Three hours later, Doctor Lai was the first one to enter the meeting room. He smiled when he saw that the meeting room was empty. He seemed pleased with himself.
“Is Ling Ran not here yet?” Department Director Yuan walked in behind Doctor Lai. He was holding a large mug of tea and trying his best to appear elegant.
Surgeons were brutes, and the doctors of the Cardiology Department liked to put on an act of elegance as a show of force towards the other surgery departments and to dissociate themselves from them.
Doctor Lai was used to Department Director Yuan’s act of elegance. He chuckled as he turned and whispered, “Maybe he won’t even come.”
“Oh, what’s going on?”
“I played a little trick.” Doctor Lai did not bother to hide what he had done. “I heard that Ling Ran had not slept for a day and a night, as he rushed straight to our department after the rescue efforts in the Emergency Medical Center. I insisted on having the meeting right now. I reckon that Ling Ran had gone to sleep the moment he left our department just now, which means that he would get less than two hours of sleep if he attends the meeting. That’s the magic number to get people most tired, so he might not be able to wake up for the meeting.”
All doctors knew what the lack of sleep felt like.
It felt even worse to finally get the opportunity to sleep only to end up being woken up.
Doctor Lai chuckled and said, “Ling Ran is still a young man, after all. He might forget about the whole thing after he is held up for a while.”
Department Director Yuan though, merely smiled. He looked like he was a pet owner looking at his cat who brought him a mouse. Bright anticipation on his face, but he was not actually expecting anything.
Department Director Yuan had no intention of exposing the fact that Doctor Lai was definitely not powerful enough to insist on having the meeting at a designated time.
If the people in the Cardiology Department were powerful enough to “insist” upon such things, as a department director, he would not have had to come to the meeting room and participate in a preoperative consultation. It was the same reason behind why anyone would use “his friend’s Porsche” as a profile picture when using a dating application.
“Ling Ran always stays up for more than thirty hours,” whispered one of the attending physicians sitting in the corner.
Department Director Yuan was not willing to break the news to Doctor Lai, but it did not mean that the rest of the attending physicians had the same intention.
Doctor Lai could not help but furrow his eyebrows. “Ling Ran only stays up for thirty hours when he has something to do. Everyone wants more sleep when there’s nothing for them to do. Aside from this, for the past twenty-four hours, Ling Ran has done more than just existing. He was probably very busy in the Emergency Medical Center.”
“You’re right. Young people should realize what a precious resource their energy is, and they shouldn’t stay up late just because they’re young. The same goes to you. You’re already more than thirty, so try your best to operate on patients during the day. Don’t be a night owl anymore…” Department Director Yuan took the opportunity to give Doctor Lai some advice, and he was speaking in the kind of tone he used to speak to his daughter.
However, Doctor Lai was a lot more obedient compared to his daughter. He immediately nodded when he heard that. “I rarely burn the midnight oil anymore…”
The attending physician sitting in the corner twisted his mouth. His head was lowered, and he said nothing. The doctors in the Cardiology Department were very busy because of their high workload, and if Doctor Lai who was an attending physician were to operate on fewer patients in the middle of the night, the rest of the attending physicians would have to do more of it.
Of course, overall, there were not that many things for the doctors of the Cardiology Department to do when they were on night shift. This was especially true on nights when nobody died, as they would basically get to sleep all night. Hence, they rarely kept tabs or fought over who was on night shift and who was not.
After Department Director Yuan gave Doctor Lai advice, he continued, “Regarding Ling Ran, I always had the impression that he’s someone who works himself to the bone. But like what I always tell you guys, humans are not omnipotent. Even if he never sleeps, how many surgeries can he carry out? He’s already carrying out emergency surgeries, liver surgeries, hand surgeries, and Achilles tendon repair surgery. I heard that he even does arthroscopy?”
“He’s pretty good at it.” Doctor Lai smiled and said, “He even spent some time treating VIP patients.”
“He’s truly talented and skillful. But he can’t just carry out all the surgeries in the world, can he? He’s even carrying out cardiovascular surgeries now. It wouldn’t be so easy for him to carry out cardiac surgeries too.” Department Director Yuan smiled.
“I know, right?”
“That makes a lot of sense.”
The doctors in the meeting room nodded in unison.
“So, the most important thing right now is to prevent him from setting up a system.” Department Director Yuan changed the topic. “Take that guy from the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery. Doctor Zhang, right? I heard that he became an associate chief physician.”
“Zhang Anmin. You’re right. He’s been promoted to associate chief physician.” Most of the doctors in the meeting room were attending physicians, and they were rather envious of Zhang Anmin.
Department Director Yuan nodded a little and said, “Doctor Zhang is Ling Ran’s subordinate, but he became an associate chief physician of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery instead of the Emergency Department. So, everyone in the Cardiology Department must be careful.”
He gazed at all his attending physicians one by one. Even though there was a smile in his face, his gaze was a dangerous one.
The first challenge in a doctor’s life was to get promoted to associate chief physician from attending physician. Most attending physicians who did their work in a normal manner without offending anyone would basically become associate chief physician eventually. However, the age whereby they became associate chief physicians did make a difference. Take Zhang Anmin as an example. He was the kind who would have to work hard as an attending physician for years but would still not get a chance to become an associate chief physician before he met Ling Ran.
Department Director Yuan was vigilant, as he was worried that one of his subordinates would utilize Ling Ran’s presence as a shortcut to get promoted.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was a little tense.
*Knock, knock*
Someone knocked on the door of the meeting room. Soon after that, an adorable young nurse entered the meeting room with her hands clasped before her chest. She said, “Department director, you’re here…”
“Is Ling Ran here?” Doctor Lai glared exasperatedly at the young nurse. ‘Why do young girls nowadays care about looks so much? Can’t they be simple girls who only care about houses, cars, and the positions men hold?’
The young nurse was not afraid of him, as she was not his subordinate anyway. She glared back at him. “If Doctor Ling’s here, people would have started cheering already. Did you hear any cheers?”
Department Director Yuan cleared his throat. “Who’s here?”
“A super beautiful woman. I heard that she’s the chairwoman of Yunli Medical Company,” the young nurse said softly.
“Chairwoman?” Department Director Yuan and his subordinates looked at one another. None of them understood what was going on.
They would not have cared about pharmaceutical sales representatives from pharmaceutical sales companies. But now that the chairwoman of a pharmaceutical sales company was here, things were different.
Before Department Director Yuan could ask any more detailed questions, a tall and slender woman in a pantsuit entered the meeting room.
Due to the powerful aura the woman emanated, Department Director Yuan stood up without being aware of it. He was about to greet her when another tall and slender woman in a pantsuit entered the meeting room.
“You’re Department Director Yuan from the Cardiology Department, aren’t you?” The second woman who came in was elegant, and she spoke gracefully.
Department Director Yuan hummed in acknowledgement. “I am. May I know who I am speaking to?”
“I’m Jin Mintian from Yunli Medical Company, and I’m also the general manager of Yunli Medical Company in Yun Hua City.” Jin Mintian looked about forty years old. She was rather skinny, and she looked like a clever woman.
“Oh, you’re Manager Jin. Nice to meet you.” The moment Department Director Yuan heard his name, he recalled a thing or two about her. Yunli Medical Company had been doing very well in Changxi Province and many other provinces around it for the past two years, and he often heard about them in medical conferences and the sales events of medical consumables. Hence, he had heard Jin Miantian’s name quite a few times.
This was also when Department Director Yuan became a little annoyed with the young nurse just now. ‘She doesn’t deserve such an adorable face at all. It’s just the general manager. Why did she say that the chairwoman is here…?’
“Nice to meet you, Department Director Yuan. Please wait for a moment. We’re just accompanying our chairwoman here.” Jin Mintian smiled. She then took a few steps forward and pulled out a chair.
This was when two women wearing short formal skirts with a shirt and had broad shoulders as well as square faces showed up. Then, they looked around vigilantly before opening the door. One of them stepped outside, and the other went into the meeting room without saying a thing.
This was when Department Director Yuan and the rest of the doctors stood up straight without even realizing it.
Doctor Lai whispered, “The chairwoman of Yunli Medical Company? Why is such a bigshot coming?”
Before anyone could say anything, a young woman wearing sports shoes appeared.
“I’m sorry. I’m a little busy today. I just returned from another country.” Tian Qi was wearing fitting casual wear. She did not look formal at all, but compared to all her subordinates who were surrounding her, Tian Qi blended into the informal meeting today very well.
“Miss Tian Qi cares a lot about the updating of the medical facilities in Yun Hua Hospital. Hence, she insisted on joining this meeting even though she’s very busy.” Jin Mintian added.
“I’ll try my best not to disturb you guys. You guys discuss among yourselves, and Yunli Medical Company will try our best to cooperate.” Tian Qi flashed an amiable smile and sat in a chair at the back of the meeting room.
Department Director Yuan and his subordinates looked at one another. They did not know what situation they had gotten themselves into, but all of them knew that it was something that they had never encountered before.
This was when cheers erupted outside the door.
As the young woman’s voice was rather shrill, the cheers could be heard even more clearly.
