Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Doctor Ling, I’ve peeled some pine nuts for you.” Miao Tansheng was waiting in the courtyard for Ling Ran to return. The moment he saw Ling Ran, he immediately handed the latter a plate of peeled pine nuts and flashed a smile. “I peeled them with a pair of tweezers.”
“Oh, you’re pretty skilled,” Ling Ran could not help but comment when he looked at the plate of smooth and shiny pine nuts.
Miao Tansheng looked like he had just received the greatest praise in the world, and he was smiling from ear to ear. His huge eyebags trembled like the chest muscles of a burly man. “It’s great that you like them.”
“Thanks a lot.” Ling Ran took the plate and sniffed it before grabbing a handful of pine nuts. He ate some to replenish his strength and asked, “Are there any more patients?”
Only then did Ma Yanlin get an opportunity to show his face. “There are two more patients. One of them was sent over by Changxi Medical Company, and he’s suffering from chronic Achilles tendon rupture. The other patient is from Xiang Xueming from the Bazhaixiang hospital branch. He’s suffering from a fresh Achilles tendon rupture. Xiang Xueming said that he happened to encounter a patient with Achilles tendon rupture…”
Ma Yanlin explained things to Ling Ran. He was feeling envious.
How much attention had Xue Xueming been paying to Ling Ran’s actions, and how lucky he must be to coincidentally send over a patient with a fresh Achilles tendon rupture just when Ling Ran was starting to perform Achilles tendon repair surgery?
For a hospital such as the Bazhaixiang hospital branch, under normal circumstances, they would not even encounter a single patient suffering from Achilles tendon rupture for half a month or even three to five months. It was just like hunting. A hunter would always be able to score some prey, but there was no telling what they would be getting. Hence, aside from working hard in the jungle, they also had to pay attention to the demands of the consumers in the city.
Xiang Xueming and Changxi Medical Company were definitely not the only ones who were paying attention to what Ling Ran was doing. They just happened to be the hunters who managed to score suitable prey.
Naturally, Ling Ran was satisfied.
A surgeon’s job was like solving mathematical equations. It was definitely easier to perform the same kind of surgery for a period of time than alternate between different surgical methods. Aside from that, it was also more comfortable.
At the end of the day, humans needed a sense of achievement. Surgeons would feel a sense of achievement when they became better and better at a surgical method, and this would give them a reason to persevere.
It was just like solving mathematical equations. When a student solved the same kinds of mathematical equations for a period of time and got the correct answer again and again, not only would they be willing to continue studying, but they would also desire to challenge themselves and solve even harder mathematical equations. But if they were to alternate between different kinds of mathematical equations, even though things might look interesting from the surface, considering the variety, their interest in studying would actually diminish.
Ling Ran had performed an Achilles tendon repair surgery today, and he was at a point when he would like to carry out more Achilles tendon repair surgeries. He would forget about the notion if there were no suitable patients, but now that there were patients available, he started making arrangements without hesitation.
Ma Yanlin, Miao Tansheng, and Juan Zi were feeling the same. They proactively made arrangements together.
Su Jiafu was the only one who seemed a little tired. But when Ling Ran shot him an inquiring gaze, Su Jiafu answered so proactively that it was as if he was about to jump up from his seat. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, Doctor Ling.”
“Then, let’s hurry up and operate on those two patients. We can all have dinner together at my house after that.” As Ling Ran spoke, for some reason, he felt very good.
He definitely enjoyed more freedom when operating on patients at home.
The patient from Bazhaixiang was sent there only after receiving an X-ray before they hurriedly sent him over. But that did not really affect anything.
As the patient that Changxi Medical Company sent over was suffering from chronic Achilles tendon rupture, he had already received an MRI. The scans were clear, and it was definitely easier on the eyes in contrast to the X-ray scans.
“As expected, people from medical companies give better gifts,” Miao Tansheng said emotionally as he gazed at the pharmaceutical sales representative before him, who was treating Ling Ran with respect.
Actually, pharmaceutical sales representatives paid visits to the clinic every now and then too. They mostly sold drugs used for fluid transfusions and vaccines. At most, they would give him a box of tea leaves as a gift. This was totally different than Changxi Medical Company, which not only prepared a patient for Ling Ran but also took other things into consideration.
Something like that could not be quantified in monetary terms. The effort was priceless.
Financially, Miao Tansheng was doing pretty well nowadays. Hence, compared with the doctors from large hospitals, he cared more about the effort other people made.
“Doctor Ling, I’ll work hard to operate on these two patients too.” Standing before Ling Ran, Miao Tansheng tried his best to show how enthusiastic he was.
Ma Yanlin was Ling Ran’s loyal subordinate. Miao Tansheng was not shameless enough to fight for a position with a young man who was only a little more than twenty years old either. Hence, he chose to suck up to Ling Ran by speaking flattering words instead.
Ling Ran did not have any comment. He merely nodded. It was, of course, a good thing to have a proactive assistant. But when it came to surgical methods such as the Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique, the workload was endless, and his assistants should not worry that someone would snatch away work that belonged to them.
“Do work hard, everyone. Pork rib soup will be served at night.” Ling Jiezhou raised an arm and waved at them. With his plump body, he looked like an amiable lottery vendor.
“Sure, Chief Ling,” Juan Zi replied and made her way to the operating theater. Her footsteps were loud due to how heavy she was.
Ling Jiezhou furrowed his eyebrows. Was it a losing deal for him to treat everyone to pork ribs soup?
…..
At night, Wang Zhuangyong held a thick stack of medical books as he traversed the alleys of Lower Groove. There was a vigilant expression on his face.
If a person were to disregard his face and body, Wang Zhuangyong looked like a beautiful high school student from the Republic of China who was holding a stack of books and walking on a dangerous alley right now. Special agents from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics and the National Bureau of Investigation and Statistics [1] would be standing on both her sides, ready to jump in to rescue this beautiful young woman at any moment. Meanwhile, Japanese people and members of the Collaborationist Chinese Army would be standing in front of her and behind her, ready to give a chance for the main characters to show how heroic and bold they were.
However, after taking a look at Wang Zhuangyong’s face and body, you would realize that he was merely a burly man who was walking past an alley without streetlights.
The place only felt like it belonged in a city when he arrived at the courtyard of Lower Groove Clinic because there were finally voices ringing out from the building.
“Ling Ran!” Wang Zhuang Yong yelled loudly before entering the clinic.
More than ten pairs of eyes shifted their gaze toward Wang Zhuangyong.
Wang Zhuangyong just had to stop in his tracks. “Chief Physician Shi, Chief Physician Yi, Doctor Yue…”
He had gotten to know quite a few doctors when he carried out his internship in Yun Hua Hospital.
“Oh, Young Wang, you’re here? Oh, both you and Doctor Ling are from Yun Hua University, right?” Doctor Yue, an attending physician from the Rehabilitation Department greeted Ling Ran. The other doctors nodded politely at him.
Wang Zhuangyong smiled at them one by one. “Yeah. We were batchmates.”
“Oh, yeah. I have almost forgotten about this. I keep feeling like Doctor Ling has graduated for a long time,” Doctor Yue could not help but say emotionally. He then looked at Wang Zhuangyong and asked in puzzlement, “Why are you here? To join in the fun?”
“Ling Ran asked me to come over to help out,” Wang Zhuangyong said in resignation.
“Oh, yeah. Since Doctor Ling knows you, of course, he thought of asking you to help out.” There was a hint of vigilance in Doctor Yue’s eyes.
Even though it was a private gig, it meant different things to be working on a private gig for different doctors. For example, because Ling Ran was part of Lower Groove Clinic, working for the clinic meant that a doctor could easily get close to Ling Ran.
Be that as it may, rehabilitation had never been a difficult field, so Wang Zhuangyong ended up becoming his competitor.
Doctor Yue narrowed his eyes. He believed that Ling Ran had a bright future in Yun Hua Hospital. If Wang Zhuangyong insisted on competing with him later, he might have no choice but to employ those tactics that he had learned throughout his years as a doctor to give this young man a good lesson.
“Are you Doctor Wang Zhuangyong?” Juan Zi walked out of the ward area with a phone in her hand. She looked like she was holding a sesame as she carefully shook the phone a few times. There was a photograph of Wang Zhuangyong on the screen.
“I am…” Wang Zhuangyong immediately answered.
“Doctor Ling said that you’ll be responsible for the rehabilitation of all three of the patients who have been operated on today. Are you capable of that?”
“Yes, no problem!” Wang Zhuangyong quickly answered. Due to the fact that he was afraid of blood, he had changed his career path and was fully focusing on rehabilitation medicine right now. But it was still hard for him to be responsible for individual patients.
Doctor Yue, who was sitting beside Ling Ran, asked, “Shouldn’t a comparison be made? Like via a test or something> Doctor Ling, nepotism isn’t a good practice…”
“We’re just a small clinic.” Juan Zi emphasized the word, “small”.
