”
“Alright, I’ll be looking forward to it.” Wang Anzhi decided to believe in Zuo Cidian.
The point of hiring freelance surgeons was so that hospitals could learn the newest surgical methods and treatment techniques. It was only appropriate for him to provide the freelance surgeon they hired with what he needed.
Wang Anzhi’s gaze fell upon Ling Ran once again.
He could not believe that a doctor who was only a little over twenty years old was in Beijing for freelance surgery. If it were not for the fact that Xu Wen strongly recommended him, Wang Anzhi would never have believed that Ling Ran was such an expert, let alone hired him, even when he heard his deeds from elsewhere.
“Do you want to take medication or do you want a massage?” After carrying out a physical examination, Ling Ran asked without writing any authorization form.
The young man who was lying on the bed sat up. “Massage is an option?”
“Of course.”
“Then… how much does it cost?” The young patient lowered his voice a little.
Ling Ran looked at the young doctor beside him who was helping him. The doctor had been assigned to him. The latter quickly keyed the word “massage” into the search bar. He then glanced at the monitor and said, “It’s either 15 RMB or 25 RMB.”
“Let’s make it 15 RMB,” Ling Ran said.
“I’ll get a massage, then.” As expected, the young man chose to get a massage.
Ling Ran asked the patient to lie down again. He then placed his right palm on top of his left palm and massaged the patient’s abdomen in a clockwise motion.
“What’s wrong with me?” The young man raised his head a little to look at Ling Ran’s palms.
“Lazy bowel syndrome,” Ling Ran said.
“What do you mean by this?” Curious, the young man asked.
“Constipation.” This time, Ling Ran answered in layman terms.
Astonished and weirded out at the same time, the young man shouted, “Constipation! Constipation? Constipation?”
Ling Ran merely assumed that he was asking a question, and continued explaining, “Basically, your feces is stuck in your intestines.”
“I know. You don’t have to explain it in such a detailed manner…” The young man was flustered.
Ling Ran continued massaging the young man’s abdomen. In a minute or two, the young man’s stomach started hurting.
As Ling Ran continued the massage, the young man’s stomach hurt more and more. He then farted a few times before rising and charging toward the bathroom.
As expected, Ling Ran’s mission completion status went up.
Wang Anzhi and the others had their eyes wide and mouths agape. ‘Did we hire Doctor Ling just so that we can watch him massage the feces out of the patient’s stomach?’
Xu Wen, though, was extremely pleased with himself. “Doctor Ling, you really used just the right amount of strength.”
