Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The most famous Chinese imperial cuisine restaurant in Beijing was Fangshang Restaurant in Beihai, and had over eighty years of history. Even though it had stopped operating for a while many years back, they were able to preserve their original recipes.
Feng Zhixiang led Ling Ran in through the main hall so that they could take a look at the imperial-style interior design of the restaurant. He then said with a smile, “I’ve talked to the people running the restaurant so that they’ll ask their head chef to make our dishes. Do give them a try. By the way, Academician Zhu, you’ve stayed in the south for a long time, haven’t you? Are you okay with northern dishes?”
“Certainly. I’m okay with them.” Zhu Tongyi, too, cut an authoritative figure as he nodded and said, “The buildings in the north are large and elegant, unlike the small buildings in the south. They feel very crowded and stuffy. However, those in the south put more effort into cooking, and this is why southern dishes have a more delicate taste to them.”
“I like Suzhou cuisine too.” Feng Zhixiang had no intention to argue with Academician Zhu about whether Southern or Northern cuisine tasted better. He smiled and said, “Some of the dim sum you eat in Beijing has been modified by chefs from the south, and the origin of the Peking opera can be traced to the Huiban opera. [1] Besides, a lot of people in Beijing enjoy Huaiyang cuisine.” [2]
There was finally a hint of a smile on Zhu Tongyi’s face, which made him look ten years younger than his actual age. He nodded and said, “You’re being objective indeed.”
“All right, let’s give the Chinese imperial cuisine in Beijing a try and judge it objectively.” As Feng Zhixiang spoke, he led Zhu Tongyi and Ling Ran into a private lounge. There were already three people inside there, and they immediately rose to welcome the newcomers.
“Little Fatty over here is our driver this time.” Feng Zhixiang pointed at the plump resident doctor who had lost some weight and weighed in at 266 pounds today. He then pointed at the man beside the plump resident doctor and said, “Department Director Li Yuan is the department director of the General Surgery Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University, and he has been wanting to meet Ling Ran. This is…”
“My name is Qu Yue, and I’m the sales executive of Vital Health.” Qu Yue who was dressed very much like a gold collar worker would be paying for the food, and she was very good with words.
“Why don’t you guys take a seat first?”
Everyone introduced themselves to each other, and someone offered Feng Zhixiang a glass of spirit, of which he politely rejected. Feng Zhixiang then started a topic, and everyone started chatting.
He knew how Ling Ran was like as a person, and he knew that Ling Ran did not like to operate on ordinary cancer patients. He was worried that they would do something wrong and Ling Ran would refuse to operate on Xu Jinyi. At that time, he would not know what to do.
Qu Yue smiled and raised her hand to call a waitress. She said, “Can you repeat my orders? Why don’t you guys see if you have anything to add?”
“All right.” The waitress was a not-so-young woman. She lowered her head to look at her notepad. “You ordered Empress Dowager Cixi quadruple plate, braised sea cucumber with scallion, Spirit of a Dragon, sauteed fish fillets…”
After the waitress repeated all the orders, Qu Yue looked at everyone, especially Ling Ran, with a bright smile. “Do you guys want to add anything?”
“That’s enough. There’s a lot of dishes, and it’ll be impossible for us to finish all of them.” Zhu Tongyi seemed like he wanted to laugh as he looked at Qu Yue.
People always treated doctors like royalty when they had a favor to ask. This was something all doctors were very used to.
Zhu Tongyi was rather curious about what Qu Yue wanted, to the point that she would spend a few thousand RMB treating them to a meal.
Ling Ran, though, did not ponder about Qu Yue’s intention. He merely said, “It’s too much food indeed.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Qu Yue waved and gestured to the waitress to start preparing their food. She then quickly continued, “Doctor Ling, with so many surgeries every day, you’re probably very tired lately…”
“I haven’t been operating on that many patients lately.” Ling Ran pouted a little as he said this. In comparison, when he was in Changxi Province, he got to carry out freelance surgery a lot more frequently and could operate on patients in Yun Hua Hospital too. The hospitals in Beijing took a lot of things into consideration, and he only got to operate on a patient or two every time he went for a freelance surgery.
If it were not for the fact that Zuo Cidian, Zhang Anmin, and the others were very excited about performing surgeries in Beijing and withheld him from leaving, Ling Ran would have gone back to the south already.
Feng Zhixiang cleared his throat before quickly changing the topic and talking about Chinese imperial cuisine.
Li Yuan effortlessly joined the conversation.
Li Yuan was already a little over the age of sixty and rarely acted as chief surgeon nowadays, but he often met various people. Together with Qu Yue and the picky Academician Zhu Tongyi, the atmosphere in the private lounge soon became lively.
Ling Ran enjoyed the food very much too.
If a person were to convert the popularity and taste of food from various areas into data, if you disregard the flavor, Beijing food would probably score so highly that it was ranked as one of the top cuisines in the country. However, Beijing food was by no means bad in quality.
This was especially true for dishes that originated from other areas but became renowned in Beijing.
Braised sea cucumber with scallions was one of them. Aside from its expensive price tag, one could not find any fault with it. It was also one of the most iconic braised dishes among Shandong cuisine, and its fame was on par with that of braised pig intestines. Braised sea cucumber with scallions could be likened to a young Leonardo DiCaprio, while braised pig intestines could be likened to a middle-aged Arnold Schwarzenegger. The former was so hot that it could drive young women mad, and many young women dreamed about locking him up in their homes and hiding them from the world so that they could have him alone. The latter could have nine s*x partners a day if he wanted to, and if he were a dish, that dish alone would be enough to fill up the bellies of everyone at the table.
Ling Ran felt rather satisfied as he savored the tender braised sea cucumber with scallions. However, he somehow missed Boss Shao a little.
The food in Fangsheng Restaurant was pretty good, and the decor was beautiful too. But in Boss Shao’s restaurant, aside from ordering the food available on the menu, there were always things to look forward to.
The barbeque in Boss Shao’s restaurant was pretty good. Moreover, the customers there were always in for a surprise, as Boss Shao would always greet them with new arrivals such as bamboo rats as well as freshly slaughtered baby lambs and cows.
As Ling Ran thought of this, he could not help but whip out his phone and look at Boss Shao’s WeChat timeline. Boss Shao had posted the photograph of an X-ray scan two days ago.
“Colles’ fracture!” When Ling Ran saw the X-ray scan, he could not help but call out the name.
“Doctor Ling, does the food not suit your taste buds?” When Qu Yue saw that Ling Ran was using his phone, she was astonished. This was because three renowned doctors were present in the private lounge. Other junior doctors who were Ling Ran’s place would probably…
Her gaze fell upon the plump resident doctor beside her. Ever since they started eating, the plump resident doctor had been refilling everyone’s glasses with water or alcohol every time they became empty. The way he served everyone diligently provided a sharp contrast to Ling Ran’s demeanor.
“Doctor Ling, why don’t you give this kung pao chicken a try? I specifically ordered it. It looks ordinary, like something you can get in any restaurant, but it’s actually a Chinese imperial cuisine. It’s different from the kung pao chicken you get in Shangdong and Sichuan restaurants. Nowadays, they often serve this dish in state banquets.” As Department Director Li Yuan spoke, he took a clean spoon and scooped some kung pao chicken for Ling Ran.
“Yeah, I’ve tried it. It tastes really good.” Ling Ran was pretty satisfied with the flavor of the food. Even though it was not the best that he had tasted lately, it could be considered one of his better meals.
“Ling Ran, you might not know that Department Director Li is Xu Jinyi’s teacher. Yes, I’ve taught Xu Jinyi before too.” When Feng Zhixiang saw that everyone was already full, he decided to put down his chopsticks.
Li Yuan put down his chopsticks too. He said in a sentimental manner, “Back when Xu Jinyi was my student, he often spoke of Department Director Feng. At that time, we were conducting research related to the pancreas and treating patients with pancreatic problems. Every time we finally got a break, it would be so late that all the restaurants around the hospital had closed, so we had no choice but to be contented with some steamed buns.”
“There was no food delivery yet at that time.” Qu Yue covered her mouth as she spoke and giggled.
“We even found instant noodles expensive. You know, only doctors who make it high up the ladder make a lot of money.” Li Yuan paused for a moment and said, “Xu Jinyi is probably at the prime of his life now… He’s a department director, and his skills are better than ever. The hospital he’s at is willing to support him too, so it’s really time for him to spread his wings.”
“That’s right.”
“When you think about it, doctors are pretty pitiful creatures. Even though they have the energy to have fun when they were young, they did not have the time and money for it. By the time they are fifty or sixty and finally have all the money in the world, they won’t have the energy to have fun anymore.” Li Yuan shook his head.
“Department Director Xu Jinyi is suffering from cancer. Liver cancer.” Feng Zhixiang looked at Ling Ran and said, “He would like you to operate on him.”
“Hepatectomy?” Ling Ran put down his chopsticks too.
“Yes.” Feng Zhixiang nodded.
Zhu Tongyi cleared his throat a few times and said, “Both of you are his teachers, right? Why aren’t you taking all the factors into consideration? Department Director Xu is less than sixty years old, isn’t he? Even after he receives hepatectomy, there might still be a recurrence in the future. Instead of wasting time on selecting a chief surgeon, he should receive surgery immediately.”
Ling Ran hummed in agreement. “Receiving surgery as soon as possible is the best course of action.”
Feng Zhixiang said, “After receiving hepatectomy, Xu Jinyi plans to receive follow-up treatment at Anderson Cancer Center in the United States. He’s racing against time to get the paperwork done right now. Anderson Cancer Center has the best cancer treatment plans in the world. So, if you’re willing to operate on Xu Jinyi, he could be said to be getting all the best possible treatments available in the world…”
“But that wouldn’t ensure his survival.” Ling Ran shook his head. The fact that nothing was guaranteed was the cruelest part of cancer.
“Xu Jinyi would be satisfied,” Feng Zhixiang said, “Sometimes, isn’t the patient’s satisfaction all that matters?”
Ling Ran was stunned for a moment.
Zhu Tongyi cleared his throat again.
“Department Director Xu will continue working after he’s back in the country.” Feng Zhixiang stopped Zhu Tongyi from saying anything. “The people in Beijing would always remember the fact that the department director of the General Surgery Department of Donghuang Regional Hospital immediately got back to work after receiving hepatectomy from Doctor Ling Ran.”
