Chapter 692: Fierce Dragon Crossing the Canal
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Doctor Ling, we’re here to help out.” Zuo Cidian and Lu Wenbin announced their arrival loudly after they entered the operating theater.
Ling Ran raised his head to glance at them and hummed in acknowledgment. He then immediately said, “You guys have come at the right time. Debride the patient’s legs. Each of you can work on one leg.”
“Alright.”
“Sure.”
Zuo Cidian and Lu Wenbin immediately agreed.
After performing a quick physical examination, Zuo Cidian redistributed their tasks in a hushed tone. “Young Lu, can you work on the shins and calves while I work on the thighs?”
As Zuo Cidian spoke, he winked at Lu Wenbin.
Lu Wenbin immediately understood what Zuo Cidian meant.
Zuo Cidian was indeed not as skillful as Lu Wenbin. Lu Wenbin could now act as a chief surgeon in M-Tang surgeries. Even though his skills were far inferior compared to Ling Ran, it did not change the fact that he was capable of performing M-Tang surgery. He could be considered a force to be reckoned with in the medical field in China already.
Based on Zuo Cidian’s judgment, the doctor standing opposite Ling Ran could not even measure up to Lu Wenbin when it came to delicate suture.
Hence, to avoid showing his weaknesses, Zuo Cidian made Lu Wenbin perform all the difficult procedures while speaking to Lu Wenbin like he was speaking to a junior doctor.
If a person were to only look at their age, Zuo Cidian was more than qualified to become Lu Wenbin’s senior doctor.
Lu Wenbin only took a short time to understand Zuo Cidian’s “ploy”. He acted very obediently, like a weak doctor who did everything according to Doctor Zuo Cidian’s commands. He moved toward the patient’s shins and calves and quietly debrided them.
After selling pork trotters for more than a year, Lu Wenbin had grown a lot. While he used to be as clueless as and as dumb as a pig, he slowly became as crafty and intelligent as a butcher.
Lu Wenbin even tried his best to put on a convincing act.
He used up every ounce of strength in his body. He widened his eyes and put his full focus on the surgery. However, he seemed nonchalant as he asked, “Was the patient sent here from the shipwreck out there? His body is covered with lacerations. There’re even fractures in his toes.”
“Yeah, he’s a victim from the shipwreck. His injury isn’t relatively serious, so he was sent here via a boat.” Lin Honghou observed Lu Wenbin’s maneuvers as she said, “The helicopter’s main mission is to carry out a rescue operation at the site of the shipwreck, and they are just ferrying patients while they’re at it. They wouldn’t ferry patients who’re not too serious, as it would be a waste of resources. They don’t have that many helicopters either.”
“I see. Sending them over by boat does work too. The patients seem well-protected,” Lu Wenbin said in a relaxed tone, and he seemed to be working in a leisurely manner. But in reality, Lu Wenbin was treating the patient very earnestly.
From Lin Honghou’s perspective, he saw that Lu Wenbin was a pretty skilled surgeon who could nonchalantly chit-chat as he worked.
Even though Lu Wenbin was not considered an extremely skilled surgeon, he had proved himself to be two or three times more skillful compared to Lin Honghou.
Lu Wenbin learned his skills from Ling Ran, so he had all the basics down. Aside from this, he was acquainted with all the newest technology and had plenty of experience. Hence, his capabilities far surpassed Lin Honghou.
Meanwhile, because Lu Wenbin was only two or three times more skillful compared to Lin Honghou, Lin Honghou could understand all of Lu Wenbin’s maneuvers. Hence, Lin Honghou could understand how difficult and complicated were the things Lu Wenbin was doing now.
Because of Lu Wenbin’s age, Lin Honghou could not help but feel deep admiration for Lu Wenbin.
He took the initiative and asked, “Doctor Lu, are you Doctor Ling’s colleague?”
“Doctor Ling is the leader of our treatment group. I’m still a resident doctor right now.” Lu Wenbin chuckled good-naturedly, like an American Yorkshire who was camouflaging as a black Iberian pig.
Lin Honghou could not help but feel astonished. “Doctor Ling is the leader of a treatment group already?”
“Didn’t you know about this?” Zuo Cidian was even more astonished. ‘Doctors nowadays don’t even need to rely on their status to have people flatter them? What’s with young doctors nowadays? They’ve lowered their threshold so much that they would flatter anyone who’s skillful.’
Lin Honghou merely shook his head. “We had been busy operating on patients and didn’t talk about this…”
Zuo Cidian immediately understood what was going on. Based on the amount of time that Lin Honghou had spent with Ling Ran, since they had been busy operating on patients, after those few hours, Lin Honghou probably knew what kind of doctor he was working with already.
Lin Honghou asked again, “Doctor Ling is already a leader of a treatment group in Yun Hua Hospital?”
“Yes,” Zuo Cidian answered seriously, “Since Doctor Ling is extraordinarily skillful, the hospital made an exception for him and promoted him.”
“Oh, I see. No wonder.” Lin Honghou nodded as he darted a careful glance at Zuo Cidian. He then asked, “Then, you are…”
Zuo Cidian smiled. “I’m still a junior doctor who acts as Doctor Ling’s assistant and serves Doctor Ling.”
“Oh… I see…” Lin Honghou nodded with a smile. He naturally did not believe in what Zuo Cidian just said.
Zuo Cidian was the oldest doctor in the operating theater right then. Even if one were to disregard his position, Lin Honghou reckoned that he had to be very skillful. After all, doctors developed their skills with time.
Hence, Lin Honghou started imagining how skillful Zuo Cidian must be in comparison to Lu Wenbin.
“Yun Hua Hospital is indeed a place with plenty of hidden talents.” Lin Honghou could not help but feel emotional.
Zuo Cidian smiled. “It’s just that our workload’s high.”
“You guys operate on patients a lot?”
“Doctor Ling is a surgery maniac. On average, he operates on more than five patients a day.” Zuo Cidian smiled and continued. “Doctor Ling has carried out a few hundred cases of hepatectomy alone. He headed to Beijing a while back and carried out freelance surgery there for more than a month…”
“Doctor Ling has even carried out freelance surgery in Beijing before?” Lin Honghou was greatly astonished, and the look of admiration on his face intensified.
As a doctor who worked on the ship, what he envied the most about doctors working in local hospitals was that those doctors got to work on a lot of cases, which gave them more learning opportunities. He was also envious of the fact that they got to carry out freelance surgery.
Lin Honghou had always imagined doctors who were capable of carrying out freelance surgery as extremely excellent surgeons who were able to outwit the medical system of a city. Truth be told, this was how the concept of freelance surgery started. If there were doctors who were better than the freelance surgeons in a city, there would be no point for the hospitals there to hire freelance surgeons from another city.
Of course, surgeons nowadays did not have to be as excellent to qualify for freelance surgery. This was especially true after hospitals started hiring surgeons from hospitals in the same city for freelance surgery, which totally lowered the threshold of the skills a surgeon needed to possess to become a freelance surgeon. Even so, Lin Honghou could not even begin to imagine how excellent a surgeon must be to be able to carry out freelance surgery in Beijing.
“No wonder…” Lin Honghou nodded slowly.
Zuo Cidian asked, “What’s the matter?”
“It’s no wonder why Doctor Ling was sent to help us out.”
“Yes, this is the best decision. Even if you disregard Doctor Ling’s other good qualities, his surgical skills, especially when it comes to operating on one patient after another for a long period of time, is out of this world,” Zuo Cidian said with great sentiment.
Whenever Ling Ran operated on one patient after another for a long period of time, his assistants would end up feeling extremely fatigued. They could rarely join Ling Ran in every single surgery without taking a break, and Ling Ran would usually end up making three of his assistants worn out by the end.
As he thought of this, Zuo Cidian was suddenly a little worried about the situation at the site of the storm.
Lin Honghou lowered his head, and he became even more obedient.
As the saying went, “Only fierce dragons are capable of crossing the canal”. Lin Honghou was starting to believe in this saying. And with so many fierce dragons in the same operating theater as him, Lin Honghou suddenly lost the interest to fight for dominance. He became just like a tiny snake who had given up on its dreams, with neither the interest to capture mice nor the intention to cultivate itself into a human being. All he wanted to do now was to live his life quietly and peacefully.
Meanwhile, Ling Ran stayed silent throughout the surgery.
“Forceps…
“Bandage…
“Bandage!
“Bandage!”
Ling Ran quickly performed abdominal closure and said, “Evacuate the patient.”
After working on the ship for a few hours, Ling Ran had understood something. It was not efficient for him to finish up the surgery all by himself due to the shabby facilities on the ship and the unfavorable conditions. It was better to evacuate patients to places with better facilities so that they could receive better treatment.
Zuo Cidian followed Ling Ran’s commands as he accustomized himself to working on the ship.
After operating on batch after batch of patients, Zuo Cidian was starting to get used to things.
“A critically ill patient is being sent over,” the circulating nurse said after picking up the phone. Soon after she put down the receiver, the sound of helicopter blades rang out from the sky again.
Zuo Cidian immediately ran out of the operating theater to receive the patient. He helped retrieve the patient from the helicopter and hurriedly pushed the patient toward the operating theater.
This was when the sea breeze lifted up the fabric of the patient’s trousers, exposing his thigh.
The fabric of the patient’s trousers had been cut open, and a thick, long, as well as branch-like scar, was visible.
Zuo Cidian immediately felt a pang in his heart.
